Cranberry Yeast Bread {with Bonus Valentine Box and Printable Valentines for Kids}

Happy Valentines Day!  Hope you all have a great day with family, friends and the animals in your life.

This year was the first year that Big J needed to make a Valentines box for his class party.  

He settled on making a "Gary the Snail" box; if you don't already know, Gary is Sponge bob's pet snail.  

How'd we make him:  

{This is just a brief summary; if you would like more details just ask}

1. We used a  square Ritz cracker box.  

2. I rounded the top corners and glued the paper on.  

3. Then, we used a toilet paper tube to make Gary's head {squished flat on one end}.  

4. Big J cut out the swirls and spots for Gary's shell and glued them on. 

5. I hot-glued the tiny black pom poms to the larger white pom poms {for his eyes} and the wire to the pom poms for this "eye-stalks".  

6. We made Gary's smile using a white piece of foam with the blue paper glued to it.

7. After Gary was complete Big J thought of the idea of making him a party hat {BRILLIANT, right!}  

So, I cut out a circle about the size of a standard coffee filter, cut a line to the center and rolled the circle into a cone.  Put some hot glue on the inside of the hat glued the wires to it, glued the tiny pom poms to the ends.

... And WHA-LA!  Partying Gary!

Big J is super proud!

 Oh, Gary's getting into mischief, crawling all over Big J...

 Buds...

I also found this great, printable Valentine card for the class Valentines.  
They print 4 per page and fold into these cool little paper airplanes...

We punched two holes in each plane so we could thread a sucker stick through them.

 They all have cute little messages on the tops...

 Still proud of Gary...

Well, now I think its time to move on to today's recipe post.

Enjoy its a good one...

Really great bread!  It makes fantastic toast and I think it would also be great for a leftover holiday turkey or chicken sandwich.

I found the recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, halved

-1/3 cup brown sugar

-1/3 cup molasses

-1 1/4 cups warm water {about 110-115 degrees; just warm to touch}, divided

-1 tbsp yeast

-1 tbsp honey

-2 tbsp melted butter

-1 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp ground allspice

-2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour {you could also use white flour}

-1 1/2 to 2 cups white flour

Process:

1. Combine halved cranberries with brown sugar and molasses and let stand for 1 hour.  {I don't really know what this does or if its even necessary; but I did it anyway.}

2. Stir in 1 cup warm water.

3. In a large bowl dissolve yeast and remaining 1/4 cup warm water.  Add honey and let stand for 5 minutes.

4. Add butter, salt and allspice.

5. Add flour.

5. Add in cranberry mixture.

6. Mix well.  {I used my standing mixer with the paddle blade; that worked well.}

7. Add enough white flour to form a soft dough.

8. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray or lightly oiled; turn down over to coat the top.

9. Cover and let rise until about doubled, about 1 hour.
10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
11. Shape dough into a loaf and place in a lightly oiled bread pan.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
12. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
13. Remove from pan and allow to cool at least 30 minutes before slicing.  Enjoy!

Have a Very Happy Valentines Day Everyone!