The Pita Project

I made some pita bread today! It was actually quite exciting and not as much of a PITA as I thought it might be. (Get it? Get it? Hahaha! I slay myself sometimes.) Anyhow, here comes the recipe and some photos of the finished product. I have been too tired and grouchy today to actually take photos during the process, mostly due to a lack of sleep last night. No, it was so worth it.

Recipe from: Cooks.com with my own commentary added in.

1 tbsp. yeast
1 tbsp. honey or sugar
2 1/2 c. warm water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil
6 to 7 c. whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast and honey in water. When bubbly, add salt, oil and 6 cups flour. (I reserve the 7th cup for the kneading process.) Knead the dough for around five to ten minutes, adding more flour if necessary. (Trust me, it's necessary.)

Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. I recommend very lightly greasing the bowl you put the dough in to rise. When I did this today, some of the dough stuck to the bowl (I hadn't greased it) and made for a slight problem retrieving the dough.

Punch down and divide into 12 to 20 equal pieces, depending on how large you want the pitas. I rolled my dough out into a giant dough log and sliced from there. I initially had 16 pitas, but once I rolled the two end pieces together, the final count was 15.

Roll each piece into a ball and roll out on a floured surface about 1/4 inch thick. They do get quite big! I had to call my good friend Donna to rescue me with some extra cookie sheets for the next step.

Place circles on greased cookie sheets and let rest 30 to 45 minutes. (30 worked just fine for moi) Heat oven to 450 degrees. I did this as soon as I was done rolling out the pita, that way the oven had time to heat up while the dough was resting. Just before baking, turn the pitas over.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, switching position of pans halfway through. Now, here's the thing. I don't know if it's the area I'm living in (Nevada) or the fact that I have a gas oven, or both. But even 8 minutes was getting to be a bit too long. For me, it was more around 7 minutes. I have yet to perfect my use of the gas stove or cooking at what is apparently high altitudes. That said, at around 4 minutes, I swapped pans, then let it go for another 3 minutes before pulling them to cool.

The pitas should be puffed in the middle and only slightly browned. Photos below. Most of these were straight out of the oven and piled on the remaining cookie sheet that didn't have to be pressed into a second tour of duty.




Whaddya think? The larger of my two small ones was jumping at the baby gate, begging for one. Loaded it up with some ham & mayo for her lunch and she scarfed it down, then begged for another. The hubby also was the recipient of a ham and cheese melt.

Me? Fruit. Yogurt. I'm good to roll.

Updates and Gratuitous Love

I'm starting to think that perhaps I need to streamline the blogs I have. I have quite a few scattered here and there. Blogger is, by far, my absolute favorite out of all available hosts. It's super easy to use, I can easily manage multiple blogs (such as the Miracle Diapers News Blog), and I like that it doesn't require any calculus education to design and post.

That said, I'm still sentimental about parting with my other blogs. Ah, LiveJournal. You served me well. Until all the communities went to hell in a hand basket. I'm sure there are plenty of communities on there that are worthwhile, but anymore it's a place for people to hide behind keyboards and monitors in unoriginal snark communities. The negativity rather than humor behind the snark gets boring and leaves one feeling pretty jaded and cynical. If I wanted to feel like that I'd go on down to my nearest beatnik coffee shop. The emo craze is still going strong out here in the sticks of Nevada.

MySp@ce has become so overloaded with advertisements and your "friend" Tom trying to shove his own musical tastes, movie preferences and other assorted likes/dislikes down your throat, it's gag inducing. Especially for those of us who don't necessarily like mainstream pop / hip-hop. That said, it's still a semi-decent place to network if you've got the time to scour through profiles. But it also has reconnected me with old highschool friends (did I really want to do that, anyway?) and find some very awesome indie groups.

And yes, that was a lead in to my next subject. My obsession of the moment. And, really, everyone should check them out. The Reign of Kindo. I'm actually quite in love with all the artists signed to One Eleven Records, but they're my favorite at the moment. Okay, Kindo and Spill Canvas. I digress, though, because I really want to tell you about The Reign of Kindo.

They're this amazing fusion of jazz and blues and just... mind blowingly well written lyrics sung so smoothly it's like meditating without having to actually do anything, if that even makes the smallest amount of sense. I have had their album (downloaded off iTunes) for a few weeks now - I really have no ability to grasp the concept of time, bear with me - and it's been in heavy rotation ever since. Which is important. Why? Let me tell you.

I have a ridiculously short attention span. My iTunes is almost constantly on shuffle, except when listening to Brandi Carlile. So for The Reign of Kindo to have been in heavy rotation - meaning I will listen to the album straight through and then go back and do it again - really means something here.

