Diary of Judy L.

 For a few days, it looked like this snow/ice storm was going to miss us completely. Our local weather guy, who is great, kept saying he couldn't really give us a definite forecast because the storm was looking like it was going to go south of us, with the northern line being just south of Missouri into Arkansas but he said over and over again . . if the storm ended up just a tiny bit north, we could have a lot of snow.

Yep, as of tonight, it looks like we're going to get a lot of of snow. I'm not complaining because I love snow but it surely looks like a lot of people are going to have serious problems due to ice.

Chad left a little over a week ago to go up north a bit to work and they're leaving there and headed down to central Arkansas to help down there. I'm glad he will be helping others but when there's a bad storm, they sometimes are stuck sleeping in their trucks. If there's no power, that means hotels don't have heat or hot water, warm food is hard to find . . this mom worries about her young man!

I'm not expecting us to lose power but if I'm quiet for a few days, you'll know we did lose power. If you hear anything about Joplin in the news, that will pretty much mean we're affected too.

We have food, generators, gas stove, a gas "safe for indoor use" heater - but we do have carbon monoxide detectors, water for brushing teeth and drinking, as well as water for flushing toilets, for heating on the stove and bathing.

I'm going to get a pot of vegetable soup simmering today. We have the bread I made earlier this week. I'm going to make white sandwich bread tomorrow and I took frozen cinnamon rolls out of the freezer last night, put them in the fridge and will bake those tomorrow. Always nice to have something yummy.

Yesterday I charged all the small battery packs I have for running tablets so I can use Markup so I can stitch; I charged a couple of lights I can use with the magnifying light, though I doubt I will try to keep the light part of it operating.

I think we're good and ready for whatever comes out way. If you're one who prays, please pray for those who are going to be affected by this storm and pray for those who are leaving their families behind to go to the areas hit the hardest and help with whatever they can do - power, medical, food trucks, etc.

 For anyone who has tried or is planning to try milling wheat to make flour, I read a post on Facebook this morning that I wish I had read when I first started with milling. If you're on Facebook and if you're interested, look for Two Paws Farmhouse. The post starts off "If you're new to fresh milled flour . . "

Everything mentioned in that post are things that gave me trouble. So many people buy mills, and mixers and grain (LOTS of grain!) <G> and give up before they "get it". It's very different from making bread with store bought flour. 

When I first started, it was in in 2004 and I don't even remember why I thought that was a good idea but there weren't nearly the resources that we have today. I seriously almost gave up. My bread was crumbly and sometimes just . . not good!

I'm so glad I stuck with it.

Looking back, my biggest problems after having made bread for so many years were (1) to add so much more water/liquid because the dough needed more hydration (2) deal with the stickiness of the wet dough.

The early struggles were so worth it but it would have been nice to have had the resources available that we have today.

I don't want to turn anyone off from doing this but two things I wish I had known . . two things that had more to do with spending more $$ and not with my bread baking abilities:

    1. Buy the best mill you can afford. On one hand, I understand why I bought a less expensive mill. It's a BIG investment and I didn't know if it was something I was going to stick with nor did I know if Vince would love the bread. I started out with the Family Grain Mill. It isn't nearly as easy to use nor does it grind the flour as fine. A coarser flour and going to create a coarser texture. It is NOT impossible to get a great loaf of bread with a less expensive mill but it's so much easier with a mill that has more options. In 2015 I bought the KoMo Fidibus Classic. You know how much I've used that mill and I've never had a problem with it. In 2024 I bought new stone burrs just in case I ever needed them. Chad has this same mill so I bought two sets and am glad I did. I paid $45 per set and now, they're $89/set.

Pleasant Hill Grain has a very informative "buying guide" everyone should read before deciding to buy a mill.

    2. The mixer. A Kitchen Aid or other heavy duty mixer will work . . for a while. Not something you need to buy right away. But, this dough has to knead for 10 - 15 minutes. It's a thick, heavy dough. I knew it wasn't going to last and I wanted to keep it for all the other things I mix so I researched and thought about it and researched more and ended up getting the Bosch Universal Plus. A lot of people use the Ankarsrum and love it too. There are newer brands on the market and most of them cost less but I don't know much about those.

I bought the mixer in 2012, have used it a lot and have not had any problems with it. I do have the plastic bowl and will probably upgrade to the stainless bowl if ever I catch them in stock.

The last of my sage advice <G> is: The mills are hard to get. There's a long wait list. From what I've heard, the date they tell you often gets pushed back. These KoMo mills are made in Austria and I don't think they're mass produced as are many of the "things" we are used to buying.

And, when I bought my mills and mixer, there were no wait lists. If you want one, get on that list and get the one you want. I have a friend who did her research, ordered a KoMo, got frustrated that the wait time kept getting extended; cancelled her order and planned to order something else; went back and ordered the KoMo and I think she got frustrated and cancelled again but ended up re-ordering it and eventually got it.

I am passionate about the quality and supposed health benefits of whole wheat bread made from fresh milled flour. I think EVERYONE should do it so I'm not going to apologize for this very long post. I figure anyone not interested never got past the first sentence.

As always, if you want a mill and have questions or if you want to try making bread from fresh milled flour, which you will also see as FMF, and you have questions, I'm always willing to share what I can to help.

 If you look at this picture and think I haven't gotten much accomplished, you would be correct!

Today I thought I would be home alone almost all day. Nope . . didn't happen.

Two weeks ago I got the final work done on getting a tooth implant. Over the weekend, when I was brushing my teeth, it was sore near that tooth. I felt it and it felt little a little hard pimple. I googled it and found that it could be just a little sliver of bone or it could be infection. I called the dentist this morning and they wanted to look at it so I went with Vince to his appointments. By 1 p.m., between us, we had been to three appointments. We ended up eating Mexican out but not at the place we had intended to eat. Then we went home, got my car, took it to the mechanic we use, thankfully fairly close to home, left my car for new brakes. We'll go back and get it when he calls and says it's ready.

