Sourdough Bread

I've never been a bread maker. My mom used to bake yummy, homemade bread. It was eaten more as a treat though, we used boughten bread for most occasions. I married a man who isn't crazy about bread, so it never became a priority to learn the art. My children, on the other hand, looove homemade bread. I've tried my hand at it a few times over the years but mostly have learned to make dinner rolls, not loaves of bread.

Enter a daughter who likes to try things - particularly unusual and healthy things; things that require research and extra effort.

I confess I rolled my eyes when Jasmine got it in her head to try to make her own sourdough starter. It sounded way too complicated and time consuming for me. I made it perfectly clear that this was her project, not mine.

Well, Jasmine being Jasmine, she read and she researched and she tried recipes. There were some flops and some interesting baked goods but she finally got a starter strong enough to make a delicious loaf of bread!

First loaf

And guess who was hooked? Yeah. The skeptical mother.

If you're looking for sourdough info and recipes, Home Joys is a great place to check out. Her bread recipe is the only one we use and when there's none available for my morning toast, it's me who says "Get your starter out Jasmine!" It's me who makes sure it gets fed and it's me (usually) who mixes and stretches and bakes the bread and me who eats it every morning... along with several others...

My normal breakfast -- 

Hot drink, yogurt with granola and maybe fruit, and sourdough toast. 

Right now really all I'm looking at is the green in that picture though.........

Here is the recipe:

2 C active starter
1 C milk
1/2 C water
1/4 C oil or melted butter
1/4 C honey
2 1/2 C whole wheat flour
3 C white flour
3 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients except salt for 2-3 minutes.  Allow dough to rest for about 20 minutes.

 Add salt and knead for about 5 minutes.

Place in oiled bowl and allow to rise 3-4 hours. (Optional: every hour stretch your dough and return to bowl. I've done this the last several times and I think it makes a nicer rise but it may have been coincidence.)

Divide dough into 2 pieces; shape into loaves and place in greased pans. Spray with oil and cover with plastic to keep from drying out. Allow to rise 2-3 hours.

When dough has risen, slash top of the loaf (Optional. I don't usually slash it for fear of making it fall.)

Bake at 400 degrees 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy! My favorite way to eat it is toasted and spread with butter or used for a grilled cheese sandwich -- sprinkle the buttered side with italian seasoning and garlic salt before grilling for the best grilled cheese ever.

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You know my writing motivation is still at a dangerous low when I start posting recipes..... just saying......

A Recipe And A Problem

The two have nothing to do with each other,  just so you know. They were just the two random things I felt like sharing this morning.

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I don't often try new recipes. I was going to say that's because cooking isn't my thing but I think it's actually more because I'm married to a man who likes the same tried and true dishes every time. Every once in a great while I try a new recipe and it ends up in the tried and true category. 

I went looking for a different recipe for chicken one night and found "Man Catchin' Oven Baked Fried Chicken". I didn't need to catch a man, but it did turn out to be pretty good chicken!

     Recipe:

1 1/3 C Flour 

1 T Garlic Powder

2 T Seasoning Salt

1 tsp Paprika

  --Whisk together in medium sized bowl

2 Large Eggs -- beat eggs in small bowl

1/3 C Butter

8 pieces of chicken (I use boneless skinless breasts but you could use any pieces)

Dip pieces of chicken into flour mixture, then into egg mixture, then back into flour mixture. Place on greased baking sheet. Do not cover. 

Place in fridge for half an hour. (According to the lady sharing the recipe, this is the whole key to this dish. Do not skip this part.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Melt butter and drizzle evenly over chicken. 

She said to bake it 30 - 40 minutes. I do more than 8 pieces of chicken, perhaps that is why it takes mine at least an hour to get done. 

It truly is delicious! All seven of us love it, and that is quite an accomplishment. We've even used the leftovers for cold chicken sandwiches on a picnic. Sadly, I have no pictures to share. 

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I do have pictures of the problem. 

I'll give you three guesses....

1) A tornado went through our area?

2) This is a drop off spot for toys for the homeless?

3) Someone has too much stuff?

If you guessed #3 you are the winner! The winner gets to come cart off all our junk. ☺

Seriously. How? How does this happen? 

I think, in the dark corners where they get stashed, the toys breed like rabbits. They divide and multiply and spill out everywhere until finally someone says "Enough!"  Last week that someone was a tall, dark haired girl in this house and we spent an entire afternoon on the painstaking process of elimination. And that was just the girl's stuff. Meanwhile, upstairs....

How do you do it? Do you have an organized process of only a certain amount of toys? A monthly system for purging? A 6 month program for switching out toys? How do you handle having older ones who are fed up with the mess and younger ones who think every scrap paper is a treasure? What about a grandma who gives toys liberally? Or gifts someone gave that aren't particularly one's taste? You can't very well donate your eliminated stash to Goodwill where the wrong people might see them! 

