A girl with a newborn nursing child (which happens to be, yes, number 6 newborn child),
PLUS a LOUSY economy where my husband is constantly pointing out how we need to conserve, conserve, conserve our money (translation: stop with the home improvements/decorating ideas--and I agree with him, he's right, but back to my previously started sentence)
A girl with a newborn PLUS a lousy economy gets BORED.
I can't tell you how bored I am people. I sit on the couch and nurse a lot. As I do so, I try to block out of my mind all the ideas I get for improving the view from my couch (read: my house) as that would involve spending. And so I get bored. And then I feel like I'm a boring person.
No one wants to be a boring person. This is the ultimate dig, to be dull and lifeless. How is my husband supposed to stay in love with me if I am boring? I need to stay a little interesting and exciting to keep my family alive and strong!
And so as an antidote to this, I've been throwing more effort into my culinary conquests in the kitchen. (You'll have to ask Mr. Handsome if he thinks it is working on keeping me interesting).
Last week, I made bread from scratch and it turned out beautifully. It was a proud moment for me. Honestly, I've been bread challenged for years. I make it once and then when I go back to do it again I've forgotten all the secrets and can't even remember which recipe I used, etc. But this time it worked, as I said, beautifully and I will remember I used my SIL's recipe that you can find here. It was 100% whole wheat and still light and fluffy.
I was feeling bored again a few nights ago and thought about putting together a fine Italian meal--because everyone knows Italy is very exciting--all I needed to get from the grocery store was some nice artisan bread and some bruchetta. But that would involve a trip outside with the newborn AND spending money. . .so I made the bread myself. It was actually easy. And once again, it tasted delicious. I opted for Nancy's homemade pesto instead of bruchetta since we had those ingredients. Boy, is it good folks! And genius Nancy makes it with spinach instead of parsely and guess what, it tastes awesome and its good for you! Have I mentioned spinach is a superfood once or every time the word spinach leaves my mouth?
Click here for recipe.
Homemade French Bread
Ingredients:
5 cups bread flour
2 T SAF instant yeast
2 1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups warm water
1 egg for egg wash
cornmeal, if you have it.
Directions:
Put your yeast into some warm water. Then, mix 1/2 your flour with your salt in the bread mixer. Pour in your water/yeast mixture and blend on low speed while you add the remaining flour. continue adding a bit more flour until the dough has pulled away from the sides and center post of the bread maker.
Using the dough hook attachment, put your bread mixer on high for 8 minutes to knead the dough. Then turn dough out into oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in size.
Punch the dough down and divide it in half. Roll each half into a large rectangle. Roll up, starting from the long side and taper the ends. You can seal the edges with water.
Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with the optional cornmeal. Place the loaves seam side down on prepared sheet and slash some cuts on the diagonal with a sharp knife.
Let rise again for 35-40 minutes. "Paint" bread with an egg wash.
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Brush with egg again and cook for 15-20 minutes more. Tent with foil if they are starting to get too dark.
12 comments:
what's saf yeast? I just get the big thing of yeast at costco - will that work?
Costco yeast should work fine if its worked for you in the past. SAF is the most reliable brand out there but a little bit harder to find.
I am going to make that spinach pesto right now. The Costco bucket o' spinach is always more than I think it is. This seems like a good way to use it up before it goes bad.
Thanks Becky!
I get bored trying not to spend money too. In fact I have made bread twice in the past few weeks because we were running low and I knew bread would not be the only thing I would buy at the grocery store if I went! The kids loved it. I will be trying this Italian bread this week too.
#1 I can assure the world that my wife is anything but boring. She's perfectly delightful to be around and my favorite person in the world to talk to.
#2 As I tell her with increasing regularity...she is my favorite cook/chef/baker in the world.
I'm a lucky man.
The bread looks incredible. I'll have to try out the recipe for 100% whole wheat bread.
Yay! I love success stories. What a great winter pesto recipe. I still have to stick with basil when it is in season...maybe I'll try half and half.
You could put some of your spinach in hummus too. It would taste a lot like the pesto. And have you tried making the yogurt? The pesto looks really good. Did your children like it? And the bread looks delicious.
Becky, I love it! You have the best post... I always read it and feel as if you are here telling it to me in person. Look at you, just had a baby and making everything from scratch, wowser!! The bread does look divine. Do I dare attempt? Should be fun. Thanks for the recipes and the humor.
So I made the spinach pesto and it is delicious! A proud moment for sure. We put in on homemade grilled pizza and it is so good. However, do you know what a clove of "cracked garlic" is? After I made the pesto, I was looking over the recipe and realized I paid no attention to "cracked" while making it.
Maybe I should ask Nancy. Or if Nancy is reading this, please clue me in.
So, I've been thinking about this post all week, because although I don't have a nursing baby, I know exactly what you mean. My effort to curb spending does allow more "home time". But, I can't bake because I'll eat it all before my kids get home. So, I'm going back to practicing piano and doing a lot of knitting. But, I am dying to try this pesto recipe. Yum Yum.
Hey, thanks for the great superfood recipe. I am going to try making it today. Do you have any recipe that adds acai berry juice?
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