Warning: Semi-political musings ahead!
So, I'm sure everyone has heard stories about government waste. $1000 toilet seats and whatnot. But, as I was at the grocery store today, I started getting more and more angry about a government waste that I have first hand experience with.
Government waste at the grocery store? What am I talking about? Food stamps?
Nope, WIC.
And technically not the entire WIC program.
We qualify for WIC. It was very close, but the requirements are actually really high for this government program and I finally convinced Jake that we should take advantage of it. I'm not going to say it isn't a hassle; if we didn't get $20/mo. in produce then I don't think I'd bother.
Anyway, the reason I mention government waste and WIC together is that we receive an obscene amount of milk on the program. So much milk, in fact, that we end up pouring out several gallons a month.
Today I went and spent our entire monthly WIC allowance at once because it was on the verge of expiring. This meant that I had 6 checks to use in addition to buying the other groceries we needed for the next 2 or so weeks.
I ended up leaving with 8 gallons and 2 quarts of milk. What the hell am I supposed to do with that much milk at once? Heck, what am I supposed to do with that much milk a month? The only members of our family that drink milk are Spencer and sometimes Jack (usually his sippy cup is filled with water since he's still nursing). Jake will usually only use milk in his cereal and he'll use it to dip cookies in when I bake some. I don't drink it because even skim milk has 2 weight watchers points in 8 ounces.
We have a deep freezer, but we don't have space for 8 gallons, not by a long shot. When I went out to stick some gallons in there today, there were still 3 gallons and a quart in the freezer from last month.
Milk is between $3-4 a gallon. They may only be wasting $20 a month on my family, but multiply that by the number of people on WIC and I'm sure it would be a substantial amount of money. That's not to say that everyone on the program doesn't drink all the milk. I know that my friend Kibbon's family does drink all their milk. But they do get less than us since she isn't nursing anymore.
I've tried giving it away to no avail. Everyone I know is either on WIC or doesn't need it. I wish I could donate it to a food bank, but they want non-perishables only. Maybe I'll have a milk stand on the side of the road this summer.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A Yogurt Disaster
I was blow drying my hair yesterday before work and this is the scene I emerged to find. Spencer left a yogurt container on the table the night before, but I thought it was empty so I was just going to throw it away the next morning. Jack is, apparently, tall enough to reach stuff on the table now. LOL
Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Adventures in Baking: Challah Dough
And it did really turn into an adventure before the dough was all gone!
After my success with the Olive Oil Dough, I decided my next challenge should be Challah dough. Challah is a traditional Jewish bread and, in my bread book, it is the basis of several sweet bread recipes.
While you can do a lot with Challah dough, I decided the first thing I would do is what is traditionally done: a braided loaf. It seemed like the best way to tell if I had mixed the dough correctly.
So once again, I pulled out the big bucket and got to mixing.
Just mixed:
2 hours:
Obviously it didn't rise near as much as the Olive Oil Dough, which initially had me concerned. Had I done something wrong? I decided to let it sit in the fridge overnight and whip up my braided loaf the next day anyway
I was daunted by the thought of braiding bread. Surely it couldn't be as simple as braiding hair, right? Turns out, it is pretty simple (note: this is a 3 braid loaf, not a 6).
Just braided:
Once it is braided, it has to rest for an hour and 20 minutes. That's a long time. I was glad I started early.
Let me take this pause to praise parchment paper. I've seen recipes recommend it before and just dismissed it as a fancy-schmancy way to bake. I ran across some in the grocery store one day and decided to give it a go since so many of the bread recipes seem to suggest it if not using a stone. I am a believer now. I love parchment paper!
Anyway, after the very long 80 minutes had passed, the recipe called for you to brush the loaf with egg wash (1 egg + 1 tsp of water) and then sprinkle with poppy seeds.
All ready for the oven:
Bake for a mere 25 minutes at 350* and you get a little something like this:
Jake said it looked like a slug. LOL
Overall, it was pretty good. I expected it to be sweeter, but then recalled that the only sweetness it had in it was 1/2 cup of honey. I could taste the egg wash, and I wasn't really a fan of that, but I may have brushed it on too heavily or something. I'd give it a solid "7" for a first effort.
