Mrs.T's Christmas Kitchen

Using some of one's Christmas fabric stash

2012-02-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

Do you have a stash of Christmas fabric? I think most serious crafters who love Christmas tend to have a stash of the lovely and unique fabrics that reflect the beauty of the season. I know I do. Sometimes, I will buy Christmas fabric with a project specifically in mind, like aprons or pillowcases. But most often (probably because I tend to buy such fabrics at after-Christmas clearances or Christmas-in-July sales), I really have no clear idea of what I will do with a fabric. I just buy it for my stash!

Over the past few years I have pared down my stash considerably, and I have shared many of the projects here on my Christmas blog, but I thought that it might be helpful if I were to put the links to the projects all in one place. So I am going to do just that. I should add that most of these projects can be done with any fabric. It need not be Christmas fabric to make these basic projects. I do apologize that I don't have pictures for all of these, but if you follow the links you will find pictures on the original posts.

I'll start with the largest projects. I should note that I almost never buy any more than 2 yards of any one Christmas fabric unless I have a specific project in mind or find a huge sale. So for my larger pieces of fabric, I made some Christmas throws. Here are the links: Simple Flannel Throw and Christmas Fabric Throw. One thing that works well is to make one side of the throw a holiday fabric, and the other side a solid color. That way you can just fold it the other side out and use the throw all year long.

Flannel throw with dark green on the reverse side

I especially like my flannel one and tend to cozy up with it whenever the weather is a bit chilly.

This shows the holly and mistletoe print on the reverse side.

I love this print. A quilt-like throw was really only about the possibility for this.

Another good project for larger pieces of fabric is to make Christmas Tablecloths. These need not cover your table. You can make them runner size, full size, square, or whatever. You can always layer them with other table coverings if you like. I have some larger ones for my dining room table and have made some small "table squares" (or rectangles) for smaller tables, islands, shelves and the like.

A pieced table runner I made from a vintage Christmas magazine

Foldable Fabric Baskets are pretty and useful; practical, too, since you can just unfold them and store them flat.

I love this vintage-looking pine cone print.

Some hot mats I made from Christmas fabric. I don't have a post about these, but they are easy enough.

Fabric Napkins are a great way to use up a variety of Christmas prints. The mix-and-match look is cute, plus it's easier to remember which napkin is yours.

Blue tree on an inverted sherbet dish

These Soft Fabric Trees are so cute, you'll be tempted to sew up an entire forest of them.

Green tree in a teacup

These Patchwork-look Coasters are a particular favorite of mine and I have made them in many fabrics, not just Christmas ones. It's fun to make some for every season. I love how easy these are!

You can use smaller pieces still to create these Yo-Yo Ornaments. Fun and easy enough for kids to do.

A yo-yo candy cane

And a yo-yo wreath

And last but not least for the really small strips of fabric, you can make Rag Garlands. They look nice intertwined with white lights, too.

Why not pick a project and delve into your fabric stash? You'll be getting ahead of the game for next year. By the time the Christmas-in-July sales roll around, you may need more fabric!

A couple of small Christmasy items

2012-02-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

Seems like I have neglected my Christmas blog of late. I will try and do better; I'm sure I have plenty of ideas I could share. Here are just a couple small items for starters.

I made this small table or shelf topper from a remnant of beloved Christmas fabric.

A closeup of the fabric. Isn't it pretty?

And last but not least, my Christmas cactus, which bloomed for Groundhog Day!

It certainly brightens up my little crafting desk!

Rudolph Day for January

2012-01-26T11:25:00.000-08:00

As regular readers know, I follow along with a Christmas forum at Our Home for the Holidays. Here, Rudolph Day is observed on the 25th of each month. Participants will try and do something Christmasy on that day, whether shopping, crafting, planning, baking, etc. You can read about the original concept here at Organized Christmas, a site I highly recommend. Every year, I determine to be more organized for the upcoming Christmas, and every year I get a little closer to being ready early. The Rudolph Day concept really helps with that.

I chose to observe Rudolph Day for January on the 24th, since Wednesdays are a very busy day for me. I didn't accomplish as much as I would like, but did work on my last belated Christmas gift and also cleared my crafting desk so it looks beautifully ready for the next project. And, I made a bunch of Christmas gift tags out of 2010's cards, to use for 2012's gifts. I try and do this every year, and you can read about last year's efforts here: Gift tags from recycled Christmas cards.

I had hoped to spend some time working in my Christmas notebook on Rudy Day -- you can begin reading a series of posts about my Christmas notebook here: My Christmas Notebook Part 1 -- but that didn't happen, unfortunately. Still, I sipped Candy Cane Lane tea and coffee with Peppermint Mocha creamer (did you know Walmart currently has the big bottles of holiday flavored creamers for $1.98?), listened to Christmas music, and had a great day!

