Huckabuck Bread, Felted Can Opener and Wet Kitty

Fluffy in one of her favorite places

Since we do not have school this week or next, I decided we would make Huckabuck Bread on our own. I have the recipe the teachers use each week. Somehow ours does not turn out nearly as good, but todays was pretty good. Hazel has been asking to make it at home for awhile. She was not happy about me taking pictures however. And she quit part way through on me.

Huckabuck Bread

Ingredients

	2 cup(s) water, warm
	1 tsp honey
	1 Tbsp yeast
	4 cup(s) Flour, organic, white, Bread
	4 cup(s) whole wheat  flour
	1 tsp table salt 2 tsp cinnamon dash of ground cardamom
	1/2 cup(s) olive oil
	1/4 cup(s) molasses
	1/4 cup(s) honey

Frothy Yeast

1. Dissolve the honey in the warm water. Then stir in yeast. Set aside to get frothy.
2. Combine the flours, salt, cinnamon and cardamom in a large bowl.
3. Combine oil, molasses and honey in another bowl.
4. Add yeast mixture to dry ingredients and combine. Then add oil mixture. You will need to mix with your hands. Then turn out on lightly floured surface and knead the dough for at least 10 minutes.
5. Put into oiled bowl and cover with cloth and let rise for 30 minutes (I let it rise for over an hour).
6. Punch down and knead on lightly floured surface and shape into rolls. Place on greased baking sheet.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. (I found I needed to bake it longer, but I was not using a small toaster oven like they do in the class.)



Kneading the dough

8. Serve with honey butter (ok, I didn't make the honey butter today, but we do have it that way at class).

Before Rising

After Rising

Out of the oven

I also made Hazel her can opener for her kitchen. I decided to needle felt it. I was trying to make it so she could turn the handle and spin one of the buttons, but my method broke after I spun it a few too many times (apparently).

I used a hook button for the handle and two round buttons for the cutters.

I think she will like it when she sees it tomorrow. What do you think? I made it the same colors as mine (except mine does not have anything wooden on it).

And our crazy kitty, Fluffy was hanging out in the sink again. This is the bathroom sink in what we call Hazel's bathroom (it is the main floor bathroom that is not the master bath). She actually lay there while the water was running for a bit too and then decided she wanted a drink. She loves to jump into the bathtub after we have showered or bathed so she drink the water or roll in it. She is a bit of a crazy cat.

This is where I link up...

Whole Wheat Bread Baking

Some Signs of Spring in Our Yard

We are lucky enough to knead bread and bake it every week at school in our parent/child class. Hazel has been asking if we can make huckabuck bread at home as well. We did last year around this time. The teachers have been kind enough to share the recipe with us. This week however I decided instead of huckabuck bread we would make whole wheat bread to go with the soup we will be making in a bit for dinner.

So first we looked for a good recipe. After checking a couple of cookbooks I decided on one from my Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book (I have the 10th edition). I adapted the recipe a bit, of course.

Ingredients:
2 cups bread flour
1 package active dry yeast
1/3 cup of honey (not sure I used a 1/3 of a cup since I used whatever I had left)
3 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups water
3 cups whole wheat flour

Combine the bread flour and yeast in a bowl. Hazel did this step.

Heat and stir the honey, butter, water and salt until warm (120 to 130 degrees) and butter almost melts. (I did this since it involved the stove.)
 Add to the flour mixture. Stir with spoon (the recipe called for a mixer but that takes some of the fun away).

Add 2 cups whole wheat flour and mix as best you can. I eventually used my hands. Then add 1 to 1 1/2 cups more flour ( I used whole wheat the recipe called for white) until the consistency is what you want.

Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead. At school we sing songs and say rhymes while kneading. We sang one:

Chorus: It's down with your heals and up with your hands.

This is the way you make huckabuck bread.

My mother and father have just gone to bed.

They left me alone to make huckabuck bread.

Chorus

My sister and brother have just gone to bed.

They left me alone to make huckabuck bread.

Chorus

My kitty and doggy have just gone to bed.

They left me alone to make huckabuck bread.

Chorus

Hazel demonstrated how she likes to knead at school by poking holes and breaking off pieces.

She also made a walking fairy house that had a bunny tail. See above. She is moving it so it is walking.

