Honey Oat Wholewheat Bread. Fresh, fragrant, and warm out-of-the-oven!

There is something so intrinsically therapeutic about baking bread.  So appealing to all the senses, and so calming in so many ways.  I’m a big fan of bread baking.  No bread machines here.  I like to assemble it all, one ingredient at a time.  I like to watch as the yeast is activated and starts to bubble.  I like to set the lump of dough under a clean, fresh dishtowel and peek under it  periodically, watching in wonder as it grows, grows, grows.  And when it is finally at it’s peak - punch it down again and listen to the air “whssss” out of it.  Then roll it around a bit, break it into two pieces and throw it into my extra large bread pans, perfect for sandwich bread, or toast, or slicing up and making croutons.

Here is my Honey Oat Wholewheat Bread recipe.  It was made by accident one day, as I was short on white flour.  I’m sure there are many recipes out there that are similar to this one, but this is the wholewheat bread recipe that I like best:

2 2/3 cup lukewarm water

4 tsps yeast

Add yeast to water in a small measuring bowl.  Wait for the yeast to start bubbling, about 5 minutes or so.

Add to yeast water:

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup olive oil

Whisk up well, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, or Kitchenaid bowl, assemble the following:

4 cups of all-purpose, unbleached flour

3 cups wholewheat flour

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (Quaker)

2 tsps salt

Stir to incorporate the flours and salt.  If you have a Kitchenaid, attach the bowl and use the dough hook.  Set at low speed and pour your water/yeast/honey mixture into the flour mixture very slowly.  Allow the machine to mix (on low) for 5-10 minutes.

If you are going to mix by hand, make a large well in the middle of your flour mixture.  Pour the liquid mixture in the well and mix slowly and gently with a wooden spoon, incorporating more and more flour with every turn.

When your dry ingredients and liquid ingredients are thoroughly mixed, turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead for several minutes.  If you have mixed your dough by hand, you will need to knead for a bit longer.

Knead until dough is smooth and elastic. 

Set dough on a clean counter, or in a clean bowl and cover with a fresh kitchen towel.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 – 1 1/2 hour. 

After your dough has risen, punch it down, knead a few more turns, and separate it into two pieces, shaping each piece in an oval.

Place dough ovals in large loaf pans (approx. 4″ x 9″).  Cover both loaf pans with your clean, fresh kitchen towel and let rise again for about 45 minutes.  To achieve the characteristic slit on the top of the loaf, simply run a sharp knife over the top of your loaf.  This severs the strands of gluten, and will allow your bread to rise further while baking.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees, for about 30 minutes, or until bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped.

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The aftermath of one of our extended bread-making sessions. Sure, it's a mess, but the smiles can't be beat!!

The thing about bread-making that I like the best is that it never gets boring.  Every day it is soothing, captivating, warm and lovely.  Children are not lost to these qualities either.  In fact, even the most ‘un-impressed’ child will take notice of the process.  More often than not, I have several little helpers with me asking a myriad of questions, like “Why does yeast bubble?”, “Is it really ALIVE?!?”, ”Where does flour come from? Is it grown or made?”, and so on.  Eventually, they talk me into giving a tiny bit of dough to each of them. 

I have so many fond memories of my little helpers making their little flour messes and delighting in an art so simple, so practical, and so ancient.

In the end you have a mini-art project, a mini-science project, a mini-history project, and a couple day’s worth of bread.  It is simple living and multitasking at it’s best.  Best of all however, you have a way to spend some busy, yet quiet time with yourself, or with some little people who you love.

This recipe makes 2 large loaves.  I usually freeze one (wrapped in foil) for later, and use the fresh one for breakfast toast and/or peanut butter sandwiches.  It is especially wonderful topped with lightly-salted butter and honey.  It’s even great all on it’s own, and makes a perfect high-fiber, low-sugar, wholesome and filling snack for a growing child.

I hope you enjoy the soothing art of bread-making soon!

