New adventures in domesticity

This weekend: Charlotte took her first step! Video and post coming soon.

I learned how to sneak more fiber and less fat into baked goodies. Pureed beans! No seriously, I cooked a bunch of great northern beans with no seasoning, drained them well, and blitzed them in the blender till smooth. You've heard of using bananas in banana bread and applesauce as a replacement for butter/shortening. WEll this works great. Using a straight 1:1 ratio of puree to butter, I made orange cranberry muffins with the bean puree and molasses crinkle cookies as well. Also, I made the molasses cookies with half whole wheat. Since the molasses and brown sugar make it dark, the kids don't know they are getting whole grains and veggies in their cookies. Sadly, my husband couldn't even eat a bite of them. To him, chocolate chip cookies with two cubes of butter are the only thing worth eating. And I can see the wisdom in that. If you only ate two a week, that's fine. But who eats only two a week?

More adventures: Our little peas are growing out in our front flower bed! First time I've ever had a plant survive infancy. We'll see how it goes. WE've had good weather for peas.

Easy Baguette

Yeah, I'd have a picture of this if people didn't eat it so fast >:(

My friend who served her mission in France gave me this recipe. Are the more authentic recipes out there? Yes. Are there yummier recipes out there? Possibly, but not probably. Are there easier recipes out there? NOOOOOO And, did you know baguette is French for magic wand? Seriously go turn on your Cinderella movie and watch it in French. Baguettes are magic wands of deliciousness.

This recipe is its own Cinderella story. The dough is pretty ugly, and when you shape the baguettes they can be kind of flat, but suddenly something magical happens in the oven and out come golden baguettes! And all you need is a spoon, a bowl and a cookie sheet, and a tiny bit of foresight (for the rising part).

Recipe for 2 Baguettes
1 c water
2 1/2 c. flour
1 T sugar
1 t. salt
1 1/2 t. yeast
1 egg yolk + 1 T water

Mix all together EXCEPT egg yolk/water. Coat a second bowl with olive oil (or PAM) and slap that dough in there. Don't knead it or anything fancy. Cover and let rise till doubled, usually an 90 min to 2 hours. When it's ready your finger poke indent should stay. Turn out onto a floured board, divide in half, and shape two baguettes. Lay them on a GREASED cookie sheet. make the traditional 3 slashes in the tops. Cover lightly with saran wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes. Brush with the egg yolk mixture. This is a very important part, don't skip it. If you don't have a pastry brush (I don't) just dip a wadded up paper towel in the egg goo and pat it all over the uncooked baguettes. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min or less.