Faithful

This is Mormor.  Do you see her?  She's the beautiful lady in green, up front, holding her great granddaughter.  I chose this particular picture because it shows her with her great army of descendants behind her and around her.  That white-haired gentleman next to her is Morfar.

This picture was taken at Mormor's 90th birthday.  This year, she'll turn 93.  Mormor is a very healthy old woman, except that she suffers from advanced dementia.

About a week ago, Mormor was in the hospital with a gall bladder infection so bad that the doctor(s) fully expected Mormor to pass away, and quickly.

When most people hear that someone as old as Mormor is sick, and especially knowing she has dementia, i think there's a little of everyone that thinks, "she's had a long, full life; Lord, let her go home."  I had similar thoughts to those when i heard the news that she was sick.  But then my heart wasn't satisfied with that prayer, and instead i told God that if He were done with Mormor -- if her purpose here on this earth was over, to please take Mormor home to Heaven.  But if He has more for her to do, if her purpose is not spent, to please extend her life.  And that was all.

I know that Mormor has loved the Lord her whole life and that her heart has always been toward Him.  I was sure that her prayer would be the same as mine

I didn't think much about my prayer.  In fact, when i prayed it, i didn't know that the doctor's predictions were so bleak.  I thought she was just getting some antibiotics.

It was later that i realized how meaningful that prayer was going to be to me.  Because in it, i realized that God is faithful.  The Bible says that He is faithful when we are without faith.  But He's faithful when we're with out . . . fill in the blank . . . anything!  Where it deals with my Mormor, He is faithful when we are without the faculties of our minds.

That's really hard for us to fathom.  We think that when our minds are not what we think they should be, that the essence of us is gone.  But that's not true.  Our spirits are still in tact, and no disease can mess that up.

During the middle of last week, Mormor's doctor got an idea for a way to drain the infection from Mormor's body without surgery, which wasn't an option.  He tried it, and it worked.  Today, Mormor is back at the nursing home where she lives.

My mom's email today read (referring to Mormor),

"Mom is back at the nursing home and doing well. At meal time she got up and started helping set the tables as usual . . . One of the ladies . . . went up to see her and said that she is smiling and talking about Jesus."

My 93 year-old grandmother, her mind altered by dementia, and yet her spirit lives, and she is serving others (most of whom are undoubtedly younger than she) and telling them about Jesus.


God is faithful when i am without faith.


God is faithful when i am without talent.


God is faithful when i am without resources.


God is faithful when i am without my very mind.


God is faithful.


Period.


And now i know.


And apparently, He has more for her to do.  Isn't that encouraging?  Imagine how much He must have left for all of us spring chickens to do!  We have no idea the dreams and plans He has for us.

My New Etsy Store

I've been hinting around about it, and today, i finally opened up my Etsy shop online.

Well, i'm open in that Etsy will officially allow me to get paid to sell stuff through their site.  I'm less open in that there isn't anything on my virtual shelves.  But i'm working on that.

I did put up a cute little banner with pictures of things i've made in the past, and i wrote a little welcome note.

And then i started working on my first item to go on the shelf.  I'll be sure to show it to you when it's finished.

I really don't know what i'm doing.  There's really a lot more to Etsy than initially meets in the eye, and i've been studying it all week.

Hopefully, one day soon, i will be an Etsy millionaire, or hundredaire, or something.

One stitch at a time.

Like i said, the "shelves" are empty, but if it interests you, check out my Etsy and tell me what you think.  I'm totally open to advice.

Or not.

Favorite Pair of Shoes

These are my old shoes.  

I have been wearing these shoes nearly every day for the past 2 1/2 years.

They have protected and supported my feet while i've shopped, while i've exercised, while i've hiked through the woods, while i've shoveled chicken poop, while i've butchered chickens, and while i've done everything in between.

Even when holes were worn in the toes, and the seams began to burst, i continued to wear them.  When the shoelaces broke, i just tied them differently, and i continued to wear them.  When the shoelaces broke again, i stopped tying them, but i continued to wear them.

At some point, they became so old-looking that i relegated them to farm work only, but they continued to be the shoes i put on in the morning, and they carried me through all of my daily duties.

My favorite pair of shoes.

This week, they finally wore to the point that their usability came into question.  It seems that even these shoes can be worn out.  The pressure finally became too much.

So today, i retire, my faithful, comfortable, hard-working, beautiful, favorite shoes.  I will finally let them rest.

I hope that i am like these shoes to the Father.  I hope that at the end of my life, a faithful, well-constructed life, whose every energy was well-used and thoroughly depleted, so that not one stitch of usefulness was gone to waste --  is what will be laid to rest.  A heart whose availability was so completely at the Father's beckon call, that He could depend on her first thing in the morning, and all through the day.  I pray that i learn to let down my guard so that i'm so full of holes that you can see Jesus in me.

I'd really like to be God's favorite pair of shoes.

Simple Sewing, Bethy-Homemaker

I don't mind telling you.

