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Wheat Scoop: Rise to the Challenge By Entering the 2025 National Festival of Breads

By
tammiehoeme
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0

For audio version, visit kswheat.com.

Ready to make 2025 your year of baking? Resolve to rise to the challenge and take your baking skills to the next level by entering the 2025 National Festival of Breads. Entries are open now through January 16, 2025, for the biennial competition for amateur bakers.

 

“The National Festival of Breads showcases the creativity of home bakers across the country,” said Cindy Falk, Kansas Wheat nutrition educator and festival co-director. “Join us for this beloved tradition that celebrates baking bread at home with your original entry.”

 

The Festival of Breads was started 34 years ago by the Kansas Wheat Commission, the Kansas Department of Agriculture and the Kansas Wheathearts, a women’s auxiliary group of wheat growers. The contest was designed to honor the art of baking, encourage the use of Kansas products and recognize the Kansas wheat and milling industries. The contest went national in 2009 and champions from all over the United States have won prior competitions.

 

The 2025 contest is sponsored by Kansas Wheat, King Arthur Baking Company, Manhattan Hy-Vee, Kansas Department of Agriculture and Stafford County Flour Mills. The contest is open to adult home bakers, 18 years or older, who submit an original recipe and photo in the online entry system. Entries for the 2025 contest will be accepted online through January 16, 2025.

 

This year’s competition includes two categories — quick bread and yeast bread.

 

Quick bread is defined as recipes made without yeast and with a leavening agent (baking powder or baking soda), which allows for immediate baking after preparation. Examples include muffins, scones, soda bread, tortillas, coffeecakes, pancakes, fritters, dumplings, fruit and nut breads, waffles, beer bread, biscuits and more.

 

Yeast breads are made with yeast (instant, active dry, bread machine yeast, etc.) and most often use bread flour, high-protein flour, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour or a combination of flours. Examples include sweet or savory breads and rolls, whole grain breads and rolls, Dutch oven breads, holiday breads and fancy braids, sandwich loaves and more.

 

Select recipes will be baked and evaluated in the test kitchen at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center by Falk and a team of experts before winners are selected and announced on June 4, 2025. Category winners will each receive a $1,000 check and a baking prize bundle. Honorable mention winners will receive a check for $100.

 

“The National Festival of Breads is the perfect opportunity to challenge yourself in the new year,” Falk said. “Whether you are putting a modern twist on a family favorite recipe or experimenting with new flavors or ingredients, this is your chance to showcase your baking style. Celebrate the joy of baking with family and friends as you practice, connect with a longstanding community of bakers and have some fun as you create something original!”

 

Find inspiration from previous winners, read the rules and enter the National Festival of Breads.

 

 

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Written by Julia Debes for Kansas Wheat

“Plastic Surgery: Transforming Lives Inside and Out”

By
Guest Columnist
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0

When many people hear the term plastic surgery images of Hollywood stars trying to fight back the effects of aging come to mind. It is easy to assume that plastic surgeons just deal in vanity. However, that would minimize everything that these talented surgeons accomplish with their scalpels. The term “Plastic Surgery” comes from the Greek term “Plastikos” meaning “to shape or form.”

Plastic surgeons work to form or change the outward appearance of people for a variety of reasons. They work on reconstructing how a person looks after having a disfiguring injury such as a severe burn or major trauma. They can also help with patients who have had an amputation. The goal is to try to give the person the appearance closer to what they had prior to the injury or minimize the outward appearance of damage.

For patients who were born with cleft lip and/or palate, plastic surgeons perform surgeries to close the defects in the lip and roof of the mouth that did not close properly prior to the patient being born. These abnormalities can make eating and speech development difficult. Plastic surgeons will often need to perform a series of surgeries to slowly repair and restore the appearance and function of the lips, nose, and mouth.

Women who have suffered from breast cancer may elect to have surgeries to repair or replace the breast tissue that was removed in order to remove the cancer to save their life. After major weight loss, many patients have excess skin folds that do not go away when the weight is lost. The extra abdominal skin can hang down like an apron and chafe surrounding skin as well as get skin infections. Plastic surgery can be performed to remove this excess skin.

