Mix It Up Monday – Cakes for the New Year!

21 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by Kris Baker in Mix It Up Monday

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baking, cake, Chocolate, dessert, easy, Homemade Sander's Bumpy Cake, King Arthur Flour, snack

from Kris B.

Classic Birthday Cake

Despite the fact that we have had three family birthdays in the last month, we had no birthday cake! It seems a strange phenomenon with a family full of bakers. I guess it is because homemade baked goods are normal in our family. And, we often go out for birthday celebrations. My oldest daughter wanted pizza from our local pizza shop for her birthday dinner. By the time she had indulged in eggplant parmesan pizza there was no room for dessert. We celebrated my youngest daughter’s birthday at a Turkish restaurant and sampled their ethnic sweet treats after our main course. And for my birthday, our family celebration was over brunch (our favorite meal) so, I had pancakes rather than birthday cake. All was good. As I said, it just seems a bit strange to have all these birthdays and no cake!

As I was perusing the King Arthur Flour website on the first day of the new year, I found that they have declared this recipe, The Classic Birthday Cake as their recipe of the year for 2019. Honestly, I didn’t know that yellow cake with chocolate frosting was a “classic” birthday cake, but it is my favorite kind of iced cake. I’m not a huge fan of iced layer cakes in terms of making or eating them. They are often too sweet to eat. And when I try to frost multi-layer cakes, my kitchen often looks like a monkey was allowed to run amok with finger paint! Frosting ends up everywhere; I’m not even sure how that happens!

With all that said, however, since King Arthur Flour named this as their recipe of the year and since if I am going to eat a frosted layer cake this is the one I’d want to eat, I decided to give it a go, a bleated birthday cake for me, I suppose.

BATTER INGREDIENTS:

King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour OR Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour
salt
baking powder
eggs
granulated sugar
vanilla extract
almond extract; optional
milk (whole milk preferred)
butter, cut into pats
vegetable oil

As I said, I don’t make many cakes like this. I’d forgotten how simple cakes really are to mix up. The dry ingredients, minus the sugar, are mixed together in a small bowl. The eggs, sugar, vanilla, and extracts are then beat together in an electric mixer. Once these ingredients are thickened and become a light golden color, the dry ingredients are mixed in.

In a saucepan, the milk is heated just to a simmer. The oil and butter are stirred in. Once the butter has completed melted, this mixture is stirred, by hand, into the batter.

The batter is then divided evenly into two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans that have been greased and parchment lined. One of my biggest fears when making layer cakes is that the cake will stick. I sprayed my pans and cut circles of parchment from my pre-cut baking sheet liners. Unfortunately, it took two of these sheets for my two round pans. Another important thing when making a layer cake is having equal layers. I did fill my pans using a kitchen scale. The recipe suggests that each pan should contain 580 grams of batter. Mine were 584 grams each.

The size of your pan affects the baking time. The suggested baking time for 9 inch layers is 26-30 minutes. I ended up baking mine for 34 minutes before the inserted toothpick came out clean. Confession time: I don’t normally use a thermometer with baked good, though I did just order a fancy probe thermometer from King Arthur, which has not arrived yet. I’ll let you know how I like it once I’ve worked with it for a while.

Once the cake layers are baked, carefully loosen them from the sides of the pan. Mine pulled away so I had no issues here. Let them cool in the pans for 15 minutes before removing them and letting them cool completely, top side up, on cooling racks.

Then it’s time for painting on the frosting!

FROSTING INGREDIENTS

natural cocoa powder
confectioners’ sugar
salt
hot water
vanilla extract
butter, softened

All of the ingredients are mixed together and beat until the frosting becomes “Lightened in color and fluffy.” I beat my frosting for quite a while and it still seemed too stiff to me so I ended up added about three TBS of cream to fluff it up.

Then comes the assembly…

The key for me was to place the cake in the freezer between icing steps. I still ended up with a few wayward globs and smears of icing on my counter, but I felt like a had much more control of the process than I have in the past.

Here is how the assembly goes:

Place one layer on your platter. Use about 1/2″ of frosting to top this layer. Carefully place the second layer on top, with the bottom up the layer up for a flat-topped cake. Place the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes. This sets the frosting and makes your layers less likely to slide around as you continue to frost.
Create a Crumb Coat. A crumb coat is a light layer of frosting spread across the top and the sides of the cake. Some cake, and crumbs, will show through. Basically you are creating a surface to which the final layer of frosting will stick. Once you have added the crumb coat, again place the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Add the final layer of frosting. The frosting will be about 1/2′ thick. Extra frosting can be used to pipe around the base of the cake if desired.

Here are my observations and suggestions:

I wish my layers had been a little thicker. As I said, I used 9″ pans because that is what I have. I think 8″ might have been better. Also, I may have night beat my batter quite long enough. I suspect that these two things combined will yield a taller layer. I think the taller layers are important because the icing is quite rich, needing a “substantial” cake to support it.
I substituted the King Arthur Princess Cake and Cookie Flavor for the almond extract.
I added 2 TBS of King Arthur Cake Enhancer to my batter. This cake can be kept at room temperature for three days or refrigerated up to one week. The Cake Enhancer helps to keep it fresh and moist.

I can see why King Arthur Flour has chosen this as their Recipe of the Year for 2019. This is indeed a fabulous, classic cake. When you read all of the steps to the recipe, it sounds a little more cumbersome and labor intensive than it really is. The cake comes together easily.

I will say that a small piece goes a long way; it is very rich.

Give this recipe a practice run so that you are prepared for the next birthday cake that you are called upon to make! You won’t be disappointed! Practice makes perfect…and perhaps a little bigger around the middle. 🙂

from Tracey G.

Sanders Bumpy Cake from King Arthur Flour

I recently bought the stuff to make this cake, for fun, to see if I could remedy the mistakes I made last time I tried it, which was for this post: Food Friday – Cake Confessions. So, when cakes came around again, I asked Kris if she thought it would be ok for me to revisit this recipe since I was all set to make it anyway! We decided I should go for it! The first time around, I had issues with my fudge frosting, and ended up making another batch to see if I could fix the first mistake and it sort of backfired, and I made it WAY too thick. Oh well, live and learn and hope to make it right the next time you try right? I think I completed my mission by at least 90%, and discovered some things I think to make it work even better next time I make it – because there will be a next time, it’s really yummy!

