Rainy Day Thoughts

Today was my day off work. I went to lunch with my husband like we usually do prior to his departure to work. A time we can just sit and talk and enjoy one another. Subway is our usual eatery. Sometimes we change that to another town and eat Panda Express that's closer to where he works.


After my little trip in town to get a few grocery items, pick up my pay check and post office visit I arrived at home. My daughter and I embarked on a bit of shopping at the outlet mall that's right by us. Rainy day but we like the awnings there because you don't get too wet. We were in search of pajamas for her. One store we usually frequent for such wear only had items made in China. We walked out and walked near to other end of mall to check another store out. We came across some made in China but one we purchased was made in India. We meandered back to the car, going through the back part of the mall. Stopped a couple places. One was the T Mobile store. I was checking out phones as mine is need of replacement. I don't need a bluetooth. I'm not out enough to need extra web access. GPS would be nice for outings. I guess you can download that off the internet for free. I'll wait another month or two before I make a decision. Too many choices and too tired to make that choice.


I buckled down and did my work when I got home. I spent more time out than I should have. I made dinner with leftover chili from Tuesday. I poured the heated chili over tortilla chips and Italian cheese blend. On top was sour cream and mozzarella cheese. Delicious! Fruit is a banana with chocolate ice cream!!! Ate what we have in our pantry!! A challenge I'm taking this month from a friend's website. Use what you have without spending much on food.






After the latest charade that has brought more bracelets for young girls with nickel cadmium brings a halt to my support. Toys have appeared with lead based paint. Toothpaste is made in China and we put it in our mouth. Milk has killed or made sick our country's children and China's children. Pet food has sickened/killed animals. A thermos I bought but not used in November will go back to the store. When will tainted items stop coming from there? Why hasn't anybody checked these items prior to items appearing on store shelves? I don't mind buying from another country but this is too much.

How do you all feel about this? I would prefer American made products, especially food!!! I read labels for many reasons now.

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I know we need to help our neighbors. On the forefront of the news and in my heart, is the earthquake in Haiti. Many people are giving through various organizations. We gave money to World Vision today, via their website

www.worldvision.org

Be wary of phone calls soliciting for funds to help in the effort. Don't give any credit card number to anyone who didn't call first. It is a scam!!!


(Photo is Christmas balls inside a cage at the outlet mall.)

Potato Bread

Christmas dinner included mashed potatoes. Since I was hoping
another person would show up, I had hubby peel more potatoes.
But no show for hopeful guest made leftovers.
So I made potato bread a week later.
I'm scalding the milk with butter and leftover potatoes.
I wound up having more potatoes than recipe called for
(about 2 cups worth) so I doubled the batch.
It still made the bread a bit heavier but it was very good.

After the scalded ingredients were cooled a bit,
I added the flour and yeast and liquid ingredients
into my Bosch mixer. I love this mixer for bread.
Makes less mess, but I still kneaded it a bit prior to
letting it rise. It gets the air out, which is important.

Now it's nap time for the bread. It rises once to double it's size.
Then you punch it down til it rises again.
(I waited a bit longer than I should. I was on the computer
and it popped the lid off bowl.
Good thing it didn't do much more than that. :0> )

Now the bread is ready for baking.

3 loaves freshly baked bread.

Now it's taste test time. I never can wait til bread completely cools
to eat it. It was delicious. 3 people can eat half a loaf quickly.


Potato Bread

3 1/2 cups milk, 6 tablespoons sugar,
6 tablespoons butter, 2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup mashed potatoes
2 packages dry yeast, 1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 cups whole wheat flour
7-8 cups white flour
Scald milk. Add sugar, butter, salt and mashed potatoes. Cool to lukewarm.
Meanwhile, dissolve yeast in water. Add to cooled milk mixture.
Add whole wheat flour and one cup white flour. Beat 2 minutes with mixer.
Stir in 6-7 more cups flour until dough leaves sides of bowl.
Turn onto light floured surface. Knead gently until dough forms a smooth ball. Place in a greased bowl. Turn once to grease top of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place away from drafts until doubled 1 1/2-2 hours. Punch down and let rise again until double. Turn onto floured surface and divide dough into 3 equal parts. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Form into 3 loaves and place in greased bread pans. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 40-45 minutes. Remove from pans and place on a rack to cool.

from the book "The Best of Amish Cooking" by Phyllis Pellman Good

Note: I used unbleached white flour. I also didn't use any sugar and it turned out great. I realized after looking at this recipe again, I could have made more loaves since I doubled the batch. I bought new yeast because mine was old but still worked. But I could notice the difference with the new yeast. Rose well and smelled really good. Enjoy and have a fun time baking and eating your bread.