Good Things in the Mail

While I was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago (yes, I am behind on my blogging. Averaging 3 1/2 hours of sleep at night really motivates you to nap instead of blog during the day), I got a few things in the mail that I am very excited about.


The first is a baby carrying-pouch sling from Dittany Baby. Even though this is my 5th baby, I've never had a pouch or wrap before. I have used a Baby Bjorn from time to time, but it is really a pain to take on and off and your baby needs to hold their head up before you can use it. Not so with this goodie. I've already used it a few times in the past week to hold Margaret when I needed to multi-task. I plan on writing a review in the next week or so after I've used it more, and when I do there will be a giveaway of some of DB's products, so be sure to check back in. And go check out Dittany Baby's other great items, including some GORGEOUS tights, skid pants (leg warmers), and car seat blankets, and more.


I also received a letter in the mail from Dreyers, informing me that I won an essay contest that I entered to have a block ice-cream party (a Neighborhood Salute, they're calling it) for 100 people in my neighborhood this summer! They are sending out a big box full of party supplies including decorations, invitations, yard signs, etc, and enough Dreyer's Slow Churned ice cream to feed 100 people! I squealed with delight. I'll blog about it later--our party is scheduled for Labor Day weekend-- but this is a contest that has been going on for years, so you should be sure to enter next year and win won for your own neighborhood.

Last but not least, my birthday present arrived.


You may already know what a fan I am of the Bosch mixers. Last fall, my mini Bosch bit the dust and I replaced it with a 20 year old Craigslist model. Then, a few months ago, that mixer, too, gave up the ghost. When my birthday rolled around, we decided it was time for us to take the plunge and actually buy the machine we really wanted and would happily use for the next 20-40 years. Hooray!

Unfortunately, since I had major surgery on my birthday and brought a new baby home shortly thereafter, I have not had the opportunity to use this already beloved and much anticipated machine. But I am going to bake bread again this week if that's the only thing my family eats one day for dinner. I'm sick and tired of Orowheat!

Have you gotten anything good in the mail lately?

Baking Bread

The weather this morning is cool and overcast--perfect for baking bread. I broke down last week and got a few loaves at the Orowheat outlet because it was too hot to bake in the middle of the day and my third trimester has left me too tired in the early morning or late night to contemplate such projects. But none of the inhabitants of this house feel the love with store-bought wheat bread, and it's time to get baking.

Once I get the bread raising, we'll be finishing up our Ancient India chapter. I'm pleased to report that yesterday I finished off Henry's first grade math curriculum, taught one of Kimball's last math lessons, and got a new closet organizer in the new baby's side of the closet. I also found a great deal on pink tulle online for the bed skirts in the girls' room (I'm copying a Pottery Barn Kids design); so I didn't have to leave the house! So I'm making progress on that list.

I posted this recipe a year or so ago, but it stands repeating. By the way, if you don't grind your own WW flour, Trader Joe's is now carrying their own brand of white whole wheat flour for $2.99/ 5lb. bag. A great find at a great price!

Mom's Whole Wheat Bread

• 3 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• scant Tablespoon coarse kosher salt or 1/2 t. fine salt
  
• 6 cups whole wheat flour (I like white wheat flour best, from whole white wheat)

Mix ingredients in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, proof the yeast:

• 3/4 cup very warm water
• 3 Tablespoons yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

When yeast is proofed, add to bread mixture along with:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups white, all-purpose flour

Mix on low or medium to incorporate, then on high for 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Turn out into bowl sprayed with cooking spray and allow to rise in a warm place for 25 minutes. Turn dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and separate into four loaves. Shape loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Allow to rise for 25 minutes more.

Bake in 350 oven for 25-30 minutes, until bread is golden brown. Remove from oven and from pans immediately. Rub or brush tops of the loaves with butter. Allow to cool on wire cooling rack. Freeze what you're not going to use today or tomorrow.

Variations: Substitute 1/4 cup of the oil with an equal amount of applesauce. Substitute 1/2 cup flour with equal amount ground flax seed, toasted wheat germ, or leftover oatmeal. Add 1/2 cup sunflower seeds with final 4 cups of flour (my kids don't love this version). Any other variations that my readers can suggest?

Sweet Things

Would someone in my town PLEASE open a bakery like this one? I discovered it via Nienie's blog and am drooling with envy (and just because everything looks so amazing). Every town needs a great bakery, and I love the look of this one. If my sister and I lived in an alternate universe (in which we weren't married and raising kids) I can see the two of us doing something like this. But having worked in a bakery for years, I know how much work and time it requires to own one, and thus I would not consider such an endeavor as there are other high priorities in my life who might suffer from neglect. These little people would miss me, and I'd miss them. But oh, can't someone else live this little dream for me? I promise to drop in for a cupcake on a weekly basis, even when I'm trying to drop baby pounds!

In other sweet thoughts, is there anything more inviting in spring than strawberry shortcake? I seriously doubt it; (although anything with lemon curd might come in at a close second). I was taking dinner to some friends the other night--the perfect excuse to make a real dessert in the middle of the week--and as I drove past our roadside strawberry stand, I knew what it had to be. Get your berries at the grocery store if you must, but if you can manage to get them on the same day they were picked, this dish will be elevated from delicious to divine.

