how to remove lipstick from your carpet with homemade carpet cleaner

If you're following along on Instagram, you know that we had a bit of a snafu a couple of weeks ago. My sweet, loving, spirited (which is to say, maddening) 3 year old broke out of his room during "nap time," grabbed 2 freebie tubes of Clinique lipstick from my makeup drawer, and went to town ALL OVER MY CARPET.

who, me?

And if you're joining us from Pinterest, I'm so so sorry that your carpet looks like a horror film. But friend, there is hope!

i joined a quilt club (and you can too!)

My favorite fabric store City Craft kicked off their Modern Quilting Club last night. You're probably picturing me sitting in a drab room full of little old ladies hand stitching fabric with kittens on it, right? Well, you couldn't be more wrong. Quilting has resurged in a huge way (like cooking, sewing, knitting, and all of those other useful crafts). Modern Quilting is its own little (huge) movement. Our little club has young women, older women, tattooed women, a kid, and a couple of men. So there!

This month's meeting was a show and tell. I was really excited (and relieved) to see that I wasn't the only one with limited experience. I've made a few quilts, but my technique is, how you say, nonexistent. I'm looking forward to learning from these super talented folks.

I left feeling so inspired and ready to start quilting right away. And then I thought, you guys might want to take part in this too! So here's my thought. For those of you not fortunate enough to live in Dallas, let's take this Modern Quilting Club online! 

easy garlic herb Focaccia bread

Ever since becoming a stay at home mom, I've had this burning desire to make a show stopping homemade loaf of bread. It's like some latent Suzy Homemaker gene that was always there has been kicked into overdrive. 

I've experimented with tons of recipes, but the perfect loaf was still alluding me. I guess that yoga-mat-plastic additive really is the difference between a dense homemade loaf and a super-soft store bought loaf.

Most of the recipes I've found are profoundly irritating because they tell you that you'll "just know when the dough is ready." Thanks, Julia Child. Kind of like gardening when the plants will just "tell you when it's time to split them / prune them / transplant them / water them."

Well, I don't speak plant and I don't speak dough.

Until now.

On our stay-at-home-mom budget, we don't have the leisure to eat out very often. I miss the warm, yummy focaccia and artisinal breads that they give you at Italian restaurants before your meal. I wanted something equally yummy to go with the Gorgonzola Pasta dish I shared with you last week.

I also needed a way to use the absurd amount of Oregano growing in my back yard.

perhaps I DO speak gardening

And, friends, here it is. This garlic herb Focaccia bread is a no guesswork recipe that even I couldn't screw up. I added lots of photos to help you along the way. It takes very little skill, but does require a bit of time. Save this for a weekend or a lazy rainy day.

Thumbs up. Let's do this.

THE GOODS:

• 5 cups flour. I used 3 cups all purpose and 2 cups bread flour, because that's what I had around. You can use a combination like I did, or just go with all purpose.
• 1-3/4 cups warm water (110°)
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon Kosher salt 
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
• Fresh herbs of your choosing (hearty ones like rosemary and oregano work great and stand up to the high temperatures in the oven) or dried Italian blend herbs
• 3 cloves fresh garlic

HOW TO:

STEP ONE: Proof your yeast. I microwaved my water in my measuring cup for 1.5 minutes until the temperature reached 110°. I don't like the guesswork of "warm" water - what's warm to me might not be to you. 110° - 115° is just the right temperature to make yeast happy. Add your yeast and sugar (aka yeast food), stir, and then leave it alone for 15 minutes.

before proofing

after proofing. very "fragrant" and puffy

STEP TWO: While the yeast is working, combine your flour, salt, and 1/2 cup olive oil in your Sir Mixalot. After your yeast concoction looks totally disgusting like the photo above, mix that in on low speed. Once the dough comes together, set your timer for 5 minutes and increase the speed to 4. If your mixer starts bucking like a bronco, reduce the speed to 2 and just mix 1 minute longer. 

If the dough is crazy-sticky, add a sprinkling of flour. If it's dry and stringy, add a tablespoon of warm water at a time until it looks like the photo below.

dough has just come together. set timer for 5 minutes and increase to speed 4.

dough has been kneading for 5 minutes and is ready to go.

