Baked

Regular, gluten-full wheat bread, I've missed you. Life has been pretty crazy lately, and I needed to "knead", so I made a good old fashioned loaf of whole wheat bread and added apricots and pistachios. Gluten-free bread can be tasty, but I miss the kneading. ;)

Whole Wheat Bread with Apricots and Pistachios - makes one large loaf

1/4 cup honey or maple syrup (I used honey this time)
1 packet yeast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 cup pistachios, chopped

In a medium bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cups warm water (about 115f), honey and yeast. Let stand for about 5 minutes, or until mixture becomes foamy. In a separate bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, apricots and pistachios. Add yeast mixture, then oil. Stir to combine, then turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Now here comes my favourite part: knead for about 8 minutes, or until dough is elastic and smooth. Whoohoo!

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover with a damp cloth and let stand, in a warm spot, for about 90 minutes or until dough doubles in size.
Punch down dough, and knead a few times, on a lightly floured surface. Shape into a round loaf, and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 375f.  Make a couple of slashes, with a sharp knife, on top of dough and bake for about 45 minutes or until bread sounds "hollow" when tapped. Cool on a wire rack. This bread is perfect, toasted, for breakfast, and also makes great sandwiches. Love it.

Have a good day! Back soon.
janis

Weekend Observations

I hope you had a great weekend! What did you get up to?  My weekend included a little live painting, a new "girl crush" and a touch of wild nature.....

We went for a bit of a hike at Lynn Headwaters, in North Vancouver. It's about a 25 minute drive from our home in Vancouver. Pretty stunning place. Dense, mossy, loveliness. 

I was familiar with Zoe's work, but I hadn't met her in person. She was painting all weekend at the Fours Seasons in Vancouver, so we popped down to watch. I love her. She's mom to two kids, and a full-time artist. Her paintings are beautiful. If you're in the Vancouver area, she opens her new show on May 31st. Click here for more info. Hope to see you there!

Bye for now! Back soon...

Janis

Hello Weekend

After noticing that gas, here in Vancouver, bolted up to $1.50 per litre, I thought I'd end the week with this image of a ghost gas station. All the more reason to park my car more often ;)

Back soon!
Janis

Baked

How's your week going? I've had a couple of crack-of-dawn photo shoots rescheduled, as the weather just didn't cooperate....but not until we were already at the shoot location.  I made these muffins since I had suddenly had some spare time ;)  I've had rosemary and orange in a salad dressing, and it turns out this combo works really well in a basic cornmeal muffin. Love it.

Orange & Rosemary Cornmeal Muffins - makes 10-12 

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all purpose flour (I used 1 cup gluten free flour*)

1/4 cup raw sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons orange zest

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

* mix together 6 cups brown rice flour, 2 cups potato starch, 1 cup tapioca flour. Store in the fridge in a jar.

Preheat oven to 375f. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. 

In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, and eggs. Pour into flour mixture and stir to combine. Fold in the orange zest and rosemary. 

Pour batter into baking cups and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in centre, comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool a little before eating. 

If you try them out, let me know what you think. 

Have a nice day! Back soon.

Janis

 

Weekend Mode

It's Victoria Day in Canada, so the weekend is still on. Love holiday Mondays. Happy Birthday Queen Victoria!

My niece is currently sitting beside me, working on her writing project, asking me about Terry Fox and how to spell "institute". I hope I've spelled it correctly ;)

This is a bit of what's gone on this weekend....

 

By the way, I don't believe in ironing pillow cases.  Way too much work.

 

 

Frames found at Stepback. My husband painted the woman enjoying a mai tai. Not sure if it was a mai tai, but I like to think it was.

What did you get up to this weekend? Still enjoying the weekend?

Have a good day! Back soon.

Janis

Hello, Long Weekend

Back next week!

janis

A Perfect Edible Garden

Wow, this week has been busy. How has yours been?

I wanted to share some images of one of the best little urban gardens I've shot. So many clever ideas. The homeowners, Caitlin and Owen, are the talented landscape designers of Aloe Designs. I can't believe how much food they grow in a small urban garden. It can be done!

As the message states, it is friggin' adorable in there. Love the shed. 

They grow edibles in anything and everything. Large tin cans, vintage buckets, and an inset in their dining table. 

 The talented duo designed the beautiful dining table and the bench seating lifts up for storage. 

Just a small sample of some of the organic food they grow. 

Aloe Designs are putting on some great workshops, so if you're in the Vancouver area, check them out. I took the seed bomb workshop awhile back. Click here for workshop info. 

Back soon!

janis