Beer Bread

I decided to bake for some of our Christmas gifts this year. I have my office Christmas party tomorrow night and wanted to bring everyone some sort of gift, so the cheapest thing to do was bake. Court gave me the recipe for Beer Bread. She said it was easy, and no offense, but if Court says it's easy, it has got to be EASY! hehe (jk court, you really are a good cook!!!) So anyway, since this recipe only called for 3 ingredients and didn't take much prep work, I decided to do a trial run last night before I made all six loafs tonight. Here's the recipe:

1 cup sugar
3 cups self rising flour
1 can of beer (12 oz.)

So i mixed it in the mixer and in less than a minute it was done, ready to be poured into a loaf pan. In the mean time I still had our dinner cooking in the oven, so i set aside the bread to be put in the oven as soon as the quiche was done. I came back into the kitchen after about 2o mins and realized that the bread had already risen. It was HUGE, overflowing on the sides! So i quickly put it in the oven with our quiche thinking that as soon as the heat hits it, it will die down...oh no. It only got bigger and bigger and bigger. It was all over the oven by the time it was done. But sure enough after 1 hour at 350 degrees, it wasn't pretty, but it sure did taste good! So now that I've learned that I have to put it in the oven as soon as I mix it up, I will make my other 6 loaves tonight.
But, seriously, now that you have learned, from me, the only mistake you can make with this bread, you should try it. It's the easiest thing in the world and it taste awesome. It's that sweet kind of bread that you don't need any butter with!!! I bought green cellophane that I will wrap them up with and tie it off with a pretty red bow! How cheap and easy of a gift is that?

Finally some Pictures!

This weekend was the best weekend i've had in a while. There are many reasons for the wonderfulness of the weekend. To start out, I got up at 6:30am on Saturday morning to get ready and be at the testing place to take the GRE at 8:00am. This is my second time taking the test because the first time I didn't make the score that I was hoping for. So, I was back again taking the test. Thank the Lord I made my goal score and was out of there by 11:30am. Enough time to still enjoy my Saturday! But I was so excited and so thankful that the Lord answered many prayers (thanks to all those praying for me Sat morning)!


Reason #2 why this weekend was great: We got to stay home and enjoy a relaxful weekend while in the midst of our Christmas decor! Mama came up last Tuesday night and helped me decorate my tree. It was so fun to have her come up on a random night to hang out and decorate! She def has that decorating eye and I can always use that help! Mama made the big bow on top of the tree and she also made all the small bows to go as ornaments on the tree! I have been spoiled by her help this year, so I hope she can come back and help me every year from here on out!

This weekend I even started wrapping a few gifts to put under the tree. I have to go back to walmart today to get some more boxes to finish up the wrapping!

Our ornament we got the day we got engaged (and we actually got engaged a year ago today! Dec 8, 2007

Our Make-shift mantle

This is my centerpeice on our coffee table

The cute coffe cups that J's mom bought us a few weeks ago!

The beginnings of our Willow Tree Nativity Scene

The wreath for our door

Our new Christmas China

Reason #3: Jonathan's co-worker needed someone to watch her dog for the weekend and J of course volunteered our services. I was a little hesitant to take in a strange dog for the weekend, but there was no reason to worry. Maggie was the sweetest, most well mannered, obedient dog i've ever been around. She is a boxer and so much fun. We had the best time taking her on long walks. Saturday afternoon we went to the Savannah River Walk and took a long stroll to wear Maggie out. She was pooped the rest of the afternoon as we watched football, read, and took naps! Even last night as me and J got Chinesse take out and ate in front of the TV, she didn't even seem to care that there was food within inches from her. I'm used to Beau and Gracie (mama and daddy's dogs) that will beg and beg for people food, so this was very suprising to me. Maggie slept on the floor right beside our bed each night, J woke up on Saturday morning with her licking his hand (hanging off the bed). She was so much fun and an entertainment for our weekend! Maggie is def welcome back to our house anytime, even though now J has dog fever and wouldn't stop talking about us getting a dog.