STEP THREE: Transfer your dough to your work surface (which you've sprinkled with a bit of flour). Just knead it for a moment to get it into a ball. Place in an oiled bowl - use either olive oil or olive oil cooking spray - and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours, until it has doubled in size. I went to the grocery store, came back, and it was just right.

before rising

after rising 2 hours. see, it's huge.

STEP FOUR: Get out a jelly roll pan (or a cookie sheet with sides. Is that the same thing?) and drizzle the other 1/2 cup olive oil all over it. Yes, it looks ridiculous. Don't worry, your bread will soak all of that goodness up.

Plop your dough onto the sheet and start working it with your fingers like you're giving it a deep tissue massage. You want to poke holes with your fingers all through the dough as you stretch it to fill the cookie sheet. It should look like the cellulite on the back of your legs. Oh, you don't have cellulite? Well, I hate you. Eat 9 loves of this bread and then you will.

hey, it's starting to look like focaccia! as dimply as a baby's bottom.

STEP FIVE: It needs to rise again. Stop groaning, it will be worth it. Drape that plastic wrap you used earlier loosely over the top and let it rise again for an hour. Go paint your nails or have a cup of iced coffee or something. Preheat your oven to 425°. I have a convection oven, so that's actually 400° convection, if you care.

see? it's all big and fluffy-like.

STEP SIX: Chop up your fresh herbs and garlic cloves and sprinkle all over the top, like so. Also drizzle a bit more olive oil (because we haven't used enough already), Kosher salt, and black pepper over the top. If you like calamata olives or roma tomatoes, that would be delicious to add now as well. My family hates olives, so I couldn't add any. Life is tough.

pretty, pretty dough.

STEP SEVEN: Seven? Dear Lawd let's bake the friggin thing already. I'm starving. Bake your bread for 22-27 minutes. The top should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean (albeit slightly covered in olive oil). Remove from the oven and let it rest 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack. 

it's finally done!

It will be incredibly difficult not to dive in right this very second, but if you'll let it cool for 20 or 30 minutes, you will be rewarded with extra soft focaccia.

This bread is awesome for paninis, dunking in soup, or devouring alongside any pasta dish known to mankind. You can also slice it up and freeze it to thaw and enjoy later.

Hopefully you're feeling brave and give this recipe a shot. Let me know if you do!

Thanks to The Noble Pig for the Focaccia recipe inspiration and being the first Pinterest bread recipe ever that turned out like actual bread. They have lots of other great recipes up in there, so go take a peek.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:

pasta with gorgonzola cream sauce

white wine and asparagus risotto

bacon jalapeño cheesy skillet cornbread

super dreamy restaurant worthy tiramisu

house tour: our first place

It occurred to me the other night as I was falling asleep (which is when I get all of my great ideas...so irritating) that I reference "our first place" pretty often on the blog, and most of you have never seen it. You've seen our current house tour here and here, but not the old place. Time to fix that.

These photos were taken the week we put our house on the market back in March of 2013. The house sold in just one week, due in very large part to the staging. We made way more on the sale of this house than we ever expected. What, what! I'm not joking when I say that staging your home adds enormous value to your house.  That's not what this post is about, but seriously, stage your house.

I should reiterate that this was NOT real life. 1/4 of our possessions were packed up in our garage out of site. There isn't a stray toy, half folded basket of laundry, or rogue coffee mug to be found in these photos. But it was so nice to see what the house should have looked like if I had the time and energy to keep it "show ready" all the time. By now you guys know that's not me.

For your viewing pleasure, may I present to you our first place. Built in 1951, 1500 SF, 2 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, and basically perfect. Except for the lack of 3rd bedroom and really crummy school district!

homemade dog shampoo

I'll be the first to admit that we've been a bit lazy in the dog washing department since Max came on the scene. Stella the Great Dane is blowing her winter coat, which is to say that my entire house is covered in a layer of black fur. 

The weather was gorgeous outside so we thought it was a good day for a bath. The only problem - we were completely out of dog shampoo. Naturally.