My passion for bread making has been reignited. I recently even purchased a grain mill but have yet to try it out. But I can’t wait.

So while I was browsing around, I saw this recipe over at Good (&Cheap) Eats for homemade hot dog buns. Why not?

The taste is waaayyyy better than those store bought ones. Of course, you have to plan ahead and allow time for the kneading and rising and whatever else the bread machine does. But it was totally worth it!!

I was pretty pleased that they came out looking as good as they did. I half expected mini loaves or warped buns.

Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns
Makes 12

1 1/4 cup milk
1 large egg
6 Tablespoons canola oil
3 Tablespoon sucanat, sugar, or honey
4 cups bread flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan according to manufacturer’s instructions. Program for “dough.” When done, divide into 12 equal portions. Form each portion into a flat round for hamburger buns or a thin loaf for hot dog buns. Cover loosely with pastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake for 15-22 minutes, until lightly browned.

*Note: mine made 10 but a few were bigger than I wanted so if you got them in perfect proporations, yeah, this should make 12. And I almost just threw the ingredients in the bread machine as they were listed and was being too lazy to look up the instructions. But I did. And my instructions are liquids, salt, dry ingredients and yeast last. Just so you know.

Will definitely be making these again!! Will also do them for hamburger buns. yummy.

There are very few pictures of me. Mainly because I am the one behind the camera and second, well, I guess like most people, I really don’t like any of my photos. That might change if I can figure out Photoshop Of course, then there is no guarantee the photo will even resemble me but…..

Anyway, I finally did a self -portrait. It’s my profile pic now on Flickr and Facebook. And I can live with it. And it was not edited!!

Check out other self-portraits at this weeks Challenge on Photo Friday.

I always enjoyed participating in Friday5. It’s been awhile since I’ve been even regularly blogging but it’s nice to play again.

1. What’s something you do more quickly than most people? Does “forget” count? hmmm, maybe forgive. I realized a long time ago that harboring onto resentfulness and bitterness only destroys you so I forgive pretty easily.
2. What’s something you do more carelessly than most people? Oh my!! everything?? No, not really. Probably taking notes. I used to have very pretty handwriting and still do if I take my time. But when I am taking notes, especially if I am the only one that will ever read them, my writing is a mix of cursive and print and often times I entirely leave out vowels unless it’s the beginning of the word!!
3. What’s something you do more slowly than most people? File. If I am going thru and organizing papers, magazines or books, it can take forever. I get so easily distracted and just start reading.
4. What’s something you do more carefully than most people? Sew!!! LOL. And that’s only because I still really do not know what I am doing so I read the directions twice and am very careful so I don’t have to use my seam ripper more than my machine!!
5. In what contexts are you more patient than most people? Crying babies. Guess it’s because I have five kids. I go through my little mental checklist: diaper? hungry? hurt? sleepy? and then just cuddle and gently bounce them until it stops. It no longer unnerves me. I have this amazing ability to tune out things. 

Click on the Friday5 button at the top to find other participants.

What is the point of air bags? I wonder if it’s the same deal as seat belts. You know you are supposed to wear them because if in a certain given exact situation, wearing it could save your life. BUT in another entirely different situation it could be the cause of death as well. Why is it a law to make an individual wear a seat belt when in fact, it could be more harmful that not. Shouldn’t it be up to the individual? Is this another case of too much government involvement?

I didn’t mean to get on a soapbox about seat-belt wearing. Which, by the way, I do out of habit although I figure if I ever get in a car accident it will be the one instance where I would probably be better off not having it on.

Nope, this post is about air bags. Did you know that if you get in an accident and the air bag is deployed you MUST replace it? Not even a choice. It’s required. Yes, I do believe air bags saves lives. But we have also found out that they can cause more damage than not too. If the person is too short, underweight, etc, etc.

But what is the air bag doesn’t even go off? How protected are you if it does not even deploy? Not at all.

Rewind a little over ten years ago when I had more first, and only, accident. A little old lady that could barely see over the steering wheel ran right thru a stop sign and hit me. Luckily, I saw what was happening in time to hit the breaks and avoid most of the impact. The only injury I sustained was my thumb which got disjointed (is that even a technical term?) when the airbag went off and the cover bent the thumb back. I guess the way I was gripping the steering wheel and bracing myself, I had my thumbs outward which meant they were over the cover.

Not back to the present. My daughter was in a car accident with her Hyundai Elantra last fall. It was basically a front end collision. No damage except directly head on which also caused the hood to bend up.