The ingredients are simple:

CAKE

Dutch-process cocoa
hot brewed coffee or water
vegetable oil
buttermilk
baking soda
salt
vanilla extract
large eggs
granulated sugar
King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

BUTTERCREAM

unsalted butter, at room temperature
salt
confectioners’ sugar, sifted
vanilla extract
milk or half & half, as needed

FUDGE FROSTING

buttermilk
dark corn syrup
(1/2 cup) unsalted butter
Dutch-process cocoa
salt
confectioners’ sugar, sifted
vanilla extract

The first time I made this, back in February 2018, I bought the Bensdorp Dutch Process Cocoa (as in linked in the ingredients list!), and I liked it so much that I keep it on hand now for making cakes etc. But I am confident any Dutch process cocoa powder would be just fine!

The cake comes together super easy, you start by combining the hot brewed coffee or hot water with the cocoa powder and mix until smooth. Add the buttermilk and oil, mix until combined. Then the salt and baking soda is added, mixed for 30 seconds, then the eggs and vanilla are put in and it all mixed until smooth. The very last things to go in are the sugar and flour, and mixed for 2 minutes. In the oven it goes at 350°F for 33-35 minutes. Cool on rack at least 30 minutes, then into the freezer it goes for about an hour.

While it’s chilling in the freezer, mix up the buttercream. That’s fairly straightforward, whip the butter, add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until fluffy. Add in a bit of milk until it’s a nice smooth consistency. This will get piped on the cake after it’s been chilled, in 7 stripes, from the short side of the pan (the 9 inch side, not lengthwise), that are spaced about 1″ apart. After you do this, it’s back into the freezer for about 30 minutes.

When time is almost up, it’s time to get the fudge frosting going. This is really easy, and this go around I got the timing right. You combine in a heavy-bottomed saucepan the butter, buttermilk, salt, cocoa and dark corn syrup. Over medium heat bring it to a boil, and boil for 2-3 minutes until the bubble make a snapping sound as they pop.

Now, this is where I messed up the last time – I brought it to a boil too slow last time and it ended up way too thick. This time I brought it up fast, and it worked really well. After you get it to that snapping point, you reduce the heat and whisk in the sugar until it melts and it’s smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and add your vanilla. And I must confess here that in my anxiety to get it at the right pouring consistency, I got it right into my measure cup as directed to cool slightly before pouring on the cake – well, I forgot to add the vanilla. I am here to say though that it is just fine without it!

My house was really cool, so I did have some issues with it pouring nicely, and therefore I did have to pop the measuring cup into the microwave for a couple quick warm-ups so it would stay pourable. I also didn’t pour it as they direct – you’re directed to pour half over the buttercream stripes, then tilt the cake to cover the top. It then gets back in the freezer for a few minutes to set, and you bring it out and pour the rest of the frosting over it. Well, I just did it all in one step. I did go over the buttercream bumps first, got them covered then filled in where needed. It worked out ok, and likely would’ve been smoother had I not had cooling issues that were thickening up my fudge frosting!

But, in the end it turned out pretty well – I am happy with it, and it looks MUCH better than the first attempt! I know it seems complicated, but it’s really not, there’s just a few steps that have to be done in stages. But they all come together really easily, so it takes a bit of time to bring them all together. It’s definitely one I wouldn’t make on the day it’s needed, I would likely do it the day before!

It’s a really fun treat, it’s different – with the fudge icing/frosting and the strips of buttercream, it’s not too sweet, but definitely sweet enough! And I must also say it goes really well with coffee or a nice glass of cold milk! (Jeremy can attest to the milk companionship since I would not drink a glass of milk! LOL)

I am super happy I have made it again, and now that I have it pretty well under control and some experience behind me, it will be a fun special-occasion cake!!! And on that note, I think I’ll go grab a cup of coffee and piece of Bumpy Cake!

Friday Faves – What We’d Do With A $50 King Arthur Giftcard

18 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by Kris Baker in Friday Favorites

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

favorite products, King Arthur Flour

Our $50 King Arthur gift card winner, Joni, said that she might need to pick our brains about how best to use her gift card. We decided that it might be fun to pretend like we were the winners and spend $50 on our favorite things from King Arthur. Over the years of buying and baking with King Arthur products, we each have a list of favorites and must-have-on-hand-at-all-times items. This week, we’ll take you along on our fictitious King Arthur shopping spree!

from Kris B.

I started by making a list of all of the things that are my favorite items from King Arthur, those things that are specific to them, that I can’t find elsewhere. As I was making this initial list, I was not paying attention to cost. I figured that Once I made my list, Id start whittling it down to $50. To my surprise, the five items that I chose totaled $50.76 (without shipping, which is an additional; $12). I though I did pretty good!

Here is my list:

Baking Parchment Paper ($22.95)

I buy this 100 count pack of pre-cut parchment to line my baking sheets. It seems expensive, but I think I have less waste and it makes the perfectionist in me happy. In the past, I have found myself wrestling with the rolls of parchment that are then supposed to tear on the serrated box edge. For me, they never tear straight and are rarely exactly the right size. With the pre-cut sheets, the size is always perfect and the edges are always straight! Also, if you do need to cut the parchment, It is much easier to cut a flat sheet than one that has spent its entire life on a roll. I often cut these larger sheets into small squares for display and plating.

Pizza Dough Flavor ($8.95)

Homemade pizza is a favorite at our house. The King Arthur Pizza Dough Flavor adds a hit of cheese and garlic flavor to your dough. On a Friday night when you are tired, don’t really want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and homemade pizza sounds better than delivery, adding a teaspoon or two of the Pizza Dough Flavor to your favorite Crust recipe is a tasty touch with no extra work.

Cake Enhancer ($5.93)

Cake Enhancer is a rice starch combined with vegetable based fatty acids. It makes baked items softer, more moist, and last longer. Essentially, the Cake Enhancer acts as a stabilizer. This is probably something that I would not have tried without being nudged by it being an ingredient in a specific recipe that I was making. Now I use this with almost every cake I make. The package instructions direct you to add 2-4 tablespoons to cake batter or bread dough.

Princess Cake and Cookie Flavor )$5.95)

This is an emulsion, an alcohol free flavor, making it stronger than an extract and it doesn’t bake out. This is an ingredient I discovered when making The King Arthur Flour Animal Cookies. Animal Cookies are the ultimate comfort food to me. I was excited to find the King Arthur recipe. The first time I made it, I did not have the Princess Cake and Cookie Flavor that was called for. I didn’t think that was a big deal at the time. I made the Animal Cookies. They were just OK. I then decided to order this flavoring and see if it really made that big a difference. Yep! It does! I love this stuff. Even if you only make animal cookies, it is worth it!

Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor ($6.95)

This is a “secret ingredient” that Tracey turned me onto. Like the Princess Cake and Cookie Flavor, the Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor is also an emulsion with a hint of butter, vanilla, and citrus. If you/ve ever wondered why your coffee cakes and sweet breads don’t have the same intense flavor as those that are prepared commercially, this ingredient is why.

If someone wants to give me a $100 gift card, my list could go on!

It seems a little unfair to tell you all how we’d spend a $50 gift card when you don’t have one. So, we are offering A SECOND CHANCE to win a $50 gift card! If you entered but didn’t win last week, here’s another chance. Leave a comment on this post and tell us which product(s) you want to try.

We’ll give away this second $50 gift card on Friday February 1. The rules are the same – one entry per person per post between now and then!

from Tracey G.

Ok – I had a hard time with this one, it took me a few tries to get close to $50 and not go way over! I kept texting Kris whining that I didn’t know what to cut from the list! I wanted it all, I didn’t want to cut anything , but I had to. And for full disclosure & transparency here, my total comes to $50.70, not including shipping. I called that good, I didn’t think .70 over was too bad!

My list also originally included the pre-cut parchment sheets, they’re awesome. And like Kris said, I too feel like there’s less waste. I got really tired of wrestling with the rolls as well. Once I tried the pre-cuts I never looked back, they’re just all around easier in my opinion. And they hold up really well through multiple batches of cookies (and bagels!) or whatever else you’re making multiples of! Unfortunately, to fit within the budget, I cut them off the list – but since Kris had them on hers, I had to add my praise for them as well!!!

And now, to my list. I chose by way of “general” baking. There’s a lot of things I have that are a bit more specific for certain things and/or a category- like bagels etc. These are things that I get from KAF only, and that have become things I can’t live without because they come in handy for multiple uses!

Vietnamese Cinnamon ($6.95)

This cinnamon is something I can’t live without. It beats the pants off the grocery-store cinnamon I’d normally kept around. It smells like the red-hot candies and is exactly what cinnamon should smell and taste like in my opinion. It holds up so well in baked goods, no way does its flavor get lost in translation! And the 3 oz. container is a great size!

Vegalene Food Release Spray ($10.95)

This product was a fabulous find!!! When I bought my nice Bundt pan, I didn’t want to use regular non-stick cooking spray because if the yucky sticky residue it can leave, that never seems to want to wash off! I hate that residue with a passion. So, I did a bit of looking around the KAF site, and I found this spray. It doesn’t leave a residue and it’s a really good sized can for the money! I use it on any of my pans that I don’t want all gunked-up and it performs wonderfully!! I highly recommend this product!

Instant ClearJel ($6.95)

This product is great for as a thickening agent for your fruit pies – either baked or not! You can use it to thicken without having to cook it! I use it a lot for a quick fruit topping. I always have frozen berries around so I defrost some in the microwave, and while they’re defrosting I mix some of the Instant ClearJel with a bit of sugar. When the fruit is ready – and juicy, I stir it in and voilé, a beautifully thickened fruit topping for ice cream, yogurt and I even can use it like jam on toast! This is something I will always have on hand!

SAF Red Instant Yeast ($5.95)

This stuff is great – and much more cost-effective than the little packets I used to buy in the grocery store! I will say I didn’t realize how much 16 oz. was when I first ordered it, it’s a LOT! But it keeps so well either in the fridge or freezer that it’s no problem at all. I first kept it in the package and placed it all in a zip-top bag, but I eventually invested in a container with a good seal to store it in.

Lemon, Lime & Orange Citrus Oils ($16.95)

These little gems are a fabulous thing to have around!! I didn’t purchase mine in this handy little set, I started with the Lemon Oil, and once I saw the potential for it, I bought the Lime Oil and Orange Oil. I use them for all sorts of things – if I want my blueberry topping I made to have a hint of lemon, I add a drop. I use the Lime Oil in a “sauce” for a favorite Mexican dish by combining a drop or two with either plain Greek yogurt or sour cream and adding a generous amount of cumin. These have totally taken the place of citrus zest in so many recipes! It’s really nice because I don’t have to keep a bunch of citrus fruits on hand “just in case” I want to make something. You can use them all to add flavor to just about anything you desire. And even though 1oz. might not sound like much, considering you only need drops most of the time, that 1 oz. will last a VERY long time!

Heavy Duty Dough Scraper ($2.95)

This was something I’d bought to get me up to free shipping during one of KAF’s free-shipping promotions – and it’s been one of the best purchases! I use it to cut brownies, bar cookies and baking pan cakes when I don’t want to scratch my non-stick coating. I use it as a bench scraper, I use it to cut yeast doughs – it’s a handy little tool for a small price!!

I too could go on and on about a lot of other items, but I’ll save them for another time!!!

Midweek In Michigan: Finding Routine, Again

17 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by Tracey Somos-Gehring in Midweek In Michigan, Uncategorized

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Life, routines

And it’s mid-January already. It’s always a weird time for me – the hype, hustle and bustle of November and December are over and you’re left with the “aftermath”. Holidays are over, and a long cold winter is ahead of me.

Those two months throw my regular routine all out of whack. My many months of groove are thrown into an upside-down mass of somewhat controlled chaos. Eating habits? Out the window. Exercise Habits? They followed the Eating Habits out that window while Eating Habits cheered them on. My usual daily routines are struggling to exist in an environment of holiday mayhem that is just not conducive to their survival. So, they go dormant, waiting to be activated once again. Enter January.

One would think that the good habits in their dormant state would be easy to reactivate. They’re not. They fight it, they WANT to stay dormant to a certain extent. It’s just soooooo much easier and they whisper to me “look at all the extra time you have by letting us sleep!” (There’s definitely a flaw in that logic because at max it saves about an hour and a half). So I bet I spend most of the month of January trying to find my routine again, and some years it seems it’s not until April that I get my act back together.

It’s full of lots of starts and stops. Hit and miss workouts, hit and miss watching what I eat, and hit and miss healthy foods being brought in. One week I get in a whole lot of treadmill time, and some weeks, well, not so much. There’s a lack of consistency and balance. I think that sums up my January so far this year. But I keep at it, and eventually I find my way back to what I call my “Me Routine”, the things that take care of me.

Every week it’s a little bit more and soon I’ll be back up and running with consistency, and tell myself, once again that November and December will not throw me off! Who knows, maybe THIS will be the year that they don’t! Yeah, I know but I can always try and hope for the best!

