This and That and Kitchen Stuff

Ack!  Not exactly a few days later.  Well, in my defense, I've been busy!  My big Bernina 830 sewing machine was in need of a spa treatment and the best technician lives in Montana.  He does come over to the Spokane area once a week to pick up machines at several designated drop-off points so we had taken Moby Stitch (the great white Bernina!) up earlier and we picked it up last week.  That's a day out of town, but there is a Trader Joe's up there which is, of course, a mandatory stop.  :-)

We've had Daniel over each Sunday night through Monday dinnertime since the beginning of August until this week as Ann had to be back to work at school, prepping for the new year.  He's so easy to have, but still it seemed like the days went differently when he was here as we visited and found things to do.  School started last week on Wednesday so he's back to learning.  Fifth grade this year!  Where does the time go?

Last Monday it finally worked out for Dan to have my birthday party and Ann and family showed up with pizza to share dinner and cake with me. Such a fun, wonderful time we had!  

Since my machine was back, I have ventured into my sewing room and have started a new round of bibs.  I had only two left in my gift pile and they were both for girls.  I've embroidered five new ones and cut out about twenty blanks to work on next.  

But enough on this stuff.  I mentioned in my last post that I'd do a kitchen post, so here goes.  

In May when we were at Costco I stopped to look at a Ninja Foodi Flip Air Fryer they had for sale.  I have friends who love their smaller air fryers but I didn't have a space for one, either on my counter or in my pantry, and I draw the line at storing kitchen items in the garage! The foodie is made to flip up and take up a smaller amount of counter space when not being used.  As I pondered the display, Dan picked one up and put it in the cart. "Happy Mother's Day!" he said.  Okay!

It took a bit of figuring to decide where to put it in my crazily designed kitchen but I finally put it in the corner where my mixer has lived and moved the mixer next to the frig.  It works, and somehow it seems I have even more room in that corner than I did before.  And we love our Foodi!  I've always loved the Mexi-fries at Taco Time and now I can make my own.  Score!  And the Foodi is more than an air fryer, it is a convection oven, a toaster and can broil, too.  It has a much bigger capacity than the usual air fryer and so is great for families.  I made little pizzas last week using ciabatta bread from Costco and they were so good using the air broil feature on low.  And it's perfect for reheating things like pizza or crispy casseroles so they aren't soggy the second time around.  

In its down position, otherwise up against the side wall

Yummy ciabatta bread pizzas!

And in other kitchen news, we are awash with zucchini!  Awash I say!  Last year we could hardly get any to grow and this year Dan brings up four or five (or more!) a day.  I'm working hard to be a good zucchini steward and use it all, so varied recipes have been used.  One winner was a chocolate cupcake recipe found in the August Costco magazine.  Oh my!  As I've told all my friends, it received rave reviews from everyone who ate it (I made it into a cake).  The zucchini chips featured in the article are good, too!

This cake from the Six Sisters is also a winner. And last week I found this recipe for zucchini onion pie.  I did change it a little; I caramelized the onions instead of adding them raw.  We loved it! Of course we've already had multiple dinners using my old stand-by summer squash skillet. Zucchini bread?  Of course!  

And thus ends this summer's zucchini themed post!  ♥

Success!

We did it!! Our Buche de Noel is a success!  

The recipe called for rosemary leaves but we have the real thing thanks to Papa Dan and his trees! Even a pine cone! Ann and I are so excited and proud of ourselves because last night we almost decided not to try it.  We're so glad we did.  

The table is set and the tree is waiting.  

Have a blessed Christmas! ♥

Buche de Noel

Ann and I decided to try to make a Buche de Noel for our Christmas Eve dinner.  We found a recipe from the Pioneer Woman and tonight we began. We read and reread the recipe. Then we pulled out bowls (many), mixers (two), and measuring cups and spoons.  Oh, and a fine mesh strainer to sift with.  There are many parts to making a Buche de Noel.

Ann separated the eggs and worked with the yolks while I did the whites.

Then we sifted, mixed and poured.

And finally baked!  

And part of the resulting mess--just keeping it real!

