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Spring Bakes

While we didn’t go anywhere for spring break this year, there were plenty of spring bakes in the house. Since the Mayor’s diagnosis, I’ve been baking sourdough bread several times a week. I started with a sourdough boule recipe, but switched to a sandwich bread that the guys like better. It’s also easier to slice. The recipe is quite simple and doesn’t include a lot of active time, which allows me to multitask.

When everyone was here for graduation, I made the sourdough star with Biscoff instead of Nutella. I loved it with Nutella, but both my dad and Melly are deathly allergic to hazelnuts. Consequently, I don’t keep anything with hazelnuts in the house when they’re in town. It went much better than the previous times I made it, thanks to the assistance of my mom and hubby. I would make it again with Bischoff, but I would use a lot more of it next time. The flavor isn’t as strong as Nutella, so it needs more cookie butter for the flavor to come through.

I love cheese, but everyone already knows that. To go with chili, I made Brazilian cheese bread. This bread is perfect for the Mayor as it has 10 grams of carbohydrates and protein. Two of my favorite baked goods with cheese from this spring are the focaccia with sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella, and the brioche with Brie. Both of these breads are delicious and store well in the fridge.

Now I wouldn’t be my mother’s daughter if I didn’t include cookies in this blog. Some of my most treasured memories from childhood are baking cookies with my mom and grandma. The nice thing about baking my cookies is that I don’t have to fight my brothers for the bowl. This spring, I’ve been making chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies with Reese’s Pieces. When I bake the cookies, I weigh each one so they’re all the same weight. This way, I can give the Mayor precise carbohydrate counts by cookie. So let me ask you, what’s your favorite bake?

Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?

There are several things I practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle. One, I practice yoga every morning before work. Secondly, I read every day before bed. I also try to get to bed every day at the same time, with no electronics allowed once I’m in my room for the night.

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Experimenting

I did some experimenting in the kitchen over the weekend. My first experiment was homemade cream cheese wontons. I made pork wontons last weekend, so I wanted to expand my wontons experience a bit. Plus what’s not to love about fried dough and cheese? While I was busy experimenting with the wontons, the hubby whipped up some amazing chicken fried rice to accompany the wontons. It was a great division of the housework.

The wonton recipe was quite simple: cream cheese, wonton wrappers, scallions, garlic powder, green onions and some sugar. I found the wrappers from Target were a bit thinner than those HelloFresh had provided. Consequently, they leaked when being fried. Next time, I’ll use two wrappers instead of one. Also, I’ll fold them into little rectangles as those wontons didn’t leak at all.

Saturday I went back to experimenting in the kitchen. This time I decided to try a new lime cheesecake recipe. I find baking cheesecake infinitely easier in Florida due to the humidity. By contrast, the moisture can complicate a bread recipe. Honestly, it’s hard to bake a dry cheesecake here. This recipe was pretty straightforward except for the mousse topping. It wasn’t that the mousse topping was difficult, but I haven’t baked with gelatin a lot.

Baking the cheesecake went well and it was super tasty. The recipe was pretty easy to follow. It’s a recipe I’ll make again. However, next time I bake it, I’ll cut back the amount of gelatin. The mousse tasted great, but the texture was too stiff for my taste. Next time I’ll cut it down by 1/2 tbsp and see how it goes. It’s not like the cheesecake tasted bad, so none of us will mind testing all of my cheesecake experiments. I’ll put up the recipes for both the wontons and cheesecake tomorrow.

Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?

My favorite book as a child was Super Fudge by Judy Blume. I’m just here patiently waiting for them to make it into a movie. My other favorite was C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

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Coffee Please

More coffee, please… There doesn’t seem to be enough coffee onboard to get me through this tedious Monday. My boss moved me to a pilot team last week, which has resulted in my absolute boredom and no sales. If there is an upside, it’s that I’ve been able to watch some great documentaries over the past few work days. I just finished one on the sophisticated Queen Elizabeth I.

Now I’m watching one on the London of Tudor England. Unsurprisingly, it goes along well with my obsession for reading all things Tudor or Tudor adjacent. Nevertheless, I hate being bored and unproductive at work. Especially when I’ve been having a spectacular month thus far. Hopefully, they move me off this pilot and back into a space where I can be successful.

