Tips for Trips

We had a super busy weekend. Granddaughter Brooklyn had an Ice Skating Competition in Montana. It was a great excuse to have a weekend away! Sometimes you really need a three-day weekend to recharge. We got to stay in a pretty nice hotel, go swimming in the pool, sit in the hot tub and enjoy some good food as well as watch some amazing skaters!

Brooklyn did great! We are so very proud of her. Her dedication really shows. She is going to need a whole closet for her medals soon! She was pretty wiped out on the trip home. She worked hard!

Since we were in Missoula, we had to stop at Wheat Montana Farms & Bakery. I use their flour and oat cereal exclusively for my bread, baking, and granola. It’s great stuff!! I can’t purchase it in fifty-pound bags locally so whenever we are anywhere near Missoula we stop in and buy it there.

It had been quite a while since I had been away for a weekend but my inner checklist for what to do before leaving kicked in. Doing these few simple things before leaving not only gives you peace of mind while you are away but makes coming back so much easier!

*The day before you leave be sure you are caught up on laundry. You are going to have plenty when you get back.

*Plan what you are going to have for dinner the day you get back. You will have just spent money all weekend going out and the last thing you want to do is spend more money on pizza your first night home.

*The day you leave run the dishwasher and empty it. Don’t leave any dishes in the sink.

*Make sure there is nothing in the washer or the dyer. If there are clothes in the washer they will get sour and if there are clothes in the dryer they will be wrinkled.

*Tidy up and make the beds.

*Make sure the animals are taken care of.

*Close the blinds and turn down the thermostat.

*Turn off the lights, leaving one on.

*Lock the doors. Make sure someone else has a key in case of emergency.

I went through all these things before leaving for the long weekend. Our cats are used to us being away for a couple days a week in the summers and they are usually fine. This time, however, they must have been playing around the bathroom door while we were gone. One of the cats got shut in the bathroom. I don’t know how long he was in there but he sure let us hear about it when we got home! I still think his sister had something to do with it. Pretty sure I saw her grinning. I wouldn’t put it past her!

See what I mean? Evil looking, isn’t she?! Don’t let her fool you, she is straight up crazy!

I am going to leave you with my whole wheat bread recipe. I hope you enjoy it!

Be sure to take a long weekend and recharge your batteries soon too!

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Wheat Bread

Serves:
14Yield:
1 loaf

Ingredients:

1 cup	Wheat Montana All-purpose white flour
1 cup	Wheat Montana Prairie Gold whole wheat flour
1/4 cup	multi-grain cereal or super grain blend of choice
1/4 cup	hemp hearts
1/4 cup	raw organic flax seed
1/4 cup	vital wheat gluten
1/3 cup	organic sugar or 1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup	instant potato flakes (NOT potato pearls)
1 tablespoon	instant yeast
2 tablespoons	instant dry milk powder
1 teaspoon	salt
1 1/4 cup	warm water
1 tablespoon	butter or olive oil
1 tablespoon	white vinegar
	butter for brushing on top

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Put warm water, butter, and vinegar in bread machine pan. Dump in dry ingredient on top. Start bread machine on “Dough” cycle. When done kneading and rising, work the dough a bit to get out air bubbles, shape into a loaf and put into greased/sprayed loaf pan. Heat oven to 375* and let the loaf rise to about double. Bake for 27 minutes, turn pan around and bake for 3 more minutes. Remove from oven and brush with butter. Let cool for 5 minutes and then turn out of loaf pan onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 2 hours before cutting. Store in a ziplock bag.

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