Carrot and Seed Rolls

I LOVE fresh baked bread, what is better when it’s wholegrain and healthy fats? Well, I don’t know either. The rolls tastes like something that’s unhealthy, but it really isn’t ;-)

My favorite part of this bread is that it’s cold raised. This means that the dough will rise in the fridge while you sleep at night. All you need to do in the morning is turn on your oven and roll out your rolls. 20 minutes later, you have fresh baked bread with your coffee. 

These rolls are great for breakfast with cheese or Nutella (I’m a Nutella lover, I admit it). You can roll them smaller and eat one for a snack with a cheese stick. Roll them a tad bigger and you have awesome sandwich breads which everyone will be envious of.

What you’ll need for these amazing rolls

·      17oz ice cold water

·      1TBSP salt

·      3TBSP olive oil

·      1 cup of oatmeal

·      ¼ cup of white sesame seeds

·      ¼ cup of brown flax seeds

·      ¼ cup of sunflower seeds

·      ¼ cup of pumpkin seeds

·      1 big fresh carrot, shredded

·      3 eggs

·      2.5 cups of flour, I used one part whole grain and one part white. You can use what ever flour you want to

·      About 2TBSP yeast.

Mix first all the wet ingredients including eggs. Mix it well together and add the seeds. When the seed are added add flour ½ cup at a time, if you’re using dry yeast add the yeast with your flour. When it’s all mixed together kneed in the shredded carrots. You can use store bought shredded carrots, but the freshly shredded carrots add moisture to the dough that your taste buds won’t regret.

Cover up your bowl with a dishtowel and leave it in the fridge for at least 3 hours, but preferably over night.

Bake the rolls at 400°F for about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!  

Winter Wonderland

So when do you take your Christmas decorations down? 

                     

                      I’ve taken most of mine down, but I’m keeping some up just for a little while, still. Despite the holiday season is over winter is still going strong here in Ohio. The wind chill is below zero, and snow is on the ground. So, I kept my lovely white and glittery trees up with silvery reindeer enjoying the cold weather.

I’ve got silver and white glass ornaments in my glass cylinders and a white non-smelling candle in the other. I love to make these cylinders seasonal; I had red and gold glass ornaments in my cylinder during Holiday season, and now I have my wintery ornaments. Then, a little green to break the icy frozen colors; my mom made these trees many years ago, and I have them in other sizes too.

On my end table I have some lovely winter leafs by Rosendahl for candlesticks. I bought my candlesticks at Meijer, and they’re from Germany. They nearly don’t drip, which is good. My experience is that candlesticks tend to drip because air is getting easer around the flame, and there is hardly any to catch the drippings. I’ve moved these candleholders around quite a bit this season, and the candles hold up when walking around them, and when the door is open near them for a while. Behind my candles is some artsy reindeer that I bought at Michael’s in 2015. There are lovely shadows cast on the wall from the candles and reindeer together. I just love looking at it in the evening! 

My living room is truly a winter wonderland this winter, and probably more winters to come.  I got lots of candles around to give these cold winter nights warmth and coziness.  Who knows, I might start to like winter more now that I have lovely décor in my home.                            

Two by Two - Nicholas Sparks

Spoiler alerts 

I’ve read all of Nicholas Sparks’ books now by adding this book to my wish list for Christmas. I think it is now becoming a tradition that my husband gives me the new Nicholas Sparks book for Christmas. He writes small loving notes in the book, so I have something to look forward to when reading.

Two by Two is N.S’ newest book, number 20! It is not the best book; however, it is very cute. On the book preview is giving the reader a thought that they’re about to read how a dad realizes how he should love his daughter. Nonetheless, the book is more about how the main character Russ married the wrong woman, and his own reflection on how he should have seen the marriage wouldn’t have lasted.

Russ Green, the main character, is very spineless. He let’s Vivian, his wife, drag him around the circus tent and he never confronts her, even though his blood his boiling with rage. Russ Green develops through the book, which is pleasant for the reader, and he realizes that he has always been a pleaser. He also realizes that he shouldn’t just be a pleaser to be a pleaser, and it is OK to say no. Moreover, understands Russ that it’s more rewarding to please people out of love.

Russ Green has a close relationship to his family, and it didn’t come as a surprise that Marge had the cancer when she wouldn’t stop coughing. But how is a N.S book without someone not dying? It was a tearjerker reading about Marge’s dying, but it wasn’t a surprise.

Most of the book was conversation, which can be annoying to people; to me, it gave it a good reading pace. This can be me putting more into the pot than what can fit into the pot, nevertheless there should be a lot of conversations in families. Like Russ had with his family, and you saw how he was never able to talk to Vivian. Hense it wasn't real love between them. 

The reader can also ask it’s self why N.S decided to write a book about divorcing a spouse. He is the king of romantic novels for crying out loud! I can imagine that he maybe filled the need to after his recent divorce.  It was OK reading, although I hope his next book will be yet another grand love story.

My biggest issue about this book, was that I thought before beginning to read it that there would be more about this father daughter relationship that the preview lead up to. London, Russ and Vivian’s daughter, is a sweet little smart thing. It is clear that she loves both her mom and dad, and she, as a little girl, needs both her mom and father in her life. So for Russ Green, on the second to last page out of 400 pages, to realize how he is a good father to his daughter and move to Atlanta was quite annoying. What was more annoying was Vivian, who believed that she should just have sole custody over London. What kind of mother would do that to her daughter, knowing she has a good dad, who is taking care of his daughter to an A+? I know I wouldn’t.

Two by Two is a good book by Nicholas Sparks. It is not his greatest, but I will definitely re-read it eventually. I had a hard time putting it down, and I finished the book in less than a week despite being busy with the Holidays.  If you like to read cute stories, where you can just fall in to the universe by opening the book. This is the book you should read.   

The last note from my husband on the last page <3 

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