Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

Baking your own bread is a very rewarding and yummy experience.  It is also a exercise in chemistry.  When I started this journey, I would get a bread recipe and simply put it together and bake it.  The result was a dense, heavy loaf that didn't make very good sandwich bread.  I have tried many recipes and techniques and after a few years and much research and experimenting, have come up with a good recipe.  I needed bread that would be good frozen as well as fresh.  
This recipe will make 4-5 loaves of regular sized bread.  The quantity of loaves depends on the humidity in the air and how much flour you have to add to make it come together. I will provide several recipes for you to try that have different yields.
I use the highest quality ingredients I can afford.  I have had success in purchasing items in bulk to allow me to stay within my budget and I have been able to produce an excellent loaf of bread.  If you are going to put forth the effort to create your own bread, don't skimp on the ingredients.

Equipment List:  All of these things will be pictured in this post as I go along.
Bosch Mixer-
This is an essential kitchen tool if you are going to bake bread regularly.  A Kitchen Aid Mixer can only handle the dough for one loaf of bread at a time and wheat is a heavier dough than white.  Make the investment, you won't be sorry.  Here are a few links for purchasing online.  Check around, you may be able to find a better price and make sure you get the dough hook with it.
http://beprepared.com/search.asp?t=ss&ss=Bosch+MIxer&image1.x=32&image1.y=6
http://www.bosch-home.com/us/products/small-appliances/kitchen-machines/universal-plus/list.html
Bread Pans-
America's Test Kitchen, a PBS show, tested many bread pans and found the nonstick
Baker's Secret to be just fine.  I use them myself and like them.  They can be purchase at Walmart or Target, even grocery stores.  They cost about $4.00 per pan.  You could spend more and get the Calphalon bread pans.  They are heavier and run about $13-$20 per pan.  They are really nice but why pay more?
Food Thermometer-
These can also be purchase just about anywhere and are critical for making sure the bread is done.  

Dough Scraper-
Great tool for more than just scraping dough.  Find them at Kitchen Supply stores.  I like the cooking.com site.  It has just about everything you will ever need in the kitchen and lots you never thought you needed. 
Cooling Rack-
Get a big one.  Small cooling racks just don't cut it when you are baking.  This is also something that can be used universally in the kitchen.  Try the cooking.com site also for a good cooling rack.
Grain Mill-
This is also a great investment if you want to make the most nutritious bread possible.  If you are going to buy your flour than you won't need this piece of equipment.  However, buying your own grain and milling it yourself is a great way to be prepared.
Measuring Cups for dry and wet products
Measuring Spoons
Flat Digital Kitchen Scale that will weigh up to 11 lbs.

RECIPES
Try several different recipes to determine which one works best in your climate.  I have had success with the first recipe, however, depending on the weather, it can turn out different sometimes.  I have also found that old or lower quality wheat will effect the bread texture too.  The higher the quality of wheat, the better the bread.  It does make a difference.  I use organic hard winter red wheat that is as fresh as possible.  I prefer red wheat to white because it has a heartier flavor.  White wheat is good for people use to eating white bread.  It is still wheat but has a milder flavor. 

Recipe 1-I use this one all the time, makes 4-5 loaves. 

This is the recipe pictured below

5 Cups Hot water  
3 T yeast-I keep my yeast in the freezer so I use pretty hot water.  If your yeast isn't from the freezer then use barely warmed liquid to activate the yeast.  Water that is too hot will kill the yeast. 
2/3 C canola oil, avocado oil, or melted butter
2/3 C High quality raw honey or as fresh as you can get. 
2 T Salt
12-14 Cups Whole Wheat Flour-I mill it myself
You can use half while flour and 1/2 wheat flour if you like.  Add the white flour after all the wheat flour has been added. 

Recipe #1 is demonstrated below.

Grind all of the wheat you will need to prepare the recipe.  One cup of wheat berries translates to about 2 cups of flour. 
First add the liquid to the mixing bowl.  Make sure it is warm enough to activate the yeast.  Add 3 cups of flour and the yeast to the liquid and mix.  Put the lid on the mixer and allow the yeast to activate, about 10 minutes.  The sugar in the wheat is enough to makes the yeast grow. If you add the honey at this point, the yeast activates too much and your bread will create too much CO2 to support the structure needed for the bread during baking.  The bread also takes on a distinctive beer flavor. 

This is what it will look like once the yeast has activated.  It will have expanded in the bowl a bit.

Once the yeast has been activated, it is time to make the sponge.  Add 3 more cups of the flour and the oil and mix.  The sponge will make the bread lighter and the texture finer.  Let it sit for 2-5 hours with the lid loosely on the bowl to allow for the air to escape but for the sponge to stay warm.  You will smell a bit of an alcohol smell as the sponge works.  You want to make sure you don't trap those fumes in with the lid.   This fermentation process is key to a light loaf of bread.   

