How I Make Bread

How I Make Bread

March 21, 2025

I’d love to share with you how I make bread. For the longest time, I was intimidated by making bread from scratch. I thought it was difficult or required fancy techniques or equipment. I don’t know what gave me that impression, humans have been making bread for thousands of years. Jesus said "Man shall not live by bread alone," but sometimes I wonder if a woman like me could. If they could make it in Bible times, surely it can’t be that hard.

We hopped on the sourdough bandwagon for a while, but I didn’t like the pressure of needing to feed my starter all the time and bake bread so often. No one is the boss of me, especially not some weird blob of flour and water in my fridge. So instead, I have perfected a couple of simple recipes using instant yeast that you can make when you actually want to. Is anything better than the smell of freshly baked bread?

How I Make No-Knead Artisan Bread

I love a loaf of rustic, crusty artisan bread with big holes inside. Probably what we all think of when we think of a sourdough loaf. It’s so easy to make, it’s stupid. It’s literally just water, flour, salt, and yeast. You don’t need a mixer or even to knead it, you just need time.

I combine everything in a glass bowl in the morning, cover it with plastic wrap, and bake it while I’m making dinner. You can also let it rise overnight and cook it in the morning. It just needs 8-12 hours to rise. The secret is to bake it at a high temperature with a lid for part of the time. For best results, I use a ceramic dish with a lid like this one. You could also use a Dutch oven like this one.

You can add “everything bagel seasoning” to the top. WinCo sells it, or you can make your own. I’ve also added rosemary and thyme to the dough for herb bread that’s especially good with beef stew. You can add garlic and/or cheese to the dough. Or just leave it plain and slather some butter on there or dip it in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, now we’re talking.

How I Make Crescent Rolls

I grew up making crescent rolls with my mom and I love making them with my kids. Not to be confused with croissants, the fancy French pastry that I made once in 2020, but never tried making again. Crescent rolls are very easy to make. Again, it’s just time that you need. They take 3-4 hours to rise, so you need to plan ahead. But I’m telling you, it’s worth it.

If you have a KitchenAid or similar stand mixer, that really comes in handy for sandwich bread and dinner rolls, including crescents. There’s no way I’m going to knead my dough by hand, just no. If you don’t have one, they are pretty pricey, but you can usually find them for sale second-hand on Facebook marketplace.

This recipe can also be used to make sandwich bread, just cook it in a loaf pan, and it works great. You can shape the dough into breadsticks or garlic knots. Just top them with melted butter, garlic powder, salt, and grated parmesan cheese. I also use the same recipe for pizza dough when we’re making homemade pizza. You don’t need to let it rise at all, so it’s a super quick dinner. I’ve also used this as the base for cinnamon rolls.

With a little planning, you can make delicious bread for your family or impress your friends at the next potluck. Your secret will be safe with me that it costs like $0.14 to make that fancy loaf of artisan bread. I promise you’ll feel like a domestic goddess when you start baking your own bread. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

What Can I Cook For Dinner Tonight? (with free PDF)

What Can I Cook For Dinner Tonight? (with free PDF)

March 13, 2025

Why does it seem like every single day I’m asking “What can I cook for dinner tonight?” Whatever I choose, one of the kids will inevitably say “Ugh, I hate that!” And if I’m honest, it doesn’t sound that great to me either. So I end up making grilled cheese sandwiches again. Or I get a hot and ready pizza because it’s not any cheaper to make dinner myself. 

I love cooking for my family, it’s deciding what to cook that’s the real challenge. There is a better way. It starts with a guided brainstorming session and a plan. Then you won’t dread the question that we all have to answer every single night: “What’s for dinner?”

Find Some Good Cookbooks

I wanted to make a list of go-to dinners that are easy to make that most of my family won’t complain about. Many people find recipes online, but I hate how long it takes to scroll through all the sites and stories about your grandma and all the variations and I just can’t. When I do find one I like, I can never remember which one I actually ended up using, so I can’t find it when I want to make it again. 

I prefer a cookbook with real pages I can thumb through to get inspired. There’s something about a well-loved page smeared with soy sauce or butter stains because I’ve come back again and again to this tried and true recipe. I found that most of the recipes I love came mainly from two cookbooks.

Real Simple is great because it’s divided by season and the title is not wrong, they’re easy and delicious recipes. It has beautiful pictures, so it's very easy to get inspired. They are a bit on the gourmet side, but nothing too weird.

Betty Crocker is a classic that I grew up with and the recipes have stood the test of time. I use it most often when I'm baking, but there are some good dinner ideas that I use as well.

Natasha’s Kitchen was recommended to me by a friend and I’ve been eyeing it for a while. Her website has a bunch of recipes I’d like to try, so let me know what you think.

Make a Recipe Bank

For my brainstorming session, it helped me to think in terms of protein. I wanted to find five recipes that used four different proteins: beef, chicken, pork, and seafood/other. Then I tried to think of categories like Mexican, Asian, Italian, etc. My family likes to eat flavorful foods from lots of different cultures. But if your family enjoys more traditional all-American recipes, no judgment here. I want you to find something that gets you excited and that you would look forward to eating. 

Having 20 recipes is a great starting point. My recipe bank is always a work in progress. Sometimes I find a new recipe I want to try, so I add to it. Sometimes meals don’t go as well as I hoped they would, so I cross them off. I have my recipe bank printed on my fridge so I can mark it off when I make each dish. Once all the recipes are marked off, I start over.

Leftovers Are Key

The next secret is making a plan to only cook three nights a week. Leftovers are a girl's best friend because you get a delicious home-cooked meal without the work. If your family isn’t into leftovers, just encourage them to give it a try, it’s not going to kill them to eat the same thing two days in a row. It will save you time and money too. 

Some nights are busier than others, so even if you cook two nights in a row, just plan to have leftovers the next two nights. But definitely plan to cook enough food that your whole family can eat the same meal for two nights. For example, I work late on Wednesday nights, so we usually have leftovers that night.

 My Meal Plan For The Week

Make a Plan For The Week

I like to plan on the weekend, so my week starts on Monday. Then I go grocery shopping for the week all at once. If you cook three times a week your 20 recipes will get you through almost 7 weeks. If you only have recipes you love, you’ll always be excited to cook. This has been a game-changer for me. 

Fill out the contact form with "meal plan" as the message and I'll send you a free PDF. You can print the Weekly Meal Plan, laminate or frame it to use it again and again. There's also a Recipe Bank you can print and fill up with all your favorite recipes. I hope these tools will inspire you and help you stay organized. Drop a comment with some of your go-to dinners that your family loves.