Best wishes,

Beignets and iced coffee from Cafe' Du Monde. Not too shabby.

We have been in The Big Easy for a little over two months now. Aside from the regular, run-of-the-mill duties of unpacking, purging two-thirds of our stuff, and getting a large military family prepared for another year of homeschooling, I’ve been doing a little information gathering. Although, “information gathering” is hardly true. New Orleans is way too complex for one or two weeks of eating out and trying some new recipes. One must literally live it to understand it. Everywhere I look there is something new. I’ve seen so many foods, recipes and techniques that I observed and learned in Europe, only without the stringent culinary policies that often come with European cookery. Things that would NEVER be tolerated in a French restaurant or French home kitchen are celebrated here.

I was expecting a strong French influence, yes. But there is so much more here. It’s like someone pulled all of the world and all of it’s humanity into a cloth sack, threw in some extra spices, shook it up real good, then dumped the whole thing out along near the Gulf Of Mexico. And amidst the chaos of streets that smell like pee, people who smile all day, music that rings for blocks, and weather that is hot as hell – there is the sweet wafting scent of spicy barbeque, a history unique among the world, and an eb and flow of personalities, and great deal of shared hardship.

It is America – and Africa – and Europe – and Asia. It is happiness and sadness. There are vile, filthy places and Hallowed, beautiful ones. There is great hurt, there is great heart, and there is hope.

But still there is an art to it all, and a science, and some kind of confounded balance that I have yet to figure out. I am firmly convinced thus far, that one cannot learn New Orleans cuisine from any book or any institution. Like true Jazz, it must be inhaled day after day, understood from every perspective, seen as though through a spinning prism, and finally, after enough courage is worked up, tried,
turned into “yours”, then finally owned.

I aim to do just that, even if the heat and all this butter nearly kill me.

After tasting some of the food, and listening to locals, and learning just a bit about this place, I finally made my first Gumbo today. I couldn’t follow someone else’s recipe, because what I know (for sure!) so far, is that everyone has their own Gumbo. Their own way of making it, their own style of throwing in a bit of this and a bit of that. So far, so good. It smells amazing. My big kids are working on math and geography, the babies are building block towers and making colossal messes, and The Gumbo (my gumbo!!) is simmering away… Waiting for the last touch – a bit of steamed rice.

It’s been quite a journey, and we are just getting started!

I doubt “my gumbo” recipe will be worthy of the publish button today, but soon, hopefully I’ll have a good recipe for a non-local to follow. I’ll try and explain it in a way that anyone will be able to understand, and include some pictures on how to make a ‘roux’ (really, it’s easy!). Other than that, I have so much other news to share with you; my terrifying gas oven that I’m sure will blow up the house, my little raised herb garden that The Marine built for me while he was on leave, my three different kinds of basil and what I’m planning to do with them, my oh-so-exciting heirloom tomatoes, the giant pumpkin plant that my kids pray for every day (good story, hehehe), a New Orleans cake I’ve discovered called “Black Velvet Cake”, and lots, lots, more.

It’s good to be settled, it’s good to be back, and I hope you all are well.

God Bless, and take care,

<

So there we were, there we were….

And then the moving truck showed up.

Boxes stacked to the ceiling of the new house.

House. Small.

1000 sq ft smaller than the last house…(that was already packed to the gills)

And no garage…

But.

We had teamwork. And patience. And cooperation.

And love.

And DESPERATION for an orderly life.

Think it can’t happen in a military family with five kids, one on the way (surprise!) and in a tiny house?

Think again.

I’ll be back soon. We are almost there.

Below: my new pantry/office
I can’t wait to get back to work!

I’m processing data right now.

Today we drove from Aiken, SC to Montgomery, Alabama. We crossed through the beautiful state of Georgia where it rained off and on. Passing through Atlanta was exciting and I have a new appreciation for all my city friends who have to drive in that kind of traffic every day.

We crossed over the Chatahoochee River near the GA/AL border and I am happy to report that the water is indeed, muddy.

