Love the Makeover

This summer we are trying some thing new.  Monday is our work day.  We do all the laundry, weekly bathroom cleaning, make bread, and what I'm calling moving prep. This is really just organize every corner of the house.  this week it was the closet in my bathroom.

 BEFORE

Inspiration 

My supplies:

-baskets that have been under the sink for 3 years waiting for me to use them again (last use)

-cheep peal and stick floor tiles  idea found on pinterest (confession I got these over a year ago)

Wire shelves are the worst.  They are the cheapest option builders can find. They are fine for baskets and bedding but terrible for small stuff. the tile work great to keep bottles upright.

Peal and Stick

I love makeovers but I hate when you can tell that half the stuff is gone in the after shot.  the reality is I can get rid of my stuff but I can organize it. The only thing missing from the before and after is some extra boxes and superfluousness packaging.   It looks good already

I actually added more toilet paper by utilizing the full height of the closet.

Make it pretty

 I like pretty things.  I think if you spend a little time making it pretty you are more likely to keep it clean.

make labels for the buns

I have a giant box of cheep brads but I didn't like the colour. 

 Solution spray paint stash and an old egg carton

Voila

I thought since i got a laminator for Christmas I would laminate my labels.  After all they are in a humid room so they should hold up better.

I thought I would have to get out my hubby's drill but the plastic was soft enough to use my screw punch.

  backed with a cutting mat and ready for brads

AFTER

Confession #2 the brads didn't work to affix the labels to the shelves they ate tapes from the back.

Caesar Salad

Here is my Caesar Salad using my Dairy free dressing

when you refrigerate olive oil it goes think and cloudy.  Don't worry when it worms up it will be just fine. I add the dressing to the bowl with my tongs and spread it  around to help it worm up.

Then add the lettuces, Parmesan cheese, bacon bits, and croutons.  Toss with tongs and serve.  yum! 

Dairy Free Caesar Dressing

I have a friend who recently became lactose intolerant.   This reminded me that I have a good dairy free Caesar salad dressing recipe. I haven't seen any thing like it on line so I'll share it. Eric and I were invited to a friends house for dinner about 8 years ago I can't even remember their names but she serves a salad I'd never has before and so I asked what was in it. She didn't follow a recipe so I have tweaked the proportions till I found one I liked.

Caesar Dressing
2 cup olive oil extra virgin
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
6 cloves of garlic
2 Tablespoons capers
1 Tablespoon anchovy past or fish sauce
1 teaspoon salt

Combine and blend. I use my stick blender. If I'm out of garlic I use 1 Tablespoon of garlic salt and omit the salt. It tastes pretty good but with out the garlic the dressing separates. It keeps in the fridge forever.

Addition to bread recipe

I've been asked how to make a smaller batch if you don't have a big mixer or you don't have a bunch of loaf pans.

Rule of thumb. 1 cup water = 1 loaf of bread. So decide how many loafs you want to make and scale the recipe accordingly. Don't worry about the odd fractions of a cup you get by going to a smaller batch bread dough is pretty forgiving so "close enough" works here.

Happy baking.

Sarah Willett Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

I've been asked to share my bread recipe and I'm happy to share.

Exited to use my new containers. I can raise 2 batches of bread at the same time and fill my oven. Hurray for resultant storage containers.  Put my containers and loaf pans on a heating pad (medium) to rise when the house is cold.

I use giant 16x4x4 bread pans  4 of then fill my oven and make the equivalent of 12 1lbs loaves all at once. I could never fit 12 loaf pans in my oven at once.  This way I don't have to make bread every week.  I just freeze the rest for later.

Sarah whole wheat Bread

6 cups of water 

2 tbsp yeast

2 tbsp gluten (dough enhancer with vitamin C to keep the bread fresh longer)

2 tbsp salt

½ cup oil

¼ cup sugar or honey

¼ cup Molasses

1 cup cornmeal

½ cup ground flax

1-3cup (to your taste) wheat fresh ground (I like hard red wheat) or wheat flour

Boil water.  I use my kettle or the microwave. It doesn’t have to boil but close.

Add boiling water to bosch mixer then add sugar, molasses, cornmeal, oil, salt, ground flax, and whole wheat flour.

Mix well

Add sprinkle white flour to cover the top of the mixture 2 or 3 cups

The sprinkle on yeast and gluten then mix well.

Then add flour till the dough comes away from the sides.   

 

This dough if left to double will overflow the bosch bowl so either keep an eye on it and let it fill the bowl and punch it down twice or transfer to a container 10L or bigger to double. This dough is pretty soft.

Form into loaf pans

Heat oven to 500F this may takes some time, so if you turn on the oven when the dough is first put in the pans the oven is usually ready about the same time as the bread dough.

Once the dough has risen bake for 10 min at 500F then turn down to 350F and bake for 40 min or till internal temp is about 200F.  After 30-35min I stick my instant read meat thermometer in and check on the bread.

Enjoy (with butter and honey or sugar)

Freezes great

Makes 2 to 6 loaves depending on size of pan

1lbs pan aprox 8x4 makes 6

1.5lbs pan aprox 9x5 make 4

16x4x4 long pan makes 2

Thrift store find of the Year

I was at our local America's Thrift store and had all the kids because Eric was at Scout camp.  Bummer I thought because the kids sometimes run wild or ask for silly things.  This time I'm grateful to David he was the one who found the waffle iron. 

We love waffles but not our homemade ones.  We love the waffles we have at The Hampton Inns we have visited. Pic below. 

I looked up getting a used one online and they run about $200 to $250.  So this is not worth it for us.  We don't like waffles $200 worth so back to pancake for the Willett family.  
 


Then yesterday at the thrift store David my 9 year old son saw this.  what what!!!! $30 yes please.  still $30 is more than I normally would spend on something that is a gamble.  maybe it's fine maybe it's broken.  I can't tell at the store.  So asked about the return policy.  Turns out if the tag says "works" I have 30 day to return for store credit.  That turns this pouches to a no risk buy.  

So here it is on my counter at home and we had waffles for breakfast.  works perfectly!
now the only problem is finding a place to store this.

Thanks David