Mix It Up Monday – Breakfast Breads

14 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by Kris Baker in Mix It Up Monday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

baking, blueberries, bread, breakfast, cinnamon, easy, King Arthur Flour, raisins, scones, snack

from Kris B.Fresh Blueberry Scones

It is not fresh berry season here in Texas right now, but thanks to imports from South America, fresh blueberries can be had all year round. They were even on sale this last week! I do try to by local and in season most of the time, but going from September through March with no fresh blueberries is tough! I bought the berries with scones in mind.

As an aside, I chuckled a bit when I read the recipe title on the King Arthur website. My first thought was, “Well, I’m glad that they are fresh scones because it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between blueberry color and mold color in baked goods. 🙂 Syntax in the English language is a funny thing. Moving on…

With this recipe, I read the comments before making it, something that I don’t often do. More chuckles were had. Some reviewers said the scones were too sweet; others said they weren’t sweet enough. Some said the dough was too dry and would not come together; others said the consistency was perfect. Some said this recipe was too American; others said it was too English. This final criticism got me wondering what was considered an authentic English scone and what caused a scone to become Americanized. I decided to do a little research. This question also gave me an opportunity to find out what the shape of a “real” scone should be, something I’ve wondered about for some time. Here in the U.S. they are almost always triangular. The scones I ate (way too many of) while in the U.K. were all round, resembling a Southern rolled biscuit in shape, but nothing like their taste or consistency.

Here is what I found:

What’s the biggest difference between British and American scones?

It’s really about the butter…a true British scone is not as buttery. Not because the Brits are nutritious, but because in Britain you don’t put a lot of butter in because you slather butter on it when you eat it! By the same token, you don’t put a lot of sugar in it but you pile jam on top. They’re probably equally injurious to one’s diet but in different, equally lovely ways.

That makes sense to me. Basically, the English view a scone as a delivery system for clotted cream )or butter) and jam, much in the same way that here in Texas we consider tortillas chips as merely a vehicle for salsa. American scones, with their unique texture, sweetness, add-ins, and often added glaze are icing are meant to be a stand alone pastry – no clotted cream and jam required.

Interestingly, I found no definitive answer to my question about the proper shape of a scone.

Basically, I think that it comes down to convenience. The common wedge-shaped scones are easily cut from a circular disk of dough. Making round scones, like traditional round rolled and cut biscuits, is less desirable because the continuous rolling, cutting, and gathering of the pieces to re-roll the dough causes the dough to toughen. Square scones are easy to cut and have no waste or re-rolling like the circular ones. The King Arthur Flour Fresh Blueberry Scones recipe says that it makes 10 scones when cut in wedges. I made nine squares so mine are slightly bigger.

Scones are super easy to make. Sift the dry ingredients together. Cut in the butter. Whisk the wet ingredients together. Combine the wet and the dry. Stir in the blueberries. Pat the dough out in the shape of your choice on a well-floured surface. Cut the individual scones. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Done!

INGREDIENTS

King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Pastry Flour
salt
sugar
baking powder
cold butter, cut into pieces
eggs
yogurt (vanilla is good)
vanilla extract
lemon zest
fresh blueberries

Here are a few suggestions and a few things that I did differently:

I used a full 6 oz. container of Chobani vanilla yogurt. It is slightly more than what the recipe calls for.
I grated frozen butter into the dry ingredients.
In addition to the lemon zest, I squeezed a tiny bit of lemon juice into the dough.
Don’t judge the dryness of the dough until the blueberries have been added.
Place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking. This helps them to rise.
Rather than brushing the tops with melted butter, I used heavy cream and sprinkled a bit of sparkling white sugar on top.. One of the reasons the American scones often have a heavy glaze or icing is that it keeps them moist longer. You could use a simple glaze on these.

That’s all there is to it. Except to eat them.

from Tracey G.

Back in September, I did the plain Water Bagel recipe, with the King Arthur Flour Everything Bagel Topping and I’d mentioned that I’ve made the Cinnamon-Raisin version – well, I decided to make them again for Jeremy (they are his favorites) and share the method, because they are so much better than the store-bought version (unless of course you’re getting yours fresh from a bakery!). It’s funny because I’m really fickle about raisins, they are ok in certain things for me, but not everything that they’d normally go in – like cookies, never in any cookies, unless of course it’s Hermits, lol. But anyway, I don’t usually like raisins in things like this, but I actually love these!

And I know I said it before, but they are really EASY to make, and not even that time-consuming at all. The time really does seem to fly by as I’m making them. After you mix your dough up, it rises for about an hour and half, or until it’s doubled. And that’s the only rise time of that nature – so you get right to the shaping and making fairly quickly.

I add all my plain bagel ingredients into the bowl of my stand mixer, and then I add about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1 cup of raisins. Then I mix as directed. Here’s the ingredient list:

DOUGH

active dry yeast or instant yeast
lukewarm water
instant malted milk powder or Non-Diastatic Malt Powder
sugar
salt
King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 1-2 teaspoons Cinnamon (KAF recommends 1 teaspoon – I used 2 and it worked beautifully)
* 1 cup Raisins

WATER BATH

water
instant malted milk powder or Non-Diastatic Malt Powder
sugar

The only *special* ingredient is the Non-Diastatic Malt Powder, and it’s the most important one in my opinion. It’s what gives you and pretty darn close to authentic (if not very authentic) bakery-bagel taste. And it’s really pretty inexpensive, plus I’ve gotten lots of batches out my bag of it. I actually just used up the last of it and am in need of more! It goes in the bagel dough, and in the water bath for it. I can say it again as I said back in September, I will never buy my bagels again if I can help it!

Once dough is mixed and risen, I weigh my total dough, then divide it by 16 so I know how much to pull off for each bagel. I weigh as I go, getting all my pieces ready for shaping into the classic bagel shape. And I really love the shaping part! I get the water bath going and the oven preheating while I get my bagels weighed and divided into 16 pieces. Usually by the time I’m done doing that, my water is ready for them. I get 4 shaped and in the pan to boil for 30 seconds per side. As my timer is going, I’m getting 4 more shaped. When the first 4 come out of the water, the next go in – and when they’re done, that pan in ready to go into the oven! I keep my parchment lined pan right next to the stove so I can transfer already-boiled bagels right to it. When it’s full, I get 8 bagels per sheet, in the oven it goes for about 20-25 minutes. While they’re baking, I get the rest of the dough (the 8 pieces left) shaped, boiled and on the pan ready to go when the others come out of the oven.