We forgot to take any more pictures as we rolled and filled.  We were too busy trying not to make any mistakes!  Tomorrow we'll make the frosting and cut and assemble. Hopefully we'll have more pictures to share then! ♥

Cookies

It was the Christmas of l963 that Mom and I baked and baked and baked. Some out-of-town friends of Mom and Dad's dropped by one day and the wife brought a plate of Christmas treats. Hmmm, perhaps we could make some of our own was a thought that came to my mind.  Meanwhile, Mom picked up the latest issues of Woman's Day and Family Circle, inexpensive but good magazines available at the grocery store.  The Woman's Day always had a tear-out section of recipes and this month's was, of course, Christmas cookies.  Right into the palms of my hands! I was a freshman in high school and old enough to handle recipes on my own.

As far back as I could remember there had been a Dormeyer stand mixer just like the one pictured below in the cupboard over the stove.  

I don't remember it ever being used.  When I asked Mom about it she said it didn't work.  Then why did we have it? No answer.  However, we were about to embark on some heavy duty baking, so Mom borrowed a hand mixer from our neighbor, Goldie, and we went to work.  (Dad gave Mom a hand mixer for Christmas that year so we didn't have to borrow ever again.)

Mom and I continued this tradition for the next few years.  I don't remember if I baked when I came home from college on Christmas break, but I know Mom pretty much gave it up.  She did, however, turn into a manic fudge maker.  As I've mentioned, she was never much of a baker, and she loved chocolate, so fudge was a natural for her.  Pans and pans of it, which she shared with the neighbors.  

I made some white candy-coated pretzels last night and today I made another batch of cookies--frosted soft vanilla sugar cookies. The recipe comes from the Six Sisters and can be found here. I discovered the recipe last year and loved the ease of it.  Dan loves frosted sugar cookies but I confess to being too lazy to make them if I have to roll and cut. 

A cookie decorator I'm not, but the Christmas sprinkles make them look festive. They're yummy, trust me.  ♥

Just a Week Until Christmas!

A week from today we will have opened all the presents and by now will be laying around, sated from leftovers and cookies.  Some will be napping, others playing with new toys (and no matter the age, some presents will definitely be "toys"), and others still trying to get the puzzle completed. 

I feel like I have most things done and am pondering any last minute fun things to make or give.   So far no brilliant ideas have emerged.  I have yet to wander any stores, so I might do that.  We'll see. I am out of coffee creamer so that will necessitate a trip to Safeway in a short while or, as I told Dan, tomorrow morning will not be pretty. Sometimes they have interesting things stuck in out of the way places that are gifty.  

I pondered whether to put the recipe for the Puddin' Head gingerbread on here, but a request for it lets me know some are interested.  I got the recipe from a student's mom the spring of 1985 when I took over a classroom in Clarkston for half a year. The student brought me cookies now and then. I really liked this one so her mom was happy to share.  It's called Puddin' Head gingerbread because (gasp) it uses a box of Jello brand cooked butterscotch pudding mix.  Yes, a mix is part of the recipe.  Gives great flavor, more of a spice cookie rather than a true deep gingerbread.  

Puddin' Head Gingerbread

1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c brown sugar
1 (3 1/2 oz) regular (not instant) butterscotch pudding mix
1 egg
1 2/3 c flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter, brown sugar, and pudding mix.  Add egg; beat well.  Add dry ingredients and chill 10-15 minutes.  Roll out on floured surface to 1/4" thick; cut. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350° for 6-8 minutes. If using large cutters, increase time to 10 minutes.  

I usually double the recipe because they are one of my son-in-law Eric's favorite cookies.  Oh, who am I kidding? We all love them! I don't even decorate them, they are good as is.  ♥

Busy Day!

Apparently I recovered my mind after a night's sleep and I've amazed myself at what I've gotten done today.  I cleaned the inside of the frig, removing everything from the door bins and washing them out followed by the shelves and drawers.  It looks so tidy in there now. Orderly even.  At least for a day or so! 

Next up was deep cleaning the main bath upstairs, scouring the sink and the toidy so they sparkle.  So that leads me to my next set of decorating photos.  Christmas, even in the bathrooms.

The little lamp stays on twenty-four hours a day and gives a warm glow to a bath that has no outside window. The door to the bathroom is just to the right of this photo. Below is a view of the other side of the sink area, taken from the doorway. 

Next up is a closeup of the quilted wall hanging I made using my embroidery machine.  I'm still amazed I can do such large designs!

And last, this cute little snowman soap dispenser. Can't remember where I found him, but I love him!

And last, but not least, I made more cookies! A double batch of Puddin' Head gingerbread cutouts.  

