Kefir -- Wonder Food

 A very happy W sporting a kefir smoothie moustache!

It's true.  Kefir is a wonder food.

"I wonder what kefir is!"

"I wonder why in the heck someone would actually drink that!"

"I wonder what good it will do my body today!"

When I first heard about kefir, I was adamantly opposed to it.  My understanding was that it was along the lines of curdled milk.  Seriously? 

Who in their right mind would drink curdled milk?  Makes me throw up a little in my mouth just thinking about it.  Ugh.

This summer, however, I've done a complete 180.  I've gotten educated about it, and my family's been drinking it for nearly two months now.  And.it.rocks.

I must give credit where credit's due.  Dear Lydia N. came over one evening to bring dinner to my Daddy (How sweet!).  She didn't know that we'd moved to town and were living with him, so it was a pleasant surprise to get to visit with her.  I've known her (from a distance) since I was a pre-teen.  Lydia was one of the "older" girls (maybe 5 years...not so much now!) that every younger girl hoped would take notice.  She was so very sweet, gentle and kind.  A Jesus-loving, hippie-cool kind of girl.  The esteem I held her in then has obviously carried over to today.  :-)

Anyway, in the course of our visit, kefir came up.  I could not believe that she had her family drinking it!  She, very graciously & gently, explained how it had umpteen jillion probiotics (Yes, I exaggerate.  Just ask my Daddy about that one.) - several times that of yogurt (our homemade yogurt has 5-7 probiotics); how it can have probiotics that deal with yeast infections and also staph infections among others. 

I was impressed, to say the least, but not necessarily ready to run out to get some kefir grains to start my own culture at home.  Not, that is, until AB got a rash around her mouth that appeared to be a yeast infection gone wild.  (The girl sucks on two fingers a good portion of the time.  We're trying to break her of that, but not successfully as of yet.)  She had been eating yogurt, but that hadn't taken care of it.  It got worse.  I remembered Lydia saying that kefir would help take care of a yeast infection.

I made a late night call to see if she had any grains.  Bless her heart, she and her husband were heading out of the country the next day, but she took the time to make some calls, locate some grains, and even deliver them to my house.  What a sweet lady!

So...we tried some bottled kefir from the store while the grains were getting acclimated after being frozen.  It was yummy.  No, really.  Yummy. 

I was sold on the bottled kefir (particularly since it was on sale!), but it only had 10-12 probiotics.  It would have more if I cultured it myself.  So that's what I did.  :-)  That whole experience will be the next post in this Kefir series.  (I can't believe I just typed that -- series -- feels a little presumptuous!)

I do want to let you know, that this stuff is worth it. 

• The rash around AB's mouth is cleared up!
• My intestines are much happier with me now.
• My Daddy has a "dermatological issue" that the dermatologist said he would have to deal with for the rest of his life with medication.  It had just flared up before we started the kefir.  He hadn't put his meds on it yet, and it cleared up after the first kefir smoothie...with no medication applied!
• I shared some grains with a friend, and her husband has been a longtime Nexium user that couldn't go more than two days without taking it.  After drinking kefir for a couple of days, he stopped taking it and didn't need it for five days.

I'm looking forward to sharing how easy it is to culture kefir and enjoy it daily!

Caprese Salad -- Summer Favorite!

I love, love, love caprese salad -- particularly when some of the ingredients come from my backyard!  This pic shows fresh tomatoes & basil from our garden. 

Throw in some fresh mozzarella, a bit of olive oil and just a smidge of salt & balsamic vinegar and you're pretty close to tasting heaven!

Kid-Friendly Sticky Oatmeal -- For You, Gina! :-)

My dear, sweet friend, Gina, asked me for my sticky oatmeal recipe.  I like my oatmeal nearly sliceable.  It's thick and on the sticky side, which is great when you have toddlers learning to use a spoon on their own!  Too, it's easy to make & you know exactly what goes into it.  The only sweetener?  Unsweetened, all natural applesauce.  Good stuff!

Ingredients:
1/2 c. quick cooking oats (I use rolled oats when I make it for myself.)
pinch of salt
cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves to taste
1/3 c.-ish applesauce
optional -- raisins, craisins, nuts
a few Tbsps of milk
1 tsp - 1Tbsp peanut butter

When I started off with my kids, they ate about 1/4 cup of the oats. 
Now?  They're easily eating 2/3 of a cup.  How time flies and tummies grow!

