My Pretty Pennies

Wellness Wednesday :: Dutch Oven Bread Recipe

Posted by Ginna on May 30, 2012 | 3 comments

There’s something about baking your own bread that makes you feel like your life is put together. Sure it may not be — it’s been days since you washed your hair, your house is a disaster, and you haven’t exercised in over a month because you got sick and then lazy — but you baked homemade bread. Bread. From scratch. And it turned out really good.

If you can bake bread, you can do anything. At least that’s my philosophy.

I found this recipe originally from Posie Gets Cozy and decided to try it Monday when I had nothing better to do than watch dough rise for 8 hours. (Naw, I kid, I let it rise in peace overnight. But I did over-check it periodically just to be sure it was doing its thing.) I’ve made bread before, but it’s always been the high-maintenance kind where you have to schedule feeding times every other day and once you finally get to baking it you have three other starters with new feeding schedules to take care of. Stressful!

This recipe, however, was pretty low key. Just three ingredients (four if you add a pinch of sugar, which I did) and although it does take a while from start to finish, I only spent maybe 30 minutes actually preparing it before it went in the oven. And it turned out delicious! The perfect crusty bread to munch on as a snack, toast with jam, or companion to any savory meal.

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread
adapted from Mother Earth News

1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (white, whole wheat or a combination)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour, salt and sugar, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. (I always stick my bowl in the microwave so it’s out of my way and a dry, warm spot.)

2. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. Once the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.

5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack before slicing.

Memorial Day Weekend via Instagram

Posted by Ginna on May 29, 2012 | 2 comments

Happy Tuesday! How was your Memorial day weekend? Ours was pretty much perfect. Friday J and I went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant near our apartment. Afterwards J had the brilliant idea to get ice cream sundaes and take them to the airport overlook to watch the sunset. Um, yes!

Saturday morning J had to work and I babysat for a friend that was moving, but then that afternoon we drove to meet our friends at Lake Norman for the weekend.

Sunday we spent kayaking, lounging by the dock, reading, fishing, and tubing on the boat. The weather was perfect — sunny, breeze, and so hot it was refreshing to jump into the cool lake. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends with such a great place to visit.

We headed back late Sunday evening and truly relax on Monday. I went to get a manicure and pedicure with my MIL and then spent the rest of our day at our neighbor‘s crafting while the boys played video games.

In summary, it was the perfect weekend to welcome the lazy summer months ahead. :)

PS – If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is thatginnagirl

Weekly Money Check-Up: 5/28

Posted by Ginna on May 28, 2012 | 0 comments

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on J’s birthday present!

2. Today I am thankful for a restful weekend. It was just what I needed.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was leaving work early on Friday before a three-day weekend.

4. I will consider this week a success if I organize my emails! I usually like to file away everything that doesn’t need my attention or response, but right now I’ve collected over 200 emails in my personal inbox that desperately need to be filed.

5. This Memorial Day weekend I went to Lake Norman with some friends. It was such a wonderful, relaxing weekend! Pictures to come. :)

–
Weekly Money Check-Up is a weekly series on My Pretty Pennies. To participate, fill in the blanks in the comments section, or post it on your blog and link below. If you do post it on your blog, please credit MPP and link it back here. Thank you for participating!

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on _____.
2. Today I am thankful ___________.
3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was_____________.
4. I will consider this week a success if I _____________.
5. I am really trying to ________________.

Seeking Rest

Posted by Ginna on May 25, 2012 | 4 comments

It’s pretty universal that The 10 Commandments are good metrics for morality in our society. Do not steal, do not murder, honor your parents. These are intuitive rules that I believe we are all born with – the distinction from right and wrong.

However, there is one commandment that is not intuitive in our society: #4: Keep the Sabbath Holy, aka: take one day off a week and rest. Of all of the commandments, this is probably the one that most people consider “optional.” And why is that? It’s resting. It’s not like God is asking us to do something that hard. Just relax, rest, enjoy His presence. Should be easy!

And yet my natural reaction is “You’re asking me to take a day off and do nothing but rest? But I have too much to do! You don’t really mean that do you, God? Surely you know how much I have to get done today.”

Psalm 127:1-2 says:

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”

I love that – For he gives to his beloved sleep.

How often do we wake up early, go to bed late, constantly feeling tired? I was getting into bed the other night and said to J: “Wouldn’t it be so nice if we didn’t have to sleep? If I could just get stuff done in these next 8 hours instead of sleeping? I would be so productive!”

