Bread!

Today I'm making bread. I'm using an old recipe of mom's that we used to use for home-made pizza. I've used it for Piroshky and today I've altered it a bit and added whole wheat flour and am making a loaf of bread for lunch today. Ivona and kids will be here and what's better than a grilled cheese sandwich on homemade bread?! The recipe doesn't really have a whole lot of instructions, so I'm going off of memory to see how this turns out. It's a fast yeast bread and I'm thinking that I only need to let it rise once in the pan! I guess we'll see how it turns out!

Here's the original recipe:
3½ c. warm water
1 c. oil
¾ c. sugar
6 Tbs. yeast
Mix together and let rest 15 minutes.
Add:
1 Tbs. salt
3 eggs
10½ c. flour
Bake at 350º until golden brown. I would guess this would make a TON of bread!! So here's the half recipe:

1¾ c. warm water
½ c. oil
¼ + 2 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs. yeast
Mix and let rest 15 minutes.
Add:
1½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
5¼ c. flour
Bake at 350º until golden brown (for loaves of bread, maybe about 30 minutes.)
That may still be a lot, so here's a third of the recipe. This is the size I made today for one loaf of bread.

1 c. + 2 Tbs. + 2 tsp. warm water
1/3 c. oil
¼ c. sugar
2 Tbs. yeast
Mix and let rest 15 minutes.
Add:
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3½ c. flour (I used 2 c. white flour and the rest whole wheat)
I kneaded the dough 5 minutes in my KitchenAid mixer and am letting it rise for *about 30 minutes in the pan before baking at 350º for the 30 minutes or so.

*It only took about 20 minutes!! Or even a little less -- maybe as little as 15!

Photos to follow!


In the oven

Finished!

Spring Break

For the last 6 days, Tiana has been with Nana and her cousins in Oregon. She's had a ton of fun, learned to love the country and had lots of adventure!
This is the reason Tiana says she's can barely walk today! Bareback and all and I have no idea how long she rode!

This is the little guy who needs a bit of bottle feeding. Will have to ask her how that went! If I remember correctly, they get quite a milky mess on their chins! ☺

Thankfully! This is all she's coming home with! No baby horses, no baby sheep, no calves, no puppies, just Papa's old guitar. And it won't even be with her today but when Nana comes to visit later this month! She'll take off for home in about 1 hour for her first ever flight alone! I'm sure she'll be fine no matter how nervous she says she is!

THIS is what 70º and sunny looks like!

Dinner!

So, we had a WONDERFUL pasta dinner tonight.  Yesterday when Kent and I were in an appointment, Tiana was watching the lobby television that was tuned to the Rachel Ray cooking show.  She really wanted to make the chicken bolognese-style pasta and sauce that was featured, so thanks to the internet, we were able to get the recipe that Tiana made almost exclusively by herself!!!  She poached the chicken, chopped the veggies (tears were involved if nothing else due to the fact that she cut 2 onions!), sauteed the veggies, cooked the pasta, made the Caesar salad dressing, baked the garlic bread.  It was YUMMY!!  You can check out the process here:

Tiana's Dinner

Funny Story!

Today I met up with my local sister and my niece and nephew (aka Ivona and kids!) for a bite to eat and then the kids played in the play area at the mall. It's always fun to watch them play and slide and run and just check out the other kids there. Well, I looked over and Em was intensely looking at this guy and actually putting her hand on his knee and everything! He and the two women he was with were wondering what made him so fascinating! I'll say my first judgment was that she needed to leave him alone and get away! From my perspective they weren't stellar people. Then I looked at his very colorful tattoo on his arm and figured that she was really quite fascinated by it! They decided that she was probably figuring that if SHE colored on her arm like that, her mommy would be ANGRY!! Just seeing things through the eyes of a child is so refreshing, although sometimes we can be so grateful for our adult intuitions and discernment!☺

YAY!!

Tiana and I just spent about 2 hours in the Walk-In Clinic at the local doctor's office! She hasn't been feeling well for a few days. At first we thought it as just allergies, then it progressed to her typical icky stomach. She's now missed most of 3 days of school and we decided that was enough. We went in and waited and waited, then a student Licensed Practical Nurse came in and took the full history - AGAIN! She did a thorough exam and with nothing to work with went to the doctor. Super nice guy (the doctor -- the nurse practitioner was great, too!)! He took the history all over again and checked Tiana out all over again and suggested that we rule out mono. Thankfully that came back negative! Of course, in high school it's known as the KISSING DISEASE! and that would be beyond mortifying! Anyway, he's called in a prescription for an anti-nausea medicine for her to dissolve under her tongue in the morning. Hopefully that will get her off to school! The bad thing about this whole evening? The BLOOD DRAW!! My goodness! She gives her blood so easily, but man does she make it hard on 'em! Took two of us to hold her down and one to do the easy draw! If only I did so well! They usually fight over who HAS to do me 'cause no one wants to! :(

These little beauties showed up today! A day late for my birthday, but they put a big smile on my face nonetheless! I know it is a bit hard to see in the bottom picture, but these dolls are actually measuring cups!! The top and the bottom of each one is a different measure! I got these along with some special markers for my crafting, a Panera Bread gift card and a nice dinner at Gordon and Ivona's where we celebrated our three birthdays! Gordon starts us off, then myself (and his sister Angie, too!) and Ivona's birthday is next week! I had the day off work and so got to celebrate with a couple of other customers today, too! I LOVE my customers! They are truly the best (and not just because I want them to buy anything either!)!! I have some birthday money that I'm still contemplating how to spend it, too! Fun! Fun!! Off now, to just do a bit of relaxing while Tiana works to feel better. I'm actually quite tired, too, so I might even nap!