It is time to add the rest of the ingredients.  When the sponge has worked for a while add the salt and the honey then gradually add the rest of the flour.   Scoop your flour as shown in the picture to get a correct measure of flour.

While the mixer is on, begin adding the flour one cup at a time.  

Wheat bread dough is sticky.  The trick is to add just enough flour so that it holds together properly without adding too much to make bread that is dry and crumbly. When the dough just begins to clean the sides of the bowl like in the picture, put the lid back on and knead the dough for 6 minutes.  If you aren't using a Bosch mixer, just knead the dough on the counter by hand for the same amount of time.  You will know when the dough is ready because the texture will smooth out.  Add the flour a little bit at a time as you knead the dough.  It is important to control the amount of flour you add while kneading so that you don't end up with a stiff, dry dough.

Properly kneaded dough takes on a smooth texture and will be sticky to the touch.  Don't skimp on the kneading.  It is necessary for the bread to have a proper texture and to bake correctly.

Pour dough into an very large bowl you have sprayed with cooking oil.  Cover and let rise till double.  Then punch down and knead on oiled counter till smooth as seen below.

Knead it into a workable mass then weigh your dough to be able to divide it evenly between each of the four bread pans.  This method usually will yield 28oz of dough per loaf pan.  A one pound loaf of bread will be 26 oz worth of dough.  If you choose to use the 26 oz weight, you will have four loaves of bread with a little bit left for a tiny loaf.  You can even make a few rolls if you like. 

Using the dough scraper, cut the dough into four separate pieces.  Weigh each piece to make sure you have it divided evenly before shaping it and putting it in the pans.

 

I like to spray a bit of cooking spray on the counter to prevent sticking while you shape the dough for the pans.

 

Take each piece of dough and flatten it out.  Then roll it up tight just like pictured above.  Roll very tightly and pinch the seam, then place seam side down in the pans. 

Generously spray cooking spray on the pans before placing the dough in them.  Don't try to use regular cooking oil to oil the pans.  The dough absorbs the oil and the bread sticks to the the pan.  The cooking spray doesn't do this and allows for a complete release after baking.  I am not sure why this happens. 

Allow the dough to rise in a warm place with a towel over the pans.  The dough will dry out if it isn't covered. If you let the dough rise too much, just punch it back down again and reshape and let it rise again.  It should rise for 40-60 minutes or until it has risen nicely above the pan.

Place pans carefully in the oven, ensuring there is space around each pan for proper airflow.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, turning the loaves 1/2 through baking cycle.  This will allow for even baking and help prevent the side of the loaf from exploding out where the heat is hottest.

Remove one loaf from the oven and check the internal temperature on the side of the loaf.  It should be 180-200 degrees internal temperature to be baked inside.  You will notice the loafs fall slightly when you pull them out of the oven.  This is normal.  This process of bread baking creates a higher level of Co2 in the bread which is what makes the light loaf.  Because of this, there is more air in the dough which causes the slight falling.  If you made bread by simply adding everything together and just baking it, the bread would be heavy, solid, and dense. 

Brush butter on the top of the loaves.

Cool loaves on their sides on a cooling rack after they have cooled in the pans for about 10 minutes.  Don't let the loaves sit in the pans to cool off for longer than 10 minutes.  The moisture from the cooling process will make the loaves soggy in the pans.  After the bread is mostly cool, then they can be put into bread bags and placed in the freezer.  Depending on where you live, I recommend keeping the bread on the counter.  Putting bread in the refrigerator will dry it out quickly.  The freezer doesn't dry out the bread however so keep extra in there for later.

Enjoy.  The first loaf usually gets eaten right away and I put the others in the freezer for later.  I use bread bags that can be purchased from the grocery store.  These bags can be used over and over again so don't throw them away.  

I make sure the day I am baking bread, I am home doing laundry or other projects.  I don't stand over it all day.  I do a part of it and then do something else, then another part, then something else.  It has been well worth the effort for our family to have healthy, preservative free bread that costs pennies compared to the store bought bread. I make a large batch so I don't have to bake bread all the time. 

Breakdown of time:

Yeast Activation-10 minutes

Sponge-2-4 hours

Kneading-10 minutes

First Rise-1 hours

Shaping the dough-10 minutes

Second Rise-40-60 minutes

Baking-30+ minutes

Cooling 15-30 minutes

Wart Remedies

Study Finds Duct Tape Successful in
Treating Warts

We all know that a little duct tape can fix almost anything, but get rid of warts? A study, appearing in the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, has found that treating common warts by applying duct tape was more successful than cryotherapy – freezing them off with liquid nitrogen – a more common technique. The study looked at more than 50 patients ages 3 to 22.
Researchers say using duct tape has several advantages over cryotherapy, such as being more practical, less expensive and less threatening to children because it is not painful.
Warts are a common pediatric complaint, occurring in 5 to 10 percent of all pediatric patients, according to the study. Warts are benign growths caused by the human papillomaviruses. The peak incidence is between the ages of 12 and 16 years. Although two-thirds of all warts in children will resolve spontaneously without treatment within two years, patients frequently request treatment to hasten the resolution.

