Still no rain

We keep having storms that sweep over California. Each time the weathermen sigh and pronounce them "moisture starved".

See this cloud?

This was after a big ol' storm in which we got sprinkles. Not enough to even get the sidewalk wet. I think the Texas drought has moved to Cali.

The sun was bright.

And the smallest munchkin desperately wants to be outside. She escapes whenever I open the door. Fortunately, crawling babies don't move as fast as say, a running cat or dog, and I can catch her before she goes too far.

Also the older ones stand and yell, "Baby's escaping!"

I say come on March, and let's have some Spring. Maybe we'll even get some rain out of the deal.

Adventures with unleavened bread

Today I ran out of bread. So I went to make some more and discovered that I had also run out of yeast.

I've been reading about the Israelites in the desert, and the Passover, so I've had unleavened bread on the brain. I wondered what might happen if I just made my regular bread recipe and omitted the yeast. Since that's what traditional recipes seem to be, anyway. (I did research traditional Jewish breads, and they're more or less a regular bread recipe with no yeast.)

Here's the second batch.

Nice and flat and really chewy. I think it'll be good with peanut butter on it. The kids have been snacking on it.

My first batch, I forgot to poke with a fork, so they blimped out like popovers.

Undeterred, I cut holes in them and stuck them full of jam. I served them at dinner and they vanished.

So that's been my unleavened bread adventure. We'll see how well they do in the toaster tomorrow at breakfast. :-)

My recipe was something like:

2 cups water
1 egg
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp flaxseed meal (I've been sneaking it into baked goods lately just to use it up)
5 cups flour

Mix the wet ingredients then add flour until dough is firm enough to handle. Roll out on a greased cookie sheet and prick with fork before baking. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want your breads.

Ketchup!

See what I made today?

Ketchup!

It even tastes like ketchup. The jar is a little steamy because it was still warm when I poured it in, and I used aluminum foil with the jar ring because I couldn't find a proper lid, but I don't expect this to hang around very long anyway.

Here's the recipe:

1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until smooth. When mixture boils, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove pan from heat and cover until cool. Chill and store in covered container. Makes 1 1/2 cups.
From Top Secret Recipes

I used honey instead of corn syrup, and omitted the extra sugar. It came out a little on the sweet side. I think I should have reduced the honey to 1/4 a cup and worked up a tablespoon at a time until it tasted right.

I also only had red wine vinegar, but it doesn't seem to have affected the taste too much.

Also, thanks, Mom, for the batteries! :-)

Park day

Alas, I have no pictures because my camera is dead.

But my hubby left for school today. He was gone five minutes and I asked the munchkins, "Want to go to the park?"

I had planned on doing some school with them, drilling letters and counting pencils and drawing pictures. But ... dang it ... it's a nice day and I haven't been outside in three days. PARK DAY!!

So we hoofed it over to the park and let them run wild. Other kids came and went, so they had other people to play with. Claire wasn't happy about not being allowed to eat sand, so she sat in the stroller, or rode in swings, or sat on a blanket with mom. She's to that stage where she can crawl well, but she hates the feel of grass. So she just tentatively pats it and looks at her hand as if expecting spikes to be stuck in it.

I packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and brownies, so they had a refuel snack at 10:30.

Hubby came and picked us up after he got off school at noon. By then we were all exhausted and hungry, especially mama.

I covertly tried to cross the monkey bars. I couldn't move my arm to the next bar. I'm absolutely pathetic. I need to run around the playground, myself, just to build some muscle. Is playground activity considered aerobic exercise?

Salad confessions

I have a confession to make.

I have no idea how to make a salad from scratch.

My idea of a salad from scratch is one of those premade bagged deals with the dressing and tortilla strips.

So, assuming I wanted to have some lettuce on hand for salad making, what should I get? One head of iceburg? Romaine? (Can you eat all of the Romaine or only the hearts?)

I'm a salad noob. I have no idea how you do it. And I'm craving greens something fierce.

Also, can you make bean sprouts from any old beans, or does it have to be soybeans?

Kid pics

It's time for another edition of ...

Pictures I Found In My Camera Not Taken By Me!

The mysterious things that go on around here that I'm not privy to. The thing is, most of the time, we're all in the same room together! I don't understand how these things happen.

On the side

I told my son that tonight for dinner we were having macaroni and cheese with hamburger on the side.

He asked, "And Mac and Cheese on the front?"

Courage

The definition of courage is not the absence of fear, but of doing what you have to do in spite of the fear.

Yesterday my husband bit the bullet and did something that took a lot of courage. He came home devastated, but I'm so proud of him.

I baked a turkey yesterday because I wanted something different for lunch. Turkey sandwiches, yummy.

My turkey did not look like this. It burned on top, so it looked, well, Cajun. But fortunately that was only the skin, and the meat underneath was still delicious.

I also made gravy from the drippings. It was fantastic. I made biscuits this morning so we could have that gravy again for breakfast.

I'm afraid I have this tendency to love people with food. But my poor brave husband deserved the best spread I could put on.