A few kid pictures from Christmas

2012-01-24T08:52:00.000-08:00

I love this picture ~ my favorite from Christmas this year!

Here are just a few photos from Christmas evening at the home of our daughter, son-in-law and family. It has taken me awhile to get around to posting them, and they are just about the only photos we took on Christmas, so I thought I'd better share them.

One gift I make for the grandchildren when they are old enough (usually around age 3) is an art box, or, as many of them call it, a project box. You can read about how I make them here: Art Boxes. This was Josiah's year to get one. Of course, he has since colored his tummy blue with marker, but he was happy to get his own art box!

Another gift enjoyed by young children is the puzzle kits I devised.

One of the puzzle kits we gave this year

Read about them here: Puzzle Kits. These involve a small puzzle, a pack of microwave popcorn and an envelope of hot cocoa mix. This year I gave these to several of the grandchildren. If you know the children in question can't have popcorn for some reason, or if their family doesn't have a microwave, you can easily come up with a substitute like animal crackers, goldfish, fruit snacks, etc.

Sam's kit included a 100-piece puzzle.

Kids seem to really enjoy these. In 2 cases this year I saw the child assemble the puzzle right after opening the gift. And that doesn't bother me. I actually like seeing a child take a few minutes to enjoy one gift before ripping open the next one!

Another gift we gave Josiah was this tiny battery-operated train -- bought for pennies at a Christmas clearance last year. It took no time at all for big brother Sam to help him install the batteries we taped to the back.

Hope you have enjoyed this look at a few of our simple Christmas gifts!

Quote of the day

2012-01-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

A scene from one of my favorite Christmas fabrics, now made into a throw

Recently I finished reading Homemade Hospitality, a book by Barbara Sims. She devotes several chapters to the blessings of extending hospitality around the holidays, particularly Christmas. And she suggests getting ready for Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over. She writes:

"On the day after [Thanksgiving], I can hardly wait to finish my morning coffee sipped from a china Christmas mug. The Christmas season officially arrived last night when I pulled those [Christmas] plates off the top shelf in the china cabinet. Today is special.

"I will decorate the Christmas tree. The shopping is done (well, almost), and wrapped packages will be retrieved from where I stored them last summer ...

"If all goes well (and I have a little help from my husband), by bedtime tonight I may have candles in the windows, nativity scenes on the tables, and even stockings by the fireplace. Once the house is decorated, the Christmas spirit just creeps in and I begin to relax. Now I look forward to enjoying the season, baking fruitcakes, having friends over, visiting in their homes, and rejoicing in the birth of the Savior." ~ Barbara Sims, Homemade Hospitality

I think she's onto something here. For years, I thought people who put their tree up right after Thanksgiving were really rushing the season. But this year we started decorating earlier than usual, and I did notice that once the house looked pretty and festive I started to relax as far as enjoying the season went. (We won't discuss my rush to finish and mail handcrafted gifts, which is another story entirely.) So next year, I may follow Mrs. Sims' lead and decorate even earlier!

A few Christmas decorating pictures

2012-01-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

Now that it is time to take the Christmas decor down and put the winter decor up, I finally am managing to post a few pictures of this year's decorating. Not everything, by any means. Just a few pictures, all but one from my hutch.

The Christmas hutch in its entirety this year

I wanted to make this photo extra large so you could see the cute little forest friends by the trees -- carolers, and a mom and child at the nut shoppe! But Blogger cut out half the photo, so I had to make it smaller again. I had forgotten all about these and was tickled to put them out this year.

A favorite Gooseberry Patch cookbook

Adorable holly-print teacup and teapot ornaments. I caught my 3-year-old grandson pretending to pour tea!

Several years ago I made dozens of these family photo ornaments -- a Gooseberry Patch project! Couldn't display this in my usual place so thought it looked cute hanging from a milk bottle.

Milk bottle with candy canes ~ love this idea which I saw on Sugar Pie Farmhouse last year. The crocheted coaster beneath was made by my friend J.

I found this cabin tucked away; it had been a school project by one of my daughters.

A few of the glittery houses in my collection. Some others are hanging on the Christmas tree. And another "Forest Friends" figurine, this one a mother and baby mouse out for a walk in the snow.

I usually put that family photo ornament in the center of this garland amid the icicles and snowflakes. But this year I had something even better -- a lovely mitten made by Linda Stubbs of Prairie Flower Farm.

I should admit that our Christmas tree is still up. It's artificial, and my hubby wanted to leave it up until this weekend. So we will! But I have changed other areas to winter decorations.

Wonderful idea for entertaining friends

2012-01-11T05:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I happened to be glancing through one of my favorite Gooseberry Patch Christmas books, Simple Joys of Christmas. You can read my review of it here: Simple Joys book review, and I'm sure you will see why it's one of my favorites.

