The main difference between soda bread and many other types of bread is that soda bread relies on the reaction between baking soda and buttermilk for leavening instead of yeast. Soda bread is heavier and than yeast breads and is wonderful in heartier meals like stews and meat dishes. It is fabulous toasted and slathered with butter!

History of Irish Soda Bread

Soda Bread was not actually invented by the Irish as many people assume. American Indians would use soda ash (a natural soda in wood ashes) as a leavening agent in their bread baking. So “soda bead was popular in the colonies before the idea was exported to Ireland.

Baking soda wasn’t introduced to Ireland until around 1845. Before this, Irish housewives would use yeast with poor results. Yeast does not mix well with the type of “soft wheat” grown in Ireland’s wet climate since it is low in protein and therefore low in gluten strength. Without this high gluten strength, the bread made from “soft flour” (which is made from the “soft wheat”) will not rise like a bread made from “hard flour” and yeast.

Not only was Ireland’s climate working against the Irish, yeast was also expensive! Many families were just too poor to afford it. When baking soda was introduced to Ireland, it offered a relatively inexpensive and effective substitution.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread has only 4 ingredients, flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. I have made it in the traditional manner, and I find it to be bland. The following recipe, while not traditional, is very tasty. If you want a more traditional taste you should leave out the sugar and raisins.

A Quick and Easy Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Here is a recipe for Soda Bread that got rave reviews at my last St. Patrick’s Day Party. We had it with corned beef, but it is great with a hearty stew or pot roast too. I love it in the morning slightly toasted with butter, yum!

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp softened unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk*
• 1 cup raisins (optional)

*If you do not have buttermilk on hand, just add 1 1/2 tbsps of lemon juice or white vinegar to your milk and let it sit for 5 minutes

Baking Your Irish Soda Bread

Pre-heat oven to 400F. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix it well. Work the softened butter into the dry ingredient with a fork or your fingertips. Do this until the texture resembles coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until the dough begins to come together. If you are adding raisins stir them in now.

Turn the dough out onto a flour-coated work surface. Knead until the dough just about comes together, about 10 turns. Do not overknead the dough, you do not want it to be smooth! Pat the dough into a roundish shape about 2-3 inches thick.

Place on a greased or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. I use Pam baking spray. Score the dough by cutting a cross shape on the top of the loaf.

Bake until loaf is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the loaf from the oven and cool on a wire rack to room temperature, 30-40 minutes.

Yummy! A popular variation on this bread is “Spotted Dog”, aka Soda Bread with raisins.

Enjoy!

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July 9th was National Sugar Cookie Day, and it inspired me to dig out my favorite recipe for sugar cookies. I was a little late in celebrating (I think I baked these July 11th) but my husband enjoyed them all the same.

Sugar cookies remind me of the holidays, and though I find it strange that I am thinking of Christmas cookies in July, I am sure that these will be my main attraction this season.

They are fluffy, sugary and uncomplicated, everything a good sugar cookie should be. This recipe takes about 10 minutes to whip together, and another 22 minutes to bake (11 minutes per sheet). From start to finish you looking at a total of 40 minutes, and you will receive about 2 dozen fantastic cookies for your effort. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 14 tablespoons of butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Supplies:

• 2 mixing bowls
• Whisk
• Measuring cups/spoons
• Cookie sheet
• Wax paper/Non stick baking spray/Crisco
• Electric mixer
• Pie dish or other shallow dish

Making and Baking the Sugar Cookies:

1. First preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Set aside 1 cup of sugar in the shallow dish.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in one mixing bowl.
4. In the other mixing bowl, beat the remaining sugar and the butter together for 5 minutes (this is important!).
5. Beat the vanilla and the eggs into the sugar and butter until combined.
6. Slowly mix in the flour.
7. Roll the dough into golf sized balls, and roll through the sugar, coating the dough completely.
8. Place the balls on a cookie sheet that has been either greased or lined with wax paper, at least 2 inches apart.
9. Press the palm of your hand onto the cookies to flatten them a little.
10. Bake them for about 11 minutes, one sheet at a time.
11. When the edges start to brown they are done.
12. Let them sit for a few minutes on a cooling rack before serving.

