it was a stroke of genius on my part!

this morning we made play-dough. we had some previously, but it's all dried out and yucky now, so it was time for a new batch.

first, mix together the dry ingredients. try not to get them all over the place and make a huge mess!

next, mix together the wet ingredients, adding the food coloring BEFORE the oil. then cook the mixture on the stove, stirring constantly. don't burn the play-dough, and don't burn yourself!



when it's done, the play-do will form a ball in the pan. turn out onto a plate to cool.



now it's ready to play with. gather dull butter knives, rolling pins and cookie cutters.



an added benefit is the play-dough is the same color as the mud room floor! (or nearly so...)


Home made Play-dough


1 cup white flour
1/4 cup salt
2 T cream of tartar

mix together.

in sauce pan mix:
2 cups water
10 drops food coloring
2 T oil

cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. will form up into a ball. knead, cool and have fun! store in an airtight container.

spreading the love...

last week i finally managed to get the 5 bushels of apples on our front porch canned for the winter. usually we put up as many as 10 bushels, often trying to get that done in one crazy long day of canning.

but that was back in the days of having 4 helpers. this year it was just G and i, and i procrastinated for longer than usual, feeling rather trepiditious about tackling that many apples with just one helper.

i must be getting wimpy in my old age!

anyway...

i just wanted to share with you the recipes that we use to preserve our apples for winter- applesauce (of course), apple butter and new to this year's line up: apple pie filling.

Gramma Jean's Applesauce

(makes 13 quarts)

Add to your finished applesauce:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup honey

1 t. salt

4 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

½ t. cloves

if very bland can add 1 T lemon juice

mix together, and hot water bath quarts 20 minutes

Apple Butter

5 quarts prepared PLAIN applesauce

10 cups sugar

1 cup vinegar

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. cloves

combine and mix well in crock pot. cook on low until thickened to desired consistency. stir regularly. ( i cooked mine for a long time; the butter reduced to 7 pints!) hot water bath pints 10 minutes.

Dave and the girls like this on their morning toast. it's the new favorite.

Apple Pie Filling

8 quarts sliced apples (do not use a soft apple!)

3 ½ cups cold water

14 T cornstarch

5 ½ cups sugar (not so much if apples are sweet)

4 t. cinnamon

7 t. lemon juice

1½ t. nutmeg

mix all but apples, and bring to a boil; gently add apples and fold together. pack into jars and hot water bath 20 minutes for quarts.

this recipe is fairly easy (it just takes forever to slice all those apples yourself!) and it makes the task of making apple pie super easy! i bought some pie crusts on sale (for shame!) and making a fresh apple pie for dessert is not a hassle at all.

crumb topping

½ cup flour

½ cup sugar

½ cup finely chopped walnuts

1 stick butter

combine and sprinkle over the pie before baking

finally, with the completion of apple preservation i can finally say that I'm done canning and preserving for this year! after i make sure that my kitchen notebook is accurate, I'll be removing the putting stuff up list from my side bar.

it's been a long and busy season, and we're thankful for the abundance of fruits and vegetables that God has provided! we'll be eating well all winter long~ and we have lots of extra to share with friends!

if at first you don't suceed... try, try again!

another month has sped right by, and it's the first Friday of the month. as in First Friday celebrations and general frivolity downtown in our little town. that means that it's time for the town bake off again, and this months' theme was pumpkin.

so after obsessively licking my wounds and nursing my pride from last month's disappointing results, i gathered up my courage (and my pumpkins) and decided to try again.

and no offense to Pioneer Woman, but this month i decided to go with my new favorite foody blogger, Bridget. she makes the most awesome cookies~ absolutely incredible! most of her cookies look too wonderful to eat. but don't worry, they are the best ever roll out sugar cookies I've ever made. (even if they don't look anything like hers! but that's another post for another time...)

moving right along...

after much agonizing, pondering and far more indecision than I'm normally given to, i decided to make Bridget's pumpkin whoopie pies, which she adapted from a Martha Stewart cookbook.

and can i just say? that was probably the best decision i made all week.

meaning~ i won the town's pumpkin bake off contest.

would it be bragging if i said it again?

I won the town pumpkin bake off contest!

