French Bread

Some time ago my husband bought me a long loaf pan for making french breads (I want to insert here now much I love Kaboodle - every member of our family has a wish list on there and it has made gift buying so easy!)

So here are the delicious results of my first attempt. I used half freshly ground whole wheat and half store-bought white flour. I doubled the batch so I could freeze some and pull it out throughout the month. Can I say how nice it is to be able to pull out home-baked goods from the freezer to add to meal times? It's been too long since I've felt like I could take on baking our breads again. I'm not saying I'll be doing this every week but it was a nice change from the store-bought variety.

French Bread

1 c plus 2 Tbsp water

2 tsp butter, softened

3 1/4 c flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 pkg yeast (or 2 3/4 tsp)

In your Kitchenaid bowl (I use my Bosch), dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the butter, sugar and salt and let sit for a few minutes. Add in the flour and mix/knead for about 5 minutes using your dough hook. Cover, and let rise until double. Then I remove the dough from the bowl and place into a greased bread pan or shape into little baguettes. Cover and let rise until double again.

Then bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

Eating a rainbow

We're attempting to pack in a few more fruits and veggies into our diet. I know I tend to get in a rut and I just buy the same old, same old. So I did an online search and came up with this great chart. I laminated it, put it on the fridge, and the kids get to put their initial on it everytime they eat an appropriate item. For Agent E's sake I'm going to let him include dried fruit but I'm also hoping it will inspire him to try something new. We shall see . . .

Oh and while we're at it we're going to see if we can have some fun with these file folder games: Fruit or Vegetable and Medley Matchup.

Rocket Pops

These rocket pop molds have been on my wish list for a couple of years. I took the plunge and added them to my curriculum order on Amazon. Good ol' Amazon. I had some left over spinach smoothie so in the molds it went. The boys were very happy with the results. LBabe got a smaller ring pop version. That way his won't always end up in the dirt or melted. Happy kids. Happy mamma!

What's for dessert Mama?

I felt like we were eating way too many sweets and the question just got annoying. Especially when Ebug would ask after breakfast! So we established "dessert days". Sundays. Wednesdays. Fridays.

After lunch the boys get to pick something out of their candy bags - which are usually plenty full from candy received on holidays. Or an organic lollipop from Yummy Earth. On a non-dessert day I let the boys choose from a small organic breath mint (usually Newman's Own) or a piece of dental gum from Spry.

After dinner it varies on what's in the house. What I like about this is that I've actually used the opportunity to make a few fun desserts. My favorite would be the mini cherry pies.









Now here's the part where I have to say that when the boys' backs are turned or they've gone to bed, it's very hard not to sneak something sweet on a non-dessert day. I try to grab some dates, gum, or tea with honey but am not often successful. Now that I've posted this, maybe I'll be better?!

Salad + guac = bliss

I know it's weird but I am not usually a salad dressing fan. Then I heard about using guacamole dolloped on top. Looooove it! However, I'm the only guac eater in the house so I don't usually bother making it. Then a friend introduced me to Wholly Guacamomle. It's a packaged guac that you would find at the grocery store. It's also organic, freezable, and a good price at my Costco!

Easy healthy food

I think I've mentioned before that I love my Supermom's Simple Guide to Healthier Eating for Beginners and Beyond book (long enough title for ya'?). The author also offers a class along the same theme. I signed up and I'm currently in the middle of the 10 week class. My goal for the class was to find ways to eat healthier . . . cheaper. It's also been motivational in that there are things I know I should be doing but I'm not. I just saw that the class is on sale over here (80% off!) for the next few days. The author has an easy don't stress-out about eating healthy approach. It's very doable. Oh, she has a video about the class on her blog if you want to find out more.

Granola recipe

I tried a new granola recipe. This one's from my Breakfast for Busy Moms by Marilyn Moll and it's a keeper! I wasn't so sure about the peanut butter and molassas but it reminds me of a kind of granola from Costco that my SIL shared with me once. So very delicious! It's good dry but is a whole new goodness in milk.

10 c Old Fashioned Oats
1 1/4 c honey
1/2 c molasses
3/4 -1 c peanut butter
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp vanilla
3 c raw chopped nuts
2 c raw sunflower seeds, optional
1 c sesame seeds, optional
*1-2 c shredded coconut, optional
* raisins and other dried fruits if desired

*Dried fruits and coconut should be combined with the toasted granola after it cools down.

Preheat the oven to 300. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, seeds, and nuts. Mix well.

In a saucepan, combine the honey, peanut butter, molasses, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. Heat until all ingredients are combined. Pour the "syrup" over the dry ingredients and mix well, using hands to mix thoroughly.

Spread the mixture onto several 13x9 baking pans or jelly roll pans. Stir occasionally while baking for 30 minutes. Bake longer for a crunchier texture. When the granola has cooled add dried fruits. Store cooled granola in tightly sealed canister or canning jars.

