July Birthstone and Flower Mandala

Happy Birthday to everyone born in July! Which includes The Amazing Turnip Girl!

The birthstone for June is ruby, and the flower is either larkspur or waterlily. I decided on waterlily for this months flower and stone mandala. 

You can find the rest of them here-

The Birthstone and Flower series of Mandalas

Click on the image for a larger version to color.

Small JPG version:

Large transparent PNG version:

And some gift ideas for the July birthday in your life from Amazon.com, Amazon links help support this site and my reading habit. 

Frozen Malted Hot Chocolate and about malt

The Amazing Turnip Girl and I were going through a couple cookbooks that I'll be reviewing soon and there were two recipes that caught her chocolate loving eye immediately. One was for a malted hot chocolate, the other was for a frozen hot chocolate. We discussed making our own malted frozen hot chocolate which was an idea she was very enthused about.

First, I had to learn about malt. Because I know I'm not really a fan of Carnation malted milk which is the kind most easily available at our super market. So after a bit of research, I learned that malted milk is made with non-diastatic malt and dry milk. So then off to find out more about diastatic and non-diastatic malts. Diastatic malts have active enzymes in them that work well in baking in small amounts with yeast for a great rise and brown. Non-diastatic malts are generally used as a sweetener and flavor and don't have active enzymes. A bit more research pointed up that a lot of home beer brewing is done using non-diastatic malt extracts. Since I knew my recipe would have milk in it, I just wanted a good malt flavor.

So off to the local brewing supply, Arctic Brewing Supply where they had a ton of options for malt. We had decided powder already, malts are available as both liquid and dried powder. Then we picked out 3 different malt powder extracts to bring home and try. Light, amber and dark. The very helpful person working that day specifically recommended against dark for baking and recipes because she had fielded complaints from people about the flavor.

We got home, and mixed the malts in chocolate milk. Just a chocolate milk powder, milk and a small amount of malt, and we tried each one. We actually liked the dark malt best. It has a toastier, warmer flavor.

After all that time looking into malts, we also decided to use a better chocolate.

Frozen Malted Hot Chocolate- makes 4 tall servings (12 oz)

You will need:

• 6 cups of milk
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 3.5 oz dark chocolate bar- we used Lindt
• 4 Tablespoons dry malt extract

Cut up the candy bar into small pieces.

Put 4 cups of milk, pinch of salt and sugar into a sauce pan and heat while whisking in the sugar until small bubbles are forming around the edge of the pan. After it's hot, add the chocolate and malt and keep whisking until the chocolate melts completely and you have no clumps of malt extract powder. Take off heat and whisk in the vanilla. 

If you have silicone ice cube trays, just pour it into the ice cube trays and put them in the freezer. If you have regular ice cube trays, let it cool a bit so it doesn't warp the plastic. Freeze into cubes.

After it's frozen, put half the ice cubes and a cup of milk into a blender, and blend until all the cubes are completely crushed and mixed in. At this point it looks a lot like a milk shake. Fill 2 cups with that, then repeat with the other half of the cubes. Serve with whipped cream or marshmallows!

Because of how it's made, you could make 2 servings, then save the rest of the cubes for another 2 servings later, or even make just one serving at time by using 1/4 of the cubes and a 1/2 cup of milk!

It turned out really delicious. Even my husband who is hit or miss with malt really likes the flavor. 

Soft Waves Bangle Bracelet- crochet pattern

I love making soft bangle bracelets! This one is really easy and uses increases and decreases in single crochets to create a softly wavy pattern that looks great in oceany colors.

You will need:

• 3 colors of size 3 fashion thread
• Size D- 3.25
• Tapestry needle big enough for the thread
• scissors

I used Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Cotton in Blue Hawaii, Lime and Soft Teal. 

Stitch abbreviations:

st or sts= stitch or stitches

ch= chain

sc= single crochet

dec sc= decrease single crochet

sl st= slip stitch

Repeat ** means repeat the steps between the *asterisks*

To work a decrease- insert hook first stitch, yarn over and pull through the stitch leaving 2 loops on the hook, insert hook in next stitch, yarn over, pull through the stitch, yarn over, pull through all the loops on the hook. 