The fast food that one tends to eat on a long car journey is making me miserable. However, I have come to realize that being plumped up like a Ball Park Frank (hello, sodium!) is much better than suffering from food poisioning. The latter of which I experienced in North Africa four years ago. It turns out that preservatives do have a place in the world. I feel awful though, and am looking forward to about three weeks of nothing but green salads, fresh fruit and whole grains.

Tomorrow we will cross into Mississippi. Yes, I spelled it in that fast, funny way when I typed it (with my thumbs).

Mississippi.
Mississippi.
Mississippi.

Bet you can’t spell it three times fast.

See? This is inside reporting. I am at this moment sitting cross-legged (in the dark) on my bed typing this with my thumbs on the rediculously tiny keyboard on my iPhone.

Oh yes. Little do they know at the front desk that they have a rogue Military wife on her last nerve – who’s typing away ( with thumbs) and will push “publish” in just a matter of minutes….
Sigh.
Smile.

Here are some pics. There’s my kitchen, all ready to meet it’s next Marine Spouse. Be kind to her, dear kitchen. She needs it. And while you’re at it, could to tell the exhaust fan to work already?
The other pic is of our journey, and was taken near the NC/SC border.

Well, better go, friends. My thumbs have had it.

Night.

We are painting the interior of the house white. Base housing is nice like that. We can paint the interior any way we like, but we have to cover it all before we go. It’s only fair.

So my cheery yellow kitchen is getting whitewashed right now.

I’d like to continue posting throughout the move, and if I can post from my iPhone then you’ll get to see glimpses of our 1000 mile drive through the deep South. 1000 miles with five kids. And a puppy. No biggie.

Hope you are having a great day,
Shannon

We’ve been experiencing some technical difficulties here at The Flying Kitchen.

Paprika on Easter morning.

Second, for those of you who did not attend the classes, you read right – they were my last classes here at Camp Lejeune, because The Flying Kitchen is FLYING again….this time to the fabulous New Orleans, Louisiana.  I had no idea that Marines went to New Orleans, but I guess you learn something new every day.  Turns out they do, and my husband will be one of those.  For me, of course, it’s the thrill of all thrills because from a culinary perspective, New Orleans is the closest thing to Paris (here in the U.S).

And now for the technical difficulty part:

After the classes our new darling puppy (and official mascot of The Flying Kitchen), Paprika chewed through the cord to my laptop.

In true mascot style, Paprika then chewed through the cord that connects my camera to my laptop (so no pics could be downloaded).

Chinese Potstickers, with homemade dough - easier than you think and SO delicious. From my "Around The World In Appetizers" class.

Moving along….

Of course, I have still been cooking.  I developed a great pork chop recipe, a blackberry custard, cookies, bread, a pie and a great sour cream spice cake – but alas, we must wait until I can download my pics, because without pictures it’s just no fun.

In other news, my graphic artist and I are in the process of revamping things, so you will see some changes here at The Flying Kitchen, as well as at my pro-website, ShannonVavich.com.  Very exciting things, but I’m not going to spill any beans.

So if you could, please bear with us as we change the look of The Flying Kitchen.  Nothing big – you’ll still know it’s The Flying Kitchen, but it will be sleeker and oozing in awesomeness.

It will also be puppy-proof.

And baby-proof.

Take care friends,

Turmeric-Turkey Wrap. The perfect lunch for SUPERHEROES!

This week I went to Walmart.  I bought 2 wading pools (a big one for the big kids, and a little one for the little kids), an air pump to blow the wading pools up with, some play-dough and play-dough ‘accessories’, some bubbles to blow, and some other assorted art supplies.

The checker took one look at my goods and said very matter-of-factly: “You must have a nursery school”. 

“Yeah, pretty much”, I replied.

I love the checkers at Walmart.  I really do.  I marvel at how they can stand on their feet all day and still make an effort to be personable.   Every Walmart checker I have ever met makes an effort to say “hi”, or “how ya doin”.  