*insert blogger's little happy dance here*

so the moral of the story is: Martha really knows what she's doing when it comes to stuff like flour, sugar, eggs and butter. just run the other way if she starts talking about the stock market!

but only if you're a world famous blogger...

on the first Friday of every month our downtown has a little shindig. there's discounts at all the stores, giveaways, activities for the children and just general frivolity and happiness. all in the spirit of Spend Money At A Local Buisness And Buy More Stuff.

i usually go and participate. that is, me and my faithful sewing machine, Miss Bernina.

we go and demonstrate whatever quilting class I'll be teaching that month at the Ben Franklin. it's just a time for me to sew in piece and quiet, and chat with any prospective students, encouraging them to come to my classes.

this month the Dry Goods Store had a little contest. an apple bake-off. with gift certificates being awarded to first, second and third place.

i thought that it would be fun to participate, being the domestic homemaker that i am.

*ahem*

so i signed up early in the week, paid my entry fee, bought a handful of granny smith apples and this afternoon while the girls were sleeping i made PW's Upside Down Apple Cake.

i figured that the odds were pretty good for me to win something.

not.

i got fourth place.

and that's only if you're being polite.

there were only three other entries: emergency cake (whatever that is!), apple dumplings and a spicy pie.

so really, i came in last.

what's with that, anyway?

PW got 444 comments on that post, saying how wonderful her cake is, it's so delicious, we had it for dinner last night when George Bush came over, it's my dog's favorite dessert, this cake changed my life and saved my marriage, I'm going to run out and buy a cast iron skillet... blah, blah, blah.

444!

so now we know 2 things: I'm really whiny tonight.

and I'm obviously not a world famous blogger.

(but i guess we knew that already, didn't we?)

next month the bake-off is for a pumpkin dessert.

if I'm done whining about it, i think i might try again.

and no hard feelings, PW.

really.

just a little bloggy love!

a beautiful northern PA fall day was even more delightful when i received a package in the mail from my "bloggy friend" Milah. inside was a handmade in Indiana pottery bowl:

(notice the zucchini and summer squash? my late planting is really, finally producing!)

AND... this wonderful pebble-ware-surfaced 9X9 baking dish! it's aluminum, and i can tell already that it's going to be my new favorite baking dish. (especially since my family is so much smaller now)


i got right to work making apple crisp- so much easier than apple pie, and every bit as good! (although, the topping is much darker than it normally is. i didn't have any brown sugar, and had to make a substitution involving white sugar and molasses. because, since when do i ever follow a recipe exactly?)

here's the finished yummyness- and the baking dish was great! if you finally won a bloggy giveaway after entering about 87 of them don't have a great baking dish like this, you can still make this apple crisp for your family. now that the weather is finally getting cooler, it's a great dessert for a autumn night!

this in an authentic, old~fashioned country recipe given to me by a dear friend, ages and ages ago. i hope your family enjoys it as much as our family has!

Apple Crisp Recipe

peel and slice apples, filling your dish to slightly mounded. drizzle with maple syrup, and dot with butter if you wish.

crumb topping:

1 cup oats (i use old~fashioned)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

combine in bowl, and work together like pastry until crumbly. (this will make enough topping for a 9X9 pan; but often i quadruple the recipe and freeze the rest, making it even easier to throw together at the last minute!) bake at 350 until apples are soft, and your whole kitchen starts to smell wonderful. serve with ice cream as a special treat!

galloping just to stay behind!

would you be shocked if i told you that we've been a little busy around here? i know you might be, because I've never said that before!

so kidding.

it seems as if it has truly been busier than normal around here, with a plethora of things to do~ and that's just the list for the AM!

we did 350+ ears of corn on Monday, and with all of us working at it, we were done by lunch time. (which was good, considering that we still had 3 bushels of tomatoes to do up into spaghetti sauce!)
every one had corn for breakfast. and dinner.


we were able to borrow a turkey fryer, and we did the corn outside. not so starchy and sticky for the new kitchen= Happy family.


everyone helped- whether it was with husking, blanching, cutting the kernels off the cob, freezer bagging, cleaning up or washing the dishes. it's a ton of work, and we only have a little over half the corn we need, but i did want to get the bulk of the corn done before the kids left for college. (on Friday!!!)


