Thursday, May 28, 2009

Baby Raq Quilt

I can now finally show this on my blog as I gave this to my girlfriend as a gift last Saturday! Her nursery colors are brown and pink and so that's the reasoning for the pattern and color choices. I was very pleased with the results and it was super, super easy to make. It didn't even take me a week to make it since it was horizontal stripes instead of square blocks. For the width, I just used the width of the yard and so there was no measuring whatsoever. Basic steps of cutting, sewing and the snipping to get the "rag" edges.

The Goods...


Here are the pictures of the bread loaves and the cinnamon rolls. My bread loaves "fell" after rising all day and so although the sourdough bread taste is there, the nice "form" of the loaf is not. My neighbor Julie, who was also doing this with me, said her loaves did not fall and so I'm not sure what I did wrong since we both were baking from the same "starter". The cinnamon rolls came out wonderfully although if I were to make again, I would put more brown sugar and cinnamon "inside" of the rolls. After cooling down, I heated some cake icing and poured it all over the top of the rolls because they needed some additional "sweetness" to them and this really made the rolls tasty.

Final Verdict of overall bread experiment: B-. A lot of work for bread and to have to continually do this process every 3-5 days. However, if you knew you were having a dinner where you wanted some fresh baked bread and you could plan ahead, I could see why you might want to do this. It was fun to do this from beginning to end and see how this all comes together though.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Bread Dough, Step 3

The science experiment continues! I'm now on step 3 of the whole homemade sourdough bread from a "starter". Step 2 was just the "feeding" of the starter, which I did this morning, and then I let it set out all day at room temperature. Tonight, I seperated my starter and put one cup of the starter in a bowl and the other back in the fridge, which I'll use to make additional bread loaves and rolls. So to the cup I put in a bowl, I added oil, salt, water and flour. I am to leave it out all night to "rise" and then in the morning, divide it in to 2 or 3 parts to rise again tomorrow during the day and then tomorrow night, hopefully be able to bake a loaf of bread and cinammon rolls!

This has been an interesting process because I was "supposed" to do all this on Saturday night but the day just got away from me. I had "fed" the original starter Saturday morning and let it sit out all day as instructed but then by the time Saturday night came, I was just too tired! I put it all back in the fridge, which gave me a HUGE starter jar! So this morning, I split the original starter, fed it and gave half of it to my neighbor.

Stay tuned tomorrow night...hopefully I'll be posting pictures of yummy bread and rolls!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Sourdough Bread Starter

So I feel like I'm conducting a science experiment in my own kitchen. After the recommendation of my good friend, Kim, I have decided to start a Sourdough Bread "starter" and try my hand at making homemade bread. Kim says that after she received her starter, they haven't bought store bread in months. From this starter, she makes bread loaves, rolls, cinammon rolls, etc. and just continues to makes her own "starters" each week that produces these wonderful bakery items. I know that bread doesn't cost much in the whole scheme of things, but it's one baby step toward saving money and also the satisfaction of knowing that it's homemade.

Today is "step 1" for me. Meaning I simply mixed together 1 package of yeast, 1 cup of warm water, 3/4 cup of sugar and 3 tbsp of potato flakes. Do this and you get a mixture that looks like the above. I leave this out all day on the counter and then put the in fridge and leave for 3 days.

Stay with me and I'll let you know the steps and the final product. If it turns out well, I'll post the entire starter recipe and instructions!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Learning how to put on lipstick...

Every girl must learn how to put on lipstick...
Isabella decided to sneak in to my purse and give it a try!!

Filthy Football!


Today was the boy's second round of football games and what a muddy mess it was! The ground just hasn't had a chance to dry but the boys didn't mind...they got out there and had a great time slipping and sliding around. Caden actually had mud matted in his hair! Both boys "won" their games although they don't keep score for their age groups. (Don't forget you can double-click on the picture to make it bigger...you can really see how much mud Caden has on him this way!)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Silly Swingin'!

Isabella LOVES to swing and she especially loves it when we push her. Tonight, she was so giggly and then when Samuel walked in to the backyard and pretended as though she was hitting him down with her feet each time she swang forward, she just thought this was hilarious! I love her laughter in this video and I love to see my children playing together and Samuel trying to entertain her! Enjoy!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

THURSDAY THOUGHTS!

Outside my window...it's raining yet again! All this rain though has really brought out all the leaves and flowers and the grass is looking so green.
I am thinking...that I need to get up and get motivated. Our community is having a garage sale next weekend and I really want to participate to get rid of some things and clean out rooms and also to make a few extra $$$!
I am thankful for...healthy children! We've been hearing so much about the swine flu here the past few weeks on the news. Luckily, we haven't been hit by anything of this sort. I feel so bad for those families in Mexico who have lost loved ones and especially the children.
From the kitchen...I think we're going to have chicken and noodles tonight with some baked bread.
I am wearing...grey carpi's and a blue tshirt and of course, my good ol' trusty flip flops...I could live in flip flops I think!
I am reading...Christianity 101, Chapter 5 for my Life Group. The pastor was supposed to come to our group last Sunday but had to cancel and so we're kinda stagnant right now. I've also started reading Psalms in the bible and just started this.
I am hoping...that the Lord blesses Kevin with a new job. He's had one phone interview and has a second interview this next Tuesday. He was also called by a bank for a management position and they requested his resume and so these two options are creating hope for us! I know he's going a little bit stir crazy now after being home two weeks and so please continue to pray for us!
I am creating...I finished my first baby quilt last night! It was the quickest, easiest quilt I've ever made and I'm very happy with it...it came out really cute. I'll post pictures of it soon. So, now I'm on to making one more for another friend.
I am hearing...the Today show on TV as well as Isabella sitting across the room and playing with her dollhouse. She's really started playing with her dollhouse and Fisher-Price lil' people toys here in the past couple of weeks and it's cute to see her playing by herself this week.
One of my favorite things...hearing Samuel play with Isabella. Because of his ADHD, we never know what we're going to get sometimes with how he plays but last night, he was so sweet with her and sat down and played with her and her dollhouse and it's these moments of sweetness that I see my adorable first-born son!
A few plans for the rest of the week...Tonight, football practice for Caden...maybe, it's raining again. Friday, we're going to dinner with my sister, her boyfriend and my mother to celebrate mother's day. Saturday, the boys have their football games and then Sunday, we're going to church and then having a cookout here for mother's day for Kevin's mother and ME of course!