Bread Challenge: Wheat Bread

The Experience: The dough was easy to make. It seemed to have a good texture, but not as smooth as I expected. It rose well. After rising, it had the proverbial soft as a baby's bottom feel to it. I followed the directions, or so I thought. I greased the loaf pan and the square pan for the rolls and the mini loaf pan. In one oven I put the rolls and the other, the large loaf knowing that the length of time would be different for each. I had already put the large loaf and the rolls in the oven, when I looked at the directions again. I was supposed to allow the dough to rise almost another hour in the loaf pan. Oops. I missed that part of the directions.

The Result: The recipe makes 2 loaves. Instead of making 2 loaves, I made 1 loaf, 8 rolls, and 1 mini loaf. The mini loaf was the only one that rose the 2nd time; however, after baking the mini one, I didn't find that it made that much of a difference in the overall taste. I will do the second rising of the dough next time I make it. All the bread was slightly crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. The girls and Hubby thought that the rolls and the bread were yummy, and that I should make them again. I have to agree with them.

The Grade: B+ (It would have been higher if I had read the directions completely.)

The rolls

The picture only shows seven because after 15 minutes I ate one to see if it was done and it wasn't. Five more minutes (total of 20) and they were perfect.

Large loaf Large loaf inside

denser texture due to only rising once

Mini loaf Mini loaf

lighter texture due to rising a 2nd time

I Am Inspired and Ready to Begin

To all the Half-Baked Beauties out there, I have been inspired to take on the challenge of bread making. I bake so many other things from scratch, why not try making bread. I have given the challenge to my friends in the Dayton area to join me in my journey. I have one friend Amy T. who jumped at the chance to do this with me. When I asked her, she said that she used to make everything from scratch. Slowly boxed and bagged products crept into her house and the habit of using them was hard to break. Currently, I will not be setting up a blog, but that doesn't mean I won't in the future. In the mean time, I will be posting on our families' blog a record of my experience: good, bad and ugly.

Is it just me or...

Am I just thinking too much about what my only son does. I was sitting at our island counter and Xander at the kitchen table having a snack. I look over and he is licking the table. Why? Because he had banged his sippy on the table enough that the stopper came out, which led to the water coming out onto the table, himself, the booster seat, and the floor. I guess he wanted to be helpful by cleaning up his mess. Maybe I need to teach him the sign for towel.

Under the Weather

Well, today was not at all like I expected it to be. Bella woke up with a runny nose, a congested cough and a slight temperature. I didn't expect to have an extra child at home, let alone a sick one. Had baby brother not had a temperature last weekend I wouldn't have thought much about it. It wasn't a 100 degrees (which means no school), so I would have sent her to school. Instead of making the call myself, I made a call to the school nurse to seek her advice. I have spoken to her many times and Bella has made a few visits to her office. She advised me to keep Bella home. I told Bella that she had to stay home and she cried. I didn't expect that she would cry. I know she likes school and all but she did go the other 4 days this week. Later that day her fever did go up over 100, but not by much. Bella wasn't too happy during naptime since I made her stay in her bed. I kept telling her, you are sick and have a fever. Sleep will make you feel better. Then I reminded her about the Little Bear episode were Little Bear was sick and Mother Bear made him stay in bed all day. Naptime was better than all day, right? She remembered the episode but that didn't seem to help. I guess I expected that she would related to that better than she did.

Trying a New Recipe

My honey's birthday was yesterday. He is not into much fanfare when it comes to his birthday; however, I did want to do something special. A nice adult dinner. I thought, "Crabcakes would be nice with with what....?" I wanted to try something new, since it was an adult meal. Ok, so how many of you ladies out there cook or bake something new when you are going to an event or having someone over for dinner? I know that it is not always the best idea, because what if something goes horribly wrong; however, I do it quite often. I got to use my new laptop to look for a recipe. One of the reasons I wanted a laptop, to look for a recipes, make a dish, and only have to print the recipe if I think I will make that dish again. Friday, I looked on Food Network website for a risotto recipe. In Chicago Dan and I have a favorite Surf and Turf resturant, Braxton. They have the best crabcakes I have ever tasted. I don't know what what the chef does to them but they are fresh and need no sauce. Why this story, because the last time we ate there at Christmas, a butternut squash risotto accommpanied my crabcakes. The risotto was fantastic. So the point of all this, I decided to look for a butternut squash risotto. I have never made risotto before, but I thought I will give it a try even though I can't make rice to save my life. I knew going into making the risotto that it would take a long time and lots of liquid. I found a Rachel Ray reciepe that was easy. I consider myself a good cook and with good reviews and an easy rating I tried it.

