Author Archive
Proofing yeast for the baking idiot
Posted on: July 20, 2010
- In: Life
- 2 Comments
You might recall my post about being scared to use yeast. Well, it’s only taken 5 months for me finally get over my irrational fear and use it! I currently have dinner rolls rising {at least I hope they’re rising…}.
First off, I was completely miffed by the idea of proofing my yeast. Maybe it’s because I have no clue what I’m doing, but I kept thinking “So, if I proof the yeast and it’s active, then what? What do I do with the stuff in the cup? How to I know that putting the yeast straight into the mixture won’t kill it?” Turns out, you use the yeast you proof. Of course it would be that simple. Duh…
Here’s a simple way to proof your yeast:
Measure 1/2 cup of water into a coffee mug.
Measure 1 tablespoon sugar into a small bowl.
Measure 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast {or one packet} into a small bowl.
1. Heat water in microwave until temperature is about 100 degrees {which was 12 seconds in my microwave}.
2. Add sugar. Stir until dissolved.
3. Add yeast, stir {won’t dissolve fully} and set for 5-10 minutes.
If your yeast looks like this:
Then you’ve done it right and your yeast is active. Now, apparently {I say apparently, because I still don’t know the final outcome of my rolls} you can just add this mixture into your recipe. You will need to subtract 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast from the original recipe.
If my rolls turn out {and even if they don’t} I’ll make sure to let you know all about it!
Knotted up hair do
Posted on: July 19, 2010
- In: Life
- 4 Comments
While I enjoy the recreations that summer brings, I don’t really care for the heat of summer. I especially can’t stand having my hair down for very long, which means I wear ponytails. A lot. And while I’ve gotten creative with my ponytails, I’ve decided to try my hand at something new {after all, this is my year to start being a fashion mama}.
Knotted up hair do:
{Hannah looks a little shell shocked – and is covered in bbq sauce!}
Here’s how to do the ‘do:
1. Wash {or just wet} and dry only the front until only damp.
2. Part hair down the side, pulling out a front section about the width of your thumb.
3. Pull 2-4 sections of hair from the front sides {by your temples and top of ears}.
4. Twirl hair, pull back to the bottom of your crown, pin down with bobby pins.
5. Grab small sections of your hair, one at a time, twirl and pin down.
You will need a lot of bobby pins to secure all your hair, so I suggest getting pins that match your hair {less likely to see them}. Keep in mind that it doesn’t need to look “perfect” since the whole idea of the ‘do is for it to look messy. You can use hairspray to keep the fly-aways in control, but I’ve found that I really don’t need it {and I have really, really fine fly-away hair}.
What I love most about this up do? I can wear it for days without taking it down. Not even kidding. I will do it one morning, then wear it up for 2-3 days until it’s time to wash my hair again. Since it’s all fairly well pinned down, it’s easy to sleep in; and if it’s messy in the morning, that just adds to the “look”.
Confessions of a bad Southern mama
Posted on: July 16, 2010
- In: Life
- 7 Comments
I don’t drink sweet tea.
{But, I do drink my sacrilegious unsweet tea from a mason jar, so that counts for something, right??}
I’ve never really enjoyed sweet tea, but always want to. Add in my lack of a true Southern accent and I feel as though I’ve slighted my Southern heritage. But, I’m working to remedy my drinking ways. This week I made our normal two batches of tea {unsweet for me, sweet for Jon and the girls} and I’m drinking my tea half and half. Verdict? I’m not in love, but it’s growing on me.
Au revoir, or, Good-bye Paris
Posted on: July 15, 2010
- In: Life
- 17 Comments
In my heart of hearts, God had been asking me for months to be okay with “letting go” of our anniversary trip to Paris. Through all the planning and saving, I safe guarded my heart from putting my hope in a Parisian trip. Know what? We aren’t going. Instead we started planning for a different trip; Ireland. Guess what? We aren’t going there either. So we planned to go to Toronto. Guess what? {Oh you guessed it!} We aren’t going.
