French Bread

This bread was a little more involved.  I had to recruit some help. 

Cari loved using the rolling pin. 

We found our lovely rolling pin at our local grocery store for two bucks! 

It was a lot easier than the plastic cup I used on the last bread I made.

Here are the loaves. 

The recipe is suppose to make two really long ones. 

I decided to divide it into four portions and make some sub rolls.

The finished product.  Yummy sub sandwiches for lunch!

Here's the recipe:

French Bread

5 1/2 - 6 cups of All Purpose Flour

2 packages of yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

2 cups of warm water (120-130 degrees F)

Cornmeal (enough for a dusting)

1 egg white, beaten

1 tablespoon of water

In one bowl, stir together 2 cups of flour, yeast and salt.  Add the two cups of warm water.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium for 3 minutes.  Using a spoon, mix in 2 more cups of flour.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface.  (I put one cup of flour out to knead on.)  Knead in all of that flour.  Knead a total of 10 minutes.

Place ball of dough in a greased bowl.  Turn once to make sure both sides are covered with oil.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour.

Punch dough down.  Divide in half (or quarters).  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, grease your baking sheet.  Sprinkle greased baking sheet with a dusting of cornmeal.

Roll each dough half into a 15x10 inch rectangle.  Roll up jellyroll style from long side.  If you want, you and kind of squeeze the ends and pull them a little to make it more tapered looking.  Place seam side down on prepared baking sheet.

Using a very sharp knife, make slits through dough about 1/4 inch deep.

In a small bowl, beat together the egg white and 1 tablespoon of water.  Brush it on the loaf tops.

Let rise in a warm place about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake 20 minutes.  Brush again with some of the egg mixture.  Continue baking for 15 more minutes.  (If you make four, reduce this last baking time to 8 minutes.)

Enjoy.

Happy Breakfast

This made my husband smile.  He loves fresh fruit for breakfast.

Sour Cream Banana Nut Bread

You may ask, how does one turn something like THIS....

...into something like THIS???

The ANSWER:  The addition of several other ingredients!

I present to you:

Willa's Sour Cream Banana Nut Bread!

1 2/3 cups of All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 stick of butter (melted)

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups of mashed bananas

1/2 cup of chopped nuts (I used pecans)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 cup of sour cream

I almost never follow exact instructions of "add one eggs at a time" and things like that.  I put all the wet together and beat it up.  Then I add all the dry and beat it with my electric mixer until I see bubbles coming up out of the mix.

So, put the flour, baking soda & nuts in one bowl.  I whisked it around to mix it a little.

In another bowl, I beat on low - melted butter, sugar, eggs, bananas, vanilla and sour cream.

I added the dry mix and blended well.

Put into a loaf pan (buttered or oiled)

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

I buttered my loaf pan and the bottom stuck.  Poor me - I had to eat the crumbs that stuck in the bottom of the pan.  My mom filled me in on the wax paper trick.  Some of you may know this trick, but some may not.  So, I will explain.  Simply cut a piece of wax paper to fit in the bottom of your pan and it will not stick.  Poor me - then I will have no crumbs to eat.

You can eat the entire loaf.  You can freeze some of it.  You can put it into small loaf pans and share. 

I hope you all enjoy.

I am excited to share my new recipes with you all.

Drumroll Please...

I made bread from scratch!!!

Most of you who know me well know that I do not like to eat things that are pre-packaged because I do not know what all they put in there. If I can’t pronounce it, I do not want to eat it.

Before we left NY at Thanksgiving, a lady brought some rolls to a home school Thanksgiving meal. It had to be the best rolls I have ever eaten. (That recipe will be in another blog post.)

I attend a Titus 2 group here on Wednesdays. It is a group of older women in our church that teach the younger women how to live in a godly way. They teach us spiritually and practically. Our practical lesson this week was on making bread.

Beth and Anna taught us how to make “Featherlight Rolls” (these are the rolls mentioned above) and Italian Bread. WONDERFUL!!!