So...the amounts are going to stay in proportion...and it's a "til it looks right" kind of recipe.

Directions:
In a small kid-friendly dish stir oats, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, & cloves.  (For kid friendly dishes, I love the ones from IKEA.  They're inexpensive, dishwasher safe, and the perfect size for little ones!)  Add the applesauce and combine well.  If you want to add any optional ingredients, now would be the time.  :-)  Microwave for 45 seconds - 1 minutes.  Then just cover the surface with milk (to help cool it down) and stir in the peanut butter. 

May you enjoy, & may it help your little ones with their spoon skills!  :-)

Granola Recipe

I like granola.  I've never loved granola before because I've never had a recipe that really just made me go, "oh yeah!"  My Dad's a good granola eater and has gotten his from the Little Debbie outlet in a nearby town.  It's ok.  We ran out and didn't want to trek the 15 minutes (I know, so very far!) to get some more, so I decided that I would make granola. 

I was afraid it was going to be a longer task that it turned out to be.

I didn't have a recipe, but I remembered that I had seen The Frugal Girl had granola listed as one of her breakfast items and so I thought I would check out her recipe.  She uses Cate's recipe.  Unfortunately, I can't find the post with the link.  Stink. 

Cate adapted her recipe from another blogger, Kathryn.  If I could find the post, I would be linking you up all over the place.  Sorry 'boutcha.   

Cate was going for a "healthier granola base."  Me?  I'm going for a healthy granola base that's like I like it.  You know me.  I can't leave well enough alone.  :-)

I like my granola to have clusters...Cate called them "clumps."  I'm somewhat offended by that.

*Indignant Face* 
*Big Huff!* 
(That's so me, right?...Ha!) 

Anyway, if you don't like clusters in your granola, you'll need to cut back on the oil and honey.

Without further ado, the granola recipe that I'm lovin'!

Ingredients
3 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
3 cups Quick Oats
1 2/3 cups walnuts chopped
1 1/3 cups almond slices
1 1/3 cups coconut flakes
1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup oil (canola, corn, etc.  I'd avoid olive oil, though.  Please.  Avoid olive oil.)
1 cup honey
3 T to 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp almond extract

Directions
Heat the oven to 300 degrees.

In a LARGE bowl, stir together the oats, nuts, seeds & coconut.

In a small pot, over low heat, warm together the oil, honey, dark brown sugar, and extracts.  Stir together til it's well combined.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Make sure the dry ingredients are well coated.

Spread the mixture out evenly on two large cookie sheets/sheet cake pans.  (I cover my cookie sheets with aluminum foil because I'd rather not have to deal with the clean up of those when I'm finished.) 

Bake for 15 minutes.  Stir.  Bake for 5 more minutes.  If it's golden brown, pull it out of the oven and stir it.  (If it's lighter than you like it, stir it and let it bake 2 more minutes.) 

Once it's out of the oven, stir it every few minutes or so til it cools, or you will end up with one very large granola bar.  (Having three that are 3 and under, I end up with a large granola bar that has to be peeled off of the foil quite often.  Ha!  If you do end up with that, it does break up easily, so no worries.)  Try not to eat too many of the clusters off of the pan as you're stirring it up.  Not to worry, though, no one will know.  Trust me.  Not that I would know from experience, or anything.

Once it's cooled, store in a plastic cereal container and enjoy in the hand, or with milk, yogurt, kefir, your favorite dairy product, etc.

Do understand, this is a very forgiving recipe.  If you don't like almonds, use more walnuts or pecans or more sunflower seeds.  Add some dried fruit to the mix.  Be confident, and make it like you like it.  I have confidence in you!  :-)  I'd love to hear how you change it up.  Let me know!

Yogurt Nirvana -- No Lie!

I have finally hit yogurt nirvana.  Oh. my. goodness.  It's thick and creamy and not slimy.  It has a lovely texture and flavor that makes me want to eat it straight out of the container.  Really.  Yum.