I can’t say enough how easy they are to make – the only downtime is waiting for the dough to rise, once that’s done, it’s a pretty quick process from then on. You can be snacking on a fresh-out-of-the-oven bagel while you’re finishing up the shaping of the rest of the bagels!

Our Giveaway Winner Is….

12 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by Tracey Somos-Gehring in Announcements

≈ Comments Off on Our Giveaway Winner Is….

Joni Vella!!!

Congrats Joni and thank you for reading and hanging out with us! Kris will will handle all the deets on getting your gift card to you!

Thank you to all of our readers, you guys give us the encouragement to keep doing what we do! We value your readership and appreciate you all spending some of your precious time with us, it’s humbling. We love sharing and if we at least once are helpful in any way, then our mission is accomplished! You guys are all amazing!! Let’s make 2019 a banner year!

Cheers!

Kris & Tracey

Friday Favorites: 3 of Our Fave Ways Relax & Rejuvenate

11 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by Kris Baker in Friday Favorites, Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Life, rejuvenate, relaxing

from Kris B.

Something I’ve learned about myself recently is that I’m not very good at simply relaxing. I say i’m going to do it, I sit myself down, and then my mind starts going through all the other things I should be doing. The next thing I know, I’m up and going again. This is how/why I find myself both physically and mentally exhausted much of the time.

I’m not one who makes resolutions at the beginning of the new year, but I do re-evaluate and set new goals for myself. This year, I am going to be more intentional about taking time to relax – to allow both my body and my mind be quiet and rejuvenate. Ideally, this would happen for some time each day.

The first thing that I had to figure out was what relax actually means to me. I do sort of regular zen meditation and that is relaxing, but in a way that is focused and intentional. If I did it every day, which I don’t, it may better serve my goal. So what can I do every day that will help me to relax, to ease the stress of everyday life?

Knit – Knitting is relaxing, but only when I’m knitting something simple like a dishcloth, a hat, a blanket with easy repeats, or a scarf. Once a more complicated pattern is involved, lace or color work, then the level of mind power needed increases and the level mental relaxation decreases.
Read – As with the knitting, what I read determines how relaxing it is. Because my time is often limited, I tend to use the little reading time I have for academic stuff for school. That is not the least bit relaxing! For reading to be a down-time kind of thing for me, it needs to be “brain candy” fiction, something that once I’ve read it, I don’t have to hold onto it; or, magazines. I am a magazine junkie, although, admittedly, magazine articles have changed a lot in the last ten years or so. Most of them now are short and lack a great deal of substance. That said, I do still enjoying reading many of them.
Watering the Plants – There is a lot of real work that is needs to be done in the greenhouse, but the daily watering is quite relaxing. The sound (and sometimes the feel) of the dripping water is soothing. Being surrounded by the lush colors and the smell of dirt, or growth, of life, touches my soul in a way that nothing else does. I need to remember when I go out to water to think of this time as a gift and not as a chore.

When it comes right down to it, it is not so much the “what” that helps to achieve a feeling of rest, relaxation , and rejuvenation, it is also the mindset with which we enter into those things. If we slow down and try to enjoy all that we do a little more, perhaps our stress levels will diminish. Maybe it comes down to being present to the process, taking one step at a time, rather than always having an eye on the finished product that looms out there somewhere.

Who knows…

What I do know is that I need to relax more this year and I’m going to do my best to figure out how to make that happen!

from Tracey G.

I too seem to have trouble just trying to identify what constitutes relaxing to me. Trying to figure out activities (or non-activities) that feel rejuvenating after (or during!) doing them. I have lots of things I love to do, but like Kris – that doesn’t mean they’re always “relaxing”. When I intentionally think about activities, and what about them that I find relaxing, the one characteristic I find that keeps coming up is that it must be something I can lose track of time with!

You know, that thing you’re doing and you look at your watch and find hours have gone by and you didn’t even realize it! Generally, I don’t always have “hours” to dedicate to something, but that’s the kind of thing I look for. I like to get so focused on something that time just flies by.

After some thought, this is what I’ve come up with:

1. Reading – Once I’m involved in a book I’m enjoying, the house could crash down around me and I’d never notice – until I got up to get more coffee and discovered the coffee pot gone! I love getting lost in a good story, so I’d have to say this is one of my favorite ways to relax! And, it’s easy to do wherever, so that’s helpful! Although, the stress of waiting for the 9th book in the Outlander series is rather stressful at the moment! Hoping 2019 is the year! Please…

2. Cookie Decorating – This does have some caveats, though. For instance, sometimes the coloring of the icing is nice & relaxing, and sometimes not. But, the outlining & flooding of the cookies is always something I lose track of time on. I love that part of the decorating – I get focused and it’s all I’m aware of! Sometimes the detailing has its merits as relaxing and, like the coloring of the icing – sometimes it’s not!

3. Watching A Movie or Favorite TV Series – This is one of those activities I don’t seem to get to do very often. These days I save the majority of my favorite TV series for viewing on treadmill, I need my “carrot” dangled in front of me to motivate me to get on and get going! But, there’s a couple I like to save for when I just feel like taking a break, and I watch them whenever I have a bit of downtime! I must confess, there’s only 3 that I let myself watch without working for it: Blue Bloods, The Walking Dead & Talking Dead. As for movies, those are harder to come by downtime for – a bigger block of time is required! But a couple weeks ago while my guys were out of town, I sat down and treated myself to one of my all-time favorites, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” with Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins & Keanu Reeves. It was so much fun to grab munchies, camp on the couch and watch a movie! (I also love the actual book as well, read it freshman year in high school and it has stayed with me ever since!)

I too am determined to have my “me” time this year, doing whatever catches my fancy! And I agree with my blog partner on the fact that most of the time it doesn’t matter what you’re doing, but the attitude you go into the activity with. For example, when I finally realized that decorating cookies sometimes would be a slow-going process, it freed me from stressing about it. Realizing that all the beautiful cookies I wanted to make, required me taking my time, therefore no need to feel that I was doing it “wrong” or that I had no talent for it because I couldn’t speed my way through, which I thought all the cookiers worth their salt, did. It transformed the activity for me, thereby creating one of those things (like coloring) I could get lost in for awhile!

Be sure to find your relaxation/rejuvenation groove this year! Make 2019 as peaceful a year that you can!

Hey everyone don’t forget this is the last chance to add your comment and score an entry to win the $50 King Arthur Flour gift card! To enter on this post, let us know YOUR favorite way to chill out and relax! Cut-off time for entering is tonight (01.11.19) at 11:59 EST! Good luck and thank you for supporting us by reading what we enjoy posting!

