Thanks for the tips! It did double in bulk during the first rise in the machine. It looked great, much better than it looked for the second rise. Then the machine "punched it down" and I took it out (I was using the whole wheat bread cycle). I did the "lift and fold" type kneading a couple of times with just a wee bit of flour and tried to pinch it, but it was definately slack. I put it in the casserole for the second rise--it kinda rose but not very much. I put a wet paper towel over it that kind of stuck to the sticky dough, and when I removed it, it sort of "degassed" the bread and it went "blat." I tried to get it to raise a little more for a while, but by pressing in on the dough I could tell it was starting to get "over proofed" even though it wasn't rising, so I finally just said what the heck and baked it. I may try it again adding the cereal at the beep time. I just couldn't figure it out, because it looked so wonderful during the first rise. I hardly did a thing to it for the second rise and it just pooped out! The bread wasn't streaked, it just looks that way due to my poor camera/lighting, etc. You know back in the day I learned to knead bread until it has the consistency of an earlobe. With these artisan breads it seems more like the consistency of paper mache!

Bigshoes, I'm certainly not as ambitious as you. I start out with grocery store unsalted butter. I just follow the recipe posted on my blog. We had Saanen goats for a while, five of them. We loved them; they were so friendly and fun. We had three females and two "fixed" males. So, no milk. They were great natural lawnmowers for our five acre property. But, unfortunately, once my husband became so ill with congestive heart failure, etc., we had to sell them. We just couldn't take care of them any longer. But we do miss their antics.

Looks good to me....does it taste good? Well that's all that matters. I'll bet it gets eaten! Linda C

Hi Ellendi! I finally have some time to write after a very busy work week. I would recommend again trying to find "Diet for a Small Planet" and "Recipes for a Small Planet" by Frances Moore Lappe. She has a ton of recipes for light pilafs and casserole type things, and I have made just about every dish in the "Diet for a Small Planet" cookbook and they are all delicious. That is my "go to" cookbook for the basics. Yesterday I saw a link for a blog and cookbook that looks interesting, "The Sprouted Kitchen" which is done by Sarah and Hugh Forte, a cook and photographer combo. Looks like they have some good light recipes there. I haven't tried any. I do follow "Smitten Kitchen" by Deb Perleman and make a lot of her recipes. Here's a couple of my tried and true "ligher" (read not much eggs and cheese) recipes. Carbonada Criolla (Argentinian Tsimmes - Squash Casserole) Note: this is for filling a large hubbard squash. Occasionally you can find one about the size of a football. That's the kind of squash I love, but you can use this filling with delicata or acorn or turban squashes. So prebake the squash until almost done. The way I do my squash is to just put it in the oven uncut at 400 for about 30 min. Then I let it cool, slice it in half and scoop out the seeds. Then I bake it a little more until it is as soft as I like it. If I'm just serving it plain I would season with oil, butter, salt, maple syrup, whatever before the final baking. But for this dish, just salt and leave plain. 2 TBLSP olive oil 2 cups beans (I use kidney or a mix of black and kidney), fake meat crumbles or baked or smoked tofu. (Use one thing or a combo, depending on your taste. I usually use a combo of beans for color and meat crumbles for texture). 1 large coarsely chopped onion 2 cloves garlic 1 12 oz. can chopped stewed tomatoes 1 tsp. dried oregano 1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes. (Parboil these for faster prep) 1 large or 2 small yellow potatoes (I use yukon gold) I cup vegetable broth (I use "Better Than Bouillon") 2 med carrots 1 small can corn (5 oz, drained) or 2/3 cup frozen corn. USE ORGANIC, regular corn is genetically modified to be doused to the max with Roundup weed killer in the fields! 4-8 pitted prunes (I like the smaller amount) 4-8 dried peach or apple halves Saute onions, garlic and protein source. Add tomatoes and broth, bring to a slow boil. Add potatoes and carrots. Cook 30 min. on simmer, add more water if necessary. Add oregano, corn and fruit, simmer for 15 more minutes. Stuff tsimmes into already baked squash halves. Bake 15 more minutes more. Note: for more protein you can add rice, quinoa or barley to the tsimmes before stuffing. Top with some toasted nuts if you like, for presentation. This if a fabulous celebratory meal in the winter. To make it into a traditional casserole, mix the tsimmes with cubed squash (you could even use butternut if you are going this route) and rice and put it in a greased casserole for the last 15 min. You could top it with a mix of nuts, olive oil and matzah meal to be traditional, or bread crumbs. This is good with a dollop of greek yogurt, goat cheese or lite sour cream to top when serving. But not necessary if you're trying to stay "light" on fat and calories. Carrot-Cashew Curry Makes 4 servings 4 TBLSP oil (I would use peanut for this, or sunflower or grapeseed. I no longer use canola oil or corn oil, due to the Roundup connection) 3-4 cloves garlic 1 tsp. fresh ginger (I use powdered, but you could slice up and dice fresh ginger if you like) 1 tsp. mustard seeds (use a pinch dried if you don't have the seeds) 1 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. ground corriander 1 tsp. dill weed 1 tsp. tumeric 3/4 tsp. salt 2 cups sliced red onion 2 small potatoes, or tomatoes, or celery or a mix 4 large carrots all thinly sliced 2 cups fresh orange juice, or less (I would use less) 2 red peppers or 2 cups cabbage, whatever color and type you like dash cayenne pepper to taste Saute spices in oil 3-5 minutes. Don't get too brown or burn! Add onions, salt and carrots and potatoes if using. Saute another 5-8 minutes Add orange juice and simmer until veggies are tender. Note: some folks don't like the taste of cooked orange juice, they say it tends to give a vomit flavor (read: excess stomach acid). If I were to make this today I would probably use a mix of stewed tomatoes and some grated orange peel or orange juice. I can only drink low acid oj so I usually have that in the fridge, along with dried orange peel in the pantry. Add rest of veggies and simmer until barely cooked. Add veg. broth or water if the pan gets too dry. Add cayenne to taste. Serve over brown rice and topped with toasted cashews. You can use peanuts or almonds if you like them better, but this dish is best with cashews. Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt or low fat sour cream. You can add some tofu or yellow split peas if you want more protein. So there you have it, a typical meal for me and pretty hard core veggie so not sure if your daughters would like these kinds of things.