Honey Oatmeal Bread

If only scent could be transmitted over the internet like photos.

My kitchen is heavenly right now. 

There is nothing like the smell of freshly baking bread.

Honey Oatmeal Bread
taken from Kitchen Aid instruction manual

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup butter
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
2 tsps salt
2 packages active dry yeast
2 eggs
1 egg white
1 TBSP water
oatmeal

Place water, honey and butter in samll saucepan. Heat over low heat until mixture is very warm (120 to 130 degrees).

First place oats, then 5 cups flour, salt and yeast in mixer bowl. Attach bowl  and PowerKneed Spiral Dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 15 seconds. Continuing on speed 2, gradually add warm mixture to flour mixture and mix about one minute. Add eggs and mix about a minute longer.

Coninuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix about 2 minutes or until dough starts to clean side of the bowl. Knead on speed 2 for about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease the top. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf. Place in greased 8 1/4x4 1/2x 2 1/2 baking pans. Cover. Let rise in a warm place free from draft for about an hour or until doubled in bulk.

Beat egg white and water together with a fork. Brush tops of loaves with mixture. Sprinkle with oatmeal. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks.

I love this bread as toast and for sandwiches. If you don't have a KitchenAid you just have to mix this by hand, which can be very meditative and peaceful.

Sweet

When I was a girl, my grandma used to make zucchini bread. She never called it that, but instead called it sweet bread.

Then after we had eaten it and declared that we liked it and wanted another piece, she would inform us gleefully that it was zucchini bread.

I assume we didn't like zucchini.

But I'm not positive. Because I also remember my mom making slices of fried zucchini that had been dipped in an egg wash and bread crumbs and I'm pretty sure we went gaga over that.

But perhaps the idea of zucchini in a sweet bread would have had us turning up our noses at grandma's labors.

Anyhoo--it was good. And I have always loved sweet breads and cannot make them without thinking of my grandmother.

Sweet breads are a wonderful invention for those of us who choose to plant zucchini.

Or those of us who purchase bananas the very week that our kids decide to take a firm hiatus from them.

I found this recipe for banana bread in one of my Cooks Country magazines and decided to give it a try. The interesting twist to this recipe is that it includes Grape Nuts cereal. I made two loaves. In one of the loaves I used a half of a cup of honey in place of the sugar. I also added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to both loaves.

Aidan did the blind taste test. It transpired that he liked the loaf made with honey "a bit better, but they are both really good."

I like the little crunchy bits that the Grape Nuts provide. The creator of this recipe suggests toasting slices in the toaster oven and spreading with butter.

Sounds like breakfast.

Gather your ingredients:

Grape Nuts Banana Bread
Judy Kuretsky

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup honey)
3/4 cup Grape Nuts cereal
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mashed bananas (about two over-ripe)
1/2 cup whole or low-fat milk
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 large egg

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch loaf pan. Combine flour, sugar, Grape-Nuts, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Whisk bananas, milk, oil and egg in medium bowl until smooth. Stir wet ingredients into flour mixture until combined.

Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and toothpick in center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool bread in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The bread will keep at room temperature up to 3 days in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Seasonal Depression

I'm depressed.

I have been waiting all "winter" for a big snowstorm.

Waiting in vain.

Every once in awhile the "weather-folks" would predict a respectable amount of snow for our region and I would get a bit excited. 

But nothing much ever came of their predictions. 

This week is no exception.

A few days ago we were predicted to get several inches of snow.

Now, maybe some sleet and just a couple inches of snow. 

I'm sure by this time tomorrow, the landscape will be as bleak and brown as it is today. 

My hairdresser told me she went out running and noticed that the cranes are back.

The cranes are back. 

It's February.

That just isn't right.

Tiling the Kitchen

We have needed to tile the "backsplash" of our kitchen for awhile. Our walls are dry wall finished with clay plaster.

Clay plaster is not water proof unless you seal it and we didn't, thinking that we would be tiling much sooner than we did. And the wall behind the sink fixtures was experiencing some serious water damage.

