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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Homemade Bagels........Yes, HOMEMADE!

I've come to realize that anything that can be bought, can be made.........and I just didn't know bagels could be SO EASY! I jumped on the homemade bread wagon, and now the bagel wagon.



You just use your regular bread recipe to make the bagels. I was so excited when I learned it could be so easy! Suzanne is my hero. She is an everyday woman, like you or me, and she just makes things so easy to understand, you can actually combine homemade into your everyday life. Yesterday, she blogged about homemade bagels. There she used a whole wheat version. Unfortunately I have whole wheat haters in my house, but she verified I could use the original Grandmother Bread recipe as well! I was in heaven!

To those that use bread machines.........Grandmother Bread can be made in the machine using the 1 loaf recipe Suzanne has on her site.

So this morning, I whipped up a batch of Grandmother Bread dough, brought up the Whole Grain Grandmother Bread & How To Make Bagels post on my laptop, and proceeded to make bagels. I made cinnamon bagels simply by adding 1/2 TBL cinnamon to the flour at the very beginning.

Note: I really need to learn following the directions exactly the 1st time, then figuring it out for larger portions. Suzanne used a 1 loaf bread recipe, then divided it into 6 sections. I made my normal size recipe, so then I didn't know exactly how I needed to divide it out. So I wung it!! I divided mine into 16 sections, and after learning how they rise, etc., I should have divided into 12. Lesson learned!

Divide the dough into 6 sections



Flatten out (not too thin, this is where you will get the thickness -- lesson learned twice!), poke a hole in the middle, place on greased or parchment papered cookie sheet, and let rise (I left mine rise for maybe 45 minutes).



Bring a pot of water to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Poach each side for 3 minutes. When done, lift with slotted spoon, drain, and return to the greased sheet



Brush tops with egg white. With a sweet bagel, you could sprinkle with natural sugars at this point if you wanted. Or if you're making non sweet, maybe some poppy seeds or coarse salt. It's up to you!



Bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes



Cool a little, cut in half, and smother with cream cheese!! Enjoy!!



Mine didn't turn out thick like a Big Apple Bagel or a Brooklyn Bagel, but I will prevail! The taste was just amazing! I will master the looks of a homemade bagel!

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An Award from Junker Midge !



An award from a fellow Michigander and junker! Midge, who blogs at Having Fun With Junk (And Life In General) owns and operates Refunction Junktion. It is a trash-to-treasure workshop and showroom located in Hudsonville, MI, where they create fashionable, functional home furnishings and accessories -- all from salvaged goods (junk!). I still have to find or actually make the time to stop in and visit Midge on one of my trips downstate.

The receiver of this award must do 4 things:

1.) List 7 things that you love

2.) Link back to the blog that awarded this to you

3.) Choose 7 blogs to pass the award on to

4.) Comment at each of those blogs to let them know you've given them an award


7 Things That I Love

1. I love God, my family, and my friends. This may not be a given for many, but for me, to have equilibrium in my life, it is a must.

2. I love all things old, whether it's a piece of furniture, a tablecloth, a piece of silverware. There is so much history, and though I don't know the history, I always use my imagination and create it. Reclaim * Reimagine * Redo

3. I love handmade quilts. I have always loved the intricate work that goes into making a quilt. Everyone is different. Each one tells a story. And this craft is on my to do list of things to try!

4. I love that I've taken a step back in my life and determined that money objects are not what is important to me. I can create things that before I only bought. I'm making bagels right now! What a concept.......for 1/5 of the price of one bagel at Big Apple Bagels, I can make 16 of them! Will post about that later!

5. I love my dogs, Sadie and Jaxon. They each have their own personality, know how to "talk" to us to get what they want. Hmmm, I've just described children!

6. I love to grill out. We made a wood fired grill and there is nothing better than cooking over wood. Hmmmm, the old days........

7. I love all my new blogging friends and CiR friends that I've met in the last 8 months since I found this new world called "Blog Land". I would have never tried all of the things I've tried.....I simply didn't know so many things could be done! Numbers 2, 3, and 4 have resulted from everyone of you! Thank you so much!


I don't think I can just choose 7 people to send this on to, check out my blog list, I have so many I could pass this on to, I would just feel awful picking just 7! I'm going to put this award button on my side bar, pick it up and pass it on! There are so many deserving people in this great place of blogland.

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Monday, May 11, 2009

The Letdown of the Chocolate Bread




It looks wonderful, it looks and smells yummy, I can hardly contain myself not to cut into before I wrapped it up and took it to Mom for her breakfast on Mother's Day!!

It was still warm from the oven, I let myself into her apartment, woke her up, she read the card, and I cut the bread apart, mouth watering thinking what it was going to taste like!

I grabbed each of us a chunk of bread and a cup of coffee, settled down on the couch, opened my mouth, took a huge bite of this chocolaty, ooey looking goodness....

AAAACCCCKKKKKKK!!!


