There was a line in a song from a few years back that said "If you wanna hear God laugh, tell him your plans."
I don't think that God was laughing this weekend, but he did get my attention.
My plan on Saturday, was to bake some more bread, experiment with some bagels, help Kat with some home work, monitor her room cleaning progress, and start cleaning my office/workshop. Instead, I spent about 6 hours in the emergency room. By the time I got home, I wasn't up to doing anything else.
I had been in the kitchen, gathering ingredients for bread, when I experienced a shooting pain across my upper back. I would call it the mother of all muscle spasms. It REALLY hurt! Almost immediately, I was also drenched in sweat. I was pretty sure these were some of the signs for heart attack in women. After debating with myself for a few minutes, I decided safe was better than sorry, and I certainly didn't want my daughter to find me on the kitchen floor.
So I called her into the living room, where I could sit down, I told her that I didn't want her to freak out, but I was going to call 911 because I thought I might be having a heart attack. I handed her my cell phone, and told her to call Grandma (my mom) and tell her what was going on. I called 911 on the house phone.
My mom happened to be on the phone with my sister, who is a nurse, when Katherine called her. My sister was on her way home from work and had just passed the road to my house. She turned around and came back. She asked me if I had any numbness, and I realized that I did have some in my tongue and lips.
Shortly after she arrived, the ambulance came, and the decision was made to take me to the ER. Almost six hours later, after an EKG, chest x-ray, CT scan, urinalysis and blood work, they decided I have pleurisy. That makes absolutely no sense to me, since I don't even have a cold, but ok, whatever. They gave me two scripts for pain/inflammation and told to follow up with my doctor. I'll see him on Thursday. I'll let you know what he says.
Needless to say, I haven't done any baking yet. Maybe tomorrow.
See Ya then,
Connie
Monday, January 20, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Friday with Food: Sugar, Sugar Everywhere, and Nothing Fit to Eat...Except Some Awesome Honey Whole Wheat Bread
“There is sugar in my Rice Chex!” I was pretty sure that Ed didn't mean the kind of sugar someone might spoon in. No, he was reading the ingredient list, and didn't like what he saw. Ed has become an avid label reader in just a few weeks. He had started looking at those things we already had in the house including his favorite cereal, Rice Chex. He has since switched to shredded wheat. It only has one ingredient: wheat.
I'm not going to go through the whole sugar thing in this post. I have some other things to talk about, but I will tell you just to read the ingredient list on food labels. You will be amazed at how often you will find sugar.
I did want to talk about our basic food plan, and some of my favorite food related websites.
No refined white or brown sugar. Natural sugars (coconut sugar, pure maple syrup, raw honey) in moderation. Stevia in moderation. All other sugar comes from fruit and veggies.
No white flour. Use whole wheat and experiment with other types of flour. I really like almond meal, but its expensive.
No white rice. Experiment with other grains. I like Quinoa. I grew some last summer, but never got it harvested.
Read the labels. If we can't pronounce it, we don't eat it. If it has sugar, we don't eat it. That includes corn syrup and of course, high fructose corn syrup.
So what do we do about all the things that we consider staples that aren't real food? We take one step at a time, and learn how to make real food replacements. More about that in a minute.
My favorite food related website is100 Days Of Real Food. For Lisa Leake and her family, a challenge to only eat real for food just a hundred days, turned to a whole new way of eating. She has a ton of information
I recently found this one. I found particularly interesting because most of these sites are maintained by moms. This one is a young dad, and I found his perspective refreshing.
Whole New Mom deals with a lot of special diet issues.
One of my favorite all round sites is this one: The Prairie Homestead. Jill writes about a little of everything to do with the homesteading life including great recipes using real food!
I've also started drinking green smoothies, and you can find out about them here. I don't do all the different recipes, just the basic idea. I have to get a little creative, because the ingredients can get pricey in a hurry. Anyway, I really like them.
Ok, back to making real food replacements for packaged staples. Remember last Monday, when I said I made some honey whole wheat bread?
Well, we are starting our real food replacements with bread. After spending a significant amount of time searching the bread aisle for something that really was as healthy as its label claimed, I made an announcement. I am just going to make our bread. I've made bread for years. As I've said before, its the one thing Grandma could teach me because my left-handedness didn't matter. However, most of my baking has used either white all purpose flour or unbleached flour. Time to learn something new.
