Thursday, October 22, 2009

Domestic Bliss!

She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. Prov. 31:14-15

My apples are now sauce and pie filling!
There are some days when I seem to have so much energy that I put my nose to the grindstone and actually get things done. Today was one of those days. I think it is because it's Fall. When it is Fall you know you must be prepared for the coming winter. So part of the stuff I accomplished today was some baking. For the ladies (and men that cook) who frequent this blog I have some yummy recipes to share!
Over the past couple of nights whenever I would bake dinner the smoke alarm would start beeping...a good sign the oven needs cleaning. (No, I wasn't burning supper!) Thus before I started my cooking endevours I had to clean out the oven. Last night I had tried the auto clean, but when the flames started popping up I decided it needed a good scrub first. I don't have pictures of that. Who wants to see a dirty oven anyway?
Then it was on to nicer, tastier things.

I made these bread items this afternoon, but I don't think they will last all winter...I have already tried 2 muffins. Or was it 3? This morning I was thinking about what kind of muffin I wanted to make and had limited it to zucchini or blueberry. The other day I had seen a blueberry muffin recipe of Alton Brown's and since he is one of my favorite chefs I thought I would re-look it up. As I was browsing, however, I came across this zucchini/blueberry bread recipe. WOW! I wouldn't have to make a decision afterall! Because I wanted muffins I changed the directions a little bit by following Alton's tips found in this episode of Good Eats. This recipe didn't contain any oil, which is great, but I would like to see if I could cut down on the sugar a little bit. Okay, that is just an excuse to make more...[UPDATE: W said they tasted like doughnuts!]
Making bread was also on the list of things to do since we were down to 3 slices of bread. If you notice one loaf is a little bigger than the other. It always does that and I haven't figured out why. Although I have a theory. The higher loaf is baked in a thin old loaf pan and the shorter one is baked in an a thick new pan. I suppose the thickness of the pan keeps the one from rising as fast. The "third" loaf I made into rolls. By the way I love my Bosch! It makes bread baking sooo easy.
In between bread rising and baking there was laundry to do, a grocery list to make, a psalm-sing to prepare for, planning for company and oh, of course all those dishes. Did I mention we are having leftovers for supper?
Tomorrow W is planning on hunting with a friend on his property. So we might be processing a deer in the next few days. Hmmmm. To have the meat will be nice...but I don't know about the processing part. :)
Another recipe I wanted to share was this applesauce cake. It has a nice Fall-ish flavor and I could have probably eaten a whole one by myself. Okay, now I'm remembering a conversation from this past Lord's Day on why I shouldn't eat one by myself. It would be breaking the sixth commandment. "The duties required in the sixth commandment are...a sober use of meat, drink..." (WLC Answer 135)
Well, I'll leave you with a video of JuneBug being domestic and "washing" windows. This afternoon I found him at it again...using his tongue! [EDIT: For some reason the video won't upload so I'll try again later. UPDATE: video can now be viewed here.]

3 comments:

Conley Clan said...

What a hard working woman! :) I totally emptied the garage and cleaned and organized it the other day, but didn't get any pictues of my progress. I was a bit dirty anyway!! LOL!'
I'd like to taste some of the fruits of your labor!! :) Looks GREAT! And I'm always up to haveing a new GOOD recipe on hand! I just gave a simple , yet oh-so-scrumptious recipe to your sis ~S~ to try! Just mix yellow cake mix and big can of pumpkin pie mix together! Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes and top with cinnamon! The result is the moistest cake you've ever had!! :)

Unknown said...

Applesauce...yum! We turned 2 bushels of apples into applesauce a couple weeks ago. It is so much fun to see a freezer or pantry well stocked with goodies : )!!

Aha, deer processing. Daddy hasn't been able to get a deer the past couple years and we've been missing the meat. The processing isn't so bad as long as you don't have to participate in the field dressing(YUCK!).

Awwwwwww, Junebug is so cute and helpful : ). We always love seeing pictures of him!

Chloe(for us Mississippi folk : ))

Stephen and Kathryn said...

Meg~
Have you tried the pumpkin scone recipe yet? We went to the store on Sat. and I forgot to pick up the can of pumpkin...I was so bummed....

I am glad to know that you have found a muffin recipe with no oil!

I have to eat up leftovers before I can make any more desserts. Currently we have apple dumplings, oreo truffles, TN trifle, and chocolate cake in the house. Can't you tell we are big health-nuts??? :)

Love ya!
~K~