Not the Grand Prize winner, but I still won! Recipe included.

The "National Festival of Breads"  is officially over and done with but in my heart is still in, it will always remain as a positive experience with great people.


 

I was very excited about this contest, I was not excited about going to Manhattan, Kansas, I admit it.  We never hear much about the heartland of our country but the people involved with the wheat growers association, the festival of breads and the community of Manhattan are kind and giving folks.  They are rightfully proud of the work they do and they are the back bone of hard working America. 

From the moment I stepped off of my flight everyone was great.  We had several wonderful receptions, we toured a fantastic farm and were able to "ride" a combine, we toured a mill, we visited a grain storage area,  we had wonderful kitchens to work in and had great help whenever we needed it.

A view from inside the combine.

But really the contest was not about us, it was about informing the public about wheat products and teaching others about how to use these products.  Baking bread has often been thought of as being difficult.  With advancements in products it is rather simple and can be done by most anyone.  I encourage you to visit the festival of breads website for the recipes of all of the contestants.  They were all great. Listed below is my recipe in case you feel like making a good rich bread.  Happy baking it sure can be a fun family activity! 

My son, who is 24 and always broke, has had friends over many times baking bread.  The first time I watched in silence with amazement.  I wanted to say, "Don't you have a party to attend?"  But I didn't, I watched him and his friends laugh and create and be successful.  They have tried and tested many recipes over the last few years and those simple things make me beam with pride.

Life's simple pleasures, like baking bread, can be fun and inexpensive.  As a nation that seems to have sometimes lost it's grip, these simple things can bring us down to earth.

Myself and Reba my dedicated helper.  She has become a friend and was a personal cheerleader!
 

We visited a wonderful farm and were able to be a part of the harvest.  A very special treat for me.



 

Being interviewed by YaHoo, during the contest.



  The finalists carrying in their bread, The winner, Rosemary,  was right behind me (I am in the long jacket).  Close but no cigar.  She made a tasty cracker.

Rich Italian Bread

Recipe History:  I have been making this bread for years based on a basic bread recipe with rich Italian seasoning and products.

 Ingredients:

5 ½ to 6 ½ cups King Arthur Bread Flour

1 Package Fleischmann’s rapid rise yeast

2 ¼ cups milk

2 T sugar

3 T olive oil

2 t salt

2 t Italian seasoning

2 t garlic powder

¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

½ cup finely chopped onion

25 pieces (approximately ¼ of a 7 ounce package) of pepperoni chopped into quarter inch size pieces

(You may substitute 25 pieces of turkey pepperoni (6 ounce package)

1-14.5 ounce can Del Monte no salt dice tomatoes with basil, garlic, & oregano (drained thoroughly)

1-2.25 ounce can sliced black olives (drained)

1 T corn meal (used for baking)

Directions:

1.      Open tomatoes; pour in colander/strainer to drain while mixing.

2.      In large bowl combine 2 ½ cups King Arthur Bread flour and the yeast.  (If using mixer use a hook for mixing)  In microwave or sauce pan heat milk, sugar, and olive oil, salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder until warm.  (About 115 to 120 degrees).  Stir every minute in microwave or stir while heating on stove.  Will be warm to the finger touch. 

3.      Add the warm milk mixture to the flour and yeast mixing for, a minute.  Add chopped onion, Parmesan cheese and cut pepperoni along with 1 ½ cups of King Arthur Bread flour.  Add the tomatoes and olives with remaining flour.   (The more moist the tomatoes the more flour you will need.)  Knead by hand or with hook for 8 minutes.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  Punch down.

4.      Divide dough into two equal amounts.  Shape into two separate round loaves.  Sprinkle corn meal on one or two sheet pan(s).  Loaves will expand, best to use a separate pan for each loaf. 

5.      Let loaves sit for 20-30 minutes.  Lightly slash top of bread in quarters.

6.      Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes until hollow sounding when tapped. 

7.      Cool and serve with butter or dipping oil.  Also great for sandwiches.

 

Size of pan

Bake on one or two cookie sheet(s) or jelly roll pan(s)

 

Preparation Time

Total time including rise and bake time 3 to 3 ½ hours

 

Baking Time

45-50 minutes

 

Yield

2 round loaves

 

Additional Notes

If tomatoes are not drained properly your dough will be very sticky.  Great served using olive oil with seasoning for dipping.  I have also used this dough as a pizza crust.