While Monday is definitely calling for more coffee and patience, the weekend was pretty good. Goalielocks was here through late Saturday afternoon. I love having him home and wish Jake could have been home too. Having the boys in the house makes my heart full. It’s a different dynamic when your kid is visiting versus when they live under your roof. I did make some homemade sourdough Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal for him to take home.

Aside from the fact I had to work Saturday, I did have a fun weekend. Friday night we had dinner with John and Hanh at Batch, which was tasty and fun. Afterward, we went back to their house to hang out while the Mayor got his occupational therapy. After work Saturday, we went back to their house to watch the Panther’s game. When we left their house just after 11:00, we got to see the rocket launch. From the road, we had a different view than what we can see from our house. For the first time, we could see the fireball streaking through the sky behind the rocket.

Sunday morning I headed to our Coffee & Collateral event for PanCan. We have the best affiliate group in the business. The morning was so much fun and time well spent. As a group, we were able to get our fliers and postcards into a lot of local businesses. Importantly, we were also able to cultivate some promising partnerships with a few businesses. One of the most powerful parts of this experience is hearing stories of how pancreatic cancer or cancer has impacted their life. While we raise funds for pancreatic cancer, cancer research can impact several other types of cancers.

Afterward, I got to baking. I whipped up two quick sourdough loaves. I intended to make the 24 sourdough loaf but forgot to start it Friday night. Once the loaves came out of the oven, I started on the fresh pasta we’d be having for dinner. I was a bit intimidated at first, but it proved to be easier than I expected. To be clear, it is a time-intensive exercise, but you could easily make the pasta on the weekend for use during the week. Truly, the effort was worthwhile. The difference between fresh and store-bought pasta is stark. I’ll try to post the recipe this week.

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

I say “no” to things that interfere with my goals or routines often. Unfortunately, I’ve found that maintaining my routine is important when managing an autoimmune disease. Before I was diagnosed with Graves, I had a routine but could be flexible in making changes to the routine. Now if I change up the routine, the wheels fall off. I don’t like feeling like an outsider in my own body.

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Taking a Break

I’m taking a break from the rabbit hole that is Cigna and health insurance in this country. The truth of the matter is both Presidential candidates happily took money from Cigna for their campaigns. This means both potential Presidents will allow Cigna to continue defrauding Medicare while abusing its insured. Shoot even the anti-business Bernie Sanders has no problem taking money from big business. The billionaire politicians, along with the insurance companies bear responsibility for the clusterfuck that is our healthcare.

Anyway, so much for taking a break. Am I right?!? Goalielocks is home for spring break and that makes my mamma’s heart so happy. If Jake was here, life (even with Cigna in it) would be perfect. I’m privileged to have three amazing boys and two perfect puppies. As I take a break from the insanity, I’m trying to focus on the bright side of life. I also had to grocery shop for the third time this week. With both younger boys home, the amount of food and milk we go through grows exponentially. Fortunately, I have the best Shipt shopper in Eric who always takes good care of us.

What do you wish you could do more every day?

I wish I had more time to exercise during the day. Moreover, I’d love more time to sleep, read, and play with my puppies. Of course, I can’t forget baking. I’d love a lot of additional time to bake.

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Dog Food

Last night, while the hubby was grilling up some of his famous potatoes and steaks, I made dog food for the puppies. I bought a duck breast at Wild Fork a few months ago and defrosted yesterday. Obviously, it’s not something I’ll do all the time, but thought it might be a nice change of pace for the boys.

For their meal, I peeled 3 carrots, cooked 3 cups of rice, bought 1 large duck breast, and hard-boiled seven eggs. Note, I did not use all the eggs for their food. Veterinarians recommend that dogs have no more than one egg per day. To cook the duck, I lined a baking sheet with aluminum foil after preheating the oven to 350 degrees. I placed the peeled carrots on the baking sheet with the duck breast in the middle. The meat and carrots roasted for 20 minutes. Once the duck breast reached an internal temperature of 165, I cut it up into cubes and cut up the carrots.

Once the duck and carrots were cut up, I added them to the cooked rice and mixed them well. Naturally, I poured any of the juices from the duck into the mixture. The last step was to cut up the eggs and add them to the mixture. Ideally, I’d use more vegetables, but I only had carrots on hand. Next time, I’ll use sweet potatoes and peas in addition to the carrots. The recipe is below.

