I hang my head in shame....

Oh no...not because I did anything wrong, its because I didn't do what I wanted perfectly. You see I can't stand not being awesome at things.  My friend and fellow new blogger Rachael has a perfect name for is "perfectionista"  I LOVE IT!  Its the perfect name. 

Okay so back to what I was not perfect at.  Making a cake for C and A's tball teammate.  Normally, what i set my mind to do I do really well and it comes with ease.  This however, *sigh* about killed me.

No, seriously.

I had sweatly palms, a massive headache, and extreme anxiety.  For some reason it was not turning out like I wanted it to.  I've made cakes before that turned out awesome.

Maybe, because it was the first cake that I made that wasn't for friends or family.

Maybe, I over thought it.

I mean the mom swore she love it but I think she's just being nice! 

But I will persevere.  I have just been asked to do a 3D pirate cake. SERIOUSLY?? 

I'll have to pull my hair out in anxiety think about it.  I'm not sure I'm ready for that.  But maybe I am.

God won't give me anything I can't handle right?  Right?



peace and blessings,

   Baking Momma

For Starters.....

So I decided to make Sourdough.

Right I know, I'm crazy.

But you wouldn't have anything funny to read if I wasn't such a bumbling baker with apparently no fear of yeast after my last debacle.

So here is my starter. 

Exciting right?  No. Not really.  But to me it is  I can smell the bread at the end of this journey.

Oh lemme show you a picture of the inside

You see its my pet!  Because its growing and I have to feed it to keep it alive!

I think I shall name her Lilly!

You see, sourdough is... oh why don't I let Wikepidea tell you.

Sourdough is made by using a small amount (20-25 percent) of starter dough (sometimes known as the mother sponge) which contain the culture, mixing it with new flour and water. Part of this resulting dough is then saved to use as the starter for the next batch. As long as the starter dough is fed weekly with flour and water, the sourdough mixture can stay in room tempurature indefinately and remain healthy and usable.  It is not uncommon for a bakers starter to have years of history, from many hundreds of previous batches.  As a result each bakers sourdough has a distinct taste.

Whew. Now that thats over if you want more info other than this go to S.John Ross for more help!

Starter Recipe:

1cup Flour

1cup Water

Mix.

Let sit on counter.

Remove half and feed with

1/2 cup Flour

1/2 cup Water

Everyday.

Watch grow!

Photos with a hint of mint!

For St. Patty's day I was completely unprepared.  With my war on germs I have been completely frazzled the last few weeks.  But Mr. RT helped me clean house from top to bottom and I am no on top of my game, which means its catch up time!

So I have quite an obession with a little blog named Bakerella .

She is from Atlanta and it is only a hop skip and jump from down here and she is inspiring!  So I went to her site to get a last minute idea for a green day!

She came through like always!  With Mint Chip Brownies .  Now I know I know it sounds amazing, but it not only is great idea.  They are awesome brownies plain!  Believe me I made them plain too! I am going to put the recipe after the pictures!

Dark Chocolate Mint Chip Brownies

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (reserve remaining chips from bag to stir into batter)( I used tollhouse semi sweet chocolate chips)

1/3 cup butter

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 salt

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

12 ounces mint chips  (I used Toll house mint and dark chocolate chips.  If you can find them they are great!  I am also thinking about using Andes Creme de Minthe chips too!  They are with all the other chips!)



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.



Melt 10 oz. chocolate and butter in a small bowl in the microwave on medium. Melt for 1 minute and stir. Repeat until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.



In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda and salt. Stir together with a wire whisk and set aside.



In your mixer, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla.



Add chocolate mixture to sugar. Then add flour mixture. Mix until combined.



Stir in mint chips and remaining chocolate chips.



Pour into a greased and floured 8X8 inch pan and bake forever. I mean about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out almost clean.



Note: If I did these again, I would bake in a bigger pan (i used a 9x13 like she suggested and it was perfect) so they wouldn’t be so thick. The brownies fell slightly as the cooled and I might even go mintless( if you use mint go a little less the mint tends to over power the brownie. It also tastes amazing plain!).




Enjoy! Maybe(Definately!).

Bakerella Saved my St. Patty's Day!



Peace & blessings,

Baking Momma

Photos....

Okay so this weekend Mr. RT FINALLY showed me how to upload pictures while giving me explicit instructions to "LEAVE HIS CAMERA ALONE" !

Psssshh.  Thats totally not happeneing until I get my own!  Anyway, I am putting pictures up of "the Glob" and what it looked like after being baked it actually had great texture and crumb as you will see below.  Don't be too harsh.  I'm sensitive.

Uggghhhh Look at that ridiculous crack down the side.
I almost cried.



The crumb doesn't look too bad.  Oh those indents??? Those are from my lovely daughter who cannot and will not resist bread of any kind!
**SIGH**


It had such promise.  Look at the golden brown top!
Oh well I've moved on White Bread!

SOURDOUGH here we come!!!!

Peace & Blessings,

Baking Momma

NOT ME MONDAY

So this morning I most certainly did NOT cheat on my sourdough starter!  No ma'am, i did not add yeast as I got impatient that is wasn't "doing anything". 

I also do NOT feel guilty about blowing off a friend.  Not exactly blow off consider Tmobile (curse you!) went haywire all night and this morning.

I also, do NOT feel super overwhelmed this week.  I have alot on my plate and cannot seem to get my mind right.  FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS!

That totally does NOT need to be my mantra!

Peace & Blessings,

Baking Momma

4 little pen pals sitting in a tree....

I dropped of G and A at school and drove home to take care of my daily obsession of blog reading. Lately MckMamma has really got me thinking and feeling. She recently came back from a trip to Kenya with Compassion International. Her story and pictures were so captivating I felt the need to as Mr. RT.

