Baking for a Season

Welcome to my newest follower, Rachel. 
It's so nice to have you :-)

When I was browsing blogs the other day after making the loaves of bread from a fellow bloggers recipe, I also came across a blogger who made and froze chocolate chip cookies. I can't remember exactly where now but she didn't have the recipe on her blog, just a note about making Hershey's chocolate chip cookies. So on Saturday I decided to google the recipe and make them.  I also made pizza dough and pumpkin pie for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner.

I made 4 dozen cookies in 3 different sizes. The recipe says you can get 5 dozen cookies from this recipe but I tend to make mine a little larger.

Lots of cookies for the freezer!

Here everything is marked as to the contents of the bags and the dates of the packing though I hardly think they will last past due date in the freezer.

Another view of the goods all laid out for the freezer. I saw the steam was gathering on the bread so I let that out before closing up the bag and popping it in the freezer.

This is the recipe for Pumpkin Pie for Sunday's dinner.


Ingredients

* 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
* 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon mace (I skipped the mace because I don't generally have it on hand).
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 eggs
* 1 (398 ml) can 100% Pure Pumpkin
* 1/2 cup cream or evaporated Milk
* 3/4 milk, scalded

# Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl and add cream or evaporated milk. Stir egg mixture into pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Add scalded milk and stir just until blended. Pour into chilled pie shell.
# Bake for 15 minutes in 425 degree F. oven. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately with mounds of whipped cream or refrigerate.

My pie crust is a little dark around the edges. I think the problem was I used a very deep plate and it isn't really a pie plate. it exposed too much of the pie dough to the heat. That is my guess but I could be wrong. The big mark in the middle is made by my testing whether the pie was done. Once I cut it you won't see that. I hope the pie crust takes okay. If not to my liking I will have to keep looking for a recipe that works for me.

Taste test:  The pie was actually quite good and the crust didn't taste burnt in any way. The crust was soft but it wasn't what I would consider flaky. Perhaps if I didn't have to roll it out so thin it would have been much flakier. The filling was very nice. It was not very sweet.  It was creamy and very subtle in it's flavours. It was perfect for me but others might prefer a sweeter, spicier pie filling. In that case, add a bit more sugar and another 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of the indicated spices. I tasted mine without the whipped cream and I think this would be my preferred way to eat it because it's texture is already nice and creamy.  You will probably want to have whipped cream on hand for those who love to eat pumpkin pie this way though.

On Sunday, I will be making turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and a side dish to go along with the pumpkin pie. This will be a smaller feast than usual. I am just happy to have the bird and will use the left overs for all sorts of wonderful dishes like turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and turkey casserole. Yum! This little bird will prepare a feast for a week.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

CANADIANS

:-))

A Busy Day or Two

I woke up a bit earlyish for me on a Saturday. It was likely because I had a long nap late yesterday and went to sleep at a reasonable hour. This after two nights of little sleep.

I've been fighting a cold and when I went to sleep last night there was a great wind flapping up and expected rain in the forecast. I awoke this morning to rain and cloudy skies.  I stocked up on some cooking items earlier this week so I could do some baking this weekend.  This morning I got started.

For lunch I made some pot barley and beef soup.  It was quite good. and I calculated the rough cost of each serving at about $1.40 Canadian but these are huge servings.  The soup bones were not cheap.  A package of 4 small bones was almost $3.50.  Even so it was a much better deal than buying a bowl of soup in the family restaurant across the street. You can see the fat at the top from the marrow in the bones. I love marrow with a bit of salt on it.  For some people though this is probably WAY too fattening.  If you don't eat it often, this isn't a problem unless your doctor says so.

I also have some bread dough on the rise for making the two loaf bread I made earlier this week.  See here for my earlier attempt.

I also made some pie crust from a recipe I found on a blog.  I have never been good at making pie crust even with a no fail recipe so I hope this attempt will work better.  In fact, I prefer making and eating cakes or cookies to making pies.  But this weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving and I plan to make a pumpkin pie to go along with the turkey dinner.  If I have some extra time after laundry and cleaning I am going to make some freezer pizza dough and some Hershey's chocolate chip cookies, also for the freezer for snacks later in the week.

