Bread!

I started making bread when we started keeping the biblical Sabbath and starting Friday evenings by lighting candles and having challa, a braided egg bread. A friend took an entire afternoon to teach me to make and braid this yummy bread.

Then I started to research different types of bread and challa and started making my own bread. It took a while to figure some things out but I finally got it down. I was able to purchase a Kitchen Aide Mixer at a pawn shop for an incredible price and that made making bread so much easier.

God was preparing me. Two months after I got my mixer we discovered that a couple of my kids had some pretty severe wheat allergies. I had to learn how to make bread for them. Making wheat free bread is almost impossible without the mixer. Beating the dough quickly for more than a couple of minutes is key to getting a tall loaf. This top picture is of wheat free bread. One is a lemon greek bread and the other is a french yogurt bread that the kids like for sandwiches. We have a friend who was told that she needed to go on a gluten free diet so I made two loaves of each today, one for us and one for her. Of course we had to test them before we sent them out. They came out beautifully.

I've been making our own sandwich bread off and on for years now. Lately, with the price of bread going up and quality going down, I've been making our own every week. We go through about 4 loaves a week. I also tried to make some hot dog buns this week, but they came out more like hard rolls. The kids have been grabbing them all day and snacking on them. My oldest calls them fun sized.

This is the wheat bread. Unlike store bought, we fight for the ends. I got the recipe from The Urban Homemaker. It is very versatile. I use it for pizza dough, buns, rolls, and fry bread .

Fire on the Turkey

This latest Wattless Wednesday was a hoot. Let's just say all our grand plans didn't go so well. The plan was to cook bread in our solar oven, bbq a turkey and use no electricity.

Praise be to God it was a beautiful day. My car thermometer said it was 82. So at noon (the book said mid-day sun was the best) we set up our little solar cooker. While doing so we discovered a little frog and that distracted us for about a half hour til it finally hopped into the oven and we were able to catch it. Lets just say the chase was more fun than the actual having the frog in the jar, now what do we do with it since mom will not let us keep it, moment. We put our cast iron pan in the oven and left it. The book said it should cook in half the time it takes normally....well, not so much. At four that afternoon we gave up. Next time we are going to use a box lined with black and line our silver car shield with foil. We think its wrinkliness was a factor of it not working. So next week, we will try again.

The turkey was a riot. As per the Internet instructions, we put the briquettes on either side of the drip pan and put the turkey on and left it alone for 30 min. At that time we went to baste it and found that all but a few of the charcoals were out. So in our inventiveness we threw on some cotton balls and kindling to try to get them started. And they did. But there must have been some flying embers because all of a sudden little man comes running in saying the grease is on fire. I, knowing that he exaggerates a bit sent the oldest out to check what is going on. "Mom, I think you need to check this out!" So out I go and the turkey is a Phoenix! There are flames shooting a foot above this thing and the bottom is black! Now I know from past experience not to throw water on it so I send for the baking soda. How to get the baking soda under the turkey into the now melting aluminum drip pan was another challenge. With a lot of shrieking by little onlookers, we managed to lift the 23 lb turkey with the burger flipper and bbq tongs and put out the flames...and what was left of the coals. Now I have to get this thing cooked so that we don't die of salmonella. We had to break the no electricity rule and pull out the roaster. The blackened bird went in and 3 hours later was done. It was amazingly tasty. I thought it would be awful from all the flames, but it had a beautiful smokey flavor instead.

Meanwhile, back at the grill, those stupid coals come back to life! Can't let them go to waste so we put the pan of bread that never cooked but is nicely risen on and it bakes into a crusty goodness. Not an easy task with gluten free bread. The kids by this time are starving. Another praise God to pre-made burgers from the Cash and Carry and we once again break the no electricity rule and open the deep freeze and pull them out and onto the grill they go. We called them hors d'oeuvres.

We stayed out til 9pm, enjoying the sunshine and little flying creatures and then came in. I read to them from a Mercy the Pig library book and off to bed we went, another Wattless Wednesday under our belt. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the melted aluminum off the bottom of the grill.

Teletubbies

I am by training an early childhood educator. That is what my bachelors is in. Then, to get real training, I had six children. God, in His infinite wisdom and with His awesome sense of humor, chose to lend to me some pretty high maintenance kidos. The years without sleep, and solace only from God, are countable only now that they are past. I didn't think back then that I would ever be done with diapers, nursing, or binkies. Or to clinging, anxiety ridden, fit throwing, screaming like they were on fire in the middle of the mall children.

