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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Homemade Pitas

A while back, I had run across a recipe for homemade pitas at Tammy's Recipes when I was searching for bread recipes.  I thought it sounded really interesting, so I saved the link in my favorites and saved the thought for a later day!  Well, my kids were supposed to prepare a biblical times meal for the family and low and behold, pitas were suggested!  Now I had my excuse!  In actuality, I can't take much credit for this one, as my 11 yo daughter loves to bake, so I turned this over to her (with a little supervision!).  Another reason for us to make these - we do not have pitas in any of the stores in town.  Our Wal-mart stopped carrying them because they weren't selling.  I have to admit, I bought them very occasionally, as they were never really fresh and wonderful tasting, and really expensive.
Ingredients to make 8 whole pitas (16 halves):

    • 1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)

    • 1 tablespoon oil

    • 1 teaspoon salt

    • 2 teaspoons sugar

    • 3 cups all-purpose flour

    • 1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

  1. In a large bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients.  Add 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix.  Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough.  (Add additional flour if necessary during kneading.)  Alternately, if you have a bread machine, you can put the ingredients in the pan in the order listed and use the dough cycle.  Skip to step 3 if using a bread machine.)

  2. Put your dough into a bowl, lightly oil the top,  and cover.  Set in a warm place to rise, until almost double (about an hour).  We started the oven to pre-heat at this time, so it was warm.

  3. Punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface.  Using a sharp knife, cut dough into 8 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a ball.  On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6 or 7 inch circle.

  4. As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured countertop or table, and cover loosely with a towel.  Let rise for about 25-35 minutes, until slightly puffy. (The rounds will still be thin!)

  5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Place 2 rounds, side-by-side, onto a wire rack, such as is used for cooling things.  Place rack in the middle of the oven.  Bake for 4-5 minutes, untlil puffy and just slightly browned.  (If bread is too browned, it will be dry and not pliable.)

  6. Remove rack from oven and immediately wrap/layer pita breads in a damp towl, to soften.  Continue baking the remaining breads, layering them between dample towels as soon as they're baked.  Allow breads to completely cool.

  7. Cut pita breads in half, or split the top edge, and fill as desired.

  8. Store pitas in a plastic zipper bag in the fridge for a few days, or place in the freezer for longer storage.  To re-warm pitas, wrap them in a damp towel and then wrap in foil.  Place in a warm  (200-250 degree) oven for about 20 minutes.  We don't hardly have any leftovers to speak of, so I can't tell you how this works!
The ingredients are really not much on this recipe, so the cost for these is so small and easy to make, it's worth replacing these for one of our meals each week.  (We tend to eat sandwiches for dinner each night, so these are a hit!)

I am linking up to:

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Easter Carrots

My daughter and I did a little blog theft this weekend.  We took and idea from here at Cinnaberry Suite.  The minute that we saw these carrot decorations, we knew that we already had everything we needed to make them.   We had a crib for our first three kids that fell apart, literally.  I've insisted my husband keep the pieces all this time, because I knew that I would be able to use them for something, someday.  In the meantime, my hubby has been finding ways to use these spindles for things like, stakes for trees, etc.This project took longer to dry, than actually make.  My daughter primed it, painted it orange, and then washed it with an off white.  We decided to do the wash, as the orange was too close to red.  After much impatient waiting. We wer finally able to hot glue some old ivy that I had stashed away.  Then we tied a green ribbon over the hot glue to hide it and make it look better.The entire project was free.  I think they are very cute!  By the way, my daughter is 11-years-old and will be taking these to the county fair.  I think she'll do great.

I am linking up to:

Monday, March 22, 2010

Rummage Sale Season Begins

Here in Wisconsin, rummage sale season begins in April , but since we've been having such beautiful weather, some people will try to have some sales really early.  I can hardly contain myself, so was determined to find a sale or two.  Well, we did, but apparently, when you get your sale out first for the  season, you have a right to price your items obnoxiously high!  Anyway, the sales were pretty slim pickings, but I did find these great candlesticks.  (Please ignore the bent candles, they were all that I had on hand!)The candlesticks had price tags on the bottom of $35, $40, & $45.  They are really heavy too.  They were marked at the sale for $12, which I may have left - I know, I'm cheap, but hey, when you have 4 kids, you have more important things to spend money on than decorations.  Anyway, the guy at the sale was freezing and ready to get rid of everything and said everything was half price.  So it cost me only $6!I know this is missing something before it looks great, but aren't they a great find!