Here's what you need and what you need to do to reach your own yogurt nirvana:

• 5 or 6 quart crockpot
• whisk
• thermometer (candy or digital)
• 1/2 gallon milk (can be all whole milk, all skim milk or any combination thereof)
• milk powder (enough for 1 quart of milk; I use RGBH free milk powder from Azure Standard -- it's the only kind I've found that doesn't have a "whang."  I've hated powdered milk since I was a kid, but this stuff is so very different!)
• 1/4-1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 8oz container Braum's plain yogurt
• 1/2 6oz container Greek yogurt (I've used Chyobani & Oikos.)
• 6-8 beach towels/several blankets/etc.

Place your milk in the crockpot.  If you're using the milk powder from Azure Standard, it must be added to cold milk, so whisk it in at the beginning.  It will be very frothy.  No worries, the froth dissipates. 

Turn on the crockpot to low.  It takes about 3 hours, but you want the milk to reach 180-ish degrees.  The first time you do this, start checking it at 2 1/2 hours just in case your crockpot heats faster than mine.

When the milk reaches 180, take the crock out of the heating element and place it on a folded towel.  (This will help keep the temperature steadier in the next phase.)  Make sure to stir your milk each time before checking the temperature.  There will be hotter and cooler spots, so to get an accurate read, you must stir the milk. 

Put the plain & Greek yogurts on the counter so that they reach room temperature by the time you add them to the milk.

Whisk in the sugar and the powdered milk (if you're using traditional powdered milk).

Check the temperature after 2 1/2 hours...the milk needs to cool to between 105 and 110 degrees.  It may take 3 hours or so, but you don't want it to get below 105 degrees, so start checking the milk temperature at 2 1/2 hours.  Once the milk is between 105 and 110, whisk in the plain & Greek yogurts, then cover completely with the towels.  You want it to stay at this temperature as long as possible.

Let your yogurt sit for at least 8 hours.  I let mine sit overnight.  When it has set, I uncover it and blot the top with a paper towel.  The liquid on the top is whey -- you can just stir it into the yogurt, but I blot it off (or pour it off the top when it's in the final container). 

Chill & enjoy!  I eat it straight, or with honey and fruit, or with granola.  Yum.  You cannot go wrong as long as you're getting it into your mouth!

"Aargh" Retraction! :-)

I have to do it.  I have to retract my "Aargh" of the other day.  I was so very frustrated that the Greek yogurt that I tried to make didn't set up like I wanted it to...and yet, what I thought was a horrible flop has turned into a really great thing!  My kids LOVE to drink it.  LOVE to drink it.  I would imagine that it's like the probiotic yogurt drinks, you know, the really expensive ones.  At least, on my budget they're considered really expensive!  The Lord really likes to do that to me -- take something that looks like an absolute disaster or mistake and make it into a good thing.  What a lovely blessing!

So...let me share my flop with you.  Perhaps you'll get a probiotic drink wannabe or perhaps you'll get Greek yogurt -- not a bad possibility either way.  Do share with me if you try this -- let me know which one you get!  :-)

Here's what you need:
a slow cooker (I used a 6 quart slow cooker)
candy thermometer or an instant read thermometer
whisk
1/2 gallon whole milk
1 1/2 cups milk powder
1/4 c sugar
1/2-ish container of 6 oz Chobani plain Greek yogurt
6-7 bath/beach towels

Put the milk in the slow cooker on low.  At 2 hours, start checking the temperature of the milk.  Make sure that you stir the milk before you put the thermometer in to check the temperature.  The goal?  170 degrees.  Once it reaches 170, take the bowl out of the slow cooker and place it on a folded towel.  (This will help keep the temperature more constant longer as it cools down.) 

Whisk in the milk powder and sugar.

Let the mixture sit with the lid on for about 2 hours, then start checking the temperature again.  This time, we're going for between 105 and 110 degrees.  Once it's in that window, whisk in the Chobani.  Wrap/cover/surround the container with LOTS of towels or blankets.  You want to maintain this temperature as long as possible so your yogurt starter can do its thing.  Now you have to wait.

My Dad lets his sit for about 8 hours.  The way I've done mine, it's had to sit overnight.  Obviously, either way will "work."  At the end of 8 hours, you'll know if you've got a drink or Greek yogurt.  :-)

How brave are you?  Are you willing to give it a go?  If you do, please let me know.  I need to know if I'm the only one who gets the drink yogurt.

