Festive Cranberry Orange Loaf

I've made this cranberry orange loaf for all the fall/winter holidays for the past couple years, and realized that I've never actually posted it on here.

So today, without further ado, I will be sharing this delicious tart and sweet treat with you.

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp orange zest (about an orange and a half)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sunflower oil

1/2 cup orange juice

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 - 1 1/2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen are both perfectly fine)

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp orange juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/175 C and grease a 9x5 inch (23x13 cm) loaf pan.

2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In a small/medium bowl combine the sugar and orange zest using a fork. It'll turn your sugar a light yellow color. Set aside.

4. Attach a large mixing bowl to your stand mixer as well as the paddle attachment. Pour into the bowl the buttermilk, oil, orange juice, eggs and vanilla. Mix on a low speed until fully combined.

5. Keep the mixer going. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the sugar/zest mixture. Continue mixing until you get a nice smooth consistency.

6. Finally add in the cranberries, mix until just combined.

7. Pour batter into your prepped loaf pan. Bake for 70-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. You should check on it after about 55-60 minutes of baking, and tent a piece of aluminum foil over the top of it to protect the top from getting too brown.

8. Remove from oven, and allow to fully chill. 

9. Before serving, using a whisk, combine powdered sugar and orange juice, and pour over the loaf. It's as beautiful as it is festive!

+ If you'd like, this is a great dessert to make ahead and freeze. Do this before you glaze it. To freeze, wrap the loaf in plastic wrap, and then again in aluminum foil. It can stay in the freezer for at least a week, probably 2. (I haven't tried it that long, but cake freezes very well.) If you decide to freeze your loaf, remove it from the freezer a few hours before you intend to serve it. Once you're ready to serve it, make the glaze and pour it on top.

Perfect Pecan Pie

Perfect pecan pie - now there's a tasty alliteration!

My mom is known throughout the maritimes for her pecan pie. I, therefore have never attempted it, haha! It is however Dan's favorite pie, so this Thanksgiving I endeavored to make one.

I don't really know why pie crust has always seemed so scary to me, but it has. Thankfully everything went divine, and the pie was a huge success!

And now, without further ado, here is your "Perfect Pecan Pie" recipe.

Pie crust 

Ingredients:

(makes one 9-inch pie)

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

6 tbs/85 grams butter

2 tbs vegetable shortening (here in Europe I substitute with Rama)

2-3 tbs (ice) cold water

Directions:

1. Using the whisk attachment on your standing mixer combine flour and salt.

2. Next, cut in your butter and shortening. (If you do not have a mixer, alternatively you can use a pastry cutter or two knives.) Let mixer run until the mixture resembles a coarse crumble. (Looks kind of like cornmeal.)

3. Take bowl off of mixer. Sprinkle the cold water over the flour mixture, 1 tbs at a time. Mix lightly by hand until the pastry holds together when lightly pressed. 

4. Shape the pastry into a ball. Flatten to a 1-inch thick disc. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. (You can also do it overnight, which is what I did. If you chill it overnight, make sure you take your dough out about 30-45 minutes before you intend to use it so that it is pliable.) 

5. When ready to use: Lightly flour a flat surface and rolling pin. Roll out dough into about a 11 inch round. Have 9-inch pie pan waiting. Gently roll dough onto rolling pin, and unroll it into the pie pan. Cut pastry overhang in such a way that you can slightly fold under some excess to give yourself a thicker crust at the top. Using your knuckles, go around and create a scalloped edge. Poke the dough with a fork on the bottom some.

Pecan Filling

Ingredients:

4 eggs lightly beaten

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup 

1 tbs all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup/57 grams melted butter

1 1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup pecan halves (or enough to cover the top)

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 F/180 C. (Do not use convection setting.)

2. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs, sugars, corn syrup, flour, vanilla and salt until well combined.

3. Stir in the melted butter and chopped pecans.

4. Pour the pecan filling into the pie crust.

5. Arrange pecans on top in any way you would like. (I chose concentric circles.)

6. Bake pie for 55-60 minutes, or until the filling stays firm when the pie is gently shaken. Cool on a wire rack.

Optional decorations:

Using seasonal cookie cutters (I used leaves and acorns), cut shapes  out of the overhang you cut off. Using a toothpick define some of the details (like the veins in the leaves and the texture of the acorn's "hat"). Place on a baking sheet and brush with and egg wash. Once the pie is out of the oven, pop the little pie crust pieces into the oven, and bake until they are golden brown (approx. 10 minutes, but keep an eye on them.) Allow them to cool, and arrange on top of pie.

