P is for Peppermint

I looooove peppermint anything... pop some chocolate in with it and I would consider trading a kid for it. I came across this recipe on pinterest and simply had to try it, and let me tell you! It did not disappoint!
Before I inhaled it all I tossed some into mason jars, covered the lids with fabric circles, tied it in place with twine and fell in love! Seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen!

I'm going to be gifting a jar of this heavenly creation to Zac's teacher along with the standard #1 teacher ornament this coming Friday... provided I don't cave and eat it myself...

*I modified the recipe ever so slightly by adding only 5oz of white chocolate and 5oz of semi sweet chocolate... I was hoping for a ripple effect... didn't happen... but it still tasted great! I also only tossed them in 1/2 cup of icing sugar.

Apple Cider

There is something about apple cider that screams holidays. It could be the cinnamon, it could be the cloves, it could be the warmth. Either way, it's warm, cozy, comforting and wonderful.

I have had a hankering (yes I said hankering) for weeks for a nice warm mug of cider but if my grocery store carries it they have moved it into the hidden section. I searched high and low with an intense determination and then decided that I would have to make my own cider in order to fulfill my cider wanting needs this year. It's a bit sweeter then traditional cider but oh so delicious!


Apple Cider

2 cans apple juice concentrate, thawed
3 1/2 cups water *
3 clementine oranges, sliced
4 (2inch) sticks cinnamon
60 whole cloves

Put everything into a pot and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes. Pour into a mug and snuggle under a blanket - the holiday's have begun!

*water amount can easily be increased to 4 cups if you find the cider too sweet.

A Quick Holiday Review...

It's so hard to believe that the holidays are all over.

Ours were such a muddle of activity, sickness and travel that they feel as though they never actually happened!!

And worst of all?? I forgot to take practically any pictures!! 

We traveled to Ontario December 15 and stayed until the 29th so we could spend the first Christmas with family since our move in 2008. 

It would have been such a great and exciting trip if it weren't for a boat load of sickness that ran through the  4 of us!

We started our travels the night of the 28th... Zac had been coughing with a little bit of a runny nose most of the day but I thought nothing of it, that night when we arrived at the hotel he had a crazy high fever and the chills. I was prepared to cancel the trip right then and there but in the morning he seemed fine and the fever had broke so we headed to the air port. 

We arrived safe and sound at my mister's childhood home in time for dinner Thursday night.

Come Saturday Eli had a nasty wad of green gunk in his eye most of the morning that we could not get to stay away. My mother in law mentioned it looked a bit like pink eye and since the gunk was getting sooo nasty looking (said with a mother's love of course!) we took him to the dr's. By the time we got in to see her, his eye had almost swollen shut... luckily the drops that we were given for him worked in no time!

seriously though... pink eye, eye gunk is like one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen... and I've seen a lot...

Zac continued to fight a fever on and off and finally we decided he needed to see a dr as well. He had strep throat and an ear infection. A few days later I was on meds for strep and a few days after that my mister was also on pills for a "throat infection". 

We really did have a great time with family, don't get me wrong, 

but I will say our Christmas lacked a little of the "magic" it usually does. 

We were home safe and sound and able to welcome the new year in, in our own home, feeling only slightly less then our usual selves. 

How were your holidays??

Elf Donuts & Reindeer Food

We are in full on Christmas mode at the moment with one down and two to go.
This weekend the boys and I are going to be preparing Elf donuts (decorated cherrios) 

(source)
and reindeer food (not your typical reindeer food, but I think they'll like it).
I love how magical this time is for the kids and I'm loving how much the magic is coming back for me!

Holiday Knitting

I had such high hopes this year to knit both of my boys a sweater in time for Christmas...

Given that I have 3 days left to finish and I only have the back of one completed I think it's safe to say this may be a New Year gift... or maybe Easter...

I had also so hoped to "whip off" (those were seriously my exact words) two of Rebecca Danger's adorable knit monsters, again one for each boy.

I will still for sure make them all of those things, I suppose there's just no rush anymore.

Did you plan to do anything for the holidays but think you've run out of time?

Christmas Baking

I had a great time Christmas baking this year.

I didn't do as much as I have previous years and there were a couple of flubs with new recipes but I'm pretty pleased with how everything turned out.

I made some awesome Pinwheel Cookies, delicious Candy Cane Blossoms, Gingerbread Cookies, Gingersnap Cookies, Button Cookies (except mine didn't turn out nearly as cute!), and probably my new favorite Cranberry Orange Shortbread.

I may try and turn out one or two more recipes before Santa arrives but I'm pretty pleased with my list this year. Not nearly as intense as last year!

Do you have any "must do" recipes for the holidays?

Matching Game

As mentioned before, my mister and I are trying to give our boys a handmade Christmas this year.

My boys love matching games.

We have a couple of different versions that they simply can not get enough of and I thought I'd add another in, just to switch it up a bit and get them thinking patterns instead of just pictures.

These were super simple and quick to make. 

I opted to use glue, but you can for sure use a sewing machine.

You'll need:

Felt

Fabric scraps

Scissors

Glue

Decide how large you would like your cards to be and cut out an even number of rectangles, mine are about 2" wide by 3" high and I cut out 40 to give me a final number of 20 cards.

Cut a "window" into the center of half of your rectangles (mine is roughly 1"x1") and using the piece removed as your template cut a square of fabric slightly larger.

