Blog Wars Round 1 Voting

The first round of Blog Wars is up and open for votes!

We were each sent a sheet of black glittery iron on vinyl from Provo Craft to use for the first round and it was so much fun.  I am in love with the project I did and looking at the other projects it looks like every one else had a blast too!

We're not allowed to promote our own items so I'm just here to BEG you to go vote and I'll be crossing my fingers and saying a little prayer that mine is one of your favorites!

To vote head on over to Just Between Friends and pick your top 3 favorites!!  I am so excited but so insanely nervous, I don't want to be voted out in the first round!!! 

Paula and I will be keeping our minds off the wars as much as possible by celebrating the little boy's birthdays with their friends today!  Wish us luck that they finish working on the road in front of our houses so people can get there and that the weather cooperates!!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Riverton Housewives Round Up # 65

Welcome to the Riverton Housewives Round Up # 65!

  We want to see it all!  Recipes, crafts, organization, refashioning...whatever you can come up with!  The link up will be open from Wednesday to Sunday.

After linking up, please take some time to check out some of the other link and share the love! :-)

We only have a few rules to play at our party!

~You must be a follower of our blog.  (Feel free to follow us on Facebook too!)

~Please pick a couple of your favorites and link up.  Just make sure it's nothing you've linked up with us before!

~Make sure you link back to our blog somewhere in your post or on your blog.  (A text link will be fine, but we do have a great button over there on the right you can use too!)

~Please no giveaways or Etsy shops.

If you have been featured, be sure to check out our Pinterest where we have pinned all your awesome creations!

Also as a reminder, if we can't save a photo or link to the URL we can't feature your awesome stuff.

So get to linking up!  We can't wait to see all the amazing stuff you all have to share!

Here is what we LOVED from last Round Up!

Pots, Pans, Pins and Prayers shared this delicious looking recipe for Peanut Butter Brownie Towers!  I suggest you go out RIGHT NOW to get the ingredients to make this tonight!

If you have ever wondered how to get the perfect chevron pattern, 2 Crafty 4 My Skirt shared this awesome tutorial on How To Tape Off A Chevron Pattern!

Grandparents Plus shared this quick and easy recipe for Crock Pot Orange Chicken!  Orange Chicken made with my FAVORITE Orange Soda...YES PLEASE!

And our MOST VIEWED...

Is this super cute Garden Art from Kathe With An E!  If you are looking for a fun way to spruce up your garden check out Kathe's tutorial!

Thanks so much to all of our friends that have linked up!  Be sure to link up all your new things and remember to link back to us!

Challah Bread Recipe

A few weeks ago, I shared this recipe as a guest post for my friend Amber's wonderful blog, Dessert Now, Dinner Later.  She has some of the most amazing recipes ever!  You should really go check her blog out!

Anyway, I was SOOOOO dang proud of how this Challah Bread turned out, I had to share it here too!

My grandparents had food booths at local fairs and festivals while Jenn and I were younger. Our family still does our favorite fair every summer and one of the other food booths sells the most delicious french toast made with Challah Bread.  Ever since the first time I ate it, I wanted to learn how to make Challah bread.  I always assumed it was so hard, but when I found this recipe from The Kitchn, I knew I had to give it a try.

Challah Bread

Lightly Adapted from The Kitchn

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 cup warm water

4 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar + 1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk (reserve egg white for egg wash)

1/4 oil (can use melted butter also)

Dissolve your yeast into your warm water, add 1/4 teaspoon sugar.  Stir and let set until a frothy layer is on top of the yeast mixture.

Whisk together your flour, remaining sugar and salt in a medium bowl.  Make a well in the middle of your dry ingredients, add your eggs + egg yolk and oil.  Whisk together, creating a slurry, pulling a little of the flour mixture from the sides.  (Do not mix it with ALL the flour mixture yet.)  Pour the yeast mixture over the egg slurry and mix to form a rough dough ball.  I found that using a wooden spoon worked best for this.  

Turn your dough out on to a floured surface and using your remaining 1/4 cup of flour, knead for about 8-10 minutes.  Your dough should be smooth and slightly tacky.  

Form into a ball and place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours).

Cut your dough into 3 equal if doing a traditional braid or 6 equal sections for a braid like I did.  (The Kitchn has a perfect, photographic step by step on how to do a 6 rope braid.)  Roll each section out into a rope about 16 inches long.  Squeeze the top of the sections together and braid together.  When finished squeeze the ends together and tuck under.  

Drape with a dish cloth and let rise for about an hour.  

About 20 minutes before baking, preheat your oven to 350°F and add 1 tablespoon of water to your remaining egg white to create an egg wash.  Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the egg white on the bread taking care to get in all the creases.

Bake for 15 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake another 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool.  Slice, serve and enjoy!

We ate this with dinner and luckily had enough left over to make some delicious french toast the next morning!

Thanks Amber for letting us share your blog!