Finally!

SALAD!

It's about d@mn time!  I've been picking a few spinach leaves here and there, just enough for a pizza occasionally, but feared taking too much too soon!  I have one bed with several varieties now and they are big enough for 3-4 of these salads a week now.  I just have to remember to get out there next week and plant more so we can continue to have enough.

I picked Mizuna, Olympia Spinach, Deer Tongue, Mache, and some random spring greens and lettuce mixes, as well as some leeks and scallions.

Of course now we are anxiously awaiting some real tomatoes, peppers, broccoli & peas to top the lettuce instead of relying on cheese and "fake" hothouse tomatoes (ever notice how those store bought "hothouse" heirlooms have lots of color and absolutely NO flavor?!)

Yesterday Finn surprised me by announcing that he wanted to have dirty hands that day.  I took him outside and he helped me plant all the peppers and eggplants.  Here he is putting a "dog catcher" around one of the eggplants.

I didn't get much of anything done outside today.  I admit I have been feeling a bit down lately, not sure why, maybe just overwhelmed.  I would feel bad if it didn't look like at least something happened while hubby was off working hard, so I decided to make my first loaf of bread the real way.  I'm ready to use the bread machine for bb gun practice in the backyard, I hate that thing!  It takes 3 hours to mix a dough and then it's only halfway mixed LOL.

I followed instructions from the book "BREAD" (go figure)

Here's me the first time mixing by hand... I don't even watch hubby when he makes pizza dough so it's all new to me at this point.

I won't show the kneading process since I got so messy and glue-y that I didn't dare start walking around looking for the camera at that point.  I think I added a couple of tbsp too much water since it didn't rise like I had hoped.  The good news is that although it was kind of flat, it tasted good and I finally got that chewy crust I like.  I used the spray bottle of water on the oven walls method.

Here's Finn smelling it... he must have sat there for an hour picking at the hot loaf burning his fingers, waiting impatiently for dinner :)

Below you can see what I mean about the loaf coming out "flat".  But it was much easier that I expected and I think I can fix it for next time and bonus:  no stupid bread machine or kitchen aid to clean up!

Off to go have 'Family Reading Time' and then lounge the rest of the night away, hoping my energy and attitude improves very soon.

Oh! - I also made my first sourdough starter today which promptly overflowed it's container all over a wood cabinet hubby built... ooops!