When I was working with children before having any of my own, I hated all things that called themselves "children's television". I thought ill of all parents who would sit their children in front of a television instead of letting them explore their worlds. Hee hee. Okay, I did say before having my own. And my first two got the benefit of that kind of thinking, mostly. My oldest was 5 when I got him and already hooked on tv. He loved Power Rangers, so we let him watch. My next child loved to sing. So it only made sense to watch Barney, the purple singing dino. That and Little Mermaid so I could learn to braid her hair.

Then came 3 and then very close after, 4, 5, and 6. And Teletubbies. Now I know they are a little controversial (never did figure out what was up with Tinki Winki) but boy did they fit the ticket! They came on twice on our PBS station, first thing in the morning and during the witching hour (otherwise known as the hour I needed to make dinner). It saved both me and them (they are all still alive). There is something about that baby in the sun and the hypnotic background music and all those little kids with British accents that soothed my savage beasties. So much so, that when they got kinda weird on tv, I went and bought the movies on video so my kids could watch them whenever they (I) wanted (I needed them) to. Like when I needed a shower.

Now my kidos are all grown and perfect little angels. As I sit here typing I am listening to them fighting outside instead of inside so that they don't irritate their dear mother. Isn't that nice of them. But we still have occasion to pull out Teletubbies. Whenever we have a little person come visit who doesn't like to leave mommy but needs to and is crying and crying, we all look at each other and say "Teletubbies" and we hook up the old VCR and pop in the tape and within 5 minutes, that kid is quiet or giggling. I love those guys!

Creative Kids

I have very creative children. They all create all the time. They all love to craft and, unlike their mother, complete projects all the time. This past week was full of birthdays and they all on their own decided to make instead of buy birthday gifts for their friends.

They made dolls. With this project they learned how hard it is to put embroidery thread through a normal needle, that yarn leaves little shreddes all over that they are responsible to pick up before they kill my vacuum, that no matter how much you want to, you can't kick the sewing machine, and mommy doesn't like it when you cut out your three inch skirt pattern from the middle of a yard of fabric. They also learned that giving a gift that you worked so hard on that is received with much ooing and ahhing is very rewarding.

They made modpodge boxes. With this project they learned that a simple project can still be hard to do, that mommy doesn't like it when you wipe your gluey hands on her dining room chairs, that if you leave the lid off the modpodge it will dry out, that mommy is crazy to buy sequins, the larger sister of glitter, and that if you close the box before it is totally dry, it will stick, but even this can be fixed. They also learned that they could make beautiful art that they can be proud to give.

They made duct tape purses. With this project they learned that duct tape is not forgiving, that it is expensive when you have to spend your own money and that you really shouldn't start a project by yourself that you saw once in a book with out asking mommy. They also learned that their own fashion sense is appreciated by others.

I learned that I shouldn't let my children use the camera because then I can't find it when I want to take pictures of all said projects before they wrap them up with miles of packing tape. I also learned that 3 little projects can make BIG messes. And that my children have big hearts that are giving and caring.

Well, Minimal Monday didn't work out this week. There was just to much going on and we ended up needing to use the hairdryer and the computer and then mom-in-law decided to join us for dinner since we were bbq-ing. Can't have company sitting in the dark.

So we had a lesson in alliteration and came up with Wednesday Without Watts. Had I know it was going to be so darn cold, I would not have agreed to this little experiment. But the kids were so gung ho, they had all the light switches taped down before I even got out of bed. We fried apples and had oatmeal for breakfast, soup and sandwiches for lunch and turkey soup for dinner. We did get a lantern to light up the living room. The kerosene lamps were just to smelly. We couldn't find two boxes that fit together right, so no oven. We have a can for a hobo stove, but haven't built it yet.

When the thermostat hit 61 in my house, we lit a fire. All their little noses were icy cold. They all grabbed their sleeping bags and huddled around the fireplace. They looked pretty angelic, all quiet and still. Spending all day outside in the cold and rain tuckered them out.

