Our Budding Artist

Mary has really been having fun with art lately.  When she was a little younger she only wanted to paint and use the color red.  She did some really awesome paintings in red but now she is branching out into other mediums and is having a blast.  Here is some of her artwork and pictures of her working on them.

When she hung this picture over her bed, she said it would be like a window to the outside.

To Remember

A dear friend contacted us and wanted to buy one of our lamps.  She is a person who has struggled with a lot of pain in her body over the years and many surgeries.  She had a very bad part of her back that was causing her excruciating pain.  After searching she found a doctor who said he could help her with surgery but it would be a very delicate and risky procedure.  She had the surgery done and it was successful and she has healed up and went through therapy and now is pain free after all these years!  She has given God all the glory for this as He is our healer and the doctors can do a lot but not everything.  So she wanted to have a lamp made with a scripture from the book of Luke where Jesus healed a woman who was bent over and could not straighten up to remind her of the Lord's healing touch in her life.  Rich gladly accepted and made this beautiful lamp for her.  I was just so blessed by this, realizing that our lamps are useful but also a wonderful way to remember something and share it with others!

  

Sourdough Lovin'

A few years ago Rich got a book from his mom about Alaskan Sourdough. He decided a couple of weeks ago to make a sourdough starter. It turned out great! He has made cinnamon rolls, buns and flap jacks. The dough takes longer to rise but the bread tastes so much better and is a lot softer that using regular yeast. Our little dog, Mackie, really likes it too. He is not usually a big bread eater but he ate a lot more of this bread. Rich said he had read in the book that sometimes people fed their sled dogs the bread when they were low on food as it has more protein in it than regular bread. So, I looked up the nutritional value of sourdough and I found out some very interesting things.  Here is a little bit of the article.

It said: 

Very basic sourdough bread that had once been fermented for a healthy 8 hours or more is not to be found anywhere except in ones own kitchen today. In commercial bread yeast levels are dramatically increased, accelerates and proving agents introduced including bromide, a known thyroid poison that was insanely substituted for iodine in the US. Fast-made bread is one of the most destructive implementations into the modern diet. It has become normal fare. Poorly-prepared and poorly-digested wheat is the chief contributor to the current plague of “gluten-intolerance,” obesity, diabetes, Candida diseases and many allergenic conditions all of which contribute to the conditions that cause cancer.

Only when wheat gluten is properly fermented is it healthy for human consumption. When not it is potentially one of the most highly allergenic foods we eat. It is similar to the controversy with soy which also can only be considered a health food if it is fermented long enough. Correctly fermented wheat contains 18 amino acids (proteins), complex carbohydrate (a super efficient source of energy), B vitamins, iron, zinc, selenium and magnesium, and maltase.

The article is long.  If you would like to read more you can go here.  Sourdough has natural occurring bacteria that helps promote digestion and has many benefits to your health.

Well now here are the pictures of the things Rich has made.  A picture of the book cover on Alaskan Sourdough and a recipe for the starter.

 

For more amazing recipes you can go to Foodie Friday Here.

December Memories

I finally have gotten around to putting all our December photos together in a slide show.  I try and make a slide show each holiday so we can remember what we did.  I burn them onto disc and then every once in a while we pull out the discs and have a family movie night and watch a bunch of them and enjoy remembering all the fun we had and see how much Mary has grown.  My husband's parents had a bunch of movies that they made of Rich and his sister put on to disc and we have fun watching them too.  It is so fun to see what Rich was like as a little kid and see how Mary looks like him.

 

Here is our month of December in photos:
 

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Beautiful Buns

My husband made some beautiful buns yesterday for lunch. We had salmon burgers and he made some wonderful refrigerator dough the night before. He had used the dough for cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast and now he was trying some different ways to use it. So he made the dough, refrigerated it over night and then rolled it out to 1/2 inch and cut it with a large biscuit cutter and then let them rise to double their size and bake.  (He also made the pea salad and I will share that on another post later)

 

The buns turned out so yummy.  So tender and fresh!  The best bun I have ever had for a sandwich.  Here is the recipe:

 

Overnight Rolls
Ingredients need to be room temperature
Combine:
2 1/2 teaspoons of granulated yeast
2 teaspoons of sugar
in a 1/4 cup of 85 to 100 degree water.
Permit these ingredients to stand until dissolved, about 10 minutes. 

