Random Notes from the week (Amish Friendship Bread)

I love Fridays! It is the one day of the week that I can stay in my pajamas and not worry about hurrying off to get somewhere. It's been a good, fast week for us.

I dared the mall on Monday because I HAD TO GET new glasses. My eyes were a little infected from something, so I had to give the contacts a break for a while. My friend Monica met me there and she helped me pick out a cute "hip" pair that I wouldn't be embarrassed to wear. I was totally afraid that if I picked them by myself, I would end up with a pair of glasses that were a cross between Harry Potter and Sally Jesse Rafael. Sorry there are no pictures of me in my new glasses, but here are my two darlings being so patient with me.

It was such a nice day on Tuesday, the whole family loaded up and went to Bo's baseball practice. I did not know that the temperature was going to drop dramatically when the sun went down, so we ended up freezing. Poor little Reed got into the car with his teeth chattering. We went to Longhorn for dinner because I was going to be cleansing on Wednesday and Thursday. I LOVE the Salmon Dinner at Longhorn! Here is a picture of the kids goofing off that night. I'm sorry about the ketchup on Sophie's face.

We always eat good at Longhorns. Reed gets the macaroni and cheese, Sophie gets a hot dog, and Bo get the kid's steak. Bo also eats the oranges off of the other kids plates. They won't eat them.

Wednesday and Thursday were quick days for me. I was cleansing, so I wasn't eating anything. I was drinking as much water as I could and I would drink some juice that I bought through Isagenix, so I wouldn't be depriving my body of what it needs. I did pretty good with my cleanse. I lost 7 pounds. This isn't as good as I was hoping. But, It's a start and I am motivated to continue with the program. I also made it to the gym 3 times this week. With tennis on Sunday and hopefully I will fit in a little treadmill time in the basement, I will feel like I have exercised enough this week.

Last week, my sweet neighbor/friend gave me a starter for Amish Friendship Bread. Sophie and I love to "play" in the kitchen together so this was fun for us. We fed the starter on Sunday, which was day 6. Then on Thursday, day 10 (my last cleanse day), we baked our bread. It's always fun being in the kitchen with Sophie and Bo likes to help sometimes, when he's not too busy. The bread smelled HEAVENLY as it baked. I must have done something wrong because it didn't rise a bit. The only thing I can think of is I must have mistakenly put plain flour in my self rising flour canister. It tasted really, really, good, but...it was not pretty and it was as flat as a pancake. I am going to try again in 9 days. I am keeping some of the starter for myself and I am going to give some away. I will let let you know how it turns out. Here's the recipe for the bread. It's a little different than the one my neighbor gave me. But I found this one on the Internet and I just cut and pasted, didn't feel like retyping. Let me know if you would like some of the starter.

Amish Friendship Bread
Important Note: Don't use metal spoons or equipment. Do not refrigerate. Use only glazed ceramic or plastic bowls or containers.
Required Main Ingredient
1 cup live yeast starter (see above)
day 1:
Do nothing with the starter.
days 2-5:
Stir with a wooden spoon.
day 6:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Stir with a wooden spoon.
days 7-9:
Stir with a wooden spoon.
Day 10:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir. Take out 3 cups and place 1 cup each into three separate plastic containers. Give one cup and a copy of this recipe to three friends. To the balance (a little over one cup) of the batter, add the following ingredients and mix well.
1 cup oil 1/2 cup milk 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla
In a separate bowl combine the following dry ingredients and mix well:
2 cups flour 1 cup sugar 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 - (5.1 oz) box instant vanilla pudding 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup nuts
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix and pour into two well greased and sugared bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.