Summer Slumber

Maison Bell has been

taking a summer slumber, but alas, summer is over and we are slowy waking up and getting back into the swing of things.

There have been small bursts of creativity; nothing major yet but lots of ideas.

We might re-open Maison Belle, or we might stay away and bury our heads back into the lovely, peaceful world of words inside some unread books. The need to write it starting to tug at our hearts, yet we feel some changes must be made. We are saying good-bye to some of the fluff and flowers and streamlining and simplifying. So stay tuned and keep watching as we edit down our daily lives, our surroundings and contemplate waking up to a new day.

It is truly a beautiful and wonderful life.

Sunday

view from my morning run

"If we can't find joy where we are, we probably won't find it anywhere."

Philip Gulley, Home To Harmony

Take a look around and count your blessings. Be thankful for what you have (and what you don't), hug you kids, your husband, your wife, your mom, your dad, your siblings, your best friend (hugs Kip and Paula :), your dog, cat, bird, etc. Today, use your words only to encourage, not to tear down and put all others before yourself. Be the last to be the first.

Plant seeds of kindness in a stranger; don't judge anyone at all today. Pray for those who have hurt you; reach out your hand to those who have betrayed you and forgive all. Live this day like it will never come again, because it won't.

Know that in the end abundant joy will be forever present.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

from my garden

WELCOME SUMMER!

I usually keep this blog and my family blog separate, but I just couldn't resist for outdoor Wed. You see, today was the last day of school. My girl left this morning as a 3rd grader, and came home all grown up this afternoon as a 4th grader! And she got all A's all year long!

To celebrate, we invited a few of her girlfriends over for a School's Out Pool Party. They swam from about noon until parents came at 4. Seriously, they did not get out of the pool (well, except for a piece of cake!) the entire time!

It was a great way to welcome summer.







Please visit http://www.asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com for more Outdoor Wednesday posts!

BYOB - Rustic Italian Herb Bread

For the last 10 or so years, I have had two books that were doing nothing but decorating a bookshelf in my kitchen. They are Daniel Leaders Bread Alone, ( for those English majors like me, I tried to underline the title of the book, but I can't find how to do an underline!) and The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz. I bought them many years ago and used them quite a bit, but as life got busier I did very little bread baking.

But now with the schedule getting lighter due to summer vacation, I have dusted off my books and I was happy to be elbow deep in poolish and bread dough several days this week. I even made a sourdough starter!

I must confess that my first attempt at one of Leaders recipes resulted in a flat, hard, weapon like loaf that did not resemble bread at all. I'm pretty sure that if I threw it at someone's head it could have seriously injured them!

I persisted though and tried again. This time I tweaked several recipes and morphed them into one that I am calling Pain de Italia. It's a basic rustic bread infused with italian spices. I was quite happy with the rise and the crumb. It tastes delicious even at this writing when it is 2 days old.

We enjoyed with a creamy vegan lasagna and a simple spinach and edamame salad.

Pain de Italia

Makes 1 large loaf

Poolish:
1 cup bread or all-purpose unbleached flour
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough:
All of the poolish
2 cups bread or all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 cup Italian Herb mix (or a mix of your own herbs)
1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 cup water, as necessary

The night before baking, make the poolish by combining 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of water, and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast to make a batter. Cover the container and set aside for 8 to 16 hours until you are ready to make the final dough.

To make the dough, combine the rest of the flour with the remaining yeast, salt, and herbs. Add the poolish, and 1/4 cup of the additional water. Mix the ingredients, and, if needed, add more water or flour until the proper consistency is reached (slightly tacky but not sticky. The dough should not to your hands).

Knead by hand for 10 to 15 minutes or in a mixer for 5 to 10 minutes. Place the dough in a well-greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Set aside to rise until doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes. Remove it from the bowl and gently punch it down to remove the gas, then return it to the bowl, cover it, and allow it to double in size again.

Remove the dough from the bowl and shape it into a ball or shape of your choosing. Cover the loaf with well greased plastic wrap and a damp towel. Allow it to rise again until doubled in size, 60 to 90 more minutes.