 Really. 

Need.  (It's a strong word, but it rings so very true.  hee hee!)

Aargh & Almond Butter

I'm falling down on the job.  I suppose being this many weeks (37.5-ish) pregnant allows me a little leeway, and yet, I hate not sticking to something I've set.  Oh well.  To quote The Princess Bride, "Get used to disappointment!" 

The "Aargh" of this week?  I have tried to make my Dad's Greek yogurt...twice.  Neither time did it set up for me!  The first time I put in vanilla extract.  Hmmm....did the alcohol kill the yogurt culture?  (While we're on seemingly unanswerable questions, who killed the electric car?)  Anyway...I tried again with no vanilla extract.  Still no set.  Thankfully, W asked for a taste, and he and AB have been sucking it through a straw like there was no tomorrow.  Whew!  I really didn't want five bucks going down the drain.  Who am I kidding?  I would have found something to do with it.  Chocolate cake comes to mind.  Like I need that right now!...maybe I do....of course, I'd need the energy to actually whip it up.  Ha!  I don't even have the energy when I actually drink coffee.  This growing a baby stuff (particularly at my age!) is exhausting work!  :-) 

To move onward -- I made Almond Butter this week!  No, I wasn't hungry for Almond Butter, didn't make a recipe that required it.  I just got a hankerin'.  Yes, a girl is allowed her hankerin's.  :-)  Here's how the crazy thing transpired -- I was looking at the Azure Standard website trying to come up with our order for this month.  It was a good thing my sisters were interested in getting produce and powdered milk because we didn't get wheat this month.  I wasn't sure how our $50 order was going to come together!  Anyway, I thought of nuts.  Nuts are so very good for you -- good fats, proteins!  And they're pretty yummy to boot!  My thought was, if I can get peanuts in bulk for a good price, then I'll just make my own peanut butter.  I found that, since I'm not die hard for getting organic, that I could get peanuts cheaper at Sam's.  Ok. 

Then I remembered that I bought a HUGE bag of raw almonds at Sam's a long time ago.  (That's not as bad as it sounds -- apparently nuts should keep alright in the freezer for up to three years.)  I have been wondering what in the world to do with the almonds -- just snacking on them has not been a great option.  They require a LOT of chewing, and that makes my jaws unhappy.  (Boo for wicky TMJ!)  Almond Butter.  Of course!  I got out my handy-dandy second hand food processor and threw in two cups of almonds.  That's it.  Here's the "funny" part -- I gave the kids a heads' up that it was going to get loud.  Naive me had no idea exactly how loud!  The initial whirring of the nuts in the food processor was DEAFENING, and scared the wits out of my poor children.  W ran to hide behind the recliner with his hands over his ears.  AB just stood there, hands clapped up on her ears with her mouth gaping open in surprise.  Yikes!  That lasted as long as it took me to turn the crazy thing off.  Whew!  I finished it later when the kiddos were in the playroom with the door closed.  (We have a closed circuit video feed from there to the kitchen, so it's not as bad as it may sound.)  It took a LONG time to get it finished.  I say "LONG time," but it's all relative.  It probably took about 10 minutes of processing to get it to the consistency I wanted.  I think that's longer than peanuts take, but I don't have personal experience to pull from.  It now sits in my fridge and waits to be used.  I've been putting it in oatmeal instead of peanut butter, and AB loves to just have a "bite?" of it whenever she sees it out.

Next time, I'll probably add a little salt...and maybe a little peanut oil.  The almonds, after all, have been in the freezer for longer than I can remember.  (Not that that is saying much at this point -- I have two toddlers and I'm about to pop out a third munchkin.  I'm happy when I remember to...wait, what was I going to remember?  Dagnabit!) 

So...in the grand scheme of things, the Almond Butter is more on the frugal side of things.  I was looking for a healthier, hopefully cheaper way to go than store bought peanut butter and ended up using something I already had to meet that need.  That makes me smile and a little bit proud of myself.  :-)  Being frugal is a great "game" to play.  I think I get that from my Mama -- and that really makes me smile.  