Kris & Tracey

Tuesday in Texas – The Gift of Experiences

09 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by Kris Baker in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

from Kris B.

I was recently reading a magazine article on happiness. A portion of the article dealt with the question, “Can money buy happiness?” The answer was, “Yes.” But, probably not for the reasons that you might think.

There is no doubt that having enough money to meet our basic human needs of food and shelter is the bare minimum for being happy. The article referenced several research studies that showed that beyond a certain level of income, however, one’s level of happiness does not increase with their increase in income. Good to know!

So how does money buy happiness?

One way is that it can buy time. If you have little free time beyond work, paying for a housekeeper so that you don’t spend precious free time dusting and vacuuming may buy you some happiness. If you don’t like meal prep, going out to eat or purchasing a prepared meal service may increase your level of happiness. Though I’ve never really thought about it exactly this way, it makes perfect sense. I may have to look into that housekeeper idea once the spring semester starts for me. 🙂

Interestingly, buying “stuff” was not a means to long-term happiness. Acquiring things is kind of like a sugar high. There is joy and excitement at first about having the thing, but happiness surrounding it quickly wanes, much like a sugar crash, and thoughts turn to what to buy next. Where this is not the case is when you buy things to help you create experiences. The truth is that it is not the things themselves that are responsible for creating our happiness, but rather the experiences that are had with them.

Having all of the new and great kitchen gadgets will not make you happy unless the experience of cooking makes you happy. Having a beautiful grand piano will not make you happy unless you enjoy playing it. Having a fancy new car will not make you happy unless it takes you places that make you happy. Having lots of camera equipment only creates happiness if you find true joy in looking at the world from your own unique perspective.

And sometimes, you need money to pay for an experience.

I am guilty of being one of those people who has always been amazed, perhaps even outraged, by how much tickets to sporting events and concerts cost. In the past I have found myself wondering why anyone would spend hundreds of dollars on a couple of hours of entertainment. The article that I read put this into perspective for me. “There is a lot to savor about an experience – you anticipate it; enjoy and perhaps share the experience with others as it’s happening, and reminisce about it afterwards.” The reality is that happiness around experiences far outlasts that around things.

Case and point:

Last fall I saw an advertisement in the newspaper announcing that former First Lady Michelle Obama would be coming to Dallas on a tour to promote her new book Becoming. My first thought was that she would be really interesting to hear in person. My second thought was that the tickets were expensive; I’ll just read the book. That’s where my thoughts stopped.

Several weeks later, I got a text message from my younger daughter saying, Save the Date: December 17. My two daughters and I all have birthdays in December, the 22nd, the 23rd, and the 28th. My amazing son-in-law surprised his wife, and the rest of us, with a girls’ night out – tickets to see Michelle Obama!

We spent a couple of months anticipating the event. Then it got real. Conversations about what would wear, where we would go to dinner beforehand, and what time we should plan to arrive at the arena all ensued. We decided to wear neat jeans, sweaters and comfortable shoes, eat Thai food, and take the train that arrived at the venue a little more than an hour before the beginning of the event’s start-time.

Because my girls and I all have adult lives now, rarely do only the three of us share time together. Most of our family time is with our entire family, which is certainly a good thing! That said, getting to have an evening with my girls to myself was a gift in itself, regardless of what we did. Hearing Michelle Obama speak made it more perfect, however. To experience her first hand, with my daughters each beside me, was priceless. Why? Because Mrs. Obama spoke wisdom to women – about being a woman in a man’s world, about the importance of female friendship, about the role of women in the world, about the honor of motherhood, about being the best woman you can be. She talked candidly and honestly about the struggles, the successes, the pains, and the joys she experienced in her own life. Her words were raw, real, and relevant. I’m sure they touched me, a young baby-boomer, and my daughters, both Millenials, one who is a single working professional and the other who is a married working professional and pregnant, differently, but in equally powerful and moving ways.

There is no question that money, and an incredible thoughtful son-in-law, bought happiness for all of us with this experience.

We did each receive a copy of Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming, for Christmas. And yes, it is a thing. However, each time we see this “thing” on the bookshelf, hold it in our hands, and read her now familiar words, our experience together on December 17, 2018 lives on; memories from that amazing evening continue to fill our hearts with happiness.

All that said, equally meaningful and memorable experiences happen without money. I urge each of you to experience all that you can in 2019. Be present to the moments and the people in your lives. As the saying goes, “Live, Laugh, and Love” and may I add, do it boldly and without regret!

Share with us in the comments below something that you would like to experience in 2019 )big or small). This will enter you in our $50 King Arthur Flour gift card giveaway on Friday. Remember that you can enter one time on each of our 2019 posts, that’s a total of 5 entries per person. Right now, the odds are pretty good. Get your entries in!

Mix It Up Monday – It’s A White Bread Kind of Week

07 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by Kris Baker in Mix It Up Monday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bread, keep it simple, King Arthur Flour, Mix It Up Monday, sandwich bread, white bread

from Kris B.

Classic White Sandwich Bread

I don’t know if we have ever stated this in plain English before, but most of the baking and recipes that we share here are things that we are making to feed our families; we aren’t making them just to have something to post. Neither of us has extra time or money to spend on making things just because. And, who wants to make and waste food that won’t be eaten? Because of this, you see our favorite ingredients show up often (oatmeal and peanut butter for me). And, sometimes the recipes are simple basic staples of life. This week, it is basic breads…no peanut butter in the recipe, but the bread is delicious toasted and topped with a little PB!

The other thing about baking for real life is that sometimes our timing is off. I knew that I needed to make bread for this week’s post. The little detail that I forgot was that I also needed to make bread for our morning toast. I remembered that late in the day. By the time the bread was done, it was dark. Hence, the photo is dark because, well, it had to be photographed before we could eat it the next morning. So, despite the darkness of this photo, it really is white bread!

This is a basic, easy to make, flexible, all-purpose white bread. It makes great sandwiches and toasts well. It’s ingredients are simple:

lukewarm water
honey
instant yeast
salt
butter
King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Baker’s Special Dry Milk or 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk granules

I did not have the Baker’s Special Dry Milk on hand so used regular non-fat dry milk.

The ingredients are all added to the mixer bowl in the order listed. No need to get more than one bowl dirty. That’s another reason that this is my kind of recipe! 🙂 The dough is mixed and then can be kneaded, either by hand or using a mixer with a dough hook, until it forms a smooth dough.

