Bread Baking obsession

i've really been enjoying the process of making (and eating) homemade bread. So much so, that's i make at least one loaf a week.  i'd like to start making sour dough with a starter, but so far have just been making simple breads like challah and a basic honey white bread.

This recipe  by Don't Waste the Crumbs blog is my current go to for basic bread. It uses a little honey and coconut oil. i've been trying to find more recipes that use honey (since we'll soon have an abundance) and this one is just fantastic. 

Challah bread is the other bread i've enjoyed making. i use this recipe, but do a 4 strand brain instead of the double braid in the recipe. i've pretty much fallen in love with braiding bread.  

"The braided bread loaves were invented by the women of Teutonic tribes, who used to make offerings of their own hair to their Goddess. Eventually they learned to preserve their braids by substituting the imitative loaf, which was called Berchisbrod or Perchisbrod, bread offered to the Goddess Berchta, or Perchta."

i love to do the traditional 4 stranded Challah, and have also begun doing a braided round.  i was orginially just doing these as the plain honey white or wheat bread, but occasionally add filling as well.

Braided rounds  filled with cinnamon and sugar.  It way too good like this and we devoured this loaf quickly. 

This a garlic butter braided round, with a cinnamon sugar braid round behind it.

The Challah bread is my kids favorite because it is slightly sweet.  We've found it makes fantastic french toast, especially when it's filled with cinnamon and sugar. 

These are my go to recipes at the moment, but i'm always looking for new bread recipes to try. i'm planning to make a sprouted seed loaf and get started with the sour dough this month. i'm also going to try getting a bit more creative with my braiding.  

Halloween 2016- Undertale themed costumes

So i admit, i have never played Undertale.  Both of my kids love it though, and requested Undertale costumes this year, and told me i should dress up as Toriel aka Goat mom. So i got online and found someimages to use while creating our costumes. i love doing homemade costumes.

My daughter wanted to be Mettaton EX. Right after she decided this we walked into a goodwill and found the perfect boots. They were black instead of pink, but i figured we could paint them.  For the rest of her costume we needed a silver shirt, black leggings and the chest plate and belt.  Should be easy enough.

i found two different silver shorts at the goodwill, but my girl didn't want to use either one, and instead we used a black shirt and duct tape. It actually looked way better that the silver shirt would have looked, since we are able to create the black lines on the arms by spacing the duct tape.  

We originally tried spray painting the boots pink, which was an epic fail. It looked fine at first, but the first time she put the boots on it cracked and the paint started falling off. So i went back to the store and found pink duct tape, and it worked perfect! They look way better than they would have if we had just painted them.  The belt was also made from duct tape and the chast piece was made from craft foam. i used black sequins for the speaker. All that was left was black hair dye and face paint. We also added duct tape to the shoulder pads so they didn't flop like they are in this picture.

My son wanted to be W.D. Gaster.  He already had the black pants and white shirt, so we just need a black suit coat jacket , a white scarf, gloves and the mask.

i found some white spandex type fabric at the craft store, and made the morph mask after watching a tutorial online. Then we just a sharpie to create the face. 

A trip to goodwill for the suit coat and they had nothing in solid black, but i found a large women's blazer that worked perfectly. i used a pair of $1 gloves and black felt circles for the hands, and i recycled a white long underwear shirt for the scarf.  My boy was extremely happy with his Gaster costume.

My Toriel costume, ended up being the most work. Instead of face paint, i thought a felt mask would be easy and look better anyway. Yeah, it wasn't that easy. ha ha/

i used felt for the mask, and fun fur for the ears. i hot glued the fun fur onto a head band, and then hot glued the ears and horns onto it. The fangs make it look more like a wolf, but the kids told me she is supposed to have the fangs. 

i had to buy fabric for the dress, but it was easy to sew.  i played around with a couple different noses, trying to get her to look more like a goat, but ended up not using any black felt on the nose at all.

i think our costumes came out fantastic. i know the kids were both super pleased.