Additional tips:

• For really fantastic cookies, roll the dough in coarse sugar instead of granulated.
• Every oven is different, so watch your cookies carefully.
• These will stay soft for about 7 days if stored in a plastic zipper bag. We usually eat them much more quickly though
• Rolling the sugar cookies in colored sugar is a great way to add a little pizazz.

Create a great play list for your Christmas Party with my list of classic Christmas music. A great mix will add to the enjoyment of your guests at your holiday gathering.

42 Fantastic Songs to play at a Christmas Party:

1. A Holly Jolly Christmas – Burl Ives
2. White Christmas – Bing Crosby
3. The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole
4. Here Comes Santa Claus – Gene Autry
5. Greensleeves – Vince Guaraldi Trio
6. Carol Of The Bells – The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
7. Santa Baby – Eartha Kitt
8. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town – Burl Ives
9. Winter Wonderland – Louis Armstrong
10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Judy Garland
11. Sleigh Ride – Boston Pops Orchestra (instrumental) or Johnny Mathis with Percy Faith & His Orchestra
12. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Burl Ives (or Gene Autry)
13. Cantique De Noel (O Holy Night) – Luciano Pavarotti
14. (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays – Perry Como
15. I’ll Be Home for Christmas – Bing Crosby
16. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon and Yoko Ono
17. Silver Bells – Dean Martin
18. Mistletoe and Holly – Frank Sinatra
19. You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch – Thurl Ravenscroft
20. Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms
21. Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley
22. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow – Vaughn Monroe (1945 original) or Doris Day
23. Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano
24. Rockin Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee
25. ‘Zat You, Santa Claus? – Louis Armstrong
26. Frosty the Snowman – Jimmy Durante
27. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – The Ronettes
28. Jingle Bells – Frank Sinatra
29. It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams
30. It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas – Perry Como and The Fontaine Sisters
31. Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late) – Alvin and the Chipmunks
32. We Need A Little Christmas – The Muppets (my favorite!)
33. Merry Christmas Baby – B.B. King
34. Run Rudolph Run – Chuck Berry
35. O come, O come, Emmanuel – The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
36. Christmas Time Is Here – Vince Guaraldi Trio
37. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee
38. Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms
39. Adeste Fideles (O, Come All Ye Faithful) – Frank Sinatra
40. Christmas Canon – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
41. Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Dean Martin
42. Little Drummer Boy – Bing Crosby

If you would rather just pop in a few CDs instead, here are a few recommendations:

Dinner Music

• A Charlie Brown Christmas
• Christmas Songs – Diana Krall
• Rocky Mountain Christmas – John Denver

Party Music

• White Christmas – Bing Crosby
• Christmas with the Rat Pack
• The Best of Burl Ives – The Christmas Collection
• Time-Life Music: Treasury of Christmas
• Now That’s What I Call Christmas!

Have a wonderful Christmas Party!

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Add the scent of cinnamon to your holiday with homemade cinnamon Christmas ornaments. These ornaments can be hung from the Christmas tree, used to decorate packages, strung together to make a beautifully scented garland, or as great holiday gifts. Since the recipe is simple these are a great Christmas craft project to do with kids!

This recipe makes 12 – 14 medium sized Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments. It takes about 15 minutes to make and knead the dough, and 2 1/2 hours to bake, for a total time of 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. ground cloves
• 1 tbsp. nutmeg
• 3/4 cup applesauce

Making the Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments:

1. Preheat oven to 150°.
2. In medium bowl, combine cinnamon, cloves & nutmeg.
3. Add applesauce, stir to combine.
4. Work the dough with your hands for 3 or 4 minutes until dough is smooth and ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
5. If the dough is a little crumbly, add a tablespoon of applesause at a time to it until it is smooth and a bit sticky.
6. Roll out dough to 1/3 inch thickness. It will be sticky, so be careful with it. You can use cinnamon like flour on your pin and rolling surface to stop it from sticking.
7. Cut dough with cookie cutters. Simple shapes like hearts, bells, trees and gingermen are easier to work with than cutters with complicated shapes.
8. Using straw make small hole in top of ornament.
9. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 150 degrees for 2 1/2 hours
10. Remove from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.
11. Loop a ribbon through the top.