That's been it for this week.  We had coupons for free pizza from Papa Murphy's, so we've correction, Hubby's been eating on that this week.  The kids and I are doing well with PBJ and oatmeal and cheese & crackers and apples and oranges and yogurt drink among other things.  I have no idea what we'll be doing for dinner tonight.  Once the evening hits, I've been pretty useless. 

I'll try again next week.  Granted, it's Spring Break and time to "Spring Forward," so that throws a curve ball into things!  AND, I'll officially be 38 weeks along.  Oy.  This, too, shall pass.  :-)

May you have a lovely rest of your week!

Azure Standard Order -- ordering healthy in bulk :-)

I had a "sort of" request for an Azure Standard post.  (Thanks, Holly!)  So here we go!

I was introduced to Azure Standard via the Heavenly Homemakers website.  I've been looking for inexpensive wheat berries because I'd like to grind my own whole wheat.  (I know, can you believe it?)  It's much healthier and less expensive than buying pre-ground whole wheat.  I had found wheat berries for $0.25 a pound...woohoo!  Then I checked the shipping costs -- it was going to cost at least $1 a pound for shipping...whoa hoa!  Azure Standard had 50 pound bags of hard white wheat berries (the recommended type of wheat berry to grind "to make my bread;" and yes, being 7 months preggers, I do feel like a giant!) for about $25 with FREE shipping on orders over $50.  They also give you the choice of COD or credit card to pay for your order.  I do believe I can handle that.  :-)

Azure Standard has a HUGE inventory to offer.  If you are looking for organic products and/or gluten free products, they should have you covered.  I do need to offer the disclaimers that

1. I don't usually use organic, and I, thankfully, have no need for gluten free products, so I can't say if their prices are competitive or not.
2. Aside from being a customer, Azure Standard has no idea who I am or that I'm blogging about them.  :-)

Their website is a little difficult to just peruse because they have so very much product.  When you place your first order, though, be sure to order a catalog, for the catalog is a lovely experience!  Not only to they showcase their product, there are some recipes and great descriptions of a lot of the produce.  Granted, I may be a bit of a freak for getting a smile out of reading catalogs....

What was I looking for besides hard white wheat berries? 

• Apples in bulk -- most of the organic varieties they offer (and they have a whole assortment) are about $1 a pound.  They do offer a 3# bag of organic apples for $1.90.  You don't get to choose your variety, so as long as you're not picky (& as far as this is concerned, I'm really not), this, is a great deal!  I'd like to try and make homemade applesauce as well as apple butter, and my munchkins ask for apples as a snack multiple times a day.  Just snacking on apples, we finish a 3# bag in just a few days.  Whew!  A buck ninety is pretty good for several days worth of healthy snacks.
• Non-fat Milk Powder that's RBGH free -- oh yes, it IS real.  I use milk powder in my yogurt, in my breakfast cookies, and, I'm sure, there will be other uses as well.  With it being just a little over $2 a pound, it's something worth investing in for our health.  I'm really trying to stay away from RGBH as much as possible, and for cooking/baking this is a great option. 
• Beans & Lentils -- good assortment for decent prices

Azure Standard has recently added "drop points" in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri.  I'm so thankful that they just started one in our town this month!  The cut off day for ordering is two days before the truck rolls out, and they recommend ordering your produce no earlier than a couple of days before the deadline to make sure that they have it.  If you sign up for an account on their website and you can't find your drop point, give them a call.  Their customer service is very helpful.  I think, if I understand correctly, if you (or a group of you) has an order totalling $550 or more, they will deliver to you.  You'll have to check on that to be sure.

One thing to be aware of -- you may not get everything you order.  Our milk powder was not on the truck.  This wasn't an issue for us as we ordered things we wanted, not anything that we desperately needed.  All in all, it was a really good experience, and I've already started on our order for February.  :-)

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day? -- Oh, Yummy, Yummy Yes!

We've already discussed my fear and trepidation in making yeast bread.  It has hung over me like a dark, damp cloud forEVER.  I was so excited to be successful in making the cinnamon swirl bread, and then last week, I made homemade soft pretzels!  Woo hoo!  Both turned out really well.  It was all well and good, but the time and stress involved was a bit much.  I really wanted to find something that I could be successful baking without spending all the time that traditional bread requires.  I've found it!!!


