Simple Abundance

I started this book at the first of this year and am enjoying it for the most part. I tried reading once before but only made it through January. This time has been much different; I find my self wanting to read it daily and wanting to find the authentic me. The me that God wants me to be.

I did hit a stumbling for a few days when she talked about focusing back to when you were 10. She describes it as the happiest time for most children. A time when we are happy, innocent and just starting to assert ourselves. She says this is usually before we start trying to please others and are enjoying who we are. I kept picturing me with shorts, boots and a funky shirt and not caring about how my mom thought it looked. She was right in that respect but for me turning 10 was the turning point in my life. My mom made an announcement that would forever change her and our family, my parents divorced, we changed schools, I lost many of my friends and I never remember going back to church with my dad again other than when he remarried. For a couple of days those feelings all came rushing back to me and I felt so alone. I prayed and then suddenly it no longer seemed so overwhelming. I can not explain what happened but I just knew it was time to move on.

As awful as some of things that took place during that time were they did still help make me who I am. I often worry about people finding out all the details of my life but then almost as if God physically whispers in my ear I feel Him tell my heart it is OK, I love you and I can use you.

I look forward to continuing to this book, I am enjoying the journaling and the quotes and her assignments to do. I would encourage you if you ever want to take a closer look at who you are and want/need to love yourself more than this book would be a good starting place.

Funnel Cakes

When we first started homeschooling Sydney was in kindergarten, Ray in preschool and Vincent was a baby. The biggest thing we did from the very start was read and read a lot! To this day all three of my kids list reading as a hobby/pleasure!

I always knew I could not teach them everything, who can, but if I could give them a love for books and the ability to find what they needed they would be set.

Our favorite thing, or at least mine was unit studies. We started off using Five in a Row, next was Beyond five in a Row and then Sonlight which we still mix with Bob Jones for core subjects.

I avoided just reading stories. I tried to make them fun and include crafts, field trips and related foods when ever we could. For example when we read the story of Ping we went to the duck pond, when we read Madeline we studied symmetry and when we read Charlotte's Web we went to the State Fair of Texas and a few days later made funnel cakes.

I had not thought about that for years, that is until I was looking around on one of my favorite sites for a recipe and found Pioneer Woman's recipe for Funnel Cakes. These are easy and fun to make. They are a little messy to make and eat but that is part of the fun of them and you do not have to wait for a trip to the fair to enjoy them.

Think back to a happy event you shared with family and feel free to share it.

Inspiration

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there"

Will Rogers

A Loaf a Day: Day Seven, Amish Friendship Bread

I wanted the final day to be a special bread. One of the fun parts of having a blog are the friends you make through following and comments. Although I have not had this blog long I still think of each reader as a friend. So pull out the ingredients, make up a batch and share it will all your friends and be sure to think of me when you have a slice!

Blessings,
Margaret

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

Ingredients
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 cups white sugar, divided
3 cups milk

Directions
1.In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.

2.On days 2 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 9; stir only.

3.Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Amish Bread recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator, or begin the 10 day process over again (beginning with step 2).


Editor's Note Once you have made the starter, you will consider it Day One, and thus ignore step 1 in this recipe and proceed with step 2. You can also freeze this starter in 1 cup measures for later use. Frozen starter will take at least 3 hours at room temperature to thaw before using.

A Loaf a Day: Day 6 Bread Machine Pizza Dough

At our house we love our pizza! I use to spend $20-$25 every Friday night for 4 mediocre one topping pizza at the local pizza shop until one week I decided to make mine own. I was tired of never knowing for sure if was going to be good and we wanted more than just cheese and pepperoni. Now I wouldn't think of buying pizza. We get to use fresh ingredients and pile on what ever we want!

This pizza dough couldn't be easier to prepare. Just combine the ingredients in a bread machine and process as directed. The recipe makes enough dough for two 12-inch pizzas. Be sure to use fresh yeast

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (105° to 115°F)
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. active dry yeast

Directions:
In the bread pan of an electric bread machine, combine (in this order) the warm water, olive oil, salt, flour and yeast. Set the machine for Pizza Dough according to the manufacturer's instructions and process through the cycle.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Punch down the dough and divide in half. Form each half into a ball and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Roll out as directed in the pizza recipe.
Makes two 12-inch rounds.

If you have a little more time this is another great pizza recipe!

Pizza Margherita

Ingredients:
For the pizza dough:
1 Tbs. (1 package) active dry yeast
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. lukewarm water (105°F)
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 cup for
working
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
For the topping:
7 oz. mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
8 fresh plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped,
or canned plum tomatoes, drained and
chopped
1 handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
To make the pizza dough, in a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and let stand until slightly foamy on top, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the 2 3/4 cups flour and the salt and form into a mound. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture to the well. Using a fork and stirring in a circular motion, gradually pull the flour into the yeast mixture. Continue stirring until a dough forms.

Lightly flour a work surface with some of the 1/2 cup flour and transfer the dough to it. Using the heel of your hand, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball.