Tips:

- You may want to place aluminum around the edge of your pie to avoid the crust browning too quickly. If you find that your pecans on the top are browning too quickly too, you can also cut a circle out of aluminum and place it on top. It will protect the pecans while still allowing the pie to keep baking.

- If you make it the day ahead, you can cover it, and leave it at room temperature.

- This is a very sweet dessert, which means you can always add some ice cream of whipped cream when serving it, to cut the richness a little.

- If you're in Europe, and can't find corn syrup, some Asian markets sell something called "golden syrup" which is an okay alternative. You can also substitute it with maple syrup, for something a little different.

Honestly, the pie turned out perfectly, and I had a very happy husband on my hands (and considering he - very gladly - made the turkey, homemade gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and cranberry relish, I guess he deserved it, lol!).

If you decide to try this recipe, I would love to hear how it goes!

What's your favorite holiday dessert?

Thanksgiving 2018

I love Thanksgiving.  Really, I enjoy holidays in general.  But I love what this holiday is about; two of my favorite things - family and food.

I also love the cozy, warm colors associated with the holiday.  This year was our first Thanksgiving in Slovenia (last year we were in Hungary), and we were delighted to have our friends celebrate with us!  I wanted to make our home feel festive, but also wanted to stick with our more minimalistic/rustic feel.

For the centerpiece, I used pumpkins, lavender greens, cotton, walnuts, wheat and little dried pears (hruške - given as a gift by a little elderly lady at the market).

When we moved to Slovenia, I bought dishes from a Slovenian potter, named Jasmina Verbič.  I love them, because they are simple and beautiful.  They are easy to dress up or down.  I used my great-grandmother's silver.  When I opened the box they were in, it smelled like my Gran and Gramps' house.  They passed away two years ago, so having a little piece of them as a part of our celebration made it that much more special.

For the kids' table I made pilgrim hat crayon holders, and turkey snacks (a preschooler one with pop corn, and a toddler one with puffs).  The kids ended up at our table, lol, but it was actually really nice to have them so near us.

It was an overcast, kind of dreary day, so the light was darker than I would've liked, but it made for some dreamy low-light pictures.  So, here is our Thanksgiving celebration.

 

Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkeys!  We have so much to be thankful for!

PS:

I had some Thanksgiving books out for the kids, here are the titles for you:

1. The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell (this one is my favorite!)

2. Thank You, Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson (about the woman who petitioned for Thanksgiving to be a national holiday.)

3. P Is For Pilgrim by Carol Crane (a Thanksgiving alphabet book)

4. Pete The Cat Thanksgiving by James Dean

5. Thank you, God, For Daddy by Amy Parker 

Orange Slice Garland

I love the holidays.  Not just Christmas, but Thanksgiving, Advent, Saint Nicholas Day, Saint Lucia Day...

One of my favorite things to do when it comes to the holidays is natural and/or handmade ornaments.  I wanted to make something Aidan could help with, and that would work for the Fall, but could also go into Christmas.

I decided to make a dried orange slice garland.  I only had clementines on hand, so the slices turned out a little smaller, and thus a little less impressive than I'd hoped, but we made it, it was fun and cute. :)  So, here's how you make one for yourself:

1. Cut orange/clementine into rings, no thicker than 1/4 inches.  I got about 4/clementine.  Preheat oven to 215 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius.

2. Pat the juice out of the rings

3. Line baking sheet with wax paper or aluminum foil.  Place orange slices on the baking sheet.

4. "Bake" orange slices for 40 minutes on one side, then 40 minutes on the other.  For the record, I totally burned my first batch, as the directions I was following were for full sized oranges, so called for a longer bake time.

5. I used a nail to make holes in each slice, then strung them on some twine, and hung them in the living room.  Because of where I hung them, it was hard to get a great shot, but it looks really cute!

Couple Tips:

- If you have a needle large enough to string twine through, you could add a cranberry or craisin between each orange slice, or pop corn, you could switch it up with rosemary sprigs.. 

- I used clear command hooks so as to save the wall, and to be inconspicuous. 