One day I found a tiny little seedling growing out from the crack in the drywall.

I'm not kidding.

A good friend, Cheryl, gifted us with these leftover pieces from her kitchen remodel. There were only four (or five?), so we needed to find something else to fill up the entire section of our backsplash.

We ruminated on this for awhile, but knew that we would need more tile. Eventually we ended up at the ReStore, which is where we also bought our kitchen cupboards. It feels so good to use someone else's cast-aways and left-overs.

Seriously.

For $50 we got this:

A variety of colors with beautiful variegations. We used the initial tiles that we got from Cheryl and matched larger tiles to those colors.

I was pretty happy with what we were able to find.

Initially, we thought we would mount the littlest squares (from Cheryl) in a strip 3-squares wide and run that straight around the wall about halfway between the counter and the upper cupboards.

But because we have so many outlets and light switches along that wall, I was concerned that it would look too chopped-up.

Then one day I had the idea to cut the larger tiles that we bought from ReStore into squares and rectangles of two different sizes and arrange them in a random pattern.

We used some larger tiles that we bought behind the stove, framed with the smaller squares and some smaller rectangle pieces.

We're pretty happy with the finished product.

 We are planning to put a trash cupboard with a granite countertop here:

 And an open cupboard for cutting boards here:

As an added bonus, while the work was being done, HE sanded and sealed our existing wooden countertop and added a sprayer to the kitchen sink (yay!). So everything looks shiny and new again.


And I can squirt people across the room.

Followers

So I have a teensy-eensy little favor to ask.

If you read my blog, but don't follow, could you please become a follower?

Oh.

there I did it.

I begged. And I told myself I wasn't going to beg.

I don't know, did that little "please" in here make it sound like begging?

It kinda did to me.

I'm not begging.

Not really.

It's just that half of my followers are friends or family

 [where the rest of my family and friends are I do NOT know--we'll need to have a talk]

....and I think I'm paying some of my followers.

Well, not really, but probably I should be.

HE follows me only to check and see if I am 

taking credit for all the work he does around here.

It's true: I design, pick out styles and colors and 

then take pictures of him doing all the labor.

If you ever read "we" did such and such, 

you can pretty much guarantee HE's doing the heavy work.



 

And when I read other blogs that I follow and note 

how many followers they have,

[some have 20 times as many followers!!]

I start to wonder what they've got that I haven't.

Maybe they are more entertaining than I am.

That is most probably true.

Maybe they have more beautiful photographs than me.

yup.

Or they include more amazing crafts and do-it-yourself projects in their pages.

Sure.

Or maybe they write more often than I do.

That's definitely true.

Okay! I'll try. 

I'll try to write more often, 

and try to include projects, crafts, activities, recipes and beautiful photos.

[....suddenly, Yoda's voice speaks in my head....
this happens more often than you might think]

"No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try"

~see that cute guy over here~

Okay, okay, I'll do those things.

Oh boy, now I did it.

I begged and made a promise.

I am in it deep over here.


Here's a more straight-forward request: it's my birthday today 

and a super great present would be to have a few more followers.

So, if you are not currently a follower, I invite you to follow me.  

At the end of this post I will include the yummalicious recipe for the 

donut holes we made the other day.

And here is a beautiful photo...

...and a link to a craft idea. 

We are also working on tiling our back-splash 

and I will post about that in the next few days.....

And I will post about my little crocheting projects...

And the craft and science ideas we are planning for

the homeschooling conference....

Whew! .....what did I miss?

taken from Hobby Farm Home magazine

Pumpkin Donuts

The pumpkin makes this dough sticky; if at all possible, chill it overnight unless you plan to make freshly scooped doughnut holes. If you have pumpkin-pie spice on hand, use 4 tsp in place of the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cardamom.

3 large eggs
1 C granulated sugar
3 T unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C pumpkin puree
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 C buttermilk or plain yogurt
3 1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
oil or shortening for deep-frying

Preparation

In large bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in butter and vanilla. Beat in pumpkin. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk (or yogurt); beat into eggs. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cardamom. Add to egg mixture and mix on low speed just until blended. Refrigerate mixture at least 30 minutes or up to several days.

