My daily journal stopped, because I went to a women's retreat for the weekend, then came back and spent a few days going through a stomach flu and recovering. So now I'm back out of the habit of housecleaning, but would like to start that up again.

A friend gave me a loaf of Amish Friendship Bread, and the starter. So I've gotten rid of the original soudough starter I was using, and am going to try using the sweet Amish sourdough starter for lots of different recipes. Especially since I don't want to constantly be stuck trying to give away 3 starters every 10 days--you quickly run out of recipients doing that. But my friend and I have found several sourdough recipes in books and on the internet--so I'll be experimenting.

When my starter ripened, on Day 10, I used up the extra portions (instead of giving them away), tripling the recipe, and made three large loaves of Sweet Friendship Bread. We've been enjoying it. I used part whole-grain flour, and a little less sugar, and it still tastes quite sweet. I also substituted my tart applesauce for some of the oil, and had a little extra starter, which I used instead of the large box of vanilla pudding mix. It came out just as good with the changes.

I've found and ordered a food mill from Ebay. When I get it, I'll use up the rest of the cooking apples for applesauce.