Delicious Crusty Bread

 I know I have mentioned more than once about my family being bread snobs.  I believe they were heavily influenced by their grandfather.  My Dad used to bring crusty French Bread to our house.  My children devoured the bread within hours.   My Dad frequented a local bakery, so when we visited their house for lunch, he always had the best sliced bread.  My children would make a sandwich and have a slice of bread on the side.  

I found this recipe here and thought I would give it a try.  Any bread I make has to be approved by the board (my family).  This bread passed with flying colors with it's crunchy crust.  I will definitely be making this bread again.

Here's the recipe:

Delicious Crusty Bread

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water*

2 tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

3 cups flour (plus extra for dusting)

1 tsp salt

directions:

In bowl, combine water, sugar and yeast.  Allow to proof.

Add flour and salt and knead for 5 minutes.  Dough should be slightly sticky (not wet).  If dough is wet, add 1-2 TBSP flour and knead.

Roll dough into ball.  Dust with flour (you want the dough to be well covered).  Place in bowl and cover with damp tea towel.  Let rise for 1 hour (or until doubled in size).

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place dutch oven with lid into the oven to preheat.

When dough has doubled, turn out onto floured surface.  Fold edges into the center of dough and place into floured bowl, seam side down.  Dust with more flour and cover with teal towel.  Let rise for 30 minutes.

Carefully move dough to dutch oven, dust with a little flour and cover with lid.  

Bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove lid and bake for another 10-15 minutes until bread is golden brown.

Remove bread from oven and let cool on wire rack for 20-30 minutes before slicing and serving.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*water should be warm to the touch, not scalding hot.

*This bread lasted less than a day in our house.

*Store in a paper bag to keep the crust crunchy.

Enjoy!

Date Night

 The kids are finally all out of the house.

We didn't have to secure a baby sitter.

We didn't have to set up a play date for a child or children.

We are now able to go out to dinner together and enjoy a nice meal in peace.  Relax, unwind and have fun.

Our governor has put a ban on indoor dining services at restaurants.

(This is where you hear the record scratch)

I guess there is always take out.

Purse

 As I was trying to wrangle the dogs into their jail cell  the side yard, I snagged my purse on one of fence wires.  My beloved purse is starting to show signs of wear.  I think it might be time to start the search for a new purse.  

If you need a little background about my relationship with purses, click here, here, here, here.   

I have a feeling this search is going to take awhile.  Your prayers are much needed and appreciated during this difficult and emotional time.

The Great Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pumpkins

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Spice and everything nice

Have you tried making your own pumpkin puree?  I use the crockpot method.  It's pretty simple and there is nothing like fresh pumpkin puree in your recipes. 

I had a taste for pumpkin recipes and thought I would give these a try.  I made these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins and they disappeared quickly.  Luckily I was able to try a muffin.  I will be making a second batch soon and hope I am able to grab a muffin or two before they disappear.  Wish me luck! 

Here's the recipe:

The Great Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

ingredients:

1 2/3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup water

directions:

Oven 350F and grease muffin pan.

In bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.  Set aside.

In separate large bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add pumpkin.

Alternately add dry ingredients and water to bowl, ending with dry ingredients.  Blend well.

Stir in chocolate chips.  Fill muffin cups.  Cook for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Let muffins cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * *

I used my pumpkin puree and the muffins were quite tasty.

I also used less sugar (I used about 2/3 cup of sugar) and they were delicious.

If you try making these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, let me know what you think in the comments below. 

Enjoy!

Handshake

 A handshake is used throughout the world as a greeting or parting where two people grab one another's right hand and shake it up and down a couple of times.  Handshakes originated as a friendly greeting.  Extending your right hand to show you aren't holding a weapon.  The up and down motion was to shake out any weapons you might be hiding up your sleeve.  Hand shakes are sometimes used in business deals.  You hear about people doing business over a handshake.  Sometimes there is a spit into the palm before the handshake.  The spit handshake is a sacred agreement between two individuals that is being done with clean hands.