Here is my other very ugly find, but I got them all for $4!  (I started taping the mirror and realized I should do a before picture first!)  They are resin, which is a fancy word for plastic & cheesy!  The mirrors have Home Interiors tags on the back.  You know, I have Home Interiors items in my home but this is truly the epidomy of bad taste!  (No offense to those of you that have these in your house - it just always bothered me that HI would make things out to be great when they had plastic frames.)

My husband actually said he "allowed me" to get these, because he knew I would spray paint them.  Seems to me like he's not so mad at me for my constant purchasing of paints!  It almost sounds like permission, don't you think!  (Don't worry, my husband doesn't tell me no for hardly anything.  He's pretty easy to persuade in things and in no way bosses me around.  In fact, it may be the other way around!)In my entryway, I have these two very narrow walls on either side of a coat closet, which is the first thing you see when you walk in the door.  These are the mirrors that I have there, but I've known that they weren't right yet.
Here they are in the entryway.  I am going to have my daughter make one of those bookpage wreaths for in between on the door.
A close up!  Mr. Right's first was response was that I painted all that brass away, and then added brass candlesticks in it's place!  I don't plan this to be the end all, but it worked to show them off.  Also, I am really sick of the burgandy paint, though I don't relish trying to get rid of it.  I think I have a solution for it though, I am going to paint it an orange color.  My kitchen (we have open concept kitchen and living room, so this entryway is part of it) is the green in the picture with the candlesticks above.  I am changing everything to an burnt orange accent instead of the burgandy.  I know it's not a big leap of color, but at least it updates the "country" look that I ended up with by default (because that was the style when I got married 15 years ago.)  I want an update, without having to replace everything or for as little cost as possible. 

If you have any ideas about what to put on those shelves, I would love the input!  It think taller looks better (Mr. Right thinks it should be shorter so they are mirrors that he can finally use in the house! lol)

I'm linking up to:

Sunday, March 21, 2010

An Ugly Candle

This is the most ugly candle I have ever seen, but I insist on keeping it and using it because I am way to cheap frugal.  I got this candle at a church rummage sale.  I thought it went with a candle holder that I was purchasing for $.50.  Well, the lady charged me a dollar for this candle and a dollar for a candle that was half gone!  I didn't realize what had happened until I left and was headed down the road, so here is the ugly candle that has come to stay in my living room!I took some scrapbook paper that matched my living room and wrapped around it, tacked it down and then tied  piece of jute around it.  Even my dh thinks it looks nice.

I'm linking up to:

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I realized last week, that my children knew nothing about the Irish culture or food.  To be honest, I don't know a whole lot either.  Before you have a heart attack, not to worry, I was raised in a strong Norwegian family that did their part to protest the holiday.  We were marched off to school each March 17th in red to show our family stance against the Irish.  Now, that being said, for me, it's not a personal thing, just what I was raised with.

I haven't raised my own children with this ritual, but I did realize that we possibly don't have a whole lot of knowledge about the Irish culture.  So, I decided this year, I would start with the food (oh, and we took a look at the Blarney Stone and it's meaning.).

I  saw that our Piggly Wiggly had Corned Beef on sale for $1.69/pound, red potatoes for $1.99/5 pounds and cabbage for $.39/pound.  These all sounded to me like an Irish dinner in the makings.  I had no idea that the seasonings for the Cornned beef came separate.  I thought it was something that was done to the meat prior to arriving in my meat department.  I searched the internet, and found this recipe.  This one I liked because it had really good reviews on it.

Slow Cooked recipes are always difficult for me, as we have our main meal at noon, before my dh heads out to work for the second shift.  The problem is, if I start it the night before, it's overcooked by noon, but if I wait until morning, it doesn't get done in time.  This time, I thought I would try the overnight option and pray that the meat didn't get too overcooked. 

