Finally got a rise out of it!

I discovered that, for me, the ratio of cooking to cleaning is exponential.  If my kitchen is clean, I will cook ridiculous amounts of food.  The last few days I have been trying to stay on top of the cleaning.  I also have been trying to make more foods from scratch as opposed to cooking out of a box.  I have to learn sometime, right? 


This was all sparked when I read two blog posts.  One was A Day in my Life by Holly over at A Mommy's Blessings.  She is a mother of 6 and I couldn't get over the fact that she gets up and bakes bread every day for her family.  I also read this post by City Wife, Country Life.  She hasn't bought a bread product in 6 months!!  Inspired by these women, I set out to do the impossible - make my own bread!  Okay, so it's not "the impossible" but it is the "unthought of" - I make lots of things food-wise, but bread?  It just wasn't on my cooking radar, until now.


My first attempt at making bread bombed - I didn't realize yeast had to be stored properly in order for it to be active.  I used an already opened packet and it was dead.


I bought some new yeast, and gave Amish White Bread another go and this time, my dough successfully rose!

Let me just say, I was a very proud woman when I first laid eyes on my 2 beautiful children.  Well...this took a close 3rd.

When I first pulled this baby out of the oven, my eyes swelled up a little, my heart fluttered and my perma-grin set.

The pride was just spilling out of me.  I think I was actually petting the loaf at one point during dinner.  I'm pretty sure Jason thinks I'm crazy.  Only Tom Hanks understands how I felt all night:

Isn't it pretty?