Changing The Way I Do Things…

Yesterday was a crappy day even with going for a walk early in the morning. That usually helps. It didn’t.

My bulldog has his nickers in a twist and I can not figure out all that is wrong with him. Vet agrees that it is probably mostly due to my Mountain Cur going through puberty but man this is so getting old. My being home all day sure has him in a mood. So this morning we (Monkey Butt, Squirrel and I as well as my little herd) all went walkies. It seems to have made everyone a little more chill, at least for now. Everyone is sleeping it off and snoring.

I got up this morning way early (I’m starting to feel semi human again) and decided that today would be a good day to start trying my hand again at home made bread. I seriously had doubts. I wasn’t sure if the yeast had gone bad. I wasn’t sure if I could still do bread (or if I really wanted to given the trouble that I thought I remembered it being). So many people have been posting recipes for simple bread I figured I didn’t have anything to lose by trying. So I started a batch of Depression Bread. Seemed apt, this morning, in so many ways…

4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t yeast
1 1/2 c warm water

mix water and salt
make a pond in the middle of the flour
sprinkle in yeast and water and stir (with finger???) to dissolve yeast
—– I didn’t actually do this I left the warm water in the cup and put the yeast in and mixed it before dumping it in the flour.
knead until everything is incorporated
add tiny bits of more water if necessary to incorporate all the flour.
knead knead knead and knead some more.
lay dough on table while you wash the bowl
grease the sides and bottom of the bowl with olive oil or butter or whatever
put dough in bowl
flip over so all sides covered with the bowl grease
put in a warm place to raise
it suggested an hour
mine took more like 2.5 to get to roughly double
punch down the dough
put into two loaf pans
put back in warm place to raise again
bake 350 for about 30 min until brown

Poof… bread.

So… it’s been that kind of week…

Yesterday I ended up making “stupid dog nose cream”. Everyone who knows the family knows that no matter what happens in our house it is blamed on stupid dog. farts. Lost things. whatever… stupid dog. So I decided to name my nose cream stupid dog nose cream…

1/4 c coconut oil
1/2 t olive oil
melt in double boiler until melted. Stir. Cool. Poof.

he he he… more poof…

I made a quadruple batch so I have it a while. It works really good. They love to try to lick it off but it sticks pretty well. I got frustrated with not being able to get nose cream anywhere and the dogs noses have started to get kind of chapped. This worked amazingly well.

more poof?

I also made orange vinegar cleaner with the cast off orange peels from the oranges that came with the godfather on Sunday. It is surprisingly easy to make (pack jar with orange peels, fill with white vinegar, sit in dark place for 2 weeks, strain and use either 2 parts water to 1 part vinegar if you need stronger cleaner or 3 to 1 for gentler cleaner).

And today my first misfits box came. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I looked up what might be included in my box on the website (https://www.misfitsmarket.com) and was intrigued. I was kind of looking forward to some of the food I had never made before. It was a mixed box but I’m incredibly happy with the box I got.

Two lettuce plants complete with roots still attached. I shucked off most of the leaves and planted the roots in my planting bed in the basement with my seeded lettuce and my cilantro. I should be able to maintain the two big plants for quite a while.

I’ve started most of my plants for this spring’s gardening. I’m probably a little behind the curve, but I will at least be able to have fresh stuff from my garden some this summer.

It looks like I’m going to learn how to cook turnips and parsnips and teeny tiny acorn squashes… and a crap ton of carrots. The tomatoes will be nice, the peppers in an omelette maybe? I might even make parsley potatoes with the fresh parsley.