Ninja!

While I took my cake decorating class, Isaac's office ate most of my projects. Today is the company's "quadrennial" party at the boss' house and he asked me to make one of my cakes. Isaac said he asked for a Ninja cake. I didn't have a ton of time, Eli's nap time, but I think it will do! What do you think? It is chocolate with chocolate and peanut butter chips with a homemade strawberry jam filling. Buttercream icing :)

Derby day treats!

Can you guess what these are going to be??

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Yes, I know what you are thinking...where did she go? Well, let's just say that the few hours I had to sleep in the past month, I took them! I had no intentions of April being a busy month, in fact, I had a nice little to-do list to help me stay stress-free as Eli's first birthday approached.  Best laid plans my friends.  That just didn't happen! One thing after another and I found that naps weren't long enough and I was ready for bed around the same time as Eli...though I rarely went then.

I have been trying out a TON of new recipes though. I love the Jessica Seinfeld books more and more with each recipe. 

More details will follow, but let your tastebuds be teased with these pictures of "what I ate" this past month:

 Some fun with Easter :)

 Polenta topped with eggplant, mushrooms, onion, marinara and mozzerella

 Black bean burger with provolone, avocado and spinach (Eli LOVED this) and some homemade mac n cheese...both recipes out of Seinfeld's book!

 Tilapia with Mango/Avocado salsa

 Mexican style polenta

Pumpkin pancakes with some Glier's Goetta

Southern Comfort

The bread story will have to wait for another day. Let's just say the hubs wrapped and put two bricks that are supposed to be bread in the freezer for me as I have been out of town since last Friday.

Life is crazy. Life is fleeting. Life passes so quickly. This week has had a lot of ups and downs and I needed some comfort food.

Hello Blue Bell. I have missed you.

Let it rise!

My first attempt at making bread! Fingers crossed it rises and tastes alright....

Nothing is ever simple with me...yes, that is a big mess!

Care Package!

When I was little and we would go to visit my grand parents my Mama (pronounced maw-maw) would bake a lot of things with us. From counting out the marshmallows for the Rice Krispy treats to baking a lemon meringue pie, she always let us bake with her.

I learned a lot about cooking in that kitchen. Some valuable baking lessons and definitely some lessons about my family. Most of my favorite memories and two equally important lessons were developed when we would make snickerdoodles.

Lesson 1: Unlike brown sugar, you do not pack flour. This results in very dense and not so sweet snickerdoodles. (I was so proud of myself for packing it so tightly!)

Lesson 2: If everyone wanted to eat cookies, don't tell my father we were making snickerdoodles. That man's fingers are stickier than the dough and he had some pretty sly tricks to distract you while he stole some dough.

If, like my husband, you have never made snickerdoodles, you need to. In fact they are so wonderful and easy you should stop and make them right now. Everyone will love the smell that is coming from your oven and everyone will buzz around with joy after eating them. If you have kids in your kitchen then this is a recipe for you! It is so fun to roll the dough into balls and then spin them in cinnamon and sugar!

I have never made snickerdoodles outside of my grandmother's kitchen. While I lover her cooking and her recipes, this generation is less enthused to use crisco in every item we make.  In fact, I pretty much avoid if at all possible.  I just have issues with it. 'nuf said. SOOO, I found a recipe on food.com that was all butter instead of crisco...I'm in!


Since I baked these at half time of the Kentucky/Baylor game, pictures are only at the end...I told you they were fast!

Here we go:

Cream a cup of butter with 1 1/2 cups sugar and then add two eggs, one at a time.  Here is the optional part: I added in the zest of 1 lemon (finely zested!) and the hubs and I thought it was fantastic! Do what you will :) 

 

In a separate bowl, combine (aka wisk) 2 3/4 cups flour (don't pack it! I promise, it isn't a tasty experiment!) 2 tspns cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon of baking soda (I actually did about 1 1/4 tspn and they were fantastic!) and 1/4tspn salt.  

 

Gradually add your dry ingredients to your wet.  Let the dough chill for about 10 minutes as you preheat the oven to 350 and get out your pans.  In a small bowl combine 3 TBSP sugar with 3 Tspn cinnamon.  

Get out your dough and roll it into about 1 inch balls. I used my TBSP to scoop them out since I had it handy.  Once you have them rolled, throw them into the cinnamon and sugar mixture and roll them around to coat.  I did half of my cookies on parchment paper and half on an ungreased non-stick cookie sheet. Both came out with no issues, just some minor sticking on the plain pan.  Do whatever you prefer :)

Bake these puppies for 10 minutes exactly and remove them from the pan to a cooling rack as soon as they come out of the oven.  Don't worry, the bottom is sturdy and they will cool light and fluffy....and delicious. 

 

Since my dad wasn't around, this made about 3 dozen cookies.  Enough to share :) 

My grandma used to send me these in a care package when I was in college or deployed, so I decided to return the favor.  Love you Mama...these should be on your doorstep tomorrow!

Eat, Drink, and be glad...

There are so many stresses in this world and my family is definitely far from immune to them.  When things get tough though, that's when we dig in...what other choice do you have?  I have been doing several things to find perspective.  Perspective...it can really change your attitude!  On my fridge, I have two important perspective reminders: "Count your blessings, not your worries," and this picture:

This is Roberto and his 3 year old son Roberto Jr.  I met them in Mexico when I was a senior in high school, and think about them often.  They were a beautiful family who found joy in life amid dirt, a hole in the ground for a bathroom and cardboard.  My youth group helped build them a house made of wood, shingles and sheet rock.  I hope they know how much they changed my life.

