First stab at GF bread in breadmaker vs second time…

November 11, 2011 by tam

Tasty too.

It was a bit of a challenge to figure out the bread machine recipe as it begins on the ‘dough cycle’. Then, after the first mix you remove the paddle which is a messy business to say the least. Then you wait for that cycle to end. You reset the breadmaker to the GF cycle. Really? A breadmaker has a GF cycle? Hunh…

I chose the ‘rapid bake’ which was for the same time and I think I did pretty good.

The boys are like changed children since removing gluten from their diet. They listen now, can concentrate on their lessons, and seem happier – oh wait, maybe that’s me. 🙂

Onto second GF breadmaker recipe story. This one was for a pumpernickel which we’ve made with regular flour before and I love. Sooo, since I had made one GF loaf so far and it worked just fine I figured this should be easy! When the ‘dough’ cycle ended I opened the lid to see how much the bread had risen and couldn’t believe what I saw.

It was alive! I swear!

At first I thought I could just wipe around the edge with it in the maker but then noticed this was not such an easy solution. This monstrous yeast mixture was growing by they second (literally) and oozing all the way down and over the bottom of the inside of the maker. This is what it looked like when I removed it. I cleaned the maker and then proceeded to clean this mess. I wiped all around the edges and it took a while as the dough was very sticky. The goop kept coming over the sides as I wiped the overflow off. I couldn’t believe it!

GF flours, in my novice opinion, are a little pricier than even the regular organic stuff we buy. I was not going to give up on this loaf. Finally, I wiped it down for about the fifth time and then stuck my finger in the top a couple of times. It was like watching the Wicked Witch of the West melt! Down, down it went, lower into the container. Guess I popped one too many air bubbles. :0

Nonetheless, I was relieved and put it back into the bread maker for the ‘rapid’ cycle with fingers crossed. It rose a bit more but luckily not to the top and not overflowing. Whew!

When the beeper went off I opened the lid and there was a big sink hole in the middle. Bummer for sure! It tasted good and the boys liked it but you couldn’t really slice it. Just when I thought I had saved the loaf it goes and sinks on me!

I added less sugar next time and it went much better. Such a learning experience, and one I can laugh about at least!

Since then, I tried to make GF flour tortilla shells. Dreadful. When the recipe says potato flour starch that means add the potato starch and not the potato flour. BIG difference. BIG. HUGE.

😉

Home-made Clay

November 10, 2011 by tam

This is something that I have been wanting to do for a while but just haven’t gotten around to. The clay takes about 5 minutes to make and it so easy to prepare. The best part, for me, was kneading it and feeling the soft warmth of the mix between my hands. The boys love using the clay to roll out, cut up into pieces, and squeeze through play dough heads (just when I was going to bag up all the play dough toys and drop them off at Value Village!).

I got the recipe from a great book called, “Slow and Steady, Get me Ready“. The book is meant to be used on a weekly basis from birth to age 5. Well, whatever, I say! I had the best intentions with that but perhaps used it three times since X was born. So, I decided to flip through it to find what may be of interest and there are still a great many fun ideas for kids. Who says clay is only for babies, right? I love it, too and so will you (I hope!)

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup Flour, 1Tbsp of oil, 1 cup of H2O, 1/2 cup of salt, 2 tsp of cream of tartar. Mix together in pot over medium heat until it forms a ball. Knead until smooth. Voila! Clay!

You could add food colouring if you like, but I just left ours au natural. I like it that way. 🙂

The ingredients mix together quite easily with no clumping. Then, after about three minutes of intermittent mixing…

Mmm…looks like mashed potatoes – but don’t eat it!

You can roll it out and use a pencil to make a funny face!

Just when you thought the play dough toys were no longer of interest…

It can even do swirlies! Kewl!

The book says the mixture will keep indefinitely in a plastic bag or sealed container. It’s a great idea, if only I’d made this earlier. I could have used them in the boys’ grab bags for their party!

Barrettes

November 10, 2011 by tam

The boys found my barrettes today. Great to keep that growing hair out of the way. Who said they are just for girls? They do the job and I like it!

Zucchini Marmelade and a first for everything…

October 16, 2011 by tam

Today is the day before X-man’s birthday and a Sunday. I had great plans for today including going to the park to pick pine cones to make bird seed feeders to hang from the trees and little Christmas trees for the mantle. (I know, it’s not even Halloween yet but I thought I could get a head start.) Then, to the Gardens to run around and enjoy the sun and fountains and maybe catch a snack at the Uncommon Grounds shack. I thought we could perhaps head to the Boring Playground after that (I’ll explain later) and the boys could drive their Hot Wheels around the half-pipes at the skate part.

