Welcome to my Home

Since I had children and moved to the "boonies" I do not have many visitors. Having children and moving a 45 minute drive from most people you know really lets you know who your real friends are.
But I do love when my friends and family come take the time to come for visit. Most of my friends are working, some multiple jobs, some working and still going to school, so they have few time to spare and I love that the choose to spend it with me and my family.
Since I have 2 young children the only real preparation I can get done before people come over is cleaning up the toys and straighten up the house. I have some things I like to always do before guest come, simple things like sweep the entry way, change the linens in the bathroom, and do a quick swish and swipe to my bathrooms.
But I really like to make my guest feel at home. I love making some tea or coffee for them, the kerig is great for a nice little fresh cup for them. Another nice touch is fresh baked cookies.
While I do not have the time to make a batch from scratch I also couldn't imagine giving someone break and bake cookies either.

So a nice little tip I've learned from my latest obsession of reading cooking and baking books is how nice cookie dough freezes. So when I am making cookies with the girls instead of cooking the whole batch and watching half of them go bad before we can eat them I freeze half of them.
I roll the cookie into little balls and place them on parchment paper and place them in the freezer. Once they are a little frozen(so they won't stick together) I move them into plastic bag and write on the bag with tape the date and how to bake the cookies, temperature and time.
Then I can make a small batch for who ever comes to my house, on cold days where I want a nice hot cookie or when ever we get the craving for some baked goods.
Its just so nice for people to come over and I get to show my appreciation for them with out breaking my back to do so.
Life is always a little more complicated with a toddler and infant at home so this just eases it up a little for me.

Baking Vs. Cooking

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Most people have a preference to what they enjoy, either cooking or baking, if they enjoy being in the kitchen at all.
I will right away admit I love baking. I do enjoy cooking a lot, but baking seems to be so much more relaxing and enjoyable. Kneading bread can be so peaceful. Watching cookies bake and the wonderful smell of fresh baked pie fills up my whole home.
With cooking there is a lot of multi-tasking, which I still have not mastered. Having everything taste good I can manage, but being hot and all ready at the same time is something I am still working on. That is not a problem with baking.
Many people say to me that they don't enjoy baking because its simply following a recipe. To that I say "not always." With cooking it can be very easy to change things up, which I almost always do (it is rare I will follow a recipe to a t), but baking is much harder to do so. But even with baking I often do, with very good results. After you get the hang of baking certain items you can try to experiment with different aspects of the recipe. Lots of my experimenting has come when I run out of an ingredient.
Last winter while making my favorite pumpkin cranberry bread I realized I am out of sugar. But I looked hard and found some brown sugar and said "sure why not?" Well I am never making this bread with white sugar again. I got so many complements on this bread, my mistake turned into a success.
While just earlier in the week I was making Blueberry Boy Bait Cake for a breakfast snack. I had everything mixed and put in the pan when I realized I never added the white sugar, just the brown. Since I was making a breakfast cake I didn't worry. I didn't want it to be too sweet any way. Well it came out fine, the perfect sweetness for breakfast or a snack.
I often experiment with adding different types of flour or grains to make something healthier. Adding some flaxseed meal or mixing in some whole wheat flour with the white. My husband is not a whole wheat fan, but with my blend he not once has noticed his white bread is a little brown.
Don't be afraid to experiment with your baking. You can check out several baking books and blend recipes together, or google healthy baking tips for ways to make your cakes and cookies a little healthier for you. But remember what you did and write it down! There is nothing worse then making an amazing cake and forgetting what you did to make it so yummy.

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My First "Real" Bread

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Several weeks ago I got a great children's book at the library called "You Can Cook". This book was in the children's section, but is so perfect for anyone who hasn't been cooking or baking to long or just wants some simple, quick and fresh recipes.
The book has a great easy recipe for baking bread, complete with pictures to show how to knead the bread. Since I never had made a "real" bread before (well once I did a no-knead recipe and often bake quick breads) I thought this would be a perfect recipe to try out.
It was a cold windy day out and Liv and I were not planning on leaving the house all day. So before lunch we sat down and started to make our bread.
It felt so good to make something for myself. I don't know what it is about kneading the warm dough in my hands, but I just felt so relaxed, peaceful and connected to the moment. It was a wonderful feeling.
The whole process made me feel like I can produce for myself and my family. I felt connected to women years ago, who couldn't go to the store to buy some bread. I couldn't believe how much I would love doing something so simple. I felt like a real homemaker, not a housewife.
What even made this whole process better was the reaction from my husband and daughter. Ken jokingly asked me where did I hide the bag from the bakery? And everytime Liv sees the rolls (I made one loaf and 8 rolls) she trys to open the bag to eat them.
It made me feel so good to see my picky eaters enjoy fresh bread, with almost no sugar, just pure simple ingredients made by my hand.
It was also wonderful to smell the fresh bread in my home the whole day.
The process was not as hard as I thought. I am suprised more people don't make fresh bread.
This is something that I will continue to do and hope Liv learns this skill that she can use to provide warm and healthy food for her future family.

Thanksgiving Bake-A-Thon

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This year I am doing most of the desserts for my family for Thanksgiving. Now that I am a SAHM I really have no excuse to not help my mom out more for ou Thanksgiving feast.
This year I am making Pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie and a side spinach dish. As you can see we love pumpkin, and I personally love to eat with the seasons and what is more seasonal for autumn then pumpkin.
Liv loves our baking days. She loves to mix things. Just last week at a La Leche toddler group I go to she went over to a child's kitchen set, picked up a bowl and a spoon and started to "mix." I couldn't believe it, guess I need to get her a kitchen set sooner then later.
As a child my mom loved to bake and cook, but did not have the patients to teach me along with her cooking. I remember the smells and taste of her dishes, but I also remember getting shoed out of the kitchen when I even went in for something to drink.
Because of this I was never taught to cook or bake, but I have made a huge effort to teach myself. I can not remember who said "anyone who can read can cook" but this is a huge part of my learning since I love to check out cooking books from the library.

I still love the classic cookbook by better homes and gardens. This book is one of the few I own and I often use it as a resource to make up my own dishes from their's with simple modifications or to just read and cook right from the pages.
I also think working in restaurants has helped greatly. I always asked the cooks how they made things, and was very lucky to work with great cooks who loved to show me and tell me how they cooked.
This is a skill that it not often passed down anymore. Too many people have no idea how to cook and get most of their meals from a take-out menu.
Our weekly baking days is a great tradition for Liv and me. And its wonderful to start Liv to understand how to cook and where her food comes from.
Tommorow my kitchen will be covered with flour and sugar and so will my clothes (I need to get myself and apron) but it will also be filled with wonderful scents, laughter and great memories and spending time with my daughter.

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