The weather is warming up (not that it was that cold this winter) and the lilacs are budding. It's time to do 3 things I do every Spring. One of them is get the lawn mower ready. It's a little early for that so it can wait a little while. I don't think we're going to get any more snow and even if we do, it will melt in a day or two. So it's time to burn off the remaining fuel in the snow thrower. It's also time to clean up the yard. Over the winter various things blow into it plus now is the best time for cutting out unwanted saplings and other things of that nature. Like I said, I do this every Spring. But this Spring I was rewarded. I found a nice crisp $5 bill. Nobody's name is on it except for Mr. Lincoln's, so I guess it's mine.

Sitting here feeling smug I am pondering what to do with my new found fortune. What can a person buy with a $5 bill these days? A Happy Meal? No, I'm really not happy to get one of those. A 6 pack of beer? That has possibilities but my beer larder is fully stocked, I really don't need any more. A Chinese lunch? One of the local Chinese restaurants has a lunch special for a mere $4.95, you get an eggroll, an entree, fried rice, a can of soda and a fortune cookie. Maybe that's the ticket, plus I'll have the princely sum of 5 cents left over.

I bake most of my bread. Recently I've been making a oat wheat bread. It includes whole wheat, rolled oats and flax seed meal. I love this bread, it tastes great.

Here it is formed into a loaf, not raised yet.



Raised and ready for the oven.



Fresh out of the oven.

The snow has started. It's a wet heavy snow. They are forecasting about 8 inches in my area. Not too much is on the ground yet, but it's going to snow until tomorrow morning, so I'm sure I'll get my share.

a view from the back yard



Ready to do battle

This has been the warmest winter in my lifetime. It's 54f today and the forecast is for the 40's tomorrow. But after that they are projecting 20's and snow. I inspected my snowthrower and gassed it up. It started up right away. I don't want to say, bring the snow on, but I'm as ready as I can be.

Merry Christmas to all you sexy NNers! I hope your Christmas is everything you hoped it would be.

I'm upset with myself for doing this. I wanted to make some nut balls (cookies). They are simple to make but I wanted to make a double batch. I doubled everything but messed up in calculating the amount of flour. To wit, I forgot to double the flour. The nut balls looked good going into the oven but came out as nut crepes. Wasted a pound of butter a package of pecans and my time.

Christmas is almost here. I finally got my cards out today. I usually get them out a week or two sooner, with a promise to myself that next year I will get them out earlier. Well, next year is always a year away, lol. The first card I received this year was from a NN person, I think that is so cool.

Now I have to plan my Christmas baking. I should start on it tomorrow. It seems to me that I was getting more done before the NN cams went live, but that just might be my imagination.

Hope the holiday is progressing well for all you gentle NNers.

This is a fine bread for breakfast or a late night snack. It's good toasted with a little honey or cream cheese or all by itself.

10 ounces milk, 90-100 f
3 cups flour
3/4 cup rolled oats (not the instant kind)
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter (or veg oil)
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons of dry active)
1/2 to 1 cup raisins

Mix ingredients except raisins until a ball forms. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Knead for 8 minutes if using a stand mixer or about 10 minutes by hand, then add raisins and knead until raisins are incorporated. Form into a ball, cover and let rise until about doubled. Then form into loaf and put into lightly greased pan (non-stick spray works well). Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake in pre heated 350 f oven for about 40 minutes (ovens and pans vary). Check doneness by either the thump test (thump the bottom with your fingers, it should sound hollow) or with an instant read thermometer, internal temp should register 190 min - 210 max f.

You can also make this in a bread machine, in fact I adopted this recipe from a bread machine recipe booklet.



I braided and used an egg wash on the top and then lightly sprinkled it with course sugar.

I just realized, today is my 7 years anniversary on NN!