Our Daily Bread

I've baked bread off and on for many years.  

My go-to method was always the "no knead method" that lets the dough ferment for 

12-18 hours.  

That's too dang long to wait for bread!

One day while scrolling on TikTok, I found the BEST process for a loaf of daily bread.  It is literally perfect, takes almost no effort, and I can have it in under four hours!

Credit to @brittkubicki

 

Basic Sandwich Loaf

In a bowl, combine:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. each of instant yeast, salt, and honey

1 1/2 cup of warm water

Mix ingredients.  Dough will be wet and sticky, if it's not, add a tablespoon or two more of water.

Allow to rise for two hours.

Dough should be doubled in volume 

and full of bubbles.

With two forks, pull dough away from sides of bowl and into the center. 

Go all the way around the bowl.

Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the dough, dip your hands in that oil, and work the dough ball off the bottom of the bowl.  Pick the dough up and let the weight of it pull it into a rectangle.  Then roll the dough onto itself to form a loaf.

It doesn't have to be pretty!

Plop your loaf into a well buttered bread pan 

and allow to rise about an hour.

Your loaf should rise about 1-2 inches 

above the bread pan.

Heat oven to 375 degrees 

and bake for 45 minutes.

PLEASE, do not cut your bread 

right out of the oven!!!

Allow it to cool completely...

or almost completely.

This is the perfect sandwich bread or 

daily loaf to serve with meals.

Now will somebody please pass the 

butter and honey?

North Georgia Candy Roaster Pie

Every year I try to grow something unusual.  But since I don't have BOTH my gardening legs in use, I decided to grow an oldie but goodie ~ the North Georgia Candy Roaster squash.

This is a winter squash which means that you actually grow it in the summer and it keeps through the year to eat in the winter.  If you imagine that a pumpkin and a sweet potato had a baby, that's what it tastes like.  They are huge, great for months of storage, and delicious!

To make this pie, you'll start by cutting the squash open and scooping out the seeds.  Place the cut ends on a roasting pan with a lip (these things tend to be a bit "juicy").  Cook at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes depending on the size.  

The squash should be fork tender.

Scoop out the flesh with a spoon and mash with a fork.  Like I said, these tend to hold some water so I choose to drain the squash, but you certainly don't have to.  You'll need 2 cups of squash for the pie recipe, any extra can be frozen in two cup portions.  From these two squash, I got six cups of flesh!

NORTH GEORGIA CANDY ROASTER PIE

2 C. Candy Roaster squash puree

1/2 C. Sugar

2 eggs

2 Tbs. flour

1/2 C. Evaporated milk

1 tsp. Vanilla

3 Tbs. melted butter

2 tsp. Cinnamon

Your favorite pie crust

Combine all ingredients (except the crust, duh) into a large bowl and beat at medium speed with mixer until smooth.  Pour mixture into unbaked pie crust and bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Now if you can't get your hands on a Candy Roaster, no problem!  You can use ANY sweet-ish squash like pumpkin or acorn, 

or you can use sweet potato or yam. 

Candy Roasters are super easy to grow,

and even easier to eat!

 

Now will somebody please pass me the whipped cream?

No Bread in the Stores? No Problem!

In case you’ve been living under a rock lately...

People have been losing their minds!

The Covid-19 virus has the general public bum-rushing the stores and clearing the shelves. Now, we live on the Texas Gulf Coast and are used to having a yearly stockpile for hurricane season.  We have a large pantry (and a large family) so stocking up is something we’ve always done. But it’s pretty disturbing when you go to the store for your normal weekly purchases of milk, bread, and toilet paper and the shelves are empty.

Trying not to panic myself, I walked over to the baking aisle.  I found full shelves of flour, baking powder, and yeast and I knew I could make my own bread for just pennies. 

Panic averted!

So I’m going to share with you two easy recipes for bread that anyone can make using just a few ingredients each. The first one is great for tacos, folded sandwiches, literally anything!

Flatbread

(makes 6)

2 cups of flour

1-1 1/4 cup of warm water

1 Tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs oil, butter, or shortening

Mix dry ingredients and add almost all of the water.  Mix until you have the consistency of tacky pizza dough, adding the remaining water as needed.  Knead for 3-5 minutes. Let dough rest in greased and covered bowl for 30-60 minutes.

Divide into 6 pieces and roll out on a floured surface 

about tortilla thickness.

Heat a skillet with oil to med-high heat.

 Cook dough until you have golden brown spots on both sides.

The next bread is a recipe I have made no less than a thousand times!  I posted this easy no-knead bread waaay back in 2007. It takes a little more time to develop, but the payoff is a delicious crusty loaf that stores really well.

Click HERE to check out the post!

Making bread is easy and it’s such a comforting thing to make in crazy times as these. So while we’re all home practicing social distancing, try your hand at making bread if you’ve never done it before. Make a batch with your kids, take a loaf to your neighbor, or just eat half a loaf by yourself right out of the oven 

slathered in butter!

Stay safe, stay well, and let’s pray for each other!

Monster Cookies

We are hosting Daniel's baseball team at our 

neighborhood pool tomorrow.

They were the 12 year old LEAGUE CHAMPIONS,

so they're kind of a big deal!

