Homemade Marshmallows

The thought of homemade marshmallows never crossed my mind before I read Jenny's blog. Jenny lives in the Alaskan Wilderness and you can find the recipe HERE on her blog. We put them together Saturday and will probably have them this afternoon. If you decide to wait til evenin' time around here....you may just get rained out....over and over. So hop on over to Jenny's blog, read about her life in Alaska (you can also click on The Last Frontier on my sidebar) and make some marshmallows.Here are the pictures of our marshmallow adventure.

Honestly, at this point, it tastes just like marshmallow creme in the jar. Mmmm.

We ended up having some folks over for a bit this evening and everyone liked them. Even people who didn't normally like store bought marshmallows liked them.

The Schooner Shawl

Remember this?
Well, it is finished.

Blocking.

Turning the point is where I had the most trouble. Obviously, I couldn't count eyelets...but I can now.

The back.

The side.

The cantankerous point.

The other side.

The front.


Tada!

Cinnamon Raisin Swedish Tea Ring-Bread Month Seven

Let's turn our attention to this Swedish Tea Ring from my older Betty Crocker cookbook. I knew the minute I saw this picture.......mine would NOT look like it!!! lol. Well, I was right.

But I am just a glutton for punishment! So here goes.

I rolled it into a 9 x 15 inch rectangle.

I brushed one half with water and one half with butter. I have read that the butter will cause the mixture to 'not want to stick' therefore creating a gap between the filling and the dough. It's an experiment.

I rolled it up and then squished the ends together.

I cut 2/3 the way through at one inch intervals. Then I slanted all of the slashed pieces. I don't understand that because alot of the stuff leaks out during baking. (?)

I baked it, made a little glaze and had a piece.

I made one side with cinnamon/raisin and one half with just the cinnamon mixture.

Here is the whole recipe.

Sweet Roll Recipe.
2 1/4 tsp. yeast
1/2 C. warm water
1/2 C. lukewarm milk (scalded then cooled) to scald milk, warm over medium heat until tiny bubbles form at the edge. Do not boil.
1/3 C. sugar
1/3 C. shortening, margarine or butter, softened
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 1/2 - 4 C. A/P flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in milk, sugar, shortening, salt, egg and 2 C. of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl,turn the greased side up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1.5 hours.

Now take 1/2 half of this dough and roll it into a 9 x 15 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 T. of softened butter. Then spread a mixture of 1/2 C. brown sugar, 2 T. ground cinnamon and 1/2 C. raisins over the top.
Roll up starting on the long edge. Pinch edged to seal, stretch it a bit and bring together into a ring and pinch the ends together. Make cuts 2/3 of the way through the ring at 1 inch intervals. Turn each section on its side. Let rise until double...about 40 minutes.

Heat over to 375°, bake until golden brown, tenting with aluminum foil to prevent over browning, 25 to 30 minutes.
Spread with glaze (optional)


Glaze
Mix 1 C. powdered sugar, 1 T. milk and 1/2 tsp. vanilla until smooth and of desired consistency. (I had to add a little more milk)

It tasted o.k. With the other half I will just make up some cinnamon rolls. Basically, you do the same thing. The book gives a different recipe for the filling..that being 2 T. butter softened to spread over the dough, mix 1/4 C. sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon and spread over that. Although, I think the other filling would suffice. After you roll it up into a log shape, take a sturdy piece of thread and slice through the dough like you would when using a knife. Slice into 1.5 inch piece. Place them in a baking dish, slightly apart, let them rise for @ 40 minutes.
Then bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes. You can put the same glaze on it as well.

Flowers 2011

One may ask 'why'? Another may ask 'why not' ?

Four Weeks Old

A Pretty Field of Yellow

A few weeds? Are they weeds? Are they docks? Are they mustard plants? Does anyone know?

• 
• At first I thought they were docks but a family member thinks maybe mustard.
• I don't know, but I CAN tell you that as my daughter and I drove to Amboy we came upon a brilliant yellow field. It was mid morning and a surprisingly non rainy one. As we came to the field we were amazed at how pretty it was so we stopped to take some pictures.

As soon as we rolled the window down....OH the smell of the field......it was practically intoxicating. It smelled like honey with a bit of muskiness thrown in. The breeze was blowing it in our direction. We just sat and smelled it.

A million little yellow petals.

Tidbits *revisited*

Remember back in December we sent a care package to a 'soldier' I am not sure that is what he is really called, but he is in the service and flies helicopters.
So, he got the package.
Fast forward to a week and a half ago.
He had gotten back to his base in the states and was home visiting his family. (they just live down in the next little town-but neither I or my dau. had met him-my husband new him when he was younger,BUT we do know his mother)
Bless his heart. He and his mother stopped by to thank our daughter for the package. How sweet. It happened on the day when our dau. had gone to work with Chris and neither were here.
:(
But I took their picture.

Cheese-block-mozzarella

Note to self.
16 oz. block of mozzarella cheese yields 4 C. shredded.
I was at the grocery getting ingredients to make a lasagna for my sister and had a dilemma over cheese. I have dilemma's over the silliest things.
I like to buy cheese in a block and shred it at home. Less ingredients that way and it just seems so fresh. Plus it makes me feel like I have done something worthwhile for my family. I knew I needed X number of cups of cheese for the dish.
I didn't want to buy pre-shredded but I didn't know how much shredded cheese a block yielded. So above is my answer for mozzarella cheese.
Stay turned for more cheese adventures. I am becoming more and more interested in cheeses. There are so many.

Pizza Dough - Bread Month Four *revisited*

Back on bread month four I shared with you a pizza dough recipe from Wolfgang Puck. I have made it since and enjoyed it, but also struggled with the 'wetness' of the dough. I happened to run across "Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy, Delicious Recipes for Your Home Kitchen" at the library and picked it up. It has the pizza dough recipe in it, page 123. I noticed that it was different than the one I posted. So now I am confused.....both are WP recipes it seems, but they are different. So I tried it and it is much easier to work with. Some of the sweetness may have been reduced but it is still good. You make it just the same way as the previous post mentions but the amounts are different, so here is what the book says.
2 1/2 tsp (1 pkt) active dry yeast
1 C. warm water
1 tsp. honey
1 T. extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing the pizza crusts.
3 C. a/p flour
1 tsp. salt

I hope this adjustment to the recipe helps.

Infant Pants

Just finished these little infant pants to cover Ben's little booty and legs. 12 inches long.
Knit Picks
Swish-DK
Dusk and White
******Warning...I gave them a QUICK soak and pulled them out in a hurry because the water turned blue instantly..so if you don't want the blue to bleed onto the white..give it a steam bath instead*******
I was disappointed in that area.

Who's Giddy?

I AM!!!!!!

Thanks for the rhubarb Robin......aaaaahhh....love it.

Wordless Wednesday

I Have Wool Socks on in May

This is what has been going in my little world.
Obviously the cat had kittens. Triplets.

Our first Baltimore Oriole visit. Hope he stays.

Merino wool to knit a pair of pants for a little baby boy..just born a month ago.

Picked up a new color of Patons Kroy Socks FX wool sock yarn. The color is 'cameo colors'. I really like this yarn, in fact I have some wool socks from this yarn on my feet as I type. I know...it is May-just doesn't seem right does it? It will warm up soon enough I suppose.

Got our first time visit from this little tiny fella too. He is hard to photograph. He is very skiddish, but he is aDORable...he is a Yellow Throated Warbler.

Today is the last day of my part-time job so I will be able to chat with you more often. I am also trying to do Facebook again. I don't do the games, just write a few things and then check out friends pictures. lol
Until next time!