This morning, I was really feeling the call of being authentic with our meal, so I decided to try my hand at Irish Soda Bread.  I got the recipe here.
I was a little worried about how full the pan was, but thought I would give it a shot.Sure enough, the bread did overflow in the oven, but it was well worth the mess, as it was just wonderful to eat.  Our family of six finished off the entire loaf for lunch.

Overall, the beef was very good.  Potatoes and carrots were winners too, but the cabbage was not bad, but also not our favorite.

I think we would definately do this again next year because everyone enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it will become regular fair for us.  Hope you had some wonderful St. Patrick's Day memories from today.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

A Beautiful Day for Painting!


Finally, we had a day nice enough to do some spray painting!  It's so hard to wait for all those project that I come up with in my head, that seem urgent, but of course, the weather is not nice here in Wisconsin!
It almost seemed decieving when the thermometer in the truck said that it as 63 degrees at noon on the way home from church!  So here was my first project that I needed to do.  I picked these up from a friend that no longer wanted them.  I couldn't leave free ... but they were really ugly!I decided to start with the three best ones, the first two on the left and the forth one.  Because they were already painted a dark color, I decided not to use primer on them.  The burgundy/purple/brown color was darker than the grey primer I had, so why go lighter to get darker?

It was a bit windy, but since I really shouldn't be doing this while pregnant, I figured the wind made it more ventilated!  Right?  Anyway, I was again reminded why I love spray paint! 

I am contemplating painting our four house numbers on them.  I would put two on each, I'm just not sure the white paint would show up very well on the black??  Oh - and by the way, I should probably paint the milk cart red or burgandy so it looks new too, but my husband didn't like the idea!

UPDATED 3/17/10

Just an update - I did go ahead and add the numbers with white acrylic paint.  I used my Cricut to cut 5 inch numbers and 3 1/2 inch "no."  I then traced it onto the milk cans a tried to fill it in.  Now, please be gentle with your criticism of my paint job.  I am too cheap frugal to actually get a good brush and new white paint that's not lumpy to finish this project.  (OK, I'm finding excuses why I can't paint very well in the lines, but humor me, please!)  Hope you like how it looks.  I think it is really cute!


I hope you enjoy the results!

I'm linking up to:
DIY Day - A Soft Place To Land
Transformation Thursday - The Shabby Chic Cottage
Frugalicious Friday - Finding Fabulous
Creative Cats - Poppies at Play
Frugal Friday - Extreme Personal Measures
Weekend Wrap-Up - Tatertots & Jello
DIY Project Parade - The DIY Show-Off
Met Monday - Between Naps on the Porch
Make It For Monday - Cottage Instincts
The Girl Creative
Trash to Treasure - Reinvented
Penny Pinching Party - The Thrifty Home
Talented Tuesday - My Frugal Family
Saturday Night Special - Funky Junk Interiors

Friday, March 12, 2010

Bathroom Change for Change

I've been on a search for cheap, pretty things to decorate with lately, and have searched high and low for whatever I can to add to the decor.  Unfortunately, here in Wisconsin, the weather is too cold, yet for rummage sales, so I have to resort to the Goodwill.  As I've mentioned before, I find the Goodwill prices to be somewhat higher than I like to pay, but every once in a while, I do find something that is not only a good deal, but a steal.  This little dandy was only $.33!!  Really, it was on a clearance end cap!

I think it was a flower vase of some sort and looked to be bridal in nature.  But I saw it's potential!  I cut off those hideous pearls (sorry, they weren't worth saving!) and ran it through the dishwasher.  I've been looking for a larger container that would hold all the kids toothbrushes and their toothpaste in one place, could still be thrown in the dishwasher, and wouldn't show off that gross stuff that appears in toothbrush containers magically.  Have you noticed lately, that toothbrushes don't fit in the holders anymore?

Don't you think it's kind of cute?  I just tied a chocolate brown ribbon on there (that can be pitched when the kids get it icky and replaced).  I was even thinking about doing a monogram of some sort on this to just add a special touch.  I can't decide if I need to use a certain paint on ceramic or not.  I thought about Sharpies, but only have black.  I would like to stick with the brown, though.  I know you are supposed to use paint for ceramics and glass to make it stay, but would acrylics do the job?

