Food Frenzy Friday (Starbucks Chocolate Cinnamon Bread)

If you have ever had the 'Chocolate Cinnamon Bread' at Starbucks, you will love this recipe.  You can find it on my Breads board in Pinterest.  When I first read the recipe I thought it was going to be very involved, but it wasn't too bad and besides the outcome is well worth it.

The original recipe (Table for Two) called for unsalted butter.  Since I didn't have that on hand I just used regular butter and I couldn't tell the difference. It also called for a pinch of cloves (which I didn't have) so I left it out.  Finally, the original recipe said to separate it into 2 loaf pans, well let me tell you a story...  The first time I made this bread I did just that and caught my oven on fire because it spilled over while it was baking and my house smelled for the rest of the day!  Yes, I said 'FIRE'.  So this time I used 3 regular loaf pans and 2 mini loaf pans (I didn't fill the pans as full, so they were smaller loaves).  My son was happy about that because he and his roommate scored 2 loaves of bread. 

This bread is so good, it's hard to resist, especially when there is milk involved!

~Julie

Closet Transformation

As mentioned a few posts back, our niece, Julie's daughter, moved in with us a little over a month ago (see this post)  So, in making room (also see this post), we had to expand our bedroom closet to fit my husband's clothes, which had been in the Guest Bedroom closet. 

 Our home was built in 1951, and for some reason, they didn't need big closets then, nor large openings to access the closet, so in order to make room, we expanded the opening to extend the full width of the closet....

My husband isn't an electrician, but he sure is an electrical genius!

And he's an amazing handyman who installed the new frame around the closet and did all the patchwork!

I, although 6 months pregnant, painted the inside of the closet as well as the frame to make it look nice & clean. Then, my handyman installed our new closet system. We went with ClosetMaid ShelfTrack 6 ft.- 8 ft. Closet Organizer Kit with Shoe Shelf  because we felt it gave the most storage options without breaking the budget.

The 'Move-In' (sorry for the blurry photo) 

The final touch was to be the curtains, which I bought at IKEA for $28 and the curtain rod at Anna's Linen's for $12.

The curtains needed to be hemmed a bit, but I still left them long enough to puddle.

I love the easy-access of my new closet & the best part is that both mine and my husband's clothes fit!

~ Kerri