Seedy cracker recipe

Well...that wasn't very nice of me to say how yummy the crackers were and then not even include the recipe. ;-) Here you go, Tara -

Seedy Crackers (sort of like Raincoast crisps)

2 cups (500 ml) whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp. (30 ml) flax seeds

2 Tbsp. (30 ml) sesame seeds

2 Tbsp. (30 ml) millet

1 cup (250 ml) pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup (125 ml) sunflower seeds

1 tsp. (5 ml) salt

2 tsp. (10 ml) crushed dried rosemary

1/4 cup (60 ml) brown sugar

2 tsp. (10 ml) baking soda

2 cups (500 ml) milk with 2 tbsp vinegar added

1 cup (250 ml) raisins or dried cranberries

1/4 cup (60 ml) molasses

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir the milk and molasses together and then pour on to the dry stuff and mix well. Turn into two small greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes. Cool slightly, remove from pans and cool almost to room temperature on rack. Place in a sealed container (or ziplock bag) and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning slice the loaves into "crackers" as thinly as you can. Lay the slices on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with additional salt to taste and bake/dry at 250F until crisp (about 45 minutes, depending on how thick your slices are). Store in sealed containers in a cool dry place for up to 3 weeks.

This recipe could certainly be used as a base for lots of experimentation. I used raisins in this batch and I know that the cranberries are good but I see could also trying bits of dates or dried apricots as well. The combinations of seeds, grains and herbs to try are endless.

homemade seedy crackers

Oh my, are these ever good. Methinks that they won't last long enough to be part of the gift package I intended them to be. My mom loves Raincoast crisps and last year (when we were scarfing them down with her homemade cheeseball on Christmas eve) I told her that I had a recipe for something similar that I would pass on to her. I forgot to do so and so now I plan to give her a batch already made along with the recipe...except they are so good that I already "tested" five of them as soon as they came out of the oven. The recipe is full of good stuff and they are made fairly easily. This batch has pumpkin and sunflower seeds, raisins, and millet as well as fresh rosemary out of the garden.
The only finicky part is that once the loaves are baked you have to slice them into quite thin slices and then re-bake them for about an hour.
My mom makes a mean cheeseball and these crackers will be just perfect with it...if they last that long. Now I think I might need to get the cheeseball recipe so we can have these more often than once a year.

Don't they look yummy?

A slapdasher's wreath

This morning (when the house smelled of yummy baking because I had a test batch of crackers - based on raincoast crackers - in the oven) I realized that we didn't have any sort of candle tradition going on right now. In previous years we've had an advent candle that we would burn down a notch each evening as we counted down the days until Christmas and some years we've lit a candle as we counted down until solstice when we could look forward to the shortest day of the year being behind us. I miss not having a nightly candle ritual in these dark-so-early-days and so I decided to quickly put together a greenery wreath to set on our coffee table with some candles. I grabbed some extra greenery, the staple gun (a required tool for any slapdasher) and a wooden base that I had on hand from years ago when I used to make pop can wreaths for gifts(shown here if you scroll down a smidge). I cut some greens and stapled them on then popped a few little pine cones on top and added the four candles. We don't follow any particular traditions preferring instead to make up our own as we go along. We've brought many new traditions into our own little family over the years and have added them to the ones that my husband and I enjoyed and kept from our own families while we were growing up. The really nice thing about making it up as you go along is that there are no rules...so you really can't go wrong. :-)

So...that is also my explanation for Why on earth is she making an advent type wreath when we are already more than a week into December???

The first candle on this wreath is for Hope (and will be lit post-haste). The second is for Peace and it will be lit on the weekend. The third stands for Joy and it will be lit on Solstice (and we will be very joyous that the days will start getting longer) ;-). The fourth candle stands for Love and I will certainly be counting my blessings - I know how lucky I am to be surrounded by such a loving family. I've also placed a big candle in the middle and we will light this one each night when we are at home - to me, it symbolizes the warmth of the sun and the beauty of the earth.

