Day 2 in Amy’s Kitchen
What a day! Things got started bright and early as I got up and showered at 6 AM. I try hard to get a head start on my day before the kids get up, and every Monday is kind of a “New Week’s Resolution” day for me.
My kitchen opened up with some blueberry pancakes for breakfast, and my little beggars showed up to “help”. They cleaned me out of blueberries, is what they did! The frugalist in me knows that blueberries are expensive, but the nutritionist in me knows that they are packed full of antioxidants… and the mom in me loves that my kids love fruit! They can have the blueberries.
I make my pancakes with 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour, using an altered Betty Crocker recipe.
After breakfast I got my bread machine going. I haven’t purchased a loaf of bread for over a year now. Using this recipe (but with a 2:1 ratio of wheat flour to white flour), I let the machine do the work on the dough cycle, then I shape and bake the loaves in the oven.
Lunch wasn’t much to blog about, and it usually isn’t. During the week, when Lance and our oldest are at school, we tend to clean up leftovers or have sandwiches with carrot sticks and fruit. Today it was good ol’ pb&j. Can’t beat that on fresh-from-the-oven bread!
My supper plan was baked potatoes topped with broccoli and cheese, because Lance was supposed to be gone for a ballgame. I’m not much for making a big meal if he’s not here to eat it. Old Man Winter changed my supper plans at about 3:00 when the ballgames got canceled. Woo-hoo! Daddy’s home! But now, what are we going to eat?!?
Down to the freezer I went, and back up again with a nice pan of cavatini… one of our favorites, and perfect comfort food for a cold, nasty evening. I cannot tell you how important it is for me to have previously-prepared meals ready to go in my freezer. After heating some sweet corn and slicing some bread, we were good to go.
Tonight I threw together a double batch of Lazy Granola and a pan of Amish Baked Oatmeal to help with breakfasts this week. The granola cooks itself overnight and I can pop the oatmeal in the oven in the morning. Except… we just got word that there’s NO SCHOOL tomorrow, so we might have to “celebrate” with something other than oatmeal. Oh, and one of our kids got sick (yes, THAT kind of sick) tonight, so we’ll soon see what the morning will bring… 
Kitchen’s closed! See you tomorrow!
AUTHOR | Amy
Amy is the loving mother of three young children and lives with her husband in a tiny town in Kansas. Her blog, The Finer Things in Life, celebrates and encourages others in all of the things that money cannot buy: faith, motherhood, simplicity, tiny towns, and good home cookin'.
The lazy granola sounds so good and your bread looks amazing. My old bread machine broke and I haven’t broken down and bought a new one yet. I plan on doing it soon so I can make some of that amazing bread. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad to see your post about the bread! I have a breadmaker which I use just about every other day and I’m so tired of the tiny loaves. I bought a larger bread pan and just run the dough cycle, but it’s still small. I never thought of shaping the loaves, allowing them to rise, then baking them without a bread pan! I will have to try it! I hope it works out…or I’m going to have to order some special type of regular loaf pan. I’ll let you know how we do!
Yeah…you posted your bread recipe. I made some bread in my bread machine tonight and it is ok but not great. I immediately thought I should email you and ask you what recipe you use since I knew you made your own bread. You knew exactly what I was thinking!
[...] about this morning’s breakfast? I didn’t have to use the granola and oatmeal that I prepared last night… so breakfast is already made for tomorrow. [...]