Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Entries from September 1, 2009 - October 1, 2009

Entries from September 1, 2009 - October 1, 2009

Wednesday
Sep302009

Breakfast Cookies: A Second Cup Recipe Suggestion

The weather is getting a tad cooler so I am cooking again. Since I am blog dead on ideas for posts, recipes will abound until my brain cares to work again.

I made these with the idea of having an inexpensive quick healthy breakfast for the kids on hand from Myscha Theriault's post at Wise Bread . I froze the extra cookies thinking I would have a week long supply. I did not put the usual "Do Not Eat. This means YOU" note on the box. The cookies where gone before I got up the next morning. I think the kids polished them off frozen. Evidently they were very good.

It is not a mistake, there is no flour used in the making of these cookies!This is her recipe:

"Here we go: 3 mashed bananas (ripe), 1/3 cup apple sauce, 2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats, 1/4 cup skim milk, 1/2 cup raisins (or any other dried fruit you want to add), 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp Splenda , sugar or other sweetener.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients in a bowl really well. Let this mixture stand for at least 5 minutes to let the oats become good and hydrated. Heap the dough by teaspoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes and let cool."

Please visit Myscha Theriault's blog.

If you have a post idea I can steal please share!

Monday
Sep282009

Aging and Whining: Meetings

There seems to be two types of people in the world. Those who like to call meetings and those of us who have to attend against our wills….sigh

~Which type are you?~

Saturday
Sep262009

Parenting Teens: No Longer The Alarm Clock

My teens are clever and from time to time, somehow they transfer to me responsibilities that are theirs. Not only do they transfer the responsibility but they add their frustration when I do what they ask and they don’t follow through! Then they blame me for their not accomplishing whatever their responsibility was to begin with.

Somehow Tech Princess has made me her personal alarm clock. I realized things were getting out of hand when she casually asked me to wake her up early on a morning I didn’t have to get up and then if she was still in bed to get her up 15 minutes later. Let’s see, I was to get up early for no other reason than to wake her …..and then I was to monitor to see if she was up…. and wake her again 15 minutes later if need be.

After obeying my programming, she didn’t get up until 30 minutes before she had to leave and she was mad at me for not making sure she was up! Besides which she has her own non-human alarm clock and her computer evidently has an alarm function also. Somehow I became responsible for her getting ready on time.

How do I get into these predicaments?

Thursday
Sep242009

More Silliness: What Is Your Word?

Your Word is "Think"

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations.
And sometimes you feel like you don't have enough time to take it all in.

You love learning. Whether you're in school or not, you're probably immersed in several subjects right now.
When you're not learning, you're busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you've experienced.

I feel so studious!

Tuesday
Sep222009

The Magic of HomeMade Bread: A Second Cup Recipe Suggestion

There is something truly magical about a loaf of homemade bread. For the minimal effort involved in making a loaf of bread the returns are vast. The aroma, the crunch as you slice it, the pleasure it bring to others is worth the effort. Your family and friend will think you are wonder woman as you place your homemade creation before them.

Good bread requires 5 readily available ingredients and 10 -15 minutes of your hands on time. Forty minutes of oven time and you are done.

For one loaf you need 3 cups of King Arthur flour, bread or regular, either is fine. This is my personal preference speaking. You can actually use any kind of white flour, bread flour preferred. King Arthur is more expensive compared to other flours available in your local grocery but if your store carries it, it is worth every extra penny.

So, 3 cups of flour, 1 cup warm tap water. Not hot water, the heat will kill your yeast and you will wind up with something a child could use as a hockey puck...

One package or 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of rapid rise or quick acting yeast.

A ½ a table spoon each of sugar and salt

3 Tablespoons of oil.

Toss the flour, water, salt, yeast and sugar in a bowl in any order you want and mix well.

Turn dough out on to a lightly floured surface and kneed for 5 minutes or until your frustrations are gone. Hand kneading is very therapeutic.

Put your dough into a bowl, spray it with a Pam like product, flip it and spray the other side, cover the bowl with a towel and walk away. If you happen to be home later in the day, drift into the kitchen and check on your dough. It should be increasing in size. Make a fist and punch the dough down. Again very therapeutic. If you are not home, give the bread a punch when you get home.

When you are read to bake, punch the dough one more time, shape your loaf in to longish, roundish, rectangle, like a loaf of French bread about 8 inches long. Place it on a greased or Pamed baking sheet.

Put your loaf on the middle rack of a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 4oo degrees and let it bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the bead in there for another 20 minutes.

Take a stick of butter out of the refrigerator, unwrap it, put it on a small plate and let it sit on your counter. You will have nice soft butter to go with your freshly made loaf of bread.

Take the bread out of the over and let is sit for about 20 minutes next to the butter. You don’t have to do this but your bread will taste better after it cools off a little.

Serve it to your family for dinner and bask in their admiration for your creation.

Just a heads up, this particular loaf doesn’t last well. Don’t plan on saving any for breakfast the next morning.

Enjoy!

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