It's got to be butter!

Many moons ago (or, it may have been last week. It's hard to remember at this age). Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I was shopping at Meijer (with my sister, but that's another story). Apparently, everyone else in the county had the same idea, because everything I wanted was sold-out! So, by the time I got to the shelf where the butter was not, I was losing my temper. I may have even sworn out loud. Pretty sure I did, since the Meijer dairy-man asked what was wrong. So, I told him "I just wanted the Meijer butter". I NEED butter. It would take a 12-step program to get me through one day without butter. So, Mr. amazing Meijer dairy-man calmly went to the back room, brought back a brand new box of butter, opened it & handed me 2 pounds of beautiful, prefect, Meijer butter. He must have been saving it just for me. I had to stop myself from doing a touchdown dance right there in the aisle. Instead, I politely said "thank you" & went on my way. But seriously, Mr. Meijer dairy-man, if you're reading this, you saved my day & you probably saved the other shoppers from limping through the store with cart marks on their backs.

Meijer product reviews

I love my Meijer store! I buy Meijer brand products whenever I can. I started buying them because they are cheaper than national brands. Now, I buy Meijer brand because the quality is (usually) better than the national brands. If I buy a generic or store brand that doesn't compare well to the national brand, I won't buy it again. I buy Meijer brand products a LOT! Now that Meijer has a "Naturals" food line, with no artificial ingredients or GMOs, I buy that, no matter the cost (which is almost always cheaper than the national brands anyway) Meijer also has an "Organics" food line, which we love. So, here is my 1st list of Meijer "product reviews". No doubt, there will be more lists to follow.

dry pasta - I buy it all, use it all & love it all. It's cheap & tastes great.

"Naturals" corn & black bean salsa. I originally bought it because it promises "no GMOs". I keep buying it, because it tastes great, and it doesn't cost any more than "regular" salsas. When it's on sale, I stock up. Bonus - my kids like to eat these veggies.

flour tortillas - I don't buy them. The list of ingredients is too long & full of things I can't pronouce. I'm not feeding them to my kids. I make my own tortillas with Meijer unbleached flour.

"restaurant style tortilla chips" - ground corn, oil, salt. That's it. No crap. probably GM corn, but I'm doing the best I can here. (we also like the organic tortilla chips. They cost a bit more, but I try to avoid GM corn whenever possible)

"Organics" creamy peanut butter. - peanuts, oil, sugar, salt. Bonus - it tastes EXCELLENT!

"Naturals" creamy peanut butter. I like it, my kids hate it. I think it's because they're too lazy to stir the oil back into the solids, when it settles. They eat it, just won't make their own sandwiches with it.

mandarin oranges - oranges, water, sugar. Sure beats the questionable ingredients in the national brand. Oh yeah, I checked. Bonus - prevents scurvy.

I buy all the meijer brand sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar & unbleached flour. They work great, cost less. It's a win-win for me.

milk - "...from cows not supplemented with artificial growth hormones" that's why I buy it. I don't care if the FDA thinks rBST is safe. They also told us Vioxx & aspartame were safe.

"Organics" honey and nut toasted oat cereal. Sorry Mr. Meijer, my kids didn't like it. But, my chickens sure did :-)

Well, there's list one. Stay tuned for list two, hopefully sometime before spring!

thin wheat sandwich bread

My kids love these new flat, wheat, sandwich rounds they sell in the grocery store. So, after buying about 40 bags of them, I decided it would be a lot cheaper to make my own. And, I could control what's in them.

ingredients:

1 1/4 c warm water (110 degrees F)

1/4 c sugar

1 (1/4 oz pkg) or 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 egg

2 tsp oil

2 c whole wheat flour

1 1/4 c bread flour

1/4 c flaxseed meal

1 tsp salt

Directions:

In a large bowl, sprinkle the sugar and yeast over the warm water. Mix in the egg and oil. In another bowl, sift together the flours, flax and salt. Add 1 1/2 c flour mixture to the liquids. Let rise 30-40 minutes. Add the rest of the flour and knead for 10 minutes by hand, or 5 minutes in a stand mixer with dough hook. (I prefer the mixer, since the dough is very sticky.) Grease & flour a cookie sheet. With well-oiled hands, divide dough into 2 oz. pieces. (Makes approx. 15 pieces, but only do enough to fill one cookie sheet. Save the rest in a covered bowl, in the refrigerator, until ready to use.) Drop the pieces onto your cookie sheet. You don't need to shape the dough, it will look better after it rises. Let rise until doubled. (I put the cookie sheet in my UNHEATED oven to rise. Because the dough is so sticky, I thought covering with platic wrap would be a mess.) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Do not overbake. When the buns are cool, just slice & eat.

this ain't no fairy tale garden

I was mad as a mama bear this morning, when I ran out to the garden, only to find that somebody's been eating my pumpkins! How will my garden ever grow with Mr. McGregor's cottontails hopping all about? Cinderella will have no ride to the ball. Peter Peter's wife will be homeless. And, this little piggie will have no pumkins for the market! I guess I can't blame it all on the wild things. It may have been my own, dear chicken little. Maybe this little red hen should just stick to baking bread.

While the kids are away...

Kids FINALLY went back to school today. Hip Hip Hooray! They were almost as excited as I was. With the house all to myself, my options were to clean, or... anything.

I've been saving these feed sacks all summer, waiting for the free time to make them useful again. (ok, they make great trash bags. but that's no fun). So, my chick feed bags are now my go-to-market bags. Or, my new go-to-library bags. Or, my apple-picking bags. Or, my wet-clothes-at-the-beach bags. Or... well, the possibilities are endless!