after lunch we did the "divide and conquer" game plan, with some of us finishing up the corn, and others washing and cooking tomatoes, ready for the squeezo. in spite of the fact that the kitchen stove did its level best to either die or blow up, (or both!) we managed to churn out 40+ quarts of spaghetti sauce. and perhaps even more amazing, they were all our own tomatoes, wrested from the evil and determined clutches of the tomato blight! additionally, both the peppers and onions that we used for the spaghetti sauce were also grown in our very own garden. as were the herbs. but I'll stop bragging now.

then, as if there wasn't enough going on this week, we just butchered 11 of the buff orpington roosters. because 12 roosters is clearly too many.

clearly.


add to that freezing green peppers and the occasional mess of green beans, and i would say that everyone should just be happy with clean underwear.

Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report ~ Week 21

it's been a busy week, with the garden finally starting to produce. i can brag about an impressive list of veggies that we've been harvesting: onions, peppers, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, beans and of course the old stand by, potatoes.

we've picked green beans several times this week, being diligent to stay current on the picking. the beans are of course much better that way. when the green beans/ground cover ripens in the UG, there will be tones of beans! probably way too many~ but we'll just sell the extra, and feed the extra of the extra to the pigs.

the ducks have fallen out of favor this week. although we enjoy watching them wander through the yard and play in the puddle, they did a very naughty thing. (as A would say!) i had planted my second crop of peas, counting on the cooler weather and delayed frost to harvest my own instead of buying. they (the peas) were coming up nicely, and all 6 of the double rows were about 3" high. one afternoon soon after i let them out, the ducks were observed eating straight down the rows of tender pea shoots! they were quite happy, wiggling their tail and muttering among themselves. almost as if they were saying thank-you! thank you for planting a row for each of us. thank you for putting them in such a neat and straight line. grrrr! well, fortunately for me and my family, the local grocery store had a sale on this week: Bird's Eye peas ~ 1 pound, 1 dollar. so my freezer is stocked with peas, and since that's what i set about to do, i guess i don't have much to complain about.

it was a rough week for the meat birds, too. we lost 13 or so, which was quite a blow. it's a combination of heat, water, crowding and stupidity. (of the birds, i mean!) that just reinforces to Dave and i that we need to take a much more active role in supervising the livestock and instructing in proper care. but we can console ourselves with a pithy little nugget that a farmer friend shared with me after church on Sunday: "if you have livestock, you're going to have deadstock." how true, how true...

we are harvesting tomatoes, although the plants are quickly dying off. they look really terrible in the garden, but as long as I'm getting some tomatoes, I'll let them suffer through. we've been eating fresh garden salsa and i even made some spaghetti sauce. I'll be able to make many more quarts of sauce, just not in the big quantities that i prefer.

N, G, A and B helped me transplant, mulch and water all the cauliflower and broccoli that we put into the high tunnel. I'm holding out hope that we'll be able to harvest these veggies, too! (we will not put the new plastic on the high tunnel until it gets much cooler, as the cauliflower and broccoli prefers the cool weather.)

this week we purchased 8 of the big round bales of hay for mulch. today G and Dave were working at spreading a layer of hay over the parts of the LG that are done. the LG is pretty much done producing, but alot of the potatoes are still in the ground, so of course we can't mulch there yet. the plan with the hay is to improve the soil for next year. some portions of the LG have had 2 rounds of buckwheat, and now the hay. hopefully next year we will see an improvement in the soil fertility.

which leads me to think that maybe, just maybe, we can work our way up to being a CSA, providing food for 10-12 other families besides ourselves. somewhere between Dave's pessimism and my optimism lies the reality. as we continue to work together to improve our little spot of soil, we learn and grow together. we've been inspired by this blog this week, and keep thinking, maybe we can do this after all! (and we cant' whine about living in zone 5, because they do, too!)

I'll leave you with a few recipes, so you can enjoy your own garden's bounty!

Spaghetti Sauce

½ bushel tomatoes (roma is best)

3 lb. onions

4 red peppers

2 green peppers

1 stalk celery

1-2 T parsley

2 T sweet basil

2 T oregano

1 ½ c. sugar

process tomatoes. (wash, cut out bad spots, boil and run through the squeezo) put onions, peppers and celery through food processor. combine with tomatoes and sugar and bring to gentle boil on stove. BE CAREFUL not to over boil, or your sauce will get dark and bitter. (don't ask me how i know this, just trust me.) if you're using dried herbs, you can add them at the beginning, but wait until the end if you're using fresh.

prep your jars and lids, and have your hot water canner already boiling. into each quart jar add 1 T lemon juice. hot water bath 30 minutes.

