~EASIEST AND BEST BREAD & CHILI EVER~

In my previous home, I had a stove that looked just like this one..only it was a new stove, I miss it, the lady that bought the house insisted on buying it too!

Well, as promised, here are the recipes for Bread and Chili...you have got to try them..SO good!

But first a bit of a poem about the joys and the warmth bread making brings into a home.

"Childhood Memories"

My memory of the home I knew,
Where love and joy were always spread,
And I recall that special day
When Mother baked out daily bread.
We children would all gather 'round
And help her knead and shape the dough.
The odor of those loaves
Is something every child should know.
A mothers life in many ways is different now,
But, oh, I think so much is missing,
For any child who's never sat and smelled
Bread baking in the kitchen.

My husband said the other day..."Honey, could you make some homemade bread?" At first I thought about saying what this gal said...but then he had asked so nicely...so I did. I'm always glad when I do..I love to share with a neighbor, taking a gift of home baked bread is the best gift ever!

Ok...I'm now ready to go at it...got my diet Pepsi with lemon...let's roll!

I have used this mixer for 27 years now...it has mixed thousands of batches of cookies and bread as I raised my 8 children. Oh how I loved to have to have hot bread or warm cookies ready for my kids when they got home from school!

This is the simplest, quickest, easiest, most delicious bread recipe ever! I started at age 12 making bread, my mom taught me to mix it all up in a BIG bowl..oh, the tired arms after kneading! With a mixer now, it is so much easier.

~The water, salt, oil, honey, and yeast mixture~

~2 eggs are optional, but I always add them~

~Adding the flour for what ever kind of bread you want~

~Watch as you add the flour..toward the end..the dough "leaves" the side of the mix. bowl~

~All done after 10 min. of kneading~

~Out of the mixture and ready to be divided up~

~The big ball divided into four loaves~

~All raised and ready to go into the oven~

~This recipe makes 4 nice big loaves of bread, I made half white/wheat today~

I added raisins to mine...we love it this way~

I love a big thick slice with butter & jam...or anything you can think of to put on top!

~Warm bread, homemade jam and a cold glass of milk...nothing like it!~

~ Whole Wheat Bread~
(take out of the fridge; 4 T. dry yeast and 2 eggs..to come to room temp.)
In mixing bowl pour:
5 Cups hot tap water
2 T. salt
2/3 Cup of oil
2/3 cup of honey
The 4 T. dry yeast
Then add the 2 eggs
Mix in your flour...

(for "all" wheat bread, you'll add 11 1/2 cups wheat flour)
(for "all" White bread, add 12 cups white four)
(for 1/2 Wheat & 1/2 White bread, add 9 1/2 cups Wheat flour & 3 1/2 cups White flour)

(important tip)...Add the flour "until" the dough "leaves" the sides of the mixing bowl.
After the flour is all mixed in, leave the machine to knead it for..10 minutes...

Pour a pool of oil on your counter top,
Pull the dough out, with oiled hands, push all the dough into a big ball.
Cut that ball into 4 pieces...shape each piece into a loaf, place in Pam-sprayed pans.

Set the 4 pans of dough on top of the stove, cover with thin kitchen towel...
Turn oven on to 350*....Let bread raise for about 35 minutes, until it's about 1 1/2 inches above side of pan.
Place them in the oven..set the timer for 35 minutes.
When done, take them out, place each loaf on the cooling rack, slightly butter the tops..let cool.
(You can add raisins, sunflower seed etc. to this bread)


This bread is so awesome, perfectly crusty on top, soft and tender inside, wonderful texture, so tasty and filling, I could live on it alone!
It only takes 90 minutes from start to finish and makes 4 big loaves of the most delicious bread ever!
Now the Chili....

~TEN MINUTE CHILI~

Brown 2 pounds of hamburger...with 1 onion, chopped up...salt & pepper

Sprinkle 1 package Chili seasoning packet, (whatever strength you choose) over hamburger mixture. Then add; 1/2 cup flour..stir in.

Now add in;

2 small (8oz.) Tomato Sauce

3 cans small Red Kidney, Chili beans...with the juice

1 bottle or 28 oz. Tomato's

Now add 2 or 3 handful's of Brown Sugar

Simmer all for however long or short a time as you want. Serve with a dab of Sour Cream and a handful of grated cheese on top. (Can garnish with chopped onion)

Every time I have served this to a group, people want to know what I did to make it so different and so good...Can you guess?