And since I've rambled on and on - most likely in an incoherent fashion - about this group that I now love so very much, I leave you with proof in regards to their utter and complete awesomeness. It's my current favorite track from "Rhythm, Chord & Melody".

Something In the Way That You Are (live)

My SAHM morning...

For those that don't know, SAHM means stay at home mom. I do work from the home as well, which makes me a WAHM, but there was no "work" involved in this morning's story, per se. Not the kind that would normally qualify as work, anyhow. What was involved, however, was a lot of frustration. Anyone who thinks a SAHM doesn't do anything? Pay attention. Because this was just my morning.

It's been one of "those" days so far.

Was in the middle of making bread when Anaya got up. Lucy (dog we're dog sitting) and Washburn had been let out of the bedroom and were wrestling in the hallway. Anaya was just trying to get out of the hallway, so I went to open the door. Beaned her head with the doorknob. Apologized and proceeded to let the dogs out.

Put Lucy's canned food (this is important later) in her bowl inside, took a bowl of food outside to Wash. Let Lucy in to eat. By this point Breanne was up but I needed to get the bread dough done so she stayed in her room.

Proceeded to go about finishing the bread dough while arguing with Anaya about whether or not she was going to have a PB sandwich or oatmeal for breakfast. She wanted a PB sandwich, the reason I'm making bread is because I have none. She didn't want oatmeal. So I told her if she didn't want oatmeal I guess she wasn't eating.

After finally getting the bread dough kneaded I realize I completely spaced on the oil that goes into the recipe. Said screw it and called it good, oiled it and set it aside to rise. At that point Breanne could no longer be ignored, so I went to get her and changed a diaper that could, in fact, legally be considered biological hazmat.

I went to the garbage can to throw something away shortly after dealing with the hazmat and promptly sliced open not just one but two fingers on the lid of the aforementioned can of dog food. And while I'm bleeding and cussing up a storm, Breanne found her way to the baby gate and has started yelling at me because she's hungry.

Shut your gob! I'm bleeding!

I made that girl the world's biggest bowl of oatmeal and set her up to eat in her high chair and then made Anaya a bowl of oatmeal. Which she promptly took two bites out of and decided she didn't want it so she got up from the table. Note to self: Next time if she's that insistent on having something with peanut butter in it, shove a glob of peanut butter in the oatmeal. That'll teach her.

And then Marv, my wonderful, loving, amazing husband who is currently on night shift, got up. Why? Because he was called in to work. At 11 am. So now he's going to be gone and will only be back briefly around two. And then off to work again until 10 pm.

Who's gonna come kiss my boo boo and make it better?

Where's that serenity prayer when I need it?

Why you should support the troops.

In all the NaNoWriMo excitement, I almost forgot to post this. It's a guest post I wrote for eMail Our Military on why we should support the troops.

Why should you support the military? Because I do, even on days when I don’t want to. I support my husband, I love him and I want him home safe at the end of the day. Knowing someone else is praying for him and wishing the same thing for him means a world of difference to me. Let me tell you a little about him.

He is an amazing father who loves to play with his children. Two daughters, in fact. The sparkles in his eye and I’m sure the cause of headaches yet to come in the future. When he’s home, I may have to nag at him, but he does help around the house. He takes care of us and still finds time to spend with his friends. He’s an avid gamer geek, loves movies, and has an amazing sense of humor.

He takes his job very seriously. When he goes into work, he gives one hundred and ten per cent. Sometimes that doesn’t leave much for when he comes home; the Navy will always ask for more. There are those that call him “gung ho” and a “hard charger”. Those titles make him smile because to him, it means he’s doing something right. He shows up early and comes home late.

The guys he works with are just like him. There are others who run the gamut of personalities and interests, but the vast majority love what they do. They volunteer for it, they reenlist, time and again, because they love their job. They love serving their country.

When I think about it, he’s not unlike a lot of civilian people that I’ve come across. Hard working, loves his family, does his best to provide for us. And when it comes down to it, he’s a lot like anyone you might run into at the supermarket or on the sidewalk. He can still be a pain in the butt, he has his days when he doesn’t want to do anything. Times when I want nothing more than to lock him in the house just to keep him all to myself for a few days.

But I love him, with all my heart and soul, and he loves the Navy. He loves me, too, don't get me wrong, but the Navy is always the third in this trio that is our marriage. So I send him off to work every morning, carefully count the days between deployments and sea to shore duty rotations, and treasure every moment. And I pray nightly that I’m not alone in supporting my husband and his friends - his shipmates - in their duty to protect our country.

After all, under the uniform, they’re just other amazing fathers, mothers, husbands and wives.