But that’s exactly why God calls us to rest: to have a daily reminder that He is God and we are not. We have to let go of our control and trust that He will work in the midst of our rest. We are asked us to take a break from our work, our tasks, our lists so that we can rely on his faithfulness and trust that He will provide and give us abundantly more than we ask or imagine.

If God saved us when we were His enemies – how much more will He take care of us as His sons and daughters?

Wellness Wednesday :: My Ideal Day

Posted by Ginna on May 23, 2012 | 3 comments

Happy Wednesday y’all! Today I’d like to talk about routine and creating an ideal day. I am borrowing this post idea by Nancy Ray, one of my friends from college and an amazing photographer that lives in Raleigh. She recently posted on her blog what her ideal day would look like — not a day on vacation or in a perfect world, but an ideal work day in your busy life.

I love this exercise because it looks at where you are — whether you’re a student, full-time employee, freelancer or stay-at-home parent — and allows you to make the most of what your typical day holds. What would your life look like if you lived every day like your ideal one?

My ideal day…

{read more}

Emergency Funds: An Update on our Finances

Posted by Ginna on May 22, 2012 | 11 comments

I’m a list girl. I love making them, I love crossing things off, and I love the structure that it gives me for reaching my goals. I have even been known to write things down after I’ve already accomplished, just to feel the satisfaction of crossing it off. (Come on, I know I’m not the only one who does that – anyone else?)

I think that’s why of all the financial gurus out there, Dave Ramsey’s financial system resonated the most with me. I don’t agree with everything he says (for example, I use credit cards for perks), but really appreciated that he gives 7 clear steps I can cross off on my way to financial freedom.

Here are the Baby Steps that Dave gives:

$1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
College funding for children
Pay off home early
Build wealth and give!

I know it’s not kosher to talk money with people you know (hi friends and family who read this blog!), but I don’t really care anymore. J and I are happily on Step #3. I say happily because it can (and has) taken people years to get out of Step #2. (Hello? Remember the first two years of this blog?) But once you are debt free, it’s amazing how the dollars you used to allocate to pay off loans or car payments (or weddings!) are now transferred to savings!

For me and J, we’re striving to save $10,000 in an Emergency Fund (and are really stinking close to that goal!). It is unlikely that both of us will lose both our jobs at the same time, so we think $10,000 will be enough for now to cover any major emergencies. Eventually we will increase that amount when we have a house or kids, since there are a lot more potentially emergencies that can happen with more assets (and yes, I’m calling children an asset:).

After our (phase 1) emergency fund is complete, then all of our saving efforts will go to saving for a house down payment and investing in our retirement accounts. It is certainly a buyer’s market out there and we’re getting antsy as we continue to waste away our dollars in rent. We certainly don’t want to rush into buying a house, and there are a thousand of things to factor into that decision, but we want to make some sacrifices to save as much as we can to get into a house sooner rather than later. I’m not sure what kind of timing that may entail, but if we can be in a house in two years then I’ll be pretty satisfied. But who knows? We may not even be in Raleigh in two years.

So that’s where we are! What about you? Which Baby Step are you on? What is your magic Emergency Fund savings number? Is it 3 to 6 months of your paycheck amount? Or is it 3 to 6 months of the bare minimum expenses?

Weekly Money Check-Up: 5/21

Posted by Ginna on May 21, 2012 | 4 comments

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on cable/internet bill, aside from what we saved from our 5/15 paycheck.

2. Today I am thankful for great friendships. This past Friday we went to a goodbye party for an amazing couple J and I have gotten to know in the last year, and it was so cool to look around the party and see so many close relationships with friends whom we didn’t even know a year ago.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was going to church! I have been out of town for the past four weekends (whew!) and it was so nice to take it easy this weekend and go to back to our church.

4. I will consider this week a success if I get over a nasty cold (one of the reasons why I didn’t blog very much last week… sorry! This girl needs her rest).

5. I am really trying to get over my fear of spiders. In fact, there’s a spider that has made its home on my balcony and at first I really wanted to kill it and clean its web, but have decided to tolerate it and see if we can cohabitate together. If it stays away from me, I will stay away from him. My friends, this is revolutionary for me! (Although my real fear is granddaddy long legs… and I have yet to face one of them with any ounce of courage yet this year.)