Living the Simple Life

Time to put the gardens to bed for winter

It has been a busy day here, DH and I worked at clearing the gardens and getting the fall tilling done. My gardens look so empty and bare but I am trying to look at it like an empty canvas just waiting for new plants and seeds to be planted and then it will all come back to life again in the spring. Some plants and seed did well this year but we also had a few failures but; that is all part of the gardening life, live and learn!

We go into town in the morning to pick up the beef and pork from the processor, it was ready a few days ahead of schedule but that is okay we have the freezers re-arranged and cleaned out so we are ready to fill them up, full freezers, full pantry and we will be just about set for winter.

I tried a new recipe this afternoon for hamburger buns and they turned out great, here is the recipe;

White Hamburger Buns

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup whole milk
2 pkg. dry yeast
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
4-1/2 to 5 cups flour
more melted butter
 
Warm the milk in a small saucepan over low heat. Mix 1/3 of the milk with the dry yeast in a small bowl and let sit until bubbly. In a large bowl, combine remaining milk, melted butter, salt and sugar and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Then add the beaten eggs and bubbly yeast.
Add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, beating on high speed of stand mixer. This step should take at least 5 minutes. When the dough gets too stiff to beat, stir in rest of flour by hand, if necessary, to make a soft dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and satiny. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll out on floured surface to 1/2" thickness. Cut with 3" round cookie cutter. I did this on the first batch but the buns were smaller than we like so I used a larger round glass to cut out he second batch) Brush each roll with melted butter and fold in half to make half circles. Pinch edge lightly to hold, so the rolls don't unfold as they rise. Place in 2 greased 13x9" pans, cover, and let rise again until double. Bake rolls at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program. -- Spencer W. Kimball, 1976