Pretzel Bites

{Thursday's By Tara} - A Thursday ritual. A featured post written by Tara; simple, special, extraordinary moments in soaping and life.

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

We had a very rainy Sunday in our little corner of Florida this weekend. The kids were cooped up inside and we were all going a little crazy. We decided to try and make one of our favorite "treats" from the mall, Pretzel bites. I looked up a few recipes and mixed them all up to create this one. It would have been easier if we had had a loaf of frozen bread dough, but since we didn't and we live 45 min. from the grocery, we just started from scratch. I hope you enjoy!

DIY Soft Pretzel Bites Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 package active dry yeast

3 ounces unsalted butter, melted

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil

3 quarts water

3/4 cup baking soda

1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water

Coarse sea salt

For the cheese sauce:

½ Tablespoon unsalted butter

½ Tablespoon all-purpose flour

½ cup milk

8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

Directions:

For the Pretzels: Combine the water, sugar, yeast,

and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer

and mix with the dough hook until combined.

Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring the water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 ounces each. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring 22 inches and shape. Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make the pretzel bites. Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches. We did about 15 bites at a time. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon. Place pretzel bites on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Make sure they are not touching. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.

Remove to a baking rack and let rest 5 minutes before eating.

*If you want to make cinnamon and sugar pretzel bites-instead of adding salt, sprinkle the bites with cinnamon and sugar. For the frosting mix-soft cream cheese-about 3 T, powdered sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a little bit of milk. Whisk together. Add more milk if it is too thick, if it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. I don't measure. I just guess until the consistency is right.*

Recipe makes a lot of bites-perfect for sharing!

Goodbye Summer

{Thursday's By Tara} - A Thursday ritual. A featured post written by Tara; simple, special, extraordinary moments in soaping and life.

We tried our hardest to embrace summer to the fullest

and we sent out our summer vacation this year

with a short trip to the beach.

Our destination: Marco Island, FL

 Our mission: To soak up every last ray of sun and to feel the salt on our skin one last time before we got back to the routine and schedule that is the school year.

The results: Well, you’ll just have to take a look and see!

Summertime Fun

{Thursday's By Tara} - A Thursday ritual. A featured post written by Tara; simple, special, extraordinary moments in soaping and life.

I wanted to share with you a sampling of some of the fun we had this summer.

My hubby spent a whole week at Cub Scout camp with 3 of our boys.

They learned pocket knife and bb gun safety, practiced archery,

and even got to watch a real jousting tournament!

We started out our summer by going to our local Memorial Day parade.

We started this family tradition a few years ago and it's a very special

and meaningful day for our whole family.

My two oldest boys attempted to climb the Alpine ropes tower at our local YMCA.

It was a little scary, though!

We had a blast celebrating my oldest son's 9th birthday with a fishing party!

Our Family Vacation

{Thursday's By Tara} - A Thursday ritual. A featured post written by Tara; simple, special, extraordinary moments in soaping and life.

The many adventures of The Jackson family on vacation.

We recently returned from our 2 week vacation to the mountains.  It is quite an adventure taking 4 little boys, 2 parents, and 2 grandparents on a 13 hour road trip.   

  

Our first stop was in Blue Ridge, GA where we stayed in a log cabin that sits directly on a beautiful river that is in the center of all the tubing, kayaking, and fishing fun.   My boys spent the days hiking up the river with their poppy and daddy and then tubing back down to our cabin.  They enjoyed fishing also, although they didn't have much luck catching our dinner!  We enjoyed hiking, but with a 20 month old along for the trip, it ended up being a 1 time thing.

We made a stop in Pigeon Forge to celebrate my oldest son's 9th birthday at the Smoky Mountain Knife works and Bass Pro Shops.  He went through the pocket knife safety course at Cub Scout camp this summer, so he was prepared for getting a brand new  pocket knife!

Our last stop was in Sapphire, NC to stay at my grandfather's cabin for a few days.  My family has been visiting there since I was 2 years old, so it’s a huge treat to be able to take my own kids their now.   We took a few day trips, and we spent a whole day in Hendersonville, NC.  If you have never been there before, it is a neat little town that you should definitely visit.  They have a beautiful downtown shopping area that features a throwback soda shop, an awesomely delicious bakery that bakes everything from scratch, an entertaining toy store that allowed my kids to touch and play with anything (which is always a good thing), and a huge general store called Mast General.  The streets are lined with bears dressed up to represent different stores and local organizations.  My boys made a game out of posing with each bear along the way!

I hope that everyone is able to enjoy some time with your own families this summer, whether on a road trip or just staying at home.
Where has your summer taken you?

Off to the mountains

{Thursday's By Tara} - A Thursday ritual. A featured post written by Tara; simple, special, extraordinary moments in soaping and life.

Heading to the mountains!

Every year we take a family road trip to the mountains of North Carolina.  We spend our days hiking, playing games, visiting waterfalls, picking fruit at local orchards, and finding any kind of junk or antique shop we can!