Homemade Dog Food

Ingredients:

  • 2 Duck breast/chicken breast/chicken livers
  • 4 carrots
  • 3 cups of rice
  • 1 egg for each dog per day
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 1 package of frozen peas

Instructions

  • Cook rice according to package instructions
  • Prepare a baking sheet with foil and preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Wash produce
  • Peel and cut carrots in half and place on the prepared baking sheet
  • Cut sweet potato into cubes and place on prepared baking sheet
  • Place duck breasts or desired protein in the middle of the baking sheet
  • Roast the duck and vegetables for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the duck is 165.
  • While the duck is roasting, cook up the peas according to package instructions and prepare the hard-boiled eggs
  • Once the duck and vegetables have cooled, slice the meat into chunks and the carrots into smaller pieces.
  • Combine all ingredients in one large bowl and serve

I have two large (80-90 lbs) male dogs and split the recipe between the two of them. Going forward, I’ll probably use chicken as it’s much cheaper, but the duck is a nice treat. You could also substitute lamb or beef cuts as well.

What is one word that describes you?

Kind. I love people, animals, and life and want to make the world a better place. Fortunately, I think little acts of kindness go a long way in brightening the world. Consequently, every day I try to be kind to those around me (some days go better than others,)

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So Short

I wish the weekend wasn’t so short. You blink and it’s Monday. This weekend was especially quick for me since I worked half the day Saturday. The second half of the day I spent baking bread. I started my baking frenzy with two sourdough loaves. While those loaves proved, I started the sourdough chocolate star bread dough. Fortunately, I had my timing down pat, so both loaves of bread turned out great and not under or over-proved.

Sunday I set out to bake two loaves of French bread and then bake a deep-dish pizza for dinner. I’ve made the French bread loaves several times now, so it goes pretty smoothly. I was a bit worried about the pizza dough, but that was easier than I thought. While both turned out well, I’d make some alterations to the pizza recipe. Honestly, we liked the taste of the crust and sauce. When it came out of the oven, however, it looked like it had a trifling amount of filling instead of being full of cheesy goodness. Next time, I’m going to double the cheese and double the sauce. Now it’s Monday and contrary to my weekend it’s not so short.

Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on.

The most ambitious DIY project I’ve ever taken on is probably starting my sourdough baking obsession. I don’t do any DIY around the house as my husband is the absolute expert there. Starting sourdough, even as an experienced baker, was a bit intimidating. With practice, it’s becoming easier. Nonetheless, the sourdough starter can be an absolute heartbreaker. To make it more manageable I’ve started keeping it in the refrigerator during the week. This way I don’t have to feed it daily anymore.

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Transition Time

It’s transition time over as we switch out our stove top, our treadmill, and our KitchenAid Mixer. We’ve had the KitchenAid mixer since we got married in 2001. We bought the treadmill in 2005 after moving to Florida and leaving the elliptical behind. Lastly, the stovetop is original to the house and was installed in 2006. It’s hard to believe that the stovetop is the same age as the Mayor and everything else is older than him. The stovetop is the last of one standing out of the original appliances that came with the house.

This morning the Hubby took the old treadmill to the dump and removed the old stovetop. While he worked on expanding the opening for the new stovetop, I vacuumed and shampooed the carpet where the old treadmill was and where we’ll set up the treadmill. I bought a mat to place the treadmill on this time, so it won’t jack up the carpet too badly. Once the carpet has dried, I’ll set up the mat. Tomorrow we’ll set up the new treadmill, which I am so excited to try!

I was going to bake today, but the amount of marble dust in the air isn’t conducive to baking. It’s truly radiating all over the kitchen and family room. I will be able to bake up some loaves tomorrow once it clears out enough.” Instead, I’m cleaning, feeding the birds enjoying their plumage, and watching seasons two and three of Loudermilk. The Hubby is finishing up the installation of the new stovetop. I can’t wait for it to be ready for use!!!

Write about your approach to budgeting.

I used to use a software program but decided paying for a license wasn’t worth it. Now I use an excel document to plan my budget and track my expenses. It’s not the most sophisticated method, but it works. And now back to transition time.

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Upgraded

After twenty years of faithful service, I upgraded my KitchenAid Mixer. It has served me well over the past two decades, but it’s time to move on to something bigger and stronger. We bake a lot and in larger batches, so it became obvious the classic-sized mixer wasn’t big enough to handle our regular baking anymore. After all, I bake several loaves of bread a weekend. Moreover, when we bake cookies, we usually make a double batch.