Clearly hit head on. Now wouldn’t you think the air bag should deploy? Especially since the speed was enough that when the impact happened, she was thrown forward enough that her shoulder was injured from being jerked back by the seat belt. (hmmmm) If the air bag had gone off, she would’ve just been kept back in her seat by it and not have been injured at all. She was in therapy for her shoulder and back for a few months.

But nope — the air bag did not go off. And once you start talking about this kind of thing you find others. In fact another girl in our church had a head on collision the very next month. In her case the passenger’s air bag deployed but hers did not. She suffered a lot more injuries.

So I did what every concerned mother would do when her daughter had been injured by obviously a fault of Hyundai - I called them. And they did an investigation. It appeared legit even though it took about three times longer than they initially told me it would take.

But I found out today in a letter that they were not at fault and the air bag should not have deployed.

WHAT???!!!

So..let me understand. Air bags are put in cars as a safety device. Although they are pretty much standard in cars today, you still pay extra to have this “safety” assurance. If you are in an accident and lucky enough for it to deploy (like luck playing roulette), you must also pay to have another one installed in the off chance that if you get in another accident it may or may not deploy.

But at what exact perfect set of circumstance determines whether it will deploy or not?

Speed? hmmmm, don’t think so.

Direction of impact? Well, if head-on doesn’t cause the air bag to deploy, apparently nothing will.

(not getting off my soapbox but sitting down to take a breather now…..)

First I want to say that I have decided to let my other blog go. It was pretty much devoted to recipes and all things “homemaking” but it was just too much to contribute to both. Unfortunately, I did not transfer everything that was there over to here before I let it expire. I really started that blog to house all of my favorite recipes so I never had to worry about losing them. So I panicked last night when the kids wanted me to make my chocolate chip cookies and I couldn’t find the recipe. I know there are tons of chocolate chip cookie recipes but this one is the best I’ve ever made.

And I’ve made plenty.

So because I don’t want to risk losing it again I want to be nice and share it with everyone, I am posting it here:

Amish Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter, softened

1 egg

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1 t. vanilla (I use the kind found on the ethnic aisle where the Mexican seasonings are)

2 1/4 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

as much chocolate chips as you want

1. Mix flour and baking soda together and set aside….or you can use self-rising and just eliminate the baking soda.

2. Cream the other ingredients.

3. Now add your flour to the creamed mixture.

4. Add your chocolate chips. It really doesn’t matter if you use semi or milk or mini or even mix it with white chips. It’s all good.

5. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 8-10 min.

If you double the recipe, you can freeze any extra and then place the frozen dough drops directly on cookie sheet and bake later. Honestly, we’ve never had enough dough left over to do this except around Christmas when I make alot of this. The dough is good too. Although I guess we are supposed to worry about raw eggs while eating the dough…..

wow, seems like all my posts anymore are just small recaps of my life since it’s been so long since I’ve posted. I really need to do better than that.

I have been very busy. Not only homeschooling but oldest daughter getting ready to graduate culinary school in a few months, preparing for next daughter’s senior year next year, busy 3 yr old and trying to keep up with the other two boys too! I am yet again taking 3 college courses this semester. Which has been working okay except the professors do not give assignments so far in advance that I can really work ahead like I want to. And someone hacked the entire school system so it’s been down for almost 2 weeks. Part of it has been restored but system down is not good for online students!!

I have decided that the older I get, I am getting ADD. I thought that was a condition that most kids outgrew and very few adults have. Anyway, I go from one passion to the next and find it very difficult to stay on task and get very distracted. Very easily. My passions have gone from blogging, to reading (again), to cooking, which including making all homemade baby food, to sewing, to photography. Add a passion to an already full plate…. and well, it’s not pretty. The novelty of going back to school is already wearing off. I still like my courses and have my goals in sight, but while I am studying, I just get sidetracked with more “fun” things to do.

The latest passion is photography. I have always loved it. I remember shopping around for a wedding photographer almost 22 yrs ago and thinking, “Wow! I would love to do something like this.” But seeing that it was still the age of film and I was notorious for having a drawer full of undeveloped rolls, I figured that might not be a good career choice for me. I really got back into taking photos when I started scrapbooking (another fallen passion it seems) about 9 yrs ago. It has resurfaced with a vengeance. Every spare (what’s THAT??) minute, I am learning more whether reading many recently purchased books on photography or online. I bought a Nikon D90 and have three lenses so far. Next on my list is a flash and a decent tripod. I am still not exactly sure where I want to go with it. I am scared at 40 (okay, 41 but who is really counting?) to start a brand-new career. At least when I get my accounting degree finished, I have tons of experience in that field. Part of me wants a job doing what I love to do and another part is worried that if I make my “creative outlet” my job then it takes the enjoyment out of it and I won’t want to do it any longer. That’s what happened years ago with cake decorating. I loved it, for the artistic outlet. But when I started getting so many orders that I had to create, on a timeframe, like a production line, I grew to dislike it. Then I withdrew from it for almost 8 yrs before decorating another single cake. Now I enjoy it again. Even doing some for money occasionally would be okay. I just don’t want to have to make one every day!! I want to enjoy it.