While the loaf is in its final rise, preheat the oven and baking stone, if you are using one, to 450. I also preheat a brownie pan that is half filled with water. This creates steam in the oven which increases the crunchiness of the crust.

Just before you put your loaf in the oven, score the top of it with a sharp knife or razor blade.

Place the loaf in the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 450, then rotate it 180 degrees and reduce the oven temperature to 375 and baked it another 25 minutes or until it sound hollow when you tap the bottom of it.

There are so many possibilities with a loaf such as this. You can alter the herbs, you can add some parmesan cheese or just bake it plain with no herbs at all. It will be delicious whichever way you decide to make it.

A big thanks to Sandy for hosting BYOB. Click on over here for many more delicious BYOB recipes.

Enjoy!

FOODIE FRIDAY

Welcome to Foodie Friday at Masion Belle. Be sure to head on over here for many more wonderful foodie posts.

Today I'd like to share with you a wonderful dessert: Balsamic Strawberries with Ricotta Cream. This is so simple, yet so elegant and relatively healthy. Serve this at a dinner party or luncheon and your guests will think it took you hours to prepare when in truth it's just minutes. If you have never tasted strawberries soaked in balsamic vinegar, let me just assure you, it is a wonderfully sweet dessert. Don't let the vinegar part scare you.

The recipe couldn't be easier. Wash and quarter 16 oz. of ripe strawberries. Set aside. In a small saucepan, combine 3 T. of good balsamic vinegar with 2 T. of sugar. Bring this to a simmer and cook for two minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Once the syrup has cooled pour it over the strawberries and stir gently. Refrigerate for a minimum of one hour. The longer the strawberries soak the sweeter they are.

For the ricotta cream, take 1 cup of really good ricotta cheese (if you buy a cheap brand, you will never get rid of the graininess) and place it in a food processor. Add to this 1/2 -1 t. (depending on your taste) of vanilla and 2T of honey. Process for 4-5 minutes stopping the processor every now and then to scrape down the sides. You might have to processs it a little longer to make sure the ricotta is smooth and not grainy. Actually, making your own ricotta is so easy and the taste is better than anything you could ever buy. It is so sweet and creamy. Click on over here for instructions. If you make your own ricotta, you won't need the honey or vanilla. It will be deliciously sweet on it's own.

When it's time to assemble, take some parfait glasses and fill the bottom with some of the ricotta cream; spoon some strawberries on top and then top it with a spoonful of the cream. Add a dash of cinnamon and garnish swith a sprig of mint for a lovely presentation. Serve immediately and enjoy!


We enjoyed this after a dinner of my very creamy vegan lasagna (serve this and no one would ever guess it's vegan) and my Pain de Italia (fancy name for rustic bread) which I'll be posting on the upcoming BYOB post. BYOB happens here and it truly a wonderful array of various bread recipes, both yeasted and quick. It happens on the 1st and 15th of every month.

Have a great and delicious Foodie Friday. Remember that great tasting food can be healthy and satisfying. Give your health, your loved one's health, and the environment a boost and go meatless one day a week. Click here for interesting reading on that. Happy Foodie Friday!

Good Bye Beloved (An Outdoor Wednesday Post)

Once upon a time, there was a husband and wife who moved into a tree house. A tree house you ask? Well, they called it a tree house because it was sat high up in the air and the view out of each windows was of beautiful lush oak trees.

The husband and wife were so excited to move into this house. You see, in just 2 months, they were expecting a little bundle of joy. They were excited to welcome her into the tree house and anxious to become a family and make a home in their tree house.

They worked very hard painting, tiling, sanding and decorating. And finally, they were done. Just in time to welcome their beautiful baby girl home. And so it went for 9 happy years. They lived and played in their tree house all the time enjoying living among the trees.



The wife especially. She loved to sit on the bench in her bedroom and gaze out upon the beautiful Laurel Oak that sat in the middle of their front yard. The grass left something to be desired because the tree was so big, it shaded most of the yard. But she didn't care. She loved to watch the birds and squirrels playing in the tree. And the sound of the birds was so wonderful. It truly was one of her most favorite things to do.

In fact, whenever she was sad, or mad, or worried, she would quietly disappear into her bedroom and sit on the bench and gaze out at the tree. It always made her feel better. She spent many hours gazing upon that tree.