This is not an ooey, chocolaty, yummy, wonderful bread!!! So the wasters we are not, we loaded it up with some Nutella that Mom keeps on hand at all times, and made it edible.......



This recipe was easy to do, did not take hardly any work time, just sitting on the counter for a total of 20 hours.... I feel like I've wasted almost an entire day!!

I think the next time I want to surprise anyone with a new cooking concoction, I really should experiment at home first.

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Saturday, May 9, 2009

A Mother Is The Truest Friend...

Happy Mother's Day To All Mothers!!


A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.
~~ Washington Irving


Not being a mother myself (I claim Toolman's children, but they will spend the day with their mother and their own children), tomorrow I devote all to my mom. She's 79 and has no rules about meal times or what is for a meal anymore. She eats when and what she wants to now. She really has no rules at all anymore!!



Her favorite food group is chocolate, hmm yes, chocolate. My girlfriend found me a recipe for chocolate bread, so I'm making chocolate bread for her for breakfast! (I hope!! This is a new recipe so I hope it works!!) If it works, I will post it Monday!



I've started learning digi-scrapping. I love traditional scrap booking, but the costs associated with doing what is in my mind tends to get a little exorbitant! So I turned to digital!

I use Photoshop to compose everything together. There are tons of sites online for free downloading of papers, kits, and embellishments. I really like Scrap Addict ~ she has such wonderful kits that she has designed and is always adding to. I used her papers for a background and some embellishments. I did a search this morning and came across Digital Scrapbooking on about.com for some more embellishments.

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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Like to Garden? What Kind of Flower Are You?


I am a
Canna


What Flower
Are You?




"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."

Heidi, The Milk Man's Wife had this on her blog today.....I had to find out! Go find out what you are.....it's fun!

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Real World

We have taken steps here at home so the economy doesn't hurt quite so hard. I went through the monthly budget and totally cut quite a few things that aren't needed, but kept some wants. Over the last 6 months, the cost of the needs have risen -- food, insurance, electricity, banking, water. The wants list is getting shorter, as I am learning frugality. Most days I am good. Today is a bad day. I am getting quotes on new car insurance. Then my sister sent me this email.


I was part of the auto industry for almost 14 years....on the dealership side. I learned and worked in every department. Last fall, the dealership I worked at closed.

The song, They're Shutting Detroit Down by John Rich, really hit home when it came out. But as I sit and listen to it yet again, “While they’re living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town/Here in the real world they’re shutting Detroit down.” there is more than just "Detroit" closing, this is our entire failing economy. This is fast downward spiraling, affecting everyone. In my county alone, unemployment rates reached 19.7% in March, that's almost doubled in the last year.

“Pardon me if I don’t shed a tear/‘Cause they’re selling make-believe and we don’t buy that here.” I'm not shedding a tear for those CEO's that have lost a few thousand dollars, I'm shedding a tear for the lady on my street who has worked and worked and worked and she had to move to her son's a month ago because of foreclosure.

This song will be one of the most memorable country songs of its time because it's about a very real issue - our failing economy (though news stories this morning are saying we're on a rebound. Hmph!). People will look back in 10-20 years and remember the song as a reminder of these difficult times, because this song sums it up realistically, not politically.

Thanks for letting me ramble on about this, I'm just in a little funk today. I'll be ok...I have my faith, I have my family, I am learning self-sufficiency.

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Saturday, April 18, 2009

Shadow Shot Sunday 4/19/09




Shadows give a photo a new dimension, a mystery...


I haven't posted to SSS in over a month!! Why? Because you need SUN to make shadows!! The sun has finally decided to make it's return to Western Michigan!!

Join me in my shadow hunting...



A birch tree not yet with the leaves



An early morning sunrise, an overflowing pond, with reflections, too!







Hope all you Shadow Hunters have a great week! Until next weekend.......

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Monday, April 13, 2009

Life on a Southern Farm: Chicken Nest Box Giveaway.

Life on a Southern Farm: Chicken Nest Box Giveaway.



I got my wish!! I get to be a chicken lady....... Toolman is building my coop, and like any woman, I am changing designs midway....the girls need a beautiful house too! Will post photos as they come.

But I found this wonderful blog and she is giving away a nesting box -- that her husband makes! They also sell them, so if you are in need, please visit them! I'm in the process of reading the rest of the blog, very interesting!

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Easter...Sunshine...Family....Makes A Great Day!

Yesterday, we had a very grand day. As we went to bed, all I could feel was blessed for the day we had had.....all of Toolman's kids, their families, my mom, and a girlfriend from college were here ~~ we had a great dinner, helped the grandbabies find Easter eggs, and let the grandbabies entertain us!

Toolman's with his kids and grandbabies



Caitlin and I decorating eggs......this is 1/2 of our load



The next Martha



Caitlin and Alex on the hunt





Then they showed us how horseshoes are really played...hmm, yes



Alex is jumping and the rope is moving...that is how jumproping is done!



Bubbles...one can never have enough bubbles



And to end the day, they built Nana & Papa their own little city in the backyard


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Past Activities

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