I'm very proud of myself.

Around here, my wardrobe mainly consists of t-shirts and jeans.  And lately, i found myself without t-shirts that were worthy of being worn (without shame) in public.  My work-at-home t-shirts are either covered in stains from baking bread and cleaning chicken coops, or they're full of holes from generous wear.

And since my local Walmart store has discontinued its beautiful wall of cheap t-shirts, from which i most often purchase my wardrobe, i found an ebay vendor with some reasonably priced plain t-shirts and placed an order.

I received my t-shirts with lightning speed and free shipping, and i was delighted.  But when i tried on the shirts, i discovered that they aren't cut quite like i would expect.  They're not Fruit of the Loom, after all.

So i modeled in front of the mirror and folded things here and there, and then this evening, i got out my trusty sewing machine and made a few well-placed stitches that make my t-shirts look pretty normal -- even a little bit well-put-together.

And now i feel like a successful little housewife for "altering" my clothes, so to speak.

I felt so good about it that i put a new hem in some jeans that have been four inches too long for several months.

And then i felt even more Bethy-homemaker-ish, which i really really enjoy.

Wet

There isn't much going on around here.

It's cold and rainy and awful, so no one wants to be outiside.

The chickens are molting and not laying eggs, possibly in protest of the horrible weather, so my big new year chicken production plan is on hold for an undefined period of time.

The rabbits continue to do nothing whatsoever, except eat, of course.

There's no produce to can right now (again, a nod to the weather).

And i think i've baked all the bread i can for a while, not as much because you're probably tired of it, as because i'm finally out of yeast, and there wasn't a sale on it this week.

I'm trying to think of other "heritage skills" to blog about.

I'm thinking tomorrow i'll do one on sweeping your cement floor after living in a mud puddle for a few days, but i just don't think it will get the ratings spike i'm hoping for.  ;)

I think i'll be putting my lazy crochet hook back to work in the very near future, fixing a project or two and possibly working up a few items to see how they will sell.  Crocheting doesn't blog very well, unless you're writing a blog in which you teach people how to crochet.  But i'll probably share pictures.  Just not today.

I'm also tossing around possibilities for producing washable and water proof diapers and feminine items to sell online, and i'm pretty excited about that, but i'm going to have to crochet-earn the money for the materials to get that one off the ground.  I remain excited in the meanwhile.

Boredom is good for getting rested after a nasty cold.  I'm thankful for that.

And i'm sure that in the next few days (and when the rainy-ness breaks) i'll feel a little more excited about the goings on around here.

But for now, it's rain as far as the eye can see and the ear can hear.

Wet.

Cold.

Shivering.

Soggy.

Rain.

Make Your Own Homemade Brown-n-Serve Rolls

I told you, way back when, that i would let you in on making your own brown-n-serve rolls.  Since then, i have found that i very much enjoy having this recipe under my belt, and i want to share it with you.

Homemade Brown-n-Serve Rolls


here's what you need:

• 1 package (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast 
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup shortening (or butter)
• 4 1/2 cups flour (give or take)
• 1 - 2 tablespoons of softened butter

here's what you do:

*Check out my general tutorial on yeast breads over here, if you haven't already.*

I learned the following recipe from a wonderful old Betty Crocker Cookbook that i found at a resale shop, but my instructions will reflect how i do it, not necessarily how Betty does it.

• First, warm milk and water in a pan on the stove, or in the microwave. 

(Traditional instructions tell you to scald and cool the milk, but the point is really to just not add refrigerator cold milk to your warm dough.  Nothing magical happens when you scald the milk.)  

• If you're using active dry yeast, heat the water and milk to 110 - 115 degrees Fahrenheit.  (For rapid rise, or bread machine yeast, your liquid should be 120 - 130 degrees Fahrenheit.)

• When the liquid is the correct temperature, add 1/4 cup of sugar, stir, and then pour yeast over the top of the mixture. (If you refrigerate your yeast, it is likely to act a little better if you bring it to room temperature before you get started on this recipe.)

• Proof yeast in warm liquid for 10 minutes.While yeast is proofing, mix 2 1/4 cups of flour with salt in a small mixing bowl.

• When yeast is done proofing and fully dissolved, mix with 1/4 cups butter or shortening in large mixing bowl.  Then add flour/salt mixture and mix thoroughly, until very loose dough begins to form.

• Add remaining flour in small increments until soft, kneadable, dough forms.  (This is the part where i start using a wooden spoon.)

• Dump dough out onto floured surface (i use a really clean counter top.)  Set timer for 8-10 minutes, and knead until time is up and your dough is wet but not sticky.

• Place dough in greased mixing bowl and turn dough over to grease both sides.  Cover and allow to rise in warm (75-85 degrees) place until doubled, which should take one to two hours.) 

If using rapid rise or bread machine yeast, do not allow to rise for more than about 45 minutes.  This yeasts works much more quickly than active dry.

