Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving tradition in your home? For me a tradition is in the form of reading a book, "Cranberry Thanksgiving" by Wende and Harry Devlin. 

We love reading this wonderful fun filled story every Thanksgiving. It's a wonderful story that is delightfully fun with a bit of humor. This teaches a valuable lesson about not judging a person by the outward appearance. Being gracious to share with others who don't have any family or are just far away from family.

I enjoy making the recipe included in the book also. My kids unfortunately are not fond of cranberries but, they enjoy baking the bread. You can substitute the cranberries for raisins, which my kids only like raisins by themselves.

Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread

 2 cups flour, sifted

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup butter

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon orange rind, grated

3/4 cup orange juice

1 1/2 cups raisins, we don't use raisins (optional)

2 cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda together.

Cut in 1/4 cup butter until mixture is crumbly.

Add egg, orange peel, and orange juice and mix until mixture is evenly moist.

Fold in raisins and cranberries. Spoon into a greased 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan.

Bake at 350°F for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.

Cool out of pan on a wire rack. Keep stored in aluminum foil.

Enjoy! What tradition do you have in your home during Thanksgiving?

I have been playing around with my Bosch again and craving some English Muffins. Last year someone gave me a loaf of English Muffin Bread and the store bought ones had lost all their appeal to me. After a few trails of different recipes I have found one I like. This is made of white flour. I am still wanting to find a whole wheat recipe. Enjoy!

English Muffin Bread

5 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2  packages active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)

1/2 cup warm water (120 to 130 degrees F)

Cornmeal

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda. Add warm milk and water; beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat on high for 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour (batter will be stiff). Do not knead. Grease two 8-1/2-in. x 4-1/2-in. x 2-1/2-in. loaf pans. Sprinkle pans with cornmeal. Spoon batter into the pans and sprinkle cornmeal on top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans immediately to cool on wire racks.               

I love my Bosch Universal Plus. It has been so easy to use. I still have a lot to learn. I can't wait to mill my own grain one day. Here are some pictures of what I have made so far.

Challah Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

Not just one loaf! Five!

Little Man rolling out the dough for homemade cinnamon rolls

Bug doing her part

The kids helped me roll them. This is after baking them. For some reason the photo with the icing didn't come out very well.

Whole wheat pizza-yummy!

Bug got her own piece of dough. She is learning how to braid the challah bread and she also made a round doughnut out of the challah dough.

Bug's creation

Little Man's creation. He informed me that they are doughnuts made out of challah dough.

My beloved husband surprised me last week. He bought me a Bosch Universal Mixer with the blender. I have been drooling over it for a couple of years. I have been wanting to make  homemade wheat bread. The thought of hand kneading even with my Kitchen Aid is daunting. The daunting part is the big chunk of time it takes to knead. I have just stuck to making challah bread at this point. I usually will make a batch every month and freeze it. I feel like a kid in the toy store who just got the ulimate toy!

It looks so pretty sitting on my counter. I can't wait to use it this afternoon.

I hope to evenly start grinding my own wheat berries. First, we thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to make the bread with the the whole wheat flour. Once I have gotten that down we will purchase a grain mill. 

I have made homemade bread in the past with good results. Some have been not so good. I love that fact that the Bosch does all the hard critical work for you. I will keep you updated on my new endeavor making bread.

My first task that I have been assigned to make by six begging eyes is to make the challah bread just as good or better as I have been. Bug informed me that she wants a bigger loaf of challah! I don't think I will have that much of adjustment to do with the Bosch. I guess I will find out this afternoon after school and lunch are finished. Unfortunately, I will not have time to make the challah out-of the oven fresh for Shabbat. Tomorrow is just way to busy to even try.