The inside of a fresh piece of banana peel taped to a plantar wart with adhesive tape every day for two to four weeks can help, too, because the peel contains a substance that kills warts.
These tips are from the Preschoolertoday.com website.  Good information

When Teeth are Shattered

In my oldest son's eighth year, he had just gotten his permanant front teeth in.  They were so big and beautiful and big!  He was also experiencing the joys of the big kid playground at school and how glorious a game of tag could be with more room to run.  One such game of tag, ended the existence of his newly aquired teeth.  I imagine him laughing and running, then throwing his head back in glee, huge smile on his face as he looks over his shoulder to seen how close his attacker is only to then turn just in time to smash his beautiful smile into the pole of the outdoor patio cover.
The call I got from him at school was timid and I could hear that he had cried a little.  He was more concerned with whether I would be mad at him for causing careless damage to himself rather than the fact that he had shattered his two front teeth and they were barely hanging in his gums.  I wasn't mad and felt so bad for him.  They were as new and perfect as teeth get and now they were forever ruined.  I was sure he would have a broken face too, but the only damage was to his teeth.  He must have been having a marvelous time to have that big of a smile on his face.  The prognosis was that he had not only completely broken out a moon shaped section of his two teeth, but the part of the teeth that were left had microfractures all over them.  When the Dentist told me this, I was reminded of those cartoons where the character gets hit in the mouth and his teeth fall out in sections onto the ground leaving nothing but jagged shards.  That is kind of how he looked.
What did I learn?
First, when you go to the dentist with an emergency, they can bill it out under your medical plan usually.  This way, the cost is significantly less.  I had an emergency dental copay that was $60 instead of having to pay the 20% for the entire reconstruction.  My son needed two porcelin venirs for his teeth and the cost of that for us was going to be $1200 under our dental plan.  But under the medical plan we only paid two $60 copays.  One for the intial visit to have his teeth x-rayed and prepped and then the second visit to apply the venirs.  I wouldn't have known about this were it not for the dental office receptionist mentioning it.
The down side to going this route is the dental office didn't get paid for six months because the medical insurance requested more proof for the work than the dental plan would have.  The dental office was patient and I had to call the insurance company a few times to make sure they were processing the claim.  Ultimately, if the insurance company had denied the claim, I would have to pay the bill.  It is always the patient's responsibility to know what their coverage is and what their part of the bill will be.
If you find yourself in a dental emergency, check with your medical plan to see if the cost of the coverage is better than under your dental plan.

Canning Applesauce

READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

You may be wondering if home canning is worth it.  There are several reasons why it is.

1. It is the only sure way to control what is in your food.  There are no chemicals or added dyes. 

2.  Knowing how to home produce your own food is an essential skill that can help you save money for your family when times are tough.

3.  Once the initial investment in equipment is made, the cost to home can is pennies on the dollar compared to ready made food from the store because the jars and equipment are used over and over again.

4.  It is so rewarding to look in your pantry and see it full of foods you made for your family.

5.  It tastes better than you can imagine.

6.  It is the only way to utilize home grown foods so they don't go to waste.

7.  Grocery stores aren't open when disasters hit, knowing how to prepare food from scratch and preserve it can save you in an emergency.

Here is how to make homemade applesauce.   

EQUIPMENT

Canner

7-9 Quart Jars with lids and rings

Canning Accessories Kit

Hand Mixer

Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer

16 Quart, Heavy Bottom Pot

Liquid Measuring Cup

Measuring Spoons

Dry Measuring Cups

Sink or Counter Top Wash Basin

Clean Dish Towels and Wash Cloths

Links for purchasing equipment online you don't have are listed throughout this post.

Before starting the applesauce making process, be sure you have jars that have lids and rings.  The recipe you will get from this post will make about 7-9 quarts of applesauce.  Some of these have the lids stored upside down which is why they look weird.  I store them this way so the lids don't get altered by the top of the jar.  Complete jars with the rings and lids can be purchased at grocery stores in the cooking accessories isle.  Walmart is pretty good about carrying them all the time in our area. 

 

Other than jars, you will need a clean sink, a large trash bowl, a sharp pairing knife and an apple peeler/corer.  They run about $20 and can be purchased online easily.  Here is a link for one I found:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=apple+peeler%2Fcorer%2Fslicer&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=3153991271&ref=pd_sl_43bos174id_e

This is on the Amazon.com website and will offer a variety of prices and types.  I highly recommend getting the kind that will vacuum stick to your counter rather than the kind that clamps on the side of the counter.  They are sold in stores too if you don't want to buy online.  Just check around.  Pampered Chef has one too.