One day, years later, the husband and wife realized that their tree was not looking so good. They called a doctor and were told the very sad news that their tree had been hit by lightening some time back and was indeed on it's last "limb." How sad they were. They were able to hold on to the tree for a few more years, but finally they could hold on no longer. It was time to let it go...




We will miss our tree. In fact the wife already misses it very much. But she knows that it is the cycle of life.

So the husband and wife will plant a new tree, and hopefully, one day many years from now, another wife will gaze out that window and find joy from a tree planted many, many years ago with love and tenderness.

Please visit here for more outdoor Wed. posts.

Cupcakes, Cookies and Sweets, Oh My!

I'm so happy to be participating in Foodie Friday hosted by Gollum. Click on over there for more fun and delicious Foodie posts.

I've always felt that if my daughter is going to eat sweets (and she does, often) that I would much prefer her to eat home baked sweets without all those nasty additives, food dyes and assorted preservatives. Fortunately, I love to bake and she enjoys my baking, so that arrangement has worked out very well!


The other morning I decided to make her cupcakes. If you have only made cupcakes from a box, you don't know what your missing. These from scratch cupcakes are easy to whip up, are as light as a feather while being as fluffy as a feather pillow and delicious beyond compare. And how nice to know that my daughter is eating, in my case, organic ingredients with no chemicals. Chances are you have all of the necessary ingredients in your pantry - so go ahead, try them, it won't take your more than 10 minutes to mix the batter up and then another 20 to bake them. Yummy! The recipe:

Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

1/3 cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup white sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk

In a large bowl, cream together 1/3 cup butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Pour in the flour mixture alternately with 3/4 cup milk; beat well. Fill the prepared muffin cups evenly, about half full.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, mix together 2 T. of softened butter, 1 1/2 c. of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, 1/2 t. of vanilla. Gradually add a teaspoon of milk at a time mixing after each addition (an electric mixer is best) until you reach the consistency of frosting. Yummy!

They were so good, I decided to share some with a dear friend. Here they are all wrapped up and ready to be delivered.


In honor of Memorial Day, I'm also posting a recipe for a delicious meatless burger. My family is vegetarian, and I'm always searching for a good veggie burger recipe - not to taste like meat, but to taste, well, delicious! I stay away from the packaged veggie burgers as they are nothing but junk food disguised as a health food. I found this recipe while perusing a magazine during my daily torture session at the gym :) As I said it is really good and although it probably uses some ingredients that you are not all that familiar with these are well worth the effort to familiarize yourself with some new foods! It is a healthy, filling meal. I served it with my homemade vegan coleslaw and it was a very nice dinner. I made the burger patties early in the day and was able to pop them right into the skillet later in the evening. Here's the recipe from the June 2009 issue of Shape Magazine:

Bulgur-Vegetable Burger

1/2 c. bulgur
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. canned white beans, well drained
2 T. finely chopped cashews
1/2 c. shredded carrots
1/2 c. fresh spinach cut into thin ribbons
4 scallions, finely chopped
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground pepper
1/2 t. smoked paprika
1 egg or equal amount of egg replacer
1/2 c. Panko Whole wheat bread crumbs
1T. olive oil
4 hamburger buns

Combine bulgur and boiling water in a heatproof bowl. Cover and let soak for 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, mash white beans into a paste with a wooden spoon. Stir in cashews, carrots, spinach, scallions, salt, pepper, paprika, and egg. Add bread crumbs and bulgur and mix well. Form into 4 inch patties.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the patties for 4 minutes then flip and cook for 3 minutes more or until heated through and golden brown. Serve on buns with your favorite burger topping.

Today my daughter had a friend come over. I always like to bake for her and her friends. It makes the house smell good and they seem to enjoy getting a freshly baked yummy. So I made a batch of my favorite sugar cookies. I didn't feel like chilling the dough and rolling it out, so I just rolled small amounts of dough into a ball and then flattened them with my clean hands. They came out pretty enough and tasted great. I used the same frosting recipe as with my cupcakes. My cookie recipe? Well, some things a girl just can't share....


Have a great Memorial Day long weekend and may we all remember the price paid for the freedoms that we have.