2008 welcome!

May the blessing of light be on you—

light without and light within.

May the blessed sunlight shine on you

and warm your heart

till it glows like a great peat fire.

~ Old Celtic Blessing

We welcomed the first day of 2008 with more relatives, more food and even some snow! We have not been to the farm in months and we have not all (or most) been there at one time in so long. So it was great!


Ed's Aunt made this bread and it so good . . . so I will be making it soon!

Breakfast Bread

Ingredients:

4 c. water (very warm)
2/3 c. canola oil
1 t. salt
2/3 c. honey
1 c. oatmeal, cooked
1/2 c. molasses
4 t. whole-wheat gluten flour
8-10 c. whole-wheat flour
4 t. active dry yeast
1 c. apricots, chopped
1 c. dates, chopped
1 c. raisins
1 c. prunes, chopped
1 c. pecans, chopped

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, place very warm water, oil, salt, honey, oatmeal, molasses, gluten flour, and 4 cups flour. Mix together; then add yeast. Continue adding flour until a thick dough is formed. Place dough on floured countertop and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10-15 minutes). Spray mixing bowl with a nonstick spray, and place dough in a bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (approx. 20-30 minutes). Punch down and let rise again. When the size of the dough has doubled, then punch down and add all the dried fruit and nuts, kneading into dough. Divide dough into 5 parts. Shape into five loaves. Place each in a 5" x 9" bread pan sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray, and into a cool oven. Shut the door and let rise until double in size. While bread is still inside the oven, turn oven to 350 deg. F. and bake for 30 minutes. Cool on racks.

Yields 5 loaves. Calories: 759; fat: 38 grams; saturated fat: 3 grams; sodium: 446 milligrams; carbohydrates: 105 grams; dietary fiber: 8.6 grams; protein: 8 grams. (From Cooking with the Micheff Sisters )