 

This is a hand blender.  It really is a must when doing home canning.  It is so much easier to work right in the pot rather than having to take the product to a blender then put it in a bowl, etc.  It is much less messy and gives you more control over the consistency of your product.  Check out this link at Amazon.com for hand blender ideas and prices.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hand+blender&sprefix=hand+ble

These can also be purchased at your local department store.

APPLES

This recipe calls for 20lbs of apples.  I recommend a variety of apples, hard and soft, for a good flavor.  I have 4 kinds of apples I will be using for this recipe.  Two are hard and two are soft.  Don't use the red delicious apples.  They are very grainy when cooked.  Use apples you cook with.  Such as Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Gala, etc.  There are many varieties to choose from.

If you are buying your apples, try to get the first round of the season in the grocery stores.  Apples can be expensive, but they will marked down considerably when they first come out.  Check your grocery ads to buy at the best price.

PREPARING THE FRUIT

 Start by peeling and coring your apples.  Put the peeler/corer next to the sink for ease of use.  If you don't have that kind of room in your kitchen, your local dollar store should have a portable dish wash tub you can use.  Just make sure you rinse it out before using.

 Fill the sink or dish tub up 1/2 way with water and add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of lemon juice.  This helps keep the apples from turning brown while you are cutting them up.

After you have cut up all of your apples, make sure you clean up your work space.  If you don't clean things up as you go, you will end up with a huge mess at the end.  I scrub my peeler/corer with a brush that has some dish soap on it.  This gets all those little apple pieces off and then the apple juice doesn't have time to set on there and stick.

THE COOKING PROCESS

Pour 3 cups of water into a very large pot.  The pot should be at least 16 quarts and have a heavy bottom.  Thin pots will burn the apples while they are cooking and require you to stand over them more.  

 Put the harder apples, such as Granny Smith, in the pot first.  They will take longer to cook so you want them closer to the heat.

Then add the rest of the apples to fill the pot.

 

Put the pot on the stove and set the heat on high.  Let the apples cook for 1 hour.  Stir after about 30 minutes.

 

After 1 hour you will notice the apples have cooked down considerably.  Stir them again and turn off the heat.  Be careful, the apples are hot and may spit out at you. 

 

Using your hand blender, begin blending the cooked apples until the desired consistency is achieved.  Sorry for the blurry picture, I was holding the camera and mixing.  If you are happy with the flavor then leave as is for canning.  If you want it to be sweeter add White Sugar 1/2 cup at a time and cook on medium heat for about 5-7 minutes to let the sugar melt into the sauce.  Taste between additions and don't add more than 1 1/2 cups sugar.  It will be too sweet.

  

If you want to have cinnamon applesauce then add:

3 T High Quality Vanilla

1 T plus 2 tsp Cinnamon

1 1/2 C White Sugar

Turn the heat back on Medium Low and cook for another 10 minutes to combine final ingredients.  Stir continuously.

CANNING THE APPLESAUCE

  

There are many ways to keep your jars hot.  Some put them in a low temperature oven and pull them out as needed.  I find that heating them in the microwave for two minutes on high achieves the same results.  I clean them and the lids and rings first in hot soapy water then rinse.  Then I put the jars in the microwave.  My microwave is over my stove so it is a convenient place for me to keep them while I am filling them with whatever I am canning.  

  

Place the hot jars on a towel while working with them.  This protects your counter top and prevents the jars from sitting on a cold surface and cracking.  Using a canning funnel, spoon the hot applesauce into the hot jars.  Make sure you don't fill them all the way up.  There should be a one inch head space at the top.  This means leave an inch of room at the top of the jar.

Here is a link for a canning accessories kit.  I use the tools for more than just canning.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_2_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=canning+kit&sprefix=canning+

This link also has the canners themselves on the page too. 

Take a clean cloth and wipe any excess product of the rim of the jar.  You don't want to leave any residue on the rim because the lid won't seal properly to the jar.  

Place the lid and the ring on the jar and tighten.  They don't have to be super tight.  Just firmly secure. The rings hold the lids in place during the processing time so the lids can seal properly to the jar. 

 

Place full jars in canner and process on high heat for 20 minutes.  The time is the same whether you use a water bath canner or a steam canner which looks like this one.  I prefer the steam canner because it uses less water so is less cumbersome to move from the sink to the stove.

 

When the jars are done processing, take them out of the canner and place on a towel to cool.  Make sure it is out of a drafty area.  As the jars cool the lids will make a popping sound indicating they are sealed.  Push down on the lids to make sure they have sealed.  If they give some they aren't sealed yet.  Wait 24 hours to see if all of the lids have sealed.  If you still have one that is not sealed down, use that to eat first or you will need to reprocess the jar with a new lid.

