Bagels! 1st Try!

We, Papa and I that is, made bagels today for the 1st time ever. It won't be the last. We'd been talking about trying them for quite a while and then Auntie R tried them and FB me the recipe so we decided to try them this morning together while Papa was home. The 1st plan was to get up early and have them ready for breakfast when the kids got up. Well we ended up watching a movie which had troubles at the end and  we fussed with that for much too long and ended up going to bed in the early hours of the morning. SO we changed the plan, slept in, and had them for lunch with Papa taking his to work. Here is the recipe.

Susan's Egg Bagels

Jody Prival

2 pkg. active dry yeast (regular--not fast acting)
2 cups warm water
3 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
6 cups flour
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon dry onion flakes (optional)Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar and salt, dissolve. Lightly beat in the 2 eggs. Stir well. Add 4 cups of flour, stirring to make a smooth thin dough. Then add remainder of flour to make a stiff dough. Knead this dough 15 minutes. Then set aside covered to rise for 40 minutes.Divide the dough into 20 equal parts and knead each separately to form a small ball. Push a floured finger through the center of each and twirl it around your finger to make a bagel with about a 1 to 1 1/2" hole and an outer diameter of about 3". Let rise for 20 minutes.
Bring to boil 3 qts. water with 1 tablespoon sugar in it. Boil 4-5 bagels at a time for 4 minutes each, turning carefully. Dry on a paper towel. Mix the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water, beat well, and brush the bagels with the mixture. Bake 20-30 minutes at 400oF (until brown). Don't expose to direct fire in the oven.

From the Dinner Co-op

Looking good!! We did the egg yolk on top and I think next time we won't. Made the outsides really chewy. Oh and make sure you bake them long enough or they'll have 'gooey' parts inside the ring. Not that I really know anything about it as this is our 1st try. I used my bread maker for the mixing and it worked great! 

Papa 'twirling' two at the same time. He's a mechanic so his hands are rarely 'food grade' so I make him wear gloves :) He whines but he wears them :) Note J doing school work in the back ground. Because today is Friday and the T's come over every Friday afternoon when we'd normally be doing school. I gave J the choice of doing his school last night, this morning or tonight. He woke up and told me 'I'm starting school right now so I can play later!' and proceeded to do his English and Science at the table. English before breakfast! He did his Socials Studies later on after the T's had gone. I love how he enjoys school and I rarely have to nag him into doing it. (He's so far ahead in his Math that he skipped it all together today.) He'll start grade 2 Math by the end of next week. 

You really should do 20. We ended up with 16 and they were too big. I want to try them as mini's too. Oh and make sure the inside hole is BIG. Very few of ours actually had a hole in the middle. But the water took FOREVER to boil so they rose a bit long too. (And yes I started the water boiling right after we got them into rings but it was a large pot and still took over the 20 minutes to boil.) They really should look like the inside hole is about 3 times bigger then it should be before they rise that last time.

Water Heater FUN!!

Our hot water heater decided to kick the bucket a week or 2 ago which should not have been too much of a surprise as it was ancient and we'd been having problems with it for several months. So we ended up being with out hot water for 5 days and making a quick trip to the 'city' to get a new one as they didn't have what we needed here in town. We had fun getting it in to the T-all as the back window of the T-all has been giving us problems (If it's not one thing lately it's another!) So we had to take all but one of our 5 car seats/boosters seats out and put the back seat down so we could slide the hot water heater over the seats and into the back and then put the car/booster seats back in for the drive home and then do it all over again to get it out! Needless to say it was an adventure and I hope the next time we need a big something like that the back door opens or we bring a trailer. But the important things are that it fit in the T-all, we got it home and it works :) The kids beds block the water heater door so we had to re-arrange a bit to get into the space to get the old one out and the new one in. Here are our 4 oldest watching Papa hook up the new heater. They had a blast with E running a commentary on Papa's every move. She loves to make people laugh! 

R Singing a Cute Little Song.

Recognize this song anyone?? She sings it well, if that helps. The tune is right and most of the words.

Some Clear Day Eagle Pictures.

This is the same bird the day after these bottom ones were taken. He loves this big old spruce on our neighbors place and hangs out there quite a bit. He can see both places that way and keeps an eye out for the flock of ravens that like to make pests of themselves. 

A bit fuzzy but you can see his eye really well. 

Looking behind him. There was a lot of birds there that day and he was 'keeping his eye on them.' 

In this picture you can see the hook on his beak and his talons really well. These pictures are all in the poplars around the lagoon. Some days we have as many as 4 or 5 eagles at once. Some golden and some bald. Lately though it's just been this one lone eagle. 

