Amish White Bread

 I grew up in Altadena, CA. I also used to make a lot of bread.  So when a site I follow on Facebook, What's Up In Altadena, posted a bread recipe, I decided to try it.

It was easy and used my Kitchen Aid mixer. I have always enjoyed the process of kneading bread, but this recipe used my dough hook. I have never used it!  Plus, I am now dealing with carpal tunnel problems, so saving my hands seemed like a good idea.

Amish White Bread

2 cups warm water, about 110-120 °

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast (2 packets of the 3)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

6 cups flour 

Place the sugar and water in the bowl of your mixer.  Stir to mix and then sprinkle the yeast on top. 

Let it dissolve 5-15 minutes.

This is called the bloom.

Add the salt, oil and half the flour.  Mix slowly to incorporate.

 Then add the remaining flour, but don't mix. Replace the mixing paddle with the dough hook and mix slowly until the dough ball is pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

Sprinkle a bit of flour on the very clean counter and knead a few times.

Drizzle about 2 Tablespoons oil in a large mixing bowl and smear it all around and up the sides. Place the dough ball in the prepared bowl and flip it a few times to get it coated in oil. Cover with cling wrapp and place in a warm, draft free area until it doubles in size.  Check in about 1 hour.  I set a timer on my phone as I tend to get involved in projects and forget to look.

Remove the cover and place it upside down to use later  Spray two bread pans with Pam.

Punch the dough down and lay it out on a surface sprinkled with flour.  Cut it in half.  

Knead the ball to get rid of air bubbles.  Roll it out into a rectangle.  

Pinch any remaining air bubbles.  Roll it up tightly from the long side. 

Pinch the seam closed.  

Pinch the ends closed and fold over to make it a bit smaller than the size of the bread pan.  

Pinch the seams. Place in the prepared pan and repeat with the second half.

Place in a warm spot and cover the pans with the saved cling wrap. Let rise until doubled, about 30-50 minutes. Mine took about 40 minutes.  Set a timer so it doesn't rise too much.  Pre-heat the oven to 350°.

Place in the  center of the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes.

Pull out and brush the tops with melted butter.  Let cool 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.  

Let cool before you cut into it. This could be the hardest part.  If you cut too soon it will smush together.  

This makes a very nice sandwich bread.  But it is especially nice with a smear of softened butter.

Elephant Baby Quilt

 I need to make a baby quilt for our granddaughter, Cecilia. I found a cute pattern with elephants and flower pots on Etsy. The pattern was for a full size quilt. I want a baby quilt so I decided to only use a few of the elephants and flower pots. But the flower pot squares were too small to make the quilt work. 

   

I re-sized the flower pot squares making them the same size as the elephant squares.  Then I had to fill the bare spots in them.  

I have a few fabrics from other projects with cute bugs. 

I have cartoon bugs and some bees, ladybugs, and dragonflies. I added these to the squares. I even added a few that escaped from the squares and flew around the border fabric.

When I started quilting I realized I should have kept more fabric around the tiny bugs to make for easier quilting. I have no idea how long they will last with a crawling baby and many washes.  But the bigger, cartoon bugs should last.

    

The back of the quilt is a flannel with a lot of cute elephants.  I prefer flannel on quilt backs if I can find one I like. It makes them feel cozier.

    

I like the quilt and hope Cecilia does, too.

Felt Wall for Craft Room

 I having been reading about felt walls in sewing rooms.  It is a place to put up the quilt squares as you make them to arrange or see where you are going. 

I found these peel and stick felt tiles. I was worried about how to get them off the wall, but I realized this is my craft room. And whenever we sell, it will be the next owner’s problem to remove it if they don’t like them!

I like the way they look.

Butter Beef

 I get emails from Allrecipes.  You should, too!  A recent one was for Butter Beef.  I tried it because it was super easy and I could use a Crockpot. There are only three ingredients.

Butter Beef

2-3 pounds stew meat

1/2 cup butter (one stick)

1 packet Lipton soup mix

I found that stew meat is way more expensive than just buying some top sirloin and cutting it myself.  I also used two pounds as there is only two of us. 