The first rise is done by placing the dough in a lightly greased bowl covered with plastic wrap. The recipe calls for the dough to rise 60-90 minutes – until it is puffy, but it may not be doubled. Because it was chilly when I made mine, it took the full 90 minutes and then some to rise.

The dough is then gently deflated, shaped into a loaf, and placed in a loaf pan for the second rise. The rise time is again 60-90 minutes. You are waiting for it to crown the rim of the pan by 1″ – 1 1’2″.

Bake the bread at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then tent it with aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 minutes. The recipe says that the bread is done when it has an internal temperature of 195-200 degrees. I rarely use a thermometer. I use the tap test. If, when turned out of the pan, tapping on the bottom of the loaf produces a hollow sound, the bread is most likely done. Maybe it is the musician in me that makes me want to cook based on sound. Or, maybe I’m just too lazy to deal with the thermometer. The jury is still out on that one!

If you are looking for a loaf of bread to impress, this is probably not the one. But, if you are looking for a consistent everyday bread that holds up and doesn’t disappoint when it comes to your morning toast and lunchtime sandwich, King Arthur Flour’s Classic White Sandwich Bread is a sure bet!

My one wish is that the recipe made two loaves. I am going to try doubling and see how that works.

from Tracey G.

Walter Sands’ Basic White Bread from King Arthur Flour

I can’t remember when I started making this recipe – it’s one I make often, as it’s super easy and tasty. Makes fabulous toast as well! And garlic toast! (I was in a bind needing garlic bread, so I sliced a loaf of this in thick slices and topped with my garlic-butter mixture and baked, it was perfect!)

I love making homemade bread. When my mom was alive I was baking about 4 loaves a week or so (not this particular recipe though), because she was on a sodium-restricted diet and commercial bread is one of the biggest offenders is dietary sodium! It’s an enormous amount of your daily sodium allowance, I was never aware of that until I had to be. So, in order for her to pack her sandwich lunch to take to dialysis, I started making bread.

After she passed away, I got out of the habit for awhile, and when Kris and I started investigating King Arthur Flour recipes, it renewed my interest! It was probably a couple years ago when I discovered this particular recipe, and it’s the only one I’ve used since.

The ingredients are simple:

warm water
sugar or honey
active dry yeast; or instant yeast or active dry yeast
Baker’s Special Dry Milk
soft butter, or vegetable oil
King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
salt

I usually have the Baker’s Special Dry Milk around, as I started buying it just for this recipe, I imagine you could use regular powdered milk! I also use regular granulated sugar instead of honey – I may have to try it with the honey one of these days! They also give you the information to turn it into a cinnamon-raisin bread if you so choose!

It’s a very simple dough to make, you start with the warm water and dissolve the sweetener of choice in the water, then add the yeast. Once it’s bubbling, you add in part of the flour, powdered milk and salt and mix for a bit.

Then, add in the rest of the flour, reserving the last 1/2 cup to be kneaded in as needed. Place dough in a greased bowl, turn to coat and let rise 1-2 hours or until doubled. After deflating the dough, divide in half, form into loaves and place in greased 8.5×4.5 loaf pans and let rise, covered with greased plastic wrap, until dough is about 1″ above edge of pan. After the dough’s been rising about 20 min, preheat oven to 350F. When they’ve risen where they need to be, bake about 35-40 min or until they are nicely browned. When they come out of the oven, tip the bread out of their pans and cool completely before slicing on a rack.

I like this recipe because it makes 2 loaves – I can use one right away and wrap the other one for the freezer – it freezes really well!! And it makes great toast! I know we go through it pretty quickly around here, and I think it’s used mostly for toast!

I do know that after the rush of holiday baking, and generally making more complicated recipes for the holidays, it’s nice to make a super simple, down-home kind of thing that you control the ingredients in to feed your family with on a daily basis!!

Remember that we are giving away a $50 King Arthur Flour gift card next Friday, January 11. You may enter one time on each of our posts between now and then by leaving us a comment. Today let us know what YOUR favorite bread is – it can be anything! Just let us know, it’s always fun to find out what other people love, whether it’s a simple white bread or a fancy brioche! Please note that it may take a little time for your comment to be visible publicly as all comments must be approved before they are posted. This cuts down on spam…and boy do we get some interesting spam! Stay tuned for a post where our Tech Guy shares some of our best Spam messages!

Thanks for reading. Again, Happy 2019!

One in January

04 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by Kris Baker in Friday Favorites

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Life

On the first Friday of each month, we’ll share a list of things whose number of items corresponds to the month’s number in the year.

We begin with one word in January.

from Kris B.

Many of you are probably familiar with Ali Edwards One Little Word project, a yearlong discipline that helps you to choose, live with, embrace, and embody a single word throughout the year. The intention is that this process will help you to initiate, develop, and sustain positive change in your life. One Little Word is an amazing discipline to undertake. I did it for the first time in 2016. I was diligent for seven months and then somehow doing the monthly check-ins and activities fell by the wayside, though I never forgot about my word. By that point in the year, it had become an integral part of my thinking.

In 2017, I tried again, with a new word. Again, I failed to complete the entire year.

Last year, I chose one word, but didn’t even bother to register for the official class. Based on my failure in the two previous years, I came to the conclusion that I could not make and fulfill this particular yearlong commitment. That was a painful truth for me to accept. I don’t like admitting defeat, especially when I am 100% in control of the ultimate outcome. I did hold my word throughout 2018 and same some positive changes from having done so. It makes me wonder if the changes might have been more profound had a fully committed to the One Little Word Project. I didn’t. And, I can’t dwell in the past. As a lifelong procrastinator, I chose TODAY as my word for 2018. It taught me not only to get things done today rather than tomorrow, but also to focus on and be fully present to the here and now. So, today I am here in 2019, leaving behind 2018’s regrets and shortfalls.

Despite those fading twinges of what could have been with different implementation of my word in 2018, I am following the same practice in 2019 – choosing a word and working with it as best I can on my own, within the parameters of my other daily disciplines and obligations.

My 2019 word is BELIEVE.

Because my first form of creative expression is through words, I understand the power behind them. I try to choose the words I use carefully and with calculated intention both when I write and when I speak. Yes, I often make poor choices in each case, but I do try. So, when I set out to choose a word with which I am going to live and attempt to fully embrace for an entire year, I meditate, pray, and think carefully before settling on THE word. BELIEVE was a long time coming.

