Bread, Cookies & Cake, Oh My

Oh the weather outside is frightful... Um, yeah. 90 degrees in the middle of November? I'd say that's pretty freakin' scary.

But... last week it was a cool as a cucumber 74 degrees. Brrrr! Laugh if you must, all of my friends who are watching actual leaves change color instead of putting out faux fall foliage as I am forced to do. But, if you live in Arizona as I am blessed to do, you know anything below 80 degrees in November could qualify as a true miracle of God. And, as miraces are not to be wasted, last week I donned my apron, made just for me by my bestie in Texas, and took to the kitchen for some much anticipated baking.

The firs thing I made, by request from E, were snickerdoodles. Come to think of it, everything I've made lately has been by request from E. Hmmm... good thing I'm still head over heels for this guy.

E came to discover he liked snickerdoodles when he tried one just to be nice to his wife who had labored in the kitchen all day doing some holiday baking a few years ago. For years he claimed he was not a sugar cookie fan and the snickerdoodle was just a dressed up version of the same. If you are a snickerdoodle fan, you know what a grave error of assumption he made. Now, when I bake them, he enjoys one every morning with his coffee. If you have not had a snickerdoodle, um, why? Try one. You will be hooked, especially if you use this recipe adapted from the queen of holiday baking, Martha Stewart. By the way, these are the perfect accompaniment to my favorite fall tradition, the pumpkin spice latte.

      All you need to make these yummy little treats. In fact, you don't even need the baking soda. I know, prop picture fail. Am I lazy since I didn't reshoot the picture?

    Two of my favorite baking tools: my jadite mixing bowl and sifter. The sifter was my grandmothers and the one I have used since I was a young girl. I love thinking of her everytime I use it. Sifting the flour is key in this recipe! I know it's one extra step, but the end result is so worth the effort.

      Mix the dough until it is very light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. This is key for a fluffy cookie as opposed to a very flat cookie. But, I can tell you from experience, a flat cookie still tastes pretty darn good! 

    Also, I pop the dough in the freezer while I prepare the cinnamon sugar. It's easier to roll slightly chilled. 

     The cinnamon / sugar mix. Play with the ratio if you want. After trial and error, I found my family definitely prefers more sugar than cinnamon. 

    It takes longer, but I only bake 8 at a time and I don't double up on trays in the oven. I find I get a more even bake and the cookies have room to spread out a little. Don't we all need our space?

    See? They're super fluffy and oh so soft. Make sure to eat one while they're still warm, preferably with a cup of coffee. That's when they're best and hey, after all, you deserve it!

Snickerdoodles

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar (for the dough)

2 tablespoons sugar (for the cinnamon sugar coating)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Tip: Spray your baking sheet with a little cooking spray first to help the parchment paper adhere better to the tray. 

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and mix until just combined.

4. With speed set to low, gradualy mix in the flour mixture. Tip: put the dough in the freezer now while you prepare the cinnamon sugar. Chilled dough is much easier to work with.

5. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Roll the dough into 2 inch balls. Roll each ball of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on the baking sheet about 3 inches apart.

6. Bake about 10-12 minutes. I have a gas oven and found that my cooking time is reduced to 10 minutes. Depending on your oven, your time may be a little longer. Just watch them. When the edges are golden, so are you. Cool on a wire rack.

     Yummo - my new favorite breakfast. Homemade bread and butter. Oh baby. 

Next up in my baking bonanza could be my new favorite recipe for it's ease and the amazing results you get from such little effort. Homemade bread, using only 4 ingredients, none of which include dairy or sugar and, the best part, no kneading. Seriously. I was skeptical too, but I am a convert now. In fact the whole family loves this bread. If you are a traditionalist who needs the bread to be in a pretty loaf shape, this may not be for you. But, if you are a rule breaker like me, have a go. I think you will be delightfully surprised.

Super Simple Bread

Combine in a large mixing bowl the following: 4 cups bread (high gluten) flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast, 2 1/2 teaspoons salt. Slowly add cool water, about 2 1/2 to 3 cups. Add it slowly and work it in with your hands until the ingredients have come togther. The dough should be sticky and moist, but not dripping wet. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise 8-10 hours, or overnight.

After the first rise, remove the dough from the bowl and fold it over just a couple of times until it forms sort of a ball. I promise, that's all the kneading there is to do! Place the dough, seam side down, on a smooth, cotton towel sprinkled generously with flour. Do not use a terry cloth towel. A linen napkin will work as well. Fold the corners up over the dough and let it rise again for about 1 1/2 hours.

      Make sure to get enough flour on the towel so your bread doesn't stick. I'm pretty sure 

      this is one of the best gifts I've ever unwrapped!

