Because I love my husband...

Hubby came home about one night and announced they were having a "Football Food" day at work the following week. He asked if I would make him soft pretzels with cheese to take. I LOVE the hot pretzels at the mall, and now that I make so much bread, I figured- no problem! I used the recipe Mall Pretzels.

Mix yeast and water with a little brown sugar. Let sit 10 minutes. Stir in All Purpose Flour, Bread Flour and salt.

Knead until it forms a smooth dough- you may not need all the flour. Place in an oiled bowl and cover. Let sit in a warm place for 1 hour.

It really grew!!! This dough was so soft and easy to work with. Dump onto a lightly floured surface and cut dough into as many strips as you want. I got 20 smaller pretzels from this recipe (great for a crowd)!

Roll each strip until it reaches the thickness you like and loop into a pretzel or whatever you shape you like. Would be great fun for kids to make letters...or you could chop into nuggets!

Mix 2 cups of really warm water with 2 TBS of Baking Soda. Dip each pretzel into the solution, dab on a paper towel to remove extra water and place on a greased cookie sheet or silpat.

Allow pretzels to sit for 20 minutes before baking them. Bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes...or until golden brown. I brushed mine with butter when they came out of the oven, but didn't salt until the next morning when I warmed them up for hubby to take to work. If you salt and don't eat them, the salt soaks in and makes them soggy.

I can't even talk about the first cheese sauce I made (pictured here). It was a Rachael Ray recipe and it was AWFUL!!!! What a waste of good cheese. I started over after that and made my own using a little flour and butter mixed with milk and then stirred in some Shredded Pepper Jack and Sharp Cheddar, along with some pickled jalapenos. Much tastier- but I still love the canned Nacho Cheese :)