Mmmm.... Beer.

So, I've recently gone on a baking spree and made beer bread for the first time ever. The bread turned out good, made it in a silicone bread pan so it turned out wide and ...short I guess? They weren't  nice tall slices  like store bought bread.
It tasted good, didn't look so good.
The initial recipe was Very simple (and sounded a bit 'ick')
http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440
Really? doesn't that sound just...blah?

So I added some flavor...

use the previous recipe, plus the following ((makes one loaf))
 about one cup shredded cheddar cheese, you can of course use whatever cheese you like
1 tablespoon dried minced onion (maybe one small onion, minced if it were a fresh onion)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
and about 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
just mix all those into the flour before adding the beer, it didn't seem to affect the bread rising.
(i used a can of coors original beer)


The end result was yummy.
The crust was thick, and just a bit salty, and the bread 'innards' were soft and dense, but still moist and ....fluffy for lack of better word.
Hey, it's still early for me! ;)


I also made a banana beer bread with pecans that didn't turn out as well as the cheesy beer bread...
the batter was literally soupy...I could have drank the batter. *shudder*
That recipe, I won't be posting until I attempt to make it without tweaking it at all, and am satisfied with the results.

The next day though, I made a delicious (if I do say so myself ;D ) banana bread without beer, that recipe, I'll post.

     **note, it's even tastier after resting for a day!**

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/108/Banana-Nut-Bread

I used this recipe, without the nuts.
The result was a gorgeous loaf (two loaves actually) of bread. The crust was that  nice burnt (dark?) caramel color, slightly sticky to the touch and a little bit shiny. The soft part was nice and dense, had a slightly sweet flavor with a strong hint of banana. Not too much banana, but not too little.
However I think I could bake it for less than 55 minutes in glass pans as there was just a touch of burnt flavor in the bottom crust... Not that I minded that, but some people might not like it.

Well, that's all for now.
Until next time! :)
  

Cloth Pads!

This particular post is going to get messy...if you're sickened by blood...don't read it.

So, in recent months I've decided to go 'Green'...or more accurately a natural red. ;)

After having my youngest daughter I discovered disposable menstrual pads didn't agree with my body.  I decided to go with cloth pads and make my own. I've only used them for two cycles, but Love them with a capital 'L'. They don't crinkle up, they don't stick to me, they don't make me sweaty, they're absorbent, soft and best of all, they're environmentally friendly.

I used standard cotton flannel for the outer layers and white diapering flannel for the core, or absorbent part.

And a pretty patterned flannel for the outers. I used a mostly brown flannel to hide any stains left behind on the fabric.

So far its all trial and error, the outers fell apart after 2 washes, I didn't have a large enough seam in them. Now I just use the white inners. They're pretty absorbent, I've got a heavy flow and have had serious leakage with the pads once, but that again, was my fault for not sewing properly. I sewed up the center of the pad, which creates a wicking effect and drew the blood to the center, and of course its thinner where there is a seam, so the pads leaked.

Each absorbent core is three layers of the white diapering flannel, I hand stitched a hem around the outside because I don't have a serger (also known as an overlocking sewing machine),  which is pretty important because its a finishing stitch and keeps the fabric from unraveling. Take a look at the edge of a washcloth, that weird stitch is a serge stitch.

I plan on making more pads after I get more fabric. I guess this is all for this blog, I'll have to update, or post another after making more pads...