*At this point, i'm going to show you how i form the dough into "fan tan" rolls.  Technically, you can shape the rolls however you please, but i've found the fan tan to be a crowd pleaser, so i recommend giving it a try.  This recipe makes 24 muffin cup-size rolls, so if you don't dig the fan tan, have fun!*

• When dough is risen, punch it down and split in half.  Using half of the dough at a time, roll out into a rectangular-ish shape, roughly 9x18 inches.

 Here's my half-a-lump.

Here's my "ish" rectangle.

• Your dough should be about 1/8" thick, though i've never gotten it to be the same thickness all the way across.  When dealing with yeast dough, eighths of inches can get away from you.  Don't worry.  It works itself out.

• Slather soft butter (i use my fingers) over the top of the rectangle and then cut the dough into strips 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide.

You might notice that your rectangle kind of shrinks while you're trying to work with it.  You'll make up for this in the next step.  The strips will naturally stretch back out while you stack them.

• Stack your strips 4 high and line up the edges the best you can.  Then cut stacked strips into small stacked rectangles, roughly 1 1/2" x 2".

• Place the stacks, cut side down, into greased muffin cup pan.  This half of the dough should make 12 rolls, but there are always odd strips that didn't conform.  I usually roll them up or twist them into some cute shape and bake them right along with everything else.

• Do the same thing with the second half of the dough.  If you have only one muffin pan, you can refrigerate the remaining dough until your pan is free, or you can experiment with making different shapes and baking them in a cake pan or on a cookie sheet.  The world is your oyster, or your dinner roll, as the case may be.

• Cover your pans and allow to rise for 45 minutes, or until almost doubled.  This direction is the same for either type of yeast you may have used.

• Bake in preheated 275 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Don't allow the tops to brown.

• Your brown and serve rolls won't look much different than they did before you baked them.  That's what you want.  Allow the rolls to cool and then store in plastic ziploc bags (i can usually fit at least 20 in a gallon size) in the refrigerator or freezer.

• Don't worry about anomalies like these (my second lump of dough).  They look a little funny, but no one seems to mind, and they taste just as good.

• When you're ready to have rolls for dinner, just grab as many you need and bake on a cookie sheet for 7-10 minutes at 425 degrees.

• Buttering the tops is a nice touch.

Now you can have fresh dinner rolls in ten minutes, whether you need 2 or 20, and you won't have to pay the huge price that you'd have to pay for something like this in the store.  Besides, these are so much better.  Any questions?  

Coupon Slingin' Super Husband

I told you that, even though we haven't had much time to get really prepared to be extreme couponers, we wanted to find some kind of really good deal that we could take advantage of this weekend.  Well, to our surprise and delight, right here in our tiny little town, where the only grocery store is Brookshire Brothers, we were able to get a couple of snazzy little deals.  Not extreme couponer worthy, but snazzy anyway.

The box top people are doing some promotions lately, and Brookshire Brothers was offering $5.00 off if you bought ten participating items.  Included in the "participating items" were Hamburger Helper and Totino's Pizzas.  We found some coupons for both (though the online Hamburger Helper coupons ran out before we could get all we wanted), and we were able to get ten Hamburger Helpers for 60 cents a piece, and ten more for 75 cents each.  We also took advantage of the Totino's Pizzas, since we like them for a junk food snack now and then, and with this deal, we got them for 57 cents a piece.

Also, i was able to print a few of a very hot and rare Borden cheese coupon for $1 off.  Combined with Brookshire Brothers' 2/$4 sale, we got the cheese for $1 each.  Tomorrow we're hoping to use a few more at a big city store and possibly bring home the cheese for 88 cents a bag.  How cool would that be?

Oh, the title of this post . . . did i tell you that my super hero husband does the bulk of the grocery shopping around here?  It's kind of nice to be me.  

I Can't Believe I Haven't Told You About Manna!

Good grief!

How could i have hidden this simple treasure from you, my loyal friends, the people who read my blatherings week in and week out?  I'm so sorry.

This is Manna.

O.k.  That's not the most impressive picture, but please stick with me.

Manna is comfort food.

Manna is i'm-in-a-hurry-and-out-of-hamburger-helper food.

Manna is hearty-and-filling-on-a-cold-day food.

Manna is good for you.

That picture up there is one i took yesterday after heating up some frozen leftovers in the oven.  But normally, you make it in a pot or a skillet.  It's kind of a stew, and it's my mother's ingenious recipe.  

I love my mother . . . largely because of Manna.

Here's what you need:

• Potatoes
• Ground beef
• Cream of mushroom soup
• Green beans
• Milk.

Here's what you do:

• Wash and cut a few large potatoes into bite size pieces.  Don't bother peeling; the peel is good for you.  ;)  

• Put the potatoes in a pot, cover with water and some salt, and put on to boil.  

• Meanwhile, start browning your ground beef.  A pound will do.

• When the meat is done, drain off the grease and add a can of cream of mushroom soup and a can of green beans (drain off the water, or it will taste "too grean beany").