Whether for cosmetic or reconstructive reasons, the surgeon’s job is the same. Their job is to help improve how someone feels about their appearance and improve function. What may seem like a minor issue to a stranger could be the only thing that patient sees when the look in the mirror. While we say beauty is only skin deep, many people have been teased or criticized for the way they look. Plastic surgery can change this if the patient desires.

The plastic surgeon can help change the outward appearance of a person to help them feel more confident and comfortable with their body. The various applications of their skills are so numerous, that it is hard to list them all. In the hands of a skilled plastic surgeon, the transformation goes far beyond appearances, helping patients reclaim their confidence, functionality, and quality of life. Thus, plastic surgeons truly can transform lives both inside and out.

Jill Kruse, D.O. is part of The Prairie Doc® team of physicians and currently practices as a hospitalist in Brookings, South Dakota. Follow The Prairie Doc® at www.prairiedoc.org and on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc®, a medical Q&A show, 2 podcasts, and a Radio program, providing health information based on science, built on trust, streaming live on Facebook most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central and wherever podcast can be found.

You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch

By
Steve Gilliland
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0

Welcome to Kansas, you’ll know when you’re here,

Cause we hunt our pheasants, our quail and our deer.

But that wiley ole’ Grinch tried to spoil my deer season

But he gave me no clue, not a why, not a reason.

I hunted deer high, and I hunted deer low

But I left empty handed, not a buck nor a doe.

Now the Who’s down in Whoville continued to feast

When that Grinch wrecked their Christmas and stole their roast beast.

But I needed a plan to show all was not lost

Then I scratched on my noggin” and I thought and I thought.

So, I set out to prove I could spoil his Grinch notion,

When out in the field there arose a commotion.

As I peered from my blind, what did appear,

But a strange looking sleigh pulled by flying reindeer.

So, I’m thinking “Take that” Mr. Grinch you old geezer,

Just one of those deer will fill my fridge and my freezer.

They landed their rig not far away,

And a chubby old man tumbled out of the sleigh.

Now I’m thinkin’ it’s Grinch dressed like St Nick,

Out here to fool me with some kind of trick.

To keep me from shootin’ one of these beasts,

To keep me from havin’ a fine reindeer feast.

But instead of defending his steeds from my hunt,

He gestured their way and said “Which one do you want?”

Now I thought this was odd for even the Grinch,

That he’d let me shoot one and not even flinch.

But the deer in the front had a bright shiny nose,

It’d be hard to miss that one the way that it glowed.

So, I lined up my shot, my freezer to fill

When commotion again came from over the hill

It’s looked like ole’ Santa runnin’ our way,

Seems the Grinch had tossed him out of his sleigh.

He tackled Ole’ Grinch and took back his red suit,

Then he put on his hat, his coat and his boots.

He climbed into the sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And off they all flew like the down of a thistle.

And I heard him exclaim as they flew out of sight,

“Thanks for not shootin’ Rudolph and ruining the night.”

But he also admonished to all who could hear

“Keep Christ in Christmas and Happy New Year.”

Guess I’ll travel to Whoville and join in their feast,

And hope that Ole’ Grinch gave them back their roast beast.

Merry Christmas from Steve and Joyce at Exploring Kansas Outdoors.

My favorite holiday

By
Guest Columnist
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0

My favorite holiday is nearly upon us. Getting together with family and friends to see one another and share the season is a blessing! Of course, gift giving is a fun part too!

If you have a gardener on your Christmas Gift list here are some ideas.

Wide brim gardening hat—protect your skin from sunburn and cancer later on in life (been there!)

Garden glove claws—Make digging and planting by had easier with gloved claws!

Gardening books—not only is reading good for you, you can learn a lot about gardening reading about it!

Gardening apron—Cary your tools you will need for the task at hand or hold seed packets as you plant in the spring and protect your clothes.

Drip irrigation kits—helps put water where it is needed by plants and not as wasteful as overhead sprinklers.

