Lorien is finally contributing something!!

For those of us who, like myself, got a little over excited about the pantry secrets bread thing, and are now a bit dissapointed in the fruits of your labors; may I present a new recipe for bread that is soft, sliceable, and non-crumbly.

From: Allrecipes.com

Honey Wheat Bread

INGREDIENTS:
1 .25 oz package rapid rise yeast ( I used plain old active yeast and it works fine)
1 tsp white sugar
1/2 c warm water(110 degrees F)
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
1/4 c water
1/4 c melted shortening
1/4 c honey
2 tsp salt
2 c whole wheat flour
3 c bread flour
2 Tb butter

1- Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 c warm water

2- Combine milk, 1/4 c water, shortening, honey, salt and wheat flour in mixer. Mix in yeast mixture, and let rest 15 min. Add white flour, process until dough forms a ball. knead in bowl or by hand 10 minutes. Place dough in a buttered ( or sprayed w/ oil) bowl, turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise for 45 minutes, or until almost doubled.

3- Punch down, and divide dough in half. Roll out each half, and pound out the bubbles. (I didn't need to do this, as I had no bubbles, maybe due to the yeast I used). Form loaves, place in buttered or greased 9x5 inch bread pans. Butter the tops of dough, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm area until doubled; second rise should take about 30 minutes.

4- Place a small pan of water on the bottom shelf of the oven.PREHEAT TO 375.

5- Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until tops are dark golden brown. Slice when cool.

Favorite Toddler Lunches

What is your favorite thing to do at lunch for the wee ones?

Apple Crisp

I made this today and it was so yummy I had to share.

INGREDIENTS
10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
nutmeg
sprinkle of water
sprinkle of sugar; (use more with granny smiths)

2 cup quick-cooking oats
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).
2. Sprinkle the apples with the cinnamon, sugar, flour and nutmeg
3. Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda together. Cut the butter coarsely in. Put half of mixture in bottom of 9x13 inch pan.
4. Place the sliced apples on top and spritz with some water (depending on how wet/dry you want it) and put remaining mixture evenly over the apples.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45-60 minutes.

You can half the second mixture if you only want it on top. But that's my favorite part. And of course its great with ice cream. I also liked it cold. (the crisp, not the ice cream although that's best cold, too. I digress)

Zucchini Recipes

While my garden didn't actually produce any zucchini this year, I know lots of gardens did produce zucchini in abundance. What is your favorite soup, casserole, side dish and/or dessert recipe that uses zucchini? Click here for a FABULOUS Zucchini brownie recipe posted by my friend Melanie.

Help.

Does anyone have any good ideas for dinners to have while I'm packing everything up. Stuff that I can freeze or not use tons of pots & pans and goes with plastic/paper stuff. Oh yeah, the cheaper, the better, too. Anyone?

3 Summer Dinners

So, it's almost summertime. It's hot outside. I don't want to turn on the oven. I've been playing all day. So I need something easy, too. Let's post 3 meals that we prefer to eat on days like this!

Menu Planning

So do you plan a menu? Do you just make food with what you have in the house? How often do you go shopping? Do you eat the same thing more than once a week?

This is all part of my food ADD, but I have created a way to plan a one month menu without repeating anything. And some may say this is food OCD, but I'll share it anyway.

One day, when I didn't feel like cleaning, but I wanted to get organized (see my other blog), I wrote down every meal that my family likes on separate note cards. I also wrote down all the ingredients I needed for that meal. Then in the upper right and left-hand corners I wrote down what type of meat and how long it took to make. Then I organized my week into different meal categories: Sun-Crockpot/Fancy meals, Mon-Sandwiches , Tues-Non-meat, Wed-Casseroles, Thurs-Mexican, Fri-Winners, Sat-Soups/Dad. I have my cards separated into those categories now. So when its time to plan I pick out 4 sunday cards, then 4 monday, etc. I arrange them so I can use leftovers of things like beans for our cafe rio salad. I also have a basic grocery list laid out in front of me, too.

It has taken all of the pain out of coming up with something to eat every 2 weeks. I post the menu for everyone to see. Now there's less complaining when they see something they don't want, because they know something they like is coming up soon. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

So what are your secrets?