Deck The Halls!

When I got home from my early morning Black Friday shopping yesterday Matt had all our Christmas decorations in the living room and the boys had been watching a Christmas Curious George movie.  The Christmas spirit had hit! 
Our Christmas stockings are my favorite of all of our Christmas decorations.  Mine was made by my Grandma, all the others by my mom. Each hand-stitched with love.

Lincoln and Carson had a blast decorating the tree.  Our tree is so laden with ornaments it will be a miracle if it doesn't fall over!  I have tons of ornaments, none are matching collection, just fun things I have picked up or been given over the years.  I like that each ornament has a story to it and that they weren't just all bought at once but picked out individually.

Have you started decorating yet?  Do you have a favorite Christmas decoration? 

Pine Cone Bird Feeders

Happy Black Friday!  Despite not feeling that well (a terrible, energy sucking cold but could be worse) I decided to still go out and take advantage of the amazing Black Friday deals :)  I limited myself to 2 1/2 hours but was still able to get some great stuff.  Do you like to venture out or do you avoid the madness at all costs? 

Earlier this week the boys and I made pine cone bird feeders.  Lincoln had a lot of fun making these and talking about the birds.  Carson just thought that they were for him to eat.  We had an unseasonably warm day so we took our project outside.  If you don't have a warm day, head to the garage because if your kids are like mine the bird seed will be everywhere in about 5 seconds :)

First spread peanut butter onto a pine cone

Roll the pine cone in bird seed (or if you are Carson stick the whole thing in your mouth)

Lincoln put his pine cone in the bag, this actually worked the best



Pine cones are a great thing to use because they natural and will not litter if they get blown away or carried off by a squirrel.  Going on a pine cone hunt adds to the fun.  If you don't have any pine trees graham crackers work well too. 

A Time For Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!!  I have so many many blessings. 

Today I am thankful for:

-My boys.  Lincoln and Carson, despite the way they challenge me in my patience have taught me so much about who I am and what it means to truly love someone.  It is amazing to think that God loves me in the same unconditional way I love them only soo much more.

- The Lord providing work for Matt.  This past year Matt started his own business.  He has no guarantee of income.  It has taught us to rely on the Lord for provision and we have found that God is faithful.  A little over 2 years ago Matt was laid off and while I wouldn't have had that as my choice it was God moving us in a new direction.  It helped Matt move from a job that he was unhappy with to one that he never would have started if he had not lost his job.

-My friends.  I have some of the best friends in the world.  Just this past weekend a friend called to see if I wanted to get together and when I told her I was sick she brought me soup instead.  

-My family.  Growing up I took my family for granted.  Now that I am an adult I realize what a blessing it is to have people who care about you and are there for you no matter what.  Without my parents, sisters and brother my life would simply be different.

-You my blog readers.  This may sound silly, but I really love writing this blog and sharing my thoughts, ideas and recipes.  Cooking and baking is such a passion for me and to have others be interested enough to read what I write makes me so happy :)

I hope you all have a GREAT Thanksgiving!!  Enjoy lots of delicious food and time with family!

Gobble 'til you wobble!

Cranberry Applesauce Jello

Lincoln and Carson really get a kick out of eating Jello.  Applesauce is a winner with most kids, so put the two together and you've got a Thanksgiving side dish my kids really dig into  :)  If you typically shy away from cranberry sauce because of the tartness I think you will like this recipe.  While the flavor of the cranberry is evident, the tartness is absent. I've only seen Cranberry Jello at the grocery store during the holidays, so you'll have to snatch some up quick before it's gone :)  I made mine in a jello mold, it turned out very pretty and really helped to dress up the simple jello.

Cranberry Applesauce Jello  Source:  An 'A' For Effort 

Ingredients:

1 3-oz. box Cranberry Jello

1.5 C applesauce

1 C boiling water

Directions:

1. Combine jello powder and boiling water.  Stir for 2 minutes or until dissolved.

2. Add applesauce and stir.

3. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.

Cranberry Sauce

Day two of my satisfying my cranberry sauce craving! While I really liked the Cran-Pineapple Sauce from yesterday, if you are craving cranberry sauce this traditional recipe will do the trick!  Add a little twist some ground clove and cinnamon.  I like the little extra the ground clove adds.  Only a teeny bit of the clove though, because even in a small amount ground clove has a lot of strength!  I love this, just the right balance of tart.

Once baked, the cranberries may be crushed with a spoon for a cranberry sauce with texture or pureed in a blender for a smooth sauce.  I did the spoon crushed.  The cranberry sauce is a nice consistency for dipping turkey and not overly thick. 

Cranberry Sauce  Source: Our Best Bites

Still a little tart even with all this sugar!