The way I see it, if all of America shops at Walmart – and the Walmart checkers are still friendly and optimistic, then things can’t be that bad. 

Ah yes – in the eyes of the Walmart checker, we see the reflection of Americana. 

That’s my profound statement of the day.

Once in a while, getting a stranger’s commentary on something that we feel is ‘normal’ is very advantageous.

“Nursery School”.  Yup.  That’s me.

But see, it’s not.  I don’t have a nursery school.  I have five kids under the age of 11.  Five kids that I home-school.  Five kids that I tuck-in every night, and make breakfast for every morning.  I’m a 24/7 nursery school teacher (and first and fifth grade teacher, too).  I’m a nursery school teacher - superhero.

Early-on in my ‘mothering years’ I really didn’t see myself as a 24/7 nursery school teacher superhero.  I saw myself as “just a mom”.  Oh my.  Can I just say that those words…. “JUST a mom”,  are poison?!?

I’ve never worked at Walmart,  but I can imagine that the training process of the Walmart checker is steeped with philosophy.  I can imagine that the Walmart management would NEVER say to it’s checkers-in-training, “Hey, you are just a checker.  Just ring the stuff up and make us some money.  Rush those people through as fast as you can and just get it over-with for heaven’s sake.  And keep your mouth shut.  You are JUST a checker.”

Nope.  That can’t be.  That can’t be because if that was the philosophy then Walmart would never have worked as a business.  Walmart would have failed a long, long time ago.

I can imagine that the training process for the Walmart checker sounds something like this: “You are the face of Walmart.  You are the one who will make the final and most important impression on our customer base.  We value you.  We value your work.”

Whether you are the mother of one, or the mother of twelve – whether you home-school or not – whether you have an adequate support network, or none at all, you are never, NEVER, “Just a Mom”.  You are a Superhero.  You are the face of the world to your child.  You are the one who will make the final and most important impression on your family. You are valued by the world.

Just as a corporation needs a sound, working philosophy in order to thrive; so does a mommy.

To solidify my point, (and to finally seque into my Turkey Wrap recipe!)  allow me to elaborate for a moment longer. 

 What if Walmart checkers were told that they didn’t matter AND never given lunch breaks?   What if they only had a minute to eat some crusts of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a few leftover Goldfish crackers?  After which, they were thrown back out to the crowds (who can be quite snotty at times!!), and told to just keep quiet and do their job?

Then they wouldn’t be smiling, would they?  They would fall apart.  Give up.  Walk away.  Stop caring.

Mommies don’t have corporate managers to tell them to take lunch breaks.  They don’t have unions and regulations to follow.  Mommies must set rules and regulations for themselves.  Rules like, “I must sit for at least 20 minutes every day and eat a decent lunch”.  Not peanut butter and jelly (unless you LOVE peanut butter and jelly), not Goldfish crackers.  Cookies don’t count.

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Here is a good, simple recipe for a FANTASTIC mommy lunch.  It’s a big step above a boring old lunch box sandwich, and uses things that you may already have on-hand.  It’s super yummy, full of protein and good nutrution,  and will be an absolute oasis in the middle of your superhero day. 

Tumeric-Turkey Wrap For Superheroes

1 Sundried Tomato and Basil tortilla

4-6 slices of turkey lunch meat

big handfull of fresh spinach leaves

dressing/sauce:

3 artichoke hearts, diced

1-2 Tablespoons diced red onion

1/4 large tomato – de-seeded and diced

2 Tbs mayonaise

1/4 tsp turmeric

pinch salt

pinch pepper

Mix up the dressing/sauce. 

Lay out the tortilla and layer sauce with spinach and turkey. 

Wrap it up, slice it in half, SIT DOWN, and enjoy with a tall glass of your favorite beverage.

Eating-well is an art that takes adequate planning and a certain boundary-setting.  In time, your children will learn that mommy needs lunch, too.  It may take a few days of creative ‘distraction’, (such as their favorite movie), but kids catch on pretty quickly.  After they see for themselves that a well-fed mommy is a happy mommy, they will be much more inclined to give you the space you need.