In deep pot, cast-iron pan, Dutch oven or electric fryer, heat oil to 350 degrees. On lightly floured rolling board, dust dough with flour, then roll or pat it out with floured hands to 1/4 inch thick. Cut donuts into desired shapes. Gently add donuts to the oil without overcrowding the pan; cook one minute, turn them over and cook additional one minute, keeping oil at 350 degrees. Using spider or slotted spoon, remove to cooling rack set over baking sheet. Roll donuts in cinnamon-sugar or pumpkin spice and sugar (mix up the spices that were used in the dough). Makes about 5 dozen donut holes or 20 donuts and 20 donut holes.

*We used a small ice cream scoop to scoop out a small amount of dough and gently drop it into the pan. The dough was tricky to roll out and make cut-outs because it was so sticky, even after refrigerating.

The dough keeps for up to 5 days in the fridge--tightly covered.

Have a Beautiful Day!

Etsy, here I come....

So, I'm looking through a catalog that recently arrived in the mail.

[I need to address this: we still get too many unwanted catalogs]

This particular catalog has, in the past, been a source of inspiration--really cute and unique gifts for children.

Tender books--the kind that you want to keep in your collection forever.

Neat stuff--things you mostly can't find anywhere else.

We have a moratorium on spending this year, so I decide I'm just going to flip through to see what kinds of ideas might inspire me for making gifts....

and I'm flabbergasted at some of the stuff for sale.

Like a fiber egg carton with seeds for $11.95!!!!

Don't people have egg cartons? Like after their all done eating their eggs??

For free?

And a packet of seeds costs a buck or two depending on what you get.

Seriously?? $11.95?!?!?!

Along the same theme I also saw a small terra cotta pot, dirt from Ireland and a packet of shamrock seeds.

For $12.95.

Twelve dollars and ninety-five cents.

For dirt.

"Chidren's" cloth napkins for $19.95.....

$19.95!!!

Holy smokes. You can buy a lot of fabric for that price and make a whole mess of napkins for the family--and matching outfits to boot!!

Or the botanical paint kit.

That comes with powdered paints.

????????

Some mixing pots, six packs of paint powder, two brushes and some ideas

....for $14.95

Isn't the whole point of botanical paint that you make them with plants from your yard for free?

Hence the name botanical.

But my all time favorite was this:

A "firefly"-lit jar.

It's a mason jar with a handy little carrying handle, opaque glass and LED lights inside.

For $34.95!!!!!!

Now we just happened to be looking at LED lighting online for a project of my son's.

We discovered that you can buy about 250 small LED lights for $25.

I have a bazillion mason jars around this place.

Now, all I need to do is throw about 6 lights in each jar and I'm RICH!!!

Mwaaahaaahaaahaaahaaa!!!!!

Etsy here I come.....

I still appreciate some of the unique products in the catalog, but it never ceases to amaze me how we as a culture have to commercialize EVERYTHING.

What ever happened to digging an old pickle jar out of the garage and using a nail to poke some holes in the lid?

Running around in your bare feet in the dew-wet grass to catch fireflies?

Where is the awe and wonder in a jar full of LED lights?

As humans, we have an uncanny ability to suck the awe and wonder 

out of life.

At least now I know what to get my friends for Christmas this year.

Egg cartons and Dirt.

Gotta run, I need to place my order for the "twisty story-starter" thingie.

It's only $12.95.

Delicious

Breakfast of champions

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes

Fruit Salad

Yogurt

Sitting with a Cup of Tea

We all know that the way you start your day can have a powerful impact on the tone for the rest of the day.

For awhile the first thing I did when I woke up was turn on the computer, check emails, read the news, etc.

Well, really the first thing I do is get the teakettle going.

Then I opened the computer.

But I realized that most of my email was junk. The news is almost always depressing and if I really want to know what the weather is, I should just look out the darn window!

