Bibliosophy Handmade

and, we're walking (and baking and knitting)

 

 

My Little Guy is up to some new tricks, including walking, and the discovery of dirt, rocks sticks....  A lethal combination!  I am working hard to remember he is a boy, and should be allowed to get dirty (as of course girls should too:).

Our days are pretty simple, and much the same caring for two very little ones, but I try to do something un-baby related every day.  Yesterday I got in two things!  A batch of my favorite scone recipe, and some new knitting.  If vague recipes drive you crazy, ignore the next bit.  But, if you are feeling like something bready, a little sweet, and not too bad for you, this is it.

Take 1 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour, 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour, a bit of baking soda and a bit of salt.  Mix.  Now, cut in one cold stick of butter until the mixture looks crumbly.  Then add about 1/2 cup sugar and some craisins, or currants, or chocolate chips; whatever you have on hand, or whatever suits your fancy.  Toss lightly to combine.  Then, beat one egg into 3/4 cup milk, and add this to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork until just combined.  Turn onto a floured surface, and knead until combined.  Then shape into a ball and flatten, and using a sharp knife cut into 8 wedges.  Onto the cookie sheet and into the 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

Eat and enjoy!

The new knitting is a good-y, the tea leaves cardigan, which I've seen several recommendations for, with some stash Rowan Felted Tweed.  And it's for me, in the prettiest pink color.  And maybe since I've started now it will be finished for fall!?  Thank goodness for naps and hands-free baby carriers!

What have you been working on in your days?

baby, and bread

Little Miss E. in some handknit goodness for snuggle time.  Thankfully, wool can be washed, because she is kind of a spit-up-y baby.  And I've forgotten how much newborns sleep!  Wow-sers, I don't think we have more than one or two pictures of her with her eyes open. 

She is such a sweet baby, and is going very easy on us.  We are all settling in together and figuring each other out, and Daddy is home with us for some days this week so that is extra fun!  DH and I had to laugh this morning when both babies were crying at the same time, and, as it happens, for the same reason: they didn't want to get dressed for the day.  But I got mine quiet first:)  What an adventure, I am so thankful we are on it!

I was working on this post about bread making the evening that I went into labor, and the title was going to be "bread, but no baby."  It must have ticked my girl off, because she started to signal her imminent appearance a few hours later!  I thought it would be appropriate to share now, as we continue to enjoy this batch of homemade bread.

Good bread is one of my weaknesses, but it can get so expensive, especially as my tastes run to the artisan kinds, so I've wanted to try making our own bread for a while.  At $4-$5 a loaf, and a not very big loaf at that, my bread consumption has to be limited.  Plus, the white flours just aren't that healthy, and I'm trying to incorporate more whole grains in our diet as we try to eliminate refined flours and sugars.

So, a bread-making experiment: homemade soaked whole grain bread.  You can read more here about the nutritional benefits of soaking whole grains, and you can find the recipe I followed here.  A word of warning before you dive in: soaking your grains like this takes a really big bowl, and enough refrigerator space to store it for 24 hours.  Fortunately, my fridge was nearly empty when I was doing this, so no problems there:)

 

Some good looking dough, huh?  My Kitchenaid mixer (just the standard model, nothing special) was not big enough to mix this dough, so DH and I mixed/kneaded it by hand on our kitchen table.  We found that working small sections made it more manageable, and then incorporated them together so that we had one big hunk of dough at the end:)  With a couple risings and some bake time, we had four nice loaves of healthy bread.

 

I think he likes it!

The loaves themselves aren't the most attractive, and my loaf pans were a little too wide so the bread came out flatter than it should, but the texture is great, the taste is yummy, and it is so much lighter than any other whole wheat bread I've had.

With a little Amish butter, it is really delicious!

I hope to be back in this space soon with some new projects; I'm thinking of pillows to make out living room a little more comfy as we lounge around together.

let me share a recipe with you

We get a monthly newsletter from our local "fancy grocer," and their recipes are always delicious.  This one, Cranberry Chocolate Chip Rolls, combines two of my passions, chocolate and bread; what could be better?  I have been known to consume a full recipe, a.k.a. two loaf pans worth (and thinking back, was I even pregnant then?  Yes, thank goodness, the newsletter is dated November '09, at least I can blame it on that!), so when I talked to DH at work as I was making them, he said, "save me some for tonight." 

2 cups milk, heated until lukewarm

2 tsp active dry yeast

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp butter, cut into very small pieces

2 Tbsp sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, chilled

1/2 cup Craisins

Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 2 Tbsp water

First stir the yeast into the lukewarm milk and let stand for a few minutes.  Stir in one cup of the flour.  Then add the butter, sugar, egg and salt and stir to combine.  Add 2 more cups flour, and mix until smooth (I use my Kitchenaid for all this with the paddle attachment).  Add the cold chocolate chips and Craisins, plus 1/2 cup more flour, and mix to combine.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead lightly, adding flour as needed, until dough is only slightly sticky.  Place in a clean bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and cut the dough in half.  Lightly butter two loaf pans.  Divide one half of the dough into eight smaller pieces, and arrange in the loaf pan, side by side, for four rows.  Repeat for other pan, cover with a cloth again and let rise an additional 30 minutes.

With a rack in the center of the oven, preheat to 400 degrees F.  Brush each loaf with the egg wash, and bake for about 30-40 minutes until puffed and golden.  Try to wait till they cool, and enjoy!  And save some for your husband!

And see, even the babies like them...

feeding the family

I seem to be stuck in a rut with my recipes lately, so I went back to an old favorite that I haven't made for years, Chicken Chili, by Barefoot Contessa.  Each week when I shop, I stock up on sale meats, and this week I got a great deal on split chicken breasts.  Once home, I cook it all up, de-bone, and freeze for use in quick meals later.  It saves money, and makes that hour before dinner so much more bearable!  For my $4 worth of chicken, I now have enough meat to make two dishes, which themselves provide us with about 6-8 meals each.  The chili last night was great, and I have enough for leftovers, and to start stocking my freezer with a couple of quick meals for after baby.

For the sake of trying something new, and because I had a serious bread craving, I made these Savory Cheese and Scallion scones from Farm Girl Fare instead of cornbread to accompany the chili.  They contain no butter, and have a fluffier, more biscuit-like texture than regular scones.  They are tasty, and stay moist from the cream cheese and feta inside.  Paired with a spinach salad, it was a yummier and healthier meal.

What recipes are seeing you through the winter?

Health(ier) Cookies

We are having yet another winter storm here in Ohio, and plans are being made for cooking, baking, and stitching today.  I have high hopes that I can finish the Tweedy Baby Blanket by tonight and get it blocking.  On knitting, does anyone have an opinion of the i-cord bind off?  It's called for in the blanket pattern, but I may just opt for a regular bind off to save time.

I made these oatmeal/raisin/coconut cookies the other night to satisfy a cookie craving, and they turned out rather nicely.  Not very sweet, but with the proper chewiness and texture you look for in a cookie.

Here's the recipe:

Cream together 1/2 c. of butter with 1/2 c. Crisco.  Add 1/2 c. each brown and granulated sugars and beat until creamy.  Add two eggs, plus about 1 tsp. vanilla.  Now add 1 c. all-purpose flour, 1 1/4 c. white whole wheat flour, 1 tsp. salt, and 1 tsp. baking soda, plus I like to add about 1 tsp. nutmeg.  Beat into the wet ingredients, until smooth.  Now add however much oatmeal, raisins, and shredded coconut you would prefer and mix until combined.  Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes in a 375 degree Farenheit oven!

Eat lots!