Ingredients:

1 12 oz. bag cranberries

1 C white sugar

1 C orange juice

1 C water

1 pinch cinnamon (optional)

1 small pinch ground clove (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Ready for the oven

2. Place cranberries in a 9 x 13 pan.  Sprinkle sugar over the top of the berries.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the orange juice, water, cinnamon and clove.
4. Pour liquid over the sugared cranberries.
5. Bake for 1 hour, remove from oven and allow to cool.
6. Once cool, crush or puree the berries to your desired consistency.

Cran-Pineapple Sauce

It's a good thing Thanksgiving is this week because for some reason I have been wanting cranberry sauce!  Strangely enough it is not the cranberry sauce my mom makes (sorry mom!).  The last time I had hers it was so tart I wonder if she added any sugar at all!  So, I decided to try out a couple of new cranberry sauce recipes and also have a cranberry sauce jello recipe to share with you guys.  I hope you are in the mood for some cranberry sauce too :)

First up is a Cran-Pineapple Sauce recipe I saw in our local Schnuck's grocery advertisement.  I was drawn to this one mainly because I love pineapple and thought the combination of tart and sweet would be a nice balance.  I liked the flavor of this one a lot, the harmony of pineapple and cranberry is great!  Not too sweet, not overly tart.  I think this recipe would be a good one for people who normally shy away from cranberry sauces.  It still has some tart to it but the pineapple helps and encourage those who are a little fearful of tart things :) This recipe was super easy and only took 7 or 8 minutes to make (minus the chilling time).

At the start of heating process

Cran-Pineapple Sauce  Source: Schnuck's

Ingredients:

1 20-oz. can pineapple chunks, undrained
1 12-oz. bag cranberries
1 C brown sugar, packed
1/4 C coconut-flavored rum (optional- I did not use)
1/2 C water
1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Combine undrained pineapple (if you are using the rum, drain the pineapple), cranberries, brown sugar, water, rum (if using) and salt into a 3-4 quart saucepan.
2. Heat to boiling over high heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Boil 4-5 minutes or until most cranberries burst, stirring occasionally.
4. Transfer cranberry sauce to a bowl, cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 1 week.

Once finished with boiling

Owl Graham Cracker S'mores

How cute are these?!?  I saw them almost a month ago at The Changeable Table and instantly knew I would be making them for my Pastor's wife, Corey.  Once a month our church has a food distribution day and I get to make treats for the people who come.  I LOVE doing this because it gives me a reason to bake! :)  This month I made these Owl S'mores and couldn't wait for Corey to see them!  I used vanilla frosting instead of chocolate between the graham crackers, so I guess that doesn't make them S'mores like the name suggests...Owl Frosting Sandwiches maybe?  Regardless, I thought these were adorable and fun!

I had wanted to make these with my boys but we were out and about during the day and I didn't have time until after they were tucked in bed. Kids will have a blast creating these.  If you have a house full of kids on Thanksgiving these could be fun to make after the big meal while everyone else watches football.  The joy of watching marshmallows puff up in the microwave is exciting no matter what your age is!

Owl S'mores  Source: The Changeable Table

Ingredients:

Graham crackers
Large marshmallows
Yellow candy melts (little discs)
Milk chocolate chips
Candy Corn
Chocolate frosting (I used Vanilla)

Directions:

1. Spray a little cooking spray on a pair of kitchen shears and cut your marshmallows in half.
2. Place the two halves of the marshmallow at the top of half of a graham cracker.  Top each with a yellow candy melt.
3. Add a chocolate chip eye to each candy melt and a candy corn between the eyes (narrow part at the bottom).
4. Heat in the microwave for a few seconds or until the marshmallows start to get big.
5. Quickly remove the graham cracker and push the candy corn into the marshmallows, they should be soft enough for the candy corn to go in without resistance and stay easily.
6. While the owl cools, top a second graham cracker with frosting and place the owl graham on top.

*If you have any trouble with things sticking together, I have a few tips.  The Changeable Table didn't seem to have any difficulty so you may not even need to do these (unless your microwave is like mine :)

1. Watch your marshmallows in the microwave while you heat them, once they go from slightly puffed to all of a sudden big stop the microwave. The time to do that seemed to vary a bit for some reason, I guess maybe my microwave just wanted to play around with me.  I also tried doing 4 on a plate at once but some marshmallows puffed faster than others depending on their placement and I found that just doing 1 graham cracker at a time had the best results. 
2. Use a paring knife to take the little point on the top of the candy melt off so the chocolate chip has a flat surface to sit on.
3. Milk chocolate chips melt easier than semi-sweet, if you need more staying power, add a teensy bit of frosting to 'glue' the chocolate chip to the candy melt.