Holiday Preparedness 2012

I am very close to being completely done with Chanukah/Christmas shopping. Hallelujah!

I have yet to really go through what I think I have and what I bought that I don't remember buying. It is all under my my bed, stuffed into the closet and there are even a couple things in the garage. I started buying a few things here and there back in March, but I have been filling in the major gifts in the last two months bargain shopping. There are a couple things that I do need to buy last minute, like new pillows (how do you hide those?!) and I also have some items to make on my to-do list.

Luckily I do know what I need/want to make and buy thanks to my handy spreadsheet.

To keep myself accountable, I thought I would share my homemade gift to-do list.

For my daughter:
- Play apron and potholders. I have already started cutting the fabric for these and I am really excited for her to play with her own potholders rather than mine. It is very inconvenient to have to search them down to take something out of the oven...
- Mirror. I have this really cute iron mirror that I got on freecycle that I can just envision as a fuschia pink in her room. I have not been able to find the right color spray paint, so I am on a mission to find the color at the craft store this week.
- Bed Skirt. This is the same bed skirt I set out to make in May for her bed and still have not started. I would like to finish this to give as a gift, but I will be happy if I finish by valentines day.

For my son:
- Game Bag. He is really into games right now. Any card game or board game is, um, game. I found a great idea at Teach my Child. Where the outside of a bag is a tic-tac-toe board and the inside holds the pieces. I am taking that concept and using a pillowcase to save time and making a game board on both sides: tic-tac-toe and checkers! I got all my pieces and I have to do some spray painting and sewing, but this should be a quick project once I have the time and energy to finish it.

Other gifts: (not started yet... lots to do!)
Teachers: I plan on giving a book (for the class) with a chocolate dipped candy spoon for her.

Aunties: There is a really cool versatile shirt called the Bina that I found online that I want. So I thought I would make one for my sisters (and myself). Much less than to spend $50 each...

Family from Kids: Key-chains from clay. Stamped and painted. I also want them to make me a couple charms for a personal necklace for myself. This should be a fun project to do with them!

Neighbors and Friends: I will make a batch of my mocha cappuccino mix to put in a pretty container with marshmallows tied with a bag of popcorn and chocolate dipped spoons for a cozy movie night. Much easier than making a fresh batch of cinnamon bread and apple butter like I did last year...

As you can tell from my list, I have a bit of an ADD problem starting a million projects at once (and this is ONLY holiday related!).
What homemade gifts are you making this season?

Tis the season for Punpkins

This is a first for me.  I never really thought about making my own pumpkin puree until I saw the cute, little pie pumpkins at Trader Joe's. I ended up getting a few more pumpkins from Freecycle (yea!) and so made a giant batch of 7 pie pumpkins. Ambitious… I realized this about half way through the process.

Even though this is my first pumpkin cooking journey, I figured it was worth writing about and I have no idea when I will do this again. 

Before I heated the oven I did my research. There are a few ways to get the good stuff. You can cut it up and stick it in the oven. You can chop it up and toss it into a slow cooker. Or you can do what I did… simply deposit the pumpkins into the oven.

Before

After

The simple way, or so it seemed. I coated the pumpkins with coconut oil and put them in there at 400 degrees. It took a little over an hour but then they cut like butter and the seeds just fell out with only a little scraping.

I set up with the cutting board area. A little bowl for the seeds (planning on roasting them later) and a huge bowl for the flesh of the pumpkins. Separating the seeds from the hot stringy goop was the part that took a long time and made quite a mess. Every time I had to stop I had to scrub my whole arms.

I noticed that the smaller the pumpkin, the more seeds and water there was.

When I was done cutting up the pumpkins I looked online again. I noticed that each website I came across used either a blender or a food processor to puree the stuff. What a mess! I decided to use my immersion blender. Much easier I think.

Looking at the puree, I decided that I needed to strain the orange puree. I know you can use a paper towel, but I just happen to have had some new cheesecloth. I rigged up a bowl with a large colander (I rarely use this but it sure comes in handy to have!) containing the cheesecloth. Once I had the pumpkin inside, I covered it with foil and stuck it in the refrigerator overnight.

In the Fridge on top of my batch of Granola Bars

Please note that I started this process at 3pm Sunday with a brief pause for dinner and putting kids in the shower and bed, I finally stuck the puree in the refrigerator at 8pm.

I picked this up again the next day. 

I took the juice and saved it in a jar. I ended up using some of it in place of water in a batch of pancakes. No need to let the nutrition go to waste...

Check out all this juice!

I started portioning out the pumpkin for freezing. I find it very interesting that pumpkin cannot be home canned...

Plus extra for pie!

Double bagged for the freezer.

 My husband saw what I was doing and asked for pumpkin pie… so I ended up with 6 portions to freeze and 2 pumpkin pies (that were really good! And surprisingly easy to make).

One pie did not last long. I mixed a couple recipes that I found on allrecipes with one I found from Paula Dean. It is a really good thing I made the other one to freeze for latter!

Have you ever experimented with pumpkins?

Shared with DIY Home, Monday Mania, Recipe Exchange, Frugally Sustainable, Should be Mopping, Cheerios and Lattes and Mostly Homemade.

