Now we're cooking!

After several frustrating trips to the local grocer, I have decided we will no longer be buying pre-made bread. Between the trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, and whatever else they put in bread (all of those loaves that say "Healthy", "Health Nut," "Light"...what a load of crap!), I refuse to buy any of it!
I love the Sandwich Bread Recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, as it is tasty, easy, and makes two loaves.

However, all baking at my house had been halted b/c this weekend we bought a new (to us) stove to replace our old fire hazard. I was plenty excited; I was set to make sandwich bread. My enthusiasim waned upon John pulling out the old stove to find that it was hard-wired into the electrical lines -- no plug to unplug! EEK!
One trip to Home Depot later, and we were both too tired to deal with it on Saturday night. We did mangae to carry out the old stove to sit in our driveway until the "convenience center" opened up the next day.

Since we had no stove to cook on, we grilled out. Chicken for John, Amy's Texas Burger for me (pictured below). I also cut up some zucchini and squash, tossed them with olive oil and fajita seasonings, and put them on the grill in a foil packet. The dinner was yummy and filling! We ate our bbq by the fireplace while watching The Money Pit. A good flick that was to foreshadow our Sunday...
















Sunday morning came, John brought me coffee and an english muffin in bed. I was siked because I was able to relax and we were going to have our new stove hooked up today! John re-wired the outlet so we could put the stove in (ahhh...he is so handy!). I scrubbed it clean in the garage, and was ready to instally it by 11:00 AM! Ahh, but that was not to be! The old stove was wider on top than the new one. However, the old stove was a drop-in, and looks are deceiving. The stovetop was wider, but the oven portion was skinnier.

We tried to push the new stove into the too small space, but we were not having any more luck than the wicked haggy stepsisters in Cinderella trying to fit into the glass slipper. John did some banging around with the hammer, to no avail. The cabinet on the right side was up against a chair rail, base board, and 3/4 round.

This meant we had to pull out the fridge. (And hey, while we are at it, unplug it and take off the back cover so I can vacuum out all the dust bunnies on the coils...) Once out, John was able to use his handy-dandy cordless Ryobi sawzall (or some such thing), and take pieces out of the baseboard and chair rail w/o removing them completely!

Here is John in action

So, after removing the countertop and cabinet, our new stove was finally in place.

I could finally get around to making that bread! Oh, before I forget, I decided to run the self-cleaning option while the bread was rising. FIVE (5) + hours later, John had to go turn off the stove at the breaker box, so I could get the door to unlock. By then it wasn't even hot inside, but my bread dough had already gone through its third rising! I don't think I will be using that feature again.

And, so to put the happy ending on a long story, here is one of the loaves of bread that I made. I had several pieces for breakfast, with come unsalted butter. Yummy!