Some baking...

Since I have recently become a blog junkie (I'm checking blogs almost as much as facebook *gasp*), I've had a hankering to make some of my own things, which I haven't done in a while. Not that I haven't knitted, crocheted, or baked, but just not as much and not in the recent past. So... the drive back from Maine I started crocheting. I'm in the middle of an octopus project. I have all the legs made, but am still deciding how to make the body. A pom-pom, perhaps?

Yesterday, while Leah was napping, I decided to bake. So I looked up a ton of recipes and found a healthy oatmeal raisin recipe. Here it is:

1 cup oats
1 cup milk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce (sugar free)
1 tsp. vanilla
raisins!

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) Mix oats and milk and let sit.
3) Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in one bowl.
4) In another bowl mix egg, sugar, applesauce, and vanilla.
5) Add oats mixture to wet mixture.
6) Add dry. Mix well. Add raisins.
7) Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake 15-20 minutes

These turned out great! I did make a few changes, however. I didn't have any milk on hand, so I substituted vanilla yogurt (plus a tiny bit of water to thin it out) and omitted the vanilla. I also added nutmeg and cloves. Yummy! Leah enjoyed them as a snack when she woke up and since yesterday, the three of us have devoured most of them!

I think she approves!!

So tonight I decided I would try to make some bread from scratch. While we were in Maine, my dad made a few loaves (he LOVES his bread machine)... so I figured, why not? I would have used my machine, but the recipe that jumped out at me was a regular old oven recipe. It was a rosemary onion bread that was delicious! The crust was very soft with just a bit of crunch. Maybe a tad too sweet and not quite as flavor-full as I was hoping, but still very good! You can find the recipe here.




All in all, some very successful baking! And just because she is beautiful...