Here's my favorite recipe (at the moment) for the cake part of this baby. It's a pound cake with a cake mix as the base, so it whips up quickly and perfectly every time. You can put it in mini-bundts like I did, in one big bundt, or even in a couple of 8 inch layers. It calls for sherry (the alcohol cooks out); as we don't drink and I don't really like to keep liquor in the house, even for cooking, I buy cooking sherry in the vinegar section of the supermarket. That way I don't have to worry about a babysitter trying her first alcohol while she's here:). You could probably also use white wine if you have that around instead (which I don't), and if you want a non-alcoholic substitution, you might try orange juice. It would change the flavor, but I'm sure the outcome would be delicious.

Sherry Pound Cake

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 package instant vanilla pudding
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup sherry (or substitute)
• 3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Butter and flour your pan, or use Pam with Flour to spray them well. Mix all the ingredients well and bake in a 350 oven. How long depends on what kind of pan you use-- a full-sized bundt will take about 50-60 minutes; the minis will take more like 25-30. Let it cool on a rack. In the meantime, slice up those berries and put just a touch of sugar on them and a little lemon zest if you so desire. Put them in the fridge to get soft and juicy. If you take the time to whip the cream yourself, you won't be sorry, but if you must you can buy the can--just don't use "whipped topping", please. That's not real food, you know!

Now, go track down these ingredients and enjoy some with the people you love most. And please think about opening that bakery soon.

In Mourning

Yesterday, I witnessed a true and loyal friend call it quits. It had lived a full and rich life, providing baked goodness for my family and loved ones for the last few years. I am referring to my Bosch Compact Mixer.

I will confess that I shed real tears when it was apparent to me that there would be no resurrection for this mixer. You see, I have been making all of our family's bread for 10 months now. Not only did I use this mixer for bread, but also for rolls, cookies, frostings, cakes, and pretty much anything I make that requires more power than a wooden spoon. And deep down, I knew that I hadn't been fair in what I asked of it. My projects were mostly fit for it's bigger sibling, the one whose price made me cringe. Now I know that it is probably better to just save your pennies for the one that really meets your needs.

My sister came over about an hour later and I broke the news to her. Ever practical, she suggested that since it clearly wasn't going to start again by jiggling the handle or reinserting the dough hook, we should give it an autopsy. Perhaps we could bring it back to life? I looked for the proper surgical tools and she began.

We first discovered an extra layer of fat around the internal organs. A layer of old, crusty bread dough clung to the lining of the mixer. It must have crept in, a tablespoon at a time, through the small opening where the attachments go. We never knew that it was in there at all. (I will confess that it made me wonder what my insides look like.) Once we cleaned it out, it looked to us like a gear was broken, but we couldn't find the broken pieces anywhere. Could they have been somehow consumed by the evil bread dough? It's a mystery we will never be able to solve.


As I contemplated life without my little friend, I began to desperately call all of my friends who bake enough to have a stand mixer but not often enough to miss it if I borrowed it for a week. Thankfully, I was able to locate one (thanks, Teresa!)--a nice big 800 watt Bosch that will not shrink at my four-loaf batches, with which I intend to load the freezer. I hope my little mixer understands and forgives me for moving on so quickly.

Funeral services will be held today, as I remove the remains from my kitchen. Anyone interested may attend, but don't expect cookies at the event!

In lieu of flowers, condolences may be sent in the form of cookies, bread, and icing. Tip-offs to yard sale mixers (full size) would also be appreciated.

Tempted

Many of you who know me well know me to be a fairly regular attender of Weight Watchers. When Henry was about one year old, I joined and lost 40 pounds and felt great. I know the plan works. The problem is that I haven't been working the plan very well since then. I joined up after I had Ian and lost some weight, but never got back to the weight I had been when I got pregnant. Then I had Bronwen. Suffice it to say that I have been back at WW for many moons now and all I have to show for it is a ten pound weight loss.
Now don't get me wrong. I know that if I hadn't been trying at all, I'd probably have GAINED ten pounds in the past six months rather than lost them. I just have such a love affair with food and have an enormous appetite while I'm nursing.
Anyway, I have officially declared this pansy version of Weight Watchers to be over for me. I am not going to eat the WW plan four days out of the week any more. I am not going to pay them my $40 a month in order to gain and lose the same pound over and over again. I know that their plan works and I know that I really want to lose the wieght and have a healthier lifestyle--so I know what I need to do.
I told my friend Mandy today that I was going to start referring to white flour and sugar as poison because they are surely my downfall, and I just need to get it through my head that they are detrimental to my healthy life. I need to see them for what they really are. I have no intention of giving them up completely, but I really do not need to be looking for something sweet to eat every afternoon. As a matter of fact, I know that I have it bad when I'm already looking for chocolate by mid-morning, as I was today. So, after our WW meeting today, I pledged to write down every bite I took and to stay as far away from the poison as I can while I detox.
Can I just say that I have been craving poison ALL AFTERNOON? In fact, one reason that I am blogging right now instead of folding laundry or something more worthwhile at 5:00 pm is that I have been working on dinner in the kitchen and I just want something chocolately and baked so badly. Yikes. I'm pathetic. But I just know that if I don't get over this, I am not going to be any thinner in January, because if I give into my instincts I do nothing but bake and eat from October through New Years.
Most of my readers have probably stopped reading at this point, completely bored by my ramblings. Believe me, today is strictly therapy. For me. But if you are still reading, feel free to pass along tips that work for you or recipes for favorite healthy foods (I don't do artificial sugar, so no Splenda recipes, please.)
And I promise to write about something more worthwhile and interesting next time.