Brush a large bowl with the olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat an oven to 450°F. If using a baking stone or tiles, place in the oven now.

Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted with the remaining flour. Punch the dough down and, using your hand, begin to press it out gently into the desired shape. (If you want to make individual pizzas, divide the dough into four equal-size pieces and shape each one.) Place one hand in the center of the dough and, with the other hand, pull, lift and stretch the dough, gradually working your way all around the edge, until it is the desired thickness, about 1/4 inch thick for a crusty pizza base and 1/2 inch thick for a softer one. Flip the dough over from time to time as you work with it. (Or roll out the dough with a rolling pin.) The dough should be slightly thinner in the middle than at the edge. Lift the edge of the pizza to form a slight rim.

Transfer the dough to a pizza peel or baking sheet, cover with a cotton towel and let rise again until almost doubled in size, about 20 minutes.

Cover the dough with the cheese and then the tomatoes. Scatter the basil over the top. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle 3 Tbs. of the olive oil over the top. Transfer to the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 400°F and bake until the crust is golden, about 10 minutes more. Drizzle the remaining 1 Tbs. oil over the top and serve immediately.
Serves 4.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library Series

A Loaf a Day: Day Five, Amish White Bread

This bread is extremely easy and delicious. This can be made in a bread machine by simply putting the ingredients in and choosing the bread cycle or which ever cycle you use for regular bread. Enjoy!

Amish White Bread

Ingredients
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

Directions
1.In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

2.Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

3.Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

4.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

A Loaf a Day: Day Four White Bread

I am sorry I did not get one up yeasterday but I spent the day sewing and in the later evening we were having a bandwith war. The boys play online games and last night they got an expansion that come up and HAD to load it and try it out. Since the expansion is only yearly I yielded.

This bread recipe is what we use for sliced bread. It is tasty and can be made with wheat flour also or a combination of wheat and white.

Moms Basic Bread
BY Crystal Miller
Makes 3 loaves

3 cups warm water
2T yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
3 t. salt
9 cups flour

Let rise once for 1 hour. Punch down and shape into 3 loaves. Place in 3 greased loaf pans and let rise about 30 to 40 minutes. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes.

I will give the ‘by hand’ instructions first and then follow with any changes that need to be made if you are using a mixer.

First in a large bowl put your 3 cups of warm water. Without having to get the thermometer out to make sure your water is just the right temperature I will tell you how I gauge it. I get the water so that is a warmer than baby’s bath water. You want it to be a tad more than comfortably warm on your wrist. If your kitchen is cool then you can warm up you measuring cup first and even your bowl by running them under warm water to get them warm enough so when you put your water in there it does not cool the temp down. O.K. now you have your warm water in your bowl. Sprinkle your yeast and sugar in the bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes. It should get foamy and bubbly. If it does not then your yeast is not working. You can try again or get some new yeast. Old yeast sitting in a cupboard will eventually not work (that is open packages of yeast, sealed ones should be fine). After it has bubbled it is now time to add your oil and salt and begin to add your flour. At first you can mix with a large wooden spoon but soon as you add flour it will get much too thick for that. As soon as it can not be mixed with a spoon, dump it all out on a clean counter that has been dusted with flour. Keep adding flour and mixing and then kneading the dough. Kneading is the process that develops the gluten in the bread. You knead your dough by pushing the heels of your palms into the dough and then grabbing your dough and folding or pulling it forward and pushing with your hand again. You can rotate the position of your dough and continue the process. You will need to do this for about 12 to 15 minutes. If you do not your bread will not rise and be light and delicious. After your bread has been kneaded it is time to let it rise. Put a dishtowel over it and let sit for about 1 hour. After your hour is up you punch the down and knead it some more to get all the air bubbles out. Now it is time to cut the dough into 3 pieces and shape them into loaves. I don’t do anything really fancy for this. I simply roll and shape and make it look like a loaf. Kind of like playing with play dough :). Then put your dough in a greased loaf pan (I spray with non-stick cooking spray) and do this for the next 2 loaves. Then it needs to rise once again. This time you let it rise for 30 to 40 minutes. When the bread is almost done rising you can pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes.


Now if you have a mixer the process is a little easier. If you have a Kitchen Aid type mixer then you can proceed as stated above only using the dough hook for the mixer and letting the mixer do the kneading for you. You will need to let the machine knead the dough for about 7 to 10 minutes. I like to just leave the dough in the mixer and when the rise time is over then simply turn it back on to punch the dough down and continue on as above.

If you have a high powered mixer like a Bosch then the process gets easier. Simply put all ingredients in the bowl (start with about 7 cups of flour an add flour as needed until the dough cleans off the sides of the mixer). Knead on the setting 1 or 2 for 5 to 7 minutes and that is it. You can take the dough out and proceed to form loaves and let them rise and then bake. The reason is that the Bosch incorporates a lot of air into the mixing process and the additional rise time is not needed.