If you choose you can store them without the rings because they are no longer needed to hold on the lids.  Don't throw them away, the rings and the jars are reusable.  You will need to get new lids each time you can something new.

The applesauce will keep for 1 year in a cool, dark, dry place.  I store mine in the basement storage room. You could probably keep them longer under these conditions, but I try to use mine up in a year.   

Silver Polish

I recently aquired a small silver spoon collection from my late Grandma Ada.  I love these spoons and wanted to display them on my wall but they are were all tarnished.  I don't have any silver polish and, at the time, didn't have any money to buy some.  So I scoured the internet for ideas and found two.  I tried them both and here are the results.
1.  Use white toothpaste to polish silver.  Put some toothpaste on a soft cloth and polish like you normally would.  Rinse off and presto, shiny! 
This works like a charm.  However, I have noticed the tarnish comes back rather quickly and I spent most of the day polishing those spoons.  I think I am going to have to buy some real silver polish.  In a pinch, the toothpaste will work.  Such as the Queen is coming for tea and you need your silver polished quickly and you are out of silver polish and your maid is off for the day and polishing silver in not in the butler's job description.   Just buy the polish.  It will save the headache of having to do it again too soon.
2.  Put some baking soda in water on the stove.  Heat it up and place a piece of tin foil in the pot all around the sides and bottom.  Put your silver in the pot and let the tarnish cook off.  The silver must be touching the foil. 
Yes, this is as big of a pain as it sounds.  And, it really didn't work that well.  Again, just buy the silver polish.  I didn't bother with pictures for this particular tip because it just isn't worth the time.  You can find  pictures if you google this technique if you really want to try it. 
 

"Mommy's Coming Baby!!!"

Tucson was a wonderful home for us but our neighborhood didn't lend itself to letting the kids just run out and play on their own.  Luckily, there was a huge, beautiful park in the middle of our neighborhood that was directly across the street from the elementary school.  A tradition developed of meeting at the park on Fridays with all of our friends to let the kids play for as long as they wanted.  It was a chance for the adults to get together and the kids and just relax from the busy week.  There were moms and dads that would come and we even had friends that had moved away come each week because it was so much fun.  We all brought snacks and drinks for the kids and stayed for hours.  The sun stays up for a long time in Tucson so there was plenty of time for the kids to really get their energy out.  I miss that now that we have moved on from Tucson.  It was wonderful. 
This idealic experience wasn't without its bumps and bruises and we made sure to bring first aid kits too.  One such day, my then seven year old son was just learning to master riding a Razor Scooter.  He was borrowing a friends and scooting around the little circular sidewalk next the play ground equipment.  I was up on the slide with my daughter, helping her develop her courage to slide down when I hear a scream.  My son had fallen and smashed his face into the sidewalk.  He did one of those slip and falls where there wasn't anytime to catch himself.  He just went down hard.  My maternal instincts went into overdrive and I grabbed the bar that you hold onto to get situated before sliding down the slide.  I  launched myself down this slide and realize just as I was coming to the bottom of the slide that I was going to catch some air.  I am don't think I even touched the slide till the bottom.  Sure enough I hit the bottom of the slide and went air born.  I went so high I actually hung in the air for a moment.  It is amazing what we are capable of being aware of all at once.  I hadn't taken my eyes off my son this entire time and was thinking simultaneously, "I am going to wreck myself and I have to get to him, Mommy's coming baby!".  I hit the ground with a splat and found myself on my belly for a moment, then desperately crawling on my hands and knees gripping the ground to try and get to my screaming little man.  You would think my spectacle would have distracted him a bit, but he is very focused about his angst and wasn't the least bit deterred from his pain. 
After crawling for a few feet I finally was able to get to my feet and run over to him.  It was one of those stumble, stumble, walk, stumble, run movements.  The entire time, the dad that was closest to my son was so alarmed by my gymnastics he was just standing there with his mouth open.  He had completely forgotten about the little guy for a moment and was worried he was going to have two people to attend to.  I finally reached my son and was able to tend to his fat lip.  My friend came out of his alarmed trance and walked over to help and just looked at me like I really was crazy.  I apoligized for my antics and he just started laughing.  I believe I have mentioned before, my name is not Grace.
I am sure everyone else at the park saw what happened but were kind enough to not bring it up again.  I was rather embarrassed about my over reaction.  Especially since I could have just climbed down from the slide in the same amount of time.  I suppose the show wouldn't have been as good if I had responded like a normal person.  My son's lip was fine and I didn't buy him his own scooter until he was ten years old and more coordinated. 

