AMISH Friendship Bread Starter Recipe

For many years Fall means getting out my

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe.

My family LOVES this sweet cinnamony bread

and it is always a favorite with friends as well.

 

One of the reason's it is called *friendship bread* is

once the starter is brewed for 10 days,

you share the starter with others.

 

 

STARTER

 

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Milk

1 1/4 tsp Yeast

 

Disolve yeast in 1/4 C warm water

Combine all ingredients with a wooden spoon. 

Cover with Paper Towel

Set aside on counter for it to

start its brewing process.

This is a 10 day process.

This will get very bubbly over then next few days.

Be sure to stir it every day at least once.

 DO NOT PUT IN FRIDGE!!!
This is meant to stay on your counter at room temperature

 

Brewing Instructions for Starter

 

Day 1-5:  Stir your starter mixture

Day 5:     Add this to starter mixture: 1 Cup each, Milk, Sugar, Flour

                Stir till well mixed

Day 6-9:  Stir your starter mixture each day

Day 10:   Add to this starter mixture 1 Cup each, Milk Sugar, Flour

 

On day 10 you:

 

Keep 1 Cup Mixture for your next weeks brewing (optional)  
This is day One and you will follow the instructions all over again for 10 days.

 

Keep 1 Cup for bread you will be making from this.

 

Divide remaining mixture into 2-4 equal parts. Depending on how many friends wish to do this.  This starter mixture can now be put into plastic bags or plastic containers for giving to friends. I usually give a copy of this recipe to them with the starter as well.

 

 AMISH Bread Recipe

 

to the 1 Cup mixture you have kept aside add:

2/3 Cup Oil

3 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1-2 Tbls cinnamon/or pumpkin spices (I add more cause we like it strong)

1 1/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 4-6 oz Package of Vanilla Pudding

 

Sugar/Cinnamon mix: 1 cup sugar with 1 Tbls cinnamon for adding to pan and top of bread

 

Mix all ingredients well.  Then add mixture to 2-3 loaf baking dishes that

have been sprayed and dusted with the sugar/cinnamon mixture.  Sprinkle

sugar/cinnamon mixture over the top.

 

Bake at 325 for 45-1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

 

These loaves freeze well, if you don't eat them within in the first few days.  Trust me

they go fast.

 

I actually keep most of my starter and double and triple the recipe so that I have

these batches of bread frozen to last through the winter months.  I have added pumpkin to this as well but you must adjust your wet/dry to make sure these cook consistently.

 

You can keep the starter going  many months following this method or use it all up

when you do not want to make it any more.  You will LOVE how your home smells

when this is baking.

 

I hope you will give this a try...any questions, please feel free to ask!

 

Be Blessed

Lorena

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Bathroom Cabinet/Counter Reveal

Last week I gave ya'll a teaser with this picture!

I am here to share with you how it looks today!
 

I did some deep cleaning in here yesterday and

changed up some of my decor!

I am pretty happy with it now.

Below is how it looks today, yay!

 

We have lived in our home for 20 years.

Everything is pretty much builder grade in

this Tiny Powder Room.  From the darker

stained heirloom oak cabinets to the

almond sink and laminent counters.

Pretty basic and blah.

It needed brought into the new century!

 

Hubs and I love the wall color, which is Cranberry.

This was a $5 oops paint!!!

I must admit

I actually LOVE varying shades of golds

even though it is not the trend

I decided to stay with those choices in here.

 

But I felt this room needed a facelift and knew the

cabinet were a simple paint job that would help

to lighten this space.

My hardest part of the whole redo was

convincing hubbs to paint over oak.

What is it with Guys and Oak wood?

 

I cleaned and scoured all the surfaces.

Then I painted the cabinet, using a

RUSTOLEUM Ultra Cover Gloss in Almond.

After two coats and a few days to cure

it was done!

