Tag Archives: sourdough bread

Menu Monday

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, meal planning by

I did get a lot done yesterday so I’m glad I just stayed home and focused on things.

The cranberry pecan bread came out great, too. The right side shows where I cut off a piece to taste it.

The ears on this got a little brown, but it may have also been the cranberries. Still, I’m super happy with how they are coming out. Today I have a jalapeno cheddar one to bake, but I’ll do that later after I get back from Roseville.

I still don’t have the feeding the starter and than make the dough down yet. What I tend to do is feed the starter in the morning, and then by the time it doubles in the afternoon, it’s too late to start the dough, so usually I wait till the next morning. It seems to be ok, but I could try feeding the starter in the evening.

Menu ideas for the week:

Last night we had Tuscan chicken in a pan. I think the Tuscan reference is that it had oregano and basil in it, plus parmesan. It used up the whole clamshell of spinach( which was what I was trying to do) and some tomatoes, too. It was good. When I cooked the chicken, I didn’t put all of it in the final dish, so I can use some of that for chicken salad.

Monday- I have some tortillas to use up, so I may just do quesadillas. I could add some chicken in too.

Tuesday- This is my daughter’s later night working, so I usually do something easy like scrambled eggs, waffles, or soup.

Wednesday- something from the freezer to use up. I have some french onion soup from Costco so maybe I’ll do that.

Thursday – I have a piece of beef in the freezer, so maybe fajitas. I also have frozen bell peppers to use also.

Friday- We didnt have pizza last week so maybe a homemade pizza.

Saturday – Again, a pantry or freezer meal of some sort.

I have some salad to use up today as well. I don’t plan on any big shopping except for fresh salad stuff.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, decluttering, swimming by

I woke up with a headache. I think it was because I had some ice cream last evening. I rarely eat anything after dinner, so I think it threw my metabolism off. Anyway, I took some Advil, and it’s better.

I wasn’t going to walk, but then I powered through and did it. I really need to up my walking, too. Right now, I do about a mile, so I think I’ll try for 1.25 and see how that is. I haven’t decided on the gym yet, but I will soon. I went to the pool yesterday, so I got that workout in. If I’m going to Mahany gym this coming week, that’ll get my weights in.

Update: I decided not to go to the gym today and have a home reset day. 🙂

After the pool, I dropped off my Goodwill donations. That felt good as it’s been in the back of the car a while now. Besides misc stuff, I gave away 2 space heaters we weren’t using. It always feels good to declutter stuff.

We’re supposed to get rain tomorrow and Tuesday. My son was going to come up and weed-eat, but that won’t happen if it’s raining. He might just come up and work out in the barn. He’s done a good job organizing his stuff out there and getting rid of a lot too.

My starter is quite active now, and this was a kalamata garlic loaf. It came out really nice. Today, I’m going to make a cranberry-pecan one. I’ve been using my Krups slicer to slice the bread, then freezing about 6 pieces in a zip-lock bag. I plan on giving some to my son. The slicer is one of my better thrift store finds.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Uncategorized by

I went down to the pool and swam yesterday. Saturdays are hit or miss there. It can be busy or not so busy. I was lucky it wasn’t a super busy day, and I had a lane to myself almost the whole time. Today, though, I am feeling it. I guess I just need to get down there more, although last week was different with the snow and rain. So I decided not to go for a walk this morning, and maybe I’ll walk a little later after I loosen up a bit. 🙂

I have a meet-up with someone I’m giving our recycling to. I just don’t have the motivation to go to the recycling place, but a lot of people still do. Barclay, of course, did all that. But I hate to just toss it in with our regular garbage, hence, I’m doing this.

I also have my sourdough to bake. This time I tried rosemary and Meyer lemon. I’ll see how it comes out. I also want to figure out the menu for the week. Last night we had a Souper Cube of roast chicken and stuffing. I made some corn on the side. It was good. The freezer is looking better. I’ll pull some stuff from the chest freezer for the week. I know I’ll do some ground beef for burgers, and I still have quite a few veggie burgers too. So maybe it’ll be a burger week!!!

My son did a stained glass workshop and made this for me. What a sweetheart!!

The week ahead looks good with the temperatures going up. We’ve used a lot of firewood this past week, so I’ll be glad when it’s not so cold.

