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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Quote of the Week

"I thought I could make a difference to change our party. It didn't work. ... I did not leave the party, the party left me." 
— Jo Ann Nardelli, a prominent Pennsylvania Democrat who announced she's leaving the Democratic Party because of her Catholic faith.


Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Pizza Crust Recipe

This is from To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co.

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons water
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 cups sprouted flour (wheat or spelt works best or I like a combo of both)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon honey
1 packet dry active yeast
2 tablespoons of dried herbs (I dont use any)

Place all ingredients in a food processor (or mixer) and mix well.  Continue to blend for about 2 mins.  Let dough rise for bout hour.   Remove dough and spread with fingers on sheet or stone.  Let rest 15-20 mins.  Top and bake at 450 for about 12-15 mins. 
I heat my pizza stone up first for about an hour and then slide on the prepared pizza from a cookie sheet that was lined in parchment and bake on stone on parchment.
This makes a big, heavy pizza, I have even made it into 2.



As you can see by this last pict that this was the first time I made the pizza and even though I had cornmeal on the pizza peel it is soooo heavy it stuck when I went to slide it on the heated stone and I was so angry I almost just grabbed it, rolled it in a ball and tossed it but I was so happy I didn't and that I saved it best I could cause it was so wonderful and all, ALL the children liked it too and they are not all fans of homemade pizza!

Soaked Wheat Bread Recipe



I used the following recipe to make this cinnamon bread



Here it is before I rolled it slathered in butter, raw sugar and cinnamon.
Homemade Whole Grain Soaked Bread
Combine in a bowl-
5 cups flour- 1/2 WHOLE WHEAT- 1/2 WHITE WHEAT
1/2 cup acid medium- CULTURED BUTTERMILK, kefir or whey
1 1/2 cups WARM FILTERED WATER
1 cup of OATS
1/2 cup of RAW HONEY
6 Tablespoons of MELTED BUTTER or coconut oil
Cover and soak at room temp. for 12-24 hours
After soaking, in a small bowl combine, sit till proofed
1/4 cup warm WATER
1/2 teaspoon of HONEY
1 1/4 Tbsp of ACTIVE DRY YEAST
Next, combine wheat and yeast mixture along with
1 Tbsp of sea salt
2 Tbsp of DOUGH ENHANCER if you have it ( I didn't)
Use Kitched aid with paddle till all combined then go to had kneeding with additional flour- preferably soaked flour, for about ten mins. then rest it in greased, covered bowl for about 1 1/2 hours or till doubled
Punch down they rest again another 45 mins
Shape in 2 loaves and raise again in warm oven (Turn oven on low then turn it back off)
After they are raised JUST above the rim turn oven on 350 and bake until fully browned.
Rest in pan 10 mins before removing.

This would make 2 loaves and is adapted from another but I cant remember where right now but will give credit when I find it :)

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Cinnamon Chip Danish- Addicting!



I'm making this tomorrow with a few adjustments.  I'll let ya know how it comes out.  It is absolutely yummy.  One of our family favorites.  I'm going to try and make it with my soaked bread dough. 
HERE is a link to the original recipe.  A greatly missed friend of ours who moved away made it for me when Marlee was born.  If you ever read this- I miss you Jo!

Okay, so I made it with the 1/2 of the soaked wheat bread recipe.  Not quite as good but still delicious and better for you.  Now if I could just get back to the Amish Country in Lancaster and get the all natural cinnamon chips :)

Here are my picts from today-


Our Stormy Day at Mingo Park


Tommy, Manny and Marlee posing.



Manny throwing rocks, he loved it.


Mason, Tommy and Marlee were racing leaf boats.


Marlee and Tommy built a rock damn.


Mason holding a crayfish.


Mason and a water skimmer.


A leaf and seed pod we still need to identify.


And we still need to look up who made all these prints.  My guess is a possum or raccoon. 


Whats you guess?  HERE is a link to raccoon tracks.


And HERE is a link for opossums.  I just don't know.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

My Mammoth Lavender Plant

The "Look"

Heres another picture of Mannys new "look". He's really happy right now riding around with Mason he just makes that face to be silly.