And then you have the mother herself who contributes to the problem *occasionally*

Only last week she bought the large rug pictured above because it was only $4.99 and she couldn't stop thinking how fun it would have been to play with..... Sigh. 

At least it can be walked on.

We currently have quite a pile of boxes and bags to be delivered to some thrift store far away. We might be sick of going through stuff but it sure does feel good. Even the treasure hoarders agree. 

A Recipe For Lunch Packing Moms

I don't really enjoy cooking and my blog is anything but a food blog but occasionally circumstances call for desperate measures. Back to school and packing four lunches a day is cause for talking about food and sharing recipes! Today I am shamelessly copying a fellow blogger and passing on a great lunch box idea for you all. If you want professional pictures, check out her post about packing lunches. If all you want is the recipe because you're desperate for something quick you can grab out of the freezer in the rush of a school morning, read on.

These things don't have an official name. I'm calling them 'Pizza Pockets' but you can take them, customize them, and give them your own name!

I took our favorite stromboli dough recipe:

1 T yeast
1 C warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C vegetable oil
3 C flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water, then add other ingredients. Let rise five minutes.

(I love that it only has to rise for five minutes - anything quicker is better when you don't really like to cook!)

I doubled the recipe and rolled half of it out in a big rectangle. Next I cut it into twenty square-ish squares with a pizza cutter.

Since I have about as many preferences for ingredients as I do children (you probably don't have this problem, so no need to dwell on my issues), I did some squares with cheddar cheese and ham, some with cheddar cheese and pepperoni, and some with mozzarella, ham and pepperoni. You could add whatever you like!

(Have fun trying to keep the different kinds separated once they're closed. I lined them up on the pans carefully and used a toothpick to mark my row.)

Then I folded the corners in and pinched them closed and baked them at 350 for 20-25 minutes. I repeated the process with the second half of the dough giving me forty cute, little lunch life-savers.

I melted some butter and added a little garlic salt and oregano to it and brushed the tops when they came out of the oven. They looked so irresistible that Charles and I had a couple for lunch with pizza sauce for dipping. Yum.

After they cooled, I bagged them up in labeled bags (God forbid the pepperoni hater should end up with the ham hater's Pizza Pocket!) and stuck them away in the freezer.

I've been feeling like super mom all day!

A Recipe And A Luncheon

I had several requests for the recipe for the crumb cake I talked about in my last post, so I decided to just post it here on the blog. I'm not a foodie nor a cook so recipes posted here are few and far between; enjoy!

Cherry Crumb Cake

1 Cup sugar
2 Cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 Cup softened butter
1 egg
1 Can cherry pie filling (or filling of your choice)

Mix sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.

Cut in butter

Add egg and mix to crumbs

Place half of crumb mixture in a greased 9x9 pan (I always use this small rectangular pan because it has a lid)

Spread filling over crumbs

Place remaining crumbs over top.

Bake at 350 for 30 min or until lightly browned.

Best eaten warm and yummy served with ice cream!

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A lunch invitation today gave me the perfect opportunity to make this dessert again and take the pictures. A sweet lady from church invited all of us ladies who have bid our mothers farewell here on earth to gather at her house.

Our hostess provided a main dish salad and the rest of us brought a side in memory of our mom. Her beautiful backyard was the perfect setting for the lovely little oasis she prepared for us.

I didn't take pictures of the food nor record the conversations but both were equally delightful! There is nothing like shared food and laughter mixed with sentimental memories to brighten the day and make one's heart lighter.

Busy Days, A Recipe, And A Happy Weekend To You!

Life has been full and busy lately. One thing tumbles upon another and it feels like we're in a race to fill up all the tiny crevices before school starts and then maybe we'll come to a screeching halt and take a deep breath.

Or maybe we won't.

Sometime back at the beginning of this thing called summer vacation I actually felt like there was hardly anything to do. So I got the wild idea that we should make quilts for the girls room in the new house.

I looked up quilt ideas and found the most lovely chevron pattern that was so easy. Not only was it easy, the way you put it together was so cool. With great enthusiasm we went out shopping and made long, deliberated choices over yellows and greys. We brought the stacks home and tucked them in the corner and..... as far as I know, they are still there.

I am making no bets on whether the stack will ever turn into a quilt.

But anyway, the last two weeks have been busy. Last week Chris took off work several days and worked at the house. He and Isaac turned stacks of lumber into neat piles of cut, sanded and stained trim. We also finished painting on the main floor and felt a kinship to The Color Kittens with all our mixing of colors.

In between helping at the house, we helped grandma do corn and filled our freezer with peaches.

Not everyone was thrilled with the idea of needing to help but they sure will be happy when those same peaches show up in their lunch box at school!