(this sauce is thinner than the store bought that has all sorts of nasty thickening chemicals added to it, but i often add 1 can of tomato paste, especially when I'm making spaghetti)

Garden Fresh Salsa

chop up a bunch of tomatoes. (about 2 cups) if you're using beef steak toms, squeeze out some of the juicy stuff in the middle. salt semi-generously, and set aside.

now cut up equal amounts of green peppers, purple onions, cucumbers and even summer squash if you're feeling particularly brave (or healthy)

drain the tomatoes and combine all the chopped veggies. add lime juice and chopped fresh cilantro. serve immediately with tortilla chips. yummy!

Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report ~ Week 20

Glory Be and hallelujah! my garden is finally starting to produce something other than potatoes!

my very optimistic late planting of summer squash is flowering! and look: there's even a baby squash gestating. we're doing a little happy dance up and down the garden rows!

the onion sets from Gurney's are done growing, and this week G and the little girls helped me pull them. we got about a bushel.

some were very small; hardly bigger than when we planted them back in April. makes me wonder what they've been doing with themselves these last 4 months!

we ordered and planted 6 bunches. hopefully next year we will have better fixed the fertility issues in the lower garden. I'll still plant more onions next year, but this is a good start!

the potatoes are growing like gangbusters! these are some big ones that i pulled out to show off, but i should have put something (like a coffee mug) next to them to show how big they really are. the biggest one on the right is bigger than 2 fists!

we dig fresh potatoes pretty regularly, and pack them in bags that i make from our multitude of feed sacks. 10lb. for $5.

the produce stand is bringing in some small, but steady income. red Pontiac potatoes definitely seem to be the favorite, so next year i plan on planting more than 50 pounds of that variety.

the honour system works pretty well in our rural county, and we've not had too many issues with stolen potatoes. (with the exception of one day last week when someone took 20 pounds of potatoes and left me 29 cents!)

the peppers are doing nicely as well. dare i say that we're being inundated with fresh produce?

the 5 ducks are quite happy. (the 6th died unexpectedly a few weeks back) every afternoon we let them out to free range, and they are quite comical to watch as they waddle (all in a row) where ever they go.

the morning glories right outside the back door have finally grown taller than the cherry tomatoes (it was a neck-and-neck race for the sunlight) and are cheerily blooming every morning.

A is quite proud of these sunflowers that she planted with the nasturtiums.

the chipmunks planted all the rest of the sunflowers. all over the flower gardens there are little sunflowers randomly and eclectically coming up. the goldfinches are enjoying them, and we like to see the diversity of birds that comes for a snack.

the cherry tomatoes are almost prolific~ A and B really like to go out to see if any are ready, and beg for someone to pick them a fresh 'mater. i really like having the cherry tomatoes right outside the back door, and plan on putting them there again next year. once they start producing, it's really hard to keep up with them. having the plants in such a convenient spot makes that task almost effortless.

we're getting a few tomatoes from the upper garden as well. it's really a horrible year for tomatoes, so the yield is disappointing.

again, A and B enjoy eating a fresh tomato just like you would an apple. (all my kids have done that)

the tomato plants themselves look horrible. they are all brown and dead from the bottom up, and the Florida staking system fell over after a recent heavy rain. we were busy cooking for the roofers, and i never got out to fix it.

that being said, i really like the Florida staking system and plan on using it again next year, just implementing the things that i learned from experience this year: taller and stronger stakes.

the broccoli and cauliflower in the cold frame is doing very well, and i plan on transplanting the seedlings to the high tunnel in the next few days.

due to the tomato blight, the tomatoes in the high tunnel were a total flop this year. nevertheless, we plan on trying again next year, applying the things that we learned: only 2 rows of tomatoes, plant indeterminate and train them up string, or longer and stronger stakes for the Florida staking. I'd also like to grow some cherry tomatoes in hanging pots, to better utilize the upper space.