Last year we added North Georgia to our trip and spent 10 days in a cabin that sits right on the Ocoee River.  My boys spent the days tubing and playing in the very chilly water, but they had the time of their lives.  We are headed up again next week and can’t wait!  I’ll be taking lots of pictures so I can share a little of our adventures with you when I get back.

Where are you headed this summer?

Free and Fun Summer Activities For Kids

{Thursday's By Tara} - A Thursday ritual. A featured post written by Tara; simple, special, extraordinary moments in soaping and life.

25 Free (or cheap) and Fun activities to entertain your kids this summer!
1.  Visit a local library and pick up a calendar of the children’s activities for the summer.
2.  Bake cookies and deliver them to a local fire station, they are usually more than happy to give the kids a quick tour and even let them sit in the fire truck.
3.  Take a swim in the local pool or splash park.  These place usually only charge a few dollars for a whole day of fun and leave you with tired kids.
4.  Make homemade play dough.
5.  Hook up a cheap garden sprinkler in the yard for hours of fun.
6.  Play at the local park.
7.  Have a theme day (ex. Wacky Wednesday).
8.  See a Dollar movie almost all theatres have the promotion going over the summer).
9.  Make a fort in the living room and pretend to be pirates, explorers, or even knights.
10.  Have PJ day.  Watch movies, eat popcorn, and most importantly stay in the those PJ’s all day!
11.  Bake a cake or cookies!  My kids love to bake with mom (or dad).
12.  VOLUNTEER!  Whether it’s the local food bank, a clothes closet, or at the local animal shelter you will leave feeling awesome and will have taught the kids an important lesson.
13.  Connect with other moms and plan fun days at each other’s houses.
14.  Be a tourist in your own town and go to a museum or park that you have never been to.

We visited a local science museum that we had never been to.  My boys loved getting to try out all of the experiments and hands on activities.
15.  Have a water balloon fight.
16.  Drive-in theatre (if you have one near you, they are cheap and so much fun for the kids).
17.  Freeze dance (play music and dance like crazy, when the music stops the last one dancing is out).
18.  Make a dream book.  Using magazines, let the children cut out photographs and draw pictures of things they’d like to have someday, places they’d like to go, careers they’d like to have one day and glue them into a dream book.  
19.  Make your own Popsicles.
20.  Jump rope.
21.  Join a summer reading program at your library or at Borders, Barnes & Noble.
22.  Have a scavenger hunt around the house.  Just make a list of things that you each have to find and the first one to collect all the items gets to pick the next activity.
23.  Go bowling.  Places like AMF offer free bowling for kids over the summer.

This is my oldest son at one of our first bowling trips. We used our free passes and all 3 kids bowled for free that day.
24.  Have a spelling bee at home.  Let the kids show off some new words they learned in school this year!
25.  Most importantly HAVE FUN!
I love to just take it easy and enjoy the free time with my kids over the summer. Stay up late and sleep in. And, remember to take a day or two to do absolutely nothing, just let the kids run wild and use their imaginations! If you're really brave and want to try all of these here’s an idea. Print out the list and cut each thing out. Then put them in a jar and have the kids pick a new one each day and that’s what they get to do!
So, which one will you try out first?

Natural Sun Burn Mask Recipe

{Thursday's By Tara} - A Thursday ritual. A featured post written by Tara; simple, special, extraordinary moments in soaping and life.

Sunshine and Summertime!

These two words bring to mind running through sprinklers in the yard, flying down a wet slip-n-slide, lazy days at the beach, and picnics with family and friends on The 4th of July.  My fondest memories growing up a Florida kid is of spending the long summer days in the yard with my cousins and because of the intense heat Florida provides, it ALWAYS involved water play.  It seems like more times than not I ended up with a pink nose and shoulders after spending too much time in the sun.  Sunscreen would have probably been a good idea, but I have learned from my time as a mom of 4 little boys, that it was probably nearly impossible for my mom to get me to slow down for 5 minutes to apply another coat.

So, I wanted to share with you a quick and easy mask you can whip up to soothe those sunburns and a few photos of my boys.

After spending time in the sun, and if your skin gets a little sunburned, a quick, no-cost and easy to make face pack will calm, soothe and help to improve appearance. You will look and feel softer and more even toned. This recipe is also great for acne prone skin.

Sunburned Mask:

Ingredients:

1 small potato, about 2-3 teaspoon of flour, a few drops of water as needed.

How to prepare:

Just take a grated peeled white potato and mix with enough white flour to make a consistency similar to pancake batter. Spread all over your face and wherever that needs a little soothing. Leave on for about 20-30 minutes and rinse off in cool water.

How to use:

Spread all over your face and wherever that needs a little soothing. Leave on for about 20-30 minutes and rinse off in cool water.

Results:

I use this often when my skin gets dry, dull or has been in the sun. My skin gets very soft and even toned.

I hope you enjoy your time spent outside in the beautiful sunshine this summer!