Morning At The Park

No school for Spencer today! I have so many pictures of London because I'm with her all the time, so whenever Spencer is around for a vaca-day I try to get lot's of pictures.
Today we started out by sleeping until 8(wow! a two hour advantage), playing upstairs, and then we went to the playground at Spencer's old elementary school. We had a blast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0n-7ONUSUA

 Spencer on the zipline in sixth grade^^

Spencer on the zipline in kindergarten^^

Old Index Card Oatmeal Molasses Bread Recipe

 This is a quintessential index card recipe; A friend of ours has been making this bread for over forty years. She passed it on to another friend, who passed it on to my mother-in-law, who passed it to Tyson. Then when we were dating he taught me how to make it.

My Mom also makes bread, and I fondly remember her Bread Book (don't remember the real name). It was falling apart with manila pages and pen sketches and it had perfect recipes like Honey Wheat Beer bread, and Potato Bread that made awesome rolls.

Oddly enough I don't remember ever making bread with her, or any lessons. I'm sure this is because I either wasn't into the whole "waiting patiently while it rises" thing, or I was too full of teenage angst that day.

So, this is the first bread that I clearly remember making. And I've made it every week for our pb&j's since we got married over six years ago.

 

Oatmeal Molasses Bread

 

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup molasses

3 tbsp butter or olive oil

1 tbsp salt

2cups boiling water

1/4 cup warm water

1 tbsp yeast

6 cups flour

 

Place everything up to the boiling water together in a large bowl or bowl of standing mixer and then pour hot water over them. Stir and let sit until water is just warm and oats have softened

 

Mix yeast and warm water in the same cup that you used to measure molasses. The sugars in the molasses will help activate the yeast. Let it stand a few minutes until puffy.

 

Pour yeast into oat mixture. Add flour 1 cup at a time stirring well between additions until it's too stiff to use a spoon, about 4 cups in. Dump onto counter and knead another cup or so into dough, adding 1/4-1/2 cup at a time. You may not need the whole six cups. Stop when it's moist but no longer sticky.

 

Place in an oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise at least an hour. Timing will vary depending on the temp and humidity of your kitchen. You'll know it's done rising when a poke from your finger doesn't spring back to shape.

 

Punch it down and turn out onto a very lightly floured counter. Knead for a minute just to get all the bubbles out. Divide into two even balls and shape into logs. Place in two oiled bread pans and cover with the towel.

 

When they are just starting to push up past the top of the pans turn your oven on to 375 degrees, 350 degrees if your oven runs hot like mine.

 

After oven is heated you can make tiny slashes very gently in the top with a very sharp knife if you want some decoration.

Otherwise, just bake for 28-30 minutes or until they sound a little hollow when tapped.

 

Let them cool completely before you bag them up.

But you should definitely try a hot piece with butter...

xo, Cass

 

 

 

 This is some amazing apple crisp that Tyson made while my bread was rising^^

This is an empty bowl that used to contain whipped cream^^

Making Dish Duty Fun ...

...let your sister help!

 

Sham-free No-poo

A little more than a month ago I was reading on "How To Hair Girl" about this new movement of people going shampoo free. The chemicals in the modern shampoos are scary, and the idea is that the chemicals strip our hair and scalp of their natural oils. This leaves us stuck in a cycle of having to shampoo because it can't moderate itself. I've been moving this way for a couple of years anyways. I stopped dying my hair when I got pregnant and my hair gets very dry so I've been shampooing only every three days. So I decided to try it.

 Now, this does not mean that you don't care for it. No hairstyle products at all! Every three or four days I've rinsed my hair with about a tbsp of baking soda disolved in warm water followed by diluted apple cider vinegar.

 The first two week were a little rough. Right around my hairline got a little stringy and greasy so I did a lot of brushing to distribute the oils through to my dry ends and I wore it up most of the time.

 But it's been over a month now and it's seemed to have evened out!^^ It's been wavey and easy to handle. After I do the rinses it's very shiney and thick. It hasnt gotten really hot yet so I'm curious to see how it goes when I'm sweating but I've read quite a few comments that rinsing it with hot water every day helps keep everything balanced. And I think I'll try some natural dry shampoo just to add some nice fragrance for special times.

 So, that's the story so far. I'll keep you posted. Please, tell me, would you do it? Have you done it? What's your hair like before and after?