We were busy today!

I got up this morning to find out that school was cancelled today due to a hazardous material leak from a train about 5 miles from here. About 250 homes in our community were evacuated, but fortunately almost everyone is back home. We should have school tomorrow too. I was busy today though! I got some work things completed, which was really nice. I also cooked and crafted. My kids had some friends over too and I think everyone had a great time.

Here's what I cooked today:

Salmon Patties - lunch for all
A loaf of whole wheat bread
Turkey meatball soup
Chocolate chip cookies



Salmon Patties:

3 cups cooked brown rice
1 cooked fillet of salmon - ours was about 10 ounces
minced onion
minced bell pepper
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/3 c lite mayonnaise
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 grated carrots

Flake the salmon and mix all ingredients together. Form into patties and cook in skillet on stove with a little bit of olive oil. I had to add the breadcrumbs to get it all to stick together. The teenagers in my house loved these! They were really yummy!


Turkey Meatball Soup

2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
4 Tbsp Italian seasoning, divided
1 pound lean ground turkey
carrots, diced
onions, diced
celery - thinly sliced
garlic
Chicken Broth
1 cup pearl barley

mix the egg whites, bread crumbs, cheese, half the Italian seasoning and the turkey together. Form into meatballs and cook at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes or until no longer pink

Chop the veggies and put into sauce pan with a small amount of heated olive oil. Saute the veggies until they are fragrent, add garlic and cook until soft. Add chicken broth and seasonings to cover the vegetables and bring to a boil. Add pearl barley. Turn heat down and simmer for 30 0r so minutes.

I also added some sliced cabbage about 15 minutes before we ate and added the cooked meatballs at the same time. Yummy!

**I was out of eggs by this point so I used 4 Tbsp of ground flaxseed mixed with 1/4 cup water. This creates a thickener about the same consistency of eggs, plus it tastes good!



Whole Wheat Bread - from this website: http://wholewheatbreadrecipe.blogspot.com/

3 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1 cup warm water
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 packet dry yeast

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup of water ( at a temp. of 110 to 120 degrees F ) with the salt, the honey, the yeast, the oil and the milk and stir until mix.

Step 2: Mix in the flour and stir until the dough starts pull away from the bowl.

Step 3: Place the dough on a lightly flour surface and knead the dough for 6 to 10 minutes or until the dough become smooth.

Step 4: Place a small amount of oil in a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl and flip the dough to cover the dough with oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for approx. 1 hour , the dough should double in size. Note: This made take longer if the room is cold.

Step 5 : Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface, shape the dough into a 8 inches log and place into a lightly grease loaf pan.

Step 6 : Loosely cover the pan with lightly oil plastic wrap and let raise for 30 to 60 minutes until the dough raises approx.1 inch above the pan.

Step 7: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F place in center of oven and cook for about 40 minutes after 20 minutes loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil , test if the wheat bread is done by thumping the bottom of the bread it should sound hollow. Let brad cool on a rack then slice.

For this, I used my trusty Kitchenaid mixture. This was a really really easy bread recipe and it made a really nice loaf of bread. It will be great for lunch sandwiches.


Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is from the book, Cookies for Kids. I think that this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! Jacob helped me with these! (Actually he did most of the work)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6-oz package semisweet chocolate pieces
1/2 cup chopped nuts

I also added about 1/4 cup of ground flax seeds (leftover from the meatballs)

Cream butter, shortening and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Bake in 375 oven for 8 - 10 minutes until golden.


Today I also took a great nap and started knitting a shawl with some homespun yarn. What a great day!