Project Mania

Projects have recently taken over my life.  I think I am trying to do absolutely everything I have ever wanted to do before I have to start teaching again.  So, making things has been the name of the game during Nathan's nap-times.  The list is something like: one skirt, one baby toy, three wreaths, one loaf of Victorian Milk Bread, 10 half-pints of strawberry freezer jam, two dozen peanut butter sandwich cookies with marshmallow cream, and five pounds of potato salad.  I planted some lettuce, a tomato, and a squash plant.  Signed up for VBS (the missions rotation for the elementary kids).  Currently about to go out of town for Mother's Day.  Joined a church.  Yeah, so busy.

Sometimes, when I get craft projects in mind, I can't think about anything else.  I'm not interested in eating, bathing, or generally living, until I get it finished.  Add to that the stress and general discombobulation I feel when my house is out of order, which it inevitably is when I have a project going, particularly a sewing project, and I have a deep desire to fly through the process, just so I can then clean everything up!

Nathan has been busy too.  He has cut two teeth, learned to roll from his back to his stomach, and started sleeping through the nights most nights.  He is funny about rolling over--he can get onto his stomach, but can't roll back onto his back, and doesn't particularly like being on his stomach, so he rolls over and then fusses until we rescue him.  A turtle on its shell, but in reverse!  I love this boy!

The peanut butter cookies are very good (and happen to be gluten- and dairy-free).  I am taking them (along with an obscene amount of potato salad) to a cookout with my family on Mother's Day, and allowed Jordan and myself to sample only one each.  I am hoping the rest survive the trip!  We are planning to stay a few days, spend time with the family, and do some hiking (and Jordan plans for some climbing/bouldering, too).  Should be a nice adventure.

Easter Things

Easter was lovely.  I spent the Thursday before baking Hot Cross Buns, but they didn't turn out quite like I expected--more dense, like a bagel.  I will tweak the recipe a bit for next year.  While I baked I had the film Chocolat on in the background, which was seasonally appropriate.  I also dyed eggs that day, using a plain Paas kit that was on sale at CVS.  I always like to see the "imperfections" in the dying--the whirls and splotches, that I think are more beautiful than most things you would purposely do.  Nathan's little Easter basket didn't have any candy in it this year, but he did get some new pacifiers and plastic link toys, which he has been enjoying very much.  

My skirt came out nicely.  It has box pleats and pockets and a lining, and I will be making more.  We spent Easter weekend back home with our families, passing Nathan from one grandparent to the next.  Sunday morning was church, and then dinner at my grandmother's.

The week has been nice, but not very productive. Jordan and I have been catching up on past seasons of Mad Men, which we had not seen in a very long time.  That show is depressing and funny and provocative.  

We had doctor's appointments on Wednesday, where we found out that Nathan is indeed a big boy, in the 98th percentile for height.  Afterwards, I stopped in at JoAnne's Fabrics where Nathan very sweetly napped and let me wander around for a very long time.  I ended up getting a fat quarter of fabric, some jingle bells, and jump rings to make a mobile for him.  I also bought pinking shears, a purchase I had to agonize over a bit, since they were shockingly expensive, but, like my mom said, I'll have them for the rest of my life.

Today, I attempted to jump back on the productivity wagon.  I stopped at a local store to get some fresh strawberries.  Oh my goodness.  Nothing like the kind from California that you get in the grocery store.  These will mostly become freezer jam, and the rest will probably be eaten out right.  I also got in some work time, editing the course I am teaching online this summer.

All in all, a good week, but I can't believe how fast the days are going.

Recipe Roundup

Lots of people joke about Pinterest being a great way to waste time.  I don't consider it time wasted--not when it gives you things like this.  Below are my results with a few recipes discovered on Pinterest.

French Breakfast Muffins from Velvet Lava.  I made these yesterday, and they are pretty amazing.  They have my favorite muffin texture, which is dense, slightly crispy, and crumbly.  They have a cinnamon-sugar topping that is fantastic, but they were actually quite easy to make.

Baked Avocado Fries by Baked In.  I love avocados, but can't find enough to do with them (other than guacamole), and they seem to go bad so quickly.  Enter avocado fries.  They are a bit messy to make (check out the author's hands in her post to get the idea), but the results are great--creamy avocado inside, crispy breadcrumbs on the outside.  I like them with ranch dressing, but Jordan thinks they are just fine on their own.