American terminology. 

You only need a small amount of each color. 

Chain 48, slip stitch to join being careful not to twist the chain.

Round 1: ch 1, (doesn't count as first stitch here or throughout) sc in each st around, sl st to first sc to join. Make sure you have 48 stitches.

Round 2: Repeat round 1, break of yarn.

Round 3: Join in second color, ch 1,  sc in first st, dec sc in next st, sc in next st, dec sc in next st, sc in next st, dec sc in next st, sc in next st, dec sc in next st, 2 sc in each of next 4 sts, *sc in next st, dec sc in next st, sc in next st, dec sc in next st, sc in next st, dec sc in next st, sc in next st, dec sc in next st, 2 sc in each of next 4 sts,* repeat **, sl st in first sc to join.

Round 4: ch 1, sc in each st around. Break off thread.

Round 5: join in new color, ch 1. dec sc over first and second sts, dec sc over next 2 sts, dec sc over next 2 sts, dec sc over next 2 sts, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, *dec sc over next 2 sts, dec sc over next 2 sts, dec sc over next 2 sts, dec sc over next 2 sts, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st,* repeat **, sl st to first sc to join.

Round 6: ch 1, sc in each st around. sl st to join, break off thead and weave in all ends with the tapestry needle.

I love how this turned out, and it's so simple and quick. I hope you enjoy it too! 

Book Review- Crackers and Dips

Crackers and Dips- More Than 50 Handmade Snacks is one of those specialty books that will appeal to a lot of home bakers. Homemade crackers give you complete control over the flavors and ingredients and taste wonderful.

The author starts by introducing herself, and explaining "snack tooth" which is like a sweet tooth but for savory more than sweet. Then she explains a lot of the tips to make cracker making a lot easier. How to roll out the dough perfectly, and how you can also do pressed crackers or use a pasta machine. She explains how to get a perfectly crisp cracker, how to cut and pierce them, and other tricks for perfect crackers. It also covers some of the most used ingredients and why she chooses them.

Then into the recipes. The focus is on great ingredients and flavors. The first chapter has a lot of traditional favorites like cheddar crackers, goldfish shaped mini-crackers and soda crackers. She uses yeast frequently as leavening agent instead of baking powder, and gourmet touches like alder-smoked salt make even a soda cracker very special.

The next chapter is inspired by recipes from the around the world. Japanese rice crackers, my favorite rye crisps, Norwegian crackers made with oatmeal and other savories. These crackers, like the ones in the other chapters also come with dip, spread and topping suggestions.

Healthful Snacks and Wheat-free crackers has several gluten-free crackers. Nut lovers will also love this chapter with things like Brown Butter-Hazelnut Crackers (my new favorite!).

Quick and Crunchy uses mostly pre-made items to create crackers with flavor and snap. This is the "instant gratification" chapter, and has my daughter's favorite recipe, the Frico with Basil- made with cheese with basil from our herb garden they are fast, amazing and gluten free.

Up next is a dessert chapter, which straddles the line between cookies and crackers, but still more on the cracker side. It starts with the classic animal cracker, but made for adult tastes with a lemon glaze and good ingredients. There are also recipes for a chocolate/mint cracker and some recipes that are globally inspired.

Then the dips! I made the Smoked Salmon Creme Fraiche because it combines two of my favorite things with other flavors for an amazing dip. Everyone will find a good dip in here, some use seafood, there is a vegan pate, bean dips and cheese dips. There are enough dip varieties that you could make a dinner of them serving various dips with crackers and crudites.

This is a wonderful book for people who love to bake and entertain. The recipes are well explained. There are not photos of every single cracker or dip, the focus of the book is the recipes. The photos shown are charming, carrying the cover theme with the crackers on a chalkboard background. Measurements are in American style volume and metric.

You can get the book from Amazon.com using the links below and help support this site.

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I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, I received no other compensation, and my review is my honest opinion of the book. You can read more about my review policy here.