Beth handed out recipes for the “Featherlight Rolls”, “Bread Bowl Bread”, and “No Excuse Bread”. I made the “Featherlight Rolls” and they were OUT OF THIS WORLD GOOD!!! She taught us how to shape the dough. They turned out beautiful. I forgot to take a picture of them because I was too busy smearing butter on them and stuffing them in my mouth! I will take a picture of my next batch and post about it.

The bread you see above is “No Excuse Bread”. Beth told me that recipe makes really good ‘sandwich bread’. I could not wait to try it out. My girls eat lots of sandwiches. In the past, I have tried and tried to make sandwich bread from scratch because, you know, I do not like to eat all the additives they put into the bread on the shelf. Every loaf has been a total flop. I have tried to make them in my bread maker and the crust is very thick and hard. I have tried to make it and put it into a regular loaf dish and bake it in the oven. That one turned out like a brick.

Anna was informing us about kneading the bread. The bread you see above was kneaded for 10 minutes. She said not to kid yourself and quit kneading because the bread looked good enough. The kneading was very important.

The bread turned out beautiful. I did not have a loaf pan. I put both of the loaves in my 9x13 baking stone to rise and bake in. I turned them out onto the bar pan that you see in the picture. They turned out just perfect! I cannot wait to make hotdog buns and hamburger buns too!


Here is the recipe:

No Excuse Bread

2 packages of yeast
2 teaspoons of salt
1/3 cup of oil (or softened butter – I used oil because my butter was still in the fridge)
1/3 cup of honey or sugar (I used sugar.)
2 eggs
2 cups of warm water
6 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour for 2 cups of this.)

Have all ingredients at room temperature or slightly warmer. Put first 6 ingredients and 3 cups of flour in large mixing bowl. Beat 10 minutes at medium speed with an electric mixer. Remove beaters. By hand, stir in another 2 cups of flour. There is no need to make it smooth.

Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of flour out onto your kneading surface. (I kneaded my bread in my bar pan. I don’t have a lot of counter space and it worked great. Not too much flour got out on the floor.) Turn out the dough on this flour. Knead 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic, adding additional flour if necessary (I had to add about ½ cup more. The 1 cup you put out to begin with should be worked into the dough. It will start to get a little sticky towards the end of kneading it. Do not add more flour.)

Cover with plastic wrap and folded towel. Let rest 20 minutes. Punch down by kneading a few strokes. Divide into 2 equal portions. On oiled surface, with oiled rolling pin (I used a plastic cup, I do not have a rolling pin.), roll out each portion into approximately an 8x12” rectangle. Roll up toward you, jellyroll fashion from small end, sealing well.

Place seam side down in greased bread pans; brush with oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate anywhere from 2-24 hours.

About 10 minutes before baking, preheat oven and remove dough from refrigerator. Uncover, puncture with an oiled toothpick any air bubbles that have developed. Bake 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Enjoy!

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

This morning over breakfast, I listened to an arguement between the girls.  Hannah said that Cari could not sing this original tune because SHE was the first one born.  So, being the peace maker that I am, I wrote an 'add on' to the original song.  I thought I would share it with you all - just incase you face this same problem at home.

Michael and Tracy sittin' in the tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love, then comes marriage,
then comes Hannah in the baby carriage.

Michael and Tracy back in the tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
There is Hannah gettin' all fed,
and over there's Cari in the baby bed.

Problem solved.

Word Of Life Island

Winter and Summer photos.

Small Project

This is a small project I worked on this past weekend.  It started out as a skirt for myself and when I finished it, it wouldn't fit me.  So,  I gave it to the girls to share... hahaha - that was a joke.  I had to make another one.  Michael willingly gave up a pair of his worn out jeans.  I thought they turned out pretty cute!

WOL Missions Conference

This weekend, we attended the Word Of Life Missions Conference. Here are a few quotes I would like to share with you all.


