Getting ready for Easter

 

 

For Easter this year, I decided to have my Sunday Night Bible Club kiddos do a craft. Last Sunday when I got there I noticed I had ALL boys. I was a little worried that they would not want to do it but it turned out really good.

 

Each boy got a paper plate to color. While they were coloring I and another teacher walked around and traced their hands on brown paper and cut out them out.

 

When the boys were down coloring I gave them their hand cutouts and green leaf cutouts that I cut out earlier. These the glued on the hands to make trees. While they were doing this I went around and cut the plates in half, cut a "door" out of one half and stapled the two halves together insides facing in.

 

When they were done with their trees I gave them a circle of brown paper for a stone and then they could glue the stone and tree on the front. I wrote, "Jesus is risen" on the front of the tree. They were all very proud of their tombs.

 

 

 

This Easter at Church we are having a Brunch Potluck. I decided to try to make Almond Brunch Bread.

 

What you need:

 

BREAD
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105°F. to 115°F.)
3/4 cup warm milk (105°F. to 115°F.)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon anise seeds
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
4 1/2 to 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

TOPPING
1 egg white, beaten
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sugar

What you do:
1. In large bowl, combine yeast and warm water; stir. Let stand about 5 minutes or until yeast foams.

Stir in milk, 1/2 cup sugar, butter, lemon peel, anise seeds, salt and eggs. Beat in flour 1 cup at a time until dough is very stiff but still smooth. Cover;

 let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease. Turn dough out onto floured surface; knead until dough is pliable. Divide dough into 4 equal portions.
3. On lightly floured surface, roll 1 portion into a round loaf; flatten slightly. Place in center of baking sheet.

4. On lightly floured surface, roll remaining 3 portions into ropes about 30 inches long.

 Braid ropes together to make 1 braid about 24 inches long. Wrap braid, without stretching, around dough on baking sheet. Pinch ends together. (At this point, dough can be covered and refrigerated overnight.)

5. Let shaped dough rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 1 hour. (Chilled dough may take as long as 2 hours to rise.) Meanwhile, heat oven to 350°F. Brush dough with egg white; sprinkle with almonds. Brush almonds with egg white; sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and dry. If loaf begins to brown before center is done, loosely cover with foil.

 

 

 

This was my first time trying a complex bread like this. It turned out pretty well. It looks (and smells) very good. I can't wait until tomorrow morning to try it.

The LONG over due post!

The last two and a half weeks was full of just about everything. This is the first chance I've had to post. The first idea I tried was making an Easter Egg wreath. I saw this really cute idea online where you wrap pastic eggs with yarn. I managed to do TWO!

 

It took so long and so much glue (not to mention quite a few burned fingers) that I gave up. They didn't look nearly as cute as the ones online. So I wrapped the wreath frame in yarn instead. I haven't decided if I am going to ad to it yet or not.

The next thing I did was a success! I made Oatmeal Crème Pie Truffles. All you need is a box of Oatmeal Crème Pies, a pkg. of cream cheese, and chocolate to coat.

 

The first thing you do is pulse the pies in a food processor. Mine is a tiny little thing and I could only fit two or three pies in at a time. It was quite fun!

 

 

 

Then I mixed in the cream cheese. I used my hands for this.

 

Next, I placed the batter in balls on a lined cookie sheet. I placed this sheet in the freezer for about 15 min.

 

While the truffles were in the freezer, I melted the chocolate. I did not have a lot so I mixed in a little nutella (YUM).

 

Then I rolled the truffles in the chocolate and put them back in the freezer for a while. After they had hardened they could go in the refrigerator. If they got left out, they started to melt. J

 

The next few things I made for my class of three-year-olds at work.

 The first thing I tried was “Smash Balls”. These are cotton balls that have been dipped in a flour and water solution (I dyed mine blue).

 

Then you bake them at 325 for 45 min.

 

Then next step is to peel them off the foil. (If I didn’t use the foil, I don’t think that they would have come off the pan. These did NOT turn out the way they looked on Pinterest. I decided not to use them.

 

Instead, I am going to use colored rice. To color the rice, I mixed 1 ½ cups rice with 1tablespoon of vinegar and the desired amount of food coloring. I mixed it in a zip top bag until I realized that I was not going to be able to get all of the rice back out without getting covered in food coloring. I switched to using an old mayo jar. This I could scrape out with a spatula and not get too messy. Then I spread the rice out on a foil lined cookie sheet and baked for 10 at 175.

 

 

 

After I baked the rice I wanted to mix the different colors up and put it all in an off brand zip top bag. As I was doing this the next picture shows what happened! Ooops!!

Here is a picture of it in use:

 

Next comes what I like to call: “Sparkle Gel Tracing Bags”. I took a zip top bag and put blue hair gel and glitter inside and taped the tops shut really good.