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup by Recipe Swagger.  Mmmm, I love tortellini.  And tomato soup.  So, here is the best of both worlds.  I think that the next time I make this, I might use the homemade tomato soup recipe I have from Martha Stewart instead of the Campbell's, but even with the canned stuff, this is pretty good.  A sprinkling of bacon pieces on top wouldn't go awry, either.

Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies by Watching What I Eat.  These were a bit of a miss for me.  They tasted pretty good at first.  But, then next time when I got another one, they were damp.  Like, not just moist, but damp.  Cookies aren't supposed to be damp (they were stored in a Ziploc container on the kitchen counter, by the way).  I like the idea of these cookies, though.  Jordan and I eat granola bars as an afternoon snack, but they kind of freak me out.  I suspect that they are really just candy bars masquerading as health food.  And, have you ever looked at the ingredient list?  The ones we were eating contained glycerin.  Like, soap.  So, I would like a healthy cookie/ bar recipe without a lot of sugar to replace the store-bought stuff.  Any suggestions?

Yay, for Pinterest!

A Bushel and a Peck

OK, really, just a peck.  But a peck of apples goes a long way.  Here is what I have made:

Apple Tart:
This is made with phyllo sheets and is yummy, a very crisp flaky bottom with sugar and cinnamon and walnuts.  This actually didn't use that many apples, but was still very good, especially with vanilla ice cream.  Gone in just a couple of hours.  The recipe came from the October issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Apple Chips:
I have bought appple chips from the store, but they are really expensive.  There weren't too hard to make, but there I didn't really end up with very many chips.  Basically, you slice the apples as thinly as possible, simmer them for a couple of minutes in sugar water, and then spread them out on a parchment-lined pan to dry in the oven at 250 degrees for a couple of hours.  I sprinkled them with cinnamon as well.  They were good, but too sweet, like candy.  They stuck to my teeth.  Next time, I think I will skip the sugar water simmer.

Apple Butter:
This was shockingly easy to make and tured out wonderful so I will share the recipe in full.

1.  Core and chop 10 to 12 apples.  Some recipes say to peel the apples, but I left the skin on since that is the most nutritious part.  Put chopped apples in crock-pot.  Add 1/2 cup water.
2.  Add one cup honey (I used sour wood, which is very sweet) and 3/4 cup white sugar.
3.  Add cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice to taste (I added lots of cinnamon and smaller amounts of the others)
4.  Cook on high approximately 4 hours.  Remove cover and cook on high another 4 hours (removing the cover allows the liquid to escape as steam and the apples cook down).  Stir occaisonally.
5.  Puree in blender and pour into canning jars.  I made 3 pints.

Apple butter is delicious on toast or biscuits.  And your whole house will smell wonderful while it is cooking.  I've still got a few apples left.  Any suggestions?

Rising Slowly

I love making bread.  I made my first loaf over a year ago.  It is a complicated and time-consuming process, and that is probably why it is so comforting.  That, and the smell.  Despite the fact that I love to do it, I have not had great success in making bread.  There always seems to be some problem.  Sometimes the crust comes out hard and chewy.  Sometimes it is dense and bland.  I want it to have as much whole wheat flour in it as possible, but that doesn't always improve the taste.  I have a bread machine, and like it for quick jobs, but baking it in the machine doesn't always provide for enough control, and besides, I like kneading the dough myself.  I got the recipe for my latest attempt from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads.  Reinhart is a proponent of slow-rise bread making.  According to the recipe, I made two different doughs first.  On the left is the biga, which is bread flour, yeast, and water, and on the left is the soaker, containing the whole wheat flour, salt, and milk.  I left these in the refrigerator for a couple of days, and then kneaded them together, adding more yeast, honey, and flour.

This rises once in the bowl (above) and then again in the pan (proofing it).  It baked up quite nicely.  It is soft and "damp-crumbed" and tastes pretty good.  The main problem I had this time is that middle of the loaf is a bit unstable - like Yeats said, "the center can not hold, things fall apart." :)  So when you slice it, the middle tends to crumble away and you get jelly slipping through your toast.  More research needed, I suppose.  I kind of think I let it rise too much when it was proofing, but I don't know if that is the source of the problem.

I am pretty happy with the result.  I think I read somewhere that even the worst homemade loaf of bread is going to be better than the best store-bought.  I don't know if I entirely agree with this, but I am enjoying putting it to the test.