I am not going to seal because the semi gloss

leaves a great hard finish and this is a low

usage area.  If I were to do my kitchen or other

high used areas, I would seal.

 

Just to give you a better perspective,

just outside the Powder Room is a main

pass through area which houses our

small Bulter's Pantry. 

I am working in my mind on what I will

do with this area...stay tuned!

 

Then last Thursday I got my supplies together to

 paint my counter top.

 

I used Acrylic Paints in:

 Black, Bronze Metallic, Brown

and Gold Gleams (light Gold)

I have seen granite with these deep tones and that was

the look I was going for.

 

Black was the first color I used and sponged on. 

I then layered with the bronze, brown and the gold.

The overall feel I was going for had deeper

browns with a shiny glimmery finish.

I did go back to areas where I needed to touch

up the colors.  I did this until I was happy.

 

Then I suggest 1-2 coats of Polyacrylic like

I used on my Kitchen Island HERE.

It has a high gloss finish and makes it

shine like granite!

Now it has the look and bling that makes me happy!

I did bring in more mirrors to help reflect and give

off more light. This room can seem dark.

Above, if you look closely, you can seen

that I VELCROED a smaller mirror frame to

my window. Did this a looooong time ago

before Pinterest and Blogs show how these

ugly big mirrors can be framed.

 

This room is not completely finished as I

do want to frame the mirror and change

out the UGLY Hollywood Lights that

are in here.

I'll up date ya when that happens.

Just a few pictures of how my walls look now.

Now I am really happy with how well it all pulled

together!

I so hope I have inspired you to give painting your

cabinets and counters a try.

I am always happy to help and answer any questions

you may have, so feel free to ask!

 

Be Blessed,

 

Linking to:

 

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YoYo Pumpkins Tutorial (Recycling Old Sweaters)

It certainly is feeling like fall here in Michigan.

With that in mind, I wanted to share this

simple and easy way to make those darling

Pumpkins you see all over blogland, Pinterest and

on the web.

 

Here you see a few I have already made, a few years ago.

 

Lets Get Started with your Supplies:

 

Fabric/Sweaters

Batting

Sticks (you can get from nature)

Needle/Thread ( I use a thicker crochet thread)

Raffia, leaves, ribbons

 or other embellishments

Plates

(Varying sizes to use for pattern)

Glue Gun

Gather your fabrics and sweaters and supplies all

together.

For my pattern,

I already had some circles cut up, I used these fabric

rounds as my pattern for the sweaters I show below.

 

For your circles use the different sizes of plates

you have gathered.

 I used a saucer, salad plate,

and large plate for mine to have a more

varied size of circles.

Begin cutting your circles.

Side note:

Hubs and I did a MAJOR closet clean out and when I

was folding everything,

 I grab these two sweaters due to their colors.

Such a great way to recycle or upcycle

old clothing. 

I also cut off the arms for a

later project idea I have.

See my stack?

I am planning on making quite a few as I

sit and watch football with my family this weekend!

lol

 

So now your circles are cut lets begin sewing them. 

 

1. Thread your Needle and begin a BASTING stitch around

the top 1/3 -1/2 inch.

You will baste stitch all around the circle.

 I pull the thread as I go

and gather or create a hole.

2.  Now you have a circle complete with the mouth open

3. Fill with batting and tighten your thread.

4. Cinch and Sew up to secure, place stem in center

and then glue this all together and embellish

You can now embellish like I did with raffia, leaves

or even make varying sizes of pumpkins to stack

on top of each other.

Some people even fill these really tight and then

wrap with jute/rope to mimic real pumpkins.

The fun is using your imagination and creating

something just for you!

There is no right or wrong way to do these.

 

I have placed a few by the sweet lil Clay Scarecrows

I have made...tutorial is HERE.

Mr. Tiger has been having a blast with these!

I think there is something about the raffia that

is attracting him.  He will grab, claw at and

toss them all over, it is soooo funny to watch!

I would so love to hear from you if you give these a try!

