Exploding Eggs and Whole Wheat Bread

My husband cooked some hard boiled eggs this morning. Made the whole house stink and Tae decided to have them for lunch. I really need to watch my kids better. My four year old knows how to work the microwave popcorn button. In his need for independence, he decided to cook his own lunch. Mind you, the 12 and 9 year old were watching him as he scaled the counters (and said nothing). He wraps his little toes around the drawer pulls and hikes himself up. So the only button he knows is the popcorn button. All things in his world need to be cooked with the with the popcorn button . Even hard boiled eggs that are already cooked. Just so you know, Eggs "pop" with the popcorn button too-incase you ever wanted to do an experiment or something. Morgan called from the other room (still eating her own lunch), "Hey Mom, The microwave just exploded." It did-the door was open and there was an egg rocket all over the floor-clear over to the kitchen table that is at least 8 feet away from the microwave. The dog was quite happy with his snack.

It took me about half an hour to clean this up. Ever try to get hardened egg yolk out of nooks and crannies in the microwave? You should see the vent on the top. I had to get a toothpick to clean it out. Tae has been forbidden from using the microwave. Even for popcorn. Ever. At least until he gets his driver's license.

I found a recipe for whole wheat bread in the December/January issue of Mother Earth News. It is in the same article for the Artisan Bread I use. I've always had trouble with Whole Wheat sandwich bread being tough but this recipe was great. Chewy on the outside and tender inside. I don't think I'll be buying any more store bought bread. After tasting this and then reading the ingredients on the store bought stuff there really is no comparison and really it took no time at all to make.

You can find the great recipes here:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx

We use Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour. I love my Kitchen Aid Mixer with the dough hook. I had a bread machine years ago but didn't care for it.

The dough was very heavy and had me worried but it turned out just great. I need to buy some bigger bread pans to make larger loaves that will last longer with our family of five.

The kids did some literature today. I was very tired and grateful we had another meal dropped off from a church member.

We found this great site that was sent to us from another local homeschooler called Journey North. It's a whole site dedicated to following the migration of Monarch's and Hummingbirds and other animals. I think in the Spring we will work a new plot of soil and plant a butterfly garden and do a unit on the Butterfly and migration-perhaps with our homeschool group. I was so impressed with the site and how many activities there were for the kids. There are tons of videos for them to watch too like the Monarch emerging from the Chrysalis. Very cool. You can watch it here:

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/ChrysalisEcloseClip1.html

and find the website here:

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/

These are some photos that I took last year when we went to the Roger Williams Park and Zoo Butterfly exhibit. I dabble in photography and love the nature photos best. I could have spent all day there. So relaxing.

Gorgeous Monarch

Monarch on Echinacea.

They even had a display of all stages of different butterflys emerging from the Chrysalis. Very cool. All of the looking at spring flowers and butterflys makes me yearn for my gardens and some warm weather. It can't come too soon.


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