" Welcome to Lavender Dreams ": Cookbooks

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Thursday, May 14, 2020

Entertaining ourselves

I've never had a problem 'entertaining' myself! I'm surrounded by lots of 'favorite things' and can amuse myself for hours on end 'playing' with my toys!

I finally made an inventory of my children's readers on my computer using Libre Office. It's great because I can sort them by title or date or subject. I like the Alice and Jerry readers best but I collect any that I can find at a good price.

And I took a couple of them off the shelf to read later.

The stories are so sweet in these old readers from the '50s and '60s.

And I made another bread recipe that is SO quick and easy that I wanted to share it! I call them breadsticks and made them all the time when my kids were growing up. But then I couldn't find the recipe. I think I was confused by the name.

Quick Twist Rolls ....or Breadsticks

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp soft shortening

1 beaten egg

1 Tbsp yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup warm milk

Measure all dry ingredients and shortening together and blend.

Add yeast to warm water and let stand a few minutes.

Warm milk and pour into bowl. When lukewarm, add egg, yeast mixture and half of the flour mixture. Beat until smooth.

Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing well. Make dough into a ball with some olive oil on your hands. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Grease 2 cookie sheets.

Punch down dough, toss onto lightly floured board. Roll to a rectangle 8 by 18 inches.

Brush half the rectangle the long way with soft butter.

Fold unbuttered half over buttered, pressing gently to make a rectangle 4 by 18 inches. Cut dough in strips 1 inch wide.

Take strips by ends and twist several times. Place on greased cookie sheets.

Let rise for 15 minutes. Preheat oven, bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Cool on rack.

(I don't put an egg glaze on top of them because it always makes them fall.)

They are crispy on the outside and tender inside. Pour some garlic infused butter over a few and you'll 'swoon'! lol

Have a good week! Let me know if you bake something good this week!

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays and

I like Thursdays HERE too!

Monday, April 20, 2020

Let's BAKE!!!

It seemed like the perfect time to get out my old cookbooks and BAKE! I had to wait on flour first but it was worth it!

(would one of my 4 sons like to confess to coloring the cover of this cookbook with crayons? Email me, or TEXT! lol)

I use King Arthur flour and it's high quality...'wheat flour grown and milled in the United States'! YAY! If you can't find it in your stores, you can order it online. A link to their website is HERE!

They have all kinds of tips and recipes too! Tried and true recipes like the ones I use from my own collection.

When my boys were growing up in the '70s I baked all of our bread. And I baked with whole wheat flour. They had a friend say once that we ate everything whole wheat. We even had whole wheat water! hahaha! We still laugh about that! But we were an active family and stayed healthy!

Bread is not low calorie and homemade bread is even harder to resist so be balanced about it! Exercise to maintain your weight and be sensible with what (and how much) you eat. My weight stays the same now but my husband actually has the problem of being underweight and needs to gain weight.

So when you bake, enjoy it fresh out of the oven but freeze some for later and share with others.

The first recipe I made was French bread. It's just a basic French bread recipe that you can find online. (not many ingredients needed to make this bread)

My hubby cut some in cubes and made croutons for our salads. That was amazing!

Then I made Hamburger buns!

Yes my kids grew up eating home made whole wheat hamburger buns!

'Burger Buns

1 pkg yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

1 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1 egg

2 tbsp soft shortening

After you mix ingredients together and knead, place in greased bowl. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Punch dough down and let rest 10 minutes. Shape dough into 12 balls, place on greased baking sheet and flatten slightly.

Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

(as you can see, I made a few changes to the recipe)

And oh my, they are delicious!

Comfort food! What can I say!

But when life gives you lemons....

(the very first mask I made, don't ask....!!!!
I've made several since this first disaster with success!)

BAKE BREAD!!!

And stay safe and healthy!

I'm joining Angie for Mosaic Monday HERE .

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Buying things I don’t need..Thrift Store shopping at it’s best!

I love to shop at Thrift Stores, you might say I’m addicted! You just never know what you’ll find.

Sometimes I even find something I need, but usually it’s just fun finds.

Like this Dowdle puzzle by the Folk Artist, Eric Dowdle.

And I have started looking at items in terms of repurposing. When I bought this, I told my hubby I had bought something I’ve never bought before, a sailcloth shower curtain, in seafoam green. Wouldn’t it make some amazing pillow covers or tote bags?

I walked across the parking lot to the dollar store, bought Lavender Scented Downy and gave it a good soak.

And if you wonder where I am…I might be watching these Doris Day movies, still new in their wrappers

or cooking a dish from this neat cookbook.

(don’t worry, I won’t be smoking while I cook! I’ll do a cookbook post soon!)

“Cookhouse Eggs”

Don’t the griddle cakes look yummy?

I’m joining Thrifty Things Friday!

Also Katherine’s Corner,

Ivy and Elephants

and Jann for Share Your Cup !

Have you been thrift store shopping this week?

Get out there!

It’s FUN and a great way to reuse and recycle!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Literary Friday : “The Shoemaker’s Wife”

I have loved Adriana Trigiani for years now…ever since I had the pleasure of meeting her in Asheville, NC before her first book, “Big Stone Gap” was even on the shelves. She was talking to the lady at the book store about her new book and I just happened to overhear the conversation. I’m not shy….I walked up to her and met her. She is a delightful lady and we have emailed each other a few times over the years. I’ve read all of her books and I think I own them all except this one. (it’s a library book)