I went back to 100 days and found this recipe for honey whole wheat bread. Lisa just gives the ingredients, because she uses a bread machine. That was ok, because I know enough about making bread to be able to figure out what to do.
Here is her ingredient list:
4 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups warm water
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons olive oil (or melted butter)
1 packet or 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast
Simply because I am used to doing it that way, I put the water, salt, honey, and olive oil in a 3 qt sauce pan and warmed them all up together. Then I let it cool back down to luke warm. Technically it should be about 105 degrees. Too hot and the yeast dies, too cold and it's sluggish and your bread won't rise properly.
Once it cooled, I added the yeast and enough flour to make the sponge. Basically, that means the batter loses its runny look, and looks more like, well, a sponge. I noticed I was having to add a lot of flour to achieve the sponge, compared to what I would have needed with white flour. When I did, I covered it with a dish towel and let it rise until doubled in size. Normally that takes at least 30 minutes, but usually it's more like an hour.
This was right at 30 minutes. Then I turned the dough out on a floured board to knead it. Kneading usually involves working in 1-2 more cups of flour into the dough while you fold and push the dough until it gets that “smooth and elastic” look and feel. Honestly, I don't know how much more flour I put in, because I couldn't believe it was still sticky, and kept thinking that just a little more should do the trick. I lost track after 8 cups. Next time I make it, I'll keep better track. It had nothing to do with the original recipe. It was just the adjustment for the different method. Eventually, it was ready to be formed into loaves, for a second rise.
This time I let it sit an hour. I used three loaf pans because that is what I normally use. Next time I will use two, because I want higher loaves that I can use for sandwiches. I put in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
It smelled wonderful! I sliced a piece off and spread on some butter. I was wonderful! I took some to Ed. “Oh this is good!” he said. Ok, I found our replacement for bread. However, Katherine wouldn't even try it. Its ok. She's like that with everything new. It just takes her some time.
This weekend, I”m going to make some more of this bread, and I'm going to work on bagels. I'll let you know how it turns out, and yes, I'll remember to take pictures!
Oh, speaking of pictures. I wanted to leave the bread out on the counter, so we could just slice some off when we need it. So, I used a dinner plate and a glass trifle bowl that I got at a yard sale for a dollar.
Instant cake plate!
Have a great weekend!
See ya Monday!
Connie
I'm not going to go through the whole sugar thing in this post. I have some other things to talk about, but I will tell you just to read the ingredient list on food labels. You will be amazed at how often you will find sugar.
I did want to talk about our basic food plan, and some of my favorite food related websites.
No refined white or brown sugar. Natural sugars (coconut sugar, pure maple syrup, raw honey) in moderation. Stevia in moderation. All other sugar comes from fruit and veggies.
No white flour. Use whole wheat and experiment with other types of flour. I really like almond meal, but its expensive.
No white rice. Experiment with other grains. I like Quinoa. I grew some last summer, but never got it harvested.
Read the labels. If we can't pronounce it, we don't eat it. If it has sugar, we don't eat it. That includes corn syrup and of course, high fructose corn syrup.
So what do we do about all the things that we consider staples that aren't real food? We take one step at a time, and learn how to make real food replacements. More about that in a minute.
My favorite food related website is100 Days Of Real Food. For Lisa Leake and her family, a challenge to only eat real for food just a hundred days, turned to a whole new way of eating. She has a ton of information
I recently found this one. I found particularly interesting because most of these sites are maintained by moms. This one is a young dad, and I found his perspective refreshing.
Whole New Mom deals with a lot of special diet issues.
One of my favorite all round sites is this one: The Prairie Homestead. Jill writes about a little of everything to do with the homesteading life including great recipes using real food!
I've also started drinking green smoothies, and you can find out about them here. I don't do all the different recipes, just the basic idea. I have to get a little creative, because the ingredients can get pricey in a hurry. Anyway, I really like them.
Ok, back to making real food replacements for packaged staples. Remember last Monday, when I said I made some honey whole wheat bread?