At the one hour point on the second rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a dutch oven or large pot with a lid in the oven as it preheats. You want the oven and pot very hot when it's baking time.

After the second rise, carefully place the bread in your preheated pot. You may need to shake the pot a little bit to help the bread even out and settle. 

     I wish I had a legit Dutch oven, but I don't. However, my stainless steel pot works just fine.

Bake covered for 40 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking another 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. 


Now, some people save carrot cake for the spring, and more specifically for Easter. Not sure why, but for us, carrot cake has always been a autumny recipe. Yes, before the grammar police, a.k.a. E, start firing off comments, I know the correct word is autumnal. But, I have a rule. Simply add a 'y' to any word and it become an adjective. Hence. autumny. So, try my carrot cake. It may be just the fally recipe for which you've been searching.

     My sweet family ate this carrot cake so fast after I made it I a) didn't get a picture of the complete cake, and b) was barely able to get this slightly blurred pick before my girlies had dessert. 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. Grate carrots until you have about 3 cups. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together 4 eggs, 1 1/4 cups oil, 2 cups white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat until doubled in volume and very pale in color. Mix in 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons each baking soda & baking powder, 1/2 teasponn salt and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in 1 cup finely chopped pecans. Pour into prepared pan. Hint: If the batter looks kinda gross and nothing like anything you'd ever put in your mouth... yay! You're on the right track!
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. To me, it sort of resembles a giant oatmeal cookie when it is finished baking. 
5. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup softened butter, 8 oz cream cheese (one block), about 4 cups confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake. Enjoy!

That concludes this week's carb celebration. I hope your autumn is in full, fiery red and orange, leaf falling, apple picking swing. May it be cold enough to have a fire and snuggle, yet mild enough to get out and enjoy this most wonderful of seasons. 

Make Way For Ducklings

 Yay! Spring has finally sprung around our place. In fact, we may have skipped spring and gone traight from winter into summer. But, we're not complaining!  After snow in April and freezing temps in May, we are welcoming the sunshine and mild weather with thankful hearts and open arms. While we continue to pray for rain, we are most grateful for God's provision of these warm, beautiful days so that we may get some work done outside. 

I am so excited that our garden is finally, at last (after a couple of failed attempts) underway. In fact, not only is it underway, we actually have sprouts. We look forward to a harvest of corn, squash, beans, peppers, cucumber and lettuce. Not to mention, our herbs we started in containers are doing well. We planted basil, rosemary and, our favorite, cilantro. 

     Our little patch of land that would become the garden. 

      Building the planter box. We used three 1 x 12 planks and built a 12 x 6 box. And by "we"

      I, of course, mean Erik. 

    See? I did help some. 

    The completed box before we filled it with soil and compost.

    This is a victory garden indeed as we definitely felt victorious after filling it with 5 truckloads

    of soil and compost. We had the help of some awesome friends who not only picked the dirt up

    in their truck but helped to fill the box as well. 

    Corn

     Summer Squash

     Cilantro. Yum!!

And, there is an unexpected addition to our spring line up: five sweet, Blue Swedish ducks, courtesy of some generous friends who gave us some from their brood. The ducks are cute and fun, and most important, they are dearly loved by all of us. Well, almost all of us love the ducks. Bella the Beagle is still warming to them. We are excited to have eggs in about 4 months and thrilled to up our pet total from one to six. And, in response to the question we seem to get most often: no, we will not be¨ eating these ducks. We've named them, how could we eat them? The girls named them (until we figure out for sure our male to female ratio): Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna. Fitting, as they are quite magical little creatures if I do say so myself.

Of course, our ducks needed a home. I had to smile and giggle as Erik, who merely tolerated our decision to get the ducks, attempted to use some scrap pallets to build their home. When the pallets truned out to be a bit more worn than we anticipated, he decided it just wouldn't do for our little feathered friends. He went and bought all new wood and wire and built them a duck mansion.  He was even patient enough to let the girls get in on the fun.  They loved helping their daddy and learning to use his new tools. 

     Hahahaha - If you know my girls, you know why this is indeed picture perfect!

    They had so much fun helping daddy.

     Eventually we will add an upper shelf with a ramp for a nesting area. But the ducks already

     love their new digs.

So, what to do with all that pallet wood we collected for the ducks? Erik, determined to not let it go to waste, tackled a few other honey-do projects. How blessed am I that it brings him joy to make me things? Here are a few of the projects he completed:

 A pallet tray for my patio table.

    Jilly made this for me for Mother's Day.                                   

    A shelf for my kitchen to hold some of my dry goods. This is such a great storage solution

    in our little kitchen. I painted the rims of the mason jars a mint color and the top of each is painted in chalkboard paint and labeled with the contents.