• When the potatoes are done (i use a fork to test for done-ness), drain off the water and combine with the other ingredients.

• Use a little (or as much as you like) milk to thin the mixture to a desired consistency and season to taste.

Easy peasy.

To fancy it up a bit, add fresh mushrooms and sauteed onions and garlic.

To spice it up a bit, add chili powder or Tony Chachere's.

To make it super easy on yourself, make a big batch and freeze the leftovers for days like my yesterday, when thawing and shoving in the oven are about all you can muster.

This dish is wonderful with a slice of fresh baked bread, toasted with butter.

It also lends itself to lots of variations.  Use rice, instead of potatoes . . . use stew meat or sausage instead of ground beef . . . go nuts.

Just enjoy this new addition to your weeknight meal rotation.  I know i do.

Attempting to not live in Absolute Squalor

I don't like to write about being sick.  Nobody likes to hear (or read) anyone whine about being sick, and i think that posts about being sick tend to make readers feel obligated to post some well-wishing in response to the whining.  (Please don't feel that.)

But since i have entertained blog silence for two whole days, i thought i should say hello.

Yesterday was a fog of minor abdomenal violence, ice cold fingers and toes, burning eyes, a vague but annoying headache, and sporadic ear pain.  I attempted to do as little as possible while piling as many layers of clothes on as i could find.

When my husband got home, i'm not sure he was convinced that i was sick.  The obvious outward symptoms, i imagine, appeared to be resolute laziness and blanket obsession.  At one point, he asked me, "what exactly is wrong with you?"  Ha!  I understood.  It was one of those things that's hard to explain.

Until this morning when my darling came home from work early and foggily explained his symptoms as a "six foot radius of 'slow,'" and "an annoying head thing."  Now i totally understand.

I always feel so bad for passing illness on to my husband.

I continued to sleep, even after he came home, started trying to rouse myself around 9:00, and i think i was upright and dressed by about 9:45.  Between the two of us, we managed to knock out 15 minutes of chores (normally done by one person) in 45 minutes or so.  We're an energetic bunch today.

The good news is that when i finished up with feeding and watering chickens and rabbits and Jelly, and i came in the house, the thought occurred to me that i should attempt to not live in absolute squalor today.  This is good news because yesterday, i didn't notice (or care about) the squalor.  I have now managed to do most of the dishes, and while i am now about ready for a nap (after my morning of hard labor), i think this must be a sign that i'm on my way out of this dumpy sickness.

Poor GSSH.  He's just getting started.   I pray his will be abbreviated.

Extreme Couponing - I'm not sure . . . is this a heritage skill?

A week or two ago, GSSH saw a show on TLC, called "Extreme Couponing," and when it came on again this weekend, he made sure i saw it too.

This one hour special, showed the lives of four different persons/families, all of whom have learned the skill of getting something for nothing (or at least a whole lot less), to the extreme.  If you watch this show, please don't let the first extreme couponer deter you.  Keep watching.  That young lady appears to need therapy have gone a little over the edge, but the other three have some really interesting experiences, that will at least be fun to watch, if not educational.

All of the subjects of the show went on huge shopping trips, for the cameras, and paid very little cash, and mounds of coupons, for their very large piles of groceries.

One of the sane three on the show has been ironically dubbed the Krazy Coupon Lady (KCL).  She is a young wife and mother, and we were both impressed by how sensible and organized she was, as well as being level headed (she appears to not actually be crazy, which is nice).  We have since discovered that she has a web site (and a book), all about couponing.  KCL, on the TLC program, went on a shopping trip to (i think) Albertson's and paid $2.64 (and a LOT of coupons) for $632.34 worth of groceries.  And whether or not Albertson's is overpriced, $2.64 is a really good deal.

This post wasn't meant to be a review of the TLC program.  I mean to be giving you some insight into why i have spent nearly the entirety of this day reading all about extreme couponing, as done by the Krazy Coupon Lady.

For folks like us, who are looking to spend less money and get more value out of life - not to mention, would like to have some storage of food, just because that's a sensible thing to do - it seems like a worthwhile endeavor to see if we can learn how to get food for free.

My day of reading about how to make coupons count for their very mostest, may also account for why this blog post may or may not make a LOT of sense.  Sorry about that.

If extreme couponing interests you, check out the link below.  KCL has an incredible amount of couponing resources in one central location, and like i said, she's appears to be not crazy at all.  She has a printable table of contents and cover pages so you can start your own coupon binder, AND she has some incredible databases of available coupons, printable and otherwise.  Check her out if you wanna.

Anyway, my GSSH and i are looking for one really great deal to capitalize on, like 5 free bottles of laundry detergent, or some such wonderfulness.  And we're hoping we can build on our understanding and learning from there.  I'll letchya know if i get to be as awesome as the Krazy Coupon Lady.

I'll probably also letchya know if i get any free groceries at all - just 'cause that's crazy cool.

