Baking Warms More Than The Heart...

...It also warms the hearth and home.  I got home from my DBT class today and the house was a rather chilly 64 F.  I have the thermostat set for 63 F.  I'm trying to lessen my footprint on this earth where I can.

So I decided I would use the oven to make my lunch of two corn tortillas and a baked potato.  Potatoes are low sodium and high potassium foods plus the corn tortillas I baked were only 5 mg of sodium.  I get a full stomach and good for me food.

I couldn't justify turning the oven on for such a small thing as my lunch and using the microwave draws even more electricity than you'd think.  The oven being gas is a gem to cook and bake with.  So, I'm baking white bread today.  Only 8 mg of sodium per slice in this particular recipe. 

I have no idea how its going to turn out as I've never used this recipe before.  For all I know I will have wasted all those ingredients but its still worth the experiment plus my house gets heated for the afternoon.

  As my dough is still rising the above photo is what I hope it will look like.  Below you can find the recipe I used and modified of course.  I used olive oil instead of spray oil to oil the bowl and loaf pans plus I used the olive oil in the recipe where it states vegetable oil.

BASIC WHITE BREAD

1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 TBSP acceptable vegetable oil
2   1/4 ounce packages of active dry yeast
6 cups all purpose flour, divided use plus more as needed
1 3/4 cups fat free milk                                                     
3 TBSP sugar                                                       
Vegetable oil spray

Pour water into a large bowl.  Add yeast and stir to dissolve.  Let stand for 5 minutes until mixture bubbles.

Stir milk, sugar, and oil into yeast mixture.

Gradually stir 4 cups flour into yeast mixture.  Beat with a sturdy spoon for about 30 seconds, or until smooth.

Gradually add up to 1 1/2 cups flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, stirring after each addition, until dough starts to pull away from side of bowl.

Lightly four a flat surface; turn dough out onto floured surface.  Gradually knead in remaining flour for  6 to 8 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.  (Dough shouldn't be dry or stick to surface.  You may not need all the four, or you may need up to 1/2 cup more if dough is too sticky.)

Lightly spray a large bowl with vegetable oil spray.  Put dough in a bowl and turn to coat all sides.  Cover bowl with a damp dish towel and let dough rise in a warm, draft-free place (about 85 F) until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough.  Divide in half and shape into loaves.  Lightly spray two 10x5x3 inch loaf pans with vegetable oil spray.  Pout dough into loaf pans.  Cover each with a damp dish towel and let dough rise in a warm, draft-free place ( about 85 F ) until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Bake loaves for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bread registers 190 F on a instant-read thermometer or sounds hollow when rapped with knuckles.  Invert  bread on cooling racks.  Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes before cutting.

Serving size 1 slice
Calories 103
Protein 3 g
Carbohydrates 20 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Total Fat 1 g
  Saturated 0 g
  Polyunsaturated 0 g
  Monounsaturated 1 g
Fiber 1 g
Sodium 8 mg
Potassium 56 mg
Calcium  20 mg

I've Got A Clue

This week my husband and I have been playing board games instead of watching television.  Why?  Well why not?

There isn't much to watch on television that is all that entertaining.  I've also been getting bad headaches, sometimes migraines.  I'd rather not be trying to rid myself of a headache with the television on and bright lights in the room.

This is where the board games come into the picture.  The room we play our games in is the dining room and the light isn't overly bright there so it doesn't hurt my eyes.  There aren't any loud sounds or buzzing noises coming from a standard board game either.  Besides its creating some bonding time between us.

J got me the board game of CLUE for my birthday this year.  As a child we had the game at home but never really played it except to browse through the rules.  Now I know how to play the game and actually enjoy this new version where you can get your character killed off.

I've found out that J has a curse upon him when he plays clue.  The first three rounds we played of the game his character was the killer.  He told me that there has never been a game played where his character hasn't turned out to be the killer, well until last night.  Last night I tried something for him to break that curse.  I asked him to let me choose his character.  It worked.  The next round he chose his own character and again he was free of the curse.  He actually won too.

However the night was marred by a problem.  I started with really bad, felt like knife stabbing me, pelvic pain.  It continued through the night and its still there today.  I'm hoping that tomorrow it will be gone and won't be back.  This weekend we celebrate our 6th anniversary and we have plans to travel.  I'd rather not be in pain.  I don't want to have to stay home or end up in the ER because of the pain.  J is worried about me. He keeps checking his cell phone every 20 minutes to make sure he doesn't miss THAT CALL, if I need to go to the ER.  He's such a wonderful guy and I'm glad that his co-workers aren't telling him to shut off his phone, the Army can request him to do that with his job.

I was able to sit through my morning DBT seminar without passing out from the pain.  Well, see I have a tendency to hold my breath instead of breathing through the pain.  I was bent over in pain but I let the instructor know first about the problem and she was understanding.

I'm starting a rumor.  It was Scarlett in the kitchen with poison and I know she's trying to kill me!  I mean why else would I be bent over clutching my lower abdomen if she wasn't trying to poison me?  Yes, yes, I know its the endometriosis but I can still laugh at myself right?

Starting Over

Today was my first counseling session with my new psychologist.  I did an intake appointment last week Friday with a psychologist but she wasn't the one I'd be seeing today.  No, she was just the one who determined the professional I'd be a best fit for.

I figured because of all the abuse I had received in my childhood I'd best go see a counselor again.  Its been a few years since I've done a tune up on my DBT skills.

The IVF cycle is already gnawing away at my patience.  I start the injections in just a few days.  I'm not sure how its going to affect my moods as the birth control already gives me migraines.  So with that said I made the appointment, went to it and to the follow up.  I'm now signed up for the 6 week refresher course on my DBT skills.  As long as I remember to daily work on my skills I should be able to get through the remainder of this IVF cycle without too many tantrums.

DBT is Dialectical Behavior Therapy.  Which really is just a set of techniques used for coping with situations.  Say I want something but I don't think I deserve the item.  I need to take a few minutes to rationalize just why I don't think I deserve the said item.  If I don't deserve the item for reasons such as: its way out of my price range, I've already bought myself a reward or someone needs something more with the money I'd spend on the said item I have to think about it more.  Do I really want it?  Why do I think I don't deserve to treat myself to the item?  Am I putting too many others above my own self and am I devaluing my own self worth by doing so?

More examples would be how I manage my anger.  I have a temper.  There I've said it.  But who am I hurting by letting my temper rule?  Me or others or both?  I could have a temper tantrum without regard to who I hurt but, it would be better and more productive to think more rationally with explaining why I'm angry.  Its not easy though, we all know that.  It is easy though to just let the shit fly.

It does go deeper than just the two examples.  I've pulled out my notebook from my last workshop on the subject.  It goes back almost 10 years.  Just one more reason why I need to refresh my skills.

Well enough about this.  I'm hungry and tired and I need to get those cookies baked.  After all it is Wednesday and I always like to have baked goods to give to the soldiers my husband works with for their Thursday treat.  Three hours sleep means I'd best get them baked so I can take a nap too.  I can shovel food into my mouth and do my baking too.  I'm particularly good at that multitasking exercise.