If you recall, on Menu Monday this week I mentioned trying to find the Artisan Bread recipe from Backwoods Home.  Couldn't find it.  So, Google was my friend.  :-)  I came across a website -- http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/.  At first, I couldn't find any recipes on the site and figured it was just for selling their books -- Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day -- as well as a forum for questions for people who bought their books.  Not so.  Nope.  The Master Recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day can be found here (you will have to scroll down the page to find it).  Of course, I didn't do it quite like they said.  Of course not.  I couldn't leave well enough alone.  So, here's what I did, and I'll apologize now that the only photo (YES, there's a photo!) that I have to share is of the finished product.  My husband laughed that I was taking pictures of my loaves, but they were so beautiful, if I do say so myself!



One of my lovely loaves!



Back to the point -- how did I do it?  You have to start with a 5 quart bowl/container or larger.  I used a flour storage bin that I think was considerably larger than 5 quarts, but it's what I have.  It dwarfed the gallon pitcher that I measured my flour into.

• 5+ quart container
•  3.5 c of lukewarm water (Mine was about 105 F -- gotta love instant read thermometers.  Make sure it's not over 110 F so you don't kill your yeast.  Apparently, it will even work with cool water, it just increases the rising time.)
• 1.5 T of yeast
• 1.5 T of salt
• 5 c UNBLEACHED All-purpose flour (It will not work with bleached all-purpose flour because of the different protein content.)
• 1.5 c Whole Wheat flour

Put your water, salt & yeast in your container, then dump in all your flour.  Stir it all together using a wooden spoon.  Put a lid (not air tight, don't want your container to explode!) or saran wrap on your container.  Let it sit out for 2-ish hours (mine actually sat out for about 4), then put it, as-is, in the refrigerator overnight.  Your dough is good for about 2 weeks.  Granted, the longer you wait the more yeasty/sour it's going to get. 



Tuesday, I did all of the combining...the dough is supposed to rise on the counter and the fridge. Mine didn't.  It was about the same size when I pulled it out of the refrigerator yesterday.  I was afraid that was going to be the case -- I had pushed the envelope with my yeast.  The package said, "For faster rising, use by..."  It was out of date, and I knew it.  I was ok with a slower rise, but there was no rise.  *sigh*  I was just too impatient.  I wanted to make the dough Tuesday so that I could make bread bowls for leftover potato soup Wednesday, and I couldn't go to the store to get fresh yeast because Andrew had the car. 
Silly, impatient me.



I was determined, though, to soldier ahead.  So what if my bread turned out ridiculously dense?  I tend to like dense bread, especially for bread bowls.  Mid-afternoon yesterday, I pulled my dough out of the fridge.  The top was dry.  I probably should have added some water to the top and let it soak in, but I didn't.  Here are the next steps to finishing out your Artisan bread...at least the way I did it.  :-)

• Throw some flour on top of your dough -- enough so that it's not going to stick to your hands.
• Grab a glob and pull out about a pounds worth and cut it off with a knife or kitchen shears.  (I used a knife, 'cause my hubby moved my shears.  He'd better not touch my cheese!  hee hee)
• In 40 seconds or less, flatten it a bit, fold it over on itself and then form it into a boule ("ball" for the who's who at home).
• Set your dough on parchment paper, flour your hands and make sure the dough is lightly floured all around.
• I made four loaves.  The dough is supposed to make four one pound loaves.  My loaves were much smaller than the ones they show on their website, but they had some serious heft going on!  That's what happens when the silly stuff doesn't rise!
• Now the dough needs to rest, uncovered, on the parchment paper.  At 30 minutes of resting, I turned on my oven to preheat to 450 with my empty broiler pan on the bottom rack (set on the bottom rung) and an upside down cookie sheet on a rack set 4-5 inches above the broiler pan.
• At about 1 hour of resting...or when my oven told me it was at 450, but not before my oven was preheated to 450 (Sorry!) I put all four loves on their individual pieces of parchment on the cookie sheet and carefully poured 1 cup of water into the broiler pan.  (Yes, you must do the water, it provides a time of flash steaming which makes the crust the way it should be.)  I did cover the glass on my oven door with a towel just in case any water splashed -- I didn't want an accident that would cause the glass to crack/break/shatter!
• *NOTE*  Do this step before putting your bread into the oven -- I remembered just after I put them in and had to hastily do this!  Using a sharp bread knife, make several long(4-6 inches), quarter inch deep cuts in the top of the bread.  (I only did two because my loaves were small.)
• Let the bread bake for 20 minutes.  At 20 minutes, slide the parchment paper out from under the loaves and then let them bake for 10 more minutes.  Mine probably could have used another 5 minutes or so, but I thought they were lovely, so I took them out.
• The hard part -- leave them alone for 1 hour!