The secret is the Brown Sugar...it darkens the Chili and makes it so good with the spicy & sweet flavor combination coming through.
Enjoy it! It's that time of year to serve Chili at any gathering.

I hope you'll really try these recipes, I know that you will love them! They are so good you'll go to them every time. I love recipes that are really good and really easy, and both of these are. Enjoy, and let me know how yours turned out, will you?

~~~

Love to all my sweet blogging sisters out there in the world...my new friends, you have renewed my hope and faith, that there really are so many wonderful women in this world, women who share my love for all things good and true.
Love to you all...please let me know how these recipes turn out for you will you? I'm sure you'll love them and go to them often, especially at this time of the year. Enjoy..Love Julie :D

MOUSEKIN'S GOLDEN HOUSE...a must have!

I hope as Fall comes near, you will find this precious little book and share it with your loved ones...it is full of "Fall-ness" and it will leave memories in your children's and grandchildren's hearts that they never will forget...my children, though grown still love it and remember it with such fondness.

This is one book you should have and and read with your children or grand children. It's a magical little story of a little mouse with no home." The soft water-color woodsy paintings with autumn trees and berries add beauty to this gentle story....a field mouse's encounter with something new in smell and in looks and usefulness...His domestic activity...and the snowy world have natural appeal." Mousekin finds himself a perfect winter retreat, a discarded jack-o'-lantern. This is a gentle coming-of-winter tale that will appeal to your children. I promise you, it will make you think about "where" to throw out your jack-o'-lantern after you are done with it!

Mousekin stretched and cleaned his white undercoat, he began to explore his new home, scurrying down the tiny path but always alert to all the sounds that filled the woods when evening came.

In the woods there are many tall trees, and small trees that reach and grow tall in the deep shade. There are low-growing bushes with berries and seeds that pop and roll about the forest floor. Beneath them all are tiny paths that only mice can see. One moonlight night, Mousekin followed just such a path....

Right in the middle of that very small path, Mousekin saw "something" that someone had thrown away when Hallowe'en was over....

Mouskin had never seen a jack-o'-lantern in all his mouse-days. he was so interested in it that he did not watch for danger with his bright, shoe-button eyes.

As Mousekin made a second turn around the smiling face, suddenly, a young owl swooped toward him!

But, before the owl could even blink its eyes, Mousekin jumped straight into the jack-o'-lantern's mouth!

Mousekin felt safe inside the sturdy walls of his golden house.

The days grew shorter and the nights grew longer. Mousekin worked each night to fill his new house with things to keep him warm, soft things for his nest: little feathers dropped by a bird in flight, thistledown, and milkweed~

When the turtle reached the jack-o'-lantern, he stopped in his tracks and stretched his neck to see if what he saw was true.

Just then, Mousekin popped his head out of one of his windows and scared the box turtle right back into his!

"The chipmunk hurried by,Come with me, beneath the ground. That house will never do. the wind will blow, the snow will snow, and chill you through and through."

The little mouse whistled a high soft "Goodbye!" He would not leave his golden house.

"Mousekin curled up, tucked his tiny feet beneath him, wrapped his long tail around some milkweed-down, and pulled it closely around him, and fell fast asleep."

"Inside, Mousekin was curled up into a tiny fur ball. He was safe and warm, and fast asleep in his golden house."

"Little by little and bit by bit something happened to the jack-o'-lantern. It began to close its eyes in the frosty air. It shut its mouth against the cold wind."
~~~

This is the cutest book ever! I can't tell you how many times me and my children have snuggled up under a blanket as I have read this darling book to them. I so loved reading to my kids when they were at home, we'd read almost every night and now I have such pleasant memories of that and they do too. Even the older ones who thought they were too old to be read too, would casually come into the room and lay on the floor..to listen as Mom read.

I have plenty of drama in me (got that from my Dad) so when I would read, I gave voice to each character, putting plenty of drama into the story! I loved it and they did too. We always had plenty of books in our home, I started them on books from the time they were little babies in my lap. Even now, I have lots of books and when the grand kids come over, they love me to read to them.

I read stories at the local library for awhile and loved that too, also fun was to go the the elementary school at Halloween time, dressed as a scary witch, and read scary stories to the kids. In my children's eyes, that made me a "star!" I would hand out some goulish treat to go along with the story...like gum eye balls!