Pentecost- Holy Trintiy

HERE  is a link to a very nice blog that helps explain Icons.  The link will take you to a post about the Icon of Pentecost.  Today is our parish Patronal Feast day.
I would like to type more but Manny is very tired and is crying to go to take his nap.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Our Little Back "Yard"

It's not really a yard. It has no grass, it's a cement patio which luckily is all privacy fenced in. The younger children love to ride scooters, cars and the tricycle on it but it's a killer on their knees in the summer when they are wearing shorts. Poor Manny really skinned his knee good today and it was just almost totally healed from last week darn it! Now he's back to wearing pants outside again.
The little patch of soil and plants you see is all we have back here. It's about 20 feet long and almost 3 feet wide. It was just dead, dry dirt when we moved here 2 years ago -it doesn't really get much rain water- but I have been working with it and now it has 2 blueberry bushes, some strawberries, iris, day lily, columbine, trilium, and we just planted a few annuals. I really need to put a soaker hose in. I just don't want to spend the money on it ;(.

Mannys New Favorite Face

Silly boy.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Salisbury Steak Recipe

Do you ever throw something together and then wish you actually measured and wrote down what you did? I did that tonight. I made Salisbury Steak and it turned out so wonderful and tender. So just so I remember what I did I'm going to blog it. Measurement are not exact.

1 lb of free range ground beef
1 container of baby Bella mushrooms- halved
1 small onion sliced thin
1 free range egg
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup Marsala cooking wine
1 cup beef broth- I used Trader Joes free range
1 scant teaspoon each of garlic salt, parsley, onion powder- this is where it get really tricky cause I never measure
Flour

Ok so first I sliced the onion and mushrooms and cooked them in olive oil till tender then I added a clove of minced garlic
In another bowl I mixed the beef, egg, bread crumbs, and spices and made them into small patties and placed them on the onion mixture. Next I added the wine and about 1/2 cup of the broth, dusted with flour and then put it in the oven at 325 for about 2 hours.
After 2 hours I took it out, removed the meat and mushrooms and put it on the stove to make a gravy. I added the other 1/2 cupish of broth and whisked in the flour. You may need to add a little garlic salt to taste. Then I added the meat and mushrooms back in and put it back in the oven at 200 while I made the rice- about 25 mins.- I also used my Le Creuset Dutch oven to cook it in which I think makes a difference. Hold is the moisture very nicely.
I tried to take a picture but my camera is full. I really need to download and clear it out.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Please Pray for Our Religious Freedom

Please take a minute to watch this video and share it with others.

   

This is so important.

If you are in Southwestern Pa like me here is the contact info to say thanks and support those who are fighting for us-

39. Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA
412-456-3000
communications@diopitt.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Catholic-Diocese-of-Pittsburgh/175177579162895

40. Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh, PA
412-456-6999
info@ccpgh.org
http://www.facebook.com/ccpgh

41. Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA
866-794-5081
cca@ccapgh.org  

If you are elsewhere or would just like to thank and please pray for all those involved in the lawsuit HERE is a link to Catholic Vote that has the full list and article as well as other useful information.

Please remember that this isn't about birth control, so even if you support contraception, this is about our freedom.  And please, even if you are not Catholic, this is your religious freedom at stake as well.

Morning Prayers

My Icon " corner" on our piano

I got lucky this morning and the boys-who usually wake up early and first- went down to play a little wii right after their morning tea so I got to say morning prayers in peace.
I found THIS site that has beautiful morning prayers that have a printer friendly version.

Here is a little part-

A Prayer to the Holy Trinity

Arising from sleep I thank thee, O holy Trinity, because of the abundance of thy goodness and long-suffering thou wast not wroth with me, slothful and sinful as I am; neither hast thou destroyed me in my transgressions: but in thy compassion raised me up, as I lay in despair; that at dawn I might sing the glories of thy Majesty. Do thou now enlighten the eyes of my understanding, open my mouth to receive thy words, teach me thy commandments, help me to do thy will, confessing thee from my heart, singing and praising thine All-holy Name: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

I hope you have a peaceful morning and a blessed day.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Marlee and Her Cake

With Manny right next to her of course. He kept walking around saying "Happy Birthday" and couldn't wait to do the candles. He loves candles.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Memory Lane.....

