My Green Thumb

The hubby and I aren't the best at yard work.  We've lived in our home for a little over 6 months and for about 4.5 of those months, we diligently mowed the lawn, cut the flowers, etc. every weekend.  Then we got tired and things got a little messy.  Then every weekend turned into every other weekend.  Then the weekend we would even think about yard work, it was only to mow the lawn and not take care of the overgrown weeds in the rose bed.  So, we hired a gardener.  It's what every person would do, right?

I mean, for a minute, I felt like it was a waste of money.  That a little elbow grease would fix the problem.  I mean, instead of spending quality time with the family, I should be outside, pulling weeds....right?  But now I get to enjoy this:

and this:

and this:

Look at those colors!

And this:

We think that's a peach tree?  We don't know much about these things.

I mean it's awesome to not have to do anything and have an awesome looking yard.  There's nothing expected of us, but the hubby and I aren't completely useless.  We planted these:

Sorry for the weird angle.  These are hibiscus shrubs, intended to grow over the horrible pipes in the front of the house.  I understand the functionality of water pipes.  I for one, love indoor plumbing, but who in their right mind ever thought, "hey, let's put these pipes right in front of the house, so everyone can see them!"?  And you know the kicker, despite having pipes there, there's no sprinkler system in that bed.  Bizarre, right?

Anyway, despite not having the patience or magic touch for yard work, we're pretty good at growing stuff.  In our previous home, we had great tomato plants, until our dog ate them.  Even the strawberries were growing well, until the dog ate those too.  So, fool me twice, dumb dog.  We learned to plant everything far, far away from the dog.  Here's what we're growing now, to start:

Basil, Cilantro, Flat Leaf Parsley

This is tons more basil outside.  The stuff grows faster than we can use it.  Anyone want basil?

We're also growing jalapenos.  Hot, make your eyes water, hurt your bowels hot jalapenos:

I've noticed lately that there are holes on the leaves.  Something I attributed to maybe small bugs or the type of soil we've used or the heat....and then the hubby informed me that the section of the flower bed where this plant is (near the peach? tree) that there are tons of snails. :::shudder:::: That's a story for another day.

And, my proudest achievement:

My money tree.  Not the big huge one.  The little one in front.  I've had it at least 3 years, and it's still kicking.  Thought I lost it last year when I stupidly left it outside in the sun on a really windy day.  But it came back. 

So now that the beds are clean and pretty.  I want to plant more.  See more grow.  Tomatoes grow well out here and I've successfully grown them before, so that's a good place to start I guess.

Man, I wish I liked tomatoes.

Adventures in Breadmaking

First and foremost, yeast smells terribly bad.  I mean, really, really bad.  Worse than I remember.  I decided to make squaw bread today, mainly because I promised coworkers on Friday that I would bring them some on Monday.  Ordinarily I would have pretended that I forgot, but that only works for 4 weekends in a row, I think the 5th time, they'd think I was a flake with false promises.

So, onto bread.  You need a ton of ingredients and a great helper.  I had both.

Ingredients:

 

Helper:

So, I used a recipe for squaw bread from a cookbook given to me by my friend Sylvia, simply entitled Create.  She gave it to me because it has no photos.  From step one, I wish it had.

Here is the progression of things:
Yeast (gross)
Combine: molasses, melted butter, water, yeast mixture, brown sugar.
Combine (in a different bowl): 2 kinds of flour, corn meal, dry milk, salt

Combine those two bowls into one.  Mix well.  Set aside to proof:



This is the same dough, an hour later.

Then the recipe said to punch the dough, form into a loaf and let sit another 45 minutes.

This is my sad looking loaf:

After it sat for about 30 minutes, I realized it didn't look loaf-like.  At that point, I thought it might be too late to mess with it.  Maybe I thought touching it would make it deflate?  I don't know.  All I know is at that point, after the horrible smelling yeast, the 5-8 minutes of kneading and waiting over an hour and a half of it just sitting there, there was no turning back.

So I baked it.  This pile of non loaf-looking dough.

Here's the end result:

It didn't look that pretty but it tasted pretty good.

Tips for next time:

Make sure doors and windows are open.  Yeast is stinky.

Helpers, while useful, make a huge mess.

When making a loaf of bread, make sure the shape of the dough is an actual loaf.

Know that your husband will clean everything, so don't get anxiety over the mess you're making.

When taking pictures of whatever you're making, a clean kitchen is a must!

Completely Distracted

So, I started this blog, gung ho to post about anything and everything that I love, that's important to me on a near daily basis.

I lost the internet for a whopping 5 days and I've been side-tracked.  I began writing a post about how Ina Garten, yes that Ina Garten of Foodnetwork fame, lied to me.  I never finished it and I certainly never published it.  It might be a story for another day.

So, as far as today goes...my son began walking.  3 days before being 11 months.  I think I might cry.  I am in no way prepared or house baby proofed for him to walk everywhere.  He has us all on our toes around here.

I took tons of pictures of our garden and plants which will be posted hopefully tomorrow, along with pictures of bread that I'll be making.  I'm nervous...I've never made bread before.  Tonight, we're having steak and twice baked potatoes.  I'm loving twice baked potatoes lately, mainly because of how easy they are to  make.

Basic Twice Baked Potato Recipe:

Bake your potato.  (Because it's easier, I put my potatoes on a plate, poke them with holes from a fork and nuke them in the microwave.  My microwave has a handy baked potato setting, so my involvement is minimal.)

Pre-heat oven to 400.

Once soft in the middle, let cool.
Cut in half length-wise.
Scoop out soft middle with a spoon into medium size mixing bowl. Try not to tear skins, keep skins, place to the side.
Once done (I usually do three potatoes for our family) prepare potato in bowl like mashed potatoes.
I add: butter, heavy cream, salt and pepper.
Scoop mashed potato mixture into your potato skin halves.
Top with cheese and bacon.  (This is totally optional, but really, add cheese and bacon.)
Put halves on a cookie sheet that's been lined with foil.
Bake in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Pictures to follow.

Oh Internet, how I've missed you

So of course, the day after I start a blog, the internet at my house is down.  Inexplicably down, nothing we can do to remedy it on our end.  Of course, this happens on Friday and the soonest Time Warner could come out and fix it was today, Tuesday. 

Nearly 5 days lost.

5 days worth of blog ideas, lost.  I should have written them down.

Anyway, for now, I've come to say, my internet is back and so am I.

Welcome to the Blog

Hi.

My name is Inez.

I decided to start a blog to talk about all the things I love in my life: my kids, cooking, baking, taking pictures and being crafty.  I called this blog "Inspired Creations" because I might not use original recipes or ideas, but I'm amazing at following directions!

I imagine this blog will mainly be me, rambling to the 10s of people that might actually read this.  I'll post things I make (from various recipes), pictures and things that happen in my life.

Hope you enjoy it.