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Melinda's books

I Am Watching You
The Maid
Hopeless
It Ends with Us
Unmissing
The All New Ball Book Of Canning And Preserving: Over 200 of the Best Canned, Jammed, Pickled, and Preserved Recipes
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Jurassic World: The Official Cookbook
Halo: The Official Cookbook
Ugly Love
Verity
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Moonlight Child
Becky: The Heartbreaking Story of Becky Watts by Her Father Darren Galsworthy
Freed
Drowning in Stars
Behind Her Eyes
The Girl in the White Van
Regretting You
Defending Jacob


Melinda Haiden's favorite books »

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CopyCat Del Taco Chicken Tacos

Living in Arizona for 13 years of my adolescent life I grew up loving Del Taco. My parents would get take out there often. My sister, Michelle, that was her favorite taco out. If we did take out one night, Michelle always wanted Del Taco over anything else. She loves the chicken tacos. Now that I live in Ohio, Del Taco is not really out here. I have found 1 or 2 but they are some distance away from us. So, I decided to try and make that for my Sunday Family Movie night pick. Tonight, is my pick and I drew Mexican food so why not give it a try.  Marinade: 3 Large Chicken (I used thin chicken breast), diced 1 Lime, juiced 1 tbsp Taco Seasoning  1 tbsp Soy Sauce 1 tsp Garlic Powder 1 tsp Onion Powder 1 tsp Chicken Bouillon Powder 1/4 tsp Paprika Place all ingredients above into a ziplock, shake well and marinade for 30 minutes to an hour. I found the longer the better flavor.  White Sauce: 1 cup Mayo 1 Lime, juiced Whisk together in a bowl until smooth, set aside until ready for assembly.

Homemade Bread

I have been using this recipe, Kristopher, Kailee and I created for years now. We roughly go through about 5 to 6 loaves of bread a week; the kids just love this bread. We use it to make french bread (YUP!!), french bread pizza, french toast hamburger buns, hotdog buns, really any sandwiches that we like and the BEST dinner rolls ever!! This recipe will make 2 loaves of bread, you can also double or triple it without any issues (as I have easily done this).

For me, buying bread at the grocery store is out of the question; they add WAY to much JUNK to the breads, that is not needed at all. The only issue I have is I need a bread slicer, that is the ONLY issue I have with this bread is the slicing is always too thick. I have begged Daniel over and over to find me a slicer (in bamboo) for the right size slices (maybe for my Birthday in August!) *One can hope!*

You Will Need:

6 Cups Organic All-Purpose Flour
2 1/2 tsp. Bob's Red Mill Yeast
2 tsp. Pink Himalayan Salt
2 Cups Warm Water
1/3 Cup Melted Organic Butter
1/3 Cup Organic Agave






First thing you want to do, is add your warm water, melted butter, and agave into your stand mixer. Sprinkle your yeast in, and mix lightly with a spatula. Allow this to rise 5 minutes...


Then add your salt and flour into the bowl, mix, and allow this to rise for 40 minutes to an hour.  It will look like the above picture, bubble and smelling amazing!


Add the last 3 cups of flour, and start mixing with your dough hook attachment (purchase here). If it looks sticky, like it does in the above picture, start by adding 1/4 cup extra until it forms a ball without being sticky.


I added 1/4 cup more

Perfect little dough ball, waiting my me to rise and cook off!! YUM


Rise another 60 minutes in a warm area in your kitchen, I place mine in my microwave (microwave off, oven on) covered with a towel


After rising, knead the dough to remove any air bubbles, you may hear them pop, then cut with a knife or dough cutter, shape and place in your bread pans, greased with butter, or coconut oil. (I chose butter)


Allow to rise until just about over the pans, about 30 minutes (they will rise a bit more once they hit the oven so do not over do it!)


Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes (always works for me) tap on the top of the bread if it sounds hollow then the bread is fully cooked, take out of the oven and allow to cool 5 minutes, remove from pan and continue to cool for 1 hour on a cooling rack. 


Okay... After all that work it is finally time to ENJOY your homemade bread! Let me be the first to tell you, you will NEVER go back to store bought, my recipe is amazing, fluffy and super simple to make. In fact, my daughter Kailee and son Kristopher helped me out with this batch; that is why we made two small breads and two big loaves. 

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