Fresh Tomato & Olive Oil Pasta

Fresh Tomato and Olive Oil Pasta

I’m a huge pasta person, I love me some carbs. 

So I am always looking for ways to mix up my pasta dishes (macaroni & cheese gets a little old sometimes).

I’d always been curious about those olive oil pasta dishes – they seemed light and yummy, and probably easy to make.

I then decided to come up with my own, based upon spices that I enjoy.

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Homemade Soft Pretzels

 

Soft Pretzels

I don’t know about you, but I can’t go to any sports game, festival or theme park without forking over the 5+ bucks for a delicious soft pretzel. Sad thing is, I’m not at those places very often. 

Solution!

pretzel

I give you NO YEAST Homemade Soft Pretzels. 

I absolutely adore these. They don’t come with the grease you get with the commercial ones, they’re super simple, AND they don’t require any yeast. Bonus, right!?

dough

First you gotta throw the first six ingredients in a bowl and mix them all up (DO NOT put the egg in the dough!!) After you have your dough all ready, plop it on the counter. divide it in two and give it a good knead.

Then comes the frustrating part. Letting it sit under your bowl for fifteen minutes. UGGGGH, I hate recipes that make you leave your dough to rest. But! It’s for the best. So we let it sit. This is when I’ll get my pans ready, decide what toppings I want, maybe catch a couple minutes of Friends (my latest obsession). 

dough4

Yay! Time’s up and we can start making stuff! Time to divide each ball into four pieces. (I doubled my recipe here, so your balls may be smaller than these ones appear to be). 

Then you gotta roolllll your balls out into long snake like ropes. I recommend not putting too much flour on your dough, as I find that if the dough sticks to the counter a little bit, it’s easier to roll. Anywho, roll that bad boy out until it’s around a foot, maybe just over a foot long. 

Then comes the tricky part! The ol’ pretzel shape. Basically you grab both ends, twist them around each other, then fold them back down over the loop! Easy explanation right!? Hah. Just google a picture of a pretzel and you’ll figure it out. 

pretzelshape

Next, you plop those wonky pretzel shapes on your pan, give them a good egg wash bath, sprinkle on your favourite toppings (mine is salt, maybe cinnamon sugar sometimes), and pop them in the oven for about ten minutes!

pretzel

And bam! There ya have it. Yummy homemade pretzels that don’t break the bank, or leave you feeling greasy and gross.

pretzel

Homemade Soft Pretzels

The perfect soft pretzel recipe to fulfill that carb craving, without all the greasiness!

Prep Time 30 mins
Total Time 40 mins
Course Appetizer, Snack
Servings 8 pretzels

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 cups flour plus 2 tbsp
  • 2/3 cups milk
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 egg
  • toppings salt, cinnamon, oats

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 425°F.

  • Stir together the flour, milk, vegetable oil, baking powder, sugar and salt to make a soft dough.
  • Sprinkle 2 tbsp of flour on the counter. Divide dough into two balls. Knead it.
  • Put bowl upside down over balls for 15 minutes.
  • Divide each ball into four balls, resulting in eight total balls. Roll each ball into a long rope, about a foot in length and form into pretzel shape.
  • Spray cookie sheet and place pretzels on pan.
  • Beat egg and brush over pretzels. Sprinkle on your desired topping.
  • Place in the oven for 9-11 minutes, or until slightly golden brown.
  • Let cool, then dig in!

Notes

You can also create pretzel bites for dipping if you'd prefer. Instead of forming the rope into the pretzel shape, leave the rope straight and cut into eight pieces. Place on the pan, egg wash and sprinkle with salt, and cook for about 8 minutes. Yum!
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