SS Badger Mini Cruise, May 22, 2009

My college friend Cindy and I decided that we wanted to "sail into summer" on opening day of the SS Badger. Tickets were only $35 for a round trip "mini cruise" for the day!

Much to our surprise, Ludington has a parade to send people off on the first voyage of the season. People also line up along the channel waving good bye and the fire station has water flowing too :)

We went from Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI, which is 60 miles by Lake Michigan or approx 4 hours. We had to be there at 8am to start loading. We started leaving Ludington approx. 9:10 am and it was sprinkling out with the sun soon to come :) Got to Manitowoc about 1:20pm and had about 1-1/2 hours to walk around downtown.

Upon our walk downtown, we found many things to take pictures of and even found an antique shop where Cindy was in heaven and then I ended up finding a vintage shop where I found a hat that suits me perfectly :)

Departed Manitowoc, WI, approx 3:20pm and Cin and I had the perfect seats sitting in the sun on the way back (of course we got sun burns).

SS Badger docked back in Ludington, MI, approx 7:15pm. From there, we departed our separate ways and went to our homes.

What an awesome day with a great friend!

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Cindy's White Bread Recipe for Bread Maker

I love Cindy's homemade rolls and asked her for her recipe so I could make white bread in the bread maker. It turned out great and the bread is awesome even better as toast! Great Recipe!

Cindy’s White Bread Recipe
For Bread Maker

2 Tablespoon Shortening or butter or margarine (I used margarine)
1 ¼ Cup Warm Water
3 Cup Flour
2 Tablespoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 ¼ Teaspoon Yeast

In a liquid measuring cup, add shortening. Fill water to the level stated above. Add to bread pan. Then put ingredients in the order above in the bread pan. Select cycle. Start. Cindy's takes 3 hours, 40 minutes. Mine takes 2 hours, 20 minutes :)

This is for a 1# loaf.............

From bread

From bread

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Chocolate Cake in the Bread Maker

Another attempt at cooking with chocolate :) It tastes pretty good but I should have left it in there for about another 15-30 minutes. There's always a next time on this recipe!!

Chocolate Cake

1 1/4 c. milk (2% or whole)
1 stick of butter, melted
2 large eggs

Add all of these ingredients into the bread pan as listed, making sure that the melted butter, if hot, does not touch the raw eggs as it could scramble them.

1 tsp. vanilla
1 TBS baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c. cocoa powder

(the cocoa powder is an additional ingredient that has been added. At this time, you could also add a 2 TBS of raisins and omit the cocoa, or an additional 2 TBS chocolate chips. I have made it with blueberries, dried cranbrries, changed up the vanilla for banana extract and put bits of banana...the possibilites are ENDLESS)

1 c. white sugar
2 c. all purpose flour

Place the pan into the bread machine & set it on Batter Bread. I set mine on the one pound loaf normal setting for 2 hours 20 minutes but I am going to bake it an extra 15-30 minutes next time.

Press start & close the lid.

The machine does all the work for you. It mixes the batter and then bakes it too.

Remove the pan from the machine and place on a cooling rack for apx. 10 minutes.
Then, turn upside down and the cake should "pop" right out.

Allow the cake to cool completely, or serve warm.
The kids like it served with a dollup of fresh whipped cream or powdered sugar.

*(it can be cooked in a loaf pan in the oven too, on 350 for 20 minutes. Then , if it isn't cooked through, just add additional 5 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean)

From Drop Box

Recipe from another blogger (Debi)

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Chocolate Bread & Chocolate Butter

So, I have been trying to be a little more domestic lately. I found a recipe for "Chocolate Bread". After 20 hours of preparing and rising of the bread, it was ready to bake. It looked awesome! But, once I tried it...it just was not good at all!!

From Drop Box

So, onto my next loaf of "Chocolate Bread" ... this time in the bread maker. This one turned out great and was very sweet. Also, made some Chocolate Butter to go with it. Gave this loaf of bread and chocolate butter to my mom!!

Chocolate Bread with Chocolate Butter

1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
3 cups white bread flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer.
2. Select Basic or Sweet bread cycle and start machine.

Makes one (2 pound) loaf.

Chocolate Butter

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

1. Cream butter with electric mixer, beat in cooled chocolate until well mixed. Spoon into serving container with lid and chill until firm.
2. Serve with warm Chocolate Bread or other breads such as brioche or croissants.

Makes 3/4 cup.

From Drop Box

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Sassy Frassy in the tree, 4-28-09

Sassy Frassy likes to go outside but sometimes he doesn't want to come back in! He got outside and decided to run up the tree like a Koala Bear!

When he decides he wants back in, he will scratch on the front door...lol :)

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