A HUGE list of projects!

Garden Update: Broccoli has been harvested, carrot seeds are finally sprouting, onions are going strong, and the beets are looking healthy!

It seems like there is always something that needs to be done around this house. The list is never ending.

• re-finish kitchen table chairs
• clean the backyard
• move the compost bins into the garden
• finish the garden fence
• weed the garden
• plant the garden

And the list goes on, and on, and on, and on.......

I have just begun the kitchen chair refinishing project last night and worked on weeding the garden yesterday afternoon. Baby steps right? Just put in the 4 tomato plants of the year yesterday and wouldn'chya know it it was cold and rainy last night. It happens every year we have a warm day early in March and I have an urge to get the garden started and the very next day after I plant ...... it either rains, snows, or gets below freezing! Bah!

So far the plants look like they have survived.... hopefully!

The Week of Slow Cooking

Garden update! The broccoli is almost ready to harvest and the onions are just starting to poke their green tops up!

I have decided that I am going to break out the trusty crock pot for dinners this week!

Also, I should mention that I don't use recipes very often, I am a from scratch cook. You know, a little of this and a little of that. So we'll see how far I get on actually using these recipes before I start using them as .... guidelines instead!

Here is the menu so far......

Monday: Chicken with Cashews http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/chicken/slow-cooker-chicken-with-cashews/
Jeff always orders this when we go to our favorite Restaurant, Papaya Bay. We had our first date there and he put the starched napkin on his head, I know.. I know... I still married him though!

Tuesday: Beef Stroganoff http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/beef/slow-cooker-beef-stroganoff/
Just sounds yummy!

Wednesday: Suggestions?!

Thursday: Jambalaya http://www.familycircle.com/recipes/slow-cooker/slow-cooker-chicken/?page=14
We have some good friends coming over that night for dinner and Jeff has been asking for this for months! We'll see how it turns out.

Friday: NO Cooking!! Woohoo, heading to Dan and Marys for dinner!

Bread Attempt #2!

Well, I attempted a second batch of bread this last Thursday and .....hooray! Success! The bread had some funny little air bubbles in the top but tasted wonderful!

Micah loves when I turn on the mixer, he always has to see what's inside. Which I think is part of the reason the bread had air bubbles! Micah insisted on being held right when I needed to take the bread out of the mixer so I finished the kneading process with one hand.....hmmm....

I think next time I will up the wheat flour ratio and add slightly less sugar. And perhaps we will end up with the perfect loaf of bread!

Tomorrow I should probably get started on the rest of the burp cloths and receiving blankets.

Church, lunch then sewing!!

Bread Baking : Try # 1 (here we go!)

I decided I wanted to make a batch of bread instead of buying bread this week. There was a simple recipe I found called Amish bread (I love all things Amish!). I even made it healthy by adding wheat flour for half the flour that was called for. Yay! I was so proud of myself....

While it was baking I even decided to go out to the sewing room and work on those burp cloths I have been wanting to get done. Perfect! Micah was napping and the bread was in the oven. Well, I thought I had everything going just right! Until ONE and a HALF hours later I came inside to get Micah up from his nap and realized the bread should have been out 45 mins. earlier. Woops! The innerds were good but the outside was hard as a brick.

I will attempt this recipe again and am determined to have a wonderfully fluffy loaf of bread inthe end! Wish me luck!