This week we did more corn, for us this time, and now our freezer can't hold another thing! Someday we may have to give in and buy a bigger one but so far I always manage to squeeze everything in again and it makes me feel all accomplished somehow. In a few weeks we'll be able to buy ice cream again, for now we'll just look at all the bounty and count our blessings.

Cooking is not my thing, as you all know by now, and summer time does nothing to help that shortcoming. When we're busy and it's hot, it's so easy to not cook anything worth speaking of. Please don't ask my children to list what they've eaten lately, you might be horrified. I know I would be!

Gina, over at Home Joys, has been sharing summer meal ideas - you might remember her from my "How We Met" stories in June. Unfortunately her ideas didn't help me out much because I have a family who isn't impressed with anything unusual or different (i.e. pizza loaded with fresh veggies, etc) but you might find it interesting!

Just for anyhow I'll share my pizza and breadstick recipe, since I managed to accomplish making more than hotdogs or leftovers for once. The recipe for the dough happens to be one I got from Gina's blog.

PIZZA AND BREADSTICKS

2 Cups Warm Water
2 T Yeast
2 tsp Sugar

Combine in mixer bowl, mix. Let set until it starts to bubble. 

1/3 Cup Oil
2 tsp Salt
3-4 tsp Italian Seasoning
5-6 Cups Flour

Add oil and seasonings, mix. Add flour one cup at a time until dough is soft and pliable.

Place dough in greased bowl and cover. Allow to rise 30-60 min.

Divide dough in two pieces. Roll one piece for pizza crust; place on pan and prick with a fork. Allow to rise.

Roll remaining piece and place in pan; score lines for breadsticks. Allow to rise.

Heat oven to 425. Pre-bake pizza crust 10-12 min.

Prepare Breadsticks:

Brush with 3 T Melted Butter and sprinkle with following mixture:

2 T Parmesan Cheese
1/4 T Garlic Powder
1/2 T Garlic Salt
1/2 T Onion Powder
1/2 T Oregano
1/2 T Parsley Flakes

Bake @ 425 for 15 min. 

Meanwhile spread sauce on pizza and add toppings; return to oven for 5-6 min. Enjoy! 

When there's pizza, we use paper plates. Not sure how that tradition started!

That looks long and complicated but it's not really. The breadsticks are absolutely scrumptious, in my humble opinion.

Happy Weekend

Take time to admire the spiderwebs!

To Make Tortillas

Confession: You know the well is really dry when I start posting recipes.

Last week, when I was making tortillas, I thought it might be fun to take pictures for a "how to" type of post, so I grabbed my phone and snapped away. The results are far less than great quality but when you can't come up with something better to talk about sometimes you just go with it!

I didn't grow up with homemade tortillas but when two of my sisters spent time as missionaries in Belize, we learned the art of making them! The children and I love homemade tortillas; Chris, not so much. So this is usually a meal reserved for times when daddy isn't at home.

Tortillas

2 Cups Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 T shortening

 3/4 Cup Milk

*I double this for my bunch.

I use my kitchen aid for the job but it works to do it by hand as well. I mix my dry ingredients in my mixer bowl, then add the shortening and mix it in with a fork til it's crumbly. (The inspiration for taking pictures came after this point, so I have no pictures...) Just a note here: I do not measure the shortening with a tablespoon. I take my fork and get a blob for one, and a smaller blob for a half. I am quite sure I use more than 1 1/2 T....

 Next, I dump in the milk. Or, if we're low on milk, I might do half water and half milk. With dough hook attached, I let the mixer do the rest of the work. 

Once you have a nice, soft ball of dough, separate the dough into balls.

Roll them into nice, smooth balls, kind of like you would for dinner rolls.

I like to put mine in a container, cover loosely, and place them in the oven with the oven light turned on. Let them rest for at least 15 minutes or longer. I think the longer they rest, the easier they work out but often I'm in a hurry!

Now it's time to get your pan on the burner and get it good and hot. I like my burner a little hotter than medium.

Now, take a ball and use your fingers to get your circle started.

Then get your rolling pin and make it nice and thin.

Pick your circle up carefully ( with 2 hands, obviously, unless you're taking pictures) and place it in your pan. 

If you want to be really Belizean, flip the tortillas with your bare hand, otherwise use a turner. Fry on both sides, then place inside a towel. Repeat and repeat and repeat.....

                        

If you're really good, you will have your eggs ready to be scrambled when you have about 3 balls left, and your beans will be warming in the microwave...

All set! Get ready to count tortillas and practice your division so everyone gets their fair share....

Enjoy! The children like these with jelly, too. Another favorite is putting cheese between two tortillas as I place them in the pile inside the towel and then cutting them in triangles to eat with soup or for a snack.

I've made these many times, and they still don't always turn out the same, so if they don't work the first time, don't get discouraged; try them again! And you can always blame it on a blogger who's not a cook but tries to blog about food anyway...