Sunday means WAFFLES

What's for dinner is such a common place question on Sunday's in our house. So today was no exception. Since PaPa Benson bought breakfast sausages last week I figured waffles would be a good accompaniment. Found this recipe on line and was nicely surprised at how delicious these waffles were.

WHOLE WHEAT WAFFLES

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 3/4 cups skim milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup flax seed meal
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Beat in whole wheat pastry flour, flax seed meal, wheat germ, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt until batter is smooth.
2. Preheat a waffle iron, and coat with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron in batches, and cook until crisp and golden brown.

I had to use what flours I had in my pantry so I used a mixture of whole wheat graham and white whole wheat plus my applesauce while sugar free was peach flavored. I also used a bit more salt.

These waffles were light in texture, crispy on the outside, and delicious with butter and cinnamon sugar on top.

Isle De Karaban

We support a missionary in Africa. Kristina recently visited the Isle De Karaban and took this photo. I was so drawn to it because 1. I am a lover of line dried clothes and 2. It is universal and speaks volumes to me about the life of women in other cultures.

You can learn more about Kristina on her blog.

http://tinasenegal.blogspot.com

Super Sundays

I love my weekends. I know you saying - why not - you don't have to go to work. Well, I love my week days too but different things happen then.

Yesterday was soup and cracker day. Today is soup and pita day. Right now my yeast is proofing and I'm sitting here typing and looking out the window at the orchard. Even though it looks bare I know that in a short time the trees will be filled with apple blossoms and the daffodils will be in bloom. Do people who live in the south appreciate spring as much as us yankees do?

WHOLE WHEAT PITA'S

Ingredients

• • 1 package of yeast, or quick rising yeast
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 3 cups all purpose flour (I use a mixture of whole wheat, & white whole wheat)
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1 cup lukewarm water

  Preparation:

  Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.
  
  Combine flour and salt in large bowl.
  
  Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour yeast water in depression.
  
  Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until elastic.
  
  Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it has been successfully kneaded.
  
  Coat large bowl with vegetable oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated.
  
  Allow to sit in a warm place for about 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
  
  Once doubled, roll out in a rope, and pinch off 10-12 small pieces. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 500 deg F. and make sure rack is at the very bottom of oven. Be sure to also preheat your baking sheet.
  
  Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.
  
  Bake each circle for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up. Turn over and bake for 2 minutes.
  
  Remove each pita with a spatula from the baking sheet and add additional pitas for baking.
  
  Take spatula and gently push down puff. Immediately place in storage bags.
  

Five Things

Five Things To Consider on Presidents Day 2011.

1. pay your taxes Romans 13:6
2. pray for government 1 Tim 2:1-2
3. praise our government Romans 13:7 ( honor = praise)
4. participate in government Romans 12:4-6 (lobbyists)
5. persuade our government

Saturday Wanderings

February 19, so typical of any day in February, is blustery. In 24 hours we have seen it all, warm weather with snow banks diminishing, followed by rain with more disappearing snow, strong winds moved in with snow by Saturday morning and COLD. I DO NOT Like the cold but I LOVE the snow.

(Louisville, KY 2009 - ice storm paralyses the city)

In my attempt to eliminate chemicals from our everyday life and because I found my self getting a tad bit "stinky" at my last birth support (31 hospital hours) I set out on a mission to find a natural deodorant. The local healthy food stores brands were a bit pricey - $6-10 so decided to check on line where I also find an answer for everything.

Now a bit of Benson Family history. When Doug and I got married back in 1974, we were green before green was green. I made everything from scratch - no processed food for us, we canned and froze our garden bounty, bought beef from a friends farm. Those were the days when gas and oil were doing what they are today and we kept our house a bit cool and use a wood stove in the kitchen to keep us warm. In fact, we had to stop new chimney production on Sept 17 so I could have a baby.

This is like the beauty we had in our kitchen. My mom purchased it at an auction back in the early 60's to use in our summer home in Ohio. I still have it. We aren't using it now but hey some day who knows.

One of the "green" things we did was to switch to the use of baking soda as toothpaste and deodorant. Worked okay but the salty after taste and the gritty pits ......well, we got tired of it.

Today, thanks to the internet, I can research recipes and found one that I am trying - so if you want to know how it worked out, you will just have to tune in next Saturday and find out.

LaGrange Letterboxing

After having Tyler here for a month it was time for him to return home. We started out at 3pm Friday and arrived in LaGrange, KY 12 hours later. Yes, we were tired.

On Saturday we gathered our letterboxing gear and ventured forth. Gosh, I couldn't believe how cold it was outside. Be we weren't deterred and found lots of boxes. We only did drive by because of the cold but visited some really unique places.

Journal and Hitch Hiker. Told Doug we need to design something to facilitate letterboxing in a small car that fits between me and the glove box.

First Stop Pewee Valley - where we found this marker. As a lover of vintage childrens book's this was particularly sweet.

Annie Fellows Johnston, a celebrated author of children's and juvenile fiction from the 1890's until her death in 1931, is best known for her "Little Colonel" series, a semi biographical opus of 13 novels dealing with the aristocracy of old Kentucky, particularly the story of a young girl, who came to be known as "The Little Colonel." You may recall the Little Colonel - Shirley Temple portrayed.

Directly across from the caboose and marker is this darling playhouse.

What a unique place to hid a letterbox. The clues were particularly interesting.

ON THE TOP STEP OF THE OLD STEPS UNDER THE TOP STEP OF THE NEW STEPS AT THE BACK OF THE LAST TRAIN CAR IN FRONT OF THE PLAYHOUSE ON THE CORNER OF 146 AND 362

Our next stop found us at this sweet little red church practically hidden from the road and behind of all things a kitchen home improvement store with the drive way blocked by the company trucks.

This was a toughy as I didn't have a compass and it was very over cast. But I figured since the road ran north and south that 250 was just about over there. Except when I got "there" I found a geo cache. Eventually, I found the right cluster of trees and grabbed my find.

Thank goodness Joseph Gividen pointed the way.

Wasn't quite sure what this was all about but being a lover of cemeteries I couldn't pass it up.