Here’s my recipe card for making my homemade sourdough bread.
If you got a starter, how I feed mine is by adding 3 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of bottled water, then mix it up.
If you keep it in the fridge, you don’t have to feed it as often, I feed mine every week or two.
At the next feeding you scoop out half and move to a bowl to feed it to make enough for the recipe, or trash the scooped out half. And feed the remaining half.
I use a scale to measure everything because my first attempt to convert grams to teaspoons and cups was an epic failure 🤣.
Using the scale gives me good results every time!
I also bought a Tramontina dutch oven from Costco and invested in parchment paper and a slashing tool and had everything else we needed here at home!
I’ll write out the recipe after we move… But here’s my handwritten recipe for now. 😁
I never thought I’d be into making things homemade
But the more I check the ingredients on labels, the more I want to try to make things from scratch. 5 years ago, I was pretty clueless when it came to being healthy. I didn’t even think people needed probiotics unless they had a yeast infection. I know better now. In the last 4 years is when I really started looking at labels and learning about ingredients that were not only not necessary, but caused more harm than good to our bodies. I recently started making homemade uncrustables and thought… maybe I should make our own bread. So…here we are! Though I couldn’t figure out how to cut it thin enough for sandwiches, so I’ll have to keep experimenting. For now.. this homemade bread is so yummy!
2 – Tbsp canola oil (or you can use melted butter)
4 to 5.5 – cups of All Purpose Flour (I used King Arthur)
Steps
Add water, fast acting yeast, sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups of flour to your bowl. Mix to combine. I used my late mother in love’s KitchenAid standing mixer.
Add another cup of flour… this is where things got a little messy for me.
Add more flour, in 1/2 cup increments, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Once it looks ready, set the mixer to medium speed and let is run for 5 more minutes.
After 5 minutes the should be a little sticky, but not too sticky.
Move your dough to a large bowl that you have sprayed with cooking spray. Flip the dough so that the whole ball is covered in some of the spray from the bowl.
And then you wait…
Cover it with a towel and wait 1.5 hours for it to rise. It should double in size.
Next it’s time to punch the dough to remove the air bubbles. The kids helped me do this step.
Spray 2 loaf pans with cooking spray, and add parchment paper to the bottom if you really want to make sure your loaves will come out of the pan. Divide your dough in half and roll into logs to place into pans.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place loaves on middle rack to cook. My oven is a convection oven so I left the racks in the middle. Bake bread for 30 minutes, then test it by tapping on the top with a spatula, it should be firm and sound hollow.
Tilt the loaves out of then pans and set them on a cooling rack. Brush butter on the tops and let them cool for 15 minutes before slicing.
You can store them at room temp for 2 to 3 days, or up to 5 days in the fridge.
Though I though this could be used as sandwich bread for my kid’s PB&J sandwiches, it was more like a super soft and fluffy french roll! I had mine with some of my mom’s tuna casserole recipe! So yummy!
Bagel Bites are another thing that’s super convenient… But maybe not the healthiest. I love that an entire pack fits into my Power Air Fryer XL. I’m all about my Air Fryer, and we are all for pizza. 🍕 We are part Italian 🇮🇹, so it kinda makes sense. In trying to make room in our freezer before my Costco run, I found a pack of English muffins… I also saw an almost empty bottle bottle of Marinara in the fridge and a pack of pepperoni… And we always have shredded cheese. So… Mini Air Fryer Pizzas was invented… This morning. 😂
Super easy, the kids can even help!
They could have helped… Except I did it before they caught me. I was trying to get to Costco early, but that didn’t end up happening. First, I made a batch of Boiled Eggs in my Instant Pot because I wanted to make room for fresh eggs. Then I made these mini pizzas and by the time I got to Costco, I had missed the Clorox Wipes 😕. I saw a guy walking out with the prized possessions and when I got to the back corner there were none to be found. We don’t even use Clorox wipes at home, but it’s on the school supply list for second grade, so I’m on the hunt now.
Cut your English muffin in half to make 2 mini pizzas. Top with marinara, or your favorite sauce, add some shredded cheese, and some toppings, then a little more cheese. I would add more cheese on top to help with the casualty we had…
4 mini pizzas ready for the Air Fryer!
Gently place them into your basket.
Set the timer for 5 minutes.