Once the hour had elapsed, I cut off the tops and dug out the insides so that we could use the base for bowls.  The guts were DENSE.  Oh my.  I jokingly refer to it as Black Hole Bread, it was so very, very dense...but it tasted super yummy!  The kids ate it with jam for a good portion of their dinner.  My favorite part was the crust.  Step aside, Panera, I now have the power!  :-)

I know I must have looked beyond crazy, as I was whooping and hollering and dancing around my kitchen in celebration at my dense success!  :-)  I did it, and it was easy to do, and it even worked when my yeast didn't!!!  I am super duper excited, and, from perusing the website, I know that the Artisan Bread in 5 authors have so many different kinds of recipes in their book -- soft wheat sandwich bread, for starters!  Lord willing, I will be purchasing this book with some birthday money.  Can't wait to try it all out!!!

If you try this out, I want to know!  Tell me all about it.  If you have any questions, the website, http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/, is a great resource and the book authors answer all the questions that are posted on it.

Now I must get back into the habit of Jazzercise so that this new found fun does not add any more to my ample hips & booty!  :-)

Lesson Learned for Crockpot Bean Soup

Crockpot Bean Soup was on the menu for this week.  It was my first foray into all that alone.  Growing up, beans & cornbread were a staple food during the winter.  I don't remember Mama doing them in the crockpot, though.  They were always in a pot on the stove or even, a few times, on our wood stove!  They were so very creamy and yummy.

Not being able to call Mama to ask how she did things or her opinion on how to cook things is so frustrating sometimes!  So, I googled it, of course.  One of the lessons that I learned was that even if the recipe has great reviews, it's not necessarily going to work.  Oh yeah. 

Thankfully, one of the reviews on the recipe mentioned soaking the beans overnight.  Ding!  That was a memory jogger.  I remember soaking the beans overnight before we cooked them.  Well, that knocked the beans back a day.  Ok.  I can be flexible.  Really.

The beans soaked, and then I put them in the crockpot, covered them with chicken stock, threw in a couple of bay leaves and turned them on high for two hours.  That's what the recipe said to do.  At two hours, I checked on them, added water to cover the beans, and turned the crockpot down to low for three hours.  That's what the recipe said to do.  I'm really good at following directions...not as good as I used to be, but still pretty good.  :-)

It didn't cross my mind to check on the status of the beans before I started my rice and got my kielbasa in the skillet.  Rice was ready, kielbasa nicely browned, taste the beans.  You know, crunchy beans are NOT a pleasant experience for the palate!  All of that to say, the bean soup was knocked back another day, and we had kielbasa and rice for dinner that night. 

I turned the crockpot on low and cooked the bean soup until lunch the next day.  It worked!  Granted, the darn things cooked for nearly 24 hours.  If they hadn't been done by then, I think they would have gone in the compost, and I would have chalked it all up to an interesting experience and moved onward and forward!  (After thinking about it, I had received the bean soup mix from Luke for Christmas when I had him in Kindergarten Children's Choir at church...He just became an Eagle Scout this fall.  Wow.  Beans do last forever!)

My next hurdle was W.  AB had already had lentil soup that my sister made and loved it.  I wasn't worried about her.  She still eats just about anything.  W, on the other hand, is nearly three and particular about what he eats.  Bless. his. heart.  (Yes, I am from the South, and I can say that with the full weight that goes behind it.)  I was so very pleasantly surprised when he took his first bite...and subsequent ones thereafter!  Here's what I heard repeatedly as he ate three bowls of the bean soup:  "I LIKE beans, Mommy!  Thank you for putting them in my soup!"  I about fell out of my chair.  Woohoo! 

