Wrapping Up the End of the Year?

Everyone is doing all of these posts where they are reviewing everything they have done in the year, or the goals that they set for themselves.  I'm kind-of scared to go back and review what I said I want to do  ...  I know I have accomplished a lot, but it might not be what I planned, I guess.

I am sitting here, typing away on a new laptop, feeling very spoiled blessed.  I've been wanting a laptop for a while now and even though we could have afforded to purchase it at any point, my husband was wanting to wait until closer to the end of the year.  It wasn't even really a Christmas gift, either.

In the last 24 hours, I've managed to sew up a few small projects:  four pillowcases (one for the husband, and three to go to various other homes), and a pair of pajama pants for myself.  I've had the pattern and the fabric for quite some time now and just finally made the time to sew up the pants.  I used the Sweet Dreams pattern by Make It Perfect.  They came out fine (I know you can tell from the super flattering photo...).  They have a ribbon drawstring that can be inserted in the waistband, in addition to the elastic and I haven't done that yet.  The pattern recommends a 1" wide ribbon, but the buttonholes that you make for the ribbon are only 1/2" and I don't really get that.  I'll eventually put some ribbon or twill tape in...just haven't done it yet.  I don't quite like how wide the cuff trim is... Of course, I don't know that I want to go the minimal effort that it would take to lengthen the pants leg so that I can make a narrower cuff trim.  I just don't hate it that much, I suppose.

I just realized that I have another whole week off of work before I have to go back...that's a definite blessing.  The last couple weeks before break were mentally taxing and I'm grateful for the time off.  I am hoping to get quite a bit of sewing done the rest of the time off.

Oh!  I made some cinnamon rolls from scratch last night... ended up being up until 1:00 a.m. finishing them up (I'm almost never up that late anymore!).  They turned out really well! I will NOT tell you how many of them I ate today...  Anyway, I recommend the recipe.  

I

Oh Yes, I did....

...that's right, I made hamburger buns from scratch this evening:



I've just been waiting for the weather to cool down enough that I felt like turning on my oven.  These buns turned out great, but were not without some mishap on my part.  First of all, the recipe calls for "instant' yeast....but the front of the yeast packages say "Rapid Rise" not instant.  It took me a bit standing and pondering all of the yeast packages before I thought to check the back.

Then, I decided that I didn't want to mix these by hand so I decided to try the dough blade and my food processor....  I'm not sure what went wrong here, but they weren't rising...  So, I tossed those and just mixed up another batch by hand.  Well, I did the first part of the recipe with my regular mixed and then mixed in the second half of the flour with a spoon.   As you can see, they turned out very nicely. 

They taste delicious, too!  I actually put a grilled chicken breast on my bun tonight.  I can't wait until lunch tomorrow so that I can use one to make another sandwich for myself.  The bonus to making your own buns is that you know exactly what is in them, which I like.  I will definitely be making these a lot in the future.

Cheddar-Sriracha Swirl Bread

A little while ago, I had seen a recipe for this Cheddar-Sriracha Swirl Bread.  I saved the link because I knew that I wanted to try making it.

Yesterday was the day:

My bread didn't turn out as picture perfect as the bread in the recipe photo, but it still tastes pretty good!

Let me start by saying that I have never mixed any bread by hand before, so this was a new experience for me.  In all, I felt like it went well.  It seemed like it didn't take nearly as long as the recipe indicated that it would take for the bread to rise.  Maybe because it was a pretty warm day to begin with? 

It ended up being relatively easy, in my opinion, to make this bread.  Although, it was not a quick process.  The taste is great, but pretty spicy from the Sriracha.  I think this would bread would be great to use in making a turkey sandwich, or a roast beef sandwich if you are so inclined.  

I'm just proud that I was able to mix it all up by hand.

Bread

I finally managed to make some regular white bread yesterday.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did try making this bread earlier in the week (twice) and never got to the baking stage.  The first time, I forgot to add the cold water to the yeast/sugar/water mixture and so I just added it in later...and things got messy and so I just dumped it in the garbage.  Then, I went to mix again...and my yeast wouldn't foam...had to run to the store for more.  Next attempt, the dough was too sticky and I had put my flour away (and had dough all over my hands) and kept hollering for my husband but he was doing something else and apparently did not hear the urgency in my voice.  I finally gave up and threw it in the garbage, again.

I think in both instances I must have not counted my cups of flour correctly.  Yesterday, I did everything the same, just making sure to mark down the cups of flour as I dumped them.  The bread turned out perfectly!  Go figure.

On my last post, Tea Mouse left me a message to check out a bread recipe on her blog (or a link to a bread recipe.... Multiseed Bread.  It sounds delicious, but I'm not eating nuts right now so I can't try it.  I am a bit bummed about that.

Also, Deborah at Antiquity Oaks has a couple bread recipes up on her blog, too. 

The recipe I used just came from the book that was with my food processor.  The bread tastes great!  I made a couple slices into toast this morning and put some jelly on it.  Yummm!

I think that I will try a wheat bread next.  My grandfather always said, "The whiter the bread, the quicker you're dead."  A bid morbid, but there might be some general truth lurking behind that statement. 

French Bread

I have been thinking for a while that I would like to learn how to, or at least try, to make bread.  This week, I was inspired/reminded about this ambition by several posts by other bloggers:  Skippy at I Make Soap, and Deborah at Antiquity Oaks

I remembered that my new fancy pants food processor came with a dough blade and some recipes in the instruction manual.  I was going to the grocery store, anyway, so I just made sure I added on the missing ingredients to my list.

This is what I ended up with...it is supposed to be French bread.  I would have gone with regular bread, but I don't think that I have two loaf pans.

I guess I could have let it bake a bit longer so that it was a tiny bit more brown on top, but I don't think that will affect the taste at all.  I haven't tasted it yet because it is still cooling.  I'm thinking that the only reason I haven't had to shoo my husband away is because he is watching some wrestling program on pay-per-view.  I did have to chase the dog outside, though, so that is always a good sign.

Dozens and Dozens

Last night I baked dozens and dozens and dozens of these cookies (Monster Cookies).  I really mean that...I have six gallon size plastic bags full of these cookies...definitely more than 20 dozen. 

It's not like my husband and I need, or will even eat, this many cookies.  So I imagine you are wondering why I baked so many.  Why?   Do not laugh your head off when you read this because I understand the complete ridiculous irony of it all.  I was being lazy.  There, I said it.  The recipe I have is in a family generated cookbook. This recipe was submitted by one of my great aunts (I think she had 12 children), and I didn't feel like dividing it down to a half of a fourth of a recipe...mainly because it calls for things like 3 lbs. of peanut butter (instead of being listed in cups).  So, instead I mixed up a whole batch and spent the next 5 hours baking them.  Go ahead, shake your head at me and then laugh.

I really don't know where my head was!  I think I will freeze some of these and maybe even put some in the mail to my brothers. 

If only I would have just taken the time to google them, I'm sure that I could have found the same recipe somewhere online that was already cut down.