And voila! We only had one major casualty… One pepperoni flew off and landed in the middle. I just put it back on top of the one pizza with only 2 pepperoni. Nobody knew. 🤷🏽♀️ But I would use more cheese next time to try to keep the pepperoni from flying. One did curl, I’m assuming the heavier cheese would have kept that one flat as well. I didn’t get to taste them since they were gone before I got home, so I’ll take that as a good sign that the kids approved!
I used whole grain English muffins since that’s what we had on hand. Next time I may try to make our own. 🤔 I did finally buy yeast for the first time ever, so watch out… This Mama is going to get to baking!
I’ve always been not so keen on the fact that I can’t actually see inside the store bough ones. 👀 Do you use reusable apple sauce pouches?
So I bought the little green pouch ones that I could fill up at home when my oldest was 1. I used those for a bit, until my kids chewed up the spouts. 🤦🏽♀️ And lost the caps. 🤷🏽♀️ It was always a little awkward trying to clean the bottom of the pouch, too. You would fill it from the top, next to the odd placed spout, and good luck cleaning all the crevices. Plus they weren’t see through. I knew what I put in though, so… I did have a little more peace of mind than the store bought ones.
Then, I went back to the prefilled ones…
For no other reason than because it’s just easier. Plus… there were organic options… So they have to be better than the ones that people have found mold inside, right?
But then… Amazon…
Totally popped these up as something I might be interested in. These pouches have a mostly clear backside! And the spout is on the top, like the kids are used to!
So you fill it from the bottom, it even has a line to tell you where to stop filling so it won’t spill over when you zip it closed!
And I found these super cool soft spouts you can attach over the hard spout. They come with a built in cover! These totally help you to avoid spills if your little ones are anything like mine were. Do your kids squeeze the pouch as soon as your hand it to them? Mine would make a mess at the most inopportune times. They will have to get used to the extra suction required. But, you won’t have to worry about a big mess if they squeeze the pouch a little too hard. I’m sure it’s totally possible that they could grab a full pouch and squeeze it just to test it… You can even attach these spouts onto the store bought pouches too! So, if you are just looking for a little bit of safety while handing prefilled pouches to your kids, get you some!
The kids are getting older now…
Hopefully my kids won’t bite the spouts again, because they are older now. But since we are hoping to grow our family through foster to adoption, these may come in handy for our newest youngest.
I filled these with apple sauce today. You can buy the big container of apple sauce for less cost per serving and fill your own containers at home. Did you know that you can often find out the cost per serving right on the price labels at the grocery stores? Plus, I find that my kids eat so much more fruit when it’s already ready for them to grab and eat! You can even make your own apple sauce at home, but I haven’t been that brave just yet.
I plan on making a big batch of yogurt too in my Instant Pot, and filling up more pouches so those can be grab and go as well.
These can be great for school too!
These can even be grab and toss into the lunchboxes when the kids do get to have lunch at school again. We found out yesterday that our kids do get to go back to school in person. It will be day camp style, almost 3 hours a day, with half their class, and with their real teacher in person! I’m super excited too, because our middle child will be starting kindergarten. I was not looking forward to having to try to teach him fully at home through distance learning. Many are having to do this, and I don’t envy them at all. I know everyone is doing the best that they can, and that’s all that you really can do. Do your best, let God handle the rest!
So if you’ve got young kids who like their snacks in pouches, you have got to check out the reusable apple sauce pouches for your kids!
If you want to check out more of our super favorite things, you can find them here!
My son would have Uncrustables for every meal if we let him.
And he eats them frozen…
I’m a little worried about how he’s going to react when he opens his lunchbox at school and finds a thawed out Uncrustable 😱.
Not going to lie, they are super convenient too… He can grab a bag out of the freezer and have his meal ready to go.
But… Then there’s the ingredients. 🙄 And the high fructose corn syrup is a deal breaker for me.
So… I started making my own at home with these cool sandwich cutters!
I know exactly what is going into them, and I can freeze them and store them in one big zip lock bag for less trash waste too! Plus, it saves money since we buy the peanut butter and jelly in bulk!
I put peanut butter on both pieces of bread then drop a spoonful of jelly on top of the peanut butter to try to keep it from squirting out of the bread as I use the cutter and sealer.