The end result: It took more liquid than the recipe called for, but I think I had the heat too high even though I had it as the directions called for. If I do make it again I won't add the nutgmeg, not because I don't like it, but rather I didn't like it with the combination of the other flavors. My first instinct was to leave it out, but I like to make a recipe as it is the first time, then adjust it the next time I make it. Over all I liked it, Dan liked it with the crabcake, but not as much just tasting it from the pot, and Bella who will at least try 1 bite of anything these days, didn't like it. I had high hopes for Bella liking it, since she likes rice: spanish stlyle, fried rice, and plain rice. Charlotte doesn't like rice, so I knew that first she wouldn't try it and second, due to the rice like texture, she wouldn't like it. And Little Man, who knows what he eats. Foods he used to eat, now he won't touch, something he eats today, he refuses to eat the next day.

Well, it had been a long time since I have tried a new recipe, not because of time, but due to the likes/dislikes of our family. I'm glad that I tried it but, I think it will be awhile before I do it again. When a new dish doesn't go over, I feel it's a waste of my time, energy, and money. Maybe that will change as the kids get older.

Bike riding in the basement

As much as I would like to have a finished basement, (which will come when the kids are older) I love that during the cold winter months, we can go in the basment and the kids can ride their bikes. In case you are wondering, Xander doesn't not have any pants on. Only his diaper. We strip him to his diaper during meal times because he doesn't like to wear a bib. After dinner we headed to the basement and decided he did need some clothes on. We found his shirt and snow boots and downstairs we went. He didn't seem cold or bothered by not having any pants on. Actually he would prefer if he didn't have any clothes on at all regardless of the temperature. The Big Wheel was the bike Charlotte got last year for Christmas.

In case you haven't seen this kind of bike before it is called a plasma car. It really is neat. By putting your feet up under the steering wheel, and moving the steering wheel back and forth, the car goes. The faster you move the steering wheel, the faster the car goes. Bella showed us her "tricks". She had a one handed trick that looked like she was a rodeo bull rider. The Plasma Car was the bike Xander got for Christmas this year.

Riding around on Christmas morning

Snow Castle Tower

After sledding on Saturday, Dan built a snow castle in our front yard. Through out the week, the tower has gone from a tall tower, to a tower defiying the laws of physics and gravity. Our snow castle tower puts the leaning tower of Pisa to shame. You have to see it to believe it. The photo has not been doctored, nor is there any infastructure within the tower.

Tuesday Afternoon

Thursday morning

By late Thursday afternoon, the castle had finally bent so far over it touched the ground. It was so sad I couldn't take a picture of the once majestic tower, now having fallen so far from it's glory.

Sledding

Bella and Xander loved sledding. Charlotte on the other hand, went down once and decided it was too scary. At least she came out in the snow. Last year after she got snow on her mitten that was it. She got her lawn chair, set it up in the garage, and just sat and watched Bella play in the snow.

No school and the snow keeps coming

It started snowing yesterday morning. The snow came down so fast that the local schools had early dismissal. Ours was 2 hours early. Dan shoveled before going to work, I shoveled after dropping Bella off at school, and again during nap time and yet again after picking Bella up from school. I shoveled and the kids got to play in the snow. We had a fun day. However, the snow didn't stop all night and it continues to snow now. School got canceled today. That's nice. Bella wasn't too happy either. I called Dan at work and ask if he was coming home early and the answer was no. It going to be a long day. At least it's happy Friday. A three day weekend is not as nice when Dan's not home to help with the chaos. When I start to complain about the snow, my sweet husband chimes in, "Aren't you a yankee?" Technically, I was born in the West, then moved south of the Mason Dixon Line, upon moving out West again, only then moving north of the Mason Dixon Line to IL, which doesn't help my case nor does having gone to college in MN. I will say this. I love to snow ski; however, I don't like the cold despite the many states I have lived in that are cold for too many months of the year. In February, Dan has a business trip to Daytona Beach, FL. I would love to go with him, but with temperatures in the high 20's & low 30's right now, I don't think the beach is that appealing in the cold. As a kid I'm sure I liked the snow: making snow angels, going sledding, learning to ski and occasionally, no school. Now as an adult shovelling the driveway, and manuevering the trecherous snowy roads with crazy drivers who have 4 wheel drive and think they own the road, not so much fun. Playing for hours in the snow out in the bitter cold, not so much fun either.

Fun in the Snow: Morning Edition

The driveway had been shoveled twice already

Xander last January was 8 months and could barely move with all his snow gear on.

Xander with his snow gear, quite mobile and ready to ride his bike.

Charlotte "helping" to clear the driveway.

Fun in the Snow: Afternoon Edition

Big sister tries to shovel the driveway.

Little brother says, "Anything she does, I can do better."

Still trying to ride his bike in the snow.

Follow the leader.

Putting snow in a pot.

A whole new world

My blogging world has now been expanded with the purchase of a laptop that is all my own. As I am writing this, I am sitting in my bathroom watching my kids play in the bathtub after "helping" me shovel the driveway. No my blog will not turn into twitter; however, my goal is to post more frequently with my new found flexibility.