Minimal Monday

Another summer project that we started this week started after listening to Farmer Boy. It is called Minimal Mondays. We started this week with not using electricity. We taped all the light switches and hot water taps so that we couldn't use them. We restricted the opening of the frig to three times. (There was much moaning when one of the children accidentally opened it for no good reason!) I shouldn't have to say it, but we didn't use the furnace either. Our weird weather made that a little harder than we thought. The kids had a great time. They enjoyed most heating the water outside and cooking on the propane stove. They grilled dinner and washed dishes by hand in water they had heated. It was amazing how having no tech gave them more time to play outside. We did projects and finished school. We had made bread the day before so it was a bit like Almonzo's dinner. We had grilled chicken and potatoes and corn cooked outside. We made soup and sandwiches and ate lots of fresh fruit. All the kids thought food tasted better cooked outside. When my sweetheart came home, he was a little disappointed that we wouldn't let him use the hot water. So we used the big pot that came with the turkey frier to heat water. Amazingly, that was enough hot water to make a very nice tub. The rest of us bird bathed with the canning pot full of water. We all appreciated running hot water by the end of the night. We used the kerosene lamps to light the house once the sun set. They were pretty smelly and didn't light a very big part of the room. The hardest part for all of us was the lack of light. We didn't realize how dark our house was. The kitchen was particularly dark. I think I want a solar tube now. Even during the day, the only room with truly adequate light was the living room. The kids didn't even like using the main bathroom because it was to dark and would go to the restroom upstairs. Come to think about it, they didn't mention the outhouse in the story. We learned that when we do this again, which they are all excited to do, even my sweetheart, we want to get a few things. First of all we need batteries, we had no radio and only one of the flashlights had any battery left. It happened to be the cow flashlight that mooed every time you turned it on. We also want a lantern. Something bright enough to light up the main room. The kids have a list of things they want to try to go without. They want to try no running water, staying outside all day and not using the frig at all. So it will sorta be like camping here at the house. (If anyone knows me, that is as close as I would like to get!) They then want to try it for 2 then 3 and then more days. I'm not so sure how that will work. We are going to make an oven and try cooking in that and using a solar heater if we ever get any sun. We also read about a hobo stove. We want to try that just because it has the word hobo in it ^.^

Seattle Art Museum

So summer adventuring has started. Last Thursday we went to the Seattle Art Museum on FREE first Thursday. And we got cheep parking to boot. The kido's had a surprisingly good time there. I thought for sure that I would be ready to kill them all by the time we left. The best part was the electronic tour guide that came free. As you wandered around the museum, some of the exhibits had numbers on them. You type in the number and there was a description of the piece or the artist. We gave it to the youngest and it kept her busy the entire 2 hr visit. We liked most of the exhibits. The biggest question was what was with the naked people. Not sure how to explain that. The biggest impact piece for all of them was the coat made of dog tags. That is the postcard we picked for this visit. Andy Warhol was showing their. The consensus there was that he was weird. We did put our pictures on the exhibit with all the photos from the photo booth. They said they we would be able to find our pictures on the website at the end of the week, but they exaggerated. We did have fun in the photo booth though. Over all it was a good trip that we will probably take once a year. On FREE first Thursday of course.

my addiction

This is the story of my addiction. I didn't know how bad it was until this past weekend. Because I wasn't paying attention, I didn't get my order placed in time and had to go four days with out my sweet desire. It was sad, very sad. I tried to replace it with coffee. Coffee is nasty. No matter how much sugar, creamer, flavoring I added, nothing made it taste good. And then, it didn't work the way my lovely energy booster worked. I would get a big spike of energy that made me a little twitchy and then I would crash and not want to do anything. All weekend, I felt off. I would start to ask for some of my yummy goodness and then, with a fallen heart, I would remember that some people got a four day weekend and I was out of luck. So Tuesday morning, as the doors opened, I was at the warehouse. I must not have been the only one. The lot was full and coming out to every car were multiple cases of grape, citrus and tropical goodness. My order wasn't quite ready, one case of water was missing so I had to wait, my addiction just a shelf away, whispering promises of happiness to me. The inner workings of the warehouse are quite amazing. There are lots of boxes traveling down rolling paths and beeping forklifts. There were a few of us waiting for one more box. All the shelves of filled orders were getting fuller and fuller. WHERE IS THAT WATER? Then I saw it, but the guy was now with another person. I just kept smiling, but inside I wanted to hop over the line and grab my stuff. Finally the guy said, "Here it is!" and I grabbed everything and put it in the truck and pulled out to let another vehicle pull up and get their things.

And then, before I left the parking lot, I cracked open a box and pulled out the Citrus Blast XS that I had been craving for four days. The can went kracoosh and the little bubbles started bouncing out. Ooh sweet XS I missed you so, with your 4900% of B12 and adaptogenic herbs. Now I can be awake and happy. I know many will scoff at my little can of energy. How can that be good for you? But it is just what I need. No sugar, no carbs, eight calories. It not only wakes me up, but it never lets me fall, I just wear down normally. It doesn't keep me up hours after bed time, for I know when to drink my second can to give me that afternoon boost (who, with five at home has time for a nap?) and get me through the evening. Once it has gone through my system, no residual caffeine that I had to deal with with that nasty old coffee. And it tastes so good. There are fourteen flavors to fill my every mood, but it is the Citrus Blast that works its magic for me.

So as I sit here this morning with my little can of happiness next me. I have dealt mentally with the idea and realization that I do have an addiction, and I'm okay with it.