Pinterest # 4

On my " I really want to try this" list last year was Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Bread. But then I put it out of my mind and didn't think about it anymore and not even Thanksgiving or Christmas had me thinking to give this bread a try. Now for some reason this time of year has me hankering for homemade bread and my mind wandered back to wanting to try this bread.

This Pinterest find was a little hard to come by and what I did find wasn't really what I wanted. I wanted a nice simple whip up any time bread, not a sweet dessert loaf.  I wanted to be able to take my smoked turkey, lettuce, tomato and maybe my basil mayo ( I go either way with mayo, sometimes yes sometimes no..) on this fun bread.

Not finding what I wanted had me go to my tried and true Raisin Bread recipe. I just omitted the cinnamon which in case your wondering is 1 tsp. Because this bread is slightly sweeter then regular bread I thought it would compliment the saltiness of the smoked turkey better.

For one loaf here's the recipe.

1 cup + 1 tbsp warm water
2 1/2 cups white flour
2 tbsp dry milk
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
1 pkg yeast or
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup cranberries
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

I used a mixer to knead the bread but by all means use those muscles and knead the dough till it forms a nice bread ball and isn't sticky anymore. (I'm not much of a timer on this I go by my eye and when it looks good I stop.) This is when you add your berries and nuts. Continue kneading till everything is incorporated. Cover with towel and let rise in a warm place till doubled in size. (about an hour)
Then take it out, give it another light kneading and form your loaf. I chose a greased loaf pan but you could probably form a ball on a tray and have a more rustic loaf. Let rise till doubled again and bake.
Here's where I differ from some recipes. I prefer to bake mine at a lower temp, 370 to be exact only because I think the temperature in my oven is out of whack. You may want to consult other bread recipes and come up with a temperature you're happy with.
Normally I'm a whole wheat bread eater but for my first try it always seems easier to go all white. Thanks Gluten! Next I'll be trying out a whole wheat loaf and see how it goes but the boys gave this loaf 2 thumbs up.
 If any one has another recipe for this bread I'd be interested in giving it a whirl! :)

A Little out of the Ordinary.

So when last we met I was in a bit of a funk. To me there is nothing like a problem bigger then oneself to quickly get you out of a funk and realize life is good when you live, where you live. So veering of my normal beaten path and onto a more political one, I bring you today's post.

Ashley and I were briefly discussing a topic that pops up once and a while between us. Cheap clothing and sweatshops. She had popped this website into my instant messaging today.

http://www.ecouterre.com/reality-show-sends-fashion-bloggers-to-work-in-cambodian-sweatshop/

I watched all the little episodes and I have to say I'm still upset just thinking about them. We talked about how making our own clothes or buying secondhand still doesn't solve the problem. We talked about the textile companies and asked ourselves are they any better. We went into the yarn we buy, the cheap knick-knacks, furniture and soon decided our heads would hurt to the point of explosion if we thought about how far the problem of a "fairly earned wage" runs.
I wear clothes and I need stuff and most of the people I know wear clothes and need stuff so maybe to start we should begin by asking the retailer a simple question "Did the person making this earn a fair wage?" We've already begun to ask about the fairness of the food we eat and drink. Why not our stuff?
I think if enough of us began asking more questions and stopped mindlessly shopping we could become voices for those who can't be heard and maybe just maybe retailers would become more accountable about the things they purchase for sale. :)

Funky Spring

I'm in a bit of a funk. With only three weeks of snow on the ground so far and you'd think I'd be dancing in the streets because I like snow. I like winter. But for some reason this year spring has been whispering to me in my sleep.( last night I was wearing a yellow skirt with orange trim and carrying an umbrella, it was raining and I was taking pictures of purple flowers) I've told it it's not time yet, I've got snowshoeing to do but spring is not listening it wants to be heard.
Soooo I decided this morning to see what it had to say. Much to my what will be my husbands dismay when he comes home tonight I'm sure.....

I did this.

It looked like this.

But now it looks like this.

I really want to use some of this.

Sonnet Spring from Tonic Living

And maybe a bit of this.