Better than Quaker

I did a lot of cooking in my kitchen this weekend. I made bread, bread mixes, chocolate syrup, cappuccino mix, pumpkin puree (coming soon!) and granola bars. Now I’m tired…

I posted a picture on facebook a couple weeks ago of some beautiful granola bars. I made those without peanuts and we went right through them. This time I made 1 batch with no nuts (so my daughter could take them to school) and a double batch with nuts.

Why make them from scratch when you can buy them?

My main reason... do you know what is in these things?! food dyes and preservatives just don't sound that appetizing to me. And it is surprisingly easy to do. Has anyone else noticed that the staples that need to be in your pantry are really simple to put together yourself... but I regress.

I am positively in love with homemade granola bars! They are so easy and practically impossible to mess up. Just throw everything you have together in a bowl and add the sugar to hold it together. I originally gathered a couple recipes together to figure out what I liked to do and how. They are all really similar, but some require cooking in an oven while some don’t. Here is the recipe that I have adjusted to use the most:

Thick & Chewy Granola Bars – no bake

1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats 
1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar (use less if using Peanut Butter)

1/3 cup almond flour or oat flour (put almonds/oats in blender until you get a powder)

1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups miscellaneous stuff (i.e. I like to add cranberries, raisins, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, nuts, flax seeds, chai seeds, rice cereal and whatever else I have on hand)

1/3 cup peanut butter or other nut butter (if you don't want any nut butter, increase the sugar. But I like to add sunflower seed butter to my no-nut version)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1.    Stir dry ingredients in large bowl. Everything except the chocolate chips.

I like to put the seeds in the blender to
disguise them from the kids.

2.       Melt oil, honey, nut butter, and sugar until bubbly, for no more than two minutes.  Stir constantly. Let mixture cool for 2-3 minutes, then add vanilla and stir.

3.       Pour liquid mixture over dry mixture and stir thoroughly so that the oats and cereal are all coated.

After it is well mixed, I like to let it cool a moment before adding mini chocolate chips. They will melt a little, but I find that it is better to mix the chocolate together with the mix rather than add it to the top before pressing to avoid a melted chocolate mess on top.

4.       Pour mixture into pan. Press down to pack it all down good.

I like to put foil or plastic wrap in the pan so I don’t have to grease it and run the risk of bars coming apart when I am trying to take them out of the pan. I also use a piece of plastic wrap to press the granola down so I don’t have to get my hands dirty.

5.       Place granola bars in refrigerator until set. Then you can cut them. 

can you see my cut marks in the No-Nut version?
I like to make bars, but you can make squares or triangles if you like.

In this picture you can see the Nut version.
I took the foil/bars out of the container to cut
them and put them in ziplock bags.

6.       Store in the fridge or at room temperature. I like to put them in ziplock bags for easy kid snacks and store them in a Tupperware for easy kid access. I am also thinking that they save a little longer this way since I have noticed that they save 3 weeks with no problems.

You can see my beautiful labels. "NN" for No Nuts.

It might seem like a huge waste of baggies, but these bags are easily cleaned and reused. I have gotten in the habit of turning baggies inside out to wash with soap and water before letting air dry when the only thing inside them are silly things like granola or raisins or crackers or... you get the idea.

If you haven't tried this before. Take a couple minutes to whip up a batch!

Shared at Recipe Exchange, Homemade Monday, Mop it Monday, Homemade Monday, Monday Mania DIY Home Sweet Home, Cheerios & Lattes, Saturday Seven and Frugally Sustainable.

Transition to Working Mom

I think the title of this post is funny since I consider that being a Mom a lot of work. Simple errands are an adventure! But since my two year old started preschool, I have been thinking that I would like to occupy my time doing something other than mopping the floors. Before having my son I took the CBEST thinking that I would like to teach. I was sooo fortunate to get a job at the school district as a substitute teacher. This has been great! I am able to have a very similar schedule as my kids and easily take off days that something is going on. I took a day off when my little man was up all night sick; and another to take my daughter on a field trip.

I like the flexibility. But I have to say that on the nights I work I am exhausted! I come home and sit. I just don’t have the energy to get up or cook or clean up. My husband has been amazing picking up and dropping off kids and even cooking. So here are the differences… I used to get the kids up dressed and ready in the morning, make lunches, breakfast and then schlepp the kids to school before running around before picking them up. Now, when I am working I still have to get lunches ready (including mine) and get kids up and dressed, but hubby is making breakfast, taking kids to school and even making dinner.

One thing I knew that needed to change is the way I have my meal plans drawn out. Otherwise I could see us wanting to eat out every night… 

Refrigerator Before...
and yes, that is a New Year card from last year

So I bought a cheap frame and glued some magnates on the back.

Made a cute Menu print out and printed on stationary. 

And voilà, a visible menu easy for daddy to follow and mommy to plan for.

MUCH Better!

It still isn't as clean as some refrigerator doors that I've seen on Pinterest. But we have to do what works for us. Before I wrote in my own book and kept track of meal plans, but that just wasn't working out with the change in duties. I really like this change and think that once the kids are reading, there might be less complaining over their dinner since it was posted for them to see. It has made a huge difference in our planning!

What do you do?

Shared at Cheerios and Lattes, Saturday Seven and Frugally Sustainable.