 

 The kiddos used these to trace letters in the gel (and not get sticky!).

 

 

 

Another fun thing that I did was “Spaghetti Brooms”. These are pieces of spaghetti that I tied together before cooking them.

 

 

Then the kiddos painted with them.

 

Some took them a part and just played with the lose noodles in the paint.

 

 

Another activity we did this week was "Color Fizzies." This is a pan full of bakimg soda that the kids drop colored vinegar into.

 

 

 

Cookies and Coleslaw!

I often find recipes on Pinterest. Here are two healthy (or ones I have made a little healthier) recipes I tried last night.

The first is Apple Bacon Coleslaw. This recipe caught my eye because I like apple and bacon. But When I looked at the ingredient list I KNEW I had to try it. It Had FENNEL in it! I am one of those crazy people who really like raw fennel (actually, I like it any way it is served). Here is the recipe I copied from online.

 

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup honey

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 cup pulp free orange juice

 Juice from 1/2 fresh lemon

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 small Fennel shredded

1 medium cabbage, cored, shredded

1/2 pack of bacon fried crispy then broken up into small pieces

1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced

4 firm apples, peeled, cored and shredded

Mix everything in a large bowl and let sit in the fridge overnight…This is always better if you let it sit for a day or so…really lets the flavors out…

 

The first thing I did was cook the bacon. I didn’t use regular bacon. I used turkey (personal preference). I also cut the bacon in little pieces before I cooked it.  

 

 

Then I mixed the first ingredients together in a bowl (I used dairy free mayonnaise but didn’t use kosher salt).

 

 

Then I chopped everything else and mixed it in a large bowl. I only used two apples and I left the skin on.

 

 

 

Also if I make this again (and I probably will) I would add purple cabbage and more fennel. I might even add poppy seeds. It was delicious!!!!!

 

The second recipe I tried was for some healthy chocolate chip cookies. My friend Heather had posted these on her blog, pinterest365.com, and I saw them and thought I would try them sometime. Well I went to get a banana last night and I noticed that they needed to be used. See picture below. So I thought I’d try.

 

 

I took my four bananas, mushed them, and added 2 cups of rolled oats. They were a bit sticky so I added a handful more of oats. Then I added some Ghirardelli chocolate chips! Then I put rounded spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet. I flattened them out a bit as well.

 

 

I baked them for 15 min. at 350⁰. They came out looking very yummy! I was, however, worried that looks were going to be deceiving. I tried one and then had to have a second because they were very good! They were a lot like a chewy granola bar.

 

About Me and Why I'm Blogging!

My name is Jenn. I live in Sunny California. However, I grew up in Northern Indiana. I LOVE to craft! I have been crafting since I was very young. I have found many great ideas on Pinterest and thought that it would be fun to blog about my adventures in taking the ideas I saw online and putting my spin on them. Here are the first two projects that I have done:

1) Fuzzy Spring Wreath

My mom was looking for something to hang on her door and didn’t have a craft store close to her house so I decided to make one for her. I have seen yarn wrapped wreaths on Pinterest and decided I wanted to make one. (My friend Lexie makes one for every season it seems like!) I found two kinds of fuzzy yarn and thought it would look like grass. I wrapped them around the foam wreath I bought, gluing the beginning and the ends.

Then I cut the stems off of some beautiful Gerber daisies and glued them on the wreath.

 

I glued a ribbon and bow on the top. I glued it on so that the wreath would hang so that the flowers were off to the side instead of hanging at the bottom.

 

 

2) Taggie Lion Head Shakers

 

 

With My Best friend and FIVE Ladies at church expecting I wanted to do something for them. I saw something like this and decided I could do it just as easily and probably cheaper. I started by cutting circles out of fabric. I did blue fleece (2 pieces) for the boys and pink cotton (1 piece) and pink fleece (1 piece) for the girls.

 

Then I sewed little hearts I found in my crafting stash on for the nose and buttons for the eyes. I used two buttons per eye. I used brown and pink for the girls and blue and green for the boys.

 

Next I used embroidery thread and backstitched mouths and eyebrows.

 

Then I cut lengths of various ribbons about 2 ½ in long, folded them in half, and pinned them around the edge of the face with the cut edges facing out.

 

 At this point I also cut circles of batting to line the inside with. Then I layered everything together. First was the batting, then the face with ribbons, and then the back piece (Face and back were placed right sides together). I then sewed all the way around leaving a gap to turn it. I then decided that I wanted to stuff them and add a shaker. To make the shakers I took a small Easter egg and filled it half full of rice.

 

I then stuffed the lion putting the shaker in the middle of the stuffing. Then I hand stitched it closed.