Slowly all of our plans fell apart. One night, while nearly in tears, I told Jonathan, “I don’t really care where we go, so long as it’s just you and me.” As each new plan failed I was losing hope of ever getting time away with Jon. Then Tuesday night, something “major” happened. Julia knocked off my wedding bouquet from on top of my dresser. The delicate flowers I had painstakingly preserved for nearly 5 years were shattered. Thankfully {for her} I was 1) in total shock that is happened, 2) Jonathan was coming home in minutes. As he walked in the door I literally ran out it.
As I was running through our neighborhood I wondered, “Why do I care so much about those roses? I’m not a sentimental person in that way. What’s so upsetting about those roses?”. And it hit me. My wedding bouquet is a reminder of that life. The life before kids. The life of just Sarah and Jon. The life where we could afford to visit Paris. Where our only daily concerns were what to eat for dinner. Where it was just us. The life that seems better.
By the time I got home, I wasn’t ready to go back inside, so decided to mow the lawn. As I reached the backyard, Julia came running outside yelling “Mama!” She was thrilled beyond words to see me {even though I’d been gone less than 30 minutes}. She jumped up and down and waved to me simply beaming.
And it hit me. This life is better. Not the before-kids life. Not the jet setting life. This messy, poop-filled, lack of sleep life is better. Jon and I would not be who we are without the Windhamettes. Our relationship would not be what it is without them. Those roses were gone the moment I found out I was pregnant. They were replaced with less glamourous cloth diapers and sippy cups. And while I deeply cherish my time with Jon, I think it’s only been made sweeter and more precious because of the Windhamettes.
So now, as we have finally settled on a weekend trip and have loving people caring for our girls {Thanks Abdos!!} we are thrilled to be getting time away, time alone. Not because we want what we had, but to make what we have even better.
Mouth watering Poppy Seed Chicken
Posted on: July 13, 2010
- In: Life
- 11 Comments
My dear readers, you are in for a special treat. I’ve decided to share my all time favorite family recipe with you: Poppy Seed Chicken. {You know it’s a fabulous recipe when it’s featured in Southern Living.} My recipe varies slightly from SL so if you want the exact “mama’s way” recipe, you’ll need to follow theirs. Otherwise, I’ll give you mine.
What you need:
2-3 cups chicken, cut up
1 can cream of chicken {or cream of mushroom}
1 8 oz sour cream
1/2 roll Ritz crackers
2-3 tablespoons poppy seeds
Boil chicken until complete. I typically use boneless, skinless chicken breast, but finding cheap-ish free range chicken breast just isn’t easy. So, this go round I opted for a variation of bone-in breast and thighs that are free-range. If you do that, you’ll need to boil, then peel off the skin and de-bone.
Mix together chicken, cream soup, poppy seeds and sour cream:
Wanna know a secret? I use two cans of cream soup – one cream of chicken and one cream of mushroom. Why? Helps make the dish go further.
Wanna know an even crazier secret? This time I used plain yogurt instead of sour cream:
I had everything ready to go for making dinner, opened the refrigerator to grab the sour cream and…. we had no sour cream. Perfect. I went out on a limb and tossed in plain yogurt {since I have always heard you could substitute it for sour cream}. In the end, it had a slightly different taste, but if you had never had poppy seed chicken before, I doubt you’d notice the difference.
Put your mix in a cooking dish and spread with chopped up Ritz crackers and poppy seeds.
Here’s the end result:
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.
Our standard poppy seed dish is served with potatoes, veggies and bread. You can make the dish ahead of time {morning of or night before} and leave it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook it. It’s an easy dish that is a wonderfully yummy comfort food!
- In: Life
- 2 Comments
About a week after Hannah was born, I went on Weight Watchers. I loved the program because I found that it allowed me to eat whatever I wanted, just in smaller portions. Which means, I could eat cake and ice cream if I wanted {and any “diet” that lets me eat cake and ice cream is awesome}.
One of the biggest things I learned on WW was monitoring fat intake. Something might only have 200 calories, but be 12g of fat {like a Snickers bar}. If you happen to find a treat that is low cal and low fat, well, you are most likely eating a treat that is artificially flavored and chalked full of crazy craziness. That is, unless you happen upon this:
Breyer’s ice cream has an entire “All Natural” product line, that also is lower in fat and calories and is actually all natural. Score! Our local grocery store marked it down to $2.19 a carton {typically it’s $3.98} and Jonathan bought me 4 cartons! Which is further proof that he really is the most amazing man ever.
