Saturday, August 27, 2011

Homemade Bagels Bites

Yeah, I'm aware it's slightly crazy to make your own friggin bagels... but you know, it was one of those things I just "had" to try. It wasn't even as scary as it seems! It takes about 4 hours of work spaced out over 2 days but they were actually rather simple!

It's  basically just a combination of yeast, water and bread flour. Then after that rises, you add in white or wheat flour and more yeast. Then rise. Get the picture? It's a lot of adding, waiting, and rising.

Once it's risen doubled, you make the dough into golf ball size balls. Then let that rise. Then you make the little hole in the middle. Then you let that rise. :) Then you cover and refrigerate over night to let it rise more.... 


The next morning you put them in a skillet of boiling water and baking soda and cook 1 min on each side. Ignore the lumpiness of my bagels - I wasn't able to find diastic malt powder. Apparently the 1 tbsp of malt powder is what "smoothes and shines" the outside of the bagels. They don't look as pretty but they taste exactly the same. Then you bake all the bagels for 9-10 minutes and let them cool and you hopefully end up with this...


I need to work on my circles ;)

Here's a wheat batch.

Line up and cover with pizza sauce, oregano, parmesean and then a mixture of pepperoni and mozarella cheese (that has been run through the food processor).


I need more natural light in my kitchen....



Then either freeze for up to 3 months or cook and eat! Yummmmmm.....

Oh and for 8 bagel bites at the store it's about $1.50. I made fourty-eight for about $5, with the cheese being the most expensive part. That makes them 10 cents a piece... which is about half the price of the ones in the store. Sweetness.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Five minute free art.

(I just noticed the cat toy hanging from the blinds. Embarrassing... but hey, they play with it!)

I found this print-out on Pinterest. Here's what it says: 


So I figured this would be great to go in the "entry way hallway" (I have that in quotes because my apartment isn't big enough to have anything that could really be considered a hallway haha) So, I printed it out with Windows Photo, and popped it in an old frame I had. I'll probably paint the frame at some point, but for now, it makes me smile to see this great and painfully relevant reminder hanging on my wall. 

Yay for free art.  

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Freezer Cooking

That's the name of the game this weekend. Or the PLAN, anyway...

In addition to 15-20 hours of work a week, I start grad school next week.... needless to say, my free time is about to become a precious commodity for me. So, I'm planning on stocking up my freezer with yumminess because A.) school makes me unable to focus on anything other than school so cooking, cleaning, etc always falls behind and B.) because even though it's going to take a full day of my weekend, it will be worth it to me to just go from freezer, to fridge for thawing, and then to oven for the next few weeks.

So here's what's on the list:

Entrees:
Baked Mac-n-Cheese
Mexican Lasagna
Manacotti
Pizza Dough
Mini Meatloaf
Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas
Roasted Maple Chicken with Sweet Potato

Breakfasts:
Individual Smoothies (fruit, PB, etc in snack size ziplocs)
Apple Oatmeal Streusel Muffins

Sides:
Cornbread Muffins
Rosemary Roasties (carrots, sweet potato, potato, parsnips roasted...)
Eggplant Parmesean
Twice Baked Baked Potatoes

Desserts:
Plum Crisp
Chocolate Chip Cookies

That should tide me over for a few weeks or even a month hopefully!

Now to just follow through... lol

Friday, August 12, 2011

My thoughts via the words of people much more wise than I am....

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. 
Raymond Lindquist 

Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be.
Anonymous 

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar. 
Thich Nhat Hanh

Think about any attachments that are depleting your emotional reserves. Consider letting them go.
Oprah Winfrey

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

TV Stand Adventure!

So... this 90 pound box arrived for me today.... (ignore the cat, she's nosy!)


I got some much appreciate help carrying this box up the stairs from Matt (thank you!!!!) but was on my own for assembly.

Over 80 pieces of hardware.... this is where I got *super* excited about putting this together...

About 45 minutes in... 

The finished product!! I already had those 2 little wicker baskets and they fit perfectly on those shelves!

Two hours of my life I'll never get back... BUT the finished project was worth it. I've been watching TV on the floor for almost 3 months. :-)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011