Next thing on the to do list… Find a good recipe to making my own bread at home so I can stop having to read all the bread labels… 🤔
I had no plans to buy Bentgo Kids boxes for their school lunches…
But then my youngest started preschool. And because of COVID-19 they are only allowed to take their lunchbox to school, no backpack. I tried to pack her all the things she wanted on the first day into her lunchbox and I was looking for small containers, with lids, and trying to fit things into nooks and crannies. I got it done, but it wasn’t easy…
Then Amazon read my mind…
And what pops up on sale the first day she is at preschool but… Bentgo Kids boxes! They were on a super sale too! I should have shared that day, but I just thought about it today. It’s my first time packing her lunch in her Bentgo Kids box, as it is her second day of preschool. They are still on sale for $3 off if you order today. But I think I saved like $10.
What’s for lunch?
This is what she ordered today…
And I totally forgot to take a picture with the cute little animal forks I also found on Amazon, but she’s got one in there to poke into her patty with cheese, and dip it into her mustard and ketchup. She likes to eat her fruit with it too!
I also got these slim ice packs to put underneath her Bentgo Kids box in her lunchbox to keep the right side of her container cold. Looks like those were on sale last week too…. shoot, I need to get better at telling you all about the sales…. right after I find them!
So, she’s actually going to school in person?
She is! And today she decided to wear her new Face Shield. I thought this might be easier for her to breathe in, and she can still see through it, as well as her teachers can see her mouth since it isn’t covered behind a mask. I did send her cloth mask in her lunchbox… just in case this doesn’t fly. (I also missed a picture of the shield on, I swear she walked out the door with it on her head and I told her and Daddy to turn around for the picture and completed missed that it was no longer on her head) I haven’t had my Vitalbiome or my Metaburn yet today, that’s probably why I didn’t notice… ha ha! #focusfocusfocus
She asked me to pick her up today, since Daddy is dropping her off. I guess we’ll be taking turns as long as Daddy gets to continue to work from home.
And just in case you are wondering…
Don’t expect to be seeing super fancy lunchbox creations from me… just easy food, that fits into the tiny, organized compartments.
I keep seeing the other 2 kids Bentgo boxes on the counter as I type this and thinking I forgot to send her lunch to school with her… Oops!
I’m off to take my Vitalbiome and Ease so I can start my workday!
We crossed the Michigan state line at around 1:00 am. And as we got closer to our destination a deer started running out into the road. We were in a large RV with the kids asleep on the couch, so my hubby had to make a split second decision. Either try to avoid the deer by swerving, and risk the kids rolling off the couch. Or… speed up and hope that we pass the deer before he gets to our side of the road. He chose option 2. He gunned it, and the deer ended up running right behind us. No deer were injured in the making of this 3 week RV trip.
We pulled into Ishpeming at 3:00 am and were at Country Village RV Park a few minutes later. This would be our “home” the longest of any place on our trip. The Matron of Honor (that’s me) was finally in the same town as the bride (my sister) and was ready to report for Matron of Honor duties. The whole point of this 3 week RV trip was to travel across country to be at my sister’s wedding. I was the Matron of Honor, my kids were part of the flower girl and ring bearer crew, and my hubby walked my mom down the aisle. My brother and his family weren’t able to make the trip, so my hubby stepped in to help.
Bachelorette Day
I got a few hours of sleep, then got ready to be picked up by 9:30 am. The girls had big plans for Bachelorette Day. One of the bridesmaids, Mary (she’s a teacher like my sister), graciously offered her family’s lake house for the day. It was so cute, and literally right on the water. I got to meet my sister’s new sister in laws, Deanna and Leann, and another one of her teacher friends, Madison. It was great seeing some of my sister’s friends that she went to high school and college with too. They, and my cousin, Monica, flew out from California to be here for the big day. Lake day included yummy BBQ, a really cool floating raft that we could all fit in, and an interesting game. Ha!
Night out for dinner…
After lake day we all went “home” to get ready for dinner. My mom and dad had rented a minivan to help us get around without having to load up in the RV to get around town. So, mom was the chauffer getting us to and from where we needed to be. Us girls went out to dinner in Marquette, MI at Sol Azteca and the food was so delicious. What’s better than good food? Is great food with prices to match! We took a few pictures after dinner across the street by Lake Michigan. I have never see a lake that big in my life! It is huge and it looks like it is the ocean.
And that was a wrap for that day! That was our first night that we got to go to bed with the RV already set up, with the slides out. And we got to sleep in a little the next day before we got our nails done.
Tips for Day 8:
Tip 1: If you are near Marquette, MI and you want some delicious Mexican food, you have to check out Sol Azteca!
Tip 2: If you are near Ishpeming, MI and need an RV park, or even want to rent a cabin, definitely go to Country Village RV Park!