I also managed to make two more kitchen dishcloths to add to the one I made earlier in the week. These ones are rather a loose weave compared to the ones I used to make. I enjoyed whipping these out and will use one of them shortly to "test" the weave and tension.

I also managed to make one round of my doily. I didn't get as far as I'd like and I still have six rounds to go but will likely finish it soon.

 

Finally, I got started on a book I've been meaning to read for awhile, The Pillars of the Earth. I get all my books at the thrift store these days so this is always a great bargain.  It is 973 pages long so that should keep me busy for awhile.

I always feel content when I am able to keep my hands busy, soothe my soul, save money and improve my mind.

When do you feel content?  

Update: I did some of washing up after mixing and baking. I used the  new dishcloth and it works perfectly. The bigger open weave seems to be better suited for washing up than the tighter, smaller weave.  This is a pleasant surprise. 

I hope you are enjoying your week and weekend.

Crafty Wednesday

Welcome to my newest follower, Lonicera!

Hi friends and bloggers,

I've missed doing my crafts while I've been away so much on family related matters this summer. I just had to make a new dishcloth and pull out an unfinished doily.

Here is the new dishcloth I've made. I used a larger set of needles than I am used to using. Normally I use a size 4 mm set of needles but this time I used a size 6 mm as that is what the pattern recommends. I must say it sure is a lot faster though and the tension is a lot looser and the weave more open.

I will be making several of these for a friend who wants to give them as gifts at a headstone potlatch for her deceased brother.  Click here for more information about the potlatch of the Southern Tutchone which is my friend's tribal group.  This pattern seems to go by various names but I think Grandma's Dishcloth is probably the original name someone gave it though I don't know who set out the original pattern. If I make a lot of these and I get bored with it, there are a host of other patterns out there that I can try.

It will take me a a little bit longer to get used to my tension with this larger sized needles but that shouldn't be a problem as I will be making many more of these dishcloths over the coming months.

I've also brought out a doily I started some time ago.  This is a square doily and is my first one of this shape. Normally I make round doilies (click here for a sample).  The doily is about two thirds finished. I hope to finish it in a day or two and block it so the pattern is more visible. If you look closely you can see four pineapples which join at the centre of the doily.

I think this particular colour looks really nice for this time of year in North America where it is the Fall or Autumn season. I also have some navy blue cotton which is lined with white which I think will look stunning for a pattern I've yet to settle upon.

Now that the Fall weather has arrived in the western hemisphere, do you also feel the need to "get crafty"? If you live in other parts of the world, do you find the change of seasons spurs you on to certain types of activities?

My Two Loaves

Monday was a coolish day for most of the morning and for part of the afternoon it threatened to rain. After disinfecting the kitchen, washing the floors, doing a few loads of laundry and running errands, I felt like making bread.

I got what looked like a great recipe from Rhonda's blog, if you do stuff, stuff gets done. Rhonda learned how to bake bread from her grandpa.


 Grandpa's Bread
2 cups warm water
1 package yeast (I googled this and it is 2 1/4 tsps. of yeast per pkg. in NA)
1 t salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
about 6 cups of flour

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Then stir in the salt, oil and most of the flour. (I used about 5 cups out of the 6 before my mixture got too thick). Mix well, then knead until you have a smooth dough. Let dough rise in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel, until at least double in size. Punch down. Divide in 2. Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans.
Let rise again, until at least double.
Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes.

Here are what my two loaves look like. Yum!

I got a fairly late start on the bread so while it was rising, I watched my favourite television program, "Dancing with the Stars" and began work on another knitted dishcloth. It's been awhile since I've made any dishcloths so I had to refresh my memory!

 For some fabulous scenery shots taken Sunday, click here. You can also join others here for My World Tuesday.

Journey Home

Welcome to my newest follower gennyhoka. I hope you find many things here of interest.

Morning came early on Sunday after a late night of packing and sorting. A quick phone call from mom at 8:30 a.m. was the prelude to more feverish packing and sorting and bagging things up for the garbage bins. A quick shower and last minute instructions for my brother and I was off to the bus depot for my journey home.