Well, we are starting our real food replacements with bread. After spending a significant amount of time searching the bread aisle for something that really was as healthy as its label claimed, I made an announcement. I am just going to make our bread. I've made bread for years. As I've said before, its the one thing Grandma could teach me because my left-handedness didn't matter. However, most of my baking has used either white all purpose flour or unbleached flour. Time to learn something new.
I went back to 100 days and found this recipe for honey whole wheat bread. Lisa just gives the ingredients, because she uses a bread machine. That was ok, because I know enough about making bread to be able to figure out what to do.
Here is her ingredient list:
4 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups warm water
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons olive oil (or melted butter)
1 packet or 2 ¼ teaspoons yeast
Simply because I am used to doing it that way, I put the water, salt, honey, and olive oil in a 3 qt sauce pan and warmed them all up together. Then I let it cool back down to luke warm. Technically it should be about 105 degrees. Too hot and the yeast dies, too cold and it's sluggish and your bread won't rise properly.
Once it cooled, I added the yeast and enough flour to make the sponge. Basically, that means the batter loses its runny look, and looks more like, well, a sponge. I noticed I was having to add a lot of flour to achieve the sponge, compared to what I would have needed with white flour. When I did, I covered it with a dish towel and let it rise until doubled in size. Normally that takes at least 30 minutes, but usually it's more like an hour.
This was right at 30 minutes. Then I turned the dough out on a floured board to knead it. Kneading usually involves working in 1-2 more cups of flour into the dough while you fold and push the dough until it gets that “smooth and elastic” look and feel. Honestly, I don't know how much more flour I put in, because I couldn't believe it was still sticky, and kept thinking that just a little more should do the trick. I lost track after 8 cups. Next time I make it, I'll keep better track. It had nothing to do with the original recipe. It was just the adjustment for the different method. Eventually, it was ready to be formed into loaves, for a second rise.
This time I let it sit an hour. I used three loaf pans because that is what I normally use. Next time I will use two, because I want higher loaves that I can use for sandwiches. I put in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
It smelled wonderful! I sliced a piece off and spread on some butter. I was wonderful! I took some to Ed. “Oh this is good!” he said. Ok, I found our replacement for bread. However, Katherine wouldn't even try it. Its ok. She's like that with everything new. It just takes her some time.
This weekend, I”m going to make some more of this bread, and I'm going to work on bagels. I'll let you know how it turns out, and yes, I'll remember to take pictures!
Oh, speaking of pictures. I wanted to leave the bread out on the counter, so we could just slice some off when we need it. So, I used a dinner plate and a glass trifle bowl that I got at a yard sale for a dollar.
Instant cake plate!
Have a great weekend!
See ya Monday!
Connie
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Repurposed Thursday: The Piano
Welcome to Repurpose Thursday!
I always wanted to learn to play the piano, but when I was growing up, we couldn't afford one, so I learned what I could here and there.
Somewhere around 1989, when I married my second husband, the wife of one of his friends told me something that changed my life...no not on a grand scale...but changed nonetheless. She had an old upright piano and she said “If you can move it, you can have it.” I don't remember all the details, but my husband got several of his army buddies to help him move the 500+ pound monster, and at the age of 26, for the first time in my life, I had a piano! I was ecstatic!
I have never learned to play well, probably because of my lack of focus, but I loved that piano. My oldest son took lessons for a few years, and Katherine has had a few lessons too. By the time my boys were grown, and Ed and I were together, the damper pedals were broken, so any playing was out of tune and muddy. I had already been told that the 100-year-old piano could not be fixed or tuned, and it was pretty much worthless, but I couldn't afford a new one, and I was seriously attached to it anyway. You all know how I am about throwing stuff away.
Last summer another friend made a similar offer. She had a smaller piano, probably from the 1940's that she kept in her book store. The problem was that the legs were unstable and she needed to be able to move it around. Did I want it? Absolutely!
Ed says, “so what are we going to do with the old one?” Repurpose it of course!
We did have to overcome a few obstacles that included getting a dolly to move the new piano from the store to the house, coordinating my sons to come and help, and getting the old piano out of the house.
I should mention here that Ed has nicknamed my youngest son, Kyle, “Bam Bam” after the Flintstones character. Kyle is our muscle man. He can move the old piano across the room by himself. If we had needed that, there wouldn't have been a problem. We didn't. We needed it moved out the front door, which is just barely wider than the piano. The angle has to be just right, or it isn't going.