A blogger I followed closed her blog. She’s in Australia and had a huge following, but I guess felt it wasn’t viable to keep it going. I guess she didn’t leave the posts up because AI will tap into things like that, which I know nothing about. Does anyone know if that’s true? I guess, after blogging since 2012, I still just see my blog as my own journal of what’s going on in my life. Plus, I think it helps me to write things out. I still do a daily budget in my notebook, recording what’s been spent or bills due, and I write a daily list of what I want to do/accomplish. I get my notebooks from Michaels, so they’re not expensive. I usually buy 3 or 4 at a time.

Do you do a daily list? I think it does help.

Monday menus, And Simple sunday late.

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, home improvement, home stuff, library, meal planning, Walking by

The day got away from me yesterday. I was doing some house chores, baking a sourdough loaf( jalapeno cheddar), and sitting in the sun. It was a very nice day.

I had a nice walk in the morning. Sunrise is now 7am, so I’ve been getting to the park at 6:30. Since sunrise is going to keep getting earlier, I’ll have to decide what my cutoff is for getting out. In the past I’d jump out at 5:30 am but I’m feeling too old for that.

Last night we had a frozen pizza and watched some more of Stranger Things. This season(4) is really intense, and the episodes are quite long. Still it’s keeping my interest.

Tonight, I might make a chicken tortilla soup as I made broth the other day. I also have chips I can use on top along with avocado.

Tuesday- this is my daughter’s later night at work, so usually I do something easy. I might do a grilled cheese. I also have leftover curry from the other night, I froze.

Wednesday- I need to look in the freezer and check what should be used. I know some pot stickers could be used with rice. I also have some tilapia I can grill up.

Thursday- Spaghetti and meatballs,salad

Friday- I might get takeout, tacos?

Saturday- Something from the freezer. I think I have some other soups frozen, so I’ll go check that out, plus I have lots of Souper cubes frozen of beans, chili, etc.

My son was here on Saturday and built the railing for the stairs off the sunporch. He’s been working on making sure I have handrails and grab bars for safety. It looks good. I just need to have him buy a piece of lattice to make it more attractive, and I can plant a vine of some sort to make it even nicer.

I went to Ace and had them match the house trim paint as the one I had saved must have deteriorated, as the color was definitely off. I haven’t opened it yet to see, but from the color on the top, it looks like a match. It looks like we have rain coming in so painting will have to wait anyway.

I have my labs this morning, and then it’ll be too late to get to the pool, so I plan on going to the gym and then the library. I have a few books to drop off and a hold to pick up.

I also see Dr. L this week, so that will change my routine as to the pool. I think I’ll plan Costco after I see him on Thursday. As usual, it’s coffee that I’ll need, plus some non-food things like toilet paper, paper towels, etc. I might pick up a ready-made meal there.

Here’s the jalapeno loaf. It looks good. I haven’t cut it yet, but I will slice it up this morning.

I finished the taxes, and it all looked good, and we didn’t owe, so that’s a win.

Midweek Musings

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, swimming by

Well, I did a SWIM, and it went well, so I’m encouraged. I am a little sore this morning( stiff), but I think I’ll try and swim one more time this week.

I’m almost done with the new Dan Brown book,‘ Secret of Secrets’. Not impressed. Too wordy and seems to just go on and on. But I’ll finish it.

My daughters back to work this week at the library, so I have some days alone. I’d like to make a list of some things to do and be a little adventurous. I might drive up to Tahoe and scatter a little more of B’s ashes. Last time we went up. I actually forgot to bring them with me. 🙁

After the pool, I went into Costco to return some sweatpants I bought. They were not a comfortable fit. So I got a few things we needed: eggs, shredded cheese, tortillas, and my daughter wanted some Kombucha. Chicken was on sale with a $5 coupon, so I picked up a pack. Anytime there is a deal at Costco that I like, I get it because that’s where the real savings are.

This is a watercolor my daughter did. I might go over to Goodwill and see if I can find a frame. I also have my old Apple monitor that no one wants to drop off. I tried listing it on Marketplace, but no one was interested.

This was the latest loaf from yesterday. This is after slicing it. I use a Krups slicer I found at the thrift store. I’m freezing quite a bit of bread, it seems. 🙂 I slice it first, then put it in freezer bags. I might feed my starter today, but I won’t mix to start a loaf. I did this one in a banneton. (Well, it’s cold fermentation that uses the banneton). You don’t bake in it.

Midweek Musings

Posted in books, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, reading, velcade by

I started reading Clavell’s Noble House. I read this back in the 80’s, but he is such a good writer, I wanted to reread it. The books are hard to find(any by Clavell is), but my son, who frequents thrift stores, found a first edition for me. Whereas Shogun takes place in ancient Japan, this is set in Hong Kong. I have a library book to pick up, and it’s one that’s been on hold for quite a while, Dan Brown’s Secret of Secrets. Have you read it? I’m curious about it and whether I’ll like it. I did like the action in his other books, so we’ll see.