 

With Love from your retired FACS teacher,

Jane

 
 

Tomorrow I am flying to Manhattan, Kansas.  You might look at this and go whooohoo, who cares. 

For me it is exciting.  In April while I was in San Diego for a wedding, my cell phone rang and it was Cindy, from the Festival of Breads.  She told me that I was one of 8 finalist for the National Festival of Breads competition.  I had even forgotten about the contest that I entered this winter.  What a nice surprise. 

I have been entering contests my whole life and have never been noticed.  Yeah, finally the moment is here. 

Below is a link to a list of my competition. 

http://www.americasbreadbasket.com/nfob

Think positive thoughts for me.  Although I very rarely win anything, what fun it is to be a part of this competition.

With love from you retired FACS teacher,

Lets see if teaching all of those baking lessons pays off.

Jane

What to do when the grey sky makes you blue?

Some of you living in areas with extreme heat may not understand this post.  In the Midwest we have experienced the slowest, longest development of summer in years.  It is so bad that when we see a tiny little chunk of blue sky, under the grey clouds, when we look out the window, we get excited.  I found myself saying to my husband the other day, "Look, there is blue in the sky." 

My friend that is a flight attendant just got on a plane the other day, on her day off, and flew anywhere for the day just so that she could be in the sun. 

We don't all have flight benefits to fix our gloom but hopefully if you are a parent, in the Midwest, you are finding ways to keep your kids happy and entertained.  Obvious ideas are Crafty things, running in the rain, baking, or enclosed activity centers. 

In the Midwest we wait for summer, live life to the fullest, and enjoy every moment of the warm and the sun.  We are outdoors people!  Last year my husband and I were out on our motorcycle in March.  This year our first long ride was June 9th.  Yikes!  I also found myself saying, "let's take the bike it is just drizzling." We keep hoping for dry time and our optimism is turning into sarcastic humor about the summer that may never be.

As I type this there is a roaring thunder in the background and I feel sad for those that are farming for a living and have not been able to plant their crops.  June 10 was the deadline for crops to get in the ground and mature fully in the Midwest.  It makes me know and understand that my little grey gloom is nothing compared to the sadness of not being able to plant your crop so that you can sustain yourself and family for the year.

What makes you happy on a grey day?  What do you do to keep yourself busy so that you don't feel sorry for yourself?

I am heading for the sewing machine.  My sewing room is my happy place.  Even if my son says it looks like a fabric store threw up in my sewing room.  I'm so tired of the weather I might even pick it up in-between my creating. 

With love from your early retired FACS teacher, Jane

WHAT was he Thinking?

Today I read on twitter that a young man almost died from drinking an excess of Soy Sauce.  Of course it was a dare.  His sodium level was so high they were worried about brain damage. 

I got to thinking about the times that young people that I have known over the years have done crazy things with out thinking.  I thought about the consequences and how it changed the course of things.

Ingesting too much of anything is always bad.  When FACS educators teach young people we need to always be aware of the crazy, stupid things kids do.  We need to caution them and make them wise as to what might happen when they do most anything to an extreme. 

We think of teaching the practical excesses (If an excess can be practical, mmmm) like over eating, over exercising, not eating enough but what of the crazy?

When I was around the age of 19 the boys in my dorm did something called the 12 o'clock high.  They drank one beer every hour for 24 hours straight.  It was quite a party and no one thought much of it until one of the guys that didn't like beer started taking shots of whiskey every hour.  He ended up in the hospital and being rather sick for some time.  It awakened many of us and made us aware of the poison, and made it a reality that too much alcohol really was very bad for all of us.

Although I didn't know my husband in college I know that he had some wild adventures in his fraternity and ended up in the hospital from too much alcohol.  I shall not go into detail!

As educators some of these warnings might be heard if we speak them, as young people often tune out to the wisdom of their parents. 

So, while teaching don't forget to throw in a few scary comments about what happens when you do too much of a good thing!  Because what might appear to be harmless might just very well be dangerous. 

With love from you now retired FACS teacher!

Looking for work....Ha, Ha.

Jane

Goodbye

I wonder around the house today as I think of the beautiful person lost to heaven today.  A co-worker and friend lost his spouse early this morning. 

