Big Bread!

This bread rose so high I had to remove the top rack...it made a dent in the loaves!



This recipe (adapted from a Food Nanny recipe) only makes 2 loaves...so works with a Kitchen Aid mixer that has a smaller capacity than a Bosch.

Honey Oat Wheat Bread

Mix in a small bowl and let sit until bubbly...about 10 minutes:

2 1/4 C warm (110 degree) water
1 T yeast (I used SAF)

In bread mixer bowl mix:

3 T oil
3 T honey
1 egg
5 T oats (old fashioned or quick)
3 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C gluten flour
yeast mixture

Mix (or stir with a big spoon) about 2 minutes. Then cover and let set for 20 minutes until bubble appear on top and mixture is almost doubled.

Gradually add about 2 C white flour...enough for a soft dough. Knead 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; spray top with Pam and cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Divide in half and form into loaves. Oil tops and cover with towel; let rise until doubled again...about 45 minutes. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Butter loaves when they come out of oven.

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

Tomato Cream Sauce
(from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner)

Saute in a little olive oil:
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped

Add:
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
1/2 C cream (or half and half or just use milk to cut down on fat)
1/4 C lo fat ricotta
20 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1 t dried)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
1/4 t crushed red pepper (optional)

Simmer until thickened, about 15 or 20 minutes and serve over fresh pasta with more Parmesan.

Spring in Clayton...

Our yard often has issues, but right now things are beautiful....
The roses are blooming...




In the back yard....










The apple tree....these will make good pies!






Lilacs...I wish you could smell these!




California Poppies in Clayton...




A rose in the garden...

Spring walk

Kathy B was in town last week so we went for a walk and really enjoyed the beautiful California weather!

Can you see the baby ducks.... Beautiful roses....

We counted 15!(baby ducks that is)

Azaleas and crepe myrtles are blooming...

Cecil Brunner roses...

Wisteria...

Taco Soup

This good on a cold day...I often double it and give some away.

Taco Soup

1/2 lb. lean ground beef or turkey
1 28 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can kidney or canneloni beans
2-3 T taco seasoning mix
2 C water
6 corn tortillas

Brown meat; add everything else (tear up the tortillas or cut into triangles); let simmer 20-30 minutes; serve with sour cream and taco sauce.

Cute grandkids! (Of course!)

Just had to perk up my blog with a couple of cute pictures!

Here

Penny with the blossoms in DC!

And here are a couple of the Kodester!

Shall we call him Dustin, Jr.???


Two little cabbage patches!

A comforting message about the earthquake in Chile...

Don Francis Cecil and the San Francisco EarthQuake!

Don Francis Cecil was Grandma Dorothy's father. He was born in Iowa in 1877. He grew up just outside of Chicago, Illinois in Aurora where his father was a train conductor. They "traveled" quite a bit since they got free rides...in 1900 he is in St. Louis, Missouri (another big rail station) with his parents and sister, May. Both he and his sister call themselves "stenographers"...By 1901 he has married Edith Reffner in Buda, Illinois.

He evidently did a little work for Pinkertons. On the night of the 1906 earthquake he was in San Francisco (I think following someone in a divorce case). He was thrown out of his bed by the earthquake, grabbed his pants and got out of the hotel he was staying in before it collapsed. Exposure during the night led to illness (or maybe he already had it and this just made it worse). He had tuburculosis and died 6 years later(1912).

Pinkerton's founder, Alan Pinkerton, was the original "Private Eye" ....

Don Cecil's father was William Kimball Cecil...he was a train conductor, on the Rock Island Line out of Chicago(it says Rock Island on his uniform collar). The Pinkerton Detective Agency started in Chicago in the 1850s and their first major clients were the railroads. Pinkertons was famous for chasing train robbers (Butch Cassidy, Jesse James, etc) It's very credible that the Cecil's paths crossed the famous Pinkertons.

By 1910 William and his wife, Bessie, had moved to California and lived on Fulton St. in Berkeley. Don Francis and his wife Edith moved to Santa Clara with their four children, Gladys, Dorothy, Bonnie, and Donald. In the 1910 census he is a "farmer" with an "orchard." (Probably prune trees!) He died of tuberculosis two years later.

Pineapple Angel Food Cake - Easy & Lo Fat!

This recipe couldn't be easier....and it's virtually fat free (unless you opt for real whipping cream on top instead of Cool Whip)

1 box Angel Food cake mix*
1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple

Dump the pineapple (including the juice) into the cake mix and beat about 5 minutes. Pour into a 9x13 pan and bake about 25 minutes. Cool and frost with a tub of Cool Whip...add strawberries on top if you like.

*Be sure to get the kind of angel food cake mix that has just one envelope of ingredients in the box...some brands have two...one of the egg whites that you beat up first and another with the flour, etc. that you add later.

Also...I could probably justify using real whip cream on this....after all there is no fat in the cake and it's probably healthier to eat a little fat than all the chemicals in the Cool Whip...but sometimes, in the interest of having a guilt free (calorie wise) treat, I just don't read the ingredients on the Cool Whip package!

Skills Kids Need to Know

Carolyn Nicholayson wrote an interesting article on Meridian Magazine about teaching some Beehive Girls who worried they would never be "good grandmas" because they didn't know how to do any of the "old fashioned" home skills...making jam, crocheting, sewing, gardening, canning, etc. Those skills have certainly fallen out of fashion...it used to be that Primary girls were taught embroidery and crocheting...I even remember doing some in Girl Scouts...

I haven't canned for years because it's really not very cost effective unless you have access to free fruit....but maybe we'll have to do some just to pass on the cultural heritage of self reliance that it implies. And it seems pointless to sew clothing when you can go to Target, or embroider pillow cases...but there is a satisfaction in those simple skills that is hard to duplicate with playing a Wii...maybe because the point of these humble activities is to allow us to be of service to others...

Here's Carolyn's article:

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/emergency/100414chid.html

Happy Anniversary...Jess & Dave

It's been a busy two years!

Happy Birthday, Gpa Roger...

April 11...Gpa Roger's birthday. He would have been 87.
I love to look at the pictures from his younger years...I see little echoes of him in many of the young men in our family....

Roger, maybe about the time he graduated from high school. Who does he look like? A little Matt...a little Michael...he had really good hair...

Janiece, Roger and Patti...1947...no one looks too happy...

Roger and Patti, about 1947 in front of Gma Dorothy and Grampa Earle's house on Ascot Drive in the Oakland hills.

He LOVED fishing!
Sturgon fishing...those are big fish!

Jesse and Gpa Roger....

Mark, Grampa Roger and Dick....a successful fishing trip! Where was this? Up at Gasquet?

Mark says it was at Tahoe...Uncle Dick chartered a boat...cool!

Not a very good picture....but he always had a boat named the Dean's Delight!

Here he is with Val on one of many fishing trips....

He never minded being the center of attention!




He was pretty silly....

Another silly pictures....





Grampa and Kaity...




A fun Christmas with Roger and Evelyn....




Graduating from San Jose State




One of The Greatest Generation...he served in France....and was lucky to make it home.

About 16...ice skating...he was also a skier.



A sweet little boy....he was an only child...he was really a "little prince"....his parents and grandparents centered their lives around him (and his cousin Pat...also an only child)...

Patti, Val, Gpa Earle, Gma Clara, Roger and Jesse...about 1959

Engaged...1944

A loving dad...with Val

With Matthew....




Kindergarten