Please let me know if you make your own, I would love to see pictures of it!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Toddler Fun, (Shortened) Week 14: Letter T, Number 4, and Turkeys

Okay, so this week was a shortened one, for obvious reasons.

We didn't spend a lot of time on "school", because we were with family we don't see often enough, but I still wanted to make sure we at least covered the basics.

Week 14:

Letter: T

Number: 4

Animal: Turkey

Activities

1. "Flying"

Some people think that wild turkeys can't fly. Although, they're not great at it, they DO!  So, while we were flying, we talked about things like wind, take-off, wings, landing, etc.  We are so lucky that Aidan loves  to fly, and has never had any problems with it, so that makes it easier!

2. Turkey Dinner

Aidan "helped" our Uncle Magic prep the turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner.  Gobble, gobble!

3. Turkey Feather Number Matching

I found this fun, free Turkey activity, here.  I printed it out (at 95%, because it cut off a little of the edge), cut out the feathers, and then Aidan matched them.  There's a matching one, and a one-to-one correspondence one. 

Snacks

1. Turkey Shaped Sandwich

For this sandwich art, I made a chicken and havarti sandwich, which I cut into a circle, and an oval, cut up some apple slices and carrots, and used two orange segments.  Then I just put it all together, and voila!

2. Turkey Cookies

One of my Aunt Temple's friends made us each individual turkey cookies with our names on them for place cards.  They were super adorable, even if Aidan did keep calling them "chickens".

Crafts

1. Turkey Foam Craft

I found these cute turkey craft sets at Michaels.  I was a little disappointed in the Thanksgiving options, honestly.  It was the weekend before Thanksgiving, and all there was, was a tiny clearance section.  Also, there were no instructions in the box, and it seemed like it was missing a piece.  So I made due with a coffee filter, which thankfully was brown. :)  So we made 14.  It's not easy keeping a toddler busy that long, and he wasn't engaged the entire time, but he did place all the eyes, and take off the backs of the stickers.

2. T is for Turkey

For this craft, as always, I cut out all the pieces, and then helped Aidan put it all together.  We talked about patterns for the feathers. 

Books and Media

We Read:

1. Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving by James Dean

I love lift-the-flap books!  They're interactive, they're fun, build suspense, and they are good for practicing fine motor skills.  This one is about Pete the Cat (a favorite of ours), who is in a school play about the first Thanksgiving.

2. P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet by Carol Crane

I really enjoy this alphabet series! Our library had a sale a couple months ago, and this was one of the great finds!  It has short descriptions on each page for young readers, but also longer ones for older readers.

3. Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson

I learned so much from this book!  There is a new emphasis on girls having strong female role-models, which is great, but I think it's also important for boys to see determined and strong women.  I'm praying my son marries one someday!  Anyway, I learned a lot about Sarah Hale, a woman who advocated for Thanksgiving, and never gave up!


4. Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson

This is a sweet story I used to read to my class, and now read to Aidan.  It's a great tale about a bear who learns to give thanks, and let his friends help him out in the process.  It's also great for talking about hibernation, and forest animals.

We Watched:

1. The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - Of course, this is a classic, and doesn't have anything to do with turkeys, but you still have to watch it!

2. Wild Kratts. Season 2 Episode 5: Happy Turkey Day - This is a fun episode, where we learn about wild turkeys (where I learned they can fly).  You can find the full episode on Dailymotion.

Creating Family Holiday Traditions

As Thanksgiving, Saint Nicholas Day, Christmas and New Year's Eve are slowly (or not so slowly) making their way towards us on the calendar, I have been thinking more and more about family traditions.  This is Aidan's first Christmas, so I honestly can't wait to get the season started!  Traditions evolve, and when you're just starting out as a "new" family, it's fun to think about each person's background, own unique traditions, and how you will incorporate them into your new family unit.

Here are some of ours:

1. Thanksgiving:  Growing up overseas, Thanksgiving was always that "American" holiday that we got to celebrate.  For me, personally, if I get to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I'm good to go!  Dan is a stickler on "no Christmas until after Thanksgiving", so we usually start decorating for Christmas after dinner, and listening to Christmas carols.  Love, love, love!

