Sourdough!

Check out this beautiful sourdough start!  

I'm so happy to have a good, active sourdough start in the house again.  I keep one going for over a year a while back, but eventually killed it due to neglect.  Colin and I have since attempted to get a new one going, but I keep killing them with my side-tracked nature.  Happily, Randy's brother has more focus and got a good one going.  Uncle Ron shared some of his this past weekend while we were visiting and it is alive and well. 

We've used it to make two of my favorite sourdough recipes: pancakes and pizza.  YUM!

Sourdough Pancakes

1 Tablespoon oil

1 Egg

1 Tablespoon White Powder*

Mix together well, then add:

1 Cup sourdough starter

Cook on hot griddle. 

We had them with fresh blackberries and whipped cream.  Too bad we ate them before I thought of getting a picture - they sure didn't last long! 

*The White Powder is:
1 part Salt
1 part Baking Soda
3 parts Baking Powder
5 parts Sugar

Sourdough Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups Sourdough Starter

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups Flour

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Mix ingredients, working in the flour until you have a soft dough. 

Let dough rest for 1/2 hour so it will relax and forming the pizza will be easier.  

Roll out the dough in a circle, however big you like.

I pre-bake my pizza dough for 5 minutes on my pizza stone, then top it and bake 5 or 10 minutes more.  If you prefer, you can just top it and bake for 15ish minutes.  

We topped our pizza with BBQ sauce, bacon, and cheese because that's what we had on hand.  Again, this got gobbled up before I could snap a picture.  I'll try to remember better next time. 

The Bug

Recently I've been doing a lot of photography.  So when I saw this bug on the porch, I ran in the house and grabbed the camera.  I think it's a praying mantis.

Alabama Smoked Chicken Sandwich

If you're looking for a GREAT tasting smoked chicken sandwich, this is it!

The Recipe (From Smoke & Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison)

Southern Succor Rub:

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded lightly

Alabama Great White:

1 cup mayonnaise

3-4 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)

Pinch or two of onion powder

Pinch or two of cayenne

12 large slices toasted white bread

6 crisp lettuce leaves

I use a regular gas grill, so I fill a metal box like this with wood chips (cherry this time) after soaking them in water a bit.  Then I light the grill on one side and start it smoking and getting the grill up to 200-220 degrees F.

Sprinkle the rub on each side and rub it in.

Then put the chicken on the grill on the opposite side. The idea is to have one burner on, and the chicken over the other burner which is off so the chicken is cooked by indirect heat.  This gives a juicy slow cooked chicken.

Drizzle with a little of the Alabama Great White mixed with a little water.

I put a thermometer in the chicken so I can just wait for it to beep when it's reached 165 degrees F.  This way it doesn't end up getting overcooked.

When it's about done, toast some buns.

Slice up the chicken, slather the buns with the Alabama Great White Sauce, add lettuce, and some chicken slices.

YUM!!!

Happiness

I've been reading David Bednar's book, Increase in Learning.  Fabulous book!  I love it!

Chapter Four is called "Doctrines, Principles, and Applications: A Framework for Gospel Learning.

Here's my attempt to apply that framework to my study of Happiness this morning.

Doctrine = Why
Principles = What
Application = How

The doctrine is the plan of happiness.

A few of the principles of happiness are:

• We are happiest when we have the Holy Ghost with us.
• "Wickedness never was happiness." (Alma 41:10)
• Knowing what you need to do is not enough, to be happy you actually have to DO what you need to do.
• "Happy is he that condemneth not himself." (Romans 14:22)  Don't beat yourself up for not being perfect.

FLYlady is a great example of the application of these principles.

David Bednar explains that "Doctrines and principles do not change,  applications appropriately can vary according to needs and circumstances" (p.156).

Only studying applications without seeking true principles and doctrines will not lead to success.  For example, many people say "FLYlady just doesn't work for me."  This is an example of only studying the applications without understanding the doctrine and/or the principles.  When Marla Ciley started doing her routines, the principle she had in mind was to Finally Love Yourself (FLY).  Her routines help her to DO what she needs to do to be happy.  They keep her from beating up herself for not being perfect.  And they help her create an atmosphere in her home and in her heart where she can get what she calls "God Breezes."  Understanding the principles that she was following help me to create my own applications that work for my family.  A person who only studies the application sees the huge list of everything Flylady does in her daily routines and will likely give up before they even get a chance to understand the blessings that following the principles will bring.

Garmin Forerunner 305 battery replacement

The battery in my Garmin Forerunner 305 got to the point where it wouldn't hold a charge long enough for a 6 mile run.  A Google search at first didn't result in much, but finally I came across a couple pages that looked promising.  One guy used a phone battery with success, but I don't have any phone batteries lying around.  Another site I came across indicated that a replacement battery for an iPod Mini is the same voltage (3.7V), about twice the capacity (1300mAh instead of 750mAh), and very similar in size.  I bought an iPod Mini battery on eBay for $4.21 including shipping.  A couple days later it arrived and I went to open my Garmin.  I had read that sometimes the watch pops open of its own accord because the battery swelled, but even if it doesn't you should be able to open it by prying with your fingernails.

I went to pry mine open and realized it was already swelled open, so I just opened it the rest of the way with my fingers.

There were no wires to be careful with...the top just came completely off.

I clipped the black and white wires connecting the battery as close to the battery as I could to leave as much wire to work with as possible.

I cut the connector off the end of the new battery's wires, stripped the black and white wires at the ends, twisted the wires together, and soldered them.  I just left the white wire alone.

After wrapping the exposed wires with electrical tape, I put the battery into the watch and pushed the wires out of the way of the button on the left.

I glued it back together with epoxy since that's what I had on hand.  I hope I don't have to open it again!  I pressed on the watch to keep it snug while the epoxy hardened.  The connectors won't make good contact unless the pieces are snugly together.

When I plugged it into the charger, it started charging normally.  An hour or two later it said battery charging was complete.

It got satellite reception and appeared to be working properly.

I went to the menu to see the battery symbol which indicated it is fully charged.










And Kim tried it out on her run this morning.  It's working well!

Color of the Day

More javascript, since that's my new interest.  Drag the slider to choose the blinking speed.  The color of the non-white square should change every day.
UPDATE: Okay, it's not just a firefox problem.  I'm using the new HTML5 slider, and it works best in chrome.  You might see a text box or nothing at all otherwise.

Trinity Lake by Robyn

On Saturday we went hiking at Trinity Lake.

We hiked to Fiddle Lake.

  When we got there we went fishing.   There was a fish following dad's hook but it never bit the hook.














 Before we went back to Trinity Lake we climbed on rocks. They were very tall.