Additional tips:

• You can dry ornaments without the oven. Set them on the wire rack at room temperature, and let them stand 2 days or until completely dry. Turn them a few times throughout the process so they dry even and flat.
• If you have a food dehydrator you could also dry them in that.
• You can use acrylic paints to decorate the ornaments once they are dry.

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I saw a really cute dog Halloween costumes the other day

(Cowboy Riding Dog, and Headless Horseman Riding Dog)

and I wanted to try to make my own version, with a monkey (of course!) It was really simple to make, and I wanted to share it with you all!

First gather a few supplies:

• Wide piece of flat elastic 6″ longer than the girth of your dog’s chest (my dog was 26″, so I bought 32″ inches)
• 3″ of Velcro (do not buy the stick-on kind, it will be harder to sew!)
• Long armed stuffed monkey
• Needle and thread
• Thick floral wire

How to make your Homemade Dog Halloween Costume:

1. Start by making sure the elastic is the right size to go around your dogs chest with about 3 inches of overhang on each side. Sew the Velcro onto the flat elastic, making sure that the pieces are on opposite ends and on opposite sides.

2. To get the monkey to sit up you need to give it a wire skeleton. I cut a small hole in the butt of my monkey, and inserted several (maybe 5 or six) L-shaped pieces of floral wire into the body so he would sit up straight. I wanted my monkey to be holding up one arm like he was riding a bull, so I also inserted an extra long piece through his body and up through his arm. Make sure none of the floral wire is sticking out of the monkey; you don’t want it poking your puppy!

3. It is critical that you secure the butt of the monkey to the elastic band so that he is sitting upright! First, measure to the middle of the band, mark it, and start sewing the monkey to this spot. Try to catch some of the wire in your stitches. Another good way to securely attach Mr Monkey is by sewing the side area around the butt to the elastic. I went a good inch up his sides to get him to sit up straight. Try and loop the elastic around your leg to see if you have the monkey on tight enough so he sits straight up. Once he is sitting pretty, secure the legs to the elastic as well.

4. Now you just have to get Monkey on the back of you dog. Attach the band around the wide part of his chest, and loop the monkey’s other hand around your dog’s collar, and you’re all set! If your pup is anything like mine, there will be a period of agitated bucking. I used lots of treats to distract Basil, and he didn’t even notice it after a few minutes. But in the interest of your doggie’s safety, make sure you supervise them when they are wearing their costume!

Have fun, and if you make your own, send me a picture because I would love to see your creation! – mevsthehouse at gmail dot com

Happy Halloween!

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I have a big, destructive dog. So when I saw these Halloween costumes I almost died. They are frickin cute, and he would actually wear them (versus eating them).

I would get the Headless Horseman. It is only $20, and completely worth it.

If you are feeling particularly crafty and you want to make your own, you should see my tutorial – Monkey on My Back Dog Costume. It is inspired by this design.

If you have a dog that will wear costumes for you without ripping them to shreds, you may be interested in a few more I was drooling over, but I wouldn’t dare to try:

The Slick:

The Sweet:

Matching Costumes for You & Your Dog:

and the Pun costumes:

Have a Happy Halloween!

The idea for this project came while I was searching for a picture for another post. I had written a post about Classical Music for Halloween, and wanted to find the perfect graphic to go with it. I had it pictured in my head (which is how most of my ridiculous projects start)… a stack of old sheet music from one of my recommendations.

Well, I couldn’t find anything that came close. So I decided to make my own (and take a picture of it). The following is the process I used to make my paper look old. You can use this paper aging technique to make old sheet music of your own, or try it for parchment invitations, a pirate treasure map, scrapbooking, or stationary. Have fun with it!

What you will need:

How to Age your Paper:

1. You want to print or write anything on your paper BEFORE you age it.
2. Preheat oven to 200°.
3. Place the paper on a cookie sheet (I use an old one)
4. Pour tea/coffee over the paper until the entire sheet is covered, make sure it soaks in on both side.
5. If you want darker spots on the paper, sprinkle instant coffee on the paper and let it sit on the paper. Wipe it off after a few minutes.
6. Rub your finger around the edge of the paper to wear the edges.
7. Place the cookie sheet and paper in the oven for about 6 minutes until dry.
8. Gently loosen the the paper from the cookie sheet with a fork. Be careful, it will be hot!