Cut the meat into bite size pieces and place in the Crockpot. If you bought stew meat,  just dump it in from the package. 

Place the butter on top of the meat and sprinkle the soup mix on top. 

Cook for 8 hours on LOW or 4-5 hours on HIGH.  Stir a couple of times while it is cooking.

Serve the Butter Beef over egg noodles or rice.  I used rice. Make sure you get some of the sauce to drizzle over the rice or noodles.

It was delicious.   

Butter Beef Burrito

1 very large or 2 medium Russet potatoes, cut into bite size pieces

1 medium onion. I used a sweet onion

salt and pepper to taste

reserved Butter Beef 

sour cream

salsa

Large flour tortilla

I knew I would have a lot more beef than we could eat at one meal, so I planned on using the rest in some burritos. 

 

Cut the potato into cubes, place in a saucepan and cover with water.  Boil for a few minutes.  While you are waiting for the water to boil, cut up the onion.  Heat a large fry pan over medium. Add a slab of butter and the onions.  

Drain the potatoes and add to the onions.  Add salt and pepper to taste. (I boil the potatoes for a bit to shorten the frying time. ) After the potatoes are browned, add some of the Butter Beef.  Cook until warmed through.

Smear the sour cream on a warmed tortilla. Top with the potato/butter beef mixture and add salsa. 

Fold the sides over the mixture and roll up the burrito.

After the burrito meal we STILL had Butter Beef and fried potatoes. 

I chopped them into smaller pieces and heated in a fry pan.  

I cooked two eggs over easy in another pan and served the whole shebang on toast. 

 

Meal three with one batch of Butter Beef. A win for me!

Jumbo Breakfast Cookies

 I get daily emails from Allrecipes and some of them are great.  I made these cookies with some minor modifications.  The comments are useful to get ideas for changes.

Jumbo Breakfast Cookies

   

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup milk

2 T vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups of a mixture of Craisins, chopped peanuts and chocolate chips

4 cups Cheerios

Preheat the oven to 375°.  I used Silpat sheets on a baking sheet, but parchment paper would do great.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the peanut butter and keep beating. I use a Kitchen Aid mixer and then I can get other things ready while it beats. 

In a medium bowl stir the flour salt and baking powder.

Add in the sugars, eggs and vanilla to the mixing bowl.  Beat until fully incorporated.

Stop the mixer and add in the flour.  Start it up slowly them mix.  Add in the oats. Then place whatever combination of nuts and chips you choose in and incorporate them. 

I slightly chopped the peanuts and Craisins.

Remove the mixing bowl and hand stir in the Cheerios.   

Use the largest cookie scoop, about 1/3 cup and place 6 on a cookie sheet, leaving spaces for the dough to spread.  

   

Use a spatula to slightly flatten the cookie to about 1 inch tall.

   

Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges start to turn brown.  Do not remove to a cooling rack for 5 minutes or they will fall apart.  

   

I made 18 of the jumbo cookies and then I made a dozen using the mid sized cookie scoop. I only baked them for 8 minutes.

Because I added a bunch of different treats, each bite was a bit different. And the smaller ones were also unique.  They were almost like a trail mix cookie!  If you don't like the Cheerios in the cookie you can add in Rice Krispies instead or even the flavored Cheerios.   

I imagine these would be great to grab on the way out the door if you don't have time for a sit down breakfast!

Pink Baby Afghan

My daughter is pregnant with a baby girl.  I make all my grandkids an afghan. 

   

I made a pink one with a pattern I found on Etsy.  I like how it urned out.  But for the first time I bought some blocking squares to see if that made it look different.

In order to block a knitted item, you need to soak it. I used lukewarm water.  After about 15 minutes, I gently squeezed out the water.  I was careful to not twist or wring.   

I placed the wet afghan on a large towel and rolled it up.  Then I squeezed along the length to get out even more water.  

I placed the blocking squares on a large table and gently straightened the afghan.  I used the blocking pins to hold the afghan in an even rectangle and left it to dry.  

I like that there are no uneven spots or curled edges. 

    

Now I just need to wait for that baby.