Today, I’m so excited to return to blogging! It’s been a long time, friends. If you’re feeling adventurous, scroll down and take a look at the last time I posted. Yup– November of 2013.
Lots has happened in my life since I’ve posted! I’ve been totally engrossed in being a newlywed, and my family and I have been burrowing in our new house. To top it off, I’ve been entirely focused on my day job. Life has been hectic, and I stepped away from the blog to soak in the joy that is my new life.
….but lately I’ve been missing cooking and sharing. So what changed that is luring me back into the blogiverse? Well, for starters, I got all new kitchen appliances! Nothing says, “it’s time to create” like a new cooktop, a new dishwasher, and *drumroll….* a beautiful french door refrigerator! Sometimes it’s the little things in life that bring you back to what you’ve missed. For me, that’s family, food, and creating! The kitchen is getting a lot of use lately!
This year, I also became a doTERRA user. (don’t close this window! Hang on- I’m not going to try to sell you anything. Stay with me here.) DoTERRA is a company founded by a group of professionals that wanted to share their life enhancing experience with essential oils. I got involved because a good friend of mine started changing. She was happier, seemed much healthier, and she also smelled good all of the time. I’m not kidding– I could just walk being her sniffing all day long, and I would have been a happy camper! When I asked her what she was doing differently that caused her to glow, she told me about doTERRA and shared some samples with me. Well, since then, I’ve been hooked. I love what they’ve done for me, my family, and our health. I also discovered that I can cook with essential oils!
So, today I’m sharing a recipe that I made today using Wild Orange Essential Oil. If you don’t have this product, you can substitute an extract, however I really recommend trying to locate a Wellness Advocate that can hook you up with some samples. If you like them, then you can either buy or become a Wellness Advocate yourself. No pressure. Remember- I’m not here to sell anything. There are lots of essential oil users that are clamoring for recipes, so this goes out to those folks as well as those with a new-found curiosity for oils.
To make things even easier I used my other love, my bread machine, to make this delicious loaf. The flavors of the fresh herbs, along with the subtle hint of orange, make for a special hint of unexpected (and delightful!) flavor. Making ordinary bread machine bread into something extraordinary is always fun!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of flour
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil
- 2/3 cups of milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon of parsley, chopped
- 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast
- 3 drops of wild orange essential oil
Directions
Lightly spray bread machine pan with a non-stick coating. Add ingredients according to your bread machine instructions. For me, I just dump everything in together and add the yeast in last. This time, since I was using essential oil, I combined that with the liquids first and then added everything else on top. Use the Basic/White setting with a medium colored crust. Start the machine. Sit back. Wait. When the machine is done, allow to cool and then enjoy!
