Amish Friendship Bread

Here at Serenity we’re all about making friends; so it seemed like a great idea to make the Amish Friendship Bread recipe that was brought to us by Maren. Friendship Bread is interesting because you must be given some batter as a starter kit before you can make it. Maren gave us a few starter kits and we worked at mixing and adding new ingredients for about ten days until we could finally bake our bread today. Claryce and Lois were the main helpers today; and they loved it! We mixed in all the final ingredients and couldn’t wait until it was done baking so we could try it.

If you would like to try this Amish Bread just let us know and we will provide the starter kit. Below is the recipe for the Friendship Amish Bread that we made here at Serenity!

First, you must obtain about 1 cup of fresh starter from a friend (thus the name Friendship Bread). If you have no success in finding some, you can make your own – you’ll just have to wait a whole lot longer (traditionally about 16 days) for the finished product! Within CCF’s website, you will find some recipes for this starter and other uses for it besides this bread.

The instructions that follow are for that 1 cup of starter that you have obtained from a friend.

Do not refrigerate the starter. This batch is the starter’s day one.

Day One – Do nothing.
Day Two – Mush bag two times during the day.
Day Three – Mush bag two times during the day.
Day Four – Mush bag two times during the day.
Day Five - Mush bag two times during the day.
Day Six – Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Seal bag, letting out as much air as possible. Mush thoroughly.
Day Seven - Mush bag two times during the day.
Day Eight - Mush bag two times during the day.
Day Nine - Mush bag two times during the day.
Day Ten – Squeeze the contents of the bag into a large bowl. Add to the bowl 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Stir and measure out 4 (1 cup) starters into Ziploc bags to give away, along with a copy of this recipe and instructions (the friendship part of this recipe). Don’t forget to keep one bag of starter for yourself.

To Bake: To the small amount left in the bowl, add 1 cup oil, ½ cup milk, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix well and set aside.

In another bowl mix together 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 – 6 ounce box of instant vanilla pudding mix, 1 cup chopped nuts (optional). Add these ingredients to the first mixture and mix well.

Grease two 4 x 8 inch loaf bread pans. Sprinkle pans with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Tomorrow starts day one on your starter. Enjoy!

Child's Play

Children have the strange ability to dramatically brighten up our days; therefore, it’s always nice to get a visit from a child. Our staff member, Leonie, obviously knew this so she decided to bring her daughter, Annabelle in for a visit. Though she didn’t say much, Annabelle was just cute enough to bring a smile to just about all of our faces. Just take a look at this picture of Annabelle and a very happy Lois!

Serenity Cart

Sometimes we all have those moments when a sweet tooth just won’t leave us alone until it is satisfied. And to solve this problem we have added new candy bars to our Serenity Cart. Aside from the sweets, this cart is packed with everyday household goods such as juice, toilet paper, dog treats and greeting cards. It’s always nice to have the chance to buy some small personal items to keep everyone feeling comfortable and happy; and the grandkids love the candy when they visit! And to keep everyone happy Nathan has been keeping busy with the Serenity Cart. He tries to visit everyone living here about once a week and loves doing it!

Casino Day!

Almost all of our parents have told us at one point or another that gambling is just a waste of money. However, here at Serenity we decided that casinos are fine in moderation. So we decided that we would have a casino party right here at Serenity! The whole dining room was decorated like a fancy casino with playing cards on all the walls, festive decorations hanging from the ceiling, and helium balloons floating from our tables.

The fun began at lunchtime when we all ate like high rollers. The meal was great and served in casino style complete with cocktail shrimp as an appetizer and raspberry drizzle cake for dessert. After lunch the festivities began and we played some games. When we would win we were given poker chips that we would use in the final auction game. Bingo was the most popular game; but sometimes the caller just didn’t call the right numbers!

Once we had finished playing our games we took all the chips we had won and used them to win fun auction prizes. But this wasn’t as easy as it sounds! All the prizes were wrapped in gift bags so we couldn’t know what was in them. We simply felt the bags and bet on them just hoping that we would win something good. It was a lot of to see what everyone had won!

Pictured above is Cleo who is working hard to win a game of bingo! And take a look at this picture of Florence holding her chips. She used most of them to win gum and a few other things!

Where in the World?

Hanna Tollefson has been spotted on a hike in mountains of Vail, CO!

Now on Facebook!

Serenity Assisted Living is now on Facebook! Check out our page today!

What A Blast!

Sometimes it’s just fun to get out some bright colors and paint. Today we decided to paint fireworks because of the holiday season. The colors certainly made our days a little brighter and it was great to get a chance to express ourselves with art. Some of us made fireworks by blowing on wet paint through a straw; that was pretty neat! We all also painted festive fireworks with normal paintbrushes. Once our paintings were finally dry we hung them around the dining room. It was a blast!

Pictured here is Henrietta who is blowing paint into firework shapes.

Happy Birthday, Esther Olson!

Birthdays are always a fun time to celebrate our lives and how far we’ve come. But they are especially enjoyable when they coincide with other holidays! On the Fourth of July Esther Olson celebrated her 90th birthday. The Independence Day girl celebrated the Fourth of July with us and later that day we all celebrated her birthday. She’s definitely a party girl! Happy birthday, Esther!

Pictured above is Esther with her delicious cake. It looks great!

Independence Day Celebration

Every year the citizens of this country celebrate the United States’ birthday on the Fourth of July. This year we celebrated our nation’s 233rd birthday by having our Independence Day meal and enjoying a wonderful afternoon of patriotic fun. Our cook, Jacob, even dressed up as Uncle Sam and rounded everyone up for the occasion. The meal was great and we even had patriotic cupcakes for dessert! But we had more fun afterwards. We all waved American flags and even dressed up with festive hats and necklaces. And all our patriotic crafts sure gave the dining room some spirit! When all was said and done, it was a perfect day to remember all of those people who have given so much to protect our freedoms and to show some of our patriotism!

Take a look at Marilyn who is dressed up for the occasion! Below is our cook, Jacob, who is dressed up like Uncle Sam. He helped with the patriotic spirit of the day!

Patriotic Hats

We’re in very high spirits for the upcoming Fourth of July! Today our volunteer from CCRI, Carol Young, came to Serenity to help out with more patriotic crafts. She helped us put together some fun, festive hats that we will wear to celebrate our Independence Day. All of the crafts we have made so far will certainly make the holiday an entertaining celebration for all of us; we’re looking forward to it!

Take a look at this photo of Carol as she works hard to make the perfect patriotic hat!