Charge on, Superheroes!

Bon appetit, and bonne chance in YOUR Adventures In Cookery,

Pomegranage Punch Iced Tea -- A sparkley and refreshing addition to your day.

Hi all!  I hope you had a great Easter!  We sure did!  I developed this very yummy Pomegranate Punch Iced Tea recipe this weekend.  It was not hard to perfect it, as we enjoyed every drop,  and more was in demand every day.

The weather has turned very warm here in North Carolina.  Suddenly thoughts of hot cocoa and warm cozy dinners have turned to refreshing food meant to fuel us for the countless hours of running and playing and enjoying this lovely weather.

When we are not outside breathing in the wonderful North Carolina spring air (and pollen!), we like to sit in the cool house and read.

I love National Geographic magazine.  This month’s issue focuses on water in our world.  The other day, my oldest daughter and I were reading about how women in developing countries will walk an average of 3.7 miles just to get water.

The first thing that popped into my mind, is that here in America, we are constantly trying to get more exercise.  These women must walk in order to survive. 

I compared my daily walk; down shaded paths, wearing comfortable shock-absorbing shoes, pushing a sophisticated double jogging stroller, water bottle in tow – and an arscenal of snacks for my little ones – with what I imagine a walk must be like for one of these many, many women. 

What must a walk be like for them?  No shade.  No stroller for their little ones.  Inadequate foot wear.  Precious water that must be saved for their families, and not guzzled every mile or so.   No snacks for themselves or their children.  Carrying a heavy empty jug one way, and a heavier full jug on the way home.  Injuries, pregnancies, age and sickness are no deterrents from this trek.  It must be done.

A very different path, indeed.

The article went on to read that when water is made available to these women, their efforts can be redirected into planting more crops, raising more animals, or starting income-producing businesses. 

Do you want to know why I love National Geographic magazine so much?  Because by the mere turning of a page, we are given a priceless gift. 

Perspective.

Perspective,  and a reminder of our multitude of blessings.  This, and a respect and admiration for those who continue on.

What does this have to do with Pomegranate Iced Tea?  Nothing, I suppose.  And then – everything.

This week, my Adventure In Cookery was an adventure of perspective.  As I was making jug after jug of this refreshing, beautiful, nourishing iced tea, full of antioxidants and lovely twangy flavor, I was reminded of what a precious gift water is…. Water, and health, and loved ones, and laughter.

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Pomegranate Punch Iced Tea

You will need:

Jumbo tea bags - just for iced tea! Brilliant!!

2 Luzianne Green Tea bags – made especially for iced tea.  (see photo)

8 cups boiling water

2/3 cup sugar (or equivallent sweetener of your choice)

juice of 1/2 an orange, and slices from the remaining half

juice of 1/2 a lemon, and slices from the remaining half

Any other fruit you may have on hand – I had a hand full of strawberries.  Frozen fruit works well, too

1 cup “POM” pomegranate juice – found in the refrigerated section of your grocery store, near the salads.

Lots of ice!!

Also, a heat-safe glass jug ( I used my Pyrex 8 cup measuring bowl for mixing)

A pretty jug for serving, and additional fruit for garnish, if you have it.

Place 2 teabags in pyrex heat safe measuring bowl and pour boiling water over them.  Let  ’steep’ for about an hour.  While the tea is still warm, add the sugar.  Stir well.  Add the fresh squeezed lemon juice, orange juice, and one cup of the pomegranate juice.

Throw in lots of ice and stir well!  Add orange slices, lemon slices, and strawberry slices.  This is also very good with frozen peach slices and frozen dark sweet cherries.

Serve in tall glasses and enjoy!

For ways you can help women of Africa, go toBeadForLife.org.  Also, stay tuned for giveaways of these fantastic beads here on The Flying Kitchen.

Be well, friends!

Bon appetit and bonne chance in YOUR Adventures In Cookery,