Homemade Croutons

Well these little things turned out to be delicious! AND so very easy! Remember that Rosemary Olive Oil Bread that I made a few mornings ago in my pajamas? If not, you can view the whole thing, pajamas and all, on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnU7VCexsdSYRZBIhUGR7ZgbFSXHq0BJa
So anyway, there was just a little bit of the loaf left and I wanted to put it to good use. So, I made croutons with it. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and cut the bread into cubes. I placed them in a large bowl and drizzled them with olive oil.

Next, I sprinkled the cubed bread with salt and pepper and mixed it well.

Then, I spread the bread out on a foil-lined baking sheet.

And baked  at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until crispy.

They were delicious spread with fresh roasted garlic!

LOVED This Book!!

I just finished reading Ree Drummond's book, "The Pioneer Woman Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" and it was SOOOOOOO GOOD! My youngest daughter gave it to me for Christmas. It was hard to put down once I started reading it. And I didn't want it to end! I'm sure hoping she writes a sequel!!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Sourdough Chocolate Cake

Yep, you read that title right, I made Sourdough Chocolate Cake. And it is yummy! A slightly different texture from what you might be used to, but yummy! (And worth trying if you have a sourdough starter.)
I didn't come up with this recipe on my own, but I did tweak it some. It came from an old cookbook that belonged to my mother.

There's no YouTube video for this recipe, but I'll list the step by step instructions here.

First of all, you must have an active starter. I've had mine for over a year. The recipe for my starter is in a previous blog from August '15 called, "Oh the Smell of Fresh Baked Bread!"

Here's a picture of my active starter

Mix 1/2 cup sourdough starter with 1/4 cup non-fat dry milk, 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, and 1 cup of very warm water. Mix well and let this stand, in a warm place, for about two hours.

This is what is looked like when I mixed it up

And this is how it looked after two hours

Next, in a separate bowl, cream 1/2 cup of shortening and 1 cup of sugar. Add 1 tsp vanilla (I used my homemade vanilla made from soaking vanilla beans in vodka for several months), 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Next, beat in two eggs, one at a time.

Add 3 squares of melted semi-sweet chocolate and stir this creamed mixture into the sourdough mixture. Gently blend.

Pour into a rectangular pan, 7x11 (odd size, I know, luckily I had one this size) and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

I used the old toothpick in the center trick to test for doneness. Next, I let the cake cool completely before frosting it. You can make your favorite frosting recipe or use this one, which was also from the sourdough cookbook, and which I found to be not quite sweet and creamy enough for my taste.

Cream together 2 1/2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar, 2 T butter, 1/4 tsp salt and 3 T milk. Blend in 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled, and 1/2 tsp vanilla. 

I added a little more milk than it said. The recipe also stated you could use water or coffee in place of the milk. Coffee would be interesting....

Here's the finished cake, which, by the way, was for my wonderful husband's 47th birthday. 

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread and a New Apron (or....Cooking in my Pajamas)

Check out my latest YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOEGhEFnCLQ using my Breville Breadmaker from Williams Sonoma! You'll also notice that, not only am I cooking in my pajamas and a little sleepy, but I'm also wearing my newest apron from Stitch Thru Time https://www.stitchthrutime.com/ ! I love this online store with incredible vintage aprons! You get very personal service and the products are so well made.
And, as promised, here's a picture of my finished bread!

Sourdough Cornbread

Check out my newest YouTube video for the recipe for Sourdough Cornbread! It is, seriously, the best cornbread you will ever eat. However......attempting to make it in my grandmother's antique cast iron cornstick pans did not work out too well. The cornbread I made in my husband's new cast iron loaf pan worked great though!
https://youtu.be/6SD6b4O5ApQ

And, as promised, here's my sourdough starter recipe again:

2 cups potato water

1/2 cup rye flower

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp active dry yeast

In a 2 quart jar, mix all ingredients until smooth. Cover loosely with cheesecloth and let stand in a warm spot. Stir every 24 hours, until bubbly, usually 4-10 days. When it is ready, store loosely covered in fridge. Once a week, feed your starter. Remove from the fridge and stir vigorously, then remove one cup. Either use, or throw away. Add one cup unbleached all-purpose flour and just enough warm water to make consistency similar to pancake batter (usually 1/2 to 3/4 cup). Re-cover with cheesecloth and allow to sit in a warm place overnight. Place back in the fridge the next morning. 

I like to use my starter at room temperature, so I pull it out of the fridge the night before I'm going to use it. Occasionally, I feed it with potato water. 

Coffee Catastrophe!

Well two big blows today. First, my coffee maker quit working. Majorly quit working. Coffee and grounds went everywhere. Twice. Because, after the first time, I thought that if I cleaned it, that would fix it. After the second time, I threw it in the trash. So then I went online to my favorite kitchen store (I blogged about this store back in September) to order a new coffee maker. And that's when the second big blow hit.....the site was having a "Going out of Business Sale"!!!
"Noooooooo," I screamed! I love this store! How on earth could they be going out of business?!?! But, sadly, it is so. And, the coffee maker that I wanted was no longer available.
However, all was not lost. I did find a good deal (and an online 20% off coupon) at Bed Bath and Beyond. My new coffee maker will be here next week.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/cuisinart-reg-12-cup-stainless-steel-nbsp-programmable-thermal-coffee-maker/1013241015?Keyword=coffee+maker

Frosty Morning on the Farm

First off I will say, I LOVE my job! I love each and every day. I love my farm work, no matter if it's hot, cold, raining, snowing.....I LOVE IT!!
I taught school for 18 years. There were years that I loved that job. And there were years that I did not.  I'm not going to get on my soapbox about administrators that don't do their job, and parents who don't put their child's best interest at heart, and children that you feel so sorry for and worry about so much that they even haunt your dreams at night. I'll save that for another post. This post is about my job now, as a farm wife. And, no matter what struggles I face as a farm wife, especially when my husband is working out of town, I always say, "It's better than teaching school!"
So.....my day so far has gone like this: Carry 50 pound sacks of feed from the barn to the lot and feed the cows, put out three round bales of hay with the tractor, patch a hole in the fence, separate a calf from it's mom (the calf was ready to be weaned), feed the calf, give her hay, fill her water trough, air up a flat tire, and haul two cart loads of firewood.
Pretty darn productive morning on the farm, if I do say so myself :)
And, this morning, there was a little frost on the pumpkin....errrr......hay.

Happy cows!

Segregation! The cows are all in the same pasture. There's free access to all 3 bales of hay. But the longhorns keep to themselves.

And this new baby is just so darn cute!