Homemade #3: Animal bread

Artisan Bread (you can make a nice loaf, or a bunch of little animals):

Ingredients

3 cups lukewarm water

1 ½ tbsp granulated yeast

½ tbsp salt

6 ½ cups unbleached white flour

 

Directions

1. Add yeast and to water in a large bowl.
2. Mix salt and flour together well, and add to yeast mixture. If mixing becomes too difficult, put on floured counter and knead.
   
3. Cover with towel and let bread rise for 1-2 hours at room temperature.
   
4. Gently stretch and knead dough, adding flour as-needed to keep it from sticking to your hands. Form dough into rough ball or little animal shapes.
   
5. Pre-heat oven to 350°, placing baking stone on middle rack and a small, shallow pan (for water) on another rack. Leave enough room between racks for bread to rise.  Bake for about 30 minutes (keep checking, as small pieces will burn).
   
6. Remove bread from oven and let rest on wire rack for at least 20 minutes.
   

Olivia adjusting the tail on her mouse.  And below the girls end results, Hannah's cat came out nicely.  I made a big simple loaf of artisan bread with the rest.

Homemade #2: Paper snowflakes

It has snowed here in Ohio already.  But it wasn't enough.  I am hoping for more very soon!  We made paper snowflakes.  The thinner the paper, the easier it is to cut through the layers of thick folded paper.  We used:

• coffee filters
• scissors

I fold the paper in half first, then in thirds, as I drew on the coffee filter, so you can see, that was you get a more realistic 6-pointed snowflake when you're done.

We taped them to the glass window, which will be easy to clean off if any of the sticky tape residue sticks.  We actually ran out of regular tape a month ago and have only been using washi tape.  I ♥ washi tape!

*here's a washi tape giveaway!!!

Homemade #1: Oranges and cloves

Everyday we are baking or making something special.  It's nice to see what everyone else is doing, to get inspiration for fun things we can do together, on Pinterest (which is mostly just links to crafty things on blogs)...and I'm on a budget. 

Homemade gifts and decorations and food ♥  You can do these with your children.  In my experience, I have found that open-ended activities are much more interesting, allow for creativity and learning!  I am not one who likes or encourages worksheets or colouring books.  Give a young child a blank sketchbook, instead, and what you'll see and hear will be wonderful stories full of imagination!!!

 To make this pomander, you'll need:

• oranges
• whole cloves

Simply push the pointy end of the clove into the orange!  The end result is a pretty and fragrant orange you can put on your mantel, as we did, or tie with a string or ribbon and hang it up, or place them on a dish or bowl in the center of your dining room table for a centerpiece.

Sewing with scraps...

Little ornaments I sewed using fabric scraps!  

Check out this giveaway to get this beautiful quarter-yard fabric bundle to sew your own:

I was inspired by this:

P.S. We got 2 eggs over the weekend....nothing from Cinnamon, yet (she'll lay the blue-green), one I'm pretty sure is from Nutmeg and the other a first egg from Pepper, as there is a little blood on it.  Poor dear.  I hope next time is easier for her.  ♥

Cranberries and popcorn

We got out 3 needles and thread and strung popcorn and cranberries.  They were the leftovers...I baked the vegan cranberry bread (link to recipe in my previous post), which was really scrumptious!!!

 Olivia hung hers as a garland outside on the tree by our front window.

 And we gave the chickens the leftover popcorn.

Their nests...where we find eggs...just one brown egg a day now.  Hoping to see 2 brown and one greenish-blue soon!

 Behind the ladder under the deck...a favorite spot for dust "bathing."

And the cranberry & popcorn garland Hannah made is swooping on the right side of the light and mine on the left...you can see Velvet the cat looking out the window!  ♥ 

Yarn along...

Today is the first day of the Nativity fast for us, as Orthodox Christians, who follow the old calendar.  Last year, we started a countdown and opened up a package with a (used) book each day, so my girls really looked forward to the fasting period.  We try to live simpler, eating no meat, or dairy and less television (not that we watch it much anyhow) so that we can pray more and think about the time before Christ's birth!

I'm crocheting another shawl right now for my niece, well actually just adding fringe right now.  I am reading "Everyday Saints" by Archimandrite Tikhon.  ♥
I have mushrooms and onions that I'll chop up and cook with olive oil and then serve with angel hair pasta.  We have a good supply of organic gala apples, for snack.

And I plan to bake this later today, as I have a bag of fresh cranberries in the refrigerator.

Brekkie

We sipped this three ginger tea, made in the UK (the English do tea the best, in my opinion) by Pukka.  My sister, her husband and 3 month old baby, Elizabeth, are now here visiting and brought me this box of tea, which I cannot find in any stores in this area.  We also had a slice of pumpkin bread.  Brekkie is Australian slang for breakfast.  ♥  It's a term we use often in our home.  "What's for brekkie?"

Pumpkin bread (this is a delicious and vegan):

2 cups pumpkin pulp (bake half pumpkin, scrape flesh from skin, then puree)
2 cups sugar
1 cup coconut oil ($5.99 for a 16 oz. jar of organic virgin coconut oil at Trader Joe's)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur's)
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Mix wet ingredients in large bowl, then dry ingredients in smaller bowl, then pour the bowl of wet ingredients into the large bowl and mix thoroughly. Makes 12 muffins and 4 small loaves (I use the Pampered Chef mini-loaf stoneware) for me... Bake at 350 for 15-25 minutes (muffins are done quicker).

 After lunch, enjoying a pomegranate together....and then little Elizabeth fell asleep in Hannah's arms.

Very nice weather here...sunny and 60s.  We went swimming yesterday, indoors.  My little niece only dipped her feet in.  Olivia & Hannah puffed up their swimsuits with air. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans, tomorrow!  This mouse family (by Maggie Rudy) is enjoying a roasted walnut. ♥