Nikki Roche

I'm fairly new to sewing, and my daughter is fairly new to Barbie dolls now that her Nana has bought her one. Any ideas where I might find patterns for simple Barbie doll clothes that a toddler or preschooler could also take on and off? I'm thinking a dress with Velcro or something like that.
While I'm new to sewing, I can somewhat mix and match and take what I need from one thing for something else.

But I don't know where to even start with finding a pattern. Suggestions? Favorite sites or tutorials?

I baked sourdough pizza crust, and this recipe is a keeper! Unlike the last one, this one doesn't call for egg, and that seemed to make a positive difference with the texture.

I used this recipe for calzones from Fresh is Real, but I rolled it out as 2 pizza crusts instead of adding a filling.
I baked the crusts about 3/4 of the way. One crust, I froze to make pizza at a later date. The other crust, I cut into pieces, slathered melted butter on top, and generously sprinkled them with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt. I baked them on the "toast" setting of my toaster oven until the edges were slightly crispy. So good! It was not a copycat of Little Caesar's Crazy Bread (breadsticks), but it did remind me of it and was the closest thing that I've had to Crazy Bread in a lot of years.

Total ferment used:
1.5 cups for oat bars
1.5 cups for waffles
.5 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for pecan pie crust
.25 cup for lemon muffins
1 cup for pancakes
1 cup for pizza crust
1 cup for loaf bread
1 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for scones
1 cup for loaf bread
.5 cup for brownies
.5 cup for snickerdoodle cookies
1 cup for loaf bread
.5 cup for brownies
1 cup for chai fig muffins
.75 cup for pizza crust

I'm not including these in my total ferment for PEP, but I'm adding it for reference.

Sourdough waffles adapted from this recipe at The Roasted Root turned out delicious. I used canned coconut milk and melted ghee instead of avocado oil. I also beat the egg whites separately with a pinch of cream of tartar until peaks formed, and then folded them into the waffle batter. The waffles were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The texture wasn't as good after freezing the extras, but I remember the same thing happening when a wheat-based waffle recipe called for whipped egg whites. They lose their fluffiness after the first day. Any suggestions to fix this problem, or is that just what happens when you rely on beaten egg whites for much of the texture?

I also baked oatmeal cookies and added a couple of heaping spoonfuls of sourdough starter to the batter. I don't have the original recipe with me, but I added chia seeds and a small scoop of gelatin powder to help bind the cookies and make up for the extra moisture of the sourdough starter. It worked amazingly well, creating cookies that were chewy with crisp edges and that held together instead of being crumbly.

I baked sourdough chai fig muffins, and they tasted amazing!
My go-to muffin recipe is this Cardamom banana bread from Christopher Kimball of Milk Street Kitchen. I've adapted it to make a variety of flavors, including spiced pear parsnip muffins and winter squash gingerbread. This time, I made these changes:

1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup homeground flour + .5 cup oats (instead of 2 cups flour)
1.5 cups fig puree (instead of 2 cups mashed banana)
.5 cup sugar (instead of 3/4 cup)
Melted ghee instead of brown butter
.5 tsp baking soda (instead of 1 tsp)
1 tsp chai spice blend and .5 tsp cinnamon (instead of cardamom)
Omit the baking powder

My current flour blend is millet, sorghum, amaranth, and buckwheat, with a rough ratio of 4:4:1:1.

Total ferment used:
1.5 cups for oat bars
1.5 cups for waffles
.5 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for pecan pie crust
.25 cup for lemon muffins
1 cup for pancakes
1 cup for pizza crust
1 cup for loaf bread
1 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for scones
1 cup for loaf bread
.5 cup for brownies
.5 cup for snickerdoodle cookies
1 cup for loaf bread
.5 cup for brownies
1 cup for chai fig muffins

I baked more brownies, following the same recipe and tweaks from my previous post, except I used whole eggs this time instead of just yolks and made sure that I didn't overbake it. I called it dark chocolate cake, and my family and I loved it. I imagine using baking chocolate instead of cacao powder would have produced a fudgier brownie texture instead of the cakey texture.

Total ferment used:
1.5 cups for oat bars
1.5 cups for waffles
.5 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for pecan pie crust
.25 cup for lemon muffins
1 cup for pancakes
1 cup for pizza crust
1 cup for loaf bread
1 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for scones
1 cup for loaf bread
.5 cup for brownies
.5 cup for snickerdoodle cookies
1 cup for loaf bread
.5 cup for brownies

The starter has an enticing fragrance now. I open the container sometimes just to smell it and anticipate what I might bake next.