Bypass pruners—Make good clean cuts in trees and shrubs that will heal faster.

Portable neck fan—cool off as you work in the garden!

Tropical houseplants—houseplants help break up the doldrums of winter indoors.

Seed Starting Grow Stand—start your own seeds for your vegetable and flower garden and save money!

Gift Card– Give a gift card to their favorite garden store and let them pick what they want to buy!

You still have time to find those gifts for your gardeners! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Snickerdoodles

By
Debbie Dance Uhrig
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0

I took my own advise this weekend, and made two large batches of cookie dough and froze them in gallon Ziploc bags. We are traveling this year in and about the holidays and I will be cooking, so I’ve got a good start on things at home, and for a couple of gifts of homemade goodies.

I’m also going to brag because the tree is up, it looks delightful, and will bring us a great amount of joy over the next few weeks. Next weekend we have family events both days of the weekend, so things have to get done in a timely fashion. Then there’s the subdivision wreaths that I need to complete tomorrow night along with cooked meat and onions for a dinner of spaghetti and a traveling tater tot casserole, Ervin will be making for work.

There’s a guest room to get cleaned and a few gifts to work into baskets for next weekend, and I’ll be about done. One thing I thought I might stir up are my mock chicken fried steaks because they will bake in the oven. It keeps us from saying: ‘Oh let’s just go get a burger someplace.’ I’m also on the trail to make the shrimp creole base that I didn’t get made about 3 weeks ago.

Phillip’s partner, Paige and I were having a cookie discussion this weekend. One of the dough’s I made this weekend was snickerdoodles. We both concurred that it’s hard to find good ones at bakeries, and such. Why? They tend to cook them until they are hard. The best ones are still soft when you enjoy their yumminess. We can thank the Pennsylvania Dutch for this simple, yet delicious cookie. How do you keep them from getting hard? This is an easy one for me. With any cookie that ends with the crinkled look, I watch the oven and they will puff first and then drop. Pull them the second they drop to keep from having a hard snickerdoodle. I use this tip whenever I make cake batter cookies. That’s where you add like an egg and 1/3 cup of oil to the cake mix, roll them in sugar and bake.

Don’t forget the greatness of using parchment paper as you bake all your cookies. It protects the bake ware, but it also keeps the cookies from getting too dark. If you are baking on an old cookie sheet that is extremely brown, the cookies won’t bake too well, unless you cover the sheet first.

I have to brag a bit on my morning today. I suggested to Ervin that we have breakfast at the ‘Floating Cafe’, located at Indian Point Marina. I love the simple ambiance and the owners are wonderful people. We ordered our late breakfast and after a bit of coffee the owner came over to tell us how wonderful our son, Phillip is, and what a good job we did raising him. (I think both of us were holding in the joy and pleasure from that wonderful compliment.) So breakfast continued with lots of good energies bouncing around. As we were about to leave we were headed down the gangway when one of the girls came out asking if I wanted to feed the geese for them? You never have to ask me that question. It was fun! They ate right out of my hand and at the edge of the lake. Talk about a wonderful morning of blessings.

 

I wanted to ‘chuck’ making the cookie dough’s and grab a good book heading to bed early, but I’m glad I didn’t. Now the dough’s are made and I can get on with other projects for the week. Take time for a Hallmark movie and a bowl of popcorn. Things don’t have to be perfect all the time. Enjoy the blessings of this wonderful season. Simply Yours, The Covered Dish.

 

Snickerdoodles

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare bakeware, and set to the side as you pull ingredients together.

(2-3 dozen yield)

1 cup softened shortening (I use butter)

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 ¾ cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tarter

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Cinnamon and sugar for rolling dough balls-

Cream together the sugar and shortening, followed by the 2 eggs; blend well. In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients together and blend with a whisk or fork. Incorporate the dry into the wet gradually. Form into balls the size of a walnut and roll in a bowl of sugar and cinnamon. Place on cookie sheet and monitor at 9 minutes. The cookie size will determine if it takes 10-13 minutes total to bake.

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