Five-Minute Homemade Rustic Artisan Bread

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Five-Minute Homemade Rustic Artisan Bread.

Aren’t these loaves beautiful?!  I recently found this recipe that makes homemade bread so easy!

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You can mix this dough together in five minutes.  Then it just needs to rest for two hours while you go about doing something… anything else.  After that, throw it in the fridge – for up to 14 days!  Whenever you want a fresh loaf of bread, grab a hunk of dough, and bake it.  Super simple, super delicious!

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So… disclaimer… you obviously can’t make it from start to finish in five minutes, but that really is all the longer the dough takes to mix together, and there is no kneading, so it really is a simple way to make warm, fresh, delicious homemade bread quickly and easily with just a few simple staple ingredients!

Five-Minute Homemade Rustic Artisan Bread

  • Servings: 4 1 lb loaves
  • Print

Ingredients:bread-5-minute-rustic-artisan-bread

  • 3 cups lukewarm water (approx. 100 degrees F)
  • 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp coarse salt (I love using Maldon Sea Salt Flakes)
  • 6 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

Pour water in large bowl.  Sprinkle with yeast and salt, and mix until dissolved.  Add flour all at once, and mix until completely incorporated.  That’s it!  Five minutes.  No kneading.

Place a clean kitchen towel over the bowl and let it sit for two hours.

After two hours, cover bowl with saran wrap (but not too tight as it needs a little vent for gases to escape), and throw it in the fridge.

Your dough is ready to use at anytime in the next 14 days.

When you are ready to bake a loaf, preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Grab a hunk of dough with floured hands.  Do not punch it down, and do not knead or overwork it.  Gently shape as desired into a ball, loaf, rolls – whatever you like.  Place on a baking stone. (I bake absolutely EVERYthing on baking stones – cookies, bread, roasted vegetables, meatloaf, french fries – they are all I use in the oven – and the results are awesome!) You can let it rest for 30-40 minutes or bake right away – depending on the density you desire.  Dust top of dough with flour (and salt if desired).  Slash a few cuts in the dough with a serrated knife.

Place an empty metal broiler pan on bottom rack of oven and fill with warm water right before placing dough in oven.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until the crust is a rich brown color and firm to the touch.  Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

*original recipe found at Leite’s Culinara

A Valentine Couples Camp Party

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This past weekend, a gang of our bestie couple friends got together to celebrate love and friendship.

My McHendy “sister,’ Jill, and I collaborated to plan what we called “Valentine’s Couple Camp.”

Those of you that have been hanging around here at TheCreativeLifeinBetween for a while might remember our first Couple Camp Weekend Retreat that I posted about here.

Unfortunately, we missed a year… I guess weddings, babies, life… got us too involved.  But when Jill called a couple weeks ago and said we should do another Couples Camp for Valentine’s Day, I was all in and offered to host at our home.

And so we did.

Bubby and Glenn were assigned appetizers, and boy did they rock the theme!  Check out all the ways you can make food into hearts!

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I created a special “Love Potion” cocktail to toast the beginning of our time together.  I mixed 1/3 Grand Marnier Signature Collection No. 2 Raspberry Peach with 2/3 champagne and garnished with a fresh red raspberry.  Yum!

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Jill is our illustrious “camp” activities director.  After a silly group photo,

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Jill and I sent the rest of the gang to the bar, while we laid out the all the materials for everyone to create their own “Love Shack” out of chocolate graham crackers and candy (a Valentine gingerbread house of sorts).  Everyone was given a flag to name their Love Shack and 20 pennies to distribute into shot glasses after everyone finished and presented their masterpieces to vote on the best.

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We had some serious creativity going on.  Check it out!

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Hubby made his into “Camp Happy Beginning” reminiscent of the early days of love and not having much but feeling like everything is a rainbow …. or something like that… if you can imagine…

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Mary made hers into “Mary’s Cozy Cottage” decorated with a comfy couch and chairs and a big colorful outdoor patio…

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I was much busier laughing and taking pictures under the guise of “hosting” to focus too much on mine, but came up with this pretty lame “McKinney Love Shack.”

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Bubby lovingly created the “McKinney B&B.”

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and her Glenn created “Glen’s Gang Bang Getaway.”  No explanation here.  You can use your own imagination.

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Jim cracked us up with his creation. Simple, but with a funny and politically-inspired statement.  His “American” themed love shack had three characters involved…  “I’m a Russian” on his way to the love shack, “Himalyan” in the love shack, and “He’s a Finnish” leaving the love shack…

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Jill’s was a fabulous “Jill’s Sweet Shack” with a candy paved lane.

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But Todd stole the show with his outhouse-themed love shack complete with cut out crescent moon doors.

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We assigned Mary the entree knowing she would make all of our tummies happy, and she did not disappoint!  In fact, we were so into her amazing stuffed shells, meatballs and spare ribs in homemade Italian sauce, I forgot to photograph it!  Thankfully, she left a few for us to enjoy for dinner the next day, so I took a quick photo of our leftovers.  Which, by the way, tasted just as magnificent!  Thanks Mar!

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I made a simple salad and sliced up some fresh bread to accompany Mary’s entree,

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and we gave another toast to friendship!

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I had fun preparing for our guests by tidying up the guest rooms,

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including a quick convert of the nursery with an air mattress bed,

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and placing heart-shaped Dove Red Velvet Chocolates on pillows.

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I set the table with red plates and chocolate heart treats…

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and even little heart shaped spoons!

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Aren’t they adorable!

I was assigned dessert,  so a chocolating I went.  You already know about my chocolate-dipped wafer cookies and Ultimate Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies which I had out, but I also made a bouquet of chocolate-dipped strawberries,

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and the most amazing and simple No Bake Chocolate Ganache Cookie Crust Tart I saw on another blog.