Leave Broken Windows to the Experts

My children like to remind me on occasion about my mishaps, and of course giggle.  It usually goes something like this.  "Mom, remember when you got glass in your eye?".  "Hee hee!".  These conversations are usually preceded by some new klutzy thing I have done to injure myself.  There is a tremendous resource of life experiences for my children to draw on in my little and big emergencies.  I suppose now that I have brought it up, you are wondering about the glass in my eye?  Alright, I will share.
In our old home, old meaning previous but also very ancient, we had windows that were comprised of many small panes to create the one large window.  The window panes were single pane glass and provided little protection from the outside world.  They were also held in by something called glazing.  Glazing is a putty type product that you roll between your hands and make long snake like pieces.  It is like working with play dough.  The glazing is then pressed and smoothed into the frame on top of the glass and molded into the corners to hold the glass in place.  When it dries it becomes very hard and becomes airtight, if done correctly.  This hardness makes it difficult to get a pane of glass out that has been cracked or broken and needs to be replaced.  Real window pane experts will also use very small tacks to help keep the glass secured to the frame which makes freeing the broken glass even more difficult. 
I was in our bathroom moving something long and skinny around and I hear a pop!  I had broken the window.  This really wasn't that big a deal because there were several broken windows at all times in our house.  If the wind blew too hard a window would crack.  I decided I would save my husband an addition to his "honey do" list and fix the window myself.  It couldn't be that hard, right?
I pulled the larger pieces of the broken glass out and started scraping the glass that was bonded to the frame by the glaze.  In order to do this the only effective tool to use was a Flathead screwdriver.  I am feeling pretty good about myself at this point.  I am replacing a window pane.  I am sooo cool!  There is a reason safety glasses are recommended equipment when doing home projects.  You just never know how your enthusiasm is going to get the better of you when you start really going at something.  Well, I was getting frustrated with getting this glass cleaned out of the frame and really went at it, without any eye protection.  I was scraping like a crazy person and all of sudden, I feel something ping/stab me in the eye.  My first reaction was to freak out but I didn't.  I just stood there holding my eye open waiting for inspiration to come as to what to do next.  I was probably making a bit of a commotion because my oldest son ran into the bathroom and screamed, "I'll call 911 Mom!".  He looked like Kramer from the "Seinfeld Show" entering the room.  His eyes were a bit crazed and his voice cracked.  I thought he was going to have an accident himself.  He had the phone in his hand and started to dial, because he has had to do it for me before, while I am yelling at him, "No! No!, I don't need an ambulance!".  It was then the idea hit me to flush my eye with water.  I ran into the other bathroom, because the one I was in was under construction, and began throwing water into my eye.  If you have ever had to not blink for a while, it is really hard.  Those muscles work independent of regular brain commands and I had to hold my eye lid up so it wouldn't come down and move the glass shard around on my eyeball and cut it up.  Happily, a cool head prevailed again and the glass washed right out.  It was pretty big for an eye ball and I was relieved no medical personnel had to be involved.  My eye wasn't even sore because it came out pretty quickly.  I then had to calm my son down and reassure him no damage had been done. 
So what are the lessons here?  Stay calm and listen to that voice that God sends to tell us how to handle things beyond our abilities.  Teach your children how to dial 911 and how to check if you are unconscious.  This saves them from calling if you are taking a nap.  Wear protective eye wear when doing household repair jobs or anything where something could fly into your eye.  Also, Try to evaluate whether what your are attempting is going to help or cause more work for the person that actually knows how to do the job right. 
By the time my husband had come home from work, I had picked up all of the broken glass and taped a file folder into the window for him to repair.  And yes, I apoligized for "helping" him.
I am happy to report, I have had no lasting effects of the glass in my eye and that I learned how to properly replace the broken windows in our house just in time to fix the five other broken panes before we moved.  I wore protective eye wear this time. 

Food Bar Codes

Want to buy US made products?  BUY USA by watching for "0" at the beginning of the number. 

 

This may be useful to know when grocery shopping, if it's a concern to you.        Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China ? If the first 3 digits of the barcode are 690, 691 or 692, the product is MADE IN CHINA. 471 is Made in Taiwan. However, you may now refer to the barcode, remember if the first 3 digits are: 690-692 … then it is MADE IN CHINA . 00 - 09 … USA & CANADA 30 - 37 … FRANCE 40 - 44 … GERMANY 47 ... Taiwan 49 … JAPAN 50 … UK

Grandma Ada's Pie Crust

My Grandma could cook.  Here is her fabulous pie crust.
Makes enough for 4 double crust pies.

