Christmas Cookies

'Tis the week for baking.  We made LOTS of cookies this month, but the sugar cookie cut-outs are always my favorite.

Advent Wreaths

This week the kids made advent wreaths out of rice krispy treats with pink & purple jelly beans.  It was a great way to talk about the meaning of advent and the significance of each candle.

Black Friday Cookie Baking

Here are a few pictures from our annual Black Friday Cookie Baking.  Total production this year was 137.5 dozen.  We made buckeyes, maizie taizies, gobs, peanut blossoms, and thumbprints.

Cath Kidston Quilt

The quilt I started back in March is finally complete.  I finished quilting it over the weekend and sewed the binding on it last night.  Now we finally have something to put on our spare bed for the winter!

Candy Apples

Here is a fun & easy recipe for candy apples...

1. 2 cups sugar

2. 3/4 cup water

3. 1/2 cup light corn syrup

*optional = red food coloring

Heat all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce to medium heat and insert candy thermometer.

When temperature reaches 300 degrees (about 20 minutes), remove from heat and quickly dip apples.  Yield = 10 small apples, 8 medium apples, or 6 large apples

Tangled

We celebrated my daughter's 6th birthday with a Rapunzel theme from the Disney movie "Tangled."  I got the idea for the Pascal party blowers (below) from the Disney website.  I also stole the idea of the jello boats (reminiscent of when Flynn & Rapunzel take a boat out on the water to view the floating lanterns).

At the beginning of the movie, Rapunzel is painting in her tower so I bought easels and paints from Michael's and let the kids get creative.  We also played 'pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider' to pass the time.

This was such a fun theme to work with and we had a blast planning all the activities.  It took my husband and I an entire evening to complete the braid that we hung from the upstairs window to the front door (but it was worth it!)

Baby Shower Tea

I hosted a baby shower for a dear friend of mine over the weekend.  Here are some photos from our afternoon tea.

I found the recipe for the "Baby Blocks" on www.marthastewart.com.  I used a white cake recipe and divided the batter to tint half blue and half pink.

I served orange-cranberry scones and lemon-blueberry scones with a choice of strawberry, raspberry and blueberry jam.  After sampling the different jams, I let each guest chose which flavor they wanted from the dining room shelf to take home as a favor.

Mickey Birthday

We celebrated my two-year-old's birthday with a Mickey cake and homemade donuts.  It was a weekend of  indulgence.

Antique Wall Planter

This is an antique wall planter that I got from my Grandmother.  I added fruit and ivy to it and hung it in our foyer.  It definitely adds charm to our entryway.

Time for Jam

We made 9 jars of jam in my Grandmother's kitchen on Monday.  Then I came home and tried the process myself.  The recipe is 1 cup of strawberries to 1 cup of sugar.  This will yield one pint size jar and perhaps a little more.

 Boil the mixture for about 10 minutes or until two drops of jam hang from the edge of your spoon.  While cooking the mixture on the stovetop, heat jars in the oven at about 200 degrees to sterilize them.  When the mixture is ready, remove heated jars from oven and pour hot mixture into the jar immediately.

Boil the lid of each jar for about 2 minutes and wipe the rim of each jar clean before fastening the lid to the top.

After fastening the lid to the top, wait about 15 minutes for the lid to "pop."  Once you hear the popping sound, the lid has sealed and you can store the jam in your pantry for about a year.

 

Spiderman

We celebrated my son's 4th birthday with a Spiderman party over the weekend.  I also discovered Window Crayons by Crayola and we had a lot of fun decorating our sunporch for the occasion!

Strawberry Rhubarb

I made my first pie of the season last week.  Strawberry Rhubarb.  The rhubarb came straight from my Aunt's garden and couldn't have been better.  I made the pie dough in my food processor and included the recipe below.

Ingredients for pie dough = 1.5 sticks cold butter (cut into small pieces), 1.75 cups all purpose flour, 1/8 tsp. salt, ice water, plastic wrap, Silpat

1. Place flour and dough in the food processor and combine them.

2. Cut the butter into the flour using the "Pulse" function.  Pulse ingredients until texture of oatmeal.

3. Add 1 Tbsp. ice water at a time.  Watch dough closely, as soon as it comes together stop the machine.

4. Remove dough from machine and place on Silpat.  Cover dough with plastic wrap and roll out. 

Easter

We had a great time preparing for Easter this year.  The kids dyed eggs, we made several batches of cupcakes, and we had numerous egg hunts around our house.