Sourdough Grissini

Sourdough what?

Sourdough Grissini.

And don't dare call these bread sticks or someone will think they are soft and chewy. Grissini is a long crisp, almost cracker-like bread - the kind served with some great pasta at those cute little Italian restaurants.

I've been following along with the sourdough challenges at Sourdough Surprises. Each month they choose a recipe to make with their sourdough. These gals get creative - danish, donuts, pie crust are among the recipes they tackled. I wanted to join in the fun but life was too crazy over summer to try anything new.

But this month, I jumped into the challenge - which happened to be grissini!

And I'm so glad I did! It was SO simple. And good!

Part of the challenge was to twist something into the grissini. Since I had lots of basil, I chose pesto. Wow! Good could actually become even better! I also made some with sesame and poppy seeds.

If you have a sourdough starter lurking in the corner of your kitchen, try these. Today.

Not that you have to obey me or anything. But surely someone will thank you.



Sourdough Grissini - with a Twist

1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
1 cup sourdough starter
pesto, sesame seed, poppy seed - or whatever you want to twist into your bread

Combine all ingredients except the pesto or toppings. Mix well. Add more flour as needed but the dough should be soft. Allow to rest ten minutes. Knead five minutes. Place in greased bowl and allow to rise for 3 hours. Once an hour, gently fold and turn the dough to stretch the gluten.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease to baking sheets (or cover with parchment paper.) Divide the dough into three pieces. Flatten each piece into a 6x4 inch rectangle.



Spread pesto liberally on dough. Or you can sprinkle heavily with sesame and poppy seed. Or get creative with another topping.



With pizza cutter, cut rectangle into 8 long strips.



Pull each strip gently to stretch to length of the cookie sheet and twist dough into a coil. Repeat until all three dough pieces are flattened, topped, cut, and twisted. Bake grissini until lightly browned about 25 minutes. Depending on thickness of your grissini, you may need more or less oven time. Cool completely before serving.

And go check out what the others are making at Sourdough Surprises.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

There are times that I wish I could send taste and aroma online. Photos just can't do justice.

It hardly seems right to talk about what is sitting on my counter without asking you to pull up a chair and grab a plate.

But maybe I can share the recipe so you can experience the flavor yourself.



Because these are just too good to keep all for myself.

My sister-in-law told me about these pumpkin cinnamon rolls last week and I knew they would be appearing in my kitchen soon. The dough is light and delicious. I think they would make lovely dinner roll as well. Give them a try. I think you'll understand why this recipe is worth sharing.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
(Makes 16 large rolls)

1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup soft butter
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp salt
1 cup mashed pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 T. yeast
7 cups flour (I used half whole wheat.)

Heat milk to hot, but not boiling. Mix with butter, honey, and salt. Mix water and yeast together. When milk has cooled to warm, add yeast, pumpkin, eggs, and half of the flour. Mix well. Add the rest of the flour as needed to make a soft dough. Knead dough for five minutes. Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise.



Roll out dough, spread with butter, and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up and cut into 16 rolls. Place in pan and allow to rise again. (I used two 9x13 pans and 1 round cake pan.) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. While warm, drizzle on glaze or allow to cool and spread on your favorite frosting.

I used a maple glaze made with 2 T melted butter, 1 tsp maple flavoring, 1 cup confectionery sugar, and 1 T milk.



Call the children and watch the rolls disappear into gaping smiles.

Children's Books for Fall

I love seasonal books. It is fun to raid the library's shelves to find books on the season.

Nice fall books are particularly hard to find since so many refer to Halloween. In case you are looking for some good picture books to celebrate the autumn season, here is a few that made it to our favorites list.

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf -Lois Ehlert
Fascinating information about a tree shared in beautiful collage.


Raccoons and Ripe Corn - Jim Arnosky
It is worth your time to search for the books by this author and illustrator.

This Way Home - Lisa Westberg Peters
Beautiful illustrations accompany the story of a song sparrow's migration.

Fall- Ron Hirschi

Nature photographs accompanied this book about autumn.


Leaves, Leaves, Leaves - Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
This book follows all the seasonal changes of a tree. My children loved the riddles.

Leaf Man - Lois Ehlert
Read this book and go take a walk with your children and look at leaves with new eyes.


Every Autumn Comes the Bear - Jim Arnosky
Another favorite by Jim Arnosky

The Apple Pie Tree - Zoe Hall
Follow an apple tree through the seasons.


Fletcher and the Falling Leaves - Julia Rawlinson
A silly story of a fox who was desperate to keep the leaves on the tree. My children loved it!



How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin- Margaret McNamara
Did you know how to tell how many seeds are in a pumpkin? Me neither. Another of my children's favorite books.

Do you have any autumn book favorites?

This post contains affiliate links.

Out of the Breakfast Rut - Dutch Babies

What an odd name for a pancake!

