Whole Wheat Garlic Bread Sticks

We love garlic bread sticks, but I hate to buy bread from the store with all the extras added to it.  So this evening when I was making our bread I decided to make some into bread sticks to go with our spaghetti.  These bread sticks were a huge hit!  If there are any left I think I will freeze them; who am I kidding  they have already been inhaled.

Bread stick on salad plate not dinner plate.

Whole Wheat Garlic Bread Sticks/Whole Wheat Bread

  • 12 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/3 cups honey
  • 4 T sea salt
  • 1 c lard or other fat
  • 8 T yeast
  • 9 cups warm water
  • 10 (+/-) cups flour

Mix whole wheat flour, honey, salt, lard, yeast and water for about 2-3 minutes with mixer.  Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.  (Make sure not to add too much flour at this point.  I like to err on the side of having my dough a bit sticky rather than too stiff.)  Knead until smooth then place in greased bowl to rise.  Let rise until double (app. 45 minutes)

Take small balls of dough and make into bread stick shapes.  Place on greased cookie sheet.  (This is a large enough recipe to make approximately 8 dozen bread sticks) Let rest for about 10 minutes then bake in 350* oven until golden brown.

Immediately after removing bread sticks from oven drizzle melted butter/garlic over each bread stick.  Enjoy.

Since my main mission tonight was making bread loaves not bread sticks I only used two loaves worth of dough to make bread sticks.  However one loaf made approximately 1 dozen small/medium-sized bread sticks.

I am looking forward to making a big batch of these and freezing them, very soon.

Do you make your own bread sticks?

Blessings,

Jennifer

Linking to: Proverbs 31 Thursday, Teach Me Tuesdays,

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Homemade “GrapeNuts” Cereal

I got the original recipe from Dining on a Dime but have modified it some. This is the recipe that I use.

  • 6 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup wheat germ
  • 1 cup turbinado sugar
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 4 cups buttermilk
  • 2 tsp soda

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Mix well.  Pour into 2- 9″x13″ pans and bake in 350* for 25-30 minutes.  While still warm, remove chunks from pan and crumble using either food processor or blender.  Spread crumbles on cookie sheet or other pan and crisp in the oven at 250* for 20-30 minutes.   When cool, store in air tight container.  (This recipe makes a big batch.)

This is a favorite at our house for breakfast and snacks.

Blessings,

Jennifer

Linked to: Homestead Barn Hop, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Healthy 2day Wednesday
Tots and Me

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Free Spelling City Membership

Recently, I became aware of the opportunity to receive a free Premium Membership to SpellingCity.com in return for blogging about my experiences with the site.  I am excited for this opportunity!  I think this will make spelling much more fun for the kids too.

 Disclosure:
I’ve been given a premium membership to VocabularySpellingCity.com for a candid, personal, online review.

VocabularySpellingCity.com helps students study word lists using 25 different learning activities such as MatchIt Sentences, HangMan, and Word-O-Rama.  Parents can create their own spelling lists, find published lists already available on the site, or use any of dozens of  free teaching resources on topics such as analogies and compound words.  Be sure to come back in three weeks to read about my experience.

There might be more free memberships available for bloggers.  If you’re interested, find out how you can review VocabularySpellingCity.com.

Blessings,

Jennifer

Linked to: Farm Girl Friday, Homestead Barn Hop

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Scheduled Power Outage and a Field Trip

We were notified on Monday that we were scheduled for a power outage from 9am-3pm today so that the electric company could replace several poles on our line.  Rather than hang out in the house without heat again we decided it would be a great day to have a field trip to the zoo.

The IMAX Theater is currently showing Sharks 3D so we made plans to view that.  It would have been great to have been able to follow Sharks up with a trip through the aquarium; but unfortunately the aquarium is currently undergoing renovation so we didn’t get to go through it today.  So instead we went through the Desert Dome and the Lied Jungle (which were warm and cozy on this cold winter day.)

It is always so enjoyable to visit the zoo during the winter as there are very few people around.  It is so nice to not feel rushed when we are looking at the exhibits! While we were going through the desert, I was snapping pictures of the kids and one of the zoo keepers came by.  She was so kind to offer to take my picture with the kids.  So sweet!  In all our trips to the zoo, I think this may be the first picture that I am actually in.

Do you make winter trips to the zoo?

Blessings,

Jennifer

Linking to: Farm Girl Friday, Monday’s Homestead Barn Hop

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Canning Pineapple

The last time our local Aldis had pineapple on sale for $.99 it got me to thinking maybe I should be canning them, but I wasn’t sure if it would actually save any money as compared to buying the canned pineapple from Aldis.  So when I cut up one of the pineapples from that shopping trip I quickly measured it in a quart jar.  (Quickly because if my kids see me cutting up a pineapple it seems to disappear!)  One pineapple cut up filled a quart jar which made it a little cheaper than buying the cans.

This week Aldi once again had pineapple on sale for $.99 so I picked up 7 of them.   After cutting up 6 pineapple, I was able to get 5 quarts canned.  (Okay so we ate quite a bit of fresh pineapple but who can resist those sweet, juicy chunks of pineapple!)

I used a light sugar syrup recipe with turbinado sugar which made it look like a light colored tea.  We haven’t opened any of the jars yet to try them but after the pineapple simmered in the syrup we tried some and it was delicious!

Pineapple Recipe

Heat light syrup (10 1/2 cups water and 1 1/4 cup sugar) or pineapple juice to boiling. (I cold pack my pineapple which means I put it into the jars without first heating it.) Fill each jar with chunks of pineapple and cover with hot syrup. Wipe the rims of jars and process.

Water Bath Canning
Size 0-1,000 ft 1,001-3,000 3,001-6,000 6,001-8,000
Pints 15 min. 20 min. 20 min. 25 min.
Quarts 20 min. 25 min. 30 min. 35 min.

I am hoping that in the future this is something else that we can add to our preserving list to help save on groceries.  It is always so nice to be able to take advantage of sales to store up food for our family.

Update: We really, really like the canned pineapple.  When pineapple is on sale I try to stock up!

Blessings!

Jennifer

Linked to: Titus 2SDAYS, Tasty Tuesday, Monday ManiaFrugal Tuesday Tip, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, The Homestead Blog Hop

 

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