The book includes memories as well as recipes and some entertaining ideas. This idea came from a lady named Pat Crandall. She wrote: "During the first week in December I send invitations to friends to join me for a Christmas tea. I ask each of them to bring a Christmas story, poem or personal remembrance to share. After we spend time enjoying one another's company, then we go to the dining room where everyone can make an ornament to take home; afterward we have dessert and coffee. We all love spending time together and for me, this is one way I can show my friends how much I appreciate them."

I love this idea! For some time now I've wanted to do something for the ladies in my Sunday School class at Christmas time. One year I gave them each a handmade ornament and a poem I'd written, but I have really wanted to have them over and show hospitality to them in my home. I've considered various ideas -- a brunch, a cookie exchange, etc. -- but all seemed too complicated and time-consuming. I wanted something simple yet special. This gathering sounds as if it would be just right.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of Simple Joys of Christmas, it is (sadly) out of print, but I found reasonably priced used ones on Amazon. You can go there directly or use my affiliate link: Simple Joys of Christmas. If you, like me, love Christmas and vintage things, I am sure you would enjoy this book.

Pecan Cherry Bark

2012-01-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I enjoy making candy as well as cookies at Christmas time, and this recipe for Pecan Cherry Bark has been on my want-to-try list for a long time. The only thing was that it called for 3 pounds of almond bark, which could really add up.

I wanted to take some candy to a party this past weekend, and that coincided with a 75% off price for almond bark at my local Hannaford supermarket. So I got out the recipe and tried it. It was good, but in my opinion too thick. It was hard to break the candy into pieces. So next time, I will only use 2 layers (2 pounds) of bark, one chocolate and one white. But otherwise, the candy was good and I will try it again. The sugared pecans are fantastic!

Almond Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

2012-01-06T04:49:00.000-08:00

(Photo by Land O'Lakes

For the past few years, I think this fantastic cookie has been my very favorite of the special-occasion cookies I make. We include it on our Christmas cookie trays, but it would be wonderful for any special occasion. These cookies tend to disappear off the trays very quickly at a gathering or potluck, and people often comment about them or ask for the recipe. So I thought I would share it with you all. I found the recipe in Cook & Tell, my favorite recipe newsletter, but the recipe originated with Land O'Lakes, and may be found here: Almond Shortbread Thumbprints. The cookies freeze and defrost beautifully, glaze and all. They have so few ingredients and are so easy to make. I just love this recipe!

These cookies are wonderful with raspberry jam, but they are also very, very good with apricot jam. You can use any favorite jam you like, but those are the two I usually use. Although ... someone gave me a jar of terrific cranberry marmalade for Christmas. Wonder how that would be?

Chocolate Butter Cookies three ways

2012-01-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite cookies which is a "must-make" on our kitchen gift list each year is Sacher Torte Cookies. These yummy cookies are made with a chocolate instant pudding mix and no sugar. They are a chocolate thumbprint cookie and, when baked, the thumbprints are filled with either apricot or raspberry jam and drizzled with melted chocolate.

Well, this year when I wanted to make Sacher Torte Cookies, I found that I had no chocolate instant pudding mix in my pantry. I remembered that last Valentine's Day the same thing had happened, and I had used a chocolate butter cookie recipe from Land O'Lakes for the cookie part. So naturally, rather than make a trip to the grocery store on an already busy day, I turned to that recipe again. You can find it here: Chocolate Butter Cookies. I just filled the indentations with a half teaspoon of jam as usual and spooned a half teaspoon melted chocolate over each one to cover the jam.

Then I remembered another cookie that I really wanted to try and thought the same dough would work for it. It too was a chocolate thumbprint cookie, but the dough balls were dipped in chopped nuts first, then filled with a white chocolate filling (just melt together 4 ounces chopped white chocolate and 2 Tablespoons butter) and topped with a quarter teaspoon of seedless raspberry jam.

(Photo by Taste of Home)

So I doubled the chocolate butter cookie recipe and made 2 kinds out of it.

Later, I saw another cookie I wanted to try, but the Chocolate Butter Cookie recipe was easier. So I made it again, this time substituting vanilla for almond extract. We filled the indentations with melted white chocolate and sprinkled them with crushed candy canes. Very pretty!

We got a lot of mileage out of this recipe in the Christmas kitchen this year. I highly recommend it! Undoubtedly there are many more variations one could try.

More fun with felt food

2012-01-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

Darrin and Emily enjoying some of the felt food I've made previously

I am going to try over the next few days to share some photos of some of the Christmas gifts I made this year. I try to make most of our gifts, although often for men we end up resorting to gift cards or to consumable food gifts.