The two of them had amazing grace as they journeyed this path of cancer together with hope and peace for a little over a year.

As a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher we face subjects that many do not like to approach and one of the them is family loss.  For me, I feel it is important for children to know that speaking about ones personal loss and the struggle that goes with it is always o.k.

Every family must cope and deal with their losses their own way but we should try to be a part of the strength for those left behind when they tumble.

Grief has stages and steps much like all other components of life.  It just so happens grief is difficult to comprehend when we lose someone that we were not ready to let go of.  Even though I know my friends wife is at peace and guiding her loved ones from above, the loss is heart wrenching.

It is inspiring to watch this young family continue to move forward and accept the end for their bright, young beautiful mother and wife.



With love from you FACS teacher,

Jane

We remember and give THANKS!

Memorial Day is a holiday that is sad and happy at the same time.  I think of those that have given their lives before us to give us the freedom and happiness that we have in this country and it makes me sad that so many have sacrificed for us.  But, the freedom that we have because of them makes me so very happy.

There is not a war that begins with-out pause or ends with-out heart ache and sometimes regret.

As a child I remember my mother always insisting she go to memorial services in the small town that I grew up in, in central Minnesota.  She never made us go with her but she had to go.  I distinctly remember a year when it was cold and rainy and just she and I sat in the bleachers of the high school gym.  The veterans gave a gun salute and my mother cried uncontrollably.  I didn't understand why at the time but as an adult I know that she grew up during a time where many men lost their lives to war.  She must have had friends that never came home.

She never talked about it because that was not done.  And, even though I was young I knew it was private and something she needed to keep for herself.  I do know that I hurt for her because she was always my strength.

Melissa

Today we pay tribute to all of those fallen soldiers and give thanks to those that have given time to the military to protect us and our country.

Members that serve or have served in my husbands and my family

Don (my husbands father), Bob, Bill, Jerome, Steve, Tom, Mark, Jon, Brien, Jeff, Melissa, David, and Eric.

Thank You for your service.

With love from your soon to be retired FACS teacher,
Jane

Consumerism is FACS thus Family and Consumer Sciences

Family and Consumer Sciences in the past few years has been very focused on career tracking.  Examples would be education in culinary arts readiness and courses related to the housing industry and the fashion industry.  This is great, students need a taste to decide what they want to jump into for their entire life.  Right now many programs are moving back toward nutrition due to the obesity crisis in America.

High Schools that have a comprehensive environment can offer FACS courses and they benefit all students. 

One component of FACS that often goes unnoticed is consumerism.  FACS or Home Economics if you will, was cut from schools during the 80's because it was too domestic.  This was a time when many school districts did away with anything that had to do with the home.  Sewing, Foods, Housing.  People said it was common sense and you could figure it out for yourself.  For me, it is a bit ironic that their has been a call for Home Economics to come back to education because so many families do not have time to teach their children basic life skills.  (And by the way I hate the term life skills.  It feels very dumbed down to me and trust me it is not.)

Students need to know things for everyday living like, how to get a job, how to buy a car, how to comparison shop, how to find an apartment, how to keep track of finances, how to work with the bank, how to get a loan, how to cook....and we go on and on.

There are so many children going through school systems that have not a clue as to how they should operate in life in regards to the above items.  Students have had more personal money in the last two decades than ever before but because they are targeted by advertising dollars they rarely know how to save money for themselves.  Think about he "economic good" FACS teachers could do if they just taught a little bit of consumer common sense to each student for just a trimester.   Schools should not be decreasing FACS they should be increasing FACS.  This is a bit of a sore spot for me as the district that I currently live in has cut FACS in the junior high schools so that they can put more focus on Math. 

Say what?  Do you think there is Math in Housing when designing a room?  Do you think there is Math in Foods when you measure items to follow a recipe?  Do you think there is Math when you measure for fitting of clothing?  The University of Minnesota did a study approximately 5 ago in conjunction with several other institutions across the US.  Guess what?  Those students involved in courses such as those just mentioned scored higher in Math on Standardized tests.  These are hands on concepts that are ingrained in students minds while working and using numbers.

FACS is a good thing.  Please fight to keep it in your schools it will help all children and keep you child practical and well rounded.

From the soon to be retired FACS teacher.

Jane

P.S.  Yes, I am occasionally random.  Get used to it