Simple Living ~ Daily Bread

 If you read my last post.. you would have read about me making Rustic Bread, and rosemary sea salt..
I have received requests for the recipes.
They are easy and fool-poof recipes.
If you already have these recipes, then you know what I mean.

Rustic Bread:
3 Cups lukewarm water--not too hot.
2 Pkgs. (or 1 1/2 TBSP.) rapid rise active dry yeast.
1 1/4 TBSP. sea salt
6 1/2 Cups all purpose flour.
Pour water into a large bowl, add the yeast and salt.
Stir in flour.
Mix until combined. No kneading is necessary.

                    (I leave my dough proofing on the griddle of our old Wedgewood stove)

 Cover bowl.
Let dough rise for 2 hours.
Stir dough down, and divide into 3
equal portions.
Round dough into balls, tucking ends under. Place on well greased baking sheet. Slash tops with knife and dust with flour.  Let rise 45 minutes. I put mine in the oven with a bowl of really hot water.
Leave the bowl of water in the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Bake bread in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Cool on racks. Makes 3 round loaves.

 To make the rosemary sea salt..
you will need 4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 2 Cups of sea salt, 2 TBSP. of ground black pepper.

 Strip the rosemary leaves off of the stalk and place in food processor.
Pulse to chop the rosemary finely
 Add the 2 Cups of sea salt and the 2 TBSP. of black pepper.

Pulse everything together in the food processor and store in a container of your choice.

This really is a good all purpose seasoning and the rosemary adds that little something special.
The bread is so easy and quick to make... it's one of those recipes that you can almost make in your sleep.
Happy Homemaking.

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm grateful today to have been able to get out and walk.
I really have missed it, and I feel so blessed to have the ability.
~I'm grateful that we were able to haul off some yard debris to the landfill this morning.
Thanks to Spencer for always being willing to help me.
He knows how those limbs were buggin' me !

All around The Cottage.

Horses and wagons .
Not an uncommon site where we live.
Sunday, a few of our great neighbors were out for a wagon ride.
Craig and M'lissa took Brig and Julie for a ride in the wagon, and Robert stopped by to say 'hi'.
Every day, there's a horse and wagon, or horse and rider about town.
Love it.

 Sunday evening... we took our own ride.
In the modern wagon.. aka.. the Tahoe.
We rode out to Pigeon Hollow drive .
The fields are beginning to green up, as are the mountains.
Signs of life.

 Had to take a picture of this old homestead that was nestled against the foot of the mountain.
Imagine living on this homestead back in the day.

 I made a batch of rosemary sea salt to put next to the range.
Perfect seasoning.

 Combined a few sprigs of rosemary, some sea salt and black pepper.
I tested it out on a roast for Sunday dinner.  The roast was delicious.

 I put the rosemary sea salt in this cute jar.
I found two of these little jars at the D.I. in St. George on our trip down there a few
weeks ago, and I knew just what I wanted to do with them.
I used one for my rosemary salt, and am going to give the other jar to a friend.

 Cut up lemons and rosemary sprigs.
Simmered on the stove.
Made the entire house smell divine.

 Sprigs of rosemary on the table. Perfect.
For those people that can grow and use rosemary year round, you may be tired of it.
For me, summer time is the only time that rosemary will grow around here, and I cannot get enough of it.

 Three old potato mashers.
 I set them on the shelf, took a good look at them
and decided which one I wanted to make a recipe holder out of.

 The one with the red handle won out; as it had a sort-of flat surface to glue a clothespin to.
Works like a charm.
Held my recipe for 'Rustic Bread' perfectly.

 I made a batch of 'Rustic Bread' for dinner.
 I stirred some fresh rosemary into one of the loaves, and sprinkled just a touch of rosemary sea salt on the top. 
Delicious.

Sun set.
Another week gone by.... and the end of a month too.
Signs of life ..... the crab apple trees are in blossom.
Just another week  all around The Cottage.

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm so grateful that Spencer and my sweet husband were able to get a huge renovation project done yesterday without incident.
I feel so much better knowing that the floor joist under the huge double book cases is now doubly supported.
~I'm grateful that the pressurized irrigation is now turned on. Means that we can begin planting.

All around The Cottage....

 Rosemary sprigs.
I wanted to get a few more rosemary plants started to put in
pots around the cottage this summer.

We bought two huge rosemary plants at the nursery in St. George.
As you can see by the picture... their rosemary plants were already in bloom.
My hubby commented how he had never seen rosemary in bloom.
Generally, our rosemary never gets the chance to mature to the point of blossoming before cold weather hits, and it freezes the plant.

Believe me..I am going to stretch this rosemary just as far as I can.
I'm going to start more plants, make rosemary salt, dry some fresh rosemary sprigs, etc.. etc...
My daughter laughed at me, and told me that every summer when the rosemary will grow, the family already knows that everything will get a dose of rosemary.
I make no apologies... rosemary is my all time favorite herb.

 Beans sorted and rinsed. Ready to go into the electric pressure cooker.
It's my favorite way to cook beans. So quick and easy.
I'm going to make up some bean, beef and cheese burritos to re-stock the freezer.
We also stock the freezer with breakfast burritos made with natural sausage, eggs, and cheese, and peppers.
Having the freezer stocked with a variety of burritos certainly comes in handy.
Anyone can grab a burrito and go.

 It was nice to get a little reading in this weekend as well.
I picked this book up at the thrift store in St. George.
It's been a fun read so far.
I'm hoping that I'll be able to squeeze a lot of reading in this summer.
I used to make time for reading.... but, then life got busier, and busier.
Hoping to make a dent in my pile of books this summer.

 Enjoying the new wreath on the front door.
Still loving the charcoal gray color too.

The great idea .

Remember that I mentioned that I had a great idea when I was in St. George?

Well, everywhere we saw these great entry posts.

Not that entry posts are a new idea for me.

We've had them at our old houses before.

The thing I fell in love with about these entry posts, is the fact that they are painted a contrasting color to the fence.

Love it.

We've decided that we would like to have this same style of entry posts and contrasting fencing around our cottage.

I really love the fact that it's not matchy-matchy, and it really is

so attractive.

Attitude of gratitude:

~I'm so grateful for the blue sky and sunshine today.

Makes me energized to work outside.

~I'm grateful that our youngest is about done with college for the year.

~I'm grateful that this just might be the week that we get the garage painted.