About Bunnies

I think it was in April of 2010.  Far too nearly a year ago.  We began a humble pursuit of raising rabbits for food.  Initially, we bought 3 female New Zealand rabbits and later a male Californian/Flemish Giant cross.  The above picture is of our male and our white New Zealand doe, who were supposed to be mating at the time, but clearly didn't get anything done.

Besides the fact that our male, Oliver, is either genetically messed up or naturally matures much much later than we had been led to understand when we bought him, i have other thoughts that have led to my discouragement in the area of rabbit wrangling.

One, i hate the cages.  They're bunnies.  It just seems like they should be frolicking in meadows, not nibbling in above ground cages.  It just doesn't make sense to my head, and i consequently don't get warm fuzzies about keeping them in these conditions.

Two, it seems that our climate and lack of a separate, cooled rabbitry building to house our rabbits, may be contributing our lack of baby bunnies.  I'm sure this idea isn't completely accurate since lots of Texans raise rabbits without separate, cooled, indoor quarters, but i read things, and then i get confused.

Three, i can't tell what's going on with them.  Keep in mind that i am basing pretty much all my knowledge/experience in raising animals, on my chickens, whom i know well.  I can watch them and easily see who is sick and who isn't sick and so on and so forth.  How could i possibly know if a rabbit in a little cage is sick?  I won't know if she's not active.  Where's she going to go?  I've gotten to know them much better than i knew them when they first came to live here, but i still have a really hard time telling what they're thinking.

So there you have it.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement, from someone who hasn't exactly made a successful go of something that obviously does work for other folks who aren't me.

They're cute though, the bunnies.  I like them more than i thought i would . . . but not too much to eat them.  ;)  

But all in all, i wouldn't argue too much about trading them in for a couple of goats, or better yet, Muscovy Ducks.  I really want some Muscovy Ducks!

Who are you?

I (and i assume pretty much anyone who writes about their lives and makes their writing available to the entirety of  the planet, via the internet) really appreciate knowing that people are reading what i write . . . and hopefully not scoffing.

Because i am interested in having peeps read, i install things like statcounter on my blog so that i can see how many people are checking me out - and sometimes what they're reading and how many times.  What i can't tell, especially if you don't comment, is who you are and why you're reading.

And maybe you don't want me to know.  That's cool.

The other night, i got curious about an influx of new followers i see on my profile.  So i went to each followers profile to see what i could see.  But for most of you, there was still very little information.

Bear with me, i'm coming to a point here.

The point:  A few minutes ago, i learned that today, January 14, 2011, has been designated, by the influential authorities of the blogosphere, "National Delurking Day."  This means that this day is specially set aside for those of you who lurk (read but don't comment) and those of you who don't lurk, to not lurk, or continue not lurking.

Meaning, it would tickle me 3 shades of orange if you quiet readers would say hello.  You don't have to sign in.  You can comment as anonymous.  I would also love it if those of you who already comment from time to time, would comment today.

You don't have to say anything special, but if you need help thinking of something to say, i would love to know why you read this blog, or which types of posts you enjoy the most, or which types of posts you can't stand to read, or if you like my chickens and haven't been getting enough of that lately, or if you write your own blog and want to post a link, or if your favorite color is  . . . whatever your favorite color is,  'cause i think that kind of info tells lots about a person.  Say whatever you want.  I'm not picky.  But if it's obscene, i'll have to delete it.  And i promise to read each and every comment.  I always read every comment.  It's what i do.

One more thing.  While we're doing this, the other day, i got like 3000 hits on my bread making post.  Since i don't normally reach 3000 people, or any thousand people, i'm very curious to know on what website or whatever a link to that post was placed to generate so much traffic on my tiny little 60-hits-in-one-day-is-huge personal blog.

One other more thing.  I really appreciate you.  And to get things started, my favorite color is orange.  ;)

Beth

Let's Break Bread . . . again

A week ago, i shared some bread baking tips in my post, Let's Break Bread.  (I would read that post before reading this one, if you haven't already.)  From that post arose some questions about the use of Rapid Rise/Bread machine yeast, and about the benefit (or lack) of rolling out and rolling up the dough to make loaves.  So i thought i would do a little experiment and see about it.

Question #1:  Will it work o.k. to treat Rapid Rise yeast the same as Active Dry yeast in a recipe calling for Active Dry yeast? 

Almost every bread recipe instructs to allow the dough to rise "until doubled" after kneading.  This is the "first rise," and it usually takes close to 1 1/2 hours at my house (with active dry yeast).  Today, i used rapid rise yeast, and instead of allowing it to "rest," as is directed by the package and other sources i have read, i allowed it to rise until doubled.

Here it is right after kneading. 

After 30 minutes.

 After 45 minutes.

Answer #1:  Sort of.  After 45 minutes of rising, the dough was more than doubled, and it punched down as i would expect it to.  I would certainly not recommend leaving it there for 60 or 90 minutes like i would with active dry yeast.  When using rapid rise yeast in the future, i will probably allow the dough to rise as i did today . . . unless i'm in a hurry.  I enjoy letting it rise and then punching it down.  ;)

Question #2:  What is the benefit of rolling out the dough and then rolling it into a loaf, as directed by Betty Crocker's cookbook?