I wanted to make a big batch of cookies

and figured these boys needed one

BEAST of a cookie!

So behold the

MONSTER COOKIE:

This recipe makes a lot!

(about 6 dozen)

And you can add in whatever you want 

to please your hungry crowd.

In a big bowl, combine:

           3 eggs                      4 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup sugar                  2 tsp. vanilla

1 T. honey                    2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick of room temp. butter

1 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

Next, your add ins:

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

1 11.4 oz bag of M&M's

You can add whatever you like to the basic recipe:

White chocolate, dried fruits, coconut,

toffee or butterscotch bits, chopped nuts...

Just try to keep it to 2-3 cups of mix ins.

They will definitely bring out the monster in you...

the COOKIE MONSTER!

Happy birthday, Macho Beast!

Happy 9th birthday 

to our sweet Danny!

The other night we were driving home and I told him, 

"I'm sad you're turning nine years old, you won't be my little baby bluebird anymore!"  

Dan says, "That's right, mama, 

I'm a MACHO BEAST!"

When we got home, the beast went straight to the kitchen to get started on his birthday cake.  We discovered an awesome trick to making multicolored cakes that I had to pass along.  

The pictures for this tutorial are for a camouflage colored cake, but using the same technique, you could also do a rainbow, ombre, or any other color combination  you can think of.  

First step, whip up your favorite plain vanilla cake recipe.

Then divide the batter into four smaller bowls, 

about a cup of batter in each bowl.

Butter and flour your baking pan and then tint each bowl of batter.  For a camo cake, we did tan, brown, dark and light green.

Drop batter by large spoonfuls 

(next time I'll use an ice cream scoop!) 

into the pan and bake according to your cake recipe directions.

Dan wanted a Minecraft themed cake 

and decorated it all by himself!

The cake came out delicious and was a big hit with the other Minecraft addicts in the house.

Happy birthday, Macho Beast, but remember,

you'll always be mama's little baby blue bird!

We're doomed!

After dinner one night, we all had a hankering for some chocolate. I wanted something quick and delicious, and after a brief scouring through Pinterest, I found it...

BROWNIES IN A MUG!

1/4 cup flour 

1/4 cup sugar 

 2 Tbsp cocoa (natural, unsweetened) 

Pinch of salt 

Pinch of cinnamon 

1/4 cup water 

 2 Tbsp canola oil or vegetable oil 

(NOT extra virgin olive oil, it's too strongly flavored) 

1 to 2 drops vanilla extract 

1 small scoop of ice cream or 1 or 2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream to serve

Place flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and cinnamon in a microwave safe ceramic mug. Stir with a fork or spoon to mix well and break up any clumps. 

 Add the oil, water, and vanilla to the cup and stir until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps. 

Place in microwave and heat on high until the mixture is cooked through, about a 1 minute and 40 seconds for a 1000 watt microwave. You may have to experiment and adjust the time for less or more powerful microwaves. If you don't know the power level on your microwave, start with 60 seconds and increase until the brownie is done. It should still be moist when cooked through, not dry. 

Let cool for a minute and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a teaspoon or two of whipping cream poured over.

Chocolatey, but not too sweet.

Easy enough that the kids can make it!

Yup, we're doomed!

Candy Roaster Pie

We finally harvested some of the candy roaster squash that I blogged about HERE. 

These squash are HUGE as you can see!

I sliced one in half, scooped out the seeds, and roasted it in the oven for about an hour.  The flesh was gorgeous, sweet, and not as stringy as pumpkin.  One squash gave me six cups of puree which I promptly made into pies.  
I also saved the seeds so I can grow these again next year!

The pie was a big hit!

Who says you need a fork?

This is a girl after my own heart!

Candy Roaster Squash Pie

2 cups candy roaster squash puree

 1/2 cup sugar 

2 eggs 

2 Tbsp. flour 

1/2 cup evaporated milk 

1 tsp. vanilla 

3 Tbsp. melted butter 

Your favorite pie crust

 Stir all ingredients together, then beat at medium speed of electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Pour mixture into unbaked pie crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 - 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

 

Candy Roaster Squash

This year I ordered some Candy Roaster Squash seeds. This large squash is a bit of a cross between a sweet potato and a pumpkin. Fruits can grow to well over 10 pounds,

 enough to feed this motley crew!

I planted exactly FOUR seeds to grow up a chicken wire trellis.
They've grown up, over, around, and seem hell bent on world domination at this point.

Somewhere under that mass of leaves is a grill 
and my husband is not happy about that.

I used to have a small bed on the side of our back porch that was growing black eyed peas, tomatoes, and is home to a rosemary bush...

The candy roaster has decided to take over that bed as well.

I wouldn't mind pruning it back a bit, but there are more than a dozen of these beauties growing all over and I can almost taste that
candy roaster squash pie!

I know my blog posts have been sporadic, but if you don't hear from me again in a week, send in reinforcements...

The candy roaster may have overtaken us!

(I'll be the one laying on the couch with pie crumbs on my chin.)

Our precious girl turns ONE!

Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated Mary Grace's first birthday with us!  And God bless our Mary Grace with many more happy birthdays!