Cinnamon Swirl Bread

I am really enjoying making breads like this one for the family. This morning, everyone enjoyed a nice slice or two of cinnamon swirl bread, toasted with butter. I know that there are no additives, preservatives, msg or anything I don't want them eating. The crumble topping really adds that special something and we enjoyed it throughly!

Home Made Bagels

Don't they look yummy? Guess what, they are! Flour, water, sugar, salt, yeast and time made these yummy treats. I can't wait until morning when I toast mine and add butter and apple jelly...YUM!

In the baking of the bread...

I have been working on perfecting some bread recipes because, let's face it, there is not much that tastes better than fresh baked bread. This Italian Bread is made from just flour, water, yeast and just enough sugar to give the yeast something to eat. Nice crusty bread loaves perfect for dipping, toasting or slicing.

I went through a few recipes to find a nice hearty wheat bread. This one is made from Amish whole wheat flour. It rises and is kneaded 4 times before it is baked making the texture nice. It takes all afternoon to make this yummy bread.

Every recipe I found for rye bread called for molasses which makes a sweet rye and not what I wanted for dipping in my soup. Then I discovered sourdough bread recipes. This recipe takes two and a half days and 16 cups of flour to prepare. It makes three large and delicious loaves of bread-just what I was looking for. I love this bread!

Caramels

I attended and had a table at a Women In Agriculture night last week. I brought some of these homemade caramels with me as samples. After just a few people had tried them, I was laughing because of the reactions of the ladies. There were several mmmmmm's and ooohhhh's. By the end of the tasting time, the lady across the aisle who had handmade purses was actually laughing too. So I have decided that I will add caramels to my list of products to make women everywhere happy.

Today- Pears

I went on a scavenger hunt again the other day when someone wanted people to come and pick pears. I picked about a bushel of pears from the tree. If I would have had more boxes, I could have picked more. They are ripening and so I went on a recipe search. I found a recipe for Fresh Pear Cake...it is yummy! Pears and sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, walnuts and egg whites in a delicious bundt pan made a beautiful presentation and a delicious cake. Our dinner guests seem to very much appreciate the homemade beef stew, italian bread salad and then the yummy fresh pear cake for dessert.

I can't wait to see what other recipes I find for pears as they ripen and I need to use them up. Any one know any delicious recipes for fresh pears?

The Best Tomato Sauce Ever...

I have a recipe for italian style stewed tomatoes, but wanted to change it a bit. The ensuing recipe makes a fabulous dipping sauce/tomato sauce/spaghetti sauce/soup starter.

Tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped are added to a mixture of onion, green peppers, fresh basil and chopped garlic. The amounts on these will vary according to your taste. Then added chopped zucchini and let it cook for about an hour. Next, run the mixture through your blender to finely chop and then can it.

Then pull it out with breadsticks or foccocia bread and use as a dip. It also makes a wonderful pizza sauce on top of foccicia bread with cheese and your favorite toppings. Add to meatballs and angel hair pasta for a quick meal. Take a jar and pour into a pan. Add one and a half jars of water, one jar of pasta noodles and some mini meatballs and let simmer for 30 minutes. Top with grated parmesan for a fantastic meal. Seriously a very versatile sauce and yummy flavor.

Enjoy, I have a whole pot simmering now that I will be canning in about an hour and the house smells amazing!

Baking Day

Today...baking. I have black walnut, chocolate chip cookies in the oven, italian bread rising and foccocia bread cooling. I still want to make wheat bread and pumpkin cookies before I call it a baking day success. I also put up a couple of more quarts of italian style stewed tomatoes. I could have done without that one today, but the tomatoes thought otherwise. The family sure is eating better these days!

The boys were working on the chicken laying boxes today. We may have found out why they keep laying all over the barn. It seems they don't like to lay in the same boxes they are sleeping in and they like to lay in a quiet spot. So the boys built some covers for several of the boxes. Hopefully that will increase our production numbers-at least the number we find! They have an order for 15 dozen eggs this weekend, so the girls better start laying where they are supposed to lay!