I have so many favorite stories..."The Velveteen Rabbit"..."The Rain Babies"..."Heckedy Peg"..."Cookies"..."Corduroy"..."The Mitten"..."The Mother's Day Mice"..."The Talking Eggs"....All the Christmas stories and on and on!

"You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be-

I had a Mother who read to me."

Some of my kids like to read and some don't, but they still like me to read to them. When I was a child, my favorite thing to do was to get lost in a book and my favorite spot to read was up in the apple tree. I had a special place up there with a back rest, and a salt shaker for eating the apples. Sometimes, when Mom would call me, I wouldn't answer..I could sit up there all day, lost in my own little world. It was a good thing I had that time, because when I got a little older, I was required to work, driving the tractor-cleaning and cooking as my Mom had to get a job.

I hope you'll enjoy this little book, go find it for your children, and then snuggle up and read as these nights turn a little colder and the season's change from summer into Fall. Let me know if you like the book and what your children or grand children think of it. (next post will be the best Chili and home made Bread recipe ever..I promise!)

ODE TO FALL....and Autumn adornments~

"DELICIOUS AUTUMN"

My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns
(George Eliot)

Come, autumn, come. Bring leaves of crimson on golden bough; misty morns and amber dusk; a harvest of plenty, and pumpkins on the vine. And so the gathering season begins, swathed in exquisite abundance and earthen beauty.

~Enjoying the autumn leaves...til the cows come home~

" Come, ye thankful people come; Raise the song of harvest home.

All is safely gathered in ere the winter storms begin.

~Counting our many blessings...naming them one by one...seeing what God has done~

~The chickens are gathering in a little earlier every night~

The end of our mantle...it's half of a juniper tree, I love natural things in my home.

Pumpkins abound not only at farm stands and farmers markets, but in the fields and gardens...and in my home. I have always loved them~ I used to read a story to my kids about a little mouse that made a house inside of an old thrown out pumpkin. He would gather all the soft things he could find..like milk weed fluff, and put it inside the pumpkin. When winter hit, and the pumpkins eyes and mouth would slowly close, he was safe and warm inside for the winter.

~It's looking very Fall-ish in the house too~

The gathering place for our family seems to always be around the fireplace and TV..or the dinning room table...or the pool table...as long as we are together, it's where ever we are gathered together that matters.

"Through orange-leaves shining spheres of gold,

Where crook-necks are coiling and yellow fruit shines,

And the sun of September melts down on his vines.

(John Greenleaf Whittier)

The cool air is as sharp as glass, and the blazing fall colors awaken long-forgotten memories of playing "no bears are out tonight" outside and looking back at the house with the warm glow of the lights on inside...big pots of soup and homemade bread Mom would make...warm baths before bed and stories read to me by Dad.

~These mountains behind our home are so entertaining during any kind of a storm~

Even my little Praline is looking for a cuddly-warm place...besides my lap..She can't sit on my lap 24-7 you know!

~Fall...those crisp night when you just want to cuddle up by the fire~

Fall is such a gift as we head toward winter, offering us a soft passage into the colder, darker months ahead...I hope I can be one who scatters kindness to all I come in contact with, for I know it will come back to gently light on my shoulder as the leaves that fall from the trees in Fall.
...what a wonderful circle it is~

"Cold days and a good book go hand-in-hand"

I love Fall so very much, it truly is my favorite season. Here in this beautiful place, it seems to last so long and is so mild and peaceful. It turns out that, at this time of year, oranges-reds-yellows are my favorite colors. I can hardly wait to get up into the mountains to gather a big arm-full of leaves for my home.

I love the chill in the weather and the warmth of the sun all mixed together...sending me off to bake...homemade bread, chocolate chip/pumpkin cookies, carrot cake, soups of all kinds, Halloween treats for the grand kids. I love too, to curl up with a good book, I just bought "The Undaunted"..can't wait to get into it... to get my jeans and boots out again, and sweaters...I've had enough of flip-flops and painted toe nails. I love living where the season's change..the renewal of it all suits me just fine.

I love long horse rides on my horse this time of year too, it's not too hot, so that we have to go out early to beat the heat. We can head out at any time of the day...I love riding up in the mountains among the colored leaves ...running into deer drinking at the stream, breathing in the crisp fall air..nothing like it!

Next post will be the BEST chili and homemade bread recipe's ever...stay tuned :D