I'll do bean soup again this winter.  Really, I will...but probably not every week.  :-)

Breakfast Cookies!

My kids have been Nutrigrain (or Walmart generic) bars since W was at least 9 months old...that's a long time considering he'll be 3 next month!  At $0.25 a bar, that wasn't too bad when I was just feeding him.  But, AB came along, and that girl was an EATER.  She would eat TWO (count them -- 1, 2) bars each morning.  That bumped it up to $0.75 for breakfast...plus milk.  The darn things are sooooo sweet on top of the fact that there are lots of ingredients that I scratch my head as I read them wondering what in the world they truly are and why was it necessary to put them in my babies' breakfast?  With my challenge to myself, I decided that I would NOT buy any more "bars."  Unfortunately, I forgot to mention it to hubby, and he came home one day with a couple of boxes because the kids were out.  What a sweet, thoughtful man!  At that point, I shared with him, in the finest Christian fashion of course, -- Don't buy any more bars. 


We had a variety of things for breakfast to fill the void of the bars -- oatmeal...lots of oatmeal, cheese & crackers, fruit with peanut butter toast, bagels....  What I wanted was something that would be easy to make, I could make ahead and would be quick to eat that AB could eat independently.  We have to leave for Jazzercise or to take W to "school" by 8:15 at the earliest.  (I know.  That really sounds late to me, but getting the kids up at 7:15 so that they can see Daddy before he goes to work leaves us 45 minutes to get three of us ready.  Sometimes it's super easy, other times I'm running around like the proverbial decapitated chicken.  *sigh*)  Ease and independence were necessities.


My first thought was baked oatmeal.  "Aunt" Jane in Papua New Guinea made the best baked oatmeal.  Oh my gravy...that was almost more like cake, lightly sweet, super fluffy, could be eaten in squares by hand...my mouth is watering now...I think I'll have to email her for the recipe....  My concern was the kids squeezing too hard and it falling apart and being more mess than breakfast.  In talking with my middle sis, I discovered that she makes a breakfast cookie.  This, I could handle, so I had her email me the recipe.  I've included the recipe as she sent it to me below.  I made it the first time according to her recipe, but it was WAAAAAAY too sweet for me.  I put notes in purple showing how I changed them up when I made them this morning.  The notes in green are for how I plan to do it next time.  I really enjoyed them this morning -- needed a glass of milk to go with them, though.  They're not dry, but very dense.


I was trying to figure out how much this recipe costs to make.  I'll have to look up some prices to find out, but today it made 16 cookies -- enough for five breakfasts for the kids and me.  So...I am confident that they're much less expensive than "bars," and I know exactly what's going into them! 


If you try these out, let me know.  I'm curious to know your thoughts and if you made any adjustments to what's below.


The recipe my sis sent me was a single recipe, but since we always make it doubled, the quantities listed below are for a doubled recipe and will make 16-18 cookies.

Breakfast Cookies
2 large bananas smashed up

1 c peanut butter

1 c honey (1/4 c honey)

2 Tbsp molasses

2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c applesauce next time

mix all that together

separately mix up

2 c oats (1 c quick cook oats and 1 c old fashioned rolled oats)

1 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c dry milk

4 tsp cinnamon  (2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice & 1/2 tsp cloves)
1/2 c wheat germ next time

1/2 tsp baking soda

it doesn't call for salt, but I add l 1/2 tsp to a doubled recipe (with decreasing the sweetness, next time I'll cut the salt back to 1 tsp)

add the dry to the wet and get everything wet, then stir in about 1 c cranberries (or whatever else you want to add -- I use raisins in 2/3 of the batter and keep 1/3 plain.  W's in an anti-raisin phase.  :)

cook on a buttered pan (I use my unbuttered baking stones) - use 1/4 cup scoops, then flatten with a wet spatula (I haven't had to have my spatula wet.)

350 14 - 16 minutes

They do keep, but it's pretty easy to mix them up in the a.m.  (If you're storing them, I highly recommend putting a square of wax paper between the cookies so that they don't stick together.)


I'm looking forward to hearing about your foray into breakfast cookies, or yogurt, or whatever else you might be venturing forth to try!  :-)