This is my favorite doughnut recipe – but surprise! It’s actually a no-knead brioche recipe! This recipe stunned me the first time I tried it – far and above the best doughnuts I have made, and they consistently delicious every time. And I have been using this recipe for almost 10 years.
The recipe is large, so I usually 1/2 it, and that still makes enough doughnuts for 2 days of breakfast. And yes! Doughnuts for breakfast because I make the dough a day or two in advance. Roll them out, cut them out, give them 20 min to rest, and then into the oil they go.
Last night I mixed in some of my sourdough starter, too – I just followed the written recipe (yeast and all) and at the end I added about 1/2 cup of starter. Sourdough doughnuts with homemade grape jelly? Wow. Just, Wow. (Tomorrow we are adding in Nutella!)
My watercolor travel kit started with watercolor crayons, but this summer (a summer in which I am home ALL THE TIME) I fantasized about travel and improved my portable watercolor kit. You know, so I am ready for whenever I get to travel again.
Eye shadow palettes make really good watercolor palettes – the little wells are already there, they just need to be cleaned out and filled up with tube watercolors. I had some trouble finding ones that were on their way to the dump, but over the summer I did manage to collect 3. The smaller to went to my kids (with hot glue used to make smaller compartments as needed). The bigger, glorious 32-well compact, is now mine and I love it. I don’t even have enough colors to fill it all! I started with a Sakura Koi set of 18 tube watercolors, so I mixed some together and left some wells empty for future expansion.
Want to make one?
Once I found an makeup compact that I wanted to use for paints, I started by emptying whatever makeup was left (these were all used) and washing it with soap. I had to use q-tips to clean out the corners when I left the metal pans in place. The one that I removed the metal pans from needed the glue removed.
Once dry, I laid out my watercolor tubes and filled each well. A toothpick helps for stirring the wet paint and ensuring it spreads to the corners.
After filling up each well, I left it to dry for 24 hours. Once it’s completely dry, it’s ready to use!
For a bit of greenery indoors and a future meal from out windowsill, we have been growing pea greens. They are simple to grow, take about 10 days until harvest, and when it’s time to harvest, my kids snip them with scissors. Then we let them regrow for a second harvest!
I use Dwarf Gray Peas from Johnny’s Seeds, in a pinch you could use the pea seeds from the garden center (you won’t find Dwarf Gray, but it would still work), but I usually grow 1 cup of peas at a time so I buy them in large quantities. Pea seeds don’t need any soil, but they do need something that will retain moisture – I have used soil and fallen leaves and unbleached paper towels as a growing medium. I often use an old Pyrex pan, but plastic take-out containers and their lids both make great growing containers.
Day 1: Soak 1 cup of pea seeds in 2 cups of water — they will double in size over the next 12 hours.
Day 2: Find a wide, shallow pan – I use a 9x13inch Pyrex pan. Sprinkle some soil on the bottom, or use two layers of paper towels. Drain the peas and spread them in the pan. They can be tightly spread, but if it’s more than 2 layers deep, find a bigger pan or divide them between two containers.
Water the seeds.
Cover the pan with a plastic bag – this will create a mini greenhouse and keep in the moisture for the first two or three days of growth. Some air will help keep mold from growing.
Day 4: Remove the plastic. Give a little water if it looks dry. Days 5-10: Water once a day, or twice if your home is very dry.
Harvest the peas when the leaves are open. You can harvest all the greens at once, or harvest over a few days. Use scissor to cut the stems, leave the roots in place and keep watering, they will regrow and you can harvest a second crop.
Home grown food definitely calls for my fanciest bowl and grandma’s salad tongs.