our second planting/cover crop of beans is growing nicely. (lots of "growing nicely" in this post! but then again, it's about time for some good news!)

these are the beans that i planted around the tomato cages. they are training themselves right up, and are even taller than i am now. i really like having them on the tomato cages, and plan on doing that again next year, as well. (i thought up that idea myself, and I'm quite proud of it!)

these are the cover crop beans, and even though they are pole beans, i don't plan on staking them. they'll just have to produce despite the benign neglect, or just be tilled under!

look closely- you'll see the baby beans! Dave "took care" of the groundhog problem in the upper garden, so these beans actually had a chance to do their beany thing!


and look~ real, live beans! from our very own garden! we'll have some for lunch, and I'll freeze some, too. there should be another picking in a few days.

we still have lettuce, too. since it's been such a cool summer, that has extended far longer than we thought it would. i have the 4th planting in the second cold frame, and this time planted spinach, too.

we planted 10 pounds of onion sets, and while most of them did not get exceedingly big, they made a respectable showing.

next year I'll definitely plant more purple onions, maybe as much as 7+ pounds. i like to use them in recipes, just for the extra color.

the beets were a disappointment, but that was for several reasons. the lower garden is not very fertile, and compound that with the fact that i could just not bring myself to thin out the beets, (it feels so wasteful!) they did not get very big.

before bringing the beets to the house, we stopped off at the pigs and gave them the too small beets, as well as the tops of the beets we were canning.

we managed to eke out 12 pints of pickled beets. not too bad, considering that i don't' even like pickled beets! (the jar that i entered in the county fair won second place!)

I'll end this lengthy post with my recipe for pickled beets- just in case you want to preserve some of your own summer bounty to dislike on a cold winters day!

Pickled Beets

harvest whatever beets you've managed to grow and that haven't been eaten by the deer, woodchucks or rabbits. top them all, and scrub clean. put beets in large pot, covering with water. boil until tender. drain, reserving beet juice. cut off tops and root tap, and slip off skins. pack hot into pint jars. cover with pickled juice.

pickled juice:

2 cups sugar

2 sticks cinnamon

1 T whole allspice

3 ½ cups vinegar

1 ½ water ( use your drained beet juice)

simmer this for 15 minutes, and then ladle over your beets in jar, leaving 1/4" head space. remove air bubbles. process pints (and quarts) 30 minutes in boiling water canner.

i bet you didn't know that tupperware made chicken, did you?

many, many moons ago when all my children were small, i was invited to a Tupperware party. given the fact that all my children were small, i jumped at the chance to get out of the house and interact with adults. with the potential for real and meaningful conversations. and no interruptions to wipe noses or other body parts...

since all the children were small (did i mention that already?) there was no money for things like marvelous plastic leftover containers, but i did come away from that party refreshed~ both with companionship and a wonderful recipe that I've managed to keep track of through a flood, 4 moves and 2 more children.

i still use this recipe, and wanted to share it with you. i use it mostly after we butcher chickens. when I've cut off the wings, leg quarters and breasts, I'm left with a chicken carcass that still has meat on it, but not very much.

what i do then is plop about a dozen carcasses in the pressure cooker. i cook them for about an hour and then bone them all. the last time we butchered, we did 30 chickens, and i got enough chicken to make 8 of these meals. pretty good, considering that many may have just thrown that all away! so without further ado, here is the recipe. (and since I'm such a good blogger, i even took a picture of the plastic freezer bag for you. in case you couldn't visualize it all by yourself!)

Tupperware Chicken

Chicken Mix:

6 lbs. chicken

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

½ lb. EACH onions, carrots and celery (about 2 cups chopped)

1½ t. dried basil

basically, condensing the complicated Tupperware instructions, you just cook all this until the veggies are tender. if your chicken is already cooked, like mine was, just throw that in at the end. the recipe says that this will make 6 of the main dish recipes, which will serve 4 people each. don't believe them for one second. you'll have to adjust for your own family. now put your family sized chicken mix in a freezer bag, and when you're ready to make it, you'll have 6 recipes to choose from:

Candied Chicken

chicken mix

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup white vinegar

place chicken mix at bottom of skillet. (slightly thawed, i would think) mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. heat on stove until hot. serve over rice.