It was hot that day.
Here is just a sample of the two hour ordeal to get the piano out the front door.
They finally got it outside, the new one in, and were ready to call it a day, but I wasn't . Over the next few hours, I did manage to get the two of the front pieces off: The one on the top that covered the keys, and the one on the bottom that covered the dampers.
For my first repurpose project, that was all I needed, along with a couple dozen old encyclopedias and text books. Our television, DVD player, etc. had all sat on top of the old piano. The new piano was too small, so I was going to need a make do entertainment center. Of course, its a temporary one, but I like it.
The trunk next to it, was another repurpose project. I got the old trunk from a flea market for about $7.00. It was pretty beat up looking, but it was sound. I painted the trim black, and used Mod Podge to cover it with old wallet sized pictures. I had tons from old school pictures and professional portraits. Its a great way to display a lot of photographs. Inside I have all my photo albums, baby books, and other family history treasures. Ed bolted some casters on a piece of plywood and sat the trunk on it. That way, we can move it easily.
As for the piano, Over the next few days, I got the keys and dampers out, but then the weather stopped cooperating and we had to put the deconstruction on hold. I'll tell you some more about it next week, and show you my second project from the piano.
See ya tomorrow,
Connie
I always wanted to learn to play the piano, but when I was growing up, we couldn't afford one, so I learned what I could here and there.
Somewhere around 1989, when I married my second husband, the wife of one of his friends told me something that changed my life...no not on a grand scale...but changed nonetheless. She had an old upright piano and she said “If you can move it, you can have it.” I don't remember all the details, but my husband got several of his army buddies to help him move the 500+ pound monster, and at the age of 26, for the first time in my life, I had a piano! I was ecstatic!
I have never learned to play well, probably because of my lack of focus, but I loved that piano. My oldest son took lessons for a few years, and Katherine has had a few lessons too. By the time my boys were grown, and Ed and I were together, the damper pedals were broken, so any playing was out of tune and muddy. I had already been told that the 100-year-old piano could not be fixed or tuned, and it was pretty much worthless, but I couldn't afford a new one, and I was seriously attached to it anyway. You all know how I am about throwing stuff away.
Last summer another friend made a similar offer. She had a smaller piano, probably from the 1940's that she kept in her book store. The problem was that the legs were unstable and she needed to be able to move it around. Did I want it? Absolutely!
Ed says, “so what are we going to do with the old one?” Repurpose it of course!
We did have to overcome a few obstacles that included getting a dolly to move the new piano from the store to the house, coordinating my sons to come and help, and getting the old piano out of the house.
I should mention here that Ed has nicknamed my youngest son, Kyle, “Bam Bam” after the Flintstones character. Kyle is our muscle man. He can move the old piano across the room by himself. If we had needed that, there wouldn't have been a problem. We didn't. We needed it moved out the front door, which is just barely wider than the piano. The angle has to be just right, or it isn't going.
It was hot that day.
Here is just a sample of the two hour ordeal to get the piano out the front door.
They finally got it outside, the new one in, and were ready to call it a day, but I wasn't . Over the next few hours, I did manage to get the two of the front pieces off: The one on the top that covered the keys, and the one on the bottom that covered the dampers.
For my first repurpose project, that was all I needed, along with a couple dozen old encyclopedias and text books. Our television, DVD player, etc. had all sat on top of the old piano. The new piano was too small, so I was going to need a make do entertainment center. Of course, its a temporary one, but I like it.
The trunk next to it, was another repurpose project. I got the old trunk from a flea market for about $7.00. It was pretty beat up looking, but it was sound. I painted the trim black, and used Mod Podge to cover it with old wallet sized pictures. I had tons from old school pictures and professional portraits. Its a great way to display a lot of photographs. Inside I have all my photo albums, baby books, and other family history treasures. Ed bolted some casters on a piece of plywood and sat the trunk on it. That way, we can move it easily.
As for the piano, Over the next few days, I got the keys and dampers out, but then the weather stopped cooperating and we had to put the deconstruction on hold. I'll tell you some more about it next week, and show you my second project from the piano.
See ya tomorrow,
Connie
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