I Love Carbs

This week has been a marathon of studying with 2 tests last night which I am proud to say I NAILED! Accounting and Economics, you can kiss my feet!

Since most of you are probably thinking, "Sara you are obviously so smart, what can I learn from you?" I will impart some of my vast knowledge of bread making to you this morning. Ha right, I don't have vast knowledge, I have one recipe! I am not going to sit here and tell you that this bread is light and fluffy like grocery store sandwich bread but the flavor of this stuff CANNOT be beat and I will challenge you to a duel to prove it. It's great for toast, sandwiches or just sneaking as a snack but the best thing about it is that you don't need any fancy tools to make it , just your hands, some spoons, bowls and  loaf pans. It does use store bought yeast, therefore it is quick rising but I'm working on perfecting a natural yeast starter and will share it as soon as I figure out how not to kill it. On we go to the recipe...

Basic White Bread
(makes 2 loaves)
Ingredients


2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar (if you don't like your bread a little sweet cut some but not all of the sugar)
1 1/2 tablespoons (one packet) active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam, about 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Here is a quick tutorial on how to knead dough if you are new at it...


If anyone out there has a good recipe for soft and fluffy white bread please share!

Little by Little

It's not much, but we have made a few updates to the bedroom and slowly but surely things are looking a little better. I still have some progress to make but baby steps make me feel a little less lazy so I'll go with it.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

On another note, I have made some progress on my embroidery and appliqueing. I haven't completely botched much lately so that is a huge step in the right direction!

I made this for the baby of some friends of ours. The husband happens to be a guitar player and I think it came out pretty good for only being the third thing I have ever attempted to applique.

Over and out...

V is for Victory!!

Get ready for another Sound of Music reference! I just made my first set of "play clothes!" Okay, I only made one pair of shortalls and unlike Julie Andrews I did not just whip them up using heinous old curtains, no pattern or sewing machine. Either way, they are cute, they are easy and ,of course,they are cheap!

So when I win this year's sewing competition at the Alabama National Fair my acceptance speech will go as follows:

"I would like to take this time to especially thank my wonderful husband for buying me a sewing machine and encouraging me to do my best! To my parents for accepting the fact that their only daughter would never be an athlete or genius but merely a quasi artsy wannabe.Thank you to Sarah Barry Spooner for the wonderful coaching and training. To Lauren Vinson for being my generous benefactor and to Hubb Vinson for being such a cooperative and patient model."

Wow, this is what happens when my imagination runs away with me!

Old Navy, Old Navy, Old Navy Performance Fleece....

Remember that commercial? Every time I think of Old Navy that jingle get stuck in my head. SO. ANNOYING. As annoying as Old Navy's jingles can be they have some really cute stuff right now. Now I am NO fashion genius but I if I see something I like and it's cheap I usually make the purchase. Anywho, if you need any linen go check then out.

Here are a few things that I picked up this weekend:

Yes I did buy this same cami in 2 colors but I just loved them and couldn't resist! I also found a great long cotton cardigan with roll up sleeves that I wore over the dark cami this weekend and it was sooo stinking comfy!

I bought these bad boys in black; they roll down as well so it's a real bang for your buck!

They advertise this as a dress. HA! Needless to say its a bit short but it looks great as a tunic with some skinny jeans and flats.

On a completely different note I have a little sewing lesson with Sarah Barry this week and I'm pretty pumped (check out her blog here). Although I have no children of my own to sew for I have a hankering for making a few outfits that I can give to some friends. So Sarah Barry has been nice enough to offer teach me how to make some cute shortalls and copy some of her patterns.

If all goes according to plan I will end up with something like this:

What have I been working on?

How do people blog every day, or even 3 times a week for that matter? My life is just not that interesting and I have been struggling to come up with what to post about. I mean if you really want to hear about my boring everyday life then fine but I have a feeling most of you are just not interested.

Here is a very short compilation of some of the interesting (at least I think it's kind of interesting) stuff I have done this week.

Don't kid yourself, I'm not a great gardener! I saw this broccoli pop up and almost cried with excitement only to find out that it is just "buttoning." This means that these plants will never product big good broccoli like they should but only little guys that are big enough to eat in one bite. Again, it's our weird winter's fault. For real this time, I even tested our soil to prove it! Although they were little, I ate them for dinner last night and they tasted pretty good.

So now onions are in, more carrots and turnips are in, and the lettuce is finally doing well. Next up, getting ready for the spring veggies. 

I have also been on an embroidery kick. I'm not that good yet and I'm soooo ready for this trial and error thing to be over. Notice how the monogram on the bib puckers and is not even centered. Ugh!! If anyone out there has any good tips on embroidery PLEASE share. Does anyone really use ball point needles? Why does my computer embroidery program keep changing my hoop size? How do you embroidery on awkward shapes and sizes? I have sooo many more....

Lastly, if you don't have a pineapple corer, get one. Nuf said.