Orange Chicken Delight

chicken mix

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

¼ t. garlic powder

1/3 cup orange juice

1 T soy sauce

¼ t. dry mustard

1 T cornstarch

place chicken in bottom of baking dish. top with mandarin oranges. mix remaining ingredients, and pour over chicken mix. bake until hot. serve over rice.

Mexican Chicken

Chicken Marinara

Hearty Chicken Salad

Chicken with Dressing and Veggies

these two recipes are the ones that i use the most, but if you'd like to try some of the others, I'd be happy to share! just let me know, and I'll type them out in the comments section.

STOP THE PRESSES!

we interrupt this sporadically posted blog to bring you a Public Service Announcement.

remember the wonderful looking strawberry pie that i was bragging telling you about?

well, it turns out that sure jell and clear gel are not the same thing.

neither are they interchangeable.

here ends the PSA.

please continue with your dinner, minus the wonderful planned dessert.

June is made for strawberries!

we enjoyed our time strawberry picking last week, but we ate all the strawberries before i could get Korlissa's recipe and make the pie!

so this morning, after garden chores, the little girls and i went strawberry picking locally. i wanted to try out that particular strawberry patch, and get enough berries to make this pie for dessert. (note to self: do not go picking there again next year~ too weedy, too sparse, too expensive and the berries are not that nice)

Korlissa's Strawberry Pie

Mix: 1 cup sugar
4 T clear gel

Add: 1 1/4 cup water
1 T lemon juice
red food coloring
1 QT strawberries

pour into graham cracker crust. refrigerate until set. can top/garnish with cool whip

one of the reasons that i was so excited to get this recipe is that Korlissa told me that it works well with frozen strawberries. since we can only have Aunt Velma's Strawberry Pie a few times in June, i was eager to try this recipe out.

my pies are made and setting up in the refrigerator as i type, so I'll have to let you know how they taste after dinner. but if they taste as good as they look, everything will be just fine!

pesto- el fresco!

my basil is doing quite well and last week i was able to transplant it into the LG. there are nearly 40 plants, plus a few left in the cold frame, which is much closer to the house, making it easier to dash out for a few fresh leaves.

however, the big hold up on the commencement of pesto fever is pine nuts. as in~ they are hard to find locally and inexpensively. i was holding out for Sam's Club, but in the end Wegman's came through. (with a little help from a friend)

so now I'm all set to go~ and can hardly wait! my cherry tomatoes are not ready yet, but I'll start making fresh pesto anyway, and just enjoy them with noodles. yum!


Pesto

1 or 2 plump garlic cloves
3 T pine nuts (can use ½ walnuts)
3 cups loosely packed basil leaves (stems removed, leaves washed and dried)
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 T Romano (i usually omit this)
2 T soft butter
½ cup olive oil

in food processor~ process garlic, salt (tiny bit) and nuts until finely chopped. add basil and olive oil. when smooth add cheese and butter and process just to combine.

can serve fresh, or freeze for later. (i freeze mine in ice cube trays)

can i just say one more little thing about bread?

i don't know what it is about me and bread lately, but I've really been rolling out the dough the last couple of weeks. I've been enjoying experimenting with different ways to use the same bread recipe, and i wanted to share just a couple more variations with you.

make the official bread recipe, and divide your dough into thirds as usual. then, working with 1/3 at a time, roll it out just like you would a pie crust. cut the bread dough into about 16 equal pieces using a pizza cutter.



starting at the wide end, roll the triangles up. (just like a crescent roll)

let them rise, bake and then brush with butter before serving. yum!

sometimes i like to make rolls for our sandwiches: roast beast, chicken salad or pulled pork BBQ. 1/3 of the recipe will make about 6 buns (hefty sized) so plan accordingly. roll and pat the dough into a roll shape. then dip the bottom in cornmeal. this gives it just a little bit more professionality, and besides it looks really impressive! rise and bake as normal. let the buns cool before you cut them.

now, i know that i sort of promised to quit blabbering on and on about bread, but can i just tell you one more, one more little thing about bread? i found this awesome recipe for bread made in a dutch oven here. i went out and bought myself a pretty little red dutch oven, and have been making even more bread. (and if you substitute buttermilk for the water it makes an awesome crusty sourdough bread.)

and that's all i have to say about bread.

i promise!