Consequently, I upgraded to Kitchenaid’s 7-quart stand mixer. The bowl is huge! Especially when compared to the bowl of its predecessor. It also has a stronger engine and more speed. One thing that will take some getting used to is that this is a lift stand mixer and not a tilt-head model like our old one. It will take some getting used to after twenty-plus years of using a tilt-stand mixer. I will say that a stand mixer is a must-have for any kitchen. It allows you to attack your baking with maximum efficiency. We use our mixer several times a week. It will make your baking and cooking life so much easier. I love my mixer!

As for our old mixer, we’re refurbishing it so it can go to a good home. KitchenAid mixers may be expensive, but we’re going to squeeze every last dollar out of each of ours. I’m excited about being able to pass it down. Some of my favorite baking tools my Grandma or mother passed down to me. The beautiful thing about baking and cooking is that it keeps us connected to our past and loved ones that are no longer with us. I will return in a few weeks with a review of the new mixer.

Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

I broke the law at my most recent hair appointment where I may or may not have fallen asleep under the hair dryer. Unbeknownst to me, the simple act of falling asleep in that chair is illegal in Florida. This is one of the foremost issues Florida’s government wants to solve. Never mind the spiraling costs of homeowners and auto insurance.

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Holiday

The day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday. After all, it’s estimated that over 16.1 million Americans will call out sick today with the Super Bowl Flu. Although I only made it past Usher’s performance before heading to bed, I fully support another Monday off work. We work way too much in this country instead we should focus on things that matter like our family, puppies, and baking.

Speaking of baking, I made two more loaves of sourdough French bread. They turned out amazing and are currently residing in my new breadbox. I also made chocolate star sourdough bread, which tasted much better than it looked. Honestly, I’m not sure what happened, but instead of looking like a star, it looks like a mutant octopus. Oh well, it just means that I’ll have to try again. Next time I’ll ask for the intercession of Saint Elizabeth the patron saint of baking. Now if today were a holiday, I could have tried again today. But no, here I am at work like schmuck.

I did make some potato crisps and spinach puffs for the big game, which we enjoyed with some brisket the hubby made. As for commercials, my favorite was the Dunkin’ Donuts ad with JLo, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Tom Brady. I did enjoy Usher’s halftime performance, especially the closing number. However, why can’t they get the sound right for the halftime performers? Year after year the audio sucks, which detracts from the whole experience.

If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?

If I had the power to change one law, it would be to suspend parking fines for elephants here in Florida. I thought I would pick something silly. Otherwise, there are so many stupid laws on the books that I’d be here all day.

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Yummy

Last night I cooked a yummy dinner courtesy of Blue Apron. We alternate between HelloFresh and Blue Apron depending on the available meals. One thing that I love about the delivered meal kits is the variety it has introduced into our diets. We’re eating a broader range of vegetables and flavors. For example, last night I roasted and tasted Romanesco cauliflower for the first time. Honestly, it’s a vegetable I probably never would have tried if it weren’t for the meal kit.

I like Blue Apron because they use ingredients that are easy to find or replicate. Whereas I’ve found it more difficult to find some of the ingredients of HelloFresh. Last night’s meal was baked chicken topped with tomato sauce, Gouda, and fontina cheese. Naturally, being that I’m on a metabolic reset program, I look for meals that are healthy. This one fits the bill perfectly. Moreover, it was so tasty and easily replicated with items from my local grocery store. If you’re looking for some yummy and healthy meetings give Blue Apron a try. They’re currently offering $110 off when you order through this link: click here

Thank goodness making dinner was stress-free because Anakin had to make the night interesting. I don’t know how he does it, but he finds creatures in the lowest light and catches them. Unfortunately, He looked excited and ready to party as soon as he caught that road. Anakin caught a poisonous toad last night. Consequently, the Mayor and I were trying to rinse out his mouth as much as possible. Anakin, meanwhile, wanted nothing to do with the water. Eventually, we were able to somewhat rinse out his mouth and he was acting normal. Fortunately, he’s a big boy as those toads can kill small dogs.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: exoskeleton. As in I heard the spider’s exoskeleton crunch as I stepped on it.
  • Today’s song is TQG by Karol G and Shakira