The Why? The How?

My name is Jessie. I am a devoted mother of two young daughters, Abigail and Jennavieve ages four and two, and a devoted wife to my perfect match, Nate. Did I mention that am also a full time Process Engineer for a local manufacturer? So, why on earth would I think I have time to write a blog, not to mention what my purpose of the blog is going to be!

It all started with a New Year's resolution.... Instead of the standard "lose weight", "eat better", "have more patience", I decided that my resolution would be to NOT buy any bread. Yes, that is right, I made a deal with myself and my family that I would produce our own bread so I wouldn't have to spend $4 a loaf on bread that probably had a ton of preservatives in it anyway. While some may say I cheat, I say I am resourceful, as I have a bread machine to help out my endeavors!

So, to add on to my resolution, I started talking to my favorite baker of all time, a mentor of mine, a close friend and confidant, aka, Mom. I told her that I was thinking about starting a blog...kind of combination of the movie Julie and Julia, and The Pioneer Woman. But in my case, a girl from Vermont, what do we all think of, but of course, King Arthur Flour. Mom thought, "what a cool idea", and volunteered to join my quest, hence the Vermont Girls' Baking Quest!

Next question...how do we start? Well, my original thought was of course, at the beginning, which in my mind is the red and white baking book. Mom and I talked about how we would proceed, not giving us a time line, as we are both busy working women, but starting at the beginning of the book and moving forward. But after a conversation, we thought we may change our strategy a little, as making 10 different types of pancakes or waffles in a row may get tedious. Then, I saw the next chapter was fried doughs...not sure we (or our waste lines) could handle so many fried dough recipes in row! So a new strategy was born! We would alternate chapters. So first a pancake recipe from chapter one (the first recipe), then the first recipe from chapter two, a fried dough recipe, the first recipe from chapter three, and so on.

So, that's the story, a baking mission that with benefit both our friends and probably co-workers as well (although not a resolution, we are still conscious of our waste lines!)

Soon to come, our thoughts on the first recipe!