So this time, i didn't bother with all that.  After i punched down the dough, i immediately cut it in half and roughly formed loaf-ish shapes and lay them in the loaf pans.  The one on the right is a little bumpy.  Oh well.

 Here they are after risen.  Not too shabby.

Here they after baked and buttered.

Awfully pretty, i think.

Answer #2:  After cutting off a slice and looking over my loaves, i notice that my bread slices will not be nearly the same size all the way through the loaf.  The ones on the end will be much smaller than the ones in the middle, etc.  Of course, i could have worked a little harder to form a uniform log of dough to rise in the loaf pan, but i believe that the roll out and roll up method must have been Betty Crocker's solution for evenly sized loaves.  I may or may not go to the trouble in the future.  ;)

All The Days

I have a little quote over there in the right hand margin.

It says,

"All the days in the world are waiting for their turn, 

and they never get another turn.

Never."

These words, which i have blogged about before, which i have magnetted (i just invented that word) to my fridge, and used to decorate my blog page, were spoken in innocence by a 6 year old girl, the daughter of my friend.  And they speak to me so deeply.

The other day (meaning sometime between yesterday and three months ago), i caught sight of these words on my fridge and had a new word picture i thought i would share.

I imagined "all the days in the world," as people.  Each day gets to witness me.  Since God's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), that day doesn't know anything about what all the other days witnessed. It only knows this day . . . because it is this day.

Each day takes its turn.  And then reports to God, reports to the story of my life, maybe reports to God's record of my life.

So that made me think.

When today, whatever day today is at the time, takes its turn . . . what will today write in my book?  What will today report to God about my life?

You've heard of "carpe diem?"  It means "seize the day."  This term has been used to mean something sometimes irresponsible . . . an excuse to eat drink and be merry and so forth.  But i think that seizing the day is something God would have us always do - but with different ambitions.  We should seize each day in order that all of our days would have a good report for the stories of our lives, for my chapter in God's book.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is His  faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!”

~ Lamentations 3:22-24 ~

Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever.

~ Psalm 145:2 ~

Ramblings of a Cold Texan

I'm fairly certain that they don't have these up north.  Correct me if i'm wrong.

In the south, our weather forecasts can include the "Hard Freeze Warning."  This is to let us know that it's going to be cold enough for long enough, that our unprotected southern pipes may freeze, and our outdoor plants are probably going to die.

Since my parents and much of my family lives in the land of the perpetual freezer, i sometimes look upon us here in the south, with northerners' eyes . . . and scoff.

We're having a weather emergency because we might get 8 solid hours of below freezing temperatures in a row. That's our emergency.

I don't think my mother has seen above freezing temperatures for a solid 8 hours in the last 8 weeks.  Oh, and i checked.....there's no "Hard Freeze Warning" in Michigan.  Just a prediction for an eternity of cold frigidness, with snow, followed by bone shattering unutterable winter.

But it doesn't matter.  This is the south.

Last year, in a fitful winter, we had a solid 24 hours of below freezing temperatures.

They shut down the school.  It didn't even snow that time.  It was just cold.

We can't risk letting our southern children out of the house in the cold!  Think about it.  We don't even have winter coats.   Everybody knows that winter only lasts a month down here.  We just wear a sweat shirt and long pants that month.

If you're really prepared, you own a hoodie.

Please pray for us.  We have thin southern blood, and it's going to be 18 degrees tonight.  It's cold in here.

But the real cause for concern.  The well.  We have the water well sheltered and protected by a heat lamp tonight.  The chickens will have to deal with the cold on their own; the well gets the heat lamp tonight.

Just kidding.  Kind of.

Because if the cold causes the well to have some sort of unhappy accident . . .  well, last year, we went 3 weeks without running water.

Brr.....AND....pee yoo!

So this is me, a southern Texan, facing 8 whole hours of truly cold temperatures, asking you, the northerners, who are enduring your regular 8 months of unspeakable winter, to pray for us.  We're not like you. We can't handle the cold.  We live in Texas for a reason, you know.

Talk to you tomorrow.

I hope.

New Baby and cute pictures of people you may or may not know

He's here!  Yesterday, i told you i was going to attend (meaning "be present in the same building as") Kaleb's birth, and i did.  Here he is with his happy mama, my dear friend, Meredith, my sister from another mother (and father) as it were.

For comparison, i dug out my pictures of Kaleb's big sister, Rachel, whose birthday i also attended.

The two babies look a lot alike.  I can tell which one is Rachel by her nose. 

Congratulations to my friends!  Happy Birthday, Kaleb!

Coffee Break (literally)

This very short post shall explore the appropriate use of the word, "literally," while also being a real blog post.

I am literally taking a short coffee break before i go back to work.