Well…

X-man came down with some sort of flu made up mostly of fever and a lot of sneezing and snotting. So, we stayed inside for the day. Since I originally had grand plans of busy-ness as I always do (something I have to work on) I decided I would make some marmelade with the monstrous amounts zucchini that my friend, Juli, dropped of earlier in the week. It was Juli who also sent me the recipe for this marmelade.

First things first, I went to the library and checked out a couple of books on preserving and read the basics before beginning which was a good idea. I found out that you only use the flat tops of the lids once (what a waste and what do I do with these lids once I cannot use them again???) or they may not seal the second time around. No wonder you could buy extra lids separately.

Second, I did something I rarely do, and that is to get all the ingredients ready to go BEFORE I started. I was entering unchartered territory in the Shards kitchen so I wanted to be sure I was fully prepared.

I cleaned all of the jars and placed them into the oven to sterilize for 15 min…

I got the lids boiling at the ready…little did I know they’d be in there a while!

Once all the ingredients were added I stirred and stirred waiting for it all to thicken. I read it would take about half and hour…I think I cooked a little too long because some of the zucchini started to brown a bit from the sugar. Oops! So I turned off the plate and removed the pot. It was preetttyyy thiiick….

I let it sit for the 5 minutes the recipe stated. I started getting all excited about my first time making jam (yay!) and forgot to skim the top before ladeling it into the jars. :0 Ah well, it’s a learning process. L was eager to help with the labeling and did a great job. I think it was a great idea to put the labels on the tops since we wouldn’t be using them again for jams. Again, what do you do with all these unused lids??

According to the recipe I was expecting to get a full 10 jars. I got 5. Interesting…

We all tried a bit of the left-over marmelade once it cooled down and even though it was ridiculously thick it was good. So, I give myself a gold star for effort and completion. Now, spreading it on bread, well, let’s just say the bread suffered a bit. :0

Oh, and the whole Boring Playground thing: When X-man was about three he started asking to go to the Magic Playground. I had no idea. One day we drove by a playground and he said that was the one. Oh! Wow! Okay! Great! Magic playground!

Well, it was a pretty cool playground.

Until…

They removed two of the slides from the big playset and one slide that stood alone. Now that one is just a set of stairs that are blocked off at the top. Seriously? Yes. So, a serious demotion it got from the boys.

Thus, the Boring Playground.

-tam-

Our Bookworms…

October 12, 2011 by tam

They love books. I love books. Perfect.

front deck: day 5

October 11, 2011 by Stephen

Everyone, we’d like to introduce you to our new front deck. Front Deck, this is everyone.

Other than a few tweaks on any cosmetic “deficiencies” we find that we’d like corrected, the job is done. 🙂

HUGE relief. Now we just gotta pay for it. 😐

[stephen]

Great Day

October 10, 2011 by tam

We’ve been at the park for almost two hours and no schedule. Amazing!

Best day.

smile

first family run

October 10, 2011 by Stephen

At the halfway point on our first ever family run. 🙂

Once all was said and done, we covered roughly 2.25 km together. Great start to the day.

Happy Thanksgiving, indeed. 🙂

front deck: day 4

October 8, 2011 by Stephen

Just a quick update…

The workers got here at 7:30 am again this morning and started right into it. One of them had to leave in the morning to finish off another job commitment (started before our deck) so, progress was a bit slower than usual. Still, by the end of the day, all the deck railings were completed and the stairs were installed. All that’s left are the stair railings and the lattice-work underneath.

So. Close. 🙂

[stephen]

birthday busy-ness

October 6, 2011 by tam

Today was a wonderful day and I must say, looking back, that there wasn’t a sour moment.

L was a ball of energy and smiles galore from the moment he awoke. We had breakfast then hurried off to his MITE theatre class.

Afterwards, with none of us prepared for the chill that a mere 5 degrees can bring, we quickly retired from the community centre playground to our place with the boys’ friends in tow. It was a bit like an impromptu party for L with new toys and friends and yummy muffins. Oh, and coffee and tea for the adults, of course!

After lunch the four of us went glow in the dark mini-putting where X beat us all as far as getting the most hole-in-ones. 4! Craziness! It was weird because, being part of a bowling alley, the mini-put room reeked like greasy food which somehow reminded me of sushi pizza. Odd, I know!

Off to Chapters for a snack and some fun in the Kidzone. And as time flies when you are having fun suddenly it was time to come home for dinner. Xman helped me make the dough for the pizza perogies and even rolled some out all on his own. We may have a future chef on our hands!

After our yummy dinner we sang to L and had some cake. Now Sonic and Knuckles are upstairs in their own little makeshift beds next to the boys as they sleep.

A good day had by all. And a happy birthday, too!

Here are some pics of our evening dinner making and L’s cake.

Tam