Fun with Pirates and Bridges :)

The boys built this bridge with fence pieces. The blue blanket under the bridge is the water and the brown fences in the water are 'the broken down ship.' The couch and chair are islands. Some of the people on the island are friends but not all of them. Some of them are Pirates!   L is standing surveying the work or he says 'I can be a mountain.' 

L's Towers :)

The kids take turns putting TP under the sink in the bathroom. They take it from our back bathroom which is mostly storage and bring it to the front bathroom and put it under the sink. Last time was L's turn. He loves to do this. A lot more would fit in the back but he came out and told me. "3 towers Mom. That's all I want to do!" 

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Eagles in the Snow!

A few pictures I took of our winter bald eagle. He or she is never here in the summer but for the last several winters we have had a pair of balds and one that is alone. Often at the same time. In the top picture he is eating something that is under his feet! It was snowing so the pictures aren't the best. 

Eggs!!! And My Ice Cream Recipe!

Papa found 6 lovely chicken eggs in the hen house this morning. With every thing on our plates this fall we didn't have time to figure out how to get a light into our new chicken house, so we ended up having a 'dry spell' of about 2 months without very many eggs at all. (We even BOUGHT eggs from the store for baking!) But about 2 weeks ago Papa got a new extension cord and light bulb and TA DA there was light!! That is the one bad thing about using the green house for the chickens, so far. It's quite a ways from the house and not set up at all for lights and things. The calf, Meatloaf, broke one bulb, and another one just burnt out. We finally got one to stay on and now we are getting eggs!! Worth the hassle for sure. Tomorrow night we are having Mr. & Mrs B over for supper before they drive out of our lives again for another month of traveling and homemade ice cream is on the menu!! BBQ's chicken or a pork roast, baked potatoes, salad, corn and ice cream for dessert! Yummo!! We might even make COOKIES tomorrow and eat the dough raw!! Oh wow. Now I'm drooling!! :)

If you've never had it or made it.. you've got to try it.
Here's what you do!
Ice Cream.

1. Whip 4 fresh farmer eggs till they are a  really light yellow color and foamy. Make sure you scrape the sides and get it all mixed in.
2. Add 1/2 of sugar and 2 tsps of Vanilla, keep whipping till it's all mixed in!!
3. Add about 4 or 5 cups of cream, some people cut it in half with milk, but we like it with just cream!
4. Mix it together until it's all the same color!
5. IF you plan on freezing it after making it you can add about a tablespoon of vodka to keep it from freezing hard as a rock!! If you planning on finishing it off that night don't bother.

Now this is the harder part. We have a ice cream maker that comes with a bowl that you freeze and then you add the mixture to the frozen bowl while the machine turns the bowl and it mixes very nicely into wonderful ice cream.  All I have to do is set the timer and take it out when it's done I've also heard you can put it in the freezer in a shakable container and take it out and shake it at intervals which mixes it and makes ice cream. There is also the old ice and salt hand cranker which I've heard works well but have never seen done (that I recall) or used.

Now if you want to make chocolate ice cream or some other kind, play with it. Last time I made chocolate I just whipped in cocoa powder with the sugar and it was AWESOME!! You need quite a bit of cocoa mixed in. I think I did 1/4 cup and you could have done 1/2 no problem! We've also mixed in ice cream sauces in the last few minutes or candies, cookie dough, chunks of chocolate bars, (be aware. Chocolate chips HURT when you bite into them frozen!!)  mint thin paddies are REALLY good :), strawberry jam works great with some strawberry drink mix (my kids think strawberry ice cream has to be pink) to make a great strawberry. There are lots of combo's to try!! Have fun! Kids love to help you make it, and eat it,  and HEY it's even science :)

An Old Forgotten Post. L's Mess!!

This is L and the amazing mess he made from part of his chocolate from Easter last year. Missed it somehow and just found it again :) I find it amazing that he made this kind of mess because he dislikes messes. What I also find amazing is the fact that he's still wearing this shirt and it still fits him.. these pictures were Easter last spring!!

Sword Fighting :)

The kids love to sword fight with Mr. B. It's the highlight of their visit! Often it's 4 against 1 and the 1 still wins. They are getting better though! Mr. B always dies very dramatically which is half the fun! 

 L getting a good hit in! E and J are playing chicken! 

 Mr. B holding them all off! 

 All three of them in on it. 

Mr. B is starting his dramatics. E and J have the new weapons the boys got for Christmas. A mace and a battle axe!  Mr. B is getting in one last stab at L before 'dying.' 

 L getting in one last blow!! They love it! 

Oh and these pictures are from before J's Birthday.. they haven't had a battle since J got his shield. It will be a battle to remember I'm sure.. I'll let you know how it turns out. :)