Lord willing, and the creek don't literally rise, i intend to attend the birth of my God son, Kaleb Isaiah, whose momentous arrival is scheduled for sometime between 10 and 11 am, tomorrow morning.

I am very excited about Kaleb's birthday, but since my attendance will require my absence from home, i am very busy preparing meals and attempting to leave a clean kitchen behind, while i am gone.

I literally went to bed after 2:00 this morning, which did not leave enough sleep to prepare me for a a fun but extraordinarily long Sunday.  Thus, i have literally started drinking a literal pot of coffee near 6:00 p.m. because i don't think i can accomplish everything without it.  I literally thank the Lord for coffee.  While it should not be abused, it is quite helpful in a proverbial pinch.

I decided to take a short literal coffee break and have a snack to renew myself before going back to work.

Lord willing, and the creek don't literally rise, i will get to bed at a decent hour so that i will be prepared to be literally awake and alert to drive to The Woodlands for the grand day.

Happy literal Birthday Eve, Kaleb!  Literally, See You Tomorrow!

Let's Break Bread

Let me start by saying that i am NOT an expert in bread-making.  I like to make bread, and my husband likes me to make bread, and i have messed up a lot of bread.  Also i have done a lot of reading and experimenting to learn how to stop messing up the bread.

This i will share with you.

Today i made basic white bread from a very old Betty Crocker cook book, and i took pictures for you.

Every yeast bread recipe made with kneaded dough has certain elements to it, and the following very few tips can be used with any of them......no matter what the recipe says you should do.

Tip #1, Take Your Temperature:  The recipe will tell you to take a liquid, usually water or milk, and dissolve the yeast in it.  Usually the recipe says something like "warm water," or "almost hot to the touch," or something else i can't properly decipher with my finger tips.  So i use a wonderful modern invention called a thermometer.  

The two types of yeast readily available in the American grocery store are Active Dry Yeast and Rapid Rise Yeast, a.k.a. Bread Machine Yeast.  If you're using Active Dry Yeast, your liquid should be 110 to 115 degrees (Fahrenheit).  If you're using Rapid Rise Yeast, your liquid should be 120 to 130 degrees.

Today, i used Rapid Rise Yeast, and my liquid was water.  This is perfect.

Tip #2, Always Proof Your Yeast:  Generally, the recipe will tell you to "dissolve" your yeast in the warm water or whatever.  But take it from me, "dissolve" doesn't mean "pour it in and stir it around."  I found that it pays to always proof your yeast!   

You proof your yeast by mixing a small amount of sugar into the "warm" water and then kind of scatter-pour your yeast on top of the water.  Set your timer for ten minutes and leave it alone.  In this recipe, i had more than 3 cups of water, and the recipe called for 1/4 cup of sugar.  So i added the 1/4 cup of sugar to the water before adding the yeast.  This is how it looks right after adding the yeast.

After ten minutes, it looked like this.  And the whole kitchen smelled of yeast.  If it doesn't foam up, or get smelly or anything, then you know something has gone wrong, and you need to start over.  

Possible problems:  your liquid may be too cold or too hot, or you may simply have yeast that isn't good anymore.  Either way, there's no point in wasting flour on inactive yeast.

Tip #3, Salt Kills Yeast:  Many recipes, for some unknown reason, instruct you to add salt directly to the yeast/liquid mixture, before adding flour.  Don't do it!  Salt is yeast's arch enemy, and if not diluted with flour, it could make your yeast less active and your bread too dense.  Instead, mix your salt with half of the flour before adding it to the liquid.

Also, don't worry too much about measuring the flour exactly, for this kind of recipe.  Depending on the weather and your general part of the earth, you may use a lot less or a lot more flour than the recipe predicts.  Don't sweat it.  Just make a good dough.

For example, my recipe called for 9-10 cups of flour.  And this is what it looked like with 9 whole cups of flour in it.

I proceeded and turned out the dough onto the counter to knead it and......oh wait!  Here's the next tip!

Tip #4, Forget About "Smooth and Elastic":  Almost every bread recipe i've ever read says, "knead until smooth and elastic," and may or may not give an estimated number of minutes that this should take.  When i found myself unable to accomplish "smooth and elastic," i thought something must be wrong with my yeast and would sometimes just give up.  What i have discovered is that whatever i think "smooth and elastic" means, almost never happens.  Instead, set your timer for ten minutes.

The geniuses over at Baking 911 explain something scientific about how long it takes for gluten strands and yeast to dance the right amount - or some such business.  But i have found that kneading for 8-10 minutes seems to do the trick.  Set your timer.

Here's my puddle of wet dough from today.  I ended up adding about 2 additional cups of flour to this, and it was still pretty wet.  This summer, it may only take 8 cups.  One (at least this one) never can tell.  

My personal success with kneading dough and baking bread has yielded this standard:  i want the dough to be dry enough that it isn't sticking to my hands, but wet enough that it almost wants to but doesn't.  I no longer look for a dusty looking lump of dough.  I want all the flour to be fully worked in, not resting on the outside.