I am linking into:
DIY Project Parade - The DIY Show Off
2nd Time Around - A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words
Trash to Treasure - Reinvented
Talented Tuesday - My Frugal Family
Penny Pinching Party - The Thrifty Home
Thrifty Thursday - Tales from Bloggeritaville

Monday, March 8, 2010

Starting Seeds

Along with our experiment with Winter Sowing (see this blog entry.), we are doing our usual seed starting.  I wanted to share with you the pots that we use to start our seeds with.  After trying those expensive trays and starting peat pots that expand, and just about every other thing you can find in the gardening aisle, we found everything to be very expesive for doing large amounts seeds and it was difficult to get the plants out without killing them to replant them, until we found a pot maker from Jung's seeds.  You can see the Pot Maker here in their online category. 


This has been one of the best buys that we have ever made!  You use strips of old newspapers to form a pot.  Fill it with dirt and put the seed in.  We use disposeable 9x13 pans to keep these pots in, so the seeds get watered from the bottom (which is better for growth).  In the spring, once they are hardened, they can be planted in the garden, pot and all!

This makes for very cheap, biodegradeable pots that can be done even by children!  My 11 and 13 year old have taken over this entire planting process for the last couple of years!  I have been using this $15 Pot Maker for five years and find it to be well worth it!

I am linking up to:
Transformation Thursday - The Shabby Chic Cottage
Thrifty Thursday - Tales from Bloggeritaville
Frugalicious Friday - Finding Fabulous
Frugal Friday - Extreme Personal Measures
Creative Cats - Poppies at Play
Weekend Wrap-Up - Tateertots and Jello
Met Monday - Between Naps on the Porch
Make it for Monday - Cottage Instincts
The Girl Creative

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Winter Sowing


Life has been so busy lately!  I'm not sure where the time has gone!  Most of the days lately, I don't feel like I am homeschooling, but out-schooling.  Thankfully, our community has a speech club and a Christian Homeschool Choir for the kids to be involved in, but add that to 4-H and our regular homeschool, and I feel like we are always on the run!

Anyway, I wanted to share with you what we have been doing for our science classes lately.  It's planting time!  One of the other homeschool Moms shared with me a website that really interested me on this.  We always try to plant many seeds for the spring time in the yard, but often run out of room, or have had a hard time getting the plants hardened without losing them.  We are trying the Winter Sowing method for the first time, so I'll have to keep you posted on how this goes.  To see the site go here.

The idea is to plant seeds for your area that will naturally sow themselves into containters, such as milk jugs, butter dishes, etc. outside, so it doesn't take much room, and the seeds are hardened already, because they are in their natural environment.  Here's what we did:

  1. Cut milk jugs almost in half leaving about 2 inches by the handle attatched.
  2. Cut holes in the bottom of the jug for drainage.
  3. Add two inches of soil to the bottom of jug.
  4. Water thoroughly.
  5. Sprinkle seeds over dirt. (We used sunflowers, garlic chives, tomatoes, marigolds, cabbage, & dahlias)
  6. Cover with 1/2 inch of soil more.
  7. Tape the container shut with duck tape.  (You won't believe how strong this stuff is!)
  8. Leave the lid off for breathing.
  9. Set outside for the freezing and thawing that naturally occurs!  It's that easy!

Now, we did try some of the containers, like butter dishes and putting saran wrap over the top with holes punched in them, but found that we have some very brave squirrels, who came up and broke through the saran wrap and stole our seeds only 3 days later!  My dh is talking about fencing them in, but hey, it's just as easy and inexpensive to use the jugs and they can't get in the jugs!

Like I said, this is our experiement this year, so I'm not sure how successful it will be.  I have planted some indoors of the same seeds (another post on that soon), just in case it doesn't work out as well, but my friend had great success last year.  I will be excited if this works here in Wisconsin, because there is just not enough room in the house for all our plants!

I am linking up to:
DIY Day - A Soft Place to Land
Transformation Thursday - The Shabby Chic Cottage
Frugalicious Friday - Finding Fabulous
Creative Cats - Poppies at Play
DIY Project Parade - DIY Show Off
Met Monday - Between Naps on the Porch
Make it for Monday - Cottage Instincts
The Girl Creative
DIY Day - A Soft Place to Land
2nd Time Around - A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words
Trash to Treasure Tuesday - Reinvented
Penny Pinching Party - The Thrifty Home