Enter COVID and the thought of touching another person's hand put a stop to the conventional handshake.  I have seen fist bumps and elbow bumps take the place of the handshake greeting. 

I was never fond of the handshake.  I remember shaking hands with vendors' slimy, sweaty hands and wanting to immediately run and wash my hands before sitting down to our meeting.  Why are you shaking my hands if you know that yours are sweaty and slimy?  Wipe them off or refuse to shake my hand!  In order to avoid shaking hands, I learned to say, "I have a cold."  It worked almost every time.

COVID has stepped in and no one shakes hands.  I'm happy that I don't have to shake someone else's sweaty hand.  I wonder how this will affect professionals and business deals?  Fist bumps?  Elbow taps?  A wave of your right hand?

How do you feel about handshakes?

Tea Hiatus

 I have mentioned the tea drinking that goes on in our house, with Bella and I as the main tea drinkers.  I have to admit, my tea drinking has slowed down quite a bit.

While my tea drinking has slowed down, Bella's has picked up.  Bella has been enjoying several cups of tea per day until one day, she realized that she had become the equivalent to an old lady  grandmother who sips tea all day long.  (I will probably find her in a rocking chair, wearing a sweater and surrounded by a bunch of cats).

An intervention was needed.

Bella decided that she would stop drinking tea.  This tea hiatus lasted about a day with Bella having an iced tea with lunch.  This hiatus attempt went on for several days  weeks, each day resulting in some type of tea being sipped.  After every slip up, she would say that it was her last tea.  

When school started back up, Bella decided that she needed her tea so she could start the early morning sessions with a little caffeine boost.

Recently, I mentioned the tea hiatus to Bella and asked her if she planned on trying to give up tea.  

The answer was no.

Silver Award Ceremony - Girl Scout Cadettes

Our girls have successfully earned their Girl Scout Silver Award.  They wanted to help and serve Seniors.  We worked on our award over the three years as Cadette Scouts.

Earning your Silver Award is a big deal in Girl Scouting and we wanted to mark it with a ceremony.  We have six girls in our Girl Scout Troop.  We held the ceremony in a park.  Due to COVID and Girl Scout rules, all meetings have to be outside and masks must be worn.  We asked each of the girls to say what they learned or enjoyed by earning this award.  

Here is our script for the ceremony:

Silver Award Ceremony

Flag

Promise 

Law

Leader:  Today, we are honoring (names of girls) for earning the highest award in Cadette Girl Scouting, the Girl Scout Silver Award.  The girls chose to help and serve Seniors for their project.  Each girl has achieved the high ideals and goals expressed by Juliette Gordon Lowe, who founded the Girl Scout movement in 1912.

Leader: (Girl's names) have served their country, community and God with their hard work and skills.  Here are some of the projects we have worked on during Cadette Scouts.

For our Girl Scout Silver Award, we made Made Valentine cards for Seniors.

For our Girl Scout Silver Award, we

.....

....

(Girls tell what they learned/enjoyed while earning this award)

Leader:  We are very proud of our girls and all of the hard work that they put into achieving this award.  Please join us in congratulating each girl as we present their award.

(Award Presentation)

Leader:  An award is a symbol of achievement.  It means that you have learned something and provided service to others.  With each new award, a Girl Scout takes on new responsibilities.  More is expected at home, in Girl Scouting and in your community.  Strive to be worthy of the symbols you wear and wear them with pride.  Best wishes to each of you!

Leader:  Each girl has decided to continue in scouting.  May we present to you the newest Girl Scout Seniors! 

(friendship squeeze)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A few notes:

We broke down the section of what we did to earn our award and gave each of the girls a portion to read aloud.  

We also asked the girls to write down (beforehand), on index cards, what they learned and or enjoyed while earning their Silver Award and had them read it aloud to their parents and families.

*due to COVID, we were unable to do the friendship squeeze