I've been making these for thirty-six Christmases! Tradition!!  ♥

Laundry, Cookies, and A Little Sewing

Today was a busy day with household chores mixed with Christmas baking and a little mask making.  I began with washing our sheets, the first load of the day, and then finally remembering to make myself a Christmas mask.  The fabric is a classic Mary Engelbreit design.

I continued with laundry and did a little ironing and then turned to cookie making.  This time I went with the little cookie stamps and made  a traditional shortbread recipe and a brown sugar one.  These have been tradition for thirty years or more.  They smell so good! (So far I've resisted eating one . . .)

Dinner was easy--toasted cheese and tomato basil soup.  And now I'm falling in a heap.  ♥

Christmas Baking Starts!

I did it!  I got two kinds of cookies made today. One was kind of a cheater cookie in that it was just a layer and bake--the Magic Bar Cookie made with sweetened condensed milk.  Haven't made those in years and since I had four cans of the milk, decided to "give them a whirl."  Still yummy!

I also made gingerbread cookies.  Several years ago Ann gave me a box of cookie stamps as part of my Christmas.  I've used cookie stamps before, but just small ones on shortbread type dough. These stamps are big!

And they make big cookies.  Very yummy big cookies.  I use the recipe on the box and the first time I made them I was a little leery as they call for a tablespoon of ginger, but they are really, really good cookies.  Guys especially like them! Last year when the men from our church came caroling, I passed out cookies before they drove away in the van.  From the back I heard, "Now THIS a gingerbread cookie!" followed by several assents.  In the photo below you can see some ready for the oven, some baked ones behind, and the stamps to the side.

When I was making the bar cookies I got out my stash of baking chips and realized I might have a problem.  A problem with buying baking chips. Apparently I have no shortage!

I didn't count the bags, but I'm guessing around two dozen.  ♥

Ponderings

First let me say that my oven is clean again!  I did it last night in case the baking bug bit again today (it didn't).  It's shiny and beautiful once more. Which makes me ponder why, in the twenty-one years I've owned this stove, I've only used the self-clean three times and two of those were in the past month.  And don't kid yourself that it was shiny clean all those years!  

Ponder Two: Kathy and Hallie both commented on my last post about family recipes and asked if we had any.  None. I think I've mentioned this before, but my mom's dad came from Norway in 1906 when he was twenty years old.  I don't think recipes were something he would have brought with him.  (Smile)  He married Grandma in 1920 when he was thirty-four and she was twenty. Very common for male immigrants as they worked to establish themselves before beginning a family. Grandma was half Russian (mother) and half German (father).  So why were there no recipes in mom's collection from Great-Grandma or Grandma? I think they were both instinctive cooks and didn't bother with recipes.

Ponder Three: Christmas traditions.  I grew up with very few.  The Christmas tree was about the only Christmas decoration we had with the exception of displaying Christmas cards as they came in.  (Back in the fifties and sixties, everyone pretty much sent cards, even people right in town that you were likely to see on your way to get the mail.)  I'm sure the fact that both my parents grew up during the depression had a lot to do with the lack of Christmas traditions in their young lives, and carried over into my young life. 

But we all know Christmas traditions are alive and well at my house.  So where did it all come from? I'll tell you.  From my long-time pal Kathy's house. Buddies since kindergarten, I was often in her house during all seasons, but at Christmastime, her house was positively magical.  A huge tree, covered with amazing handcrafted ornaments. Christmas cookies and candies.  The list goes on. I loved every glimpse of it and when I got my own home, began to do the same. 

Enough of the pondering. No photos today because how do you take a picture of pondering? A furrowed brow?  A quizzical pucker?  Nah! ♥

And the Snow Came Softly Down

The view at dusk this evening

They had forecast snow for today and they were right.  I woke up to hear my phone signal a text and found one from Ann saying too much ice, no school today. Apparently there was black ice everywhere.  Dan said he had trouble even in the gravel while getting the paper when he got up. And it was starting to snow.  A day to spend in the kitchen for certain as the snow continued to fall. At first I thought I would begin on my Christmas cookie baking, but then I remembered a recipe I've been wanting to try.

A little back story:  When my brother and I were kids, as in grade school, my mom, who was not a baker, would very occasionally make a sweet roll she called orange kuchen rolls. Oh, were they ever good! For whatever reason, she only made them during a short season of a year or two. They had a crunchy topping of butter, sugar and grated orange peel and the bottoms were gooey with the same ingredients.  

