Fun and Yummy Sourdough Bread

I am having so much fun with this No-Knead Bread recipe that I decided to share some pictures and updates since my post a couple of days ago.

I decided to make a sourdough start and use it instead of yeast in my recipe. I used whole wheat flour, a few raisins and water for my sourdough start. The raisins help to get a natural yeast going in the start.  

As you can see I have been using whole wheat flour that I ground and keep in the freezer. I use cold water not hot because I want it to warm up on its own.  I am using the Country Bread Recipe from Kathy at Eating the Rainbow:

http://superfoodsyear.blogspot.com/2011/03/hallelujah-no-knead-bread-that-turns.html

Try it I think you will really like it. I really do love playing with different cultures and this is the easiest bread and prettiest that I have ever made. 

Here are two more videos for you to see to help you get a bunch of pretty and yummy bread: 

Artisian Bread - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evsdggMoBuM&feature=related

Ciabatta Bread - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX_6l2bmvQI&feature=related

What Were You Afraid Of?

I don't know what you were afraid of when you were little but I was afraid of wasps. And I know why I was afraid of wasps. 

When I was very little I stayed with my Nana and Papa King in a rental apartment just off of Alhambra Blvd. in Sacramento. It was over a restaurant and at night the owners would play the accordion and sing. Very fun. One day Nana was coming in the back door from off of the back porch like thing where she had hung some clothes and a wasp stung her on the arm. Yikes!! She had been stung about ten times she said. I took a look at those wasps and they were crazy funny looking things and I decided that they were from Hell, not that I knew what hell was at that age but they were very phobically frightening to me and I decided that one would never, never, ever touch me. 

A few years later I was the little girl that caught honey bees in my bare hands without a quiver. But wasps... say the word and I would freakkkkk Outtttttttt!!! In fact one day my little brother and I were coming home from somewhere. I was driving and just as I turned the corner from Fair Oaks Blvd. onto New York Avenue in Fair Oaks, CA Kenny said "there is a wasp on your leg." I screamed and let go of the steering wheel and jumped to the passenger side of the car. Well the car didn't know what to do on it's own so it hit a telephone pole but the good news is that I didn't get stung by that WASP!

One good thing about these creatures is that they eat the maggot larvae in cow and horse poop so the fly problem is taken care of if you live in the country. 

I got stung a couple of years ago about five times under my arm and it hurt like heck. By then I had grown up and out of my phobia and I handled it very calmly. I Googled "wasp sting remedy" and found a great cure. The article said to take the inside of a banana peel, the sticky part and put it on the sting. I did and wahlaaaa, the sting immediately went away. HONEST, it worked. So next time you or yours gets stung by a wasp from Hell get out the banana peel and band aid the wet side onto the sting and see for yourself. 

So, tell me what were you afraid of when you were little?

Love,
Grammy T. 

But For Today I Weep

Mistie

My heart cried all day 

yesterday. 

My eyes also cried 

at the funeral and last night 

when I was asked to say 

the family prayer. 

I put my hands over my face and said 

”Heavenly Father this has been such a sad day.” 

And I cried and cried.  

Finally Danny said 

”Do you want me to say it?” 

Yes, I nodded. 

After the prayer he told me all of the 

wonderful news of the Gospel, 

that Mistie was in a wonderful place 

and her family would be 

with her again.

"Families Can Be Together Forever"

 “I know, I know” 

The first time I hugged Mistie we seemed to know each other heart to heart. And so we hugged a very long time. I had cancer twice and I told her that. There is something about being a Cancer Sister that I can’t explain. I told her that my best friend Carol also had breast cancer that was in her lymph’s too and then later in her bones and liver but that she was able to live for 15 years when they had only given her a few months.

And I told her of a dear friend in California that had brain cancer and the doctors had suggested two months but that a year and a half or so later he is still here and had given a talk in church last month, and it was a miracle.

I told her she must have hope and never give up that she could have a miracle too. Russ told me last week that the cancer was in her spine and on each vertebrae and was causing the most excruciating pain.

After the funeral yesterday I realized that 

her life was the miracle. 

She was the age of my seventh baby 

and youngest daughter 

Jessie 

but she was very much 

like my sixth baby, 

Amy. 

 “Why Mistie?" 

There is a reason, 

I know there is. 

And I know my heart will grasp 

it one of these days but 

'For today I weep.'