Making Your Own Frozen French Bread Dough

October 18, 2021October 16, 2021 RefreshHer5 Comments

So, I had a little accident last week. I decided to make my French Bread recipe for a meal I was preparing for guests that were coming the next day. We were having a Bible Conference at our church and I thought I had plenty of time to get the bread baked before it was time to leave. Well, I misjudged the time and realized after I’d made the dough and had it rising in the bowl for the first rise that I wouldn’t have time to bake the bread and still be on time for the service. Ahhhh! I was frustrated at myself for not calculating the time correctly!

Then I had a thought…

I wonder if I can freeze the dough after it rises in the bowl?

So often when I wonder if something would freeze well, I simply let my mind wander the aisles of the frozen goods at the grocery store. Then I realized, “Yes! I know they sell frozen frozen loaves that are ready to set out and rise, so surely I could shape these loaves and freeze them before I leave for church!”

I took the bread and shaped it into the French loaves and placed them on a greased baking sheet.

I covered them with Syran Wrap and put them in the freezer and headed out for our Bible conference at church. Then before I went to bed that night, I took the loaves out of the freezer and placed them in the fridge to thaw overnight.

When I was ready to bake them, I set them on the counter where they rose for about 30 minutes. Then I finished as the recipe says, and cut the slits on top and baked them as usual.

They rose beautifully and my husband told me they were better than any other time I’ve made them!

This was a really happy accident! Now I know I can work ahead and get the dough made way ahead of time. It’s nice to know I can just have bread loaves hanging out in the freezer until I need them! Working ahead is my favorite way to prep meals!

So, first of all, let me say that this recipe is super easy! Now you know how to prep the first part and freeze them. Then when you’re ready for a hot loaf of homemade French Break all you’ll need is about 45 minutes total to let them rise and bake them! It doesn’t get fresher than that!

Have you tried freezing bread dough? Here’s a roll recipe that freezes great too, and is our favorite for special meals like Thanksgiving!

I hope you’ll give this freezing method a try!

Charcuterie Boards · Fall · picnic food · The Scenic Route

Charcuterie Board Meets Scenic Route

October 15, 2021October 14, 2021 RefreshHer6 Comments

These fall days will pass quickly and we’ll be experiencing cold weather that will push us indoors faster than garlic burns! Therefore, we are trying to enjoy these gorgeous days by taking some drives on the Scenic Route!

We met some dear friends up on a mountain last weekend and my husband and his buddy Rick decided we’d have a charcuterie snack board! You see, these two hike together and it’s become Rick’s new creation to use his bandanna as his “charcuterie board!” Dale has also become quite a good hand at creating great spreads on a board!

I keep a tablecloth in my picnic basket so when we want to eat a meal out somewhere, I already have a cover for the table.

Dale gathered the items he wanted to take and I helped with the presentation. I brought along one of my cutting boards and some cute napkins. I found those cute autumn favor cups at The Dollar Tree. I was impressed at how sturdy they are! They were perfect for the candy, pretzels and apple slices. The other additions to our board were a couple candy bars and muffins.

I failed to get a picture of Rick’s board, but he brought carrots, almonds, beef jerky, cookies, and cheese and as I said, he spreads his treats on a bandannas. His wise wife has purchased new bandannas strictly to use for his hiking charcuterie boards!

It was so much fun to sit at the picnic table and nibble off of the goods on the boards as we chatted and enjoyed the gorgeous views!

The Scenic Route is full of fun adventures and this kind of picnic was easy to pull together and fun to enjoy! The possibilities are endless. Consider:

Grapes
Cheeses
Chips & Salsa
Lunch meats
Crusty bread and Olive oil for dipping
Veggies
Hummus
Crackers
Olives
Nuts

Why not pack up goodies for a Scenic Route picnic and enjoy a charcuterie lunch or snack on the road? Make a special fall memory before the snow flies.

Refresh your picnics with something fun!

Encouragement · Pastor

Encouraging Your Pastor

October 13, 2021October 12, 2021 RefreshHer2 Comments

When you think of your energy level on Sunday evening after a day of being in God’s house, where would you rank it? A 2 or 3? Yeah, It thought so. There’s a good reason for that, and its has to do with more than wrestling the patent leather shoes onto a three year-old.

Every Sunday when you get yourself (and perhaps your family) ready and head out the door to worship, you are doing battle – a spiritual one. Satan doesn’t want you there where you’ll hear the Word of God. He doesn’t want your marriage strengthened and your children in a place where they’ll be taught Truth from the Bible, and so he fights us. Attitudes get out of whack, you fight to concentrate on the messages, your children are the crankiest on that day. By the end of the Sunday services, we’ve done real battle with the enemy – and it’s exhausting!

If the believer in the pew is fighting a spiritual battle, imagine what your pastor is facing as he endeavors to stand in the pulpit and preach the Word of God! He sees people nodding off, passing notes, flipping through their phones, or looking uninterested, and the devil plants seeds of discouragement in him. He fights with just wanting to sit down and quit. He struggles to remember passages of Scripture or the next illustration. The power point is almost sure to fail during his most important point – even though he spent much time and effort putting it together to aid the preaching of the Word.

