Hamburger Buns

Okay, this is my last post on bread, but I wanted to show you that you can indeed make your own hamburger buns.  You make them like you would rolls, but a little bigger and flattened out.

And here it is as a delicious chicken & caramelized onion burger.  Yum!

Hoagie Rolls

Tonight we are having meatball sandwiches for dinner and I decided to try my hand at making my own hoagie rolls from my one hour bread recipe.  I cannot wait to try them!  Next I plan on making my own hamburger buns.

Planted My Garden Today

I am doing a garden blog for two reasons. 1. So I can see the progress my garden making month to month and 2. to remind me of what I planted and how it all turned out. Last year was my 1st attempt at gardening and it was a total flop. My tomatoes all split and didn't grow very big, both my zucchini and cucumbers never got past a couple of inches before turning yellow and shriveling up. I did get a couple of small bell peppers, beans, lettuce, carrots & herbs, but nothing to great or good for that matter.

I have been doing a lot of research on you tube and one thing I learned was that I probably over watered and didn't have much nutrients in my soil. I am also convinced that the wind and high heat didn't help much either. So this year, I added our horses manure to my soil as a form of compost to help get more nitrogen in the dirt and added an organic plant food all over the soil and also inside each hole where I put a plant/seed. I also moved my raised garden bed up against my porch. I am hoping this will help keep it somewhat protected from our horrendous winds and protect it from the harsh sun. Yes, I know plants like sun, but where I live it tends to be over 100 degrees all summer long. The plants will still get about 6 hours of sunlight and this should also help my lettuce to grow, since they tend to prefer the shade.

On April 3rd, I planted these strawberries in a rectangular pot and we already have 10 little strawberries starting to grow!
I also planted this Betterboy tomato plant on April 3rd. I opted for the pot this year because I watched several videos of tomatoes doing well in a pot and I figured it would give me more room in my garden bed. It is already starting to produce a few flowering buds and has grown a couple of inches since I planted it two weeks ago.
Here is my raised garden bed. It is 4 ft. x 6 ft. and planted the following. Back row L-R: Four Asian Cucumbers, One Zucchini, Three Yellow Crookneck Squash and then two seeds of Kentucky Wonder Beans.

In front of the cucumbers I Romaine Lettuce seeds and Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce seeds. In front of the yellow squash I have a Sweet Bell Pepper and in front of that a regular bell pepper. In the far front right corner is my artichoke and on the left front corner are some green onions. In the rest of the garden I have Walla Walla Onions. I didn't realize when I first planted them that you have to separate them into tiny strands and then barely bury them 9 inches apart. So after I had already planted them in four clumps, I went back out and separated them, causing them to be all over the garden bed. I am really not sure these will take. I had an extra tomato cage, so I just put it over my largest bell pepper plant.
I heard that if you buy green onions in the produce section of your grocery store and only cut off the green part, that you can re-plant them and they will last you an entire year. We shall see!

One Hour Bread

In my quest to save my family money, eat healthier and do it all as easily as possible, I came across this recipe for one hour bread. Only one hour from start to finish! Couldn't get much easier than that. I watched Lafujimama's video a few times and then went to Amazon to make my purchase. I bought one pound of Saf-Instant Yeast and 25 pounds of Great River Organic Whole Wheat Bread-flour. I keep the yeast in a mason jar in the freezer, which should keep well for 2-3 years and the flour in a 5 gallon paint bucket.
After combining the 4 dry ingredients and 2 liquid, you mix it in the kitchen aide for 5 minutes. 5 minutes, that's it! Take it out and knead about 4-5 times, divide and put into loaf pans to rise for 25 minutes. Here it is getting ready to rise.
and 25 minutes later.
Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees and let it cool for 5 minutes.
Cut a slice while still warm and enjoy with butter. Soooo good!