When we were cleaning out my parents' house, one of the things I searched for was that recipe. As I looked, John came in and asked if I'd found a recipe for "those orange rolls Mom made when we were little." He'd never forgotten them, either!  I never did find it.  I searched the internet and came up empty.  I looked through her old cookbooks. Nothing.  And then one day this past year, I was looking through her Electric Bread cookbook which I had kept and spotted a picture that looked like those orange rolls I remembered. The recipe was called Orange Kisses, and from the description, sounded like it came from the same era Mom made hers.  

Today was the day.  I texted John and told him my plan to try and began.  I did use my Zojirushi bread machine to make the dough and then finished up in the oven.  I seemed to remember that Mom made hers in an angel food cake pan, so I dug out mine and used it.  That was mistake number two.

Mistake number one you ask?  Well, I've used the same brand of yeast for ever and a day.  It's Saf-Instant Red and it's great stuff.  I opened a new package about the time the virus became known and everyone was buying up all the flour and yeast in the land.  And a strange thing happened the first time I used it.  My bread rose twice as high. What? So I tried again, with the same results.  High is nice, too high, not so much. As a result, since then I've used half the amount of yeast a recipe calls for.  Until today.  Um hum, I used the full amount and my dough was very soft and puffy.  

Back to the pan.  The  butter and sugar/orange peel mix leaked out the bottom of the pan, all over the oven I just cleaned a few weeks ago. 

I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!  Running the self-clean program again!  

Meanwhile, the rolls.  The verdict?  I think I've found the right recipe! I'm so excited! I just ate one, and despite the "fluffiness" of it, the taste seemed to be what I remembered, with the crunchy top and the gooey bottom.  Bruder Bear will be thrilled!

I made supper in the crockpot, potatoes, carrots and hamburger in white sauce, but I just may eat my way through these rolls instead.  Oh, and about the yeast.  I think it's been a gift to me that it's, for some reason, double strength, because it has been impossible to find these last ten months.  I've made all our bread and I still have so much yeast left. I'm thankful. ♥

Just Checking In

After yesterday's post, I decided I would see if I could do a post each day until Christmas.  I imagined lively words, some photos, and generally an update as to our preparations for the Big Day.

Today I began in earnest, getting out quilts, wall hangings, and table runners.  These things are all stored upstairs on shelves in the boys' room on shelves in one of the closets.  I have quite a number of all three items to spread throughout the house and it takes some time to take down the Americana and put up the Christmas.  (And why does it seem like I just took them down?)

Yesterday I swapped out my regular dishes for the Christmas set, trotting up and down the hall to the cupboards where they are stashed the rest of the year.  When I was little, I dreamed of having Christmas dishes and I love that my dream came true.  We use them all month and well into January.  They make me smile.

However, I believe I may have mentioned in the past that I'm a very linear person, not a good multi-tasker.  And yesterday proved to be a case in point.  While swapping dishes, I was watching a movie on my kitchen TV (The Intern with Robert DeNiro which I hadn't seen before), while also making a pumpkin pie with some leftover pumpkin.  That's three things at one time.  The pie paid the price.  I reset the timer for forty-five minutes when the first fifteen minutes were up at 425°, but forgot to turn the oven down to 350°. When the final timer rang, I was shocked to see that the crust was a very, very, very dark brown at the edges and then I noticed the black spots on the pumpkin filling.  Then I realized what I had done.  I assumed the pie was a loss, but we tried it (minus the edge crust!) and it wasn't bad.  Not great, but not bad. 

Apparently pumpkin pie is very resilient.   ♥

Snoctober!

Well.

I took some photos of our beautiful leaves last Thursday night.  The yard and the trees were so beautiful!

And then Friday came.  And so did the snow.  

This was just the beginning.  We ended up with about four inches.  And it's still here!!  I feel like it must be December.  (I have refrained from playing Christmas music, however!) Five days of snow and cold in October.  Tomorrow is supposed to finally be above freezing and then maybe the snow will melt.  

We stayed in and cozied up to the fireplace and I've been knitting away on those brown socks.  Good news!  I should be done tomorrow.  I was able to get away with undoing just the toe of the too-short-sock and I'll be the first to say how amazed I am. I'm just glad it worked!  Time for a new color of yarn!

I'm also getting the Christmas wall hanging quilted, a little at a time.  I finally decided to just stitch in the ditch using my Bernina 830 and a walking foot.  I'm so thankful for a machine with a large throat space and my nice sewing cabinet so that everything is level with room to spread out.  Spoiled, that's what I am.  