4 C unsifted flour
1 3/4 C butter flavored Crisco
2 T Sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 C water
1 T distilled white vinegar
Recipe makes 4 double pie crusts.  I usually roll all of it out and put rolled dough into a pie shell, then into a large plastic bag and put it in the freezer until I need it.  I also roll out the top crust and just roll it up in some plastic wrap and put it in the freezer too.
Combine flour, sugar, and salt.
Cut in shortening and then add in beaten egg and vinegar.
Add water as needed. Dough should not be too sticky.  It should be slightly tacky to the touch.  
Do not knead this dough too much.  In order for pie crusts to be flaky, they need to be handled as little as possible.  Kneading the dough will activate the gluten and make for a tough dough.  Mold dough into a ball, flatten it and refrigerate for at least an hour before trying to roll it out.  Keep dough that isn't being rolled out into a pie crust refrigerated.
Roll dough out onto a floured surface.
I usually roll all of it out and put rolled dough into a pie shell, then into a large plastic bag and put it in the freezer until I need it.  I also roll out the top crust and just roll it up in some plastic wrap and put it in the freezer too.   This way I have extra pie crusts and pie shells ready to go when I need them. 

Homemade Playdough

This is a great activity when the kids are bored.  They can make it and add whatever colors they like.  It is also a fun way to teach kids about color combinations.  I don't know that it saves a whole lot of money, it is cheaper but Playdough is pretty cheap!

1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup salt
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 T oil
1 Cup Water
Put all of the ingredients in a pot and cook over LOW heat.  Don't try to hurry this up, it is science.  Stir till it all comes together.  Add coloring of your choice.  You can do it before, during or after you cook it.  Just remember if you add it after, your hands will likely turn the color until it really gets mixed in to the playdough.  I recommend mixing the ingredients in a bowl really well and then cooking smaller portions at a time and making the colors you want that way.  Once they are the right colors and the dough has cooked then cooled off, the kids can combine the playdough together to make the other colors they may want. 

Make Your Own Oatmeal Packets

This recipe is one I developed to help off-set the cost of microwave oatmeal packets from the grocery store.  My kids love them but I needed to find a way to tighten our food budget.   I was shocked at how inexpensive it is to simply make your own. 
Powdered milk is part of the microwave packets you buy from the store.  It can be substituted for regular milk or cream if you like.  You simply leave the powdered milk out of the recipe and pour on whatever "milk" you want after it has cooked.  If you want to make a large quantity of oatmeal packets for your kids to microwave up themselves then add the powdered milk. 
For storage purposes, just make up the recipe below without any extra add ins.  The fruit and nuts need to be freeze dried to be shelf stable.  If you simply add dried fruit it will absorb the moisture in the sugar and the oats and make the packet stale after a few days on the shelf.  Freeze dried foods are devoid of moisture and can be added to the packets for storage.  There are many food storage companies that sell freeze dried foods and  you can use those if you like.  I like to make sure when I am doing my own stored foods at home that use the best ingredients I can find.  I look for organic and non-gmo foods to be sure there aren't added chemicals or additives so that I know my family is getting something healthy. 

Grocery List
Whole Oats
-make sure they are whole oats and not the instant or quick oats. Azure Standard is a bulk purchase website devoted to healthier living.  You can find organic whole oats and even oat groats here.  Groats are oats that haven't been rolled flat.  They look a bit like a wheat kernel.  I purchase a lot of what I use and store from this site now because I can get high quality organic foods at bulk prices. www.azurestandard.com 
Powdered Milk
Optional Sweeteners
White Sugar
Brown Sugar
Honey
Molasses

1 Serving
1/3 C Whole Oats
2 T Powdered Milk
1 tsp White Sugar or 1 T Honey for a restricted sugar diet-use powdered honey if you are making packets.
1 tsp Brown Sugar or 1/4 to 1/2 tsp molasses for a restricted sugar diet-add just before cooking.
1 Cup Cold Water
1.  Combine the cold water and the powdered milk.  Whisk it together until completely combined.  If you try to heat the powdered milk before it is mixed into the water it will clump and harden. 
2.  Add all the other ingredients and microwave for approximately 2 minutes on high.  WATCH this while it is cooking to figure out the appropriate time for your microwave.  Cleaning up exploded oatmeal is no fun.
3.  Remove it from the microwave and let it sit for 2-3 minutes to thicken and cool off.  

Multiple Servings 
To make more than one serving at a time I like to use a rice cooker.  I have cooked the oatmeal on the stove but find I have to stand over it a bit more and stir it.  The rice cooker is brilliant!  Simply double or triple-up to whatever your portions will be-the recipe and add everything into the cooker.  If you are adding the powdered milk, be sure to mix that with the cold water first then add everything else.  Set it for a moderate temperature and let the oatmeal cook.  You will want to stir it a couple of times but it cooks itself for the most part.  I haven't tried it in my crock pot yet but that is on my list.  
If you have a bunch of packets you are cooking, just add however many cups of water you need to match the quantity of packets.  I like this method over the microwave even because I don't have to watch it. 