Our first snow fall

Agent H and Ebug are at the table warming up from their early morning play in our first snow. Hot cocoa and fresh apple cinnamon muffins do wonders to help with that. I've served myself some Throat Coat tea that magically transforms my scratchy throat into something much more tolerable.

What only hours ago was a peaceful landscape of white is now a maze of boot tracks and playful caos.

Bosch results

I don't have any pictures to show off my labors but I did get to put my Bosch to work this week. I made 3 loaves of bread with winter white berries (next I'll try winter red berries), a pizza crust for the freezer and a big batch of parmesan herb dough for calzones. Yum, yum, and yum some more. I love that the house smelled so good for EH when he walked in the door after work.

Muffin Tin Monday: Take 3

The boys were giddy with excitement to devour their lunch today. The MTM theme was Halloween. Since we don't do scary my plan was to make their lunch of healthy food look like a plate of candy. Hmmm . . . I really wish EH was around during the day to do photo shoots - his shots always turn out better than mine.










Apple slice with a grape on a stick = lollypop
P&J sandwhich roll = candy bar
(that really doesn't look like one cause the boys were super hungry and I couldn't putz anymore)
Cheese borings = marshmellows
Hot dogs (turkey) and raisins = worms in dirt
(okay, admittedly not candy-like but fun)
Sunflower seeds (in stripped green paper stick) = sugar stick
and the candy corn are just that!

French Peasant Bread

Can you smell the warm, yeasty aroma of this peasant bread? I enjoyed this recipe because it was a simple no knead bread. I found it at Confessions of a Bake-A-Holic. I served this with chef salad for dinner and then I sent a wedge of it filled with raw cheese and bacon with my husband for his lunch the next day. It made one of his photos of the day. It's a new family favorite!

Muffin Tins

I love this idea! I think we'll jump on board with Muffin Tin Monday over at Sycamore Stirrings. Of course it's Wednesday but I did serve this on Monday for the boys' lunch. The theme this week was shapes.

Circles: rice crackers with PB or PB/apple sandwhiches
Squares: Late July cheese crackers
Triangles: cheese
Ovals: grapes and raisins

Yes I know that I didn't actually use muffin tins. :) This will be the best I can do for a bit as my tins are not fit to eat from and I'm out of paper cups. Actually I really like these!

Our harvest

Our small garden produced a very small harvest. We feasted on lettuce and rhubarb and that's about it. The one tomato that grew spoiled, the corn was consumed and chewed down by squirrels?. The pepper plant didn't produce and our watermelons never pinkified on the inside (okay ripened).

We were however pleasantly surprised by some unexpected bounty. Wild strawberries and wild black raspberries



One thing our yard was pretty good at supporting was ants. Last year I noticed a large ant colony establishing itself under one of our oaks, right under my clothesline. There were huge areas where the dirt had been pushed up by the ants. This year they were back and had spread to more areas. I asked my girlfriend who knows ALL when it comes to treating anything naturally. Boiling water was her solution. I dumped tea pot after tea pot of boiling water and it worked! Okay so our grass was a bit charred for a few weeks but it greened up again and the ants didn't come back.

When to buy organic

Supporting organic farms is usually a pretty good idea. Usually the purpose is to avoid loading our bodies up with pesticides, etc. Other than than that it's just plain a good idea to care for our environment by supporting green farming practices. I'm not going to run out and buy a green Bible but I do think that we have some responsibility to care for our "garden".

Have you heard of the 12 foods you SHOULD buy organic? Here they are:

Peaches
Apples
Sweet bell peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

On the flip side, here are a 12 foods that you don't have to worry about as much eating when they are grown conventionally:

Broccoli
Eggplant
Cabbage
Banana
Kiwi
Asparagus
Sweet peas (frozen)
Mango
Pineapple
Sweet corn (frozen)
Avocado
Onion

One more thing. Many folks are avoiding GMO products. I just learned how to tell if the produce you're buying is a GMO or not. You know the stickers on our produce . . . a five digit -code starting with 8 indicates that it's a GMO. If it starts with a 9 then you know that it's organic. By the way, I found out this info at Mercola.

Putting that crock pot to use

I found a fun blog about crock-potting! I'm planning some meals to make up ahead of time for when this babe joins us on the "other side". Most of my plans are coming from the book The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet but the crock pot is another good way to go without heating up the kitchen with oven use. This lady is using her crock pot every day for a full year and is posting all her recipes. Wow! Anyway, here's her blog, A Year of CrockPotting, if you'd like to get in on the action. Tonight we're going to try her Peppercorn Steak. Enjoy!

