Kefir Bread

I get bored using the same bread recipe over and over, so I like to experiment with new recipes every couple weeks. This may seem obvious, but I can tell just how good my latest bread baking attempt is by how fast the bread disappears. For instance, the millet bread (birdseed bread, as Curtis called it) lasted a long time, and ended up literally going to the birds. A couple weeks ago, I was in a hurry and skipped a punch-down and rising (Mom said she used to do it with fine results). The bread ended up pretty holey and crumbly; not very conducive to sandwich making. There is still half a loaf from that batch in the freezer. That brings us to this week's recipe: Yeasted Kefir Bread.

Kefir is a cultured, enzyme-rich food filled with friendly micro-organisms that help balance your "inner ecosystem." It contains many more probiotics than yogurt and supplies complete protein, essential minerals, and valuable B vitamins. Kefir's active yeast and bacteria provide more nutritive value than yogurt by helping digest the foods that you eat and by keeping the colon environment clean and healthy. Because the curd size of kefir is smaller than yogurt, it is also easier to digest. This past week, I have started making our own kefir. You can read more about the process here. The flavor is a bit tangy by itself, but it can be used in many ways.

Noah and I have been enjoying kefir fruit smoothies for breakfast. He loves them! Kefir can be used in recipes as a replacement for buttermilk or plain yogurt. That brings us back to this week's bread...
Interestingly, because of the active yeast cultures in the kefir, it only took one packet of yeast to make three loaves of bread. It looks and tastes good so far (I always get the first slice warm out of the oven while Noah naps...yum!). We will see just how long it lasts. I am pretty sure Curtis does not know that it has kefir in it (until he reads this), though he was a bit suspicious after he sampled it when I asked if this batch was acceptable.

-Jen

Knitting for Baby

This past week I finished up a couple more knit projects for the new little one. My "To Make" list is pretty long, and this is just the start of it! First up, a new wool diaper cover pattern, this one with velcro. I have never sewn on knitting before and was a bit afraid that sewing the velcro on with the sewing machine would mess the whole thing up, but it didn't turn out too bad. I think I will make some more of these, as I much prefer wraps to trying to wiggle little baby legs into pull-on soakers.

The other project is a spring jacket, my first ever Baby Surprise Jacket (probably the most popular pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman, designed in 1968). The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Lite, a squishy blend of silk, kid mohair, and lamb's wool.

Once again it was difficult to find a gender neutral colorway. I ended up settling on this one because it reminds me of springtime; mud, new green grass, and lilacs and tulips in bloom. I actually finished knitting this one a while ago, but just got around to seaming up the shoulders and sewing on the buttons.

Now back to knitting...

-Jen

Garden Bouquet

No words today, just a pretty bouquet of zinnias, dahlias, and lavender from the garden to start the week...

Beautiful Burp Cloths

Before Noah was born, one of Curtis' coworkers (a recent Dad himself) gave us a package of Gerber cloth diapers. Since we were cloth diapering and had plenty of real cloth diapers, I remember thinking that we probably wouldn't use them, despite his coworker's reassurance and advice to keep some in every room. Well, as it turns out, Noah was a huge spitter-upper, and even with those dozen burp cloths and the several dozen more that we went out and purchased ourselves, I still had to do laundry every day to keep them in stock for his copious, round-the-clock spit-ups. So, in preparation for this next baby, I am sewing up some pretty burps cloths to make catching those messes at least a little more pleasant. And if, by some miracle, this one does not spit-up, all babies eventually drool, so this baby will have nice soft drool cloths.

We will not be finding out if this baby is a girl or boy until Birth Day, so I tried to find some gender neutral flannel. What I ended up with was boyish colors in girlish designs. These heavy duty burp cloths are nice soft flannel on one side and the standard cloth diaper on the other side for super-duper absorption. The extra thickness combined with a beginner sewer caused a few problems for the sewing machine. A quick call to my Mom helped solve the problem. Her high school Home Ec teacher would be very proud of her for remembering how to solve my bobbin tension problems some 54 years after taking her class. Notice however, that there are only five finished cloths pictured, and burp cloths of course come in packs of six. One was unfortunately sacrificed after multiple seam rippings during the bobbin tension incident caused too much fraying.

While this project turned out pretty well, and I may eventually make some more, I am hoping beyond hope that I will not have much use for them until the drooling starts.
-Jen

Summer's Bounty

I appologize for being such a lazy blogger lately. I am going to claim as my excuse the fact that I have been using my usual blogging time during Noah's afternoon nap to nap myself as well. And I am going to blaim that on the fatigue caused by growing a new baby. So now, as I come out of the first trimester (15 weeks to be exact), maybe I will be napping a little less and writing more. Though, I have become really fond of those afternoon naps, so no promises.
Another upside of passing into the second trimester is that my appetite is returning just in time to enjoy the vegetables that we are harvesting from our own backyard. Right now we are drowning in green beans, carrots, and cucumbers, and the tomatoes started ripening last week.

I have been having fun searching out and trying new recipes to use up all those veggies. Some winners have been Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole and Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan Cheese. Here are the makings of tonight's dinner, Beef and Vegetable Stew and Cucumber Salad (forgot to add the cucumbers in the picture).

Noah accompanies me to the garden and has learned to respectfully watch the bees that love our borage. He has been enjoying alpine strawberries straight from the garden, and stands by not-so-patiently signing "more please, more please" as I search for a small handful of ripe berries every other day or so. I have to keep checking on him when my back it turned, as he has been known to pluck some green ones and eat those too.

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer! It is hard to believe how fast it went!

Be back soon (hopefully),

Jen

Father-Son Time

It's quite an awesome feeling to be a Dad these days. It's like the older Noah gets, the time we spend together is that much more special. Every other weekend, Noah and I get a chance to hang out with each other while Mom is away at work. Today, we visited my work as it was hosting a company picnic. When we got there, there were a number of fun activities such as face painting, hat/mask decorating, inflatable slides, etc. We headed directly towards the petting zoo that was setup. There, we saw a baby calf, some ducks, a lhama, a pig, a couple bunnies, a donkey or two, some goats, a draft horse, a miniature horse, and some sheep.

Noah enjoyed watching the other people as they pet the animals, rather than pet the animals himself. I think he turns on the charm when he's around the ladies.

I really enjoy spending my time with him. Lately, he's been feeling a little under the weather. Last night, he was so tired and feeling so miserable that he feel asleep on my chest; similar to what he did when he was an infant. It's an amazing feeling that I have difficulty describing--knowing that he feels safe and cozy while sleeping on me. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking it easy, enjoying the cool fall-like weather on a rather overcast summer day.

I truly feel blessed to be his father. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

-Curtis

Trip to the Beach

We took advantage of a beautiful summer day by taking Noah on his first visit to our small hometown beach (it is actually more like a large pond). We parked ourselves under a giant willow tree and Noah and Dad got busy building a sand castle.

At first, Noah was not too sure about the sand or the water and clung to us with a little death grip. After a few trips down to the water to refill his water bucket, he discovered that it wasn't all that bad, and the water was actually quite warm.

We had a little picnic and then headed home, where we all took a nice nap. While I would not say that Noah now loves the sand and water (he tried to leave several times, telling us "Bye!" and heading for the gate), it was a nice introduction. I am sure he will soon be begging us to stay longer.

-Jen