I’ve had a flare-up of my IBS, so I haven’t been to the pool or down to the Roseville gym. I have walked and done the Auburn gym, but I want to keep track of what foods may be triggering this( pizza? dairy?). I checked with Dr. Laptalo, and he thought it might be connected to my Velcade. (Remember my chronic diarrhea started way back with Revlimid, like in 2010. Most of that is over with, but occasionally I get a period where it seems to flare up. He suggested some OTC Imodium, so I’ll check that out. I do have Lomotil, which I take when needed, and that was an absolute game-changer for me, so I could go out to eat, travel, etc. But these flare-ups make it hard to go out. Todays Wednesday, and I’ve been fine the last few days, so I’ll see how it goes for the rest of the week. This is a common side effect of chemo, but with Velcade, I haven’t noticed much. On the other had I didn’t develop IBS with Revlimid for 3 years, and then the last 2 when I was on it were truly awful.

So, as such, I haven’t decided if I want to get my book or not. I plan on making another sourdough loaf as I fed my starter. The whole wheat loaf didn’t have a very good rise, so I think my starter was too weak. I did get some organic flour to use as opposed to the whole wheat I had used. Whole wheat is great for a yeasted bread, but much harder with a sourdough starter.

I need to work on next month’s budget, too. I have Allstate as an extra expense and part of the house insurance, too. I need to check if there’s something else too. Property taxes are coming due, so I need to figure that out.

That about sums it up!

MLK Jr. Day and menu for the week

Posted in bread, budgeting, California, cooking, meal planning by

It makes me so sad to have this be MLK Jr day and all that he stood for and died for, and to have our country deteriorating in front of our eyes. I still believe in the ‘dream’ and that somehow we will find our way back to decency, truth, and democracy.

I read an article in the NYT, I think it was on a reporter in Minneapolis, and how on the ground there, it is much worse than it appears. She gave a couple of examples, and it was horrifying. I just checked, and it is the NYT and the reporter is Lydia Polgreen. You should read it if you can.

Like Samwise Gamgee says, ‘that there is still some good in this world’.

Onwward to the daily stuff in one small persons life.

Last night we had ham and Swiss cheese sliders while we watched ‘Stranger Things’. I think there’s one episode left in Season One. It’s better than I remember.

Monday- a freezer meal of one of the Souper Cube meals. I have a mac and cheese and a wild rice soup out to use.

Tuesday – I have some corn tortillas to use up, so I might make enchiladas and beans.

Wednesday- I have one frozen pizza left in the big freezer, so I want to use that up.

Thursday- I have some tamales in the big freezer, too, so I may do those as well.

Friday- Breaded cod and potatoes. I have 3 or 4 russets to use in the fridge, so either I’ll make some French Fries or do home fries. Plus, I have a baggie of cut-up bell peppers in the freezer, so I could add some if I do the home fries.

I am using the veggies I used the vacuum sealer on, and it seems as if it’s working great. I opened the shredded brussels sprouts, and they looked great. So I have lots of salad to use up this week, too.

Today is a home day, and I started some sourdough bread. The YouTuber I’ve been watching for sourdough tips is Kelly Welk. Very practical and useful information that she gives, plus she demonstrates how to do things. I didn’t have enough bread flour, so I added in White Wheat, so I’m not sure if that’s going to affect the density. For me to run out of flour certainly says something about where my priorities have been. I guess I haven’t made any bread in a while, except in the bread machine, and I wanted that to be half whole wheat. I’ll go to Costco to get their flour sometime this week.

I hope it’s a good holiday for you, and we must believe that good will always win out over evil.

What plans do any of you have today? In California, all the state parks offer free admission. That would be fun to go do.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, bread, California, camping, home stuff, Walking by

A night of not sleeping well got me off to a slow start. I’ll see how I feel in an hour or so. I started my sheets in the laundry and watched a clip on YouTube on how to revive your sourdough starter. I got my starter out of the fridge and did the measurements. She suggested 15 grams of each, but I had 18 come out of the jar, so I used that. But I did follow through with all 3 measurements the same. So water, flour, and starter all were all 18 grams. I’ll see how that works when I go to feed it later this afternoon.

I’m heading out to the gym, and I’ll use the treadmill since I didn’t walk in the park. Mostly, I want to keep to my regular Sunday schedule, which is the Auburn gym.