Since I've been using the Lowery stand for stitching (thanks to Oscar!), I didn't have a great setup for it. I had it wedged on the right side of my chair between a chair and a metal shelf unit so I couldn't move it farther away if I needed to. I have the extended arm but sometimes that wasn't great either. On the left side of my chair, I have a tiered table that I keep "supplies" on, including a small notebook, different eye glasses that I use for stitching, rulers, markers, etc. I cleaned all around that, moved everything around and now I have one Lowery stand on the left and one on the right and whichever one puts my frame where I need it to be - that's what I'll use. Don't ask me why I have two stands. I think before we got Oscar, I was stitching upstairs but if I went downstairs to spend time with Vince while he was watching TV, I needed a second stand. Then we got Oscar and the dogs don't go up the stairs or on the hardwood floors or good carpet so I had never even opened the second stand. But, I'm glad I had it. We'll see who's this works. There's a sofa I could sit on and use it but from the sofa, my magnifying light kinda glares in Vince's eyes.

Soon we'll go get my car and hopefully I can at least get in my 400 stitches tonight. I kinda halfway counted up last night and I believe there are about 800 stitches left to finish Christmas in my Heart.

By the way, the dentist did an x-ray and it's a little sliver of bone. He said it may expel itself and if not, he'll have to dead it, make a little cut and file it down or pull it out. 

 This morning I read a comment from a reader - someone I met through quilting and have known for many years (Pam!) and she mentioned how quickly she goes through the beans she's canned.

I understand (maybe) <G> how some people have no interest in canning. Today we have four appointments in town - quick dentist check for my new tooth, a couple of things for Vince and dropping my car off for new brakes. I knew it was going to be eat out or eat from a jar because we finished up the leftovers yesterday. Vince asked if I wanted to eat out and I told him I would prefer to open a jar. Right off the top of my head I thought about roast beef with potatoes and carrots but we finished off the roast beef leftovers yesterday so probably didn't want that again. We have Chipotle Beef Stew; Split Pea Soup with a sandwich, red beans with sausage. There are at least 20 varieties of meals in a jar all I have to do is open and heat.

We have a chance for ice Monday and I asked Vince last night if we have need to charge a generator. We're fine - probably all we would need to use a for us to keep a fridge going and one for the thermostat on the propane heater. As far as cooking, with a gas stove, I can heat up anything in a jar - really, I could cook anything I want to cook but I don't want to be having a big mess to clean up.

When I can beans, I will see what we're getting low on (or how many jars I have) and I try to can at least 2 pounds of each type bean at a time. That will give me 10 - 14 jars of that particular bean. Vince likes black beans, we both like small red, cannellini, pinto, chickpeas, Lima, cranberry. We also love anasazi beans but they've gotten too hard to get. I've found that the 100 year old cave beans are almost exactly the same so I've been growing them and can them fresh.

We try to eat some kind of bean every day! I'll open a jar, season them and they're a side dish. I add them to soups. I add them to salads. They're healthy. They're inexpensive. They're filling . . what's not to love about beans?  Well, there's that one little pesky problem for some people but we've found that if you eat them often, that problem kinda just gives up and goes away. I'm sure that's not the case for everyone but we do love our beans!

 Someone, please! Lock me out of the kitchen!  :)  I'm really blessed that I have so many hobbies. I do wish housekeeping was one of them but it isn't.  :(  

Today's kitchen chore, besides fixing breakfast and lunch, was getting the beans canned. They turned out so pretty!

There it is - 11 pints of black beans and 14 pints of cannellini beans.

 The cross stitch piece is far enough along that I'm certain, barring anything wild and crazy, the Blessing Sampler will be finished either Sunday or Monday . . well by the January 31 deadline so I was able to spend some time in the kitchen.

Dinner was the chili I had started a few days ago, along with a Chopped Thai-Inspired Salad.

Tuesday we bought two rotisserie chickens from Sam's Club. I had taken the meat off the bones, divided it up to use in several recipes and froze it. I also froze the two sets of bones, skin, etc. from the chickens. Today I put them both into the stock pot with simmering water, celery, onions, garlic, peppercorns and salt. That simmered pretty much all day, then I strained the broth and got 7 quarts of broth.

From two chickens, which were $4.99 each, I made the Thai Salad today and there's enough of that left for another meal and I plan to make the following.

Meal 1: Vince had a thigh, and part of a breast. I had the other part of the breast and a wing.

Meal 2: Half a recipe of Chicken Enchiladas.

Meal 3: Broccoli, Chicken & Rice.

Meal 4: I think we'll have enough chicken left over to make Chicken & Red Lentil Soup.

We will get three meals for sure, maybe four, as well as a salad for each of us for two nights, AND 7 quarts of chicken broth from $10 of rotisserie chicken! Can't beat that, right?

I have black beans beans soaking to can tomorrow and cannellini beans that I will can without soaking first. I'm hoping to get 10 pints each from the beans but I may not. Considering I don't like black beans, it's weird that we always run out of those first. My favorite beans are cannellini so it's no surprise that those jars get emptied quickly. For anyone wondering, I've found that black beans need to be soaked in order to be tender but the cannellini beans are really mushy if soaked before being canned. The no-soaking method is not one of the "approved" methods so . . don't do it unless you're comfortable using a non-approved method.

For our meal tomorrow, we'll have leftover roast beef, rice and steamed broccoli. Way less time in the kitchen tomorrow!