We had lofty goals of making it to Ishpeming by the end of the day, but other things took priority. Like a wonderful homemade breakfast by Brittany. She was up late texting me to give me instructions and tell us their home was open for us if we needed to come in in the middle of the night. Their oldest kids are close in age to our kids, so we were really looking forward to hanging out the day we planned to arrive. When that didn’t happen, we were thankful they had time for us in the morning. We didn’t arrive until 1:45 am and Christopher left for work a few hours later.
So… we slept in a little then Brittany invited us in for breakfast. She made homemade waffles with strawberries and freshly whipped cream, along with eggs, and sausage. So yummy, and such a great way to start our day. Their house was beautiful and was over 100 years old. After breakfast their kids caught a firefly to show our kids. We had never seen a real firefly before!
Then we headed onward towards Michigan…
But first… we had to make a quick left and drive into Iowa. We wanted to cross another state off of our list of states that we visited on our road trip. Christopher told us it was just a few blocks away and that he has actually walked there from their house, so we had to take the little detour. We passed an American Legion (one of my clients at work) on our way out of Elmore. After we made our quick stop, and turned around, to head back to the freeway we saw him… The Jolly Green Giant! I had no idea that we would get to see him on our trip. But it was another fun little unplanned stop on our trip. After our little visit with him and Little Green Sprout, we headed on to see Christopher at work.
Christopher works at a gas station with… you guessed it… window washers with long handles! So we got to catch up with him for a little before we moved on toward our next destination.
Just a few more stops before we got to Michigan…
You can’t see a huge Bull on the side of the road and not stop and take a picture. This was right outside of Bennett’s Food Center. The kids were always down for any excuse to get out of their seats and walk around. Then a quick stop at Family Dollar because I didn’t pack enough crayons for each child to have their own box…. ha ha ha!
And we couldn’t pass a Hardee’s in Eau Claire, Wisconsin without stopping to grab some food to see if it tastes like Carls Jr like we have back home. They have packets of Horseradish sauce, which I’m totally into these days… as long as they don’t have high fructose corn syrup, which is hard to find. I think I had some kind of garlic sourdough burger and obviously I had to try the garlic cheese fries too…but don’t worry, I took my Block first!
We missed Michigan by an hour…
Tips for Day 7:
Tip 1: If you are minutes away from another state…. just drive there. Even though we only got to be in the state for a minute or two to make a u-turn in an RV, it was cool to say we visited another state.
Tip 2: Take the time to stop and see the cool things, even if it means you are going to be a little late. I had to be in Michigan by the next morning for my sister’s Bachelorette Party, so I got a little less sleep, but I was fine. I don’t regret a minute of missed sleep because of all the amazing things we got to see on this trip.
As I look back through our memories, I am amazed at how much we would get done in a single day… this was one of those days.
We got the kids dressed while they were still asleep, but Alexandria, our Plexus baby, was like Mommy and was ready to go as soon as her eyes opened. She got to explore our campsite for a few minutes before we left Rapid City South RV Park and headed to our first stop of the day.
Stop #1 – The Dinosaur Museum
I had seen the Dinosaur Museum online and thought the kids would probably love it. They don’t open until 9:00 am and we tried to get our days started as early as possible, so we didn’t add this to the agenda. Our goal was to get as much done as possible, in the time allowed, which was not enough. But, I did want to at least stop by so the kids could see the huge T-Rex out front.
Stop #2 Bear Country USA
Bear Country USA opened at 8:00 am and we were able to drive through in the RV, so it was a fun, comfortable drive, and we got to see tons of animals, right outside our windows!
After the drive through, we go to park, (they had RV parking spots), and walk through a little zoo area.
Then we were off to… Mount Rushmore!
Even though we saw it the night before, but it was even more majestic during the day! If Mount Rushmore is on your list of places to visit someday… you definitely need to make it happen! They had started construction the day before so we didn’t get to get as close as you usually can, but we still enjoyed it. And we will definitely go back!
Next stop…. Crazy Horse Memorial
We got another view of Mount Rushmore on our way to Crazy Horse. Like the Dinosaur Museum, Crazy Horse Memorial looks like a really cool place to visit. But, we didn’t actually have time to actually get out and really check it out. We pulled up to the entry window and found out it was $30 just to get in… so we asked them if we could turn around and leave, They let us pull up to the parking lot to make the big u-turn in the RV. We jumped out of the RV for a quick picture, then jumped back in and kept going on our way to Minnesota.