Several of our grandchildren absolutely adore felt food. Their moms tell me that the play food comes out nearly every day to be played with, fed to stuffed animals, and so on. I had big plans to make a lot of felt food for Christmas, but the more challenging items were put on hold and I will plan to make them for birthdays instead. I thought I would show a few pictures of the easier items that I did make.

Tree and gingerbread man felt cookies

I also made red frosted bell cookies and yellow frosted star cookies. The "sugar crystals" on all of these are glass beads securely sewed on.

Orange, cherry and lime felt popsicles

A second set of felt popsicles -- grape, lime and orange


(Photo by Turkey Feathers, which is where I found the tutorial for these felt pancakes. I made mine the exact same way. I forgot to take a picture of my pancakes before giving them away.)

I wasn't sure how to make "maple syrup" to accompany these pancakes, but ended up using a small, empty, very clean plastic syrup jug to accompany the one set. For the other, I bought a tiny plastic jug full of real maple syrup and advised the recipient to use it on real pancakes and then have his mom clean it to use with the felt pancakes. I had seen some felt maple syrup bottles on Etsy, but didn't have time to figure out how to make them. The solution I came up with worked fine, and it's fun for them to have the real, albeit small, maple syrup jugs to use.

From the kids' reactions, I think there is quite a bit more felt food crafting in my future!

The actual baking list for Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T06:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, now it is time for a reality check. Time to check the tentative baking list against the actual one. I found that out of the 12 items on my tentative list, we actually made 6 of them. And then we made 8 items that were not on the tentative list. So we actually made more treats than planned, just different ones. As I mentioned earlier, Mr. T did a good bit of the baking and candy making this year. What a help he was! As a result, he has informed me that if he ever retires (which is highly unlikely), he would like to spend more time in the kitchen. Should that ever come to pass, I will not complain! I love to cook and bake, but I don't mind help one bit. So here's the list:

ACTUAL BAKING LIST CHRISTMAS 2011

Ashley's Granola Bars
Date-Nut Casserole Cookies
Whipped Shortbread
Eggnog Logs
Sacher Tortes
Heavenly Delight Fudge
White Chocolate Raspberry Thumbprints
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Almond Shortbread Thumbprints
Secret Spice Cookies
Chocolate Spritz
Cookie Dough Truffles
Fruity Pastel Spritz
Cinnamon Pretzels

We still have a few of these goodies left, mostly in the freezer, and will be using them for desserts at our weekly potlucks at church for as long as they last.

Fun after-Christmas buy from Tractor Supply!

2011-12-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

Or, if you prefer, neat stuff for the tree from TSC!

A Tractor Supply Co. recently came to our area and I visited it for the first time this week. I was hoping to find some neat things on clearance after Christmas, and I did! I can't show two of them, because they will be gifts eventually and I don't want the recipients to see them.

But I can show the nifty ornaments I found. I have long admired the glass ornaments shaped like pickup trucks with Christmas trees in the back, but never expected to find any this affordable. This is a set of 3 ornaments, 2 red trucks and 1 green one, with little bottle brush trees in the back. Here's the amazing clearance price ~ $3.49 for the set of three!

The set of three

The green truck

If you have a Tractor Supply near you, you might like to go in and see if they have any ornaments left. Another really neat thing they had (which I managed to resist buying) was the candles which are poured in enameled mugs, little cast iron pans, etc. The candles smell yummy and look so cute, and when the candles are used up you can still use the mugs, pans, etc. These are on clearance but they are not at all "Christmasy" so they would make great home accents or gifts all year long. Happy shopping!

Cookie Dough Truffles

2011-12-29T07:29:00.000-08:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

As mentioned earlier, Mr. T did a lot of our baking and candy making this Christmas. Maybe later I can post our actual baking list (which differed quite a bit from our tentative list!). I thought I would share one of the candy recipes that we really loved. You can find the recipe here: Cookie Dough Truffles. He made these perhaps just a tad smaller than the recipe said to, and he ended up with over 7 dozen candies! He had three trays of the cookie dough centers chilling out on the porch, lined up on top of the grill. It was quite a sight!

The chocolate almond bark coating makes these very easy, but I think this candy would be even more wonderful with a real chocolate coating. One reviewer on the Taste of Home site said that she made these with melted Ghirardelli chocolate, so we might try that next time. (On the other hand, we just bought several packages of almond bark at 50% off at our local Hannaford supermarket, so maybe not.)

These have gone over very well with everyone who has tasted them. They really do taste just like cookie dough, without any worry about raw eggs. Give the recipe a try! This candy would be great for Valentine's Day or any other sweet occasion!

Some after-Christmas deals

2011-12-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of my after-Christmas deals. I found a few more today at Tractor Supply, but those will have to wait for another day. So far everything I've found has been for 50% off, and everything pictured here (except for the tea lights) I found at Walmart. I'm hoping to find