Do you have other ways or ideas of how these can be used!

I would love to know!

 

I even made some up in Shabby pinks,

blue and greens!

 

Be Blessed!

 

Parties I am Link to:

 

The Creative Home and Garden Hop

 

 

 



Faux Granite Kitchen Island

Sweet Friends!

How are you? 

 

SO,

 hubs has been doing a LOT of traveling

 for business this past summer

and

that has left me with a LOT of time on my hands.

I have been scouring the web, blogs and Pinterest for ways to

spruce up my kitchen.  There is so much info out there

and being a artist/painter

I have been inspired to do what I can in an effort

to bring my kitchen into the new century.

 

We have talked about installing

granite and updating our cabinets for a while now. 

Finances and a daughter in college seem to be

getting in the way.  And with hubsters gone

 and exhausted when he's home,

 well,

 this type of a project

 is too big for us to handle right now. 

I am now resigned inspired to do what

I

 can to spruce up and update our 20 year old kitchen.

 

What does this girl do?

She pulls out her paints and sponge goes

to town!!!

 

I decided to just do the island for now. 

We did decide a huge MUST right now will be

to replace our sink and faucet.  When that is done then

I will probably do the rest of the counters.

For the granite look I was going after, I used the following

colors; Black, Metallic Bronz, Vintage Gold and Ivory.

Then 2 coats of Polycrylic Gloss by Minwax was applied.

I first cleaned the counters then scoured with scrub free. 

Making sure any left over residue was off. 

Since my base is already ivory I did

not prime or base coat the counter.

(If you are going to do this as a permanent fix for your

counters I would strongly do a primer base.)

Since I am only doing this, in hopes that it will

suffice for a couple of years I skipped priming.

The KEY to any paint project is a good sealant.

NOTE:

You do not need to be a painter to do this. 

If you have an idea of the type

of granite you want along with your color palet...

there really is no right or wrong way.

Work with the colors until you are happy!

Starting with black I sponged this color randomly all over.

Then applied the metallica bronz, gold and then finished

up with ivory until the entire island was just how you see it.

I did go back and forth with some of the colors until it

looked how I had envisioned it.

The colors are have a more muted gold than my picture is showing,

The pictures are actually picking up more gray than it really is.

I then waited to 2 days so that hubby could see it. 

I decided if he hadn't liked it,

it would still be fairly easy to remove the paint.

But he was happy!

I applied the 2 coats of polycrlic letting 24 hours

go by before I added each coat.

I do have some brush strokes showing and

I may use a sponge and apply another thicker coat

so that my critical eye wont be bothered by the strokes.

There are sprays cans of this sealer

which I may use instead of brushing it on.

I did take a few pictures for you to see my un-painted counters,

We are still debating whether to paint the cabinets

a creamy off white or gel stain to a darker stain.

UGH...my pictures actually show these cabinets looking a bit

darker than what they truly are.

Due to their age, they are fading and the stain

really is starting to yellow or orange.

I feel we need more contrast...but

convicing hubs to paint any or part of the

cabinets has been my biggest project. 

 

Stay tuned...

I am currently working in my small

red dark

Powder Room...

here is a sneak peak of what I have

done so far.

 

(hubs did relent and let me paint the Powder Room Cabinets, yay)

I will be working on the counters hopefully in the next day

or so.  Then I still have a few projects in here to do.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

 

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Etsy Cottage Style Market Monday

Happy Labor Day Everyone!

 

I am part of a wonderful group on etsy

call Etsy Cottage Style (ECS). 

On the first Monday of

each month our blog offers you the chance to peruse

the many shops that particpate.

 

Please join with me and visit these wonderful etsy sellers.

With the Holidays soon approaching,

it is never to early to start shopping!
Especially if you LOVE hand made goodies!

 

 

Also, if you type ECS in your search bar on

 etsy you will also find many listings that way as well.

 

Thanks for stopping by!