beagles and birthdays

My dad's birthday is next week. We celebrated early, with a carrot cake.

tomato ceci bread

Today I found myself getting really ambitious after looking for a recipe for tomato bread and finding nothing that appealed to me. Instead of giving up and making my usual loaf of tried and true wheat (delicious in its own right), I decided to step out on a limb and heavily modify that recipe to suit my tastes. The results are terrific! I changed up the recipe so much (the Betty Crocker wheat bread one) that I felt I had to rename it for this variety...and so I deemed it Tomato Ceci Bread (ceci is Italian for chickpea, and this bread has many Italian flavors in it).

Tomato Ceci Bread
5 oz tomato sauce (I used canned--smooth, no chunks)
4 oz water
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp soy milk (regular milk is fine too)
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp minced garlic
2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c chick pea flour
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 yeast packet (or equivalent--I believe that would be 1 1/2 tsp)

Combine tomato sauce and water and warm in the microwave or on the stove to around 90 degrees. Add the tomato mixture along with the rest of the ingredients, in the order listed, to the breadmaker and bake on the whole wheat setting for a 1 1/2 lb loaf (around 4 hours, 20 minutes). Also! You can make your own chickpea flour by grinding dried chickpeas in a food processor, coffee grinder, or Magic Bullet (you could buy it too). This recipe would work without the chickpea flour (substitute the same amount of all-purpose or wheat), but I really love the flavor it added.

And I'm going to be honest, I really hate the taste of butter (or any equivalent to butter) so sometimes I have a slice of warm bread with a smidgen of Vegenaise! What do you put on your bread?

And, aww, check out this pup.

beagles and summer

These are my family's one-year-old beagle puppies. They are a joy, even though they're a handful. They make me feel special by getting really excited whenever I get home, even if I have only been gone an hour or two.

So far this summer...

1. I started my internship. I've been putting in a lot of hours. I have a lot left to go. I am learning things about being a professional photographer, and putting lots of other skills to the test.

2. I've been unpacking. I have an apartment's worth of gadgets (the only thing I lack is furniture) and whatnot. Making it all fit into a 120-square-foot room is challenging. I haven't been giving it enough attention, so I need to work on that.

3. I volunteered. I volunteered at the Arts Center last weekend, which was a really good opportunity and fun. I hope to be able to do so at least a few more times over the summer. I helped kids do a craft (make an origami boat and decorate it) before they saw a play related to what they made (Wind in the Willows).

4. I hung out with some of my best friends. Casey volunteered with me at the Arts Center, and we also got coffee. Callie and I got coffee too before she headed up to Michigan for her new job! Congrats, friend, you deserve it. I will miss you, however. Visits with both of them were definitely highlights of my week last week!

5. I've been making things. I've been making lots of clay necklaces for future craft sales this summer. I also tried out a feature on Etsy called Alchemy, where people request things they need and you can make a "bid" to make them. I had two of my bids accepted and am now in the process of designing a save-the-date card and a birthday invitation! It's interesting work.

6. I've also been doing other art-related things like researching and entering photography from my portfolio into various shows and publications. I hope to hear at least one yes or two this summer! It's hard work finding a lot of things to enter (especially student-budget friendly) but definitely worth the happiness of getting just one acceptance letter in the mail and the chance to put that on my artist resume. I'll be starting work on my final senior photography project (which will be exhibited in my university's fine art gallery in December) shortly. The proposal has been approved and I know what I am doing, I just have to get started. The earlier, the better.