Dinner on the road…
Every day was a new adventure. This day we had planned to make it to Minnesota in time for dinner. I felt super bad because our friends Christopher and Brittany had prepared enough dinner for our family. Dinner for our family of 5 to join their family of 7 was a big dinner, and there was no way we would make it in time. 🙁 I mean, we could have made it… but we would have had to leave right after Mount Rushmore. And since we don’t get out to South Dakota very often, I thought we should see as much as we could before we pressed on. They have traveled with their kids before, so they understood.
After we passed the Missouri River we stopped for our not as delicious as a home cooked meal fast food dinner. Ryan and I picked up dinner from Taco John’s for us, it wasn’t anything to write home about. Then we made a second stop for old trusty (not saying it’s the healthiest by any means) McDonald’s for the kids. Then we were on our way again.
A beautiful sunset, more bugs, and more lightning storms on the way to Minnesota!
We saw another beautiful sunset, and even saw a sign with Alexandria’s name on it before it got too dark.
There were bugs… lots and lots of bugs. I’m sure you’ll see in plenty of pictures that there are bugs on the windshield. This day seemed to have more than the others. Ryan was always on the hunt for the windows washers with really long handles. Our friend Ashley gave us a tip that we should stop at the Truck Stops to get gas AND long handled window washers. We made a stop at T & C’s Pit Stop in Salem, SD and while Ryan cleaned the windshield, we got to watch this lightning storm from a little closer, but not too close for comfort.
Shortly after our bug cleaning stop we crossed the state line into Minnesota. We still had a ways to go until we made it to our spot for the night, or early morning hours, in Christopher and Brittany’s driveway.
Tips for Day 6:
Tip 1: Plan ahead and make sure you give yourself extra time. Once we were there and saw all the fun things that were available, we wish we would have had more time.
Tip 2: Be prepared to stop and clean your windshields if you are driving through South Dakota during the summer. And don’t forget to use your GasBuddy app to find gas stations with prices listed nearby. This station was not right off the freeway, but they definitely had the long handled window washer, so it was worth the little drive off of our route.
Our first night in a WalMart parking lot was a success! We arrived at 12:36 am, popped out our slides and slept in. When we woke up and got ready to drive away, the parking lot had a lot fewer RVs but the section we were in was still a resting spot to several RVs at almost 10:00 am.
The long journey…
We had a very long, but also very beautiful, drive to Keystone, SD.
Ryan’s friend, Karen, from his Rotary Club knew about our trip and told us to check in with her. They offered to show us around, but since we were on a time crunch… again, we didn’t have time for a tour. But she invited us to stop by their home, in Spearfish, SD for dinner. Another yummy homemade dinner with friends? You don’t have to ask us twice!
We did however have some “detours” on the way… if you can call them that… ha ha!
Karen met us at another Walmart to pick us up and drove us up to the house since the RV would have been a little too large for the neighborhood. Her husband, Jim, went to work grilling on the BBQ, while Karen whipped up the rest of the goodies in the kitchen. Their house was beautiful! And before we left we saw a storm rolling in. Jim told me about an app called MyRadar Weather Radar so we could keep and eye on the storm as it moved. We were following behind it and had quite the lightning show.
The views were amazing!
Check out that sign!
South Dakota!
I had never seen a minimum speed limit sign until I saw this one!
Smile…
Pretend you’re asleep…
Karen and Jim’s back yard.
Tracking the storm ahead of us.
Mount Rushmore at night…
We had heard about the lighting ceremony, but since we were notoriously behind schedule, we didn’t make it in time. We did however make it to our campground without too much rain. When we booked the RV site I found it under the name of Tee Pee Black Hills. But, it had since been renamed Rapid City South RV Park. They have a camera on site, so even if they aren’t on site, they are able to direct you to your spot over video. Once we knew where we’d be settling in for the night, we decided to do something a little crazy…
Tips for Day 5:
Tip 1 Go see Mount Rushmore at night! Go back during the day too, but it looks so beautiful at night and there’s a lot fewer people there are night. We didn’t see the Lighting Ceremony, but I bet it would be pretty awesome to see. Also, since we got there so close to closing, they didn’t charge us to park, and we got front row parking.
Tip 2 plan to spend a few days in Keystone, SD. We planned for less then 24 hours there. We got a ton done, but it was really hard to choose what we would do. There are so many fun things to do if you just look at all the billboards on the way to Mount Rushmore!
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