Update: back from the gym. It was really empty, weird. I did use the treadmill for .5 mile and then my regular weights.

From there, I went into BelAir for some salad dressing, bread, and wine. After that, I went to the Auto Zone store for antifreeze for the VW. So now I’m home and finishing this up before I get going on other stuff.

My son is off camping on the coast as he has MLK Day off from work. It should be nice over there. He wanted to get out his camping stuff and see how it all is, so this was a good opportunity. He has a big canvas tent, but I’m not sure that’s what I want to sleep in when we have our camping trip( if I ever get a reservation). I was able to get a spot at New Brighton, but it’s still iffy whether he can come with me on that.

I mostly need to do a sweep around the house and tidy things. The kitchen needs some attention, too. After that, I’ll probably read and maybe take a nap! I plan to stay home tomorrow.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, cancer, cooking, simplicity by

Another cloudy, rainy day yesterday, and it looks like that again for today. We can always use the rain, so I can’t complain really. I think we’re back in the sun by evening, and then it looks nice the rest of the week.

I drove B for his transusion yesterday. This is probably the one thing that is frustrating me. Well, one of many things, but it is a big question mark why it is his hemoglobin is dropping. I suppose the simple answer is that the cancer is affecting his blood levels, but I’m not a doctor. He has his next immuno on Tuesday, so hopefully that will start to improve the hemoglobin. A very good thing, though, is he’s had a bit of an appetite and has eaten pretty well the last few days. I hope that’s a sign he’s doing better.

Today is a home day. Normally, I’d be at the Auburn gym, but I want to hold off till I get an official diagnosis on my knee. I had the MRI, so I should know by Monday or Tuesday. It didn’t take long, partly because there was no contrast involved. The one oncology nurse, Vicki, who usually does my shot, said that using a stationary bike is one of the best ways to build knee muscles. She had a torn meniscus a few years back due to a skiing accident, so she really went full on rehab and now is a committed bicyclist and goes out every morning at 4:30 am. Now that’s dedication. i will start on the bike once I know what’s up.

I’m making sourdough bread this morning. I thought I’d try something different, so I’m trying cheddar and olives. We’ll see how it comes out.

Friday night, I was able to use that frozen pizza that was languishing in the freezer, so one more thing gone.

Last night I made the Greek lemon chicken soup, Avogolimeno. It’s a simple recipe, but so delicious. I made B tomato soup and he ate it all!!!

I think tonight, I’ll do rice and the TJ’s Kung Pao chicken that I’d like to use up.

I made reservations for the 5 of us to go to brunch at one of our favorite places, High Hand Nursery and Cafe. It’s very popular and reservations are hard to get, but I got a brunch on the Sunday before my daughter’s birthday. I’m sure it’ll be pricey, but since we rarely eat out, I’m ok with it.

I finished the book “Enough’ about the Everest climber. It was an interesting read, but I would have liked more about what the camps are like. How many people climb in a day? Things like that. But a good read.

Then I’m working my way through the Harry Potter books for the 3rd time. I just finished #2. They are fun to read. It’s too bad JK Rowling has become such a jerk and anti LGBTQ+. Weird.

Tomorrow I have my labs, and I might go into Target( which I’ve been avoiding) to check out some PJs. I’ve been looking for just some cotton ones, and most, like from LLB, etc, are too expensive. I saw some online at Target for $20, so I want ot check them out.

This week, Flylady is the LR. So I’ll do a few extra things. I dusted all the Easton Press Books already, so I may just need to wash the inside windows.

How do you do house chores? All at once or break it up like Flylady?

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cooking, Pantry, Walking by

I woke up fairly early and knew the time changed. So had a coffee and got to the park at 7am which is really 6am. The predawn was nice and it got light pretty quick. There was some event happening at the community center so lots of cars showing up 🙁

Then I went to the gym and it was empty for the most part. I saw 2 other people.

Then I stopped at Bel Air for half and half. Then straight home and got the sourdough in the oven.

This is a parmesan/oregano loaf. You can see the flakes of oregano.

Now I’m tidying things up and making a plan for the week. I know I’m going to swim on Monday, the gym on Wednesday, and then go back to the pool on Friday. The only caveat would be how much it’s raining.

I still haven’t mopped the floors so I need to do that today.

This should be a nice week with just a few chores like Winco. That should be easy after swimming since it’s across the street. B needs ginger ale. With the stuff going on he’s off wine so ginger ale it is. Then some odds and ends: fish food, Ball jar lids, some frozen things and I’ll see what else.