a big kid, a little one, and a perfect bread recipe

This is what we've been up to.

 Somehow, it's September 6 already, and Phillip started pre-primary this morning. I've been coping by cooking and cleaning like a maniac, and we've also been squeezing in as much end-of-summer fun as possible. He was so excited (and a little bit nervous) about the whole thing. Truthfully, I was as excited as him - I had waaaay too much fun labelling his things, packing his bag, and writing a little love note for his lunch. He had a perfect drop-off, reports that he had lots of fun, and he's looking forward to going back tomorrow. So all in all, a resounding success. Adam took a picture before Phillip went out the door this morning.

Those red things are rosehips, foraged by P and I. We picked a bag full, and I was planning to make rosehip jelly. It ended up as lemon rosehip syrup, and it is delicious. Don't eat them raw - those little fibres are apparently very unfriendly on their way through.
And in other exciting news, I finally found a perfect whole wheat bread recipe that works perfectly by making the dough in the bread machine, and baking it off in the oven. It's all whole wheat flour, but makes a light, beautifully textured loaf. It's really, really lovely. Phillip took this picture of a loaf for me; I apparently jabbed it in the side when I was loosening it out of the pan. Oops.

Whole Wheat Honey Bread
1 1/8 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup honey (I've used a combo of honey and agave nectar, and it worked perfectly)
1 tbsp skim milk powder
1 1 /2 tbsp butter
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine, in the order listed. Well, approximately anyway - as long as the flour's on top and your yeast is on top of that, you're fine. Select the dough cycle. When dough cycle is finished (you can even let it sit a bit longer after the cycle is done), turn it out into a greased loaf pan, cover with a clean dish towel, and let rise while the oven preheats to 375. Pop it in there for 40 minutes. Let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes or so, to let the steam loosen it from the pan a bit. Take it out of the pan (without puncturing the side!), let it cool, and enjoy!

I hope you're having a good week getting back into a routine. This bread is great for toast during your morning rush, and excellent for sandwiches to send with the kiddos (or yourself!) for lunch. Enjoy!