Glue your fabric over the window opening of your rectangle. 

Remember to make 2 cards using the same fabric so you can match them later.

Using your remaining rectangles glue them to the back of the cards with the fabric windows.

Trim up the edges to make them look all pretty and then play away!

I'm really excited about these because the material will not rip or crunch up after a few uses.

I have no doubt, they are going to love this!

Gingerbread

This year was my first attempt at gingerbread cookies and I must say that I was pretty proud of myself!

I'm honestly not that crazy about gingerbread cookies because I often find them too "gingery" and fuh-lipping hard to bite into.

I found a few recipes online and after comparing notes I made a plan.

They were crunchy, but not over the top on the crunch scale, and I think the cocoa powder relaxed the ginger flavor a bit so you didn't feel like you were getting kicked in the face with a spicy stick.

Gingerbread Cookies

3 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

1tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed

1 egg 

3/4 cup molasses

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking soda, and spices. Add butter cubes and mix until the mixture is sandy in texture. Whisk the egg and molasses together and add to the flour/butter mixture. Mix until completely combined.

Divide the dough in half, wrapping each half in plastic wrap and placing it in the fridge for about an hour, until it's firm enough to work with, without sticking to everything.

Working with one disk at a time, roll it out until about 1/4" thick. I find it easiest to do this between 2 sheets of plastic wrap (it sticks to the table so you don't have to fight with parchment/wax paper being pushed all over). Leaving the dough in the plastic wrap place it back into the fridge for a few hours until firm, or you could pop it into the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Working with 1 dough at a time, remove it from the fridge/freezer and peel off the top bit of plastic wrap, lightly place it back on top of the dough again and flip the dough over, pulling the other layer of plastic wrap off (loosening all the plastic wrap from the dough). Cut out your shapes and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, baking for 10-15 minutes.

The colder the dough is when you bake it the more the original cut shape will remain (no drooping). You can tell when it's done by pushing slightly on the cookies, if your finger dent remains they are not quite done but if it slowly rises or "springs back" then they are done.

Let cool on the baking sheet about 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Roll the scraps back up and roll them back into a disk, throw it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and start cutting out shapes again. Repeat until every last scrap of dough is baked!

Make up some royal icing and put it in squeezable bottles, line up the sprinkles and call the little ones in for a decorating extravaganza!

*recipe adapted from Good Life Eats

Handmade Christmas

Our families are very generous at Christmas.

Very generous.

We've always known this, but I think since we've moved it's become even more obvious. We watch box after box arrive at our house from the post office and come Christmas morning the gifts are almost overwhelming. 

Last year the boys actually lost interest in opening gifts about 3/4 of the way threw. 

I remember sitting in front of our tree that evening thinking it was crazy cakes.

I also decided that we really didn't have to buy for our boys at Christmas, as the grandparents do such a great job. 

So, I decided this year all gifts from us were going to be homemade. 

Santa will be delivering a few specific store bought, err... elf made? toys but the ones from us will be made by my, ever so willing, hands.

I'm not looking to make them intense projects but things they will enjoy a lot and mean a bunch to them knowing I made it (Zac loves when I make him things).

 I do have a list that ranges in effort so I decided to start with the most simple project.

Initial Plaques!

Zac knows how to spell his name, but Eli does not. They both know what letter their name starts with though so I often label things with their first initial.

It's something they love and it's something they recognize as theirs, so I thought it would be fun to make up little plaques that can be hung on their bedroom doors.

It's so super simple, I really didn't feel pictures were necessary on the "how to". 

I bought a wooden plaque from the craft section in Walmart, brought it home and painted it! I free handed the letters and the white border so they look a bit rough but I'm still really pleased with how they turned out and I can't wait to see the boys' reactions!

I know they'll love them.

Recycled Wrapping Paper

A few years ago my Grandmother gave me a "Christmas Bible" book. It's mainly full of recipes and gifting ideas. One of the chapters is dedicated to wrapping gifts and has a homemade wrapping paper idea that I thought had so many possibilities. In the book it suggests buying a roll of plain coloured or white wrapping paper to complete the project, but I thought I'd just use up some extra, left over, wrapping paper we had around the house.

I know lots of people that save their used wrapping paper to reuse or are bothered by the fact that wrapping paper isn't often recyclable. So I thought I'd share this idea in the hopes that some might be able to revamp their used paper!

The things you'll need (to make a snowflake design):

Old or blank wrapping paper (I used the back side of left over birthday wrapping paper)

Cut out paper snowflakes and/or wooden, plastic or other hard snow flakes that you don't mind getting paint all over (refer here to see a video I found last week on how to cut round snowflakes)

Spray paint

Lay your wrapping paper flat (and pattern side down if reusing paper) in a well ventilated area, I used the garage floor.

If it's all wrinkly from previously being used, you can just iron it (on a low setting) flat!

Place your snowflake cut outs randomly over the paper.

Then simply spray paint everything! If you're looking for an even colouring then you'll have to go over it a few times, but I think it looks really nice when it's done just however it falls, lighter in some areas, darker in others...

If you only cut enough snow flakes to do one patch of the paper, give the paint some time to set, but then just carefully lift the snowflakes off, place in the area that still needs to be covered and go at it again with the can of spray paint.

Let it dry completely and then use as usual!

I think it looks wonderful!!!