Then we combined both halves back to one ball and placed in a lightly oiled pan cover with a towel and place in a warm draft free space for an hour to an hour and a half. Sorry I didn't take pictures. I had warmed my oven slightly and used it for the rising space. I also was too excited to show Hazel how the dough doubled and get to punch it down to remember the camera. Punching it down is my favorite part. We split it and kneaded a bit more. Then cover them with the towel and let them sit for 10 minutes. Then shape into loaves and put into lightly oiled loaf pans. 

Let it rise again for 45-60 minutes until it has almost doubled.

Then bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes. The instructions said something about covering the last 10-20 minutes if necessary. I didn't see a reason to.

Then cool a bit and enjoy!! Hazel and I sampled it while it was still warm, but there is plenty left to go with our soup tonight. Now we have to go make that.

This is where I link up...

I especially link up baking with Hazel at:

So Excited!!

I'm so excited. I just received an e-mail from Circles of Moms saying that Crafty Moms Share has been nominated to the Top 25 Creative Mom Blogs 2012 list on Circle of Moms. Now I need you my dear friends and followers to vote for me (and you can vote once a day!!). So if you would please click on the picture at the top (and now on my left side bar) each day. I would really appreciate it.

I am still enjoying family time with my parents and Hazel. I will share pictures after I come home of our adventures.

For today I will share a quick You Tube link really explaining a lot about a Waldorf/Steiner Education. In case you have been wondering about it at all.

A Family Day

Museum

Today, I was lucky enough to spend the day with my family. My dear husband has taken today, Thursday and Friday off for a mini-vacation. We loved having him home. We decided to go to the Peabody Essex Museum for their story time or what they call PEM Pals. Hazel and I had gone once before and loved it. They share stories, sing songs and then do some sort of art or craft in the museum. They also have a Art and Nature Center (which is where the PEM Pals was held) that has all sorts of hands-on things to discover about nature. Currently in the Art and Nature Center they have an exhibit called The Ripple Effect all about water. Sorry I didn't take any pictures since cameras are not really allowed in the museum. However they have plenty on their website if you follow each link. (I scanned in some of the post cards we bought to send to Hazel's penpal in Australia and her project.)

Hazel's craft

Since it was Steve's first time in the museum we also went up to check out a few of the other galleries. Currently they are having a Native American Exhibit called Shapeshifting. It was interesting, but we didn't feel all of it was age appropriate for Hazel. Then we looked into some of the Native American Art, American Art and the Maritime Art Galleries. Oh, and Hazel wanted to check out the Asian Export Gallery. Then we went back to the Art and Nature Center and let Hazel play a bit now that the PEM Pals crowd was gone. She loved playing with the different types of musical instruments.

One of the neatest things  of the Peabody Essex Museum is the Yin Yu Tang House. It costs a little more to see it but it is so interesting. We did not do this today, but I hope to when Hazel is a bit older. It is a 200-year-old Chinese house that was disassembled and brought to America and reassembled. It is so interesting to see and learn about.

Then we had to get home for some lunch. Hazel fell asleep in the car on the way, but woke up when I tried to get her out. We had a quick lunch and then had more things to do--nothing worth blogging about. But it was a lovely day with my family. Do you have a museum or place like this near you?

Finally, a few things to share that I found interesting.

• Play Again a film trailer for a dvd available for purchase about screen time taking away our children's care for nature.
• Tarbeyah: Sharing My Love of Waldorf Education gives a good overall view of her children's Waldorf education and reassures me on our choice.
• LA Time: Hyping Classroom Technology... interesting column expressing opinions on technology in the classroom and how each generation deals with the new technology that will replace books.

Hope you had a great day!!

A Mouse or Two

On Saturday, Steve and I went to Hazel's school for a special presentation for parents in the parent/child classes that are interested in the nursery school class for next year. Although we didn't gain too much information from it, we did get to make some felted mice. I had to help Steve with the sewing of the ears, but we had fun.

The mouse body is wet felted. We took some grey wool roving and rolled it tightly folding the ends in a bit as we went. Then we dampened it with water with a bit of Ivory soap in it and rolled it between our hands until it became felted. Then we made the tail by rolling it between our damp hands. Then we went and rinsed the mouse in hot water (as hot as we could stand) and then cold water and also rinsed the soap out of the tail. Then we sewed on the tail and the ears (which the nursery teacher had precut from grey felt for us). We brought them home to dry. Hazel loves them. She had asked me for a mouse awhile ago so it had been on my list of things to try. Now the only trick is to keep them away from the cats!