Well, that's the latest here at the Resort.  Just trying to stay warm and get a few projects done. I made a yummy ham and pea soup in the Instant Pot this week and that's kept our tummies warm, along with muffins.  I do love winter cooking!  ♥

Vanilla

We made a Costco run yesterday and as long as we were there, we decided to throw anything we thought we might need in the near future into the cart.  I am a baker and vanilla goes into almost everything I make.  It made sense to grab another bottle, and as I did, I marveled over the price.  Marveled may not be the right word.  My reaction was along the lines of, "Whoa!"  Dan came up as I was putting the bottle in the cart and said, "Why don't you get two."  And I answered that spending fifty dollars on two bottles of vanilla seemed a little much. His eyebrows shot up! 

Last night as we finished putting things away, the subject of vanilla came up again so I decided to google why the price was so high.  It was interesting reading!  This article by Business Insider is two years old but it covers a number of the reasons as well as explaining the growth process of the vanilla bean. 

Who knew vanilla, at least at that time and probably still, was worth more by weight than silver?  

I feel fortunate that I can afford the real thing.  I know my mom was not a fan of imitation vanilla, and so far I've been able to avoid having to use it.  Maybe I need to branch out in my choice of extracts, though.  I do have almond, lemon, orange, butter, and peppermint in my cupboard.  Oh, and maple!  ♥ 

Only Four Months 'til Christmas Eve!!!

Yes people, I keep track of such things as how long until Christmas.  As I get, um, more mature, yes, that's it, more mature, time passes more quickly and those four months will be gone in a flash.  I need to start contemplating, especially as shipping seems to be taking longer and longer these days.  

Case in point:  On August 7th, I placed an order with the King Arthur Baking Company (formerly the King Arthur Flour Company) for six items.  It took a day or so for the order to go "live" and I then received notice that things were beginning to be shipped out.  According to shipping notifications, four items were being shipped together and the other two were being shipped singly.  Okay.  I got free shipping, so I was prepared to wait.  The first four items arrived in about ten days, and as I checked the other two items I noticed a strange happening with one.  

Let's see if I can follow this:  It left Virginia and went to Maryland, then to West Virginia, and Ohio.  From there it made it further west to Indiana, and then what??  It went to Pennsylvania, then back to Indiana and then to New York!  What, what, what??  Then to New Jersey where it stayed for four days.  At this point I called King Arthur.  Was I ever going to see my silicone rolling mat?  

I was impressed with KA when I got a real person to talk to immediately.  He was able to pull up the tracking record and was as amazed as I was.  He pondered a bit and then said he'd get another one off to me second-day air and if the first one ever showed up I could gift it to some helpful organization.  Two thumbs up to King Arthur Baking Company!!

Anyway, this digression is to point out that it's none too soon to be planning and if necessary, ordering, Christmas gifts so we don't have to print out tracking records to show that the present is on it's way--hopefully!!

My Kitchen and Me

If you've read my blog for very long, you know I'm a kitchen person.  Notice that I did not say that I'm a wannabe chef, or even a cook.  I do cook, and I do bake, but I claim no expertise in either area.  But I do love my kitchen and all the things a kitchen holds--tools for the job so to speak.  

When we bought this house almost twenty years ago, I was thrilled that it had a pantry.  I'm not certain that it was originally meant to be a pantry, in fact, I think it was meant to be a utility closet for brooms, vacuum, etc.  There's even a light in the ceiling, or at least there was until we took the bulb out and taped cardboard over the hole.  Some other owner installed shelves and of course, that made the light useless as the only part it illuminated was the top shelf.  

Collector of kitchen tools that I am, a good portion of the pantry is dedicated to hold them.  Waffle iron, Instant Pot, toaster (not enough room on my counters to leave it out), snackster sandwich maker, and so on.  Then of course there's the actual food storage including containers of different kinds of beans and pastas. (Have I ever mentioned that I'm a total lover of different shapes of pasta??  Hopeless addiction.)  

Several weeks ago I decided it was time to clean out the pantry and once again find out just what lurked behind those closed doors.  Here I begin to take things out. 

And I began to fill up a counter with the goods.

Maybe more than one counter.  And the floor...

And here we are after careful sorting, consolidation, and judicious replacement.

I don't think I threw away anything but some empty containers after consolidation, but that just shows that I do use what I have.  Which was a relief.   