Marlee wasn't due till June be decided to come to us weeks early instead. When she was born in the hospital hot tub- only cause they couldn't drain the water and get the door off fast enough- which I was happy about, easiest birth yet on my body, I held her and nursed her in the tub for a bit and she was fine. Then they took her for the usual
stuff they do and my husband went along with them. Well, they weren't coming back and I was starting to get concerned then finally they came to tell me that they were watching her breathing and they didn't like how she was laboring for breath so they were going to fly her down to Childrens. Needless to say I wasn't too happy about that and they didn't want me to go till the morning, so I got to say goodbye and they put my new little girl in the helicopter and she flew away. My dad drove my husband down to be with her. I have to say, even though I was sad about it I always felt at peace with it because I just knew she was going to be fine. So I spent the rest of the night writing birth announcements. The next week was really hard. Since Marlee was intubated and couldn't nurse yet I spent more time home with Madison and Morgan- who just turned 4 and 2 at the time and were used to me always being home with them but as soon as tue tube came out and Marlee could nurse I didn't leave her.
That first week of her little life is still a blur of running back and forth to Pittsburgh, missing her, missing my other girls, feeling bad for the other when I had to leave but being happy to see the other, not much sleep, missing my husband because he was usually where I wasn't and a whole lot of praying for our family and for the others there because Marlee looked like such a happy, healthy baby compared to many others there, some who had been there weeks or months and some who would never make it home.

Happy Birthday Marlee!

Marlee is 10 today! I can't believe it. Her grama Sally sent her down Crookshanks from Harry Potter and she loves him.
As you can see she is clearing up rather nicely from her Chicken Pox ;). It will be three weeks tomorrow that they started.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Oliver Wood

Its been a week already since my birthday and I'm finally getting to post a picture of my birthday gift from Madison and Morgan. They surprised me with one of my favorite people from
Harry Potter, a Lego Oliver Wood. Isn't he adorable? We were very late with the whole Harry Potter thing because I was concerned about the "witchcraft" aspect of it but it is such a good story about being selfless and about relationships and how we treat and view those who are different. I am really enjoying it and am almost finished with the final book. The movies are good but I highly recommend taking the time to read the series.
Thanks girls, Ollie is awesome!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Wedding Soup

Since some of my poor children are sick and because Morgan asked me to make some soon the other day- I made a big pot of Wedding Soup today and it is soooo yummy!

All Tuckered Out

Poor little guy. He just fell asleep sitting up on the couch while I was checking in the wedding soup I'm making him.

Can You Tell I've Been Crying?

Manny, I mean although I wouldnt mind a good cry right along with him just cause I feel so bad he's so sad :(
He just doesn't feel well and DID NOT want his daddy to leave for work. He usually isn't up to see Tommy go which makes things much easier cause when he is it makes him very upset but since he isn't well today things went worse than usual. I couldn't get him calmed down till I offered a bath and cheered him for the moment. I'm praying the rest of the day goes better for him than this morning. I wish I could figure out what hurts him.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

More Mantis

Mason took this picture to of them on our iris. They are so tiny!

Out Praying Mantis Egg Cases Hatched!

They hatched yesterday and they are so cute! They are only about a millimeter long. Their has to be about 100 of them so I think only one of the egg cases hatched so far. Mason took this picture. Didn't he do a good job?

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

I'm 39!

Today I turned 39 and I'm not depressed about it what so ever. I'm very happy with my life so getting older doesn't make me sad. I have a great husband, 5 beautiful children here on earth and 2 I'll meet someday in heaven. And I still have a few good years of fertility yet- no I'm not intentionally try to have another baby right now (thats up to God not me) but when the day comes when I can no longer conceive then I know that will be a bit depressing to me :(.
Anyway, I bought this wonderful balm today for myself cause I really do need to start taking better care of my skin. I'm blessed with really young looking and healthy parents and I want to be that way too. I want to be around for plenty of grandchildren! My gram is 91 and I think she looks great for her age.

My Pretty New Mug

I got it for myself for my birthday ;). My husband was kind enough to watch all the children for a while so I could go out shopping by myself. I went to Trader Joes and the Marker District Giant Eagle cause I love to grocery shop and they are two of my favorite stores. I also ran into TJ Maxx and found this beautiful little mug that's made in Poland to add to my growing collection. I don't get there that often but try and buy a new piece everytime
I do. I try very hard not to buy things made in China if I can help it. Atleast things we are going to be using for food. I had another great birthday.