So, it is possible that one form of the nesting impulse is to bake? I don't recall ever having heard of it in anyone else's case. But I don't have any other explanation for my recent energies in the kitchen.
Although maybe that's just a nice way of saying that the 3rd trimester has me wanting cookies.
Cookies and donuts. Oh my.
But I actually haven't been making a ton of cookies, and I certainly haven't had any donuts recently. However, baking has been happening.
First off, I'd like to just share the progress that has taken place in my adventures in bread making.
A little less than a year ago or about this time last year, this is what my bread looked like:
I mean, I don't think it looks disgusting. But it certainly doesn't look particularly inviting. Bread is one of those things… you can usually judge a loaf of bread by its cover.
Edible, but a bit flat and dull… not particularly toothsome.
But just a few weeks later, there was this little batch. Considerably more promising:
Here are a few loaves from last week. At this point, I could basically make them in my sleep. Granted, still not anything too exciting. But for the purposes of our daily sandwich bread, bread-and-butter-with-dinner bread, and breakfast toast, quite tasty. A mixture of white flour, white whole wheat, and flax seed meal.
And this was from yesterday. I used corn meal flour for about half of the content. (This morning it's French toast.)
Point being: a year is plenty of time to get better at bread! I figure that if my bread skills improve by the same amount each year, we should be eating baked gold in about 10.
In other news: bundt cakes.
I made this cake just because. I used this recipe for a lemon poppyseed cake, but I didn't have any poppy seeds. Since I decided it would probably want for some texture, I used flaked coconut. To contribute to the theme, I also substituted coconut oil in some places for butter. It's fun to make because it involves a soaking with a syrup made from candying the lemon slices. And then you get to eat whole lemon slices in your cake!
Super moist. Very good. Mine didn't come out as robust as hers, but it was still quite tasty.
I also cut back a bit on some of the sugar…
…because I wanted to be able to justify eating it for breakfast.
This next one I made because we were invited over to dinner with some friends and they requested a dessert. I made a slightly modified version of the Triple Berry Summer Buttermilk Bundt from smitten kitchen. My modifications: just blueberries (there was a 2 for 1 sale), yogurt instead of buttermilk (because I just never have buttermilk), and a few tweaks to the icing.
Truly, this was so easy to make (and I don't even think I did it totally correctly… I think I might have over-mixed in a few places). I didn't want the oven on for long, and certainly not late in the day, so I got ingredients ready before getting in my morning shower. Then I literally whipped it up and had it in the oven before morning Mass, and it was perfectly done when we got home. I think it took me a total of 20 minutes actually putting it together. Very rewarding!
And here it is chilling to harden the icing before bringing it over for friends.
Anyway. If this makes you hungry for baked goods — I know the feeling. And I still haven't had any donuts.
This week's links!
- First, a technical note from Rosie (I'm not up on these things): “If you are clinging to Google Reader until the very last moment, like I have been (I've used it for years to keep track of all the blogs I read, and have definitely been in denial about its upcoming demise), remember that it disappears on July 1st — which is Monday! Ack!”Make sure you switch over to another reader before then, or at the very least, bookmark Like Mother, Like Daughter so that you don't lose us!
“Feedly.com is what I'm tentatively using as a replacement. You can easily import all your feeds from google in just one click (do it before Monday!), and they have a handy-dandy cheat sheet for those of us who are used to the way Google Reader works and don't want to have to learn new tricks. I appreciate that. It seems simple and easy to use.
“I've also heard good things about bloglovin.com, and have imported my feeds there as well, just in case I don't like feedly. Both readers have mobile apps, and the LMLD feed should work with any RSS reader.”
- Oh wow. Forget everything you ever thought you knew about the coolest sandbox.
- Without going off on any rants or despairing diatribes, here are a few helpful links for processing the week's events. A short statement on marriage from Archbishop Coakley of Oklahoma City and a brief outlining of what went wrong, democratically speaking, from National Review.
- My lengthy link for this week: an absolutely excellent article from Touchstone Magazine on being Designed for Sex. Getting a firm grasp on these ideas is extremely helpful in the conversations that are happening (or notably NOT happening) these days.
- A little reflection on a family, based on the long marriage of the parents, viewed through the lens of their quirky collection of salt & pepper shakers.
- And another little reflection on another elderly couple. The husband shares his thoughts; the wife has Alzheimer's. Be prepared. I really thought that I was going to get through this whole short video without weeping. [Nice try, Deirdre.] It is beautiful.
Happy Weekend!
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