Drift Pomegranate

These seem springy enough to keep spring happy for now. :)

Pinterest # 3

Checking out Pinterest last fall I took note of their faux fur infinity scarves. I found a couple and clicked the like button.

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Then I made my own version out of an old fur coat I found at my local thrift store. I cut a couple of pieces from the bottom of the coat that when sewn together would give me a standard width and length of an infinity scarf. I then sewed it into a tube, turned it inside out and hand stitched the ends together. All that fur you never see any stitches. 

I like to wear it with this great chocolate brown coat I found in the summer. Its the perfect coat to wear when wearing petticoats.

Yes it's a real fur scarf which I know can bother some people but I'm thrilled by how warm it is. I wasn't expecting it to be a big difference in the warmth department vs faux or wool for that matter but there really is. I'm not a fan of being cold and with our Canadian winters and being so close to Lake Huron this means cold, damp, windy, winter weather.
Whether your a fan of fur or not this one fits my "try and stay warm for the winter" bill. :)

Just a footnote to add has anyone read this article on manmade fabrics? It was quite an interesting read.

Your Colour of 2015

This morning I was reading my fellow vintage loving Canadian gal pal Jessica talk about her colour of the year and realized that her colour for the 2015 year has been my colour of the decade. Really I had no idea that I gravitated this much towards the colour brown till I actually thought about brown.

This my bedroom. It has not changed at all and is still my haven.

Family room which I repainted in 2011. When searching the blog for this I didn't think it was that long ago. I still like my family room except for the brown chairs that are hanging around. They've got to go. Sooo uncomfortable.

My counter-tops are brown, my dogs are brown.

 My clothing leans towards brown.

This is 2013 and I still really like this coat for winter fun.

I think you get the picture that I was and am unknowing obsessed with brown. 

So my question to you this fine winters day is if you look around right now what colour do you find the most sprinkled throughout your house or wardrobe? If 2015 is the year you are thinking about painting, redecorating or adding something new to wear I suggest this be your colour. For ten or more years brown has seemingly been my colour of choice and I don't think its going anywhere fast. :)

Colour.

As the snow falls and the wind is well windy my thoughts of furniture fixing and painting are put on hold. :(  It takes forever to heat up the garage thus leaving only a few hours to work. Before I know it its time to shut things down for the evening and the garage cools off very quickly making the paint drying time very short and not a good thing. But my thoughts are always thinking about colour and patterns which brings me to the question.  Have you seen Pantone's Colour of the Year?

Its Marsala

I have to say when I first saw this colour I was like.. meh. For furniture or clothing I'm wasn't a fan of this throwback to the eighties, slightly updated dusty rose colour.

You can check out Pantone's Site to see its grand introduction into the colour world. For me I still wasn't impressed.

Then came my Knitpicks Magazine and I began to see that ok maybe mixed with other colours that I might like it.

Then this showed up in my Pinterest feed and I rather like its old world charm appeal.

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I'm still not 100% sold on the colour and I don't jump on the band wagon of new colour anyway when I pick paints or fabric. I go all artsy and let the project speak to me.

 This was last years it didn't make the cut to appear into any of my projects. We shall see if I warm up to Marsala this year. :)

Pinterest #2

 I had pinned this cookie recipe just a day or two before Christmas and knew I didn't have time to make them but thought they might make great Valentines Cookies. ( Seriously so many Christmas recipes double great as Valentines recipes.) Pretty aren't they!

Since we've been attending quite a few potlucks lately I thought it might be nice to try a gluten free version of these to take with us. Originally I was going to make half the recipe GF and the other half with white flour but I was out of white flour so all GF it was going to be. I used a bean and rice flour combo and went to work.

I followed the recipe and made my substitutions. Let the dough chill then

I rolled it out between two pieces of wax paper. I know from past experiences that my cookie dough might be a little more sticky then with white flour and What I should have done is sprinkle some rice flour onto the wax paper before I rolled them out. But now I was at the point of no return as I had already added the filling.(sometimes I'm not a patient girl) Freezing was of no help either.

Heres what my impatientness got me that not even a pretty plate could help.

It's not like I've never baked GF before honest!!

The taste of these far makes up for their looks though and have been Isaac approved but rest assured they will not be leaving this house. :)