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I’ll share this recipe soon.  It is seriously amazing and uses only a couple simple ingredients!

We talked the guys into playing Couples Scattegories and had fun staying up late drinking and talking until later than any of us ever stay up.

Hubby made omelets to order the next morning after we all awoke… later than we usually get up.

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What a joy to have such wonderful friends to share time and our home with!

And quoting Jill from last time, I once again share:

“I recommend that all of our friends coordinate a Couple’s Camp weekend. Great fun. Lots of laughter. Many life stories shared. And the realization that life long friends and connections are priceless! So go make some memories!”

Thanks for the memories dear friends!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Chocolate Dipped Sugar Wafer Cookies

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Chocolate Dipped Sugar Wafer Cookies.

Remember those light, crispy, sweet wafer cookies you loved as a child that came in fun colors and flavors?  Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate, even Peanut Butter…  Oh how I loved them!

Grandma would occasionally get them as a special treat, and we would enjoy them as a late night treat on a hot summer night while sitting outside on the swing catching a cool breeze that could not be felt sitting in the overheated non-air conditioned house.

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I hadn’t thought about these sugary treats for years, but I recently stopped in a local candy shoppe where they featured a pair of these sweet little cookies dipped in chocolate, sprinkled with colorful sprinkles, and wrapped in cellophane.   I couldn’t resist trying – even at the crazy price they were asking… several dollars for two little treats.

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Well – OMG – there were delish!  And I realized they would be so easy to make!  So I found them at my local grocery store, where a whole package of sugar wafer cookies cost a whopping 99 cents!

I dipped them in chocolate, sprinkled them with fun Valentine sprinkles, and I’ll be sharing them with some friends I love dearly this weekend!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

In Love

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Pink Orange & Gold Abstract Watercolor with Hearts 11×14 on 300 lb Arches Cold Press

In love with…

Pink and orange and gold
and dots and lines
and hearts and swirls.

In love with…

Fridays with my little C
and smiles and snuggles
and happy times.

Happy Friday!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Abstract Watercolor done using:  Opera Pink, Quinacridone Rose, Cadmium Orange, Dr. Ph. Martin’s Iridescent Copper Plate Gold, and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof White, Salt, Twine, and Black Micron Pen.

McKinneyX2Designs

Open your Eyes and look with your Heart

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When I look at this photo
I snapped along my walk the other day,
I realize how grateful I am
to have such a place of beauty
so close by
to be able to walk by
every day I can.

There is so much beauty…
so much to be grateful for…
if only we open our eyes
and look with our hearts.

Do you see the possibilities?
Do you wonder about the mystery
that is just a few steps further
along the path
and around the bend?

Open your eyes
and look  with your heart.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Seeing the Weeping in the Willow Tree

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Weeping Willow Tree, Conneaut Lake, October 2016

When the physical things of this world
blur and fade through the lens of our eyes,

A different kind of vision
grows stronger and clearer…

The ability to see the weeping
in the leaves of the willow tree,

The arms that extend and embrace
in its branches,

The foundation that centers and steadies
in its strong, solid trunk.

The weeping willow
is crystal clear

in our heart
and soul
and mind.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Showers of Love

scan20160930_10524568Showers of love
in pastel shades
of pink and ribbons
and braids.

Dreaming of cherubic
rosy red cheeks
and plump, chubby thighs
to pinch and kiss and squeeze.

Preparing for sweetness
for sugar and spice…
showers of love
my heart’s delight.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

Simple… Bold… Love

Abstract Watercolor 5x7 Arches 140lb Rough Cobalt Teal Blue Raw Sienna Cadmium Red

Abstract Watercolor 5×7 Arches 140lb Rough Cobalt Teal Blue Raw Sienna Cadmium Red

It’s really simple…

Just be bold….

and Love.

Today’s painting for #WorldWatercolorMonth is a simple abstract done with bold strokes of cobalt teal blue and raw sienna and embellished with some tiny hearts in cadmium red.  A simple, yet bold expression of the power of love.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

On this day… three years ago

happy 3rd anniversary watercolor and mixed media card gesso newsprint, tim holtz tea dye ink, perm rose

Mixed Media Card – Newsprint, Gesso, Watercolor, Tea Dye Ink

On this day three years ago, I gained a very special daughter-in-law.

On this day three years ago, I watched my oldest son’s dreams come true when he married the girl I always knew was “the one.”

On this day three years ago, my youngest son gave the most incredible toast to his big brother and new sister I have ever heard in my life.

On this day three years ago, I danced to “What a Wonderful World” with my son…

and my husband brought the house down dancing to Katy Perry’s “Firework” with our McHendy daughter, Jackie.

On this day three years ago, a new family was born – a family that during their third year will take 1 + 1 and = 3.

Happy Anniversary Jake and Colleen!

Love you,
Mom ❤

For this #WorldWatercolorMonth card, I painted a thin coat of white gesso over some newsprint DSP.  Once dry, I painted a watercolor heart in Permanent Rose using my Rekab320s brush and added some splatters.  I then sponged some Tim Holtz Tea Dye Ink around the edges and used a distressing tool to “age” it.  I finished it up with a black die-cut “happy,” a few pearls and some baker’s twine.

Compassion

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“Compassion” Original Watercolor – Jodi McKinney

Skip the religion and politics,
head straight to the compassion.
everything else is a distraction.
                                                                   – talib kweli

A while back, I read this quote shared by Beth at I Didn’t Have My Glasses On ,
and it hit me like a brick!
Went straight to the heart, and stuck with me.

I recently did this little abstract watercolor.
To me, it resembles the world surrounded by a heart.
And I call it, “Compassion.”

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi