Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Early Morning Baking


SO happy to be home. In our home, our bed [Don't you REALLY miss your bed when you are gone? I know I do.] and especially my kitchen.  I love my kitchen.  I have had some really small kitchens, but this one is a pretty sweet set up. Plenty of counter space, perfect triangle between the fridge, stove and sink and almost enough storage.  Really, it would have enough storage if I would stop buying stuff [::cough:: flours and sugars::cough] in bulk.

I really like it because I know where everything is and I can bake and cook to my heart's content.  I still find standing up to be the most comfortable position to be in and the two things I do best standing up are cooking and walking.  Just don't ask me to sit down, lay down or get back up again, mmkay?

This morning I woke up when Pooldad came to bed.  Bless his heart he tries so hard to come in quietly and lay down gently so he doesn't wake me, but.....Let's just say he has the quiet part down, but when he sits down on his side of the bed, sorry, but you are going to notice. heehee

With 3 hours sleep in my pocket I went into the kitchen to concoct.  Do you ever get a craving for something and you have to have it?  I am like that with sweets.  This morning it was 'Nilla wafers.  Stores are closed at 1 am and besides I don't drive anyway so  I searched the internet for a recipe and found what I thought was a good one.  It is this one:  Serious Eats.  It is such an easy recipe [hello stand mixer] and they taste delicious, BUT they aren't vanilla enough to be 'Nilla wafers and I even doubled the vanilla extract.  They make the perfect sugar cookie though, so bonus there.  Expect them in your cookie box at Christmas Tadpoles. Yum. [Very low sodium from the egg whites]

Next up were the really brown bananas taunting me from my kitchen table.  Pooldad's coworker loves my banana nut muffins so I thought I would use those up and make him his own personal loaf.  Again, easy peasy.  The secret, I think, is I throw in apple pie spice [nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice] and applesauce instead of oil.  They are still incredibly moist, but a wee bit healthier.  Topher, the coworker, gets one and we will eat the other. [Sodium free]

Knowing I was completely out of bread I started up the yeast while I was making the banana bread and by the time I needed to put together breakfast and lunch for Pooldad I had rolls and a loaf of potato bread.

Not sodium free, not even low sodium - so for me I will make sodium free tortillas in a few minutes.  Those are also super easy and one of my favorite bread substitutes.  I find that you can put ANYTHING in a tortilla.  Sometimes when I am making them I don't dry pan fry the last one, instead I put a little oil in the pan and fry it up crispy, toss it in cinnamon sugar and drizzle honey.  It's the beauty of being the baker. :D

After I am done making the tortillas I will be finished for the day because I am now out of eggs and darn near out of sugar. :/  Ahhh, no worries. I can always walk to the store. ::wink::

Before I end my day with the tortillas I am going to sit down to a nice cup of homemade cocoa, a slice of banana bread with a spoonful of some delicious blackberry jam Pooldad bought for us. He found it at a roadside produce stand.  And THAT'S what I call a sodium free breakfast worth eating Tadpoles.

Oh and sorry that the "Wallene + Mom = Trouble" post is gone.  I had posted a picture I had doctored of what I thought were some random people modeling as a family.  Then I got to thinking they might actually BE a real family, so it would be best not to use the pic'.  Hope that makes sense.  No conspiracy or anything, just making sure I don't inadvertently post something I am not supposed to.

Have a great Wednesday Tadpoles.  Keep smiling and do just one thing that makes your heart sing, 'kay? You'll be glad you did. Promise.

"It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on Earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had." - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.


15 comments:

Jeannie said...

In your case - live each night to the fullest!

I am amazed and humbled by your greatness. My family would be lucky to get ONE of those things and I wouldn't be doing it in the middle of the night - although maybe I should bring it to mind on one of those very sleepless nights. I don't have quite so many of those any more.

I wonder what you do all day after a busy night like that - can the girls be quiet enough for you to catch a few zzzz's or are they out of the house at summer jobs?

Jeannie said...

OH - and how do you make tortillas?

colenic said...

Okay..so when are you coming to my house to bake...I promise as much flour, sugar and everything else you need...and our Walmart is open 24/7 so I can always go out and get more :)
you are amazing....I can't hope to accomplish all of that in a weekend let alone an extremely early morning...so for that and many other reasons you are my hero today!!
Hope you are doing okay...hugs and love to you and the fam!!

Yart said...

I know when we go away.... I dream about my bed... We got a new one a couple years ago at Ikea.... I love my bed! I even tell it how much I love it.... LOL! For years we had a crappy mattress, so once we got this one it was a whole different world!

Everything looks Yummy as usual. And I wanted to say thanks... I just gained like 5 pounds from the pictures... But at least the banana bread was healthy!

ellen abbott said...

we might have to start making our own bread with the rampant use of GMOs. there are more and more things we can't buy now at the store. that banana bread looks wonderful.

Unknown said...

Dang Girl, you've been busy as a ... well... a baker! (hehehe) I love to bake too but I don't think I've ever accomplished all THAT in one go around. WOW!
I'm missing baking around here but it's just been much to hot to fire up the oven here in our little "tin-can". Cooler weather is around the corner though. You have me drooling for banana bread now. Gee Thanks! LOL!!!

Gypsy said...

I love my bed and when I've been away I look forward to sleeping in my own bed when I get back.

The difference between you and me - you get up and bake your breakfast, and I'm lucky to have strawberries & grapes on hand for mine. I don't think I could bake when I first get up in the morning, but it sure does sound good!

life in the mom lane said...

I too love to bake but with all my chicks gone and hubby & I trying to lose weight I don't bake much. I have some HUGE zucchini's from my garden and was thinking about trying to "doctor" an existing recipe to lighten the calories.... wish me luck!
Oh yeah- I agree... I miss my bed when I am away to!!!! QB1 tweeted the other day "I miss my dogs, my bed, and my girlfriend" *S*

Tony Van Helsing said...

That's one way of dealing with sleeplessness. Your heart and spirit are an example to us all.

Unknown said...

I love reading about your nighttime kitchen concoctions.

Southhamsdarling said...

Fantastic quote there at the end of this post my friend! Very true. Wow, I can just imagine Pooldad going off to sleep, and then waking up to find all these tasty goodies have suddenly appeared in the kitchen, as if by magic!!How I wish you could come to my kitchen and cook up a storm for me! I love eating, and I would so appreciate all your tasty morsels. I so agree with Tony's comment that your heart and spirit are a real example to us all. Well said Tony! Sending hugs to you this morning from across the pond.

Rudee said...

The banana bread looks incredible. I like to stay up late, Skippy, but I've never baked in the middle of the night. It must be glorious to wake up in the morning to the smell of yeasty breads baking in the oven. Sounds wonderful.

Teresa said...

love the baking - you've got more energy in the middle of the night than i have all day! i need to learn how to do that stuff! (the energy part especially; the baking... maybe not so much but i bet i could do the muffins with unsweetened applesauce, too. lol!)

hugs to you my friend.

Yum Yucky said...

it all looks so delicious!!

Our bed now has a permanent caved-in area right in the middle... because of my husband. I don't even wanna talk about it, but let's just say I'm demanding we have a new bed before Christmas.

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Wow, and when my kids were in their teens, they called ME a bake-a-holic! You put me to shame, lady. I love that Kubler-Ross quote. When my mother-in-law died recently, I used another super Kubler-Ross quote on my blogpost. You take care, lady. 12:34