I've heard this recipe called Puff Pancake, German Pancakes, and Dutch Blanket, but when I was a child, we always called these Dutch Babies.

I had nearly forgotten about Dutch Babies. But a couple months ago, I pulled out my mom's old recipe and tried it one morning. It was love at first sight for my children, who were weary of the same old scrambled eggs.

I think I've served this cross between a popover, a crepe, and a pancake every week since then. I love the simplicity and my children love the taste. It gives them a good serving of protein and uses up my egg surplus. And nothing beats pulling Dutch Babies out of the oven high and puffy, almost spilling out over the pan and watch it sink. No wonder children love it. What other breakfast dish performs stunts!

We usually serve this with cinnamon sugar. You can add cinnamon and sugar directly to the batter, but we like to just sprinkle it on top after it is baked. I like to toss a few fresh berries on top. There is just enough time to run out to the raspberry patch and pick a handful of berries while the Dutch Babies bake in the oven.

My mom's recipe includes four amounts depending upon how many eggs you wanted to use. My family can eat the six egg version and asks for more. Use a 9x9 pan for 3-4 eggs and a 9x13 pan for 5-6 eggs. You can also use a cast iron pan in which case you will have a round pancake!

Note: I decrease the butter by a tablespoon or two but I am sharing the recipe here as the original.

Dutch Babies

Choose amount you wish:

3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
salt to taste

4 eggs
1/3 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
salt to taste

5 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/4 cups flour
salt to taste


6 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour
salt to taste

Place butter in casserole dish or cast iron pan. Set in 425 degree oven to melt the butter while mixing up batter.

Place eggs in blender and blend at high speed for 1 minute. Add milk, flour, and salt. Continue to blend for 30 seconds. Pour batter slowly in pan with melted butter.

Bake until puffy and brown, about 20-25 minutes. Serve immediately with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, fruit, or syrup.


Did any of you grow up with Dutch Babies? Or did you call them something else?

Edit: 4/15/2018

We still eat Dutch Babies every week, but the recipe has went through several revisions. I thought I'd share the updated recipe with you.

Dutch Babies

6 or 7 eggs

1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 T lemon juice
raspberries, cinnamon sugar, or confectionery sugar (optional)



Place butter in casserole dish or cast iron pan. Set in 425 degree oven to melt the butter while mixing up batter.

Place eggs in blender and blend at high speed for 1 minute. Add milk, flour, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Continue to blend for 30 seconds. Pour batter slowly in pan with melted butter. If desired, sprinkle with red raspberries.


Bake until puffy and brown, about 20-25 minutes. Serve immediately with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, fruit, or syrup.

Honey Cornbread

Life continues...

Whether I have time to blog about it or not.

Last weekend we were down in North Carolina visiting Ed's sister Jean. (And thanks to those who continue to pray for their family. They are doing well, but they do miss Jason.) We spent a fun day at Jamestown - an extra special treat since we studied Jamestown recently in our history studies.



This week, my brothers put in replacements windows in our house.  I've been putting off any deep cleaning for months, especially window washing, since I knew this was planned. It is wonderful to have sparkling clean windows - that actually close securely!



Now I have no excuse not to clean. We are diving deep under furniture and in closets and finding a healthy crop of dust bunnies and stink bugs. I love how children are thrilled at simple things like reorganizing their bedroom furniture.

But somehow, even on busy days, everyone still expects to eat! Cornbread is a favorite at our house and the perfect addition to a pot of soup or chili. It is easy enough that my eight year old made it herself last night.

Honey Cornbread

1 1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Mix all dry ingredients together. In another bowl, mix all wet ingredients together. Mix all together until barely moistened. Pour into greased 9x13 pan or cast iron skillet. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

Apple Cider Making

Another annual family event - apple cider making.

 A couple of my brothers had gleaned about 40 bushels of apples from a friend's orchard.



This week my whole family got together to make cider.



First the apples are washed and cut in half.




The apples are dumped into a hopper and chopped into a coarse mash.




Our cider press has two baskets. One can be filling with apple mash while the other is pressed into cider.




Nothing beats a drink of fresh cold cider.



The cider is strained and poured into jars and containers. Frozen cider keeps the fresh cider flavor, but because of freezer space, I can most of our portion of the cider. Canned cider tastes more like apple juice.



Do any of you make cider?

Spiced Pumpkin Bars

I didn't expect these bars to be that great since they contain no butter or oil but they were light and delicious!

Spiced Pumpkin Bars
another great find from Kay's Country Cookin'

2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup mashed pumpkin
1 cup applesauce

Combine dry ingredients. Combine egg, pumpkin, and applesauce; stir well. Stir in dry ingredients. Spread in greased 10x15 baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over bake. Dust with powdered sugar when cooled, if desired.