Making Homemade Bagels

Wow!  Making homemade bagels can be a big job!  You have to start them with potato water.  So it is a good idea to think ahead and when you make potatoes, save your water for bagels.  I usually make mashed potatoes for supper the night before I am going to be making bagels.  I just save my water in a covered kettle in the fridge until I am ready.  Then I heat the potato water till warm on the stove.  This is one of my favorite things to make even though they take so long.  There is nothing like them.  They are so fresh and yummy.  The other thing that makes them a big job is that they have to be boiled 3 minutes on each side and then baked.  If you are still interested in making them after getting this information, I have included my favorite recipe.  These are the best topped with cream cheese and a homemade raspberry freezer jam.
Some benefits of making your own bagels is that they are a lot cheaper then buying them.  You can freeze them and use when ready.  If you raise chickens, this is a great way to use up extra eggs.

BAGEL RECIPE

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups potato water
2 packages of yeast
1 Tbs. of sugar
1 Tbs. salt
3 Tbs. canola oil
3 eggs
6 cups of flour

Heat water to just warm on your wrist.  Pour into your largest mixing bowl.  Add the yeast, sugar, salt, oil and eggs.  Beat with a wire whisk until all mixed.  Add the flour 3 cups at a time.  Then, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until smooth and elastic like.  Wash out the mixing bowl and dry it.  Grease the bowl and put the dough in it, cover with a cloth, and set in a warm place to rise.  Once the dough rises once, push it down and get ready to form it.  Start by forming the dough into 2 long log rolls.  Then cut each of these into 12 pieces.  These little pieces will each be 1 bagel.  Roll each one in your hands like a play dough snake.  Then, join the ends to make a ring.  Pinch together and just dab with water where you pinched it to hold it together.  After you have formed all the bagels, let them set and rise for about 20 minutes.
While they are rising.  Get your largest kettle, add 1/4 cup sugar and a gallon of water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Once it is boiling, Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Add bagels to the water about 4 to a time and boil 3 minutes on each side.  Then put on a greased cookie sheet and bake.  These will bake until they are lightly brown on bottom and the top.  Keep in mind they are mostly cooked from boiling.  They are just going into the oven to brown. 
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SUPER MOON

Did anyone see that Super Moon we had last week?  It was really something.  My husband went down to the Old Mill Pond where he could get a good look at it.  He ended up taking a bunch of really interesting pictures of it. 
This is the biggest and brightest full moon of the year.  This moon is closer to earth then the average moon.  This moon is closer to earth then the average moon. 
Check out these photos.
http://www.zazzle.com/mainewildsensations/super+moon+gifts

Collecting Old Jars and Bottles Part 3

I was very surprised the other day, when we found an old foundation.  I started to look around and thought that I had found the old personal dump.  I was digging around and found a few nice ones.  Then, my husband found another personal dump on the old property, this one was huge.  He filled 2 big clothes baskets to the top!  It was a great find.  I can't wait to go back and dig deeper.  We got all of these ones just on the very top, after brushing away some old cans.  We found really old brown glass ones, old soda bottles, and everything else you can imagine.  This has been so fun for me. 
If you are out in the woods, keep your eyes open, you never know what you might find!