Another interesting article to share about our children and education: From the Asia Times Online: How America Made Its Children Crazy.

We are getting a good number of people interested in the Kids' Valentine Swap. Are you interested in having your child make valentines for kids internationally and send them with a post card and then receive them from the same kids? Check it out--just click on the button above.

Sharing Saturday is also open!! There are over 130 entries thus far. Go check them out by clicking on the button above.

I hope you are having a terrific Monday!!

Some Needle Felting

Last night was a rather quiet night at my home. My dear husband fell asleep with Hazel in her bed. I knew he was really tired, so I didn't wake him. I did go in and turn off the light before I went to bed, but since I had time to myself, I visited many of the entries to Sharing Saturday.  (If you haven't gone to check them out, you really should--they are amazing! And of course it is still open for more sharing!!)

I had total control of the television. Steve and I only watch it when Hazel is sleeping or not home. Of course Saturday night television is not very great, but I watched a few shows On Demand that are on later than I would like at night. And I did some needle felting. I had bought a needle felting kit at the Paper Source which was on their clearance table. It was to make a flower pin. It came with three bright colors of wool roving--brighter than I have seen around here. I made the flower and decided I would either glue it onto a barrette or sew it onto a hairband for Hazel.

Then I played with making some hearts. I started with the bright colors since all three colors came with equal amounts but then used a purple and white that I already had to fill in the center.

Then I made a red and white one. Seems perfect for a Valentine.

Finally I made a smaller pink one and then added a white H on it for Hazel. Then I thought about what I wanted to do with these. I decided to make the smaller one into a necklace for Hazel. This morning I sewed a piece of embroidery floss onto it and she wore it to church.

And I sewed a loop on one of the other ones for Hazel's craft tree (or small Christmas tree that I bought on clearance and we are going to hang our crafts on).

Now we just need to hang it up and sew strings on the other two. Hazel of course loved them.

An interesting article to share which makes me happy that we are sending Hazel to a Waldorf School: Wall St. Journal Article: The Importance of Child's Play

Hope you are having a relaxing weekend!

Today was...

Hazel's craft today

Today we had a rather busy day. Our morning was full of play and crafts. Oh, and we put together a slow cooker dinner for tonight. We made the heart crafts I featured yesterday. Then we went out to run errands. One stop was Target. We bought a lot of new clothes for Hazel from the clearance items including four pairs of shoes in her next size! Another stop was Joann Fabrics for a few supplies for a craft for tomorrow. Then we went to the library to return books and we picked out several new ones.

My Heart Craft

While running errands we realized it was a gorgeous day and we wanted to get outside to play. It was in the 50's today here and sunny. So we hurried our errands and then came home for a late lunch and  got outside. Then it was off to the hairdressers for hair cuts. We met Daddy there and he took Hazel home while Mommy got her hair cut. I always take Hazel in with me to get her bangs cut. She loves it!! She also likes to play hairdresser to Ducky when we get home. Then after a quick dinner I had to run a stewardship meeting at church. Now I'm tired, but wanted to share these crafts with you and some pictures of our outside play.

With the rain last night and the warmer temperatures, most of the snow melted. One of our first activities was moving the snow from the few snow piles left from the plow and our snowmen to the yard. Hazel did this with her shovel and then she wanted to use her hands. She touched it and said, "Cold!" So after a few tries she decided she needed some mittens.

Her Shovel

Her First Snowball

I suggested using the toy truck she brought out. She tried that for a bit, but it was small.

She ran into the garage and came out with her bigger truck to use.

She is always thinking!

Then she wanted to play basketball, catch, tag/gingerbread man and finally blow bubbles. She had a great time blowing bubbles.

She is finally getting how to blow things--bubbles, horns, etc.

Oh, she also had to bring out her chair to sit on for two seconds. Then it was time to bring out the sidewalk chalk. She tried to draw squares but they came out more like circles. We worked on straight lines a bit and then she wanted me to make her a hopscotch game.

Unfortunately, the time we had flew by and it was time to get to our appointment. Hopefully we will get another nice day outside again soon. Though I did have to promise her it would snow again. (I just added that it might not be this year.)

That was our day. How was yours?

Oh, and one more thing to share--check out this article on children and playing from  The Christian Science Monitor. It makes me so happy we are not pushing Hazel to learn to read, etc. and have made the choice to send her to a Waldorf school where they are not taught to read until they are 7.

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