Irish Soda Bread, St. Patrick's Day 2014

We love all things Irish, more so myself than Larry. Larry is a bit of an Italian at heart.

Well with Today being St. Patrick's Day I wanted to make something special for my household. We can't just buy Irish Soda Bread, most of the time it has Eggs, Which you know by now, is a major Allergy in our house! So I bought the buttermilk yesterday, as well as fresh and plump raisins for our Egg Free Irish Soda Bread.

You need a few basic ingredients.

(I listed all the ingredients in the order in which we're going to use them. )

4 cups flour

4 Tablespoons Sugar

1 teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

4 Tablespoons COLD butter, we used Kerrigold.

1 Cup Raisins

1 egg (1/4 cup applesauce)

1 3/4 cups Buttermilk

Preheat your Oven, 375 Degrees while you mix your ingredients.





I once again used my Vintage measuring cups that are more or less 80 years young now.  I love these beauties, they are amazing. The larger one measures up to 2 cups. The smaller one is a 1 cup measure.  I use these for both Dry and wet ingredients. I only like using these for Dry ingredient measurements when it's an even Cup or TWO. It's hard to get it packed flat and measured when 1 3/4 cup of dry flour. No THANK YOU.  My amazing Great Grandmother Helen Neale Anderson used these for as long as I can remember and it's a fantastic feeling knowing she may have used these YEARS ago to make the same bread I am today.


I would say take this moment to get your baking sheet ready, Line it with Parchment paper or aluminum foil, grease lightly to avoid sticking.


Back to the task at hand, I used a stand mixer, A paddle attachment is your best bet, less mess. It also blends the butter a lot better. I have used the old school 2 knives cross cut the butter into the dry before, I'm just not feeling old school habits today.

Flour, sugar, salt, Baking Soda go into the bowl, slowly mixing them together.

I cubed my 4 tablespoons of butter to integrate it a little easier. Once the butter looks blended and slightly the size of small peas, add your 1 cup of raisins. You can do all the great traditional flavors like coriander seeds, but Larry doesn't like it, so we skip them.

Now that you have your "dry" mix together, take your Egg or (applesauce like we use) and your buttermilk and pour it slowly into the mixer. I put my mixer on "Stir" because I really didn't want to get my hands dirty yet. I had pictures to take!  You can lift the paddle at this point and use a spoon to incorporate the wet ingredients. Make a little well and fold the dry into the center.

Now comes the Fun part.

Take this mixture out of the bowl, Flour the hell out of your hands. Like obnoxious amounts of flour, Scoop the beautiful irish mix and plop it onto a floured surface, I use my cutting board, I know there's no allergens on it, so it's quickest and easiest way for me.








Knead the dough together until it no longer sticks to you, but not until it's a ball of cookie dough.















Once it's beautiful, and still a little rustic looking. Transfer onto the prepped cookie sheet.


Oh look there's my Cheese knife. Perfect for the next step.












Cut a 1" deep X into the top of this delicious creation.













So this will take between 45 minutes to 55 minutes. I cut straight to the chase, and did it for 50 off the bat.













I'm waiting for it now. I'm so anxious. I have never made this before without Eggs, so it's a trial and error thing today. I will however eat it regardless of how it looks. I need it.


The Irish Soda Bread sign in most of my pictures was created on My Cricut mini that I talked about in my previous post. I made up the design last night before I went to bed. I wanted something simple and bold. I used traditional Irish colors. We aren't allowed to wear any orange on St. Patricks Day due to us being "Black Irish" We always got a big old arm pinch, so no orange here.

If you wanted to take this a step further, you can add Green Food Coloring into your Buttermilk to create a green Irish Soda Bread. I didn't have any green or yellow food coloring on hand, so I stuck with traditional ways.

Please remember to enjoy this holiday safely, even if you are not drinking other people may be, and we want all our family members home to enjoy this bread, our boiled dinners and our GREEN beverages, I have Green Tea today!

Today marks a big anniversary in our house, it was the first date for my Meme and Papa. They were both recently divorced from their first spouses, and they went out and had a few pints. They were married for over 20 years before my Papa passed in 1987. We remember this day fondly and sadly. Meme goes out for her Boiled Dinner with her friend Harriet, who's 95 this year! Still works and DRIVES! Watch out! They go to Kennedy's Pub in Marlboro where they get to listen to authentic Irish music, eat their meat and potatoes, and drink their booze.

