Evening Walk

Last night after FHE we took the family on a walk to shoot a mini cannon. Jayson's mom brought it over for Devon's science project for school. Warren is quite the character! I love the shoes and butt cheek!!!You can see the tennis ball shooting out.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Sunday was Jayson's birthday. We celebrated by having a party. Dustin (Jayson's big bro.) has a birthday on the 13th, so we celebrated his special day as well. We ate BBQ pizza and chicken wings, Jayson's two favorite meals. We had oodles of family members here with us. It was a really fun time.

Dessert

Uncle Robert's favorite part is TeeJay's home made ice cream.

Devon wanted to light the candles. He did an excellent job. Make a wish!

Cinnamon Rolls

Jayson's cousin requested that I post the recipes for my cinnamon rolls and bread. The cinnamon roll recipe is combination of two different recipes. The dough is from one of Shar's classes, and the rest is from a recipe a friend gave me while living in Texas. I am trying out a ton of different bread recipes so I will post a recipe when I have a favorite. If anyone has a recipe they think is fantastic, pass it along. I would be happy to try it.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

In Bosch with dough hook:
3 C. fresh ground whole wheat flour (I prefer white wheat)
½ c. buttermilk powder or powdered milk
¼ c. potato flour
2 c. high gluten flour (bread flour) or 1/3 c. vital wheat gluten
3 T. instant yeast (SAF brand is best)

3 T. dough enhancer
Mix thoroughly so the buttermilk will not form lumps.

Add:
3 c. warm water (approx. 115’)

½ c. canola oil (I use veggie oil)

1/2 c. honey

Mix for 2-3 minutes cover and set aside to sponge until the dough doubles in size. About 10-15 minutes.

Add:
2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 T. sea salt

Continue to add fresh ground whole wheat flour until the dough starts pulling away from the side of the bowl but never picks up the bottom. This dough will be sticky. Knead on speed 1 for 6-7 minutes or until the gluten develops.

1) Cut dough in half.
2) Roll one half of dough in to rectangle 12”x18”
3) Spread with softened butter
4) Sprinkle with ¾ c. sugar mixed with 1 ½ T. cinnamon
5) Roll-up jelly roll style starting from the long side
6) Cut 1 ½ - 2” rolls with dental floss
7) Place on parchment lined cookie sheet, let rise until double

8)repeat process making another batch of cinnamon sugar
9) Bake at 350’ for 20 minutes
10) Frost while warm

Frosting:
3 T. butter

1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar

milk ( start with 2 T.)

I make a double bath of frosting

A Crappy Morning!

So this morning around 6am, Brennon yelled down the stairs for someone to bring him toilet paper. I wasn't completely awake yet, so I had Devon fulfil his request. Devon proceeded to throw the toilet paper up the stair. I told him that Brennon had obviously pooed, so he was going to have to take the toilet paper upstairs. Devon groaned but walked up the stairs, where he then threw the toilet paper at Brennon. I remember thinking I hope Brennon didn't get poo all over the toilet seat while he went to get that. I quickly forgot about it though, as I proceeded to take care of morning chores. Anyway after everyone was off to school. I went up stairs to check and see if Brennon had let the water out of his bathtub (I don't want my babies to drown). Well Brennon had let the water out of his tub, but I noticed there was poo smeared all over his toilet. It was disgusting. I decided I would leave it and let Brennon clean it up when he got home from school. Well, not too long after that I was checking my email and I heard the boys making noise upstairs (I have to find a gate to fit my stairs). I figured I better go check it out, and bring Garryn back down, so he doesn't fall down the stairs. When I got upstairs I was in complete horror. Brennons bathroom had water all over the floor, and the boys were climbing all over the poo smeared toilet, throwing toilet paper around. GROSS, I yelled and dragged the boys down stairs to take a bath. Then I decided I better clean up the mess instead of waiting for Brennon to do it. As soon and I was finished, I noticed Warren had taken off his diaper and thrown it down the stairs. I went to get it and put it back on him, when I noticed there was poo in it. Great I thought and went to go get the wet wipes and a new diaper. I told Warren to come with me. Well, he didn't follow so I went to go find him. He was sliding down the stairs on his butt wiping poo on them as he went. So I had to clean him up and the poo smeared stairs as well. So as the title of this post states I had A Crappy Morning, literally! GO POO