The next morning, I used some Challah dough to make the Sticky Caramel Pecan Rolls. Even though I followed the recipe, the "sauce" somehow came up over the side of the pan and got all over the broiler pan. It smoked a lot, but I thought nothing of it really.
It'll burn itself off," I said to myself.
Today, I went to use the last of the dough, making a traditional loaf again, and the smoke was unbearable. I checked the oven and it was pouring smoke. I opened the oven door, closed the oven door, and then went to open the screen door b/c Spencer was coughing up a storm.
By the time I came back across the oven, it was aflame. Huge flames in my oven! I yelled, "fire!" and ran for the fire extinguisher (which we only have b/c it was left by the previous owner). I couldn't get it off the wall, but Jake was right behind me, yelling to get the boys out of the house (which I was hesitant to do b/c Jack was taking a good nap).
Jake was so mad at me, but I maintain that every woman is allowed to start a kitchen fire once in her life. I'm lucky that mine didn't occur until I was 27.
One positive thing that came out of the fire is that our fire alarm never went off. It totally should have, so now we know that it needs new batteries or to be replaced.
On the negative side, A) I had to toss my bread b/c it was covered in fire extinguisher goo and B) the house smells TERRIBLE. I have no clue how to get the smell out or how long it will take to dissipate. Jake's clothes got it worse than mine. Luckily.
After my success with the Olive Oil Dough, I decided my next challenge should be Challah dough. Challah is a traditional Jewish bread and, in my bread book, it is the basis of several sweet bread recipes.
While you can do a lot with Challah dough, I decided the first thing I would do is what is traditionally done: a braided loaf. It seemed like the best way to tell if I had mixed the dough correctly.
So once again, I pulled out the big bucket and got to mixing.
Just mixed:
2 hours:
Obviously it didn't rise near as much as the Olive Oil Dough, which initially had me concerned. Had I done something wrong? I decided to let it sit in the fridge overnight and whip up my braided loaf the next day anyway
I was daunted by the thought of braiding bread. Surely it couldn't be as simple as braiding hair, right? Turns out, it is pretty simple (note: this is a 3 braid loaf, not a 6).
Just braided:
Once it is braided, it has to rest for an hour and 20 minutes. That's a long time. I was glad I started early.
Let me take this pause to praise parchment paper. I've seen recipes recommend it before and just dismissed it as a fancy-schmancy way to bake. I ran across some in the grocery store one day and decided to give it a go since so many of the bread recipes seem to suggest it if not using a stone. I am a believer now. I love parchment paper!
Anyway, after the very long 80 minutes had passed, the recipe called for you to brush the loaf with egg wash (1 egg + 1 tsp of water) and then sprinkle with poppy seeds.
All ready for the oven:
Bake for a mere 25 minutes at 350* and you get a little something like this:
Jake said it looked like a slug. LOL
Overall, it was pretty good. I expected it to be sweeter, but then recalled that the only sweetness it had in it was 1/2 cup of honey. I could taste the egg wash, and I wasn't really a fan of that, but I may have brushed it on too heavily or something. I'd give it a solid "7" for a first effort.
The next morning, I used some Challah dough to make the Sticky Caramel Pecan Rolls. Even though I followed the recipe, the "sauce" somehow came up over the side of the pan and got all over the broiler pan. It smoked a lot, but I thought nothing of it really.
It'll burn itself off," I said to myself.
Today, I went to use the last of the dough, making a traditional loaf again, and the smoke was unbearable. I checked the oven and it was pouring smoke. I opened the oven door, closed the oven door, and then went to open the screen door b/c Spencer was coughing up a storm.
By the time I came back across the oven, it was aflame. Huge flames in my oven! I yelled, "fire!" and ran for the fire extinguisher (which we only have b/c it was left by the previous owner). I couldn't get it off the wall, but Jake was right behind me, yelling to get the boys out of the house (which I was hesitant to do b/c Jack was taking a good nap).
Jake was so mad at me, but I maintain that every woman is allowed to start a kitchen fire once in her life. I'm lucky that mine didn't occur until I was 27.