Anyway, so that’s what I have been busy doing. School for me, school for the kids, photography. Still cooking too and trying new recipes. You know the kids still have to eat. Tried a new recipe in fact yesterday:

You can get the recipe for Cinnamon Bun Pancakes here at Pioneer Woman. Yummmm.Kids are requesting them for breakfast today too. Even with my dulled taste buds (sinus infection??? been sick for almost 2 weeks now, can’t get in to see doctor) they were awesome.

I also think it’s long over due time to do a major overhaul on my blog. I bought Photoshop CS4 and if I can ever learn it, I think there’s some stuff on it to come up with my own blog design.

This a major deal for students, only $199!!! That’s like a zillion off regular price. You do have to be a COLLEGE student, be sure to read the fine print so you can activate the code. Or look it up on Adobe’s website for full details, should be there.

And I bought that book Wordpress for Dummies so maybe I can do more than just post.

I actually have several “For Dummies” books. That really doesn’t mean anything, does it?

So much happened last month while I didn’t have access to the internet. After we did Christmas with our family, the kids and I headed to North Carolina to spend the holidays with my family. My husband was supposed to go back to work, so he stayed behind. This is the first White Christmas NC has had in a very, very long time. The kids were so excited that despite getting there at 2:30 in the morning, the boys immediately laid out in the snow. If it hadn’t been so cold I would’ve gotten better pics of my kids playing in the snow with their cousins but I really didn’t want to freeze.

We got to see my nephews in their church’s Christmas program. Each had a special part -one got to say a Bible verse and the other was Joseph. We got to spend some time with great friends that we haven’t seen in a long time. It got some great pictures of it all but won’t post that since I didn’t get their permission to post them so publicly.  We even went to this Christmas event that was held in the old post office downtown. On each floor was different things to do. The kids got to do alot of crafts, see Santa, and hear tons of choirs sing Christmas songs.

We even got to visit Krispy Kreme!

Then we had a wonderful Christmas with my family before heading back.

But one more thing…we discovered an awesome quaint bakery that I will share in a separate post. All by itself. Yeah, it’s that worthy.

Immediately I thought of winter coats. I HATE wearing a coat! One reason why we moved to Florida. Although, we’ve been in record low temps and even got a little snow this past Saturday!! But over Christmas we went to NC to spend the holidays with  my family and they had snow. My little guy has barely ever had to wear more than a thick sweater and here he is in a complete snowsuit. It was funny trying to watch him even walk.

This week is a different challenge at I Heart Faces. They are celebrating their birthday!! Yea!! So in hopes to win a really cool camera lens, I made cupcakes for the kids to help me out with my entries:

and then for fun, I tried something different:

(LOL, didn’t realize til after posted, guess I should’ve written the logo backward so it would’ve showed up correctly??)

“I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.”

First, I promise to share some wonderful stories about our Christmas vacation; we got to go to some neat  places, see old friends and the kids got to play in the snow!! I finally got all the pics uploaded and organized so I promise it’s coming soon.

But for now, I wanted to share a wonderful cupcake that I made today. I wanted to make some cupcakes for today and I also needed to come up with an idea for I Heart Faces birthday party. That’s why the cupcakes are decorated this way. I still have to decide which photos to use.

I have gotten tons of new cupcake recipes between two new books that I received - Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone’s Favorite Treat. Anyway, I decided to try the Farm Chicks Moist Chocolate Cupcakes recipe. I had forgotten that I had tagged this recipe ages ago, but while browsing thru the cupcakes on Cupcake Heaven post (at Hoosier Homemade - LOVE the adorable snowman cupcakes she just made, adorable!), I saw her mention the recipe again so I headed over to copy it. This recipe has always intrigued me, c’mon you add a cup of boiling water to the batter? What’s up with that? But I got to tell you, they were delicious. And moist. Maybe it was the water. hmmm. I just did my own stand-by buttercream recipe.

Sorry this isn’t a new recipe I am sharing but click on the Farm Chick link above and go right to it. It’s sooooo worth it. Ymmmmm.