Feed the birds, tuppence a bag

Last weekend I baked doughnuts and as after deep frying anything, there is always the hassle of getting rid of the used oil.But now that winter is nearing in, I decided to put the oil to good use - and make it into bird feed.

I used coconut oil for the frying. After the doughnut frying, there was a lot of dough residue in the pan.

 I cleared the cabinets from old or near expiry date nuts and seeds and found some pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and macadamia nuts which I chucked into the oil along with some rolled oats.

Careful though! You need to let the oil cool down a little before throwing anything in, otherwise you will end up with deep fried nuts. :)

 

 

 

 I cut open some milk and juice cartons.

Out of the top piece, I cut out a square and punched a hole through it.

 Through the hole, I added a wool thread and tied a big knot to go underneath the square. 

 I placed the square to the bottom of the carton, and poured in the oil and seed mixture.

Once ready, I placed the carton outside to chill completely. And on top of the carton, I placed a skewer so that I could wrap the thread around it and keep the thread inside the oil mixture somewhat straight.

The coconut oil sets quite quickly, but it wasn´t until the next day that I cut off the carton from around the seed block and hung the bird feed "candle" to the tree. 

 

The birds have been quite keen on the seed candle, but as I am no bird expert, I am not completely sure if sesame seeds are good for birds. (I do not know why they wouldn´t be, but don´t take my word for it.)

Also, in hindsight, I think I should have added some other oil into the mixture, too.  Perhaps the coconut oil will be too hard for the birds in the wintertime? So maybe a splash of olive oil or similar would keep it softer? Do try - and report back! :)

Happy week to everyone!

Autumn crafts - dream catchers

Last weekend I went to the woods, ie. our back yard, with my daughter.

We collected a bunch of twigs, mosses and lichen, cones, blueberry stalks and other pretty autumn goodies. The mosses and other ornaments went into another use, more of which later, but the twigs were turned into homemade dream catcher type of decorations.

First, I cut the twigs into smae length pieces and tied them together with some wool yarn.

I also added a yarn to one of the tips of the triangle for hanging it later on.

 I twined in some yarn for decoration.

 Altogether, I made 3 catchers. For a square / harlequin shape I needed 4 twigs.

After securing the corners, I started to add loops of yarn on all sides.

 I continued to add loops in the previous loops until I had a kind of a web.

 

 For the grey version, I added pom poms made of the same coloured yarn. (This project is a really good way to get rid of small amounts of yarn, by the way.)

A day later, I added the last one, a white triangle.

And now they all hang in the corner of our living room extension.

This was such a simple and nice project. The feathers, if you choose to use any, cost something, but for example a bag of approximately 50 duck feathers (the small balck ones here) cost around 2 euros on eBay. For the decor, you can use pom poms, cones, crystals or just smaller twigs so this really is a low cost project.

Also, fun to do with the kids. My 2nd grader needed only help for cutting the twigs, everyhting else she did on her own. And it resulted in a very boho, colourful dream catcher.

Lovely autumn to you all!

Ikea Christmas 2016

For once, the weather in Finland is quite nice - for a September, that is. Summer weather was bad, but for some reason it has been a warm August and September. Today, even the sun is shining. Regardless, the winter is approaching. And Ikea knows it.

Christmas 2016 by Ikea:

All photos from: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/seasonal/winter_holidays/

Schultüte - school cone

I was an au pair in Germany, Tübingen, over 10 years ago. I flew over in autumn and shortly after my arrival, the older girl of the family began her school as a first-grader. That was the first time I ever realised the concept of a Schultüte.

I had visited Germany many times during the summer months and always admired the pretty and colourful cardboard cones I saw at Müller for example. I never knew what they were for until I saw the small 6 and 7 year olds with their oversized backpacks, clinging to their cones.

It was such an adorable idea that I decided that I would make one for my child when the time came. And now it has.

The idea of a Schultüte is to do what people everywhere do when their children start school; to equip them with the goods they need. But somehow I like the idea of handing out all the items as a colourful, prettily wrapped gift. I have made one before to our neighbour girl when she started school but now I got to do the same to my own daughter.

A dvd for fun.

A small flashlight for the dark winter mornings when she will be walking to the bus stop.

Xylitol chewing gum and xylitol pastils to keep her teeth healthy.

Notebooks of various sizes.

Magnets. 

Pencils and a pen sharpener.

Stickers that glow in the dark - an essential part of any school year.

Scented crayons (did you not just love the scented erasers and stuff back in the day??) and some markers.

Initial.

 In Finland, there are no tütes and making one did not seem like a good idea. So I bought a pretty Marimekko gift bag instead.

I hope she likes her Schultüte. (I will decorate the bag later on.)

I hope her school years will be a safe and happy time.

Super-simple and crunchy bread rolls, gluten free - too good to be true?

Once I started eating gluten free bread, it seemed like all hope of ever getting a crunchy crust in a bread was lost. Then, all of a sudden, it was not. It was actually about an hours labour away. If, by labour, you mean mixing up a couple of ingredients with a fork, letting the dough rest for about 30 minutes and baking them in the oven. I like to call it lovely labour, because it really is just that.


Please indulge yourselves with my

Simple and crunchy bread rolls

7,5 dl warm water (at about 40 degrees C)
1,5 tbsp psyllium
1,5 sachets of dry yeast
1,5 tbsp honey (sugar will do, too)
1,5 tsp salt
1,5 dl rolled oats (gluten free)
2 dl oat flour (gluten free - you can also use buckwheat)
approx. 3-4 dl gluten free flour

Method

Pour the warm water into a large bowl. Add the psyllium and stir well. Let the psyllium swell up for a couple of minutes, stir again and add the yest and the honey. Mix well. For the mixing, all the way through, use a (wooden) fork. No need to get your hands dirty with this dough! Also, using a fork will mean that the dough will be wet enough.

Add the rolled oats and the oat flour along with the salt. Mix well.

Gradually, about 1 dl at a time, add the rest of the flour until a somewhat loose dough is formed. Again, the dough must be wet enough for you to still be able to stir it with the fork!

Cover well (I have to admit, for this dough, I like to use a large Tupperware bowl which I can seal tight. Once the lid pops (if I have time for a second run, if not, I just scoop the dough out instantly), I re-set it and wait for another pop.) and leave to sit and rise for about 30 minutes.

 The dough after 30 minutes. 

Take out baking trays, cover them with baking sheets and ladle the dough directly onto the trays. The rolls will look weird at this stage, but do not worry. Once you get them into the oven, the will go lovely and round.
The dough should yield for about 12 rolls. Sprinkle with flour (or something else) and place them into a hot oven.

Bake at 230 degrees C for about 30-35 minutes. Make sure that the crust is hard before taking them out of the oven! Also, knock the rolls from below - you should get a hollow sound if they are ready to be taken out. The rolls might start getting quite dark and feel even too hard when you finally do take them out. But please bare with me; if you take them out too early, about 5 minutes later they will go flat. When they are properly baked, the inside will be chewy and you WILL have a great crunchy crust - even on the next day. And the rolls will be nice and round, not flat.

Hot from the oven.

Enjoy my dears!