Thank you so much everyone for reading my posts, it really is something special when you share recipes and stories.

Favorite Things...

I bought a Cricut Mini after my gal pal showed me how amazingly easy it is to use. She made a chair banner for her third child's 1st Birthday. Knowing that it was going to be a super small intimate birthday she whipped it up in about 15 minutes; Between mapping it out, cutting, gluing and drying. It was life changing, so I told John I wanted one, he ordered it, and I received it about 3 days later.

Cricut Mini

I was so scared that I was not going to be a magician on it, I was thinking about how much paper I was going to waste. I was hesitant. Then I saw that there was a sale on A Quilted Christmas cartridge at Jo-Ann's, well I bought it, all the cartridges were on sale that day, it was a rare 1 day, $20 any cartridge sale. I opened it, looking like, what I imagine was a toddler given scissors for the first time. Breaking out in a cold sweat I made 1 card. I started small. The card was beautiful! That was a fluke. Couldn't happen to be THIS easy. So I made some Christmas Gift Tags.

A Quilted Christmas

OH EM GEE, this really is easy.

My sticky pad was already not super sticky after 3 weeks of crafting, my paper was ripping and I was getting frustrated. So for christmas, when anyone asked, I told them, I wanted a Font Cartridge or "A summery Cartridge" and Sticky Pads.

Chalkboard Font


I made out like a damn bandit. I got 2 packs of cutting mats, a spatula, and PACKS of paper. Oh Lordy I was overwhelmed. I made little things, like cards and little banners for thank yous.


Now I bumped into A super amazing out of this world Deal at a local Michael's Craft Store. They had cricut cartridges on Clearance... Not JUST clearance, It was 70% off lowest marked price. So I bought 4, for the price of 1/2 of one. I mean this is unheard of. I spent $24 on 4 cartridges.

I have made 5 banners, 3 cards, 6 posters in the past week.

I bought a ball of Hemp Twine for the banners. I swear, these look like I bought them on Etsy. They are so amazing, and they were so easy to make.

So my favorite Craft tool, Cricut Mini, it is about 13" across, it doesn't take up much space, there are videos which explain so many little tricks and tips.

I know you're not supposed to, but you can share log-in information with friends, and use their cartridges on your cutter, I don't have anyone's log-in information so I don't do this.

One of my Best Friends, Victoria, is getting married in May, she is on a tight budget, and she's flying into New Hampshire in April for Pre-Wedding/Easter Visit and we are going to CRAFT our asses off with this cricut, a pack of paper is usually on sale at craft stores, and I'm saving a pack of my christmas present cutting mats for her wedding specifically. We are so excited. We're going to map out the ideas, and cut a few samples to tweak them to perfection, then I can cut them when I have time. Bi-Coastal Wedding planning is NOT easy, and I love this girl so I'm helping as much as possible.

What is your MUST HAVE craft tool?

Etsy Selling

I love making things, I've always been a creative person.

 I have been sewing since I was about 6 years old, it started with hand stitching my barbie clothing. We never really had money so when I wanted something, I'd rummage thru my grandmother's fabric drawer and cut and glue and sew outfits to make Barbie NOT naked.

I have was taught how to knit around 10 years old, I really got into making items with knitting around 22 years old. It was basically to keep my hands busy after surgeries or while Larry napped. I broke my hand and couldn't hold my knitting needles comfortably so around 25 years old I picked up Crochet. I really enjoyed learning it, It was amazing how fast I picked it up. It was completely different from Knitting. It was a whole new world. Shapes were easier to create, blankets went so much faster.

When I was a little kid, I did all the housewife crafts. Latch hook, Cross Stitch and paper crafts. I have done a lot of Cross Stitching Lately. I initially made the switch to cross stitch this year because it was easier for me to take it along when I went out. I love just snapping a photo of a pattern with my phone and putting it to the fabric and making these hilarious, extraordinary items.