Kris Stout – “In a generation of lazy Christians, discipline equals legalism. Discipline should be an honorable ambition.”
2Co 5:9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.


George Murray – “If some people are willing to do without equity in order to go to the unreached; are you willing to do without equity to send them?”

1 Timothy 6:17-19
17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.


Don Lough Jr. – “Why does the world hate you? The world system is in open rebellion to God. They are directly opposed to Him. Because we are different, the world despises us for it. We have a different perspective and purpose. They hated His words because His words revealed the filthiness and ugliness of their hearts.”

John 15:18 – 21
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
20 “Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.


George Murray – “Should you include God in your plans? No. God doesn’t want to be included in your plans. He wants you to be included in His plans.”


Joe Jordan – “Follow me = willingness to leave – Family, Finances, Fantasies and Future.”

Nothing really...

I couldn't find anything interesting to blog about today, so I changed my layout.  But, then I wanted you all to see my new layout, so I tried to think of something interesting to blog about.  Nothing.

I have been in the cabin for three straight days.  I have not even stepped foot onto the porch.  So, today I thought it was high time I get outside, so I walked next door to my friends cabin to see her new little baby.  He is so CUTE!!!  I stayed in her cabin for about 10 minutes and then I walked back to my cabin.  So, there, I have stepped foot outside of the cabin.  It was so cold I almost could not breathe.  At least it felt that way.  Obviously I could breathe - otherwise, I wouldn't be posting this. 

Oh, and for all of you who didn't know this already, they hammer up plastic on the windows to keep the cold air from seeping in around the windows.  I talked them into leaving it off of a few windows because you cannot see through it.  We have the two windows and the door window to look out of.  During the day when I am teaching at our indoor picnic table, I can see the brightness of the side window where the sun is trying to come in.  At least I can see the plastic lighting up.

And on a positive note, the days are getting longer.  It's 4:30 and it isn't completely dark yet!  Yea!!!

I am having Chicken and Dumplings for supper.  Hannah will be excited, it's her favorite.

I know you are just loving this post.  I will quit now.

Random Pictures

These are just a few random pictures we have taken on our trip back and since our return to New York. I thought you all would enjoy these.

This is Hannah. I made her this poncho/shawl before we left. I thought it could double as a blanket on the ride. I thought that was somewhat creative - thinking of two uses for one thing. However, I should have known I would have been out thought on this one. Hannah used it for a window shield so she could sleep better and the neck hole was used for her tiny window. There were lots more she done with this thing. They crack me up at their creativeness.

Cari and her crazy self. She has been in the car too long.

The girls waiting for me and Michael to come outside.

This is the tree outside of our cabin. You might remember the picture I took of Michael standing at this tree back in the fall. It was "Picture Day" for him. I love how the snow hangs on the evergrees around here. So beautiful.

The girls at the bottom of the snow sledding hill. Cari rolled in the snow. Just like her considering I have a picture of her rolling in the sand at the beach.

Cari laying in the snow under the trees.

They are on Andrew's Pond. This is the pond at the back side of the camp ground. They went snow sledding here also. They are sitting on the pond in this picture.

They are digging through the snow to find the ice below.

My pitiful snowman. I tried. The snow just isn't sticky enough. It is a very fluffy here.

The aftermath of spending a couple hours in the snow. All the wet layers of clothing.

Our snow boots. Waterproof and warm up to -40 degrees! I LOVE my boots! My feet never got cold outside.

This is Schroon Lake. It is partially frozen over now. If you look to the left of the gazebo about 1/4 of an inch, there is a small fishing hut on the lake.

I tried to zoom up on the fishing hut. It is a little blurry and it was starting to get dark.

This picture is for Cassie. Before we left, she bought herself a sock monkey at Walmart in NC. When we saw these, we had to take a picture of them.

How do you like these sock monkies Cassie?

And Michael plucked this off of our porch. I thought Mason would like seeing this.

We're Back!

We made it back - safe and sound. Two mice down and snow all around.