Additional tips:

• If your paper smells too much like coffee and not the authentic “old paper” scent you want, stick the sheets in a box with some mothballs for a day or two.
• Experiment with different colors to achieve the look you want; coffee will turn the paper a darker brown, tea will be lighter.
• You can also wear holes in the middle of the sheet by rubbing it with your finger.
• You can let the paper air dry, but weight the edges or the paper will curl.
• I have also heard good things about Walnut Ink Antiquing Solution, just spray it on your paper to give it an old look. (It is inexpensive too)
  
  

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Halloween can be many things. It can be fun, lighthearted, scary and frightening. It can also be elegant. Elegant? Well, yes actually.

Picture this: You are dressed in a black ball gown (or tux, for you guys). You enter a setting akin to Dracula’s castle in Transylvania; deep red rose centerpieces on black tablecloths, spider web-laden chandeliers, low light with candles everywhere, and a glass of blood red wine in your hand. Nice, huh?

Now start playing Monster Mash in the background. Ruins the mood doesn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I love fun Halloween Party Music (Check out this list of my favorite Halloween Party Songs) but sometimes you are trying to set a scene, and Thriller and Purple People Eater just don’t cut it. So if your Halloween party is shooting for more “wine and cheese” versus “beer and pretzels”, try a few of these Scary Classical Music Selections that are perfect for Halloween:

16 Classical Music Selections for an Elegant Halloween Party

1. Bach – Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565
2. Brahms – Begräbnisgesang
3. Camille Saint-Saens – Danse Macabre, Op. 40
4. Gluck - Dance of the Furies
5. Grieg – In the Hall of the Mountain King
6. Liszt – Mephisto Waltz
7. Mendelssohn - First Walpurgis Night
8. Mozart – Requiem “Dies Irae”
9. Mussorgsky – A Night on Bald Mountain
10. Orff – Carmina Burana, O Fortuna
11. Paganini – Witches Dance
12. Grieg – Småtrold (Puck)
13. Rachmaninoff – The Bells, Lento Lugubre
14. Tartini – Sonata for violin & continuo in G minor, “The Devil’s Trill”
15. Webern – Variations Op. 27 – Ruhig fliessend
16. Williams – Devil’s Dance (composed by the same guy who did the music for Star Wars!)

If you would rather not hunt down the music, Devil’s Dance and Classics from the Crypt are fantastic CDs that will set the mood perfectly.

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I always start planning my Halloween party early. I have to say it can be hard to get into the late October mindset when it is still warm. So I dug out my Halloween Party Playlist and lit a pumpkin spice candle to get the fall ideas flowing.

The following songs are perfect for your next Halloween Party. It is a great mix of songs, everyone knows them (or they should) and they all fit the spooky, scary, evil, devil’s night theme of Halloween.

25 Fantastic Songs to play at a Halloween Party:

1. Thriller – Michael Jackson
2. Don’t Fear the Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
3. Superstition – Stevie Wonder
4. Love Potion #9 – The Clovers
5. Witchy Woman – The Eagles
6. Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
7. The Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show
8. I Put a Spell on You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
9. The Devil Went Down to Georgia – Charlie Daniels
10. Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra
11. Lil’ Red Riding Hood – Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
12. Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran
13. Monster Mash – Bobby Boris Pickett
14. Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
15. Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
16. It’s the End of the World As We Know It – R.E.M
17. She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby
18. Abracadabra – Steve Miller Band
19. Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones
20. Black Magic Woman – Santana
21. Highway to Hell – AC/DC
22. VooDoo Child – Jimi Hendrix
23. Devil with a Blue Dress On – Mitch Ryder
24. Bat Out Of Hell – Meat Loaf
25. Super Freak – Rick James

If you’re looking for a great spooky sounds CD for background music, I highly recommend the Martha Stewart Spooky Scary Sounds for Halloween … I play it in my front yard as we pass out candy. It is realistic and not at all cheesy, like other “Halloween Sounds” CD compellations I have heard.

Or, if you are looking for music that is more elegant (but still spooky) try this list of Scary Classical Music for Halloween.

Happy Halloween!