Pictures from January 2010

Spiderplant flowers


Teething "baby"


Kirk has another birthday


More snow




More mittens


And cuteness everywhere

Crackers, Boule and Epi

The first recipe for the HBin5 Bread Braid(a bake along) is the Master Recipe. Now, I'm not going to be posting the dough recipes here. The book is copyrighted, so you'll have to buy the book or find it at your public library. The good news is that the authors of the book put the Master Recipe on their website along with the method of baking it, so you can try it before you buy it. :c)




I made one recipe of the Master Recipe. I used a freshly ground mix of red and white wheat. I mixed the dough one day and baked the next, letting it chill in the fridge overnight. From that I made 1 small boule, Spicy Whole Grain Snack Crackers and Epi shaped bread with about a pound to pound-and-a-half of dough leftover. This was my first time making a shaped bread!



I have made many boules because I have baked from the Artisan Bread pre-quel to this book, so this wasn't something new for me. It has a gorgeous crust and color.



I had never attempted a shaped bread before. Luckily, I watched a few videos online of people making Epi which helped. What didn't go so well was that my scissors didn't have a very long blade at all, so I didn't snip through the dough quite far enough. The finished loaf is supposed to look like a stalk of wheat. I think I also let it rise too long(I had to put the baby down for a nap!) so the "grains" aren't as separate as they should be. Still, it's a good first attempt, I think. It was very easy and fun!



The crackers were the most labor-intensive of the things I made. I will admit that while I was making them I thought they were more trouble than a cracker could be worth. I managed to get the dough paper-thin, but then transferring them from the counter to the pan was difficult. For the second batch, I rolled and cut them on parchment paper then just transferred the paper to the oven. That worked well, except I think I need a different brand of parchment paper. Everything sticks to the brand I have. I used only salt on the first batch and added the spiciness to the second batch. I have to admit I think I like the salt-only ones better. They are like super-delicious wheat thins. Very yummy! If I can streamline the process by finding a better parchment paper then I will definitely make these again.



Overall, a lot of fun! I don't think all my HBin5 or BYOB'10 posts will be this photo-intensive. Maybe every once in a while. :c)

Bread!

Last year I participated in BYOB2009 (Bake Your Own Bread 2009). My family and I enjoyed it so much, I'm continuing on into BYOB2010, but I'm adding another challenge. It may sound like a lot, but, really, they're so closely related that I can easily do them together.

You may remember(or not Ha!) the book I got in October called Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I joined a group that will be baking through the book over the next year and a half(approximately, it's actually a bit longer) by making one dough recipe every 2 weeks to use for several recipes. There are a few recipes I will be skipping because they contain either coffee or beer. I do realize that alcohol cooks out of food, but I personally don't cook with it(or drink it) anyway and we don't drink coffee so I won't be making those either.

The posts will be put up (hopefully!) on the 1st and 15th of the month, unless I'm not able to take pictures that time for some reason or if I'm running behind. If that happens, I will probably skip posting that time.

The first post will be up tomorrow!

Organization 2010

We have a write-on/wipe-off calendar in our kitchen that has been there for... uhm... many years. I can't remember when we got it, but it's been quite a long time ago. I'm usually pretty good about keeping it up to date. In order to help the kids through their day and remember what they need to do, I made each of them a laminated card that goes under the calendar. They can easily see first thing in the morning what they need to do each day. The things on their card are just the things they do every single day. There are some things we do only one or two days a week. Those things aren't on the cards. So far they seem to be working really well!

(Please excuse the cell phone pictures.)

I wish I could say I was finished adding things to the calendar, but, alas, I wasn't.

The cards for the girls are pretty much the same.

We have 4 bathrooms in the house, so each girl has one to clean on her own and Spencer "helps" me clean the master bathroom.

They wanted me to make one for Elijah, too.


About the "terror-dactyl" name: When Elijah was a baby, he would screech and sounded like a pterodactyl, so he was affectionately given the name "Pterodactyl Baby". Now that he is a movin' and grovin' toddler, he is into E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. He is the king of destruction. His name was changed to "Terror-dactyl" because he terrorizes everything. Thankfully he doesn't screech quite as much as he used to.

Studious

The birthday girl doing her school work in her favorite spot. She says, "It's like a jungle!"

I haven't posted all year!

Which I guess isn't surprising, really, but it was really on purpose this time. I was participating in a one-week digital cleanse that was blogged and tweeted about by John Mayer. It was a nice week away from the digital world and was a nice way to start off the new year. It's over, though, and I'm back. It's also nice to be back in the digital world. ;c)

Also on January 1st, we started new habits. We've been trying to eat healthier, watch our portion sizes and be more active. In doing that, I've not only lost 7 pounds in a week, I've lost inches, too! I'm excited to see the changes.

I've got pictures to share and blog posts to write. I would like to be more active in the blog this year. I can't promise anything, because my life has a way of getting crazy and chaotic in a hurry, but I will promise to try my best. :c)

I hope the beginning of your new year has been as great as mine and I hope the rest of the year goes as well.