Summer snacking

Our popsicle molds have been put to good use this summer. Cascadian Farms frozen juice concentrates are on sale this month at the co-op so we're stocking up so we can keep the freezer stocked with ice cold treats. Another one of our favorites are these freezy type treats by Cool Fruits. They're not organic but they don't contain any added sugar or artificial colors. They are on sale at our local co-ops as well this month. How could I forget . . . our Snoopy Snowcone maker! Another favorite summer treat. We just squirt the juice concentrate over the crushed ice and it's delicious.

Strawberry picking

Cool breezes, quiet conversations among pickers, the warmth of the sun pressing against our backs and the sweetness of fresh strawberries.That was yesterday morning. My mom and I went strawberry picking at a local farm. I did some research on the farm and their website says they try to practice "green" farming and are moving in that direction more and more every year. Since strawberries are considered to be one of the crops most highly treated with pestisides, organic berries are very important to me. My freezer is now packed with strawberries ready for making our favorite smoothies. This afternoon I'm going to try preparing some freezer jam. I found a type of pectin, Pomona's Universal Pectin, that doesn't call for the huge amounts of sugar normally required, actually it said I could use honey so I'll try that. Don't you dare try using Splenda or I'll personally come and knock you upside the head! The why not is here.

The blueberries and raspberries are supposed to be ready in another week or so . . . if I still feel like moving (which isn't very often with 4 weeks to go till the babe's due) I hope to go load up on those too.

Breakfasts

We've been stuck in a cereal for breakfast rut for about 12 years or so. I grew up on cereal too so really longer. We love cereal though so there haven't been many complaints. However, organic cereal is pricey, plus I've heard many times the benefit of eating a more balanced breakfast. I picked up an ebook called Breakfast for Busy Moms over at The Urban Homemaker and I've loved her ideas.

So far we've tried:
- Puffed Apple Pancake (3 of us finished up a pan made to serve 6!)
- Apple oatmeal
- Scrambled eggs (I had never thought to add Braggs Liquid Amino Acids to this before - yum! It is a non GMO version of soy sauce)
-French breakfast muffins (for Father's Day)

And this morning might be one of my favorites . . . strawberry/blueberry smoothies with scones and raw honey (frozen left overs from Sunday's morning family snack). I'm looking forward to trying her oatmeal pancakes, baked oatmeal, pancake and waffle dry mix, sticky buns, etc! I love breakfast food!

Something I've started making for EH is egg/english muffin sandwiches (since he's been leaving for work pretty early these days). Add some cayenne pepper to the eggs and he's a happy camper. For now I've been making them the evening before and then he pops them into the toaster oven. I found a recipe for making up a batch of these and freezing them - I think I'd like these even for lunches. I might even try my hand at homemade english muffins - no commitment yet.

By the way, The Urban Homemaker has a free ebook at her website called Fast and Healthy Meals for Busy Women and she has her bread, batter mixes and lots more in there.

Pita Love

I can't believe it took me months to get up the courage to bake pita bread. I put my hands to it the other day and I was so very impressed with how easy it was to make. I had myself all prepped for the first batch to be a flop - I mean how do you get them to bubble and be "open" on the inside? They baked up into perfect little pillows in the oven and looked just like store bought ones when they were done. Another plus, there are only 4 ingredients in the recipe making them a great money saver. The other day I ate spinach and egg salad inside freshly baked pita for lunch - so delicious! One more plus, the pita bread doesn't crumble like my homemade bread does so it means less clean up under the boys' chairs after they eat.

Per request :) I found my recipe in an e-book called A Beginner's Guide to Baking Bread by Marilyn Moll over at urbanhomemaker.com. The book is $9.95 but if you watch her site or sign up for her newsletter I think she has lots of sales or deals where she'll bundle a bunch of her e-books for sale.

Preschool Graduation

Today we celebrated Agent H's end of preschool with an ABC party. It was very similar to his party last year. His buddy from down the street joined in the fun.


Here they are doing an ABC hunt using the circle letters (it's called circle alphabet file folder game) from childcareland.com - I love the stuff they have available for printing here. Then I used a simple chart that I made for H to bring on grocery shopping trips. I'll post the PDF when EH has a chance to help me figure out how. I give Agent H this chart and pencil and he hunts through the store (always nearby of course) for all the letters on the chart, circling them as we go. He is so motivated and quiet as he works through this - it's been very helpful when shopping with kids.

The boys rolled out pretzel dough and made their initials and whatever else struck them, snails and chunks seemed to be the most popular. We played an AB Seas fishing game, ate lunch, then decorated brownies with frosting and candy letters.




Here they are drawing letters and then just having fun in plates of chocolate syrup.








We finished up the party by making super hero belts with their initials. They love to play super heroes so they really took to it! I found the templates for these at familyfun.com. I didn't have a whole lot for extra belts so we made our belts out duct tape.