Esther's ladybug cake. The birthday girl... in a little bit of a sugar daze.

Mom made this adorable matching outfit for Esther and her new baby-doll. We got a couple of pictures before heading off for church.

This is her flirtatious look. She had just been looking at the camera and then quickly tucked her chin into her shoulder with that little smirk... "I'm so cute and funny..."Some big smiles for Daddy.

I thoroughly enjoy recipes that are both very delicious and very easy. So today I'm going to share one of the recipes that has been given a "star" for both categories by all in our household. Today's recipe is for

Cuban Bread
5-6 cups flour (2 c whole & 3 c white works great)
2 T. yeast
2 T. sugar
1 T. salt

Mix ingredients together. Pour 2 cups of warm water over dry ingredients.
Mix in your mixer for 5 minutes.
Let rest 5 minutes.
Form into a loaf. Place loaf on greased cookie sheet.
On bottom rack, place 9x13 pan half-full of boiling water.
Put bread into the cold oven. Turn oven to 400 degrees and bake for about 40-50 min.

The result is a terrific tasting bread with a great crust - it's a little like french bread. One of the things I really love about this recipe - besides the fact that it's super fast - is that it's also super versatile. I halved this recipe and made two soup bowls for dinner last week. Yum. Last night for the super bowl I made half the recipe to go with our hot spinach dip. Super yum. The possibilities are limitless.