Lets just say Mr.RT says we can take care of our own hooligans with that money.

So, I pouted. And I prayed. And pouted some more.

Then I visited MckMamma. She shed light on my conundrum.

I could be a Correspondence Sponsor.

One who writes to the kids whose financial sponsors didn't have time to write!

I am so excited! I got in contact with CI and are going to be pen pals with 4 children in Kenya. I think it is so important that my children see that there is more to life then themselves. At 7, 6, and 4 they are at the perfect age to make a life long friend with someone who truly needs them! I can't wait!!!

PEACE & BLESSINGS,

BAKING MOMMA

T-Ball is for Big Girls

So a couple of weeks ago Mr. RT and I decided that the girls needed to be more active. SO we decided how about softball?? G-baby had played the summer before so why not.

Weeelllll.....nothing in this house is drama free with 3 girls.

A-baby is the DRAMA no DRUHAMA Queen. Anyway last year she flat out refused to to play even though we had already payed, bought cleats, glove, and bat for her.

You see, G-baby and A-baby went to the first practice all excited and on the first ball tossed to G-baby, she missed and it hit her square in the nose, causing a nasty nosebleed. G-baby was A-OKAY but A-baby was traumatized. Refused to set foot on the field again.

Well lets forward back to this year. C-baby wanted to play and being the stocky little girl she is I figured it was the perfect sport for her. Which incited the competitive nature of A-baby who all of the sudden wanted to play again.

"Really", I asked?

"Yes, Mom really."

"okay I'll tell Daddy."

"So, you want to play T-ball", Daddy asks A-baby.

"yes, daddy I love you."

"Yea, yea, yea, If we do this and you quit again, no organized sports, groups, nothing. Understand me?"

"oh daddy duh!"

So a week after the first practice I have to say that these girls are going to be a force on the Softball field. when they are all old enough to be on the same team WATCH OUT!

I am excited they all love playing, although I doubt this common interest will last long. I pray that it does last because it is amazing to see my amazing babies work together!

Oh A-baby and C-baby are playing T-ball. Go Blue Tigers!
And G-baby is in her first year of coach pitch! Go Blue Jays!

Kinda Ironic they are the same colors! Love it!



PEACE AND BLESSINGS,
Baking Momma

Why is bread so Intimiating

OK so its late on St. Patty's Day. I learned alot about my love hate relationship with making bread. To those who have a bread machine...I bow down! It must be the greatest thing since forever! I want one. Like really bad. Because after the today kneading and rising and kneading and rising. Oh Lord who gets joy out of this? I will one day! If it kills me!



Speaking of the joy of bread baking I was talking to a dear friend today who we'll call BMac. She is awesome! Even if she's a dreaded Tennessee fan. Ugh. No one is perfect.



Anywho.



We were talking about a mutual acquaintance who not only has 5 boys but makes bread daily. AND on top of that GROUNDS HER OWN WHEAT!!! WHO DOES THAT???????????



Seriously? who. does. that?



At least she gives me something to strive for!



Okay back to the bread I made today. The first loaf was A Crusty White Bread. Enough for one gigantic loaf. Although it came together awesomely I would put a little more salt in it next time.

I'll add the recipe at the end of this post.



Oh. And I totally forgot to take pictures of the loaf before I gave it to my neighbor.



Yes I gave it away. No need to get even fatter. =o)

All Things Green....

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!!





Let me start by saying that no one in our family is Irish and my husband constantly says he doesn't even know what all the hubbub is about. Yes I used the word hubbub. Is that even a word?





wow. totally off subject. let me get back on track.





So I wanted to make some yummy (i hope) st. patty's day treats today.I decided on dark chocolate mint brownies. Sounds good right? I really hope so because I'm feeding them to the kids after school.





I am also working on taking so artsy fartsy food pictures. granted i don't have one of those evniable cameras that some of my favorite blogs have but maybe if this blog thing picks up steam I might just convince RT (roll tide) - my hubby, to get me one.








**Isn't its Purty?!?!**

STICKY ICKY GERMS...........

Okay so I have been totally off to a really bad start with this great idea of a blog. See what had happened was my entire familia got sick. No, not "mommy I got a cold" sick, I'm talking its 3am and I wake up out of a deep wonderful sleep to the faint sound of "mommy I think my tummy hurts...." followed by the sound of date night with daddy at Johnny's Pizza landing on my CARPETED floor. Did I mention throw-up and carpet don't mix?? So that evil nasty sickness went through all three girls and then to top it off the BIG BABY got it. Ughhhh.... Really? Do I have to cuddle with you after you just threw up in the toilet?? Apparently I'm warm and he is cold and "shiverry" His words not mine. So now that this blog has become more about my life and less about my baking I'm going to add another entry later highlighting my amazing butter cookies that I happened to stumble upon! So exciting!

Tomorrow is Coming!

Hi guys! I'm so excited because tomorrow I am making Old Fashioned Pound Cake! I am baking it with my neighbor downstairs! She is worse than I am when it comes to baking so I guess I get to play teacher since I have baked this cake a couple of times. I will have pictures and the recipe up tomorrow night! Talk to you tomorrow! Oh I hope everyone else in blog land has a wonderful night!

New Unbridled Passion

Hi! I'm Tori and here is my brand new blog! My mission here with this blog is to expand my talents in the baking world and share them with the world! So for the next year at least once a week I will be baking my way through breads, desserts, and everything in between! My hope is to learn more about who I am and who the Good Lord wants me to be! Welcome to my crazy life and I hope you enjoy the rollercoaster!


Blessed beyond Understanding,

Tori =o)

WOOOOHOOOOO!