As I look around my solid home, I think back to my childhood and have been looking at old pictures: when did I develop the belief that I should have all the nice things right now that my parents have only recently acquired?  I'm learning that being a single income family means what you have is good enough and needs are funded, not wants.  I only recently realized that my childhood dining room set consisted of metal folding chairs...as a kid, who cared what kind of furniture you had? All we knew was that we were loved.  I want that for Eli.

So,  I have been reading the book of Ecclesiastes and man, it is far from all sunshine and butterflies! BUT, I found this conclusion today and thought I would share: "So, I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.  Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun." Ecc. 8:15 

Now, to put this in context, the writer begins this book by saying, "Meaningless! Meaningless!...what does a man gain from all his labor..." Ecc 1:2 and 3. Quite hopeless in the beginning but how true is it that if we find joy in the every day tasks and our home life that work doesn't seem so bad? So, that is what I intend to do.

Let's eat!

In addition to reading Ecclesiastes, I have been between 3 new cookbooks I received around my birthday.  (Once again, I am so blessed to have a Moma who feeds my obsessions!) Since Jessica Seinfield is teaching me all about the importance of nutrition in EVERYTHING we eat in her books, "Deceptively Delicious" and "Double Delicious," and Jennifer Reese is teaching me how to be economical in her book, "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter," we had some yummy whole wheat and flax seed bagels with homemade Greek-style yogurt.

The bagels are not the easiest thing you'll ever make, but if your child wakes up at 6am on a Saturday morning, why not? The yogurt on the other hand, SO EASY, and Reese gives a cost comparison of $1.75 a quart for homemade yogurt vs. $8.00 for a quart of the Fage yogurt I have been buying for Eli.

Here we go!

Yogurt:

All you need is 1/2 gallon of milk and a quarter cup of yogurt so you can get the live cultures for your new amazing yogurt. (I used organic, whole milk this round but am going to try out skim milk next since we make a lot of smoothies.)

Poor the milk into a large pot and heat over moderate heat until it is ready to boil but don't let it boil.  I stirred it the entire time (as suggested in Reese's recipe) and cleanup was easy.  Remove it from the heat and let it cool to about 110-115 degrees (luke warm).  This temperature is important to activate the cultures in the yogurt.  Add the 1/4 cup yogurt and stir.  Cover it with a damp towel and put it in your oven, turned off, over night.  To make it Greek-style, in the morning take it out of your oven and spoon the runny yogurt into a colander lined with cheesecloth or a clean old pillow case and place the colander over a larger bowl to catch the whey that will drain out.  I let mine drain on the counter for about 4 hours and then it was perfectly thick. (don't use paper towel as a cloth in your colander...I tried since I didn't have cheese cloth and it just didn't hold up after that many hours.)  Spoon this into an air tight container and refrigerate.  The yellow watery liquid that has collected from your strained yogurt is actually whey.  Don't eat this like Little Miss Muffet, instead, put it in a container and store it in your refrigerator for up to 10 days.  It is a great ingredient in the bagels you will soon be making (or bread!).

You now have about a quart of yogurt!

Now for the yummy, yummy bagels:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup milled flax seed, 4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast, 3 TBSP granulated sugar and 1 TBSP kosher salt.  Add in 1 1/2 cups of WARM whey (from your yogurt) or water.  It really must be warm to activate the yeast.

Beat this hard with the paddle and then transition to the dough hook when it starts to come together.  I had to add about another 1/4 to 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour because me dough was pretty wet.  You want it to be dry to the touch and not stick to you.  Once it is at the desired "stickiness" kneed it for 5 more minutes.

Move your ball of dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with a damp dish towel.  I put mine in the oven for an hour until it had doubled in size.

Prepare your baking sheets: You need one greased with some vegetable oil (I spread with my hands since the paper towel seems to take most of it for itself...) and generously spread corn meal on a second sheet. 

Punch down your dough and put a large pot of water on the stove over medium high heat.

(Watch out people, I have a mean right hook!)

Separate the dough into 10 sections and roll them into nice little round balls. Some of mine were pretty....most were a little oddly shaped.  Let's call them rustic :)   As you make these pretty, rustic balls, make the hole in the center with your thumb and gently pull the dough away from the hole to form your bagel shape.  Let these rest on the greased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes.

(Ok, so maybe only one looks nice and round...I like things to have character!)

Now, preheat your oven to 400.  Your water should be to a nice rolling boil.  Add in 2 TBSP of dark brown sugar.  Drop 3 bagels in the water. After about a minute, flip them over. I used two of the wooden handles from my rubber spatulas.

After another minute, remove them from the water. I used a slotted, flat "flipper" spatula.  Place them back on the greased sheet to dry slightly and continue with the other bagels until all have taken a dip.

As the others cooked I topped some of my bagels with cinnamon and sugar and parmesan cheese.  I left 4 just plain.

Once they have dried a bit, move them to your cornmeal baking sheet.  Place them in the oven for about 25 minutes until nice and golden.  Let cool slightly then dig in!

We were out of cream cheese so I topped mine with some of the greek yogurt...sounds odd, but it was wonderful!

Eat, drink and be glad.  Saturday is looking good :)