She ain’t no chikin
Posted on: July 10, 2010
- In: Life
- 2 Comments
Yesterday a herd {haha!} of us celebrated Chick-fil-A’s Cow Appreciation Day. Chick-fil-A just so happens to be one of my favorite places to eat. Ever. And I do recall once saying that if Iowa City ever got a Chick-fil-A I would be willing to live here for forever. They came. And I’m staying true to my word.
Being the totally awesome mama that I am, I walked out leaving our camera on the countertop. Yep. I am so smart. But thankfully Leah caught the above photo and a few others, like this one:
Clearly, Julia was under-dressed. This was our first “CAD” so I didn’t realize just how stiff the competition was going to be. But I’ll be prepared next year, don’t you worry. I might even get myself something like this.
- In: Life
- 7 Comments
About two months ago, while I was visiting with my neighbor-friend Rachel, I realized: Sometimes a man’s job is better left to a woman. We were hanging out in her backyard with all our kiddos when she said she was planning to mow later that day. Being the non-mower in my marriage I thought that seemed a little odd, until Rachel said why: She wanted to do things that would normally be her husband’s task in order to free him up to spend more time with the family.
Sometimes a man’s job is better left to a woman:
Since having that conversation with Rachel, I’ve started to look for ways to “free up” Jonathan. I have even gone so far as to clean out the garage {which is notoriously man’s land in our family} because I knew Jon wasn’t going to have the time to do it – but would stay up late just to get it finished. Aside from wanting to bless Jon, I admit, it is always pretty nice having him come home from work saying things like “Wow, the yard looks great!”, which is great motivation for this wifey-mama.
What are man jobs that you do?
The loss of a faithful companion
Posted on: July 8, 2010
- In: Life
- 9 Comments
Over the weekend, my mei tai went missing. I know yesterday I told everyone that something tragic happened, and while to some you might laugh at my overstatement, it really has been a very sad loss for me and Bear.
I love baby-wearing. I found with Julia that it helped her sleep better and that with Hannah it helps her feel “a part of things”. I’ve tried three different types of carriers and the mei tai has stolen my heart. When Hannah was little, I would wear her in a pouch on my chest, now as she’s gotten older I wear her on my hip or back. The mei tai is the easiest for me to use, because it’s not complicated {and I really can’t do complicated, trust me}. There have been times when I literally don’t take off my mei tai for hours. Nowadays, it’s getting less and less use – maybe a few times a week. Why? Because as Hannah walks more she likes being carried less. Same was true for Julia. But, when we go out, I still carry her most of the time.
Saturday we went to the Iowa City Jazz Festival. I carried Hannah for the first half, but she began squirming out so she could play with the other kids. Typically I might just leave the mei tai on, if there’s a chance Hannah will want back in, but I knew that wasn’t likely. So I just wrapped it up and carried it with us. When I went to get the mei tai from the car on Sunday I couldn’t find it. I’ve turned the house, garage and car upside down looking for it, but found nothing. Tears between Hannah and I have been shed. Especially yesterday, when all she wanted to was be held all day long. I got out my other wraps but she revolted against them. Sad, long day.
“Oh mei tai, thank you for you faithful 2+ years of service. You were a wonderful carrier and I love you. Sorry you had to leave so soon.
Love,
One Sad Baby-Carrying Mama”
Why I stopped blogging
Posted on: July 7, 2010
- In: Life
- 4 Comments
Yes, all the sisters ARE matchy-matchy. Clearly, not my doing.
My brother and sister-in-law came into town for nearly a week with their two girls, Katie {7} and Madeline {3}. My blogging has taken a backseat to loving on my nieces and catching up with my brother {because, let’s face it, I talk to my SIL way more than I talk to him}. Our girls stayed up far past their bedtimes, ate too much sugar and had a blast. The 4th was amazing – went to the Iowa City Jazz Festival, watching the Coralville fireworks and took the girls to a carnival. Jon and I even milked a date out of the whole situation and went to see Karate Kid.
There was one terribly sad thing that happen, but I have a post tomorrow to tell you all about it. Bring some tissues.
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
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