I have to make the switch to exclusively selling thru Etsy. I have had numerous "friends" ask me for items, and place orders, ranging from $15 to $100 and them not coming thru on their end. Giving me time frames and adding items in the middle of another order. I have standards, and I will let my customers know every single step of the way the status of their order. I have a 3-5 day turn around on all cross stitched items. I ship using USPS.

I feel that this is the only fair way for myself to get thru making items for friends, or acquaintances.

I will be liquidating my stash when it gets closer to moving and I may do a craft fair in the meantime.  I just cannot allow myself to be walked all over any longer. No one should feel bad for filling an elaborate order in a small time frame and with time to spare, whilst getting other items added to the order without warning and still wanting the same time frame.

I understand when emergencies pop up, I respect people enough to hold items if need be, HOWEVER  do not play dumb or ignore your seller. It is disgusting and wrong. I kept getting excuses about one thing or another from a few of these invisible buyers, and now, 5 months later I still have the items, and am now selling them on my Etsy.


If interested in a custom order:
My Cross Stitching Custom Order Link

Thank you for reading, Have a wonderful last week of Winter!
Manda

Ikea, Target and yard sales Oh, MY!

With the house within our grasp, we are actually hesitantly excited. We want to have an eclectic mix with timeless pieces.

We want to have space enough for friends to stay over and for people to feel welcome.

I have searched the internet, pinterest, google you name it I've hunted and rummaged thru it to figure out what the heck you need for your own FIRST home.

You need a certain amount of items, and not being on my own since my college days, and John never leaving home, we have a few basic things for office and bedrooms, however the living room, kitchen, bathroom are different stories.

The house we "have" is around 1500 square feet, with over a half acre of land. 4 bedrooms, 1 bath. We only need 2 bedrooms currently, so we will be having an Office and a guest room. We have the furniture for our bedrooms and the offices. We in fact have too much for all of this space.  We both have desks that we like, I have a lot more crafts than he does Guitars. I won't admit that to him, since I can squish my crafts into bins and with an extra shelf on my desk, my Cricut machine will have a happy little home.

The bathroom is in good shape. 

The kitchen is the problem area, we're waiting inspection, which should be this week! The floor is uneven, the ceiling is chipped and falling. The cabinets are in good shape, however the countertops are old and beat up. There is so much storage in the kitchen! 

We want to use as much as we can from the house itself, because we are on a tighter budget than some. We both want to be able to put our style into the home. Thankfully we have a lot of similar tastes. We love the rustic ideas but with modern edge. We want old things, but in a safe way. 

We have a ton of ideas, and we won't have much time, outside of weekends. I start my job on Monday! I'm so excited, so I'll be going to work and to the new house to do what I can. It is all overwhelming and exciting. 

Final stretch.

These past few weeks waiting to hear about the house has been agonizing.

We started low, and they countered, only moved a tiny bit, so we made an aggressive counter offer. Which they moved another little inch. We made another little move upwards.

The bank told our amazing realtor, "If they come up to $X, it's theirs." So that's 13K more than our initial offer, thankfully even at the price we'd only have a difference of $30 more monthly on our mortgage.

So This is great news, not enough good news for John, and we need to save money where we can because well the house DOES need some updates. We are asking for 5k in closing costs and de-winterization and re-winterization.

So we wait.

But it is what it is.

Offer War

Knowing what we do about houses we have a good idea of what a house needs when we waltz thru it. We know more than most 20-something's because our family and friends work in different fields and it allows us to estimate what needs to be done. 

We made an offer on a house in Milford. I really love it. The house and lot are bigger than we've seen, and as reasonable as the house price was listed it needs some possibly expensive things done to it. 

Electrical, even though I have a journeyman in the family, you still need to pay him, and if the electrical is old and cloth covered it will be a total rehaul of the system. 

Furnace, that's self explained. Those are expensive. The install is expensive. Blah! 

Looking at houses is supposed to be fun, well I don't know at what budget that happens but with ours it's yet to be fun. Day dreaming about where things go, how to recycle things into usable items to reduce cost. It's frustrating. 

We made our offer, the bank countered with 1,800 less than their asking. We don't want to lose this house but we also can't go over a certain point if we do have to replace or redo things. 

We will hear back tomorrow more than likely and will know the next move.