I always like to get to the depot early and be first in line. Today was no exception. Thankfully my luggage wasn't over the limit as it has been the last few trips. It costs a lot these days for oversize luggage. My clothing needs aren't exceptional but all the paraphernalia that I have to take with me add up to a lot of extra weight. (Click on each photo to enlarge.)

The weather today was spectacular. A perfect day for a bus trip. It was eerily quiet at the depot today. The lady at the ticket wicket says it has been that way all week though by the time it came time to board the bus the bus was half full. A perfect load as far as I'm concerned since it means I can have a seat all to myself.

Scenery as always, was spectacular. Just an hour and a half outside of Vancouver, the weather changed significantly from brilliant sunshine to lots of low lying clouds in the mountains and the air was really brisk.  I've put in a few photos here for your viewing pleasure. The rest will be uploaded into a slide show and added a little later. Enjoy!

I'm home to rest awhile!

Come, Rest Awhile
Come, rest awhile, and let us idly stray In glimmering valleys, cool and far away. Come from the greedy mart, the troubled street, And listen to the music, faint and sweet, That echoes ever to a listening ear, Unheard by those who will not pause to hear­ The wayward chimes of memory's pensive bells, Wind-blown o'er misty hills and curtained dells. One step aside and dewy buds unclose The sweetness of the violet and the rose; Song and romance still linger in the green, Emblossomed ways by you so seldom seen, And near at hand, would you but see them, lie All lovely things beloved in days gone by. You have forgotten what it is to smile In your too busy life­come, rest awhile. by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Click here for more Blue Monday.

Fall is the Perfect Time of Year: Scenic Sunday, October 3, 2010

I think Fall is the perfect time of year. I can never get enough of the Fall colours though when I see the leaves fall, I do get saddened that winter is around the corner. I was never one who loved the snow. Though I might enjoy snow for a few days, I think the childhood memories of freezing cold, freezing a few toes and winters which dragged endlessly on, are never far from me. I do love one thing about winter which I will leave for the winter season to blog about *smile.

In the meantime, let me leave you with some final snap shots of Kamloops. These are likely the last photos I will take before I depart for my home on the coast on Sunday. It is Fall now but these shots are landscape shots of the city from the vantage point of the mountain. As you can see, the city is beautifully located alongside rivers and nestled in the valley.  When you drive in at night and see all the city lights it is particularly beautiful.  (Click on any photo to enlarge).

I hope you enjoyed these photos of Kamloops. If you would like to see some of the city in it's Fall splendour, please click here. Otherwise do join others here from around the globe for more beautiful Scenic Sundays.

Vapour Trails in the Sky: Skywatch Friday, October 1, 2010

These photos of vapour trails were all taken this month in Kamloops, BC. I took them "on the fly" usually as I waited for a bus to take me to downtown or to the hospital.

Speaking of the hospital, mom is to be released on Monday if all goes well. I couldn't believe it and she is very happy though I won't be here to bring her home this time. My brother will arrive over the weekend while I finish packing mom's things. I am trying to pack as much as possible before I go back home for a rest. It has been a rough week as there is so much here to sort through. I won't be done when I leave but I will have done most of the hard work. Whew!

As one daughter of an aging parent, I ask any of you out there who are also aging, "please do not put off getting rid of junk, personal papers, old documents or new documents with identification on it." One day if you do not take care of this stuff, it is likely your older daughter will have to do it for you during an already stressful time. I've tried for more than two decades to help my mom sort through things. She wouldn' t hear of it.  She always wanted to do it herself.

 

In the decades that followed, mom never got to enjoy any of these items as they were all boxed up waiting for the day when they would be sorted.  While she did make some progress getting rid of some items about five years ago, it seems that clothing, papers and photos were an area of difficulty to deal with.  This is mostly what I have been dealing with at a time when I am also trying to deal with her many needs and issues at the local hospital and attend to the business of finding her a long term critical care placement.  It has been a very challenging week and I'm just glad I've been physically able to handle as much of the packing and sorting as I've been able to get to. While mom is coming home in a few days she knows, and has agreed to being put on a waiting list for a nursing home.

 

Check out what's happening in the skies across the globe by clicking here.