Gadget Girl Expands Her Repertoire

So I decided to make pizza for our supper the other night.  Yes, I know, I've blogged about making pizza before and shared my crust recipe.  But!  

You know I love my gadgets.  My food processor, my Kitchenaid mixer, my Vitamix blender.  (Wow, I really am spoiled!) And I do use them all.  So, you ask, how have I expanded?  Well, I'll tell you.  

Ingredients.  Yup, the stuff that the gadgets use to make a meal.  Many years ago, a new catalog showed up in the mail.  It was from King Arthur Flour and I loved it!  I took it to bed and poured over it night after night (and yeah, I also take cookbooks to bed for late night reading, especially when Dan is out of town--no scary stuff in them!).  I've ordered from them over time, things like the bread bags that fit my big loaves from the bread machine, nifty bag clips, and even my beloved Staub cast iron pumpkin colored pot.  But nothing that would classify as ingredients.  

Last Christmas one of my packages from daughter Ann and family was rather heavy.  And when I opened it I was excited!  A King Arthur extravaganza!  Specialty flours! Pizza dough flavoring, special bread salt, and a huge spatula!  My box of goodies even contained a British cookbook on pizza and focaccia.  Oh that girl knows what I love!  

So back to the other night.  I haven't been in a cooking mood lately (after forty-seven years of cooking, it does get old at times), but I finally decided that I would make pizza.  I had some turkey breast pieces from Costco in the freezer and a jar of Alfredo sauce in the cupboard, so I thought I would make my version of a Papa Murphy family favorite we call "chick pizza" (we named it that as a play on words because we thought only the girls in the family would like it rather than the traditional red sauce, super meaty pizza favored by the boys.  We were wrong.  They all, even my dad, ate all our pizza!)

Somehow, making my own pizza dough, chopping all the peppers and olives, grating the cheese, seems relaxing and fun.  And all those new helpers?  They make it super yummy!

The container for the yeast is also from King Arthur flour and I love the special measuring spoon that equals the amount a small packet of yeast contains.  And that huge spatula?  Makes it so easy to take the baked pizza off the stone in the oven and onto a pizza pan for serving.  

This is one happy gadget girl! ♥

Cozy Days, Part Ten?

I'm certain I've used the title Cozy Days numerous times before, but I'm too lazy to go back and count.  So, we'll just say this is the tenth time.  

It's spring break here, and even though I don't teach any more, I'm still tuned in to the school schedule. And per usual, it's rather rainy and dreary, but that just makes for cozy days, which I love. And cozy days bring me to the kitchen.  And cookbooks.  

King Arthur Flour Company has published a new magazine this spring called Sift and I finally decided to order it.  I've enjoyed slowly reading through it.  I may never make any of the recipes, but it has inspired me and that's a good thing.  After several evenings of poring over it, I checked my cookbook cupboard for similar reading and pulled out A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman.  It's full of information and tempting recipes, and the photographs are absolutely gorgeous.  

I noticed that the Goldman book has a line of type on the bottom of the cover and the middle words are "Bake to Nourish."  I'm sure she meant nourish as in feed, but somehow baking nourishes my soul.  Mucking about in the kitchen, covered in flour, is a soul satisfying time for me.  I'm reminded of Brother Lawrence's (a seventeenth century monk) words:  "The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen. . . I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees. . ."   ♥

Not Perfectly Shaped, But Delicious!

And what could I possibly be referring to?  Bread.  I believe I confessed long ago that when it comes to the kitchen, I am way more a baker than I am a cook.  I even wrote a whole post about my cookie baking.  But I also love making bread.  (Interestingly, however, I'm not much of a cake baker. Hmmm...)  

I have written about using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day master recipe to create crusty loaves of bread to accompany soups and pasta dishes.  I hadn't made a batch in a while and on Thursday night, I decided to whip one up. Literally, as I used my Danish dough whisk to mix it, just as authors Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg do. 

Later that evening, I went to the Artisan Bread site and discovered they had recently done a class for Craftsy. Checking it out, I decided to go for it.  The book is great (I have the original version), but I had stalled out with shapes, just making a round loaf each time.  It was time to branch out!  As soon as I bought the class, I was able to view it.  There I sat, in my La-z-Boy loveseat with my feet up, headphones on, watching and learning. Sometimes the internet is just too amazing.