2. Black Friday:  This day baffles me.  I love a good deal as much as the next person, but weren't we just saying how thankful we are for all the things we have???  On top of that, stores are opening on Thanksgiving Day, at 6pm.  THAT'S DINNER TIME!!!!!  THANKSGIVING DINNER TIME!!!!  Seriously?!  I am very glad to see that many retailers are ditching this trend, and not opening until midnight.  I get the midnight shopping, and online stuff, it's just the mob mentality over material things that drives me crazy.  SO, what we have started doing, is we donate our gently used clothes at our local donation center. I love this "after-thanksgiving" tradition.

3. Pre-Christmas: Our church does and annual Operation Christmas Child drive.  The Children and Youth Departments usually have a competition, with the losing department's pastor having to do something embarrassing, as incentive.  This is so much fun!  In case you're not familiar with it, you fill a shoe box with items for a child living in a third world country.  We do some toys, school items, and hygiene items.  If your church doesn't take part in this, you can very easily do it on your own.  You can even track your box!

4. Saint Nicholas Day:  On December 6th, children across Europe get chocolate in their boots.  Now, that may seem weird, or gross.  However, the night before, the kids clean off their boots, put them outside their bedroom doors, and then Saint Nicholas (ehem - mom and dad), put chocolate in their boots.  You always get a gold switch too, to remind you to be good! :)

Last year's Saint Nicholas Day

5. Pre-Christmas/Advent: Growing up, my mom made us the prettiest Advent Calendars.  She would put chocolate, small gifts (nail polish, matchbox cars, barbie outfits, legos), and sometimes money in them.  I would love to make something like this for Aidan some day!

6. Christmas Eve:  Two years ago, we started going out for breakfast on Christmas Eve, and we LOVED it!  I'm already scoping out places for this year.  

In our family, we open our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve afternoon.  My parents always made us take Christmas cookies to the neighbors, while they finished wrapping our gifts.  As an adult, I bake/make things for our friends.  So, we open our gifts, watch It's A Wonderful Life.  One NEW tradition I'd like to start, is one I found on pinterest.  Every year, on Christmas Eve, kids open a box, with Christmas pajamas, a Christmas book, and hot chocolate mix. I love this tradition so much!  I can't wait to pick out Aidan's pjs and book.  Do you have any favorite Christmas books?

7.  Christmas Day: We all stand on the steps in our pajamas, and got a family picture.  

We get to open our stockings.  Some of my favorite things were always in my stockings.  I always got a magazine (like Vogue - one of the expensive ones :)), some jewelry, and some cloudberry jam.  Amazing stuff.  

Since we've been adults, with our own family units, I've made us a family ornament every year.  The first year I made ornaments in the shape of Hungary.

One of the family traditions we've adopted from Dan's family, is that on Christmas Day, we go to the movies.  New movies open on Christmas Day a lot, and the last couple years, we've gone to see the Hobbit movies together (because we're all J. R. R. Tolkien nerds).

We've also adopted Dan's family's Christmas dinner - prime rib, Yorkshire pudding, and yummy sides.  No complaints here! :)

So, these are our family traditions.  Do you have any, that you especially love?  Some you couldn't wait to move out of the house to quit?  Some you can't wait to do?  Please share them in the comments!

Feeling Very Thankful

The week of Thanksgiving was a wonderful one.

A half week at school, two days off, good food, even a little Black Friday (online) shopping... like I said, wonderful.

I read my kids the Albuquerque Turkey, which if you haven't ever read it, I highly recommend it.  Very cute story.  It's actually a song, sung to "Oh My Darling Clementine".  I'm very visual, so for those of you out there who are too, here's the cover:

After we read this book, I had my students make their own "Albuquerque Turkey"s.  

What you'll need for this craft is 

2 large circles out of paper

1 smaller circle of paper

1 yellow triangle out of paper

1 orange teardrop shape out of paper

2 googley eyes

5-6 feathers

2 black or brown pipe cleaners

You glue the feather between the two large circles at the top, and the two pipe cleaners (bent into feet- I had to do most of them for my kids) at the bottom.  Then glue on the smaller circle, the eyes, the beak and waddle.  This is the most fun part, because sometimes they don't put them where you think they will.  This is just one of the many very cute turkey ideas out there.

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we watched The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Here's a confession.  That was my first time ever seeing it.  Just one minor set-back of growing up over-seas.

After the movie we had a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving party!  Naturally, we had toast, jelly beans, pop corn and pretzels.

I also had each child draw a picture of something they are thankful for.  And where it is Thanksgiving or not, it's always good to think about:

What are you thankful for?