We had a great time trick or treating. Most people had no idea who we were, but occasionally we'd come across and undertale fan and they would recognize us. It was so much fun!

Homemade lip balm with Deluxe Botanicals 100% pure organic beeswax.

My daughter has recently taken an interest in making her own beauty products.  A few weeks ago we make bath bombs and bath salts.  For her birthday she got a lip balm making kit, but i was pretty disappointed in it.  The lip balm base was petroleum jelly. It came with flavor gel to mix in, but it really wasn't what i was expecting.

So when i recently had the opportunity to try out some Cosmetic grade beeswax, i jumped at the chance!  Back in the day i use to make all kinds of homemade bath and beauty products.  Lip balms and healing balms are always a favorite.

We made our homemade lip balm using ‪#‎deluxebotanicals‬ 100% pure organic beeswax!
Super basic, easy recipe. i plan to make more when i get some other flavor oils and tubs to use.  

This recipe is 1 part coconut oil, 1 part olive oil, 2 parts beeswax, vitamin E (optional) and a drop or two of essential oil (we used peppermint).  

For making just one tub i used a 1/2 tsp to measure. So my amounts were 1/2 tsp coconut oil, 1/2 tsp olive oil and 1 tsp beeswax. It made the perfect amount to fill our tub.

Melt beeswax, olive oil and coconut oil in a double boiler or small glass bowl over a small pot of boiling water, stirring constantly until melted. Add  a couple drops of Vitamin E and your essential oil ( a drop or two) and pour into your lipbalm tubs. 

It's sets up quickly. Then we decorated our container with a few stickers. :)

i found the lipbalm tubs on ebay very reasonably priced. You can also get the roll up tubes if you prefer those.

i couldn't resist using my Doctor Who silicon molds to make a tardis and dalek. Both Kenan and i use beeswax in our work, i use it as a thread conditioner when beading, he uses it with his glass work although i'm not entirely sure how.  The wax works really well with the molds and would make excellent candles.

i'm very happy with the Deluxe Botanicals‬ organic beeswax.  It smells wonderful, is 100% pure, organic and non GMO. It melts so smooth and works wonderful for cosmetics, candles and more.

i received this product for free or discount for my honest and unbiased review. i only review products that i actually use and recommend, i was not compensated for this review.

Homemade bath bombs with Avenir Oils.

My daughter and i decided to make bath bombs last weekend. They are really fun and easy to make! They use basic ingredients that we already had.

Ingredients and Supplies:

• 1 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup citric acid
• 1/2 cup Epsom salts
• 1 tsp. water
• 2 tsp. essential oil (we used Avenir lavender oil)
• 3 tsp. oil (olive oil)
• food coloring (any color you want)
• bowl
• whisk
• jar or small bowl
• assortment molds

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk, make sure you remove any lumps.

Then add all the liquids into a separate small bowl and mix well.  Slowly add this mixture to the dry ingredients. One spoonful at a time.  Use the whisk to mix it together really well. 

Once the mixture is evenly mixed, you can pack it into your molds.  We had one round bath bomb mold, and also used a tin heart tray mold. You could silicone molds, or even plastic easter eggs. Press the mixture in the molds well, then pop them out and let them air dry.

You want to store them in an airtight container. They smell so good!!  Add one or two bath bombs to your bath and watch them fizz! So fun!

The Avenir Lavender oil that we used i received in exchange for an honest review.  It smells absolutely amazing, and i'm really happy with it.  Avenir essential oils are 100% pure, natural, and therapeutic grade. All of their essential oils are grown in organic environments, free from harmful pesticides. When possible, they even try to obtain wildcrafted essential oils.  You can read more about them here and find information about the oils and their different uses.

If are you looking to add to your essential oils collection, be sure to check out the Avenir Oils website. 

i received this product for free or discount for my honest and unbiased review.