After your dough is kneaded, let it rest/rise in a greased bowl.  You should roll it around in there a bit - or just stick it in there and then flip it over - so that the part facing up has some grease on it also.  This keeps it from sticking to things (whatever you're covering the bowl with) as it rises.

Now a note about the different yeasts.  

Traditional, Active Dry Yeast, which is called for in most recipes, requires you to allow the dough to rise until double and then punch down before shaping for the loaf pans or whathaveyou.  

Rapid Rise yeast claims that it needs just 5 minutes to rest and skip the first rising altogether.  I have found that the dough doesn't act right if i let it rest only 5 minutes.  I'm more comfortable with 20 minutes.  Today, i let it go almost 30 minutes, and that was a little too much.  But it made great bread anyway.

Edited to add:  Please see Let's Break Bread . . . again for more info about using Rapid Rise Yeast.

Here's my giant lump of dough "resting."

While it was resting, i greased my loaf pans.  The one on the right is an insulated loaf pan.  It never lets the bread burn, but if you didn't know better, you would think the bottom wasn't done, even though it is.  The one on the left may or may not have been rescued from a house fire, and it is very dark.  So dark, that it will generally burn the bottom of the loaf before it is done cooking.  The foil lining helps with this a little bit.  

This part isn't a tip; it's just me blathering on about loaf pans.

Once the dough had its nap, i cut the lump of dough in half.  This is the first half rolled out.  The recipe recommends a 9x18 inch rectangle.  My hand is there for measurement, since the span of my hand is 8 inches.  As you can see, i'm not worrying too much about getting the 9x18 rectangle exact.  Just aim for a rectangle that can be rolled up, and you'll be fine.

Edited to add:  Please see Let's Break Bread . . . again for more experimenting with shaping loaves.

For the second half, i concerned myself even less with the measurements, and i decided to make cinnamon bread.  A generous slathering of butter, sugar, and cinnamon, turn this white bread recipe into a light dessert. Yum.

 See? I didn't measure my rectangles, and i made loaves anyway.  This is how they looked after rising and just before going in the oven.

Yummmm

Tip #5, Slice off a piece immediately, and have it hot with butter.  This is the privilege of the bread maker.

In review, for better bread making, use a thermometer to make sure your liquid is the right temperature, always proof your yeast, dilute the salt in flour before adding to liquid, knead for 8-10 minutes, and enjoy the first hot slice right out of the oven.

Spaghetti Wednesday

Do you do weekly meal plans?

I never do.  But this week, in an attempt to organize my mind . . . to keep me from spending the entire day deciding what's for dinner, i'm attempting to plan my meals ahead of time.

It really does help.  But it also encourages the assignment of certain meals to each day of the week and leaving it at that for infinity.

For instance, today is Spaghetti Wednesday.  I've done spaghetti on most Wednesdays for a while, simply because it's fast and simple, and i don't have to think about it.  This is important because on Wednesdays, choir practice starts at 6:00 p.m., so i endeavor (and sometimes fail) to have dinner done and the kitchen clean before i leave for church/choir practice.

I like Spaghetti Wednesday.  It's something to look forward to.  When there are great sales on spaghetti sauce, we sometimes also have Spaghetti Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; but that's another situation altogether.

I'm thinking of instituting another weekly meal:  Fish and Potato Tuesday.

Eating fish with potatoes makes me think of my Morfar (that means Grandpa in Swedish), and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.  We tried it out yesterday, and it was nice.  There were also peas involved, but they don't have to be mentioned.  They're just there because my Mama told me to eat my greens.

My schedule says that we're having Red Beans and Rice tomorrow, courtesy of a Mr. Tony Chachere.  But i'm thinking of moving up Friday's meal, meatballs with gravy and mashed potatoes, to Thursday.  A labor intensive meal like this one may or may not inspire the GSSH to bring home dinner on Clean Kitchen Friday.

We'll call tomorrow Butter Up the Bread Winner Thursday.

And if that doesn't work, Mr. Chachere can handle Friday in a pinch.

A Cinnamon Roll in Review

 Is it wrong to talk about cinnamon rolls twice in a row?  If it is, i'm sorry.

Still, i am going to talk about cinnamon rolls.

This is a review of the aforementioned Overnight Cinnamon Rolls recipe that i found on allrecipes.com.

The cinnamon rolls that i formed on Sunday night looked like this on Monday morning.  Not exactly what i would call "risen."  But that's o.k.

The recipe said to let it rest on the counter top for 30 minutes before baking.  Once baked, they looked like this.

With icing . . .

Yum . . .

My thoughts:  easy and fun to make.  Probably could have made twice as many with the same recipe.  These are gigantic and a little doughy, which is o.k. with me but not with everyone.  The filling is dry and should include butter, in my opinion.  The icing includes corn syrup, which adds a funny flavor i could have done without.

All in all, a yummy recipe, but i will keep looking for perfection.