What I also realized is that I seldom sit and do nothing-- just enjoying a moment of being.

So I thought of something to try:

Just sitting with a cup of tea in the morning.

or the beverage of your choosing: coffee, water  juice or wine ....

[Just making sure you were paying attention.]

Or no beverage at all.

Just sit. Don't feel the pressure of any task that needs to be accomplished. No list of chores or errands that have to be run. Don't read a book or the newspaper.

It's challenging. But good for the soul.

Pretend you're a friend who popped over for a minute or two in the morning to say hello.

Just be with yourself for a moment or two,

sitting with a cup of tea.

 

Oh, and you can drink it, too.

The Gift of Homeschooling

The night, seven years ago, when we drove to a neighboring town, our two kiddos safely buckled in the backseat I was excited but harboring a twinge of guilt. I felt as though I was cheating on Erica's kindergarten teacher. We were on our way to a dinner, but more specifically it was a monthly gathering of homeschoolers.

Since before Erica was born, we had talked about parenting and about our children's futures, dreaming and scheming. We talked about homeschooling and at that time had decided on it, but when your child is not even born yet, the prospect of school seems so very far away.

Five years later, as Erica's fifth birthday loomed, we were living in a new community, dealing with a county-ordered lead abatement project in our new home (a post for another day), myriad health issues and I was feeling incredibly alone. I had no one nearby with whom I felt I could share the mothering journey. With a toddler and soon to be school-aged child at home I was suddenly overwhelmed at the prospect of undertaking her (and his) education.

Erica never attended preschool and the open registration for kindergarten had come and gone.

I can't even remember the defining moment when I decided that she should attend public school, but I do remember a mild sense of relief.

Which lasted about a week.

But we followed through. After I had toured the two options for her elementary education in our town, I enrolled her in one and we were on our way.

I fell in love with the school--it was an older building with lots of character.

I respected and admired the principal--a no nonsense woman, who knew each of "her" students by name.

And I found her teacher to be a warm, kind, intelligent woman.

I was a volunteer mom in the classroom. Erica for the most part enjoyed her friends and the activities. She did not like recess (too much noise) and did not like lunch (too fast).

There was no defining moment when we decided to withdraw her from school. It was more like a series of events and an enduring belief that homeschooling was the ideal path for our family.

I wrote a letter to the principal and her teacher and quietly withdrew her.

I felt a huge surge of relief and freedom.

So, then what did we do?

We played games, created art projects, cooked and did kitchen science experiments. We tracked the weather and the phases of the moon. We dug in the dirt and planted seeds. We filled plastic storage bins with water and splashed around in them on the living room floor. We did naked toe painting. We watched Winnie-the-Pooh. We built forts and played dress-up. We made puppet shows and danced to music. We made a map of our neighborhood. We blew bubbles and created art with sidewalk chalk. We met more people. And we read and read and read.

I suspect neither of my children will be a NASA astronaut or a brain surgeon.

Will they each be a success?

Well, that depends upon your definition of success.

The answer for me is yes.

They succeed every day.

They succeed in being exemplary human beings: 

Loving and kind. 

Inquisitive and thoughtful.

Curious and adventurous.

Respectful and confident.

Helpful and supportive.

And I get to be there, every moment, watching them, as beautiful flowers, unfold.

That is the gift of homeschooling.

 

Invasion

We walked down to get yesterday's mail and came upon this at the bottom of our driveway.

We live at the top of a gentle hill and the melting snows had run down to this low point bringing this "sludge" with it.

What could it be?

Snow fleas.

Yes, there is such a thing.

And I believe we have an infestation!

On warmer winter days (like the many we've been having this year) you can see them in action, especially against the white snow. One of our nature books suggests looking for them at the base of trees, as does this site.

Head on out and see if you can find some. Of course, if you're squeamish about such things as bugs, you can pretend you didn't read this.




I did also read that they are beneficial to agriculture. Maybe I should go down there and scoop them up in a bucket and spread them on my garden.

Have a beautiful day!