Old World Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Here is the easiest bread to make ever. It is great served with a dinner such as pasta and salad. There is no waiting for it to rise, just make and bake. It has great flavor also.


Old World Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Combine the following in Kitchen aide and use the dough hook, blend for about three minutes, or use a wooden spoon and a bowl if you don't have a Kitchen aide.

2 cups of unbleached organic flour
1 & 1/4 cups of milk
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of herbs (I used a blend I had, but you can use any you like)
about 1/4 cup of chopped black olives

Blend well, you may need to add a little water or extra flour to make sure your dough is the perfect Constancy.

Shape into a round, about 1 inch thick. Then this recipe says because of old folklore tradition to cut a cross in the bread before baking to let all the faeries out. :) My little girl loves that part of the recipe. She had to read it for herself to see that it really said that. He he he....

Spray the bottom of what ever you use to bake this on with some spray oil.

Bake on 450 for 15 min.
Turn oven down to 400 and continue to bake for 30 minutes longer.

I brush it with melted butter and sprinkle some chopped parsley on top. Let cool, then wrap until ready to serve with a meal.

Lauren made her first communion May 7th

Justin's 5th Birthday Celebration~

Easter 2011

Here are Lauren and Justin waiting outside of Tristyn's door, in the hopes he will get up early. We were going to make them wait for their Easter baskets until 8:30, when Tristyn gets up. :)


Here are the very happy children in getting ready to have their Easter goodies. :)



Here are the children enjoying the goodies. :)





The girl's got new spring dresses for their American girl dolls!






Little Justin got a few new things too! (Tristyn requested not to be photographed while enjoying his basket.) :)






A couple of cute photos...





Tristyn hid the eggs for the Easter egg hunt. :)




Here is a photo of the Easter basket's my friend Lisa dropped off for us the other day. :) She has always been so very thoughtful and kind to our family. I am blessed to have a friend like her.


Next, I made some really yummy honey glazed dinner rolls with milled flax seed added to the recipe. We had a huge buffet style meal, complete with grilled ham for my husband, veggie chicken nuggets for the rest of us. :) Salad, honey glazed dinner rolls, green beans, baked potatos and fudge for dessert. I was going to make a pumpkin pie, but no one was hungry enough...so perhaps today! ;)

Happy Easter!

When I saw this picture, I just had to post it today. Our family is celebrating at home this year. The children have enjoyed their Easter baskets, I have home made dinner rolls rising on the stove. Our Easter egg hunt was awesome, and it is a beautiful spring day here in good ole Kansas. :) I will post photos of the children sometime tomorrow. Have a blessed and safe Easter day.

Our Week~

Here is Tristyn and his friends being silly in our school room, and working on a project for school, last weekend.
My little Justin painted me an Easter egg. :)


Justin's favorite toast made on fresh baked bread~

Here is Lauren before getting ready for her spring concert at school. (Justin had to be in the photo.) ;)

Here are the girls right before leaving for the concert in their new dresses.

Here is a photo of the three youngest children being kind of silly before church on Sunday. :)

Home made apple cinnamon oatmeal

This morning I made the children some home-made oatmeal. It was easy and even better than the kind we usually have. (which is the instant Quaker)

I made a small serving for my little ones, but you can make as much as you like, just double or triple the recipe.

First, peel and dice an apple into very small bite size chunks. Put in a little frying pan with 1 tablespoon of butter, add brown sugar to make a sauce for the apple to cook in. I did not measure how much I used...sorry. I think it was about 1/4 cup or so. add a tsp of salt also. Let cook on a medium heat, stirring semi often, until apples are soft enough.


Bring a cup and a half of milk to a very hot almost boiling state. Stir to avoid burning the bottom.




Next add 3/4 cup of quick cooking oats. (you can add a bit more for a thicker oatmeal if you prefer.) Stir and cook for about a minute.

When oatmeal has cooked for a minute and you are happy with the thickness add your apple mixture and a bit of maple syrup to your taste. Stir and let sit for a few minutes to thicken and serve with buttered toast and juice. It is really oh so yummy!!!