Started off frustrated but ending well

GD Leigha brought me a jar of her Alaskan sour dough starter and I used it  last weekend to make luscious dinner rolls and today was the first day I was home long enough to make a multi-grain dark bread.. I was working the dough and it seemed stiff and I looked over and saw about a half cup of liquid I failed somehow to add.    Very difficult to work in more liquid at that point but I tried and wasn't sure what I'd end up with...  Probably pretty dense bread but DH and the chickens will   love it.

But things looked up as I started a Dresden Christmas Stollen ....a special treat for DH.... just like his Gma used to make.  I soaked the dried fruit and currants in an orange liqueur overnight... after I drained them to add to the dough I sipped on the sweet liqueur leftover... yum my ...special treat...  I used the stollen mold I bought in Germany last year and just love it.  It is expandable which is a very cool feature.




Since I'm making dark bread and stollen I decided to make meatball  stroganoff in the slow cooker.... a whole eastern European  kitchen day.  My secret ingredients to my meatballs is Montreal Steak Seasoning.... not really a secret as I saw it on the internet but it makes a truly tasty meatball.... and I roll them in flour before I brown them and then add beef broth, onion soup mix, and stout to them in the cooker and leave it about 4-5 hours on low before I add sour cream and noodles.  If you are a fan of using a slow cooker then you would love this book.  I found it at a thrift store last spring and use it a lot..

And an update on the "hair rebellion".  I am still resolute in letting it grow and it has been over six months now... I figure by Valentine's Day I'll be able to get it back in a clip....finally. DH has been subtly  hinting all summer that he would be glad to take me to get a hair cut... He was going to get his cut this morning and thought I should come along and get mine cut also... I declined... The longer it gets, the less subtle he will be.     This was my first attempt at taking a selfie.. seems like it should be easy but it wasn't.

Sorry to add that the missing silk flowers are still missing...