We usually have a date night on Fridays, so it was yesterday before I decided to take the plunge and try a new shape for a loaf to accompany our leftover Pasta E Fagioli soup.  I confess I almost chickened out but then I decided no matter how it turned out, looks-wise, it would still taste great.  And so I began.

I chose the Pain d'Epi, or wheat stalk because it looks so pretty.  I didn't get mine thin enough, but you get the idea.  (And I think I need a new, long bread basket!)

We broke off the chunks and I'm telling you, the bread was so crusty and crunchy on the outside and tender and chewy on the inside!  I've never made a better loaf! Zoe Francois mentions in the book that it's delicious with jam, so after eating a piece with my soup, I ate another with jam for dessert. Oh.My.Goodness.  

Bread making is SO MUCH FUN!  ♥

Happy October!!

Ahh, one of my favorite months has arrived!  Brilliant blue skies, crisp mornings, and carpets of brightly colored leaves.  Absolutely gorgeous in every direction.  

And here inside the resort, the call to cozy meals is being heard.  Time to bake bread, cook up soups and stews and bake a few cookies.  Yesterday I made a loaf of yummy whole wheat bread and realized I needed to pull some bags of extra flour from the freezer so they'd be available for the next baking.  A few years ago I bought a bag of King Arthur white whole wheat flour.  I'd been reading about it and thought I'd give it a try since I'm not a big fan of things that taste heavily of whole wheat. It did seem lighter.  Since then I've used one I really like from a brand called Wheat Montana that my dad bought for me (available at a market in their town). I finished that one up and now I'm going to try one from Trader Joe's and see what I think.  I've also used Bob's Red Mill stone ground whole wheat, but for a 100% whole wheat bread, it's a little heavy.   

Meanwhile, small steps on the updating of our house are continuing.  Dan is working away on parts of the yard and last week we installed a new toilet in the upstairs guest bath.  An elderly guest was here a month or so ago and after using the facilities, she confided in me that she thought she wasn't going to be able to get up from our standard height toilet.  I told Dan it was time to replace it with a new higher model as we couldn't have guests stranded in the potty.  I had fallen in love with Kohler's Tresham line of bath fixtures and was planning on using them for our bath, so I was thrilled to find they made them in the color already in the main bath--Mexican Sand.  We ordered one through our local plumbing shop and Dan was able to easily install it.  

Only at the resort will you be asked to admire a beautiful new toidy!!  Now to replace a few faucets in that bathroom and the light fixture and it'll be set.  On to more projects!!!  ♥

Low Sodium Bread Baking

How's that for a catchy title?  If you didn't already guess from past posts, I'm more of a baker than I am a cook.  I do okay with cooking, but if given my choice, and no dinner was needed, I'd bake.  My experiments with using less salt in meals have worked out pretty well, but baking, well, that's been another matter.  

I've made homemade bread for much of our married life with some noticeable empty stretches when the kids were small and when I taught.  Since I retired, I had gotten back into the bread mode only to discover when I went on the DASH diet that bread is a sodium rich food. Ack!! My first impulse was to cut it from my diet, but then what to have with the soups and stews we love to eat here at the resort?  I've hobbled along, bread-wise for the last year, but I've not been happy about it.

My longtime readers will remember that Dan bought me the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois for Christmas a few years ago.  In my old age, it took me a year to try out the basic recipe, but I was hooked.  Wonderful, crusty bread. What could be better?  Well, I'll tell you: less sodium. The original recipe called for one and a half tablespoons of kosher salt for dough that would make four one-pound loaves.  That's a whole lot of sodium.  Too much.  So, I stopped making it.  

A few weeks ago, I decided to see if there were any recommendations for lowering the amount of salt.  My internet search led me to the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day site and lo and behold, it was possible! And an interesting side note was that if you lowered the salt, you also needed to lower the amount of yeast as salt inhibits yeast growth.  Who knew?  But as usual, I put off my experimentation in favor of, well, procrastination.  

Last Friday, I decided the day had come:  no more baking wimpery.  So, I took the plunge and mixed up a batch.  I used two teaspoons of salt and one tablespoon of yeast. I made my first loaf on Saturday to have with soup for dinner and it turned out just fine.  Tonight I made another, and it was even better!  I love that you can leave the dough in the frig for up to two weeks, and it just gets better and better.  Here's a look at tonight's bread:

Crusty,  chewy,  and perfect with the leftover soup.   A little smear of butter and I was in bread heaven.   I'm a happy baker!  ♥