I baked another loaf of bread and followed nearly the same process as the last loaf, except I forgot the maple syrup and I ran out of flax seed. Of the 1/3 cup of ground seed, about 1/3 was flax and 2/3 was ground chia seeds. The loaf still tastes good, but the texture is slightly different. I've been wondering what difference flax vs chia would make. I found I needed to add extra water with the chia seeds to achieve the same consistency of sticky, floppy dough. The baked bread was moister, not gummy like the first loaf but a bit wetter than the second loaf. I baked it until the interior reached 208F. I also subbed finely ground almond meal for the pecan meal, and that removed the grainy texture.

When looking online at sandwich bread recipes, it seems like the gold standard is when slices are fully flexible like conventional white bread. This is not that bread, at least not with my modifications. I never tried the original recipe exactly as written. But I'm not looking for a flexible bread. My main desires are a whole grain bread that tastes good and slices that won't fall apart with a thick sandwich. I've succeeded with those 2 things.

When we were ready to try a slice, I told my daughter Roo, "Hold on, let me take a picture." She kept her hand on that slice and waited for me to finish, but she wasn't going to give up the first hot piece! We didn't wait for the bread to fully cool like it's recommended.

Total ferment used:
1.5 cups for oat bars
1.5 cups for waffles
.5 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for pecan pie crust
.25 cup for lemon muffins
1 cup for pancakes
1 cup for pizza crust
1 cup for loaf bread
1 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for scones
1 cup for loaf bread
.5 cup for brownies
.5 cup for snickerdoodle cookies
1 cup for loaf bread

I baked sourdough snickerdoodle cookies, and they were a big hit with my whole family, including those who eat gluten and aren't big fans of sourdough.

I used this recipe from Cultured Food Life with modifications to make it gluten free. I used my current go-to homeground flour mix of millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and amaranth (roughly a 4:4:1:1 ratio). I added a tsp of psyllium husk and an egg yolk as binders, and I used regular sugar instead of coconut sugar.

I had to bake them longer than other cookies. More like 16 minutes than the 12 minutes that the recipe called for. When slightly underbaked like we usually like, they were super crumbly. Baking at 16 minutes and allowing them to fully cool before eating, they were crumbly but much less so.

The coconut oil did impart a slight coconut flavor, but there were no complaints about it. The cinnamon, sugar, and sourdough were stronger flavors than the coconut.

Total ferment used:
1.5 cups for oat bars
1.5 cups for waffles
.5 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for pecan pie crust
.25 cup for lemon muffins
1 cup for pancakes
1 cup for pizza crust
1 cup for loaf bread
1 cup for pancakes
.5 cup for scones
1 cup for loaf bread
.5 cup for brownies
.5 cup for snickerdoodle cookies

This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum.  Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Food Prep and Preservation

This is part of the vegan alternative to the frying an egg on a cast iron skillet BB.



Here are a couple of ways to make hash browns in a cast iron skillet:
  - Shredded Potato Hash Browns
  - Sweet Potato Hash Browns

This how to cook hashbrowns on a cast iron skillet:



To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
  - you must use a cast iron skillet
  - the hash browns must cover the entire skillet
  - the hash browns must make one large intact gob
      - a bit like you are making a giant potato chip from a bunch of grated potatoes
      - without sticking

To show you've completed this BB, you must provide:
  - a video that is no longer than 30 seconds long showing
        - grated potatoes going in
        - the first flip as one piece, and there is no sticking
        - the single piece being moved onto a plate - no sticking
        - cleanup
        - feel free to edit the video and even speed up the video
        - put the video on youtube and embed the video in this thread

Clarifications:
- All food prep and preservation BBs strictly prohibit plastic, teflon or aluminum touching the food during the cooking or storage process

Thank you, Saana!

I fixed the junkpole fence image
https://permies.com/wiki/147930/Build-Junkpole-Fence-Acre-Plot

And the yellow jacket image and video
https://permies.com/wiki/108237/pep-animal-care/Relocating-Yellow-Jacket-Nest-PEP

And the hash browns in a cast iron skillet
https://permies.com/wiki/106100/pep-food-prep-preservation/PEP-BB-food-sand-vegan#865705

This is a badge bit (BB) that is part of the PEP curriculum.  Completing this BB is part of getting the sand badge in Animal Care.

In this Badge Bit you will relocate an yellowjacket nest to a useful location.



Here are some articles on it:
  - Wasps are Friends
  - Benefits of Yellow Jackets and Wasps
  - Relocating Yellow Jacket Nest

Here are some nice videos on yellow jacket usefulness and moving them.






To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
 - you must move a yellow jacket nest from an inconvenient location to a useful location
    - any papery wasp, hornet or yellow jacket nest qualifies for this
    - ground nests do not qualify

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must:
 - post a picture of the yellowjacket nest in an inconvenient location
 - post a picture of the yellowjacket nest no longer in that same location
 - post a picture of the yellow jacket nest in a useful location