Gingerbread time of year

"And I had but one penny in the world. Thou should’st have it to buy gingerbread." – William Shakespeare, Love’s Labours LostFor me this time of year means gingerbread. All through my childhood my mom made fantastic gingerbread villages with my brother and I. They were incredible creations that filled the top of our piano. I loved them. We had little houses, a church, a skating pond, trees and people all set up on a board with little twinkle lights. Each building had coloured cellophane in the windows and the lights would set off the colours. To me it was absolutely magical and I loved turning out all the other lights to gaze at the village. The lights also warmed the gingerbread enough that their spicy smell filled the room.

I have done houses with my boys in the past (one memorable year W's house was eaten by a dog that we babysit) but this year it will just be gingerbread men.

E was determined to make the dough on his own. Once it was done we all got in on cutting out shapes.

E had just finished reading Gingerbread Cowboy so he wanted to make his own gingerbread cowboy man instead of using the cookie cutter. See his big cowboy boots?One poor fellah had his leg fall off so, naturally ;-), this made me think of Monty Python's poor black knight. My lucky boys got to listen to me quote the Black knight (in a very poor British accent) until W finally ate the bit of leg in an attempt to end his mama's silliness. ;-)

"None shall pass", "...just a flesh wound" and "...I'll bite your leg off." My poor children.

Finished Felted Bag (finally)

When we get to this time of year I always get BIG plans to make all sorts of goodies for my family. I finished this bag off last night after having to rip the lining out twice and learning that sometimes it really IS important to pay attention...and only do One Thing At A Time. A very good lesson for me. ;-)I wanted the zipper tucked nicely between the bag and the lining and am pleased with the way it turned out (on my third try). There was a moment there, when the second attempt at sewing in the zipper resulted in a crooked, off-centre closure, that the thought - my mom will like it no matter how it turns out just like I love everything that my boys make for me because they've made it with love - went through my head. ;-0 That in itself can be comforting when things are not going the way I envision. But in the end, it all turned out well.And now I've only one sole left to finish on my Dad's slippers and then E's art tote. Those are the rest of the must-do gifts. Then if there is still time....well, I've got loads of great ideas...and lots of thrifted fabric. ;-)

Needle felted flowers

A few weeks ago a friend showed me a beautiful bag that she had knit, dyed with Kool-aid and then needle felted flowers onto. It was so inspiring that I knew right away that I had to try my hand at it. I knit a plain bag for my mom's Christmas gift and then felted it in the washing machine.Then I started needle felting the flowers on. Luckily my friend had sent me a photo of hers so that I could use it for inspiration. I wanted to try to make the flowers look (at least remotely) like some of the flowers from my mom's garden.This forget-me-not is my favourite.

A (sort of) daisy and a sunflower.
I still need to add lining (with this thrifted fabric) and a zipper to make it into a cosmetics bag.
And this is what it looks like now - still waiting for a few leaves to be added to the forget-me-not stem but I got distracted with other projects this weekend.

The flowers on the left are meant to be a Cosmos and a California poppy.

My son has put on a screen saver of Santa's workshop that counts down the days 'til Christmas, this morning it showed 17 days. 17 days!?! Things in our workshop just got a little more frantic. ;-)

Favourite slipper pattern

This is my favourite slipper pattern - actually it is my favourite knitting pattern ever. I've made pairs for almost everyone in my family. My oldest son sometimes snitches mine and when I catch him wearing them he says that everyone has some but him. Guess what he's getting for Christmas...

They are so comfortable and so incredible warm. Now that I know how to repair the bottoms I don't see any reason why they shouldn't last for years and years. W is getting these ones and I started on a "spare" pair for my Dad yesterday since he liked his ones from last year so much.

And maybe in January I could find time to make myself something like this...

Since I've been awfully good this year. ;-)