It’s for all these reasons and many more that every pastor desperately needs the prayer of the saints. I’ve made a list of some of my favorite passages of Scripture to pray for my husband or whoever will be in the pulpit at our church. Here are the verses I like to pray, with a brief description:

II Thessalonians 1:11,12 – For God to make him worthy of his calling to preach.

I Timothy 1:12 – Thankful for the calling to the ministry.

II Timothy 2:7 – That he might have understanding.

II Timothy 2:9b – That he might remember that the Word of God is not bound.

Titus 1:3 – That he would remember that the Word of God is manifested through preaching.

Ephesians 6:19, 20 – That utterance would be given to him and he would preach with boldness.

II Corinthians 4:1-6 – That he would preach the Word with sincerity and to magnify Christ.

Colossians 1:9-14 – That he would walk worthy of the Lord.

After you spend some time praying through some passages of Scripture for your pastor, why not write him a note or send a text and let him know that you’ve prayed specifically for his preaching? It’s sure to refresh him and encourage him as he heads to the pulpit to deliver God’s Word.

Will you pray for your pastor and then let him know?

Refresh your pastor,

Comfort Food · Dinner

What To Do With that Ham Bone?

October 11, 2021October 8, 2021 RefreshHer6 Comments

Holiday meals are creeping up on us, believe it or not! Last weekend I baked a Smithfield Brown sugar glazed ham (it’s one of the best I’ve ever bought!). After I sliced all the meat off, I tucked the bone into a freezer bag and put it in the fridge. I knew that bone had all kinds of possibilities! I usually always make Senate Bean Soup with our Christmas ham bone, but I wanted to venture out and try a new recipe.

I found this a recipe for Creamy Ham and Potato Soup and it sounded savory and delicious. It also didn’t take hours to make! The recipe suggested making ham stock with the bone and using that as the base of the soup. That’s exactly what I did. All that took was popping the bone into a stock pot with water to cover and simmering it for an hour. Easy peasy.

Here’s the simple recipe with my slight changes:

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

NGREDIENTS

1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup large carrot peeled and diced
1/2 cup diced celery
3 cups peeled and diced potatoes
4 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 cups cooked ham, diced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour)
2 cups Ham Stock or chicken broth
2 teaspoons chicken Bouillon
3 cups milk
1 pinch of salt, if needed
fresh cracked black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the butter in a pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion, carrots, celery until beginning to soften (about 4 minutes).
Add the potatoes, cook for 2 minutes, then add the garlic and sauté until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
Mix the flour through and cook for 2 minutes.
Stir in stock and bouillon and ham, mixing all ingredients together. Increase heat and bring to a boil until potatoes are ‘just’ fork tender, about 10-12 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium-low, add the milk and stir over the heat until thickened (about 5 minutes).
Add more and salt and pepper, as needed
Serve warm.

This was so savory! I was so happy to make such good use of that flavorful ham bone! It made a whole pot of ham stock, so now I also have more frozen for a couple more recipes of this wonderful soup!

To make your own ham stock, place the ham bone in a stock pot and cover with water. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Discard bone. How easy is that?!

If you don’t have a ham bone on hand, you can purchase a bone at Honey Bake Ham! But I’d also encourage you to save this for those holiday hams in your future!

Here are a couple of our other favorite savory soups:
Sausage Corn Chowder
Chicken Gnocchi

Happy ham bone season!

home accessories · Home decor

One Decorating Tip To Instantly Enlarge Your Room

October 8, 2021April 8, 2025 RefreshHer3 Comments

This summer I redecorated our bedroom and I am in love with the way it turned out. It’s so much more inviting and it functions so much better!

I’ve sung Myquillyn Smith’s praises before here on my blog, but that won’t keep me from telling you again that her decorating steps have transformed my house! In her book, Cozy Minimalist Home, she gives the order that one should follow when decorating a space. I won’t go through the steps, but I do encourage you to get her book if you’re looking to refresh a room you hate! The “fix” won’t be found in Target’s pillow aisle or Hobby Lobby’s canvas prints. Trust me…those things need to wait. Get the book; you’ll be so glad you did!

I will tell you one secret she shared that has transformed my bedroom when I redid it this summer. Ready?

Hang the drapes high and wide!

You won’t believe the difference it will make in the room. Let me show you my visual! When I was redoing our bedroom, I took a picture with one window where the drapes were on suspension rods in the window and the other window was hung HIGH and WIDE.

Does the window on the left look much bigger? It’s all because of the placement of the drapes!

The lighting was poor in the picture above, but you can definitely see the difference, right?! Just stepping into the room now there is a “Wow!” factor simply because the windows look so much bigger!

I’m on a mission now to rehang all the drapes in the house! It will take time because I’ll need longer lengths. Buying 96″ or 102″ is usually what is needed.

Here’s the bedroom to date. I’m still hoping to paint and hang replace the fan with a light fixture, but I’m loving where it is at this moment!

Let’s do a side by side before and after. I’m being vulnerable to show this before picture! Ugh! I’m just glad it’s much better now!

Next week I’ll share with you my bargain finds and more details about what went into the room makeover, but for today I hope you’re inspired to

Hang those drapes high and wide!

Are you drapes up high or do you need to make some changes?