One positive thing that came out of the fire is that our fire alarm never went off. It totally should have, so now we know that it needs new batteries or to be replaced.
On the negative side, A) I had to toss my bread b/c it was covered in fire extinguisher goo and B) the house smells TERRIBLE. I have no clue how to get the smell out or how long it will take to dissipate. Jake's clothes got it worse than mine. Luckily.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Adventures in Baking: Olive Oil Dough
Lately, my mother-in-law (who shall hence be known as "Karen" or "MIL" ;-) ) has been whipping up some phenomenal bread items. From scratch! With no bread machine! In seemingly no time at all! Fortunately for me and Jake, she revealed her secret to me and then bought me a copy of her secret.
The whole basis of this book is that you can make fantastic, specialty store type breads with very little time investment. They basically give you a recipe that makes roughly 4 loaves (or flatbreads or whatever) per batch. You can stick it in the fridge (for about 12 days) and tear off the appropriate amount to bake when you need to. On top of the basic dough recipe, they give you recipes for the dough.
The last two times I've been at my in-law's house, Karen has made a flatbread with onions and rosemary that has rocked my socks using the Olive Oil Dough recipe. So that was the first dough recipe that I was determined to tackle.
I mixed it all up in a giant tub that she gave me. Once you do that, it has to rise for 2 hours. But you literally do just that: mix it and then leave it for 2 hours.
Just prepared:
At 1 hour:
At 2 hours:
I decided to use the Prosciutto and Rosemary recipe in which you basically roll the dough out, put prosciutto and rosemary on top, roll that into a ball, and then re-flatten it so the meat and herbs are in the bread.
I forgot to take any pictures of the process, but I did snap one of the aftermath:
The whole basis of this book is that you can make fantastic, specialty store type breads with very little time investment. They basically give you a recipe that makes roughly 4 loaves (or flatbreads or whatever) per batch. You can stick it in the fridge (for about 12 days) and tear off the appropriate amount to bake when you need to. On top of the basic dough recipe, they give you recipes for the dough.
The last two times I've been at my in-law's house, Karen has made a flatbread with onions and rosemary that has rocked my socks using the Olive Oil Dough recipe. So that was the first dough recipe that I was determined to tackle.
I mixed it all up in a giant tub that she gave me. Once you do that, it has to rise for 2 hours. But you literally do just that: mix it and then leave it for 2 hours.
Just prepared:
At 1 hour:
At 2 hours:
I decided to use the Prosciutto and Rosemary recipe in which you basically roll the dough out, put prosciutto and rosemary on top, roll that into a ball, and then re-flatten it so the meat and herbs are in the bread.
I forgot to take any pictures of the process, but I did snap one of the aftermath:
For a first batch, I think it was great. And obviously so did Spencer and Jake. Tonight I'm planning to tear off another hunk of dough and make the onion and rosemary flatbread. Bon Appetit!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Snow Days
I don't think there is any greater joy than being a child and waking up to, as Spencer says, "beautiful blankets of soft snow" ( I believe that is a quote from Thomas the Tank Engine, go figure, LOL). I can remember being about Spencer's age when we got about a foot of snow, or at least it seemed that way to me. Goodness it was fun! Dara, my sister, was still too little to go out and play with me in it, but I can distinctly recall making snowmen and snow tunnels. What a blast.
As much as I dislike Mountain Home, I will say this: they get some winter weather. I've preferred cold weather to hot since I outgrew (or got too busy for) living in the swimming pool all summer. Give me a wind chill and some snow ice cream any 'ol day of the week. That was too big of an order to fill most months living in central Arkansas, but not up in the northern part of the state. And I have to say, I love it!!
And Spencer has certainly been having a great time...
Notice how Trogdor is all up in Spencer's business the whole time they are in the backyard. Trogdor is part Great Pyrenees and, way back in the day, they were bred to guard sheep in the Pyrenees Mountains where it is super cold. He has been going out into the snow and just hanging out. I think he is enjoying the fact that it has been cold enough for it to stick around and was hoping that Spencer would frolic with him in it. :-)
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