Bread Recipe

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law Tyana Burks. This is the way she gave it to me and my tweaks and substitutes are in parenthesis...I use a stone ground whole wheat which is fine enough to use for the entire flour content...

3-4 C White Flour (Stone Ground Whole Wheat)
3 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 C Sugar (Honey)
4 1/2 t Yeast
1 T Salt
2 C Milk
1/2 C oil (homemade sugar free applesauce)
2 T Honey
2 Eggs
( I also like to add 1/4 C flaxseed)

Combine 1/2 C white flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast and salt (and flaxseed). In a small saucepan heat the milk, oil and honey to 120-130 F. Add to dry ingredients. (Because I substitute honey for the sugar and applesauce for the oil, I heat the 2T + 1/2 C honey with milk, add that to the dry ingredients and then add the applesauce.)

Add the eggs. Stir until moistened. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl and cover and let rise until doubled; 30 min - 1 hr. Punch down. Divide into 2 to 3 portions depending on desired size of loaves. Shape and place into greased bread pans. Let rise until doubled; about 30 min. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 min or until golden brown.

Last time I made this batch I got 2 regular loaves out of it and had enough dough left for two mini loaves. The batch also splits in half very easily for one huge loaf or two smaller loaves.

I've also found that this recipe burns easily. I always set my oven to about 310-320 F and bake for a bit longer. It may just be that my oven gets hotter than the temp I set it at, but I don't have trouble burning anything else, so I tend to think it's just the recipe.

Hope everyone who tries this enjoyes it as much as we do. It is also great for dinner rolls, cinnamon tolls and pizza crusts.


One of my regular and mini loaves from my last batch.

Seriously??

For real?? Sorry, but this struck me as one of the dumbest ideas I've ever seen...

Floor Plan

This is the apartment that we preleased...

Coryell Courts
Morris Phase II
1225 sq ft



Compare to our current floor plan...

Hawthorne Suites
1000 sq ft




In case you can't tell...I'm REALLY excited...:)

Moving Plans

We went over to Coryell Courts today to put a prelease on an apartment. I was also hoping to be able to see the apartment that we were reserving so that I could take pics of it to show everyone. Unfortunately when we got there, we found out that they had just leased the last available apartment for the move in date that we wanted. It wasn't even available to look at so I wasn't able to get any pictures. :(

Coryell has two different sets of apartments; Phase I and Phase II. Each floor plan was named after a different Coryell family member. The Phase I apts are the older ones. The Phase II apts are the newer ones with the secured breezeways, elevators and keyless entry. The apt we had looked at and wanted was a Marie in Phase II. Since there were no empty apartments to look at we looked over the floor plans on their brochure and found out that the Morris in Phase II is exactly the same floor plan (just flipped) except that it has an extra 25 sq ft in the door way which gives a little bit more opening when you first walk in... for the same price as the Marie. And they told us that there would be more Morrises opening up in the next few months than there would be Maries...

So...they didn't have an apartment available for us until June 1st. Our lease where we are is up at the end of April. So Mr. George Coryell contacted the Hawthorne office and worked it out with them to extend our lease here for an extra month at regular monthly rent so that we can wait for the apt we want to open up at Coryell.

While we were talking with the guys at the office (Jeremy and George), we asked about the 13 month lease agreement with one free month that we had been told about the last time that we called. But we were also wanting to do the prelease now to ensure that we get an apartment when one comes available. Apparently we couldn't get the 13 month lease unless we were signing to move in immediately...But... George called Sam ( who is apparently the top dog) and worked it out that we will get the 13 month lease with one month free in June. And for now we have a prelease down for when it becomes available. Also our lease here is extended for a month.

So in the end...Jeremy, though nice, wasn't very helpful but we REALLY like George. :)

I'm having trouble deciding on whether I'm dissappointed or relieved that our moving date has been shifted. On the one hand we get an extra unexpected month here...in our first little home...which is kind of a happy thought. Plus I can put off moving prep for another few weeks. But..on the other hand, for the past couple of weeks I've been feeling the approaching move looming and I'm dreading it and wishing that I could just go ahead and pack and move and get it over with. Just thinking about it thoroughly exhausts me. So I now have an extra month to dread it...which isn't such a happy thought. :/

I've already started some prep. I have a list going of people, places and accounts that are going to need address changes as soon as we move. I add to it as they come to mind. I've also found a source for nice new crisp packing boxes. I think the next big step will be finding a huge moving van. The less trips back and forth the better. It would be very nice to have a big enough vehicle to be able to pack everything in at once and make only one trip.

I know I'll have plenty of help, which will also make it more enjoyable. But I'm really dreading it...

*sigh*

March

Last Thursday we went to see the midnight premiere of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I've been waiting for this movie since I first saw the trailer last July. Back then it felt like it would never get here. I reserved tickets on Fandango a week in advance.

Earlier in the evening we had a couple of the guys from Classy Llama over and we watched Disney's Alice in Wonderland and enjoyed some snacked before heading to the movie. We got there 45 minutes before it started and we still ended up towards the end of the line. By the time we made it into the movie we ended up stuck on the front row. Not cool. Fortunately, right before the movie started we found a couple of seats in the very back row. I was so very happy. The movie was AWESOME and I wouldn't be surprised if we go see it at least once more while it's still in theatres. LOVED it. Even Jase like it...and he can't stand Alice.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>


Us in February. *heart*

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

A couple of weeks ago I pulled out the sewing machine for the first time in months to make the elephant pincushion that mom bought me the pattern for for my birthday. It ended up being a project that got spread over a couple of weeks. I had to order some buttons from Etsy.com cuz I didn't have any cute enough for the elephant.


At Christmas I started an afghan and finally finished it last month. It's a bit rough around the edges (literally) but considering that I haven't crocheted in years and it was my first try at an afghan I was pretty pleased. And I love the colors.


<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Baby Edward's blessing was a few weeks ago. I baked a butter cake and Tyana's sister helped me cut it out and she piped Pooh onto it. It turned out pretty cute.


I also made cupcakes with honeybees. The bees were lemon flavored jelly beans drizzled in almond bark and the wings were sliced almonds. Very cute.


<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Our lease is up at the end of next month. I can't believe we've been married almost a year. We're planning on moving to Coryell Courts which is another TLC apartment complex. We looked at a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment that's about 200 sq ft bigger than what we have now. It's also a newer building so it has wood floors, newer carpets, and the kitchen is gorgeous. More cabinet and counter space and new appliances. The breezeways are secured, and heated and air conditioned and there are elevators which will make moving in a ton easier if we get an upper floor apartment like we requested. The complex is gated, the apartments have keyless entry, there is a small private theatre that we can reserve for free for movies and parties, outdoor basketball, tennis and sand volleyball courts and a cozy little gym. It will be a much better location for us and will cut trips to church in about half. It also puts us only about 10-15 minutes away from Jase's parent's house instead of being about 35 min away and will make Jase's commute to the office shorter in the mornings. I'm very excited.

And yet I'm also very sad to be leaving our first little home. I kinda feel like I've just now fully settled in and I'm already looking at packing things up soon to move. I'm trying not to think about it for the time but I can't ignore it for much longer.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Last week I found a recipe for almond honey-butter cookies. I wanted to avoid white flour so I replaced it with oat flour and almond flour that I ground myself in the blender.

The almond flour smelled soo yummy. The cookies had no sugar, white flour or oil and they were way yummy. I really enjoy cooking healthy. I just wish the ingredients weren't so much more expensive.

I'm gonna go cut into the fresh bread that I just pulled out of the oven. It smells wonderful...