Me?!?

This afternoon I received a VERY exciting email: I had been accepted to be a part of King Arthur Flour's "Consumer Advisory Panel." I had filled out a survey a few months back about our family's baking habits and, I guess, they liked what they saw. This answer did not work for Andy to his question, "Why did they pick YOU?" When he asked again, I answered "Because Mama tells all her family and friends about King Arthur Flour until they are so sick of hearing about it that they go and try it." That answer worked for him but maybe I should have added "Because she buys fifty pound bags of their flour and texts with Aimee back and forth about all their yummy recipes."

I'm one excited mama!

(P.S. There's a scoop and measuring cup in our unbleached AP flour because in our family we have once baker who weighs and one who measures.)

All in a day's work-

Ah, Easter Monday! Time for a clergy family to relax.
This year we took the day off of school and headed to the big city. I was able to pick up the last of the supplies I needed to make two very different homemade recipes.

The first is Chai Tea Concentrate. We love chai tea "lattes" but not the high prices or milk found in most store bought mixes. Mark spied the following recipe a few months ago. It was very easy to make and made the kitchen smell wonderful:
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/fitness-food/recipes/recipe/2012/01/chai-tea-concentrate/610942/1
We'll let you know what we think of it after breakfast tomorrow.

My other recipe is for homemade powdered laundry detergent. I had seen recipes for liquid ones but I have always preferred powder. Pinterest came to the rescue with the following recipe. I've done two loads and love the stuff. (It cost me $25 for the ingredients. And I will let you know how long it lasts in the Laundry Capital of America.)
http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html?m=1

Fits the Bill

This morning I was looking for a breakfast that was
*vegan
*quick and easy
*warm (my birdbath had ice in it?!?)
*made only of pantry basics.

I found this recipe for Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. http://vegan.sheknows.com/2011/08/26/pumpkin-pie-oatmeal/
It fit the bill perfectly and was oh-so tasty.
And now I know what to do with all those cans of pumpkin our dog abruptly stopped eating. :-)

Why, why, why?!?

Why have I been feeding my family store-bought hamburger buns when I know how easy and tasty home baked ones can be?
I had a surplus of "high quality" buns in the freezer - a local restaurant supply store sells them laughably cheap so I haven't baked any for months. The stash ran out and I wanted to finally give the new bun pan a try. So this morning I baked up King Arthur Flour's Poultry Burger Buns (The Baking Sheet, Summer 2010, p. 17.) In the past I have substituted the poultry seasoning for various other spices with great success. Today I chose Penzey's Bavarian Seasoning to match the Meatless Ruebens on tonight's menu. I wish blogs had smelling features because my kitchen has a wonderful scent right now. I will return to making our family's rolls.
Thank you, Grammy and Grampy for the bun pan!

Almost Vegan No-Bake Energy Balls

While visiting in New Mexico, my sister introduced these yummy treats to me via Pinterest. The honey makes them not truly vegan. Since it isn't a refined sugar and I haven't seen a Food Inc update on bee factory farms, we eat honey with a clear conscience in our household. Patty has also made them into bars. With my Pampered Chef dough scoop, it is easier for me to make them into balls. They are so tasty and so healthy for you!
Enjoy!
http://gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/

Major League Baseball Players

have to go through security but train riders don't! It was wonderful - never were we or our baggage screened.

Just realized -

That I would never make it as pioneer woman for the 3,492nd reason.* With the delays, the train trip home took us 41 hours. That doesn't count the car service ride to Akron from Cleveland's Amtrak station OR the two hour car ride to Zanesville. We had a joyous reunion at home and then a yummy salad lunch. Then I crashed and napped for two hours. How pioneer whimpy is that?!? I bet it would have taken more than 41 DAYS to get from Cleveland to Albuquerque?!?! But, I LOVED our train trip and would definitely do it again! Pioneer women did NOT get served extra meals and get deluxe sleeping berths when they had delays!
(*As I've read more of pioneer life as an adult, I've come to realize I would have been dead early on. I'm such a klutz that "hearth death" surely would have gotten me. Our midwife also "assured" me that I would have died in childbirth had it not been for modern medicine.)