Flavor Variations:  You may need to add more water if you add a lot of dried fruit to the mix.
Craisins and dried apples with 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and 1/8 tsp of ground cloves
Diced dried apricots and pecans with some nutmeg-just a pinch
Strawberries-dried.  If you add fresh or frozen they will give off some water.  You can adjust this by adding 1 T more of whole oats to absorb the extra liquid.  Omit the powdered milk and add heavy cream after it has cooked. 
Blueberries-dried, fresh, or frozen. If you use frozen, run them under some hot water to rinse and thaw them before adding them to the bowl.  Omit the powdered milk and add heavy cream after it has cooked. 
1 tsp cinnamon and 2 T Raisins
Bananas-dried with 1 tsp cinnamon.  If you want to use fresh bananas then add slices after the oatmeal has cooked.  The texture gets slimy if you cook them with the oatmeal.  Add some pecans or walnuts for banana bread oatmeal.
Peaches with a pinch of nutmeg-omit the powdered milk and add heavy cream after it has cooked. 
Anything else that sounds good to you!

Bacon

Instead of microwaving bacon or putting it a skillet on the stove, bake it in the oven.  It is awesome!  This is one of those tips that is really worth assimilating into your cooking life.  Take the bacon and put it on a cookie sheet or broiler pan.  I like the broiler pan because the grease cooks into the bottom pan leaving nice crispy bacon on the top pan.  If you don't have a broiler pan then place a piece of parchment paper on your 1/2 sheet baking pan. 
Lay the bacon out and then bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes.  It actually takes the same amount of time to do it in the oven as it does to cook it anywhere else and it is less mess and you don't have to stand over it.  I like to flip my bacon half way through cooking just to ensure even cooking.  Try it, love will bloom!   The bacon comes out perfectly cooked.  It is nice and flat, not curled up and the grease cooks into the bottom as mentioned before.
Tip courtesy of the Rachel Ray Show

Grace is Not My Name

I am left handed and therefore always hurting myself.  You may wonder what being left handed has to do with it?  Well, nothing really.  It is just how I make myself feel better about the fact that I am not terribly graceful.  I have always aspired to be graceful, but it just comes out as a kerthunk! most of the time.
I am usually healing from a would of some sort, and I try really hard to stay out of the ER.  My husband appreciates it when I do too.  My lifetime of experience in the area of pain has given me a certain perspective and I rarely get upset about the ouches anymore.
My 12 year old son told me the other day that he has really gotten klutzy.  I just apologized and told him it is all my fault.  He thought I was joking and laughed and then saw my face and knew that life was going to require good health coverage so he better do well.
My latest injury involved tomatoes.  It is rather funny now that I think about it, but I am pretty sure it is the closest my husband has come to a heart attack in a while.  It do cause his ticker to beat rapidly from time to time.  And not because I am a super model.  I am laughing as I type.  It isn't nice to laugh but wow, you should have seen the look on his face.  This accident was a perfect foray into the Halloween Season!
I had been canning tomatoes all day and they had finally cooled off enough that I wanted to rinse the jars before putting them on the shelf.  I picked up two jars and headed to the sink.  It sounds like a long distance but really it is only about 3 or 4 steps.  I should have just held them in my hands, but no, I had them resting in my arms like a baby.  Just as I get to the sink to put them down, I realized it was stupid to carry them this way.  The larger jar clipped the sink and shattered in my hands as I was trying to set it down.  Tomatoes went everywhere.  It was like the jar exploded on impact.  There were tomatoes running down the counter and pooling on the floor.  I made a mess.
After getting upset that I had just broken a beloved canning jar, I realized I was bleeding on both of my hands.  Uh oh!  My 10 year son was sitting at the table and I calmly asked him to get his dad.  My kids don't mess around when they see I have hurt myself, it happens way too much.  He immediately ran upstairs and ordered his Dad downstairs, "Mom needs you Dad, now!".
I was nursing my wounds at this point and discovered I had little slices all over both hands.  The paper towel was covered in blood, not because of volume but all the tiny cuts everywhere.  My husband came downstairs with the what did you do now look on his face and then he went white.  I was starting to explain what happened when I noticed him turning white at what he thought was a puddle of blood on the floor at my feet.  Then he starts yelling.  "What did you do?!"  I, of course didn't know what he was so upset about.  I just had a few little cuts on my hands.  He starts working on me like I had hit an artery and then asked rather angrily, "Are those tomatoes!?".  He had noticed I just wasn't bleeding enough to justify that big of a puddle at my feet.  "Of course they are", I say.  Then it all came together for me.  I smiled at him and reassured him I was fine.
I had to apologize a lot that night for scaring him.  Next time I'll make sure I am carrying pickles!
I suppose I need to add a post about how to can tomatoes now!   It will have to wait until August when my tomatoes are ready.