Fall is officially here!

And I love it. I can't wait for the leaves to change so we can see our new place with fall foliage for the first time. It's been cooler out, the perfect weather to enjoy the outdoors, including taking lots of walks and spending lots of evenings sitting outside. We've even squeezed in a couple little "campfires", complete with marshmallows, in the yard which is the kid's favorite thing to do. The fields are getting closer to being ready for harvest and make for beautiful views.

It's been kind of an exhausting few days around here. Farm Girl got sick (just a cold, but when they can't sleep, neither can I, so loong nights!), I'm still cooking/freezing apples and pears everyday, and we've been moving some more things from our old house which means a lot of time spent driving. I'm trying to cut down  on trips to the grocery store because the one in our town is tiny and very expensive, and the nearest bigger town with normal prices is about 45 minutes away so I'm also busy with trying to get in the habit of making everything I can from scratch. With school and work lunches to make everyday, one of the hardest things to keep up with is the bread. I used to make a potato bread that everyone in our family really likes, but it is very time consuming. Now I'm making just a simple, basic bread, which is also very good (especially warm, right out of the oven!) and takes a lot less time. 

Here's the recipe:

1 cup milk

1 cup warm water

1 heaping teaspoon yeast 

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

1 egg

6 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the milk and water in a bowl, the liquid needs to be warm to the touch. Stir in the yeast and let it sit while you mix the salt, sugar, egg, and oil in a large bowl. Add the yeast/liquid mixture to the bowl. Mix in the flour slowly until the dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl. If you need to add a little more or less than 6 cups you can. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes then let rise for 20 minutes or until the dough is doubled in size. Knead it again, shape into loaves, and place in oiled pans. Bake for 40 minutes. Easy, right?  

Also on list of things to do lately: getting ready for Christmas! That's right, Christmas when it's only September. I like to get any shopping done early, especially since I don't want to drive so far into a bigger town once the weather is bad. More importantly, I will be making a lot of the gifts for the kids so I have to start early! 

Well, off to enjoy this beautiful fall night!