It's not Auntie Anne's...but pretty darn close!!

Let's hear it for the ever so popular Pretzels from Auntie Anne's!! Woot Woot!! And not forget to mention their amazing dipping sauces (sweet mustard is my favorite) they offer too. Ohhh my mouth just waters when thinking of how delicious that place is!

It seems we are always hungry for those darn good soft pretzels. Yes, you can buy those frozen pretzels(Super Pretzels-I think they're called) from the grocery store; but their taste just doesn't add up when it comes down to it. Soooo, I decided to try my hand at making some homemade ones today. Given, I've never tried anything like this before, but they turned out really REALLY good! I even paired them with some Honey Mustard dipping sauce and they tasted even better I thought.

You need to make these for yourself! I don't think you will be disappointed in them at all. I will post the recipe below. Next time I might add Brown Sugar in place of the White Sugar, and see how that makes them taste.

HOMEMADE SOFT PRETZELS

1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp. white sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. warm water

1 3/4 c. bread flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

coarse salt for sprinkling

*Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Whisk together yeast, sugar, salt, and warm water. Stir in the flour until a rough ball forms. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead with floured hands until smooth (5-8 min.). Divide dough into 6 balls. Roll each into a rope shape about 10 inches long. Shape into pretzels forms. Brush pretzels with the egg and sprinkle with salt. Bake until barely light golden. About 10 minutes.

Florida Vacation 2010

The McKenna household has been quite busy in the last couple of months! Most of you know that we took a trip to the Sunshine State for Spring Break back in March. Ohhh what a experience it was! Many firsts for us. Some good and delighful, and some we say we will never do again! HaHa

Here are a few places we went and things we saw while in Florida. One of the first days of our stay we took Rylee to the Mote Aquarium. It was rainy outside that day so it was a good day to stay indoors and do something like this. I think Rylee enjoyed it for the most part. It wasn't the best aquarium we have visited, but none the less it was decent.

Here are a few photo's of Rylee and the where-abouts of where we stayed in Ruskin, FL. Ruskin is close to the St. Petersburg/Sarasota area. A very beautiful area I might add!Another day we decided to drive over to the St. Pete area and go to The Pier. On our journey there we had to cross over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. I hadn't been to this bridge since I was around 10 years old. It wasn't as big and impressive as I remember it being back 22 years ago. Still a sight to see if you have never seen it before.Our stop at The Pier in St. Pete. A quite unique place to visit...shops and eating places on the inside. Beautiful views too!Next, was our trip to Disney World. Ohhh what a day it was for Miss Rylee! She had the time of her little life! It was a joy just to see her reactions to everything in the Magic Kingdom. Hopefully, one day we can go back and expierence everything else Disney there. We'd like to go and take Rylee to the other different parks they offer. Shhhh! I'd like to go back myself if I do say so! It's great for the whole family. A family who plays together, stays together!

And lastly, our trip to the Beach in Sarasota........and to the Manatee Viewing Center. Which was an awesome place I might add!

All in all we had a good time on our trip to Sunny Florida! It was so nice to get away from our everyday life and take a break and enjoy some much needed family time. A many of thanks go out to my Aunt Phyllis & Don for putting up with us for the whole week. It's hard to have company for more than just a few days, and likewise it's hard to be the company for more than just a few days at a time. So we certainly appreciate all it took to make it through the week! After all, that's what FAMILY is all about.