***Update: about an hour after posting this Warren walked up to me holding his hands out. He had brown stuff all over them. I know what you are thinking; not more poo, but yes, that is exactly what it was. You see in order to prevent Warren from just taking off his diaper after he was done with it, I had put it on backward. I guess he figured if he couldn't take it off he would reach in and play with it instead, and so the morning continues.

Birthday Party

My sister in-law had a birthday, and we celebrated this past weekend. It was fun to spend time with family. There were even two big announcements.

Devon enjoyed showing everyone the socks I bought for him. I didn't really pay attention to what they said on the package. I thought I was buying ankle socks.

Grilled Pizza

We got a new BBQ last week, and we have been grillin up some good stuff. Last night I tried out grilled pizza. It turned out really good. I made some cheese and some pepperoni ones for my first try, but next time I am going to try out some new toppings. Maybe grilled vegetables, mmmmmm! Here is the recipe I used. I got this from Sunset magazine a few years back, and it is by far my favorite pizza dough recipe. I use my food processor to make it, but if you don't have one (or you don't have a very good one), you can double the recipe and make it in your Kitchen Aid mixer, or by hand. The sauce recipe is from America's Test Kitchen. I really like it because it's flavors are so simple.

Tony’s Pizza Dough
½ pkg. (1 1/8 tsp.) active dry yeast
½ c. warm (90’ -100’) water
½ c. ice-cold water
½ T. sugar
½ T. salt
1 T. olive oil
2 ¾ c. flour (I used 3/4 cup of fresh ground whole wheat)

1. In small bowl, with fork, stir yeast into warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
2. In another bowl, mix cold water, sugar, and salt until dissolved; stir in oil.
3. Place flour, yeast mixture, and cold-water mixture in the food processor bowl and whirl until dough is smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes. (If machine stops, wait a few minutes, then resume.) If dough is still sticky, add 2 to 3 more teaspoons flour and whirl until dough is smooth. Transfer to a floured board.
4. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured board. With floured hands, pick up dough; pull opposite edges together toward center and pinch to seal. Repeat all around circumference to form a smooth, tight ball. Place in a 1-gallon plastic bag. Squeeze out air and seal bag, allowing enough room for ball to double. Chill at least 10 hours or up to 2 days. Yield: 4 mini pizza's for use on grill, or 2 thin crust pizza's to make in oven, or 1 thick crust to make in oven
To make:
1. Let pizza dough stand at room temperature until almost doubled and no longer cold, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Remove dough from bag; coat with flour. On lightly floured board

3. Roll or stretch out into thin round

4.Place dough on a grill grates (grill needs to be on high heat, with grates oiled before heating). Cook till bottom of dough is done, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Top pizza on cooked side of dough. Don't add too much sauce.

6. Slide back onto grill grates and shut lid. Cook till bottom of pizza is cooked and cheese has melted on top, about another 3 minutes.

7. ENJOY!!!

Basic Pizza Sauce
1 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes
Table salt and ground pepper

Cook oil and garlic in medium saucepan over low heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, increase heat to medium, and cook until slightly thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Everyday life

So, I have been a really bad blogger lately. I guess I got caught up in everyday life. Here are some things I have been doing.

Spending time with hubby. He finally isn't working 70 hours a week.

Dealing with a crazy almost 2 year old (not to mention all his siblings).

And lots of baking. I have to keep my girlish figure don't I. Just kidding about the last part. Maybe if I stop baking such yummy things, I could get this extra 30lbs off of me. Maybe it would help if I exercised also.