Scald: 1 cup milk
Add and stir until melted
7 tablespoons vegetable shortening or butter
Cool. Combine and beat well:
7 tablespoons sugar
4 beaten eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Stir in the milk mixture and cool to 85*
stir in the yeast mixture and:
4 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Beat the dough about 5 minutes. Place in a foil-covered bowl in the refrigerator over night.

Spray pan with cooking sprayRoll dough out to 1/2" thickness and cute with a large biscuit cutter. Place rolls on cookie sheet. Let them rise in a warm place for 1/2 hour. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 18 minutes or until golden brown.

 

I am linking with Foodie Friday you can go here for more wonderful recipes. 

 

Welcome 2013!

 

 We had a wonderful Christmas.  A more simple holiday since finances were really tight for us this year but definitely not lacking in joy and happiness in celebrating the true reason for this holiday, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!  We are looking forward to this coming year to see all the God has for us!  I hope you have a blessed and Happy New Year!     

So Much Fun!!

Mary and I did some baking this year.  We tried a new recipe.  We made chocolate gingerbread cookies.  They turned out really good.  It was regular ginger bread cookie recipe with 3 tablespoons of dark cocoa powder and a 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground ginger (that was my idea).  Here are a few shots of her having a blast making and playing with her cookies.

 

We also had a blast at her Christmas party for her ballet class.  Here is a slide show to give you a sneak peak at what we saw.  The girls were all so cute!

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It's Looking A Lot Like Christmas

It is starting to look a lot like Christmas around here.  My Christmas cactus is in full bloom on my kitchen table.  When I was bringing it in from our greenhouse I accidentally dropped it on the step coming into the house.  It shook it up really bad and broke a big branch off.  I was so upset I began to cry as I had babied it all summer looking forward to one of the best blooms it had ever had and then I go and drop it!!  But it recovered and bloomed for me.  Mary said, "Mom look, it forgave you and now it is blooming!"

Mary has had fun making paper snowflakes and then using the snowflakes as skirts for ballerina paper dolls.

Here is our Christmas card this year.  I had fun getting some free graphics on pinterest.

Mary is all excited about the snow.  It doesn't snow very often before Christmas around here.  I think it is the most snow we have had before Christmas since Mary was born.  So it is really big deal for her.

Shot of the tree and Mary with the snow outside.

First snowman of the year with daddy's help.

Lots of snow everywhere.

Rich gave me this beautiful cross key chain for our 10th wedding anniversary.  I love what it says.

Anniversary Breakfast

Today marks my 10th wedding anniversary. For this special occasion my husband made some wonderful cinnamon rolls for breakfast. He made yeast dough last night put it in the fridge and then put it together and baked these cinnamon rolls this morning. They are so yummy and tender. I just love them. I ate three! Lois at Walking on Sunshine blog suggested that I post the recipe, so here it is.

Overnight Rolls
Ingredients need to be room temperature
Combine:
   2 1/2 teaspoons of granulated yeast
   2 teaspoons of sugar
   in a 1/4 cup of 85 to 100 degree water.
Permit these ingredients to stand until dissolved, about 10 minutes.   Scald:
   1 cup milk
Add and stir until melted
   7 tablespoons lard
Cool. Combine and beat well:
   7 tablespoons sugar
   4 beaten eggs
   1 teaspoon salt
Stir in the milk mixture and cool to 85*
stir in the yeast mixture and:
   4 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
Beat the dough about 5 minutes.  Place in a foil-covered bowl in the refrigerator over night.  Take out just before baking.  Roll the dough on a floured board to the thickness of 1/4 inch.  Spread generously with:
   Melted butter
Sprinkle with:
   Cinnamon
   Brown sugar
Roll the dough like a jelly roll.  Cut into 1 inch slices. 
Spray pan with cooking spray
Place rolls on cookie sheet.  Let them rise in a warm place for 1/2 hour.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 1/2 hour or until golden brown.  Makes 14 large rolls.  For a deeper and higher roll put in large muffin pans.  For flatter rolls use a cookie sheet. (my husband used a cookie sheet for ours this morning)  Top icing of choice.

I am posting this recipe on the Foodie Friday Link party today.  For more yummy recipes you can go here.

Ebay to Etsy

We have changed our store, Peace of Earth Ceramics, location from Ebay to Etsy. We think Etsy will be a better venue for our ceramic art work as Etsy is all about handmade things. So if you would like to go and check our store out you can do so here.

 

Our pup, Mackie, would like to wish you a very happy Christmas Season!