     My Valentine's Day present from my love. 

Oh, and the birdcage? I found that in our alley dumpster when we were clearing out some debris from the garden. Score! A fresh coat of light blue paint and it makes quite a cute addition to our cozy living room. 

I can't look around my little backyard farm or home and not see signs of new life, restoration and growth. These are such lovely reminders of the work Christ is doing in my heart daily. I hope your summer is off to a blessed start and continues to be full of the joys and delights that only come in this sunniest of seasons. 

In Christ, 

The Good Life (More or Less)

You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7:16

Truth: I am afraid to claim and create the life I desire. I, like most of us have an idea in my head of perhaps not the perfect life, but one which I think would bring me happiness, peace and joy. Is that how we know it is the life to which God has called us? I know God never promises happiness, He promises Holiness when we choose to follow Him. But if I shall know them by their fruits and this dream, this idea, makes me feel peace and joy, and those are certainly of the Holy Spirit, perhaps this dream is a worthwhile pursuit.

The potential of life in the small of her hand.


For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10

If this imagined life seems so lovely, and my dream is within my grasp, of what am I so afraid? The fear comes from letting go of all the dreams and goals I think I am supposed to be chasing. Right? The dreams of this world, i.e. money, status, beauty, success, etc. I am afraid to let go of them because I worry that I am giving up, throwing in the towel, and moreover, that that is exactly what others will think of me. So in my vain attempt to keep everybody pleased with and liking me, I chase dreams I think will make other people happy. Sadly, "other people" is really just a euphemism for "the world."

In church a couple of weeks ago we sang "Arms Open Wide." I stood that Sunday, with outstretched arms and sang the lyrics "I am Yours and You are mine." But my heart hurt for I knew I was being disingenuous at best and a flat out liar at worst. I do want to totally belong to Christ, but I cannot do so with with part of my heart still striving for selfish ambitions. The real truth is not that I fear what others think, but that I don't trust God. I operate under the misguided fear that when I release my clenched fists, my tight grip on the control I so desperately want to maintain, that God will fail me, I will miss out on something or fail to live up to standards nobody has imposed on me but me. I live my life by a list of do and don't rules nailed to a board in my mind. The consequence for breaking these rules is a brutal, endless round of self deprecation.

Coaxing new life to reach for the light and thrive.



and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 1 Thessalonians 4:11

The beautiful irony of all this is that the crux of this dream I'm afraid to live is a letting go, a surrender, a deep exhale. What is so scary about that? What I crave most is a simple life. Simplicity, at it's finest, provides for a delightfully, whimsical, joyous life. It is not a life void of struggle or heartbreak. It is not a life without tears or sadness. Rather, a simple life is one in which, when trials and problems arise, the things that really matter rise higher and the true source of our joy gently guides us. It is a life where we keep our eyes on the priorities of the day and our minds off tomorrow. This is the life I want. This is the life I seek to create for myself and my family. Simplicity.

On a few rare occasions, for maybe a day or two at a time, I dared to surrender and seek the simple life I want to live. My quest for the simple has led me to the more and less of life. More of the cooking, crafting, and writing I love; Less of the selfish ambitions, the have to's and the time wasted on fruitless comparisons. In my home, simple means less boxed food and more real cooking; less boxed entertainment and more real living. I have found I am happiest when I opt out of the pre-manufactured, processed, life. We live in a world that sells us "the just add water" lifestyle and we buy it up in droves. Want to be entertained? Hit this button and turn this on. Want to lose weight? Get on this machine and eat this powder. Miss your friend? Like their status and send a text. Crave fame or status? Buy this star's clothing label, drive this car and for goodness sake, get a bigger house.





Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2

Man, I never realized how exhausting it is to constantly worry about me: How do I look? Am I happy? What do I want? I also never realized the full extent of the joy a life lived focusing on others and their happiness and comfort could bring. I am coming out of a season of my life wherein I was over committed, away from my family too much, worried and anxious. It was the antithesis of the life I crave. Thankfully many of those obligations and duties have come to their natural conclusion and I am entering a season wherein I have a bit more time and a bit more freedom. I cannot think of a better time than spring to imagine a new life and dare to live the same. So this is my challenge (my goal?) for myself: to live simply and live surrendered. I know that sounds broad and I will no doubt be writing and posting about the specifics of this endeavor. And, although I want this to become a life long endeavor, I am going to start with a 30 day challenge so that I am prompted to notice measurable changes and stay acutely aware of seeking the simple life each day. Oh my, I feel unburdened and alive in a way I have not previously. I have a feeling my days will not be less busy, but they are bound to be more full.

Hmmm... Have I found the good life?

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Titus 2:11-14

We were handed some lemons. We made lemonade. Must do more of that.