I struggle daily with the need to just BE, to slow down and let my mind and body rest and rejuvenate, and the drive to LIVE full force, to not let an opportunity or an adventure pass me by. Based on that realization, you might think that what I really need is balance in my life. But for some inexplicable reason, balance didn’t feel like the right word. I don’t feel unbalanced. It is more like conflicted. I thought about resolution, but that carries with it negative connotations for me and I most certainly don’t want a word that has the potential to conjure up even the slightest amount of negativity.

I went back to my original dilemma – to BE and to LIVE. I decided I would choose the one that I felt I needed to most pay attention. Unsure of which one that was, I wrote the two words side by side on a piece of paper and sat with them for what seemed like a long time. Suddenly the words melded together and I saw BELIEVE. (Yeah. I know there is an extra “e.”) I was confused. Believe is not a word that had ever crossed into my consciousness. Now, here it was staring me in the face, demanding my attention.

Believe is a confusing word to me. As I said earlier, I aim to choose my words carefully. As I began thinking about believe, a couple similar words came to mind – trust and faith. To believe in, to trust in, to have faith in…what is the difference in these three? I turned to the dictionary.

Trust: “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.”

Faith: “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”

Believe: “accept (something) as true; feel sure of the truth of”

Having looked these words up, I may be more confused than I was before having done so. That said, of the three, I feel most drawn to BELIEVE. So there you have it. The birth process of my word for 2019. At this point, I’m not sure what it really means for me or where I am supposed to go with it; I have the entire year to figure that out! I am starting by believing that BELIEVE is the right word for me to journey with this year. I’ll report back in December, and maybe mid-year, on my relationship status with 2019’s word.

Are you living with one word this year? If you haven’t thought about doing so, spend a few minutes letting words swirl around in your head and heart. One may find you and ask to be your companion through 2019.

Remember that we are giving away a $50 King Arthur Flour gift card next Friday, January 11. You may enter one time on each of our posts between now and then by leaving us a comment. Today, share with us as a comment with what your one word is, or could be, or should be, or might be in 2019. Please note that it may take a little time for your comment to be visible publicly as all comments must be approved before they are posted. This cuts down on spam…and boy do we get some interesting spam! Stay tuned for a post where our Tech Guy shares some of our best Spam messages!

Thanks for reading. Again, Happy 2019!

from Tracey G.

When Kris and I discussed this week’s post, we ended up laughing that we both had chosen a word for this year to try to integrate into our lives for 2019 – and it was for the most the same word. Believe. (And by the way, I failed miserably at my attempt at the One Little Word project, it, as Kris said happened to her, ended up falling by the wayside…)

When I ordered my planner for 2019, last August (or September, I’m not sure anymore!), I had just started delving into my “new way of thinking” thing – which actually just entails for the most part, being grateful for what you have NOW, when you have negative thoughts, let them go and replace them with positive ones, and believe you can do whatever you set your mind to, or want to do. So, I made a custom cover with the simple saying of “Believe you can – and you will”. That’s been what I’ve been trying to integrate intentionally into my everyday brain chatter, lol.

It’s honestly easy, but not easy if that makes any sense! Old thinking patterns are hard to break out of when it comes to how you talk to yourself! I know it sounds corny too, but affirmations really can have a positive effect on everything from your well-being to how well you accomplish something you wish to do. Most competitive athletes use visualization as well – and it’s proven that it can help you succeed. And I know it sounds trite to say “Just think positive!”, but honestly it makes a big difference in your outlook as a whole. I find that if I have a rotten day, if I mull it over and over and over, the rotten day continues. It’s rather freeing to know that yep, it’s ok to acknowledge the rotten day or rotten event that set you off – you’re human. But let it go as soon as you can, move your thoughts to something slightly more positive and eventually you’ll be back to seeing what’s good in your world and that will dominate your thoughts instead of the rotten. It improves your health too because you’re not stressing as much!

So, yeah, by now you’re probably thinking, “but what does this have to do with ‘Believe’…”? Well, I believe that if you set your mind to it – you can do it. Be it changing your mental attitude to something better, or trying out a new creative endeavor – anything. If you believe you CAN do it, you will. Plain and simple. We talk ourselves out of so many things in our lives, the mental chatter of “Oh, I can’t do that!”, without even really knowing sometimes that we actually can, we take it on “faith” that we can’t, there’s no actual basis in truth or facts that we can’t. So go into any new creative endeavor/project that you’re trying your hand at, with the belief that you can – it may take some practice and so forth (it’s not always instant gratification!), but you’re bound to be successful. Don’t ever give up the believing that you can. When you do that, giving up the positive belief, you’ve just sealed the deal that you can’t! Always believe!!

And I’ll just leave this right here as well….

Remember that we are giving away a $50 King Arthur Flour gift card next Friday, January 11. You may enter one time on each of our posts between now and then by leaving us a comment. Today, share with us as a comment with what your one word is, or could be, or should be, or might be in 2019. Please note that it may take a little time for your comment to be visible publicly as all comments must be approved before they are posted. This cuts down on spam…and boy do we get some interesting spam! Stay tuned for a post where our Tech Guy shares some of our best Spam messages!

Thanks for reading. Again, Happy 2019!

Happy New Year!

01 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by Kris Baker in Uncategorized

≈ 10 Comments

Happy new year from us here at Sifted Together!

We are holding on to and giving thanks for the memories of 2018 while, at the same time, looking forward to all that 2019 has to offer. We have plans for this new year, but are always open to serendipity and surprises. We know that life is what happens while we are busy making plans. Our plans are usually a point of departure, with the original destination not always being where we end up. That’s OK. We believe that where we ultimately come to rest is where we are supposed to be!

As a thank you for your support and also to give you a little push to get baking in 2019, we are giving away a $50 King Arthur Flour gift certificate!! All you have to do is leave us a comment telling us what you want to bake in 2019. Maybe something new. Maybe a tried and true recipe. It doesn’t matter. Just share your intentions with us in a comment on our blog posts. (We have no way of integrating comments from Facebook into our random number generator, which is how the winner will be chosen.) We will select our winner by random number on Friday January 11.

You may enter on this post and then one time on each post between now and then. That will give you five chances to win!

1/1 Happy New Year
1/4 Friday Faves
1/7 Mix It Up Monday
1/9 Midweek in Michigan
1/11 Friday Faves

Again, thank you for making, baking, and photographing this journey called life along with us.

From our hearts and homes to yours, we send hope for a year filled with happiness, health, peace, and joy.

Blessings,

Kris and Tracey