Time to make the...bagels.

Earlier I said I would post pictures if I made some bagels. I DID make them...and the result was a very hot kitchen! And a couple more bagels to add to my stash for Brayden's birthday brunch coming up in a few weekends :-)

Meet my kitchen-aid mixer. As you can see, it is not new or fancy. As a matter of fact, this is old. It has spots on it that don't come off no matter how hard I scrub, and it is even heavier than the ones that you buy in the stores today. I love this kitchen-aid because it belonged to my great grandmother, and to know the woman is to love the woman. I think of her every time I use it, so there is an extra pinch of love in everything that it mixes. :-)

Here it is, mixing up the bagel dough...see it forming a nice little ball?

Dough made and kneaded...nice and smooth and round, ready to be divided. From this dough, I made 8 bagels...obviously, you can make more or less depending on their size.

Once the dough is divided into balls, you let it rise for a while...then you make the actual bagels and let them rise again. Here's what they look like before they rise...they definitely look homemade...but I think if you're hand rolling them, they should, right? They get a little bit better each time I make them :-) I'm thinking that this will be part of a home bakery's charm...things are clearly homemade...hmmm....don't you think? I mean...don't you hate when you buy cookies or cupcakes that are so perfect that you KNOW they were made on some machine and you have to wonder if human hands touched them?

Here they are...yep, in boiling water.

Post-boiling...ready for baking....

oooooh...can you smell them? They smell soooooo good! And they're just the plain ones...when cinnamon bagels are baking, I just want to dive in the oven with them! :-)

Finished Product...check 'em out! They're what we call "GBD"...golden brown and delicious!

YUM! Happy Friday night, everyone!

Hello, Friday

Hello and Happy Friday!


We had a lovely morning today. Brayden got up at his normal time, right around 7. I, knowing that I wanted to get out the door after breakfast, had already gotten up and showered. (I am not a morning person and my average shower time is 10-10:30ish, so this in itself is impressive...Sam slept until 9:30 until Brayden started waking up at 7...Brayden used to sleep that long too...sigh) By the time Brayden was done nursing, Sam was awake, so he got up and dressed. We ate breakfast (coffee with mine, of course!) and headed to Binghamton. We dropped off some homemade icing (I made that last night) and my cancer ribbon cookie cutter with my sister, stopped in Binghamton to have my recent TB test read, and then headed to the park. We WERE going to go to the Rail Trail in Vestal...but Daddy happened to be taking his lunch break so we met him at the Carousel Park on Oak Hill in Endicott. Poor Brayden was sooooo tired (it was time for his morning nap) but, as usual, just grins from him. He didn't want to swing, but he was just as good as always. Sam was SO EXCITED. I lost count of the number of times he went down the slide! Of course...my camera was sitting on the counter at home. Boo. Especially boo because my sister brought her kiddos over and they are all so cute together! I just love my nephew and niece, they're sweet as can be. <3<3<3 We ended up getting these ridiculously delicious sandwiches at Joey's, a place across the street, which also has great ice cream if you're ever up for a treat in Endicott. Three people asked me if Brayden and Madison were twins...I was there with the kids while my sister went to grab the sandwiches (birthday treat for me! Thanks, Nicki!)...hmm, they don't look very much alike but, to be fair, they ARE only a few weeks apart in age. Either way, that was FUN!
The bummer of the day was that I was supposed to have a long overdue cup of coffee with a friend and I didn't get home in time :-( We try to get together about once a week...and it's been several. Guess that happens. I'm hoping maybe she will join us for dinner...I'm making...mmmm...Pad Thai!! Yum!! (Do you wonder why I only lost ONE pound this week?)

I am looking forward to tomorrow, as one of my college roomies, Carrie, is coming down from Ithaca for the afternoon...hooray!! What should I make for dinner tomorrow? Thinking about grilling up some spedies...a novelty item for any non-locals. I don't know if they make them as far north as Ithaca...anyone? yes? no?

ANYway...on the bakery/cooking front...I need to get in touch with the department of agriculture to find out what's going on! I'm not really sure our official status...I can't WAIT to officially be open for business...until then...shhhh...if you want something....call me :-) I'm also working on a pamphlet with some pricing and whatnot...anyone want to take some and place them strategically around for me? Free cookies if you do!


Yesterday I said that I try to make/bake something every day. I didn't end up making bagels yesterday. Which is too bad because once you have a freshly made bagel, you'll never go back. (want some? Ask me to make some for you sometime!) Yesterday afternoon I made...carrot chips. HAHA! This does not count as cooking, as all I did was peel the carrots. Literally. My husband canNOT miss a chance to play with our mandoline! We bought a 5 lb bag of carrots and have been wanting to turn them into chips for fun dipping. (We're both trying to slim down...a hard task when we both love to cook great food!) Look below...see how cute they are? Of course that is more fun to eat than a plain old carrot stick ANY day! :-) My favorite dip is lowfat white bean hummus...mmmm...I'm such a nice wife, I sent the rest of THAT in Christian's lunch today! Oh, right, the photos...here ya go:

One lone carrot chip...this picture is dark, but you can see it...and you know you want to eat it...oh wait, you can't, I nibbled it as soon as I snapped this ;-)
A bowl full of carrot chips...

Above is Christian doing his thing...he loves gadgets...well, he IS an engineer, after all. :-)

Today? I'm making pad thai for dinner, does that count? Maybe that batch of bagels will make it in the oven...I'm feeling so tired this afternoon! For no good reason, just sleepy. :-) Brayden is snoozing at the moment, so now's my chance...maybe I'll post some pictures of THAT process later on...so much fun! And so worth it! Hoping these will be a big seller someday...who doesn't love a bagel? I'm even formulating a specialty item that Friehoffers or Lenders or whichever bread/bagel company you like will have WISHED they thought of first.

What I really should do this afternoon is exercise and fold diapers. Yep, I really should! Does dancing while baking count as exercise? That'll get me going!

Friday night...what to do? I think there's a bottle of something chilling in the fridge, a birthday treat from my friend Jaime...ooh la la!

Ahhh....if I'm going to make some bagels, I better go get on top of that while all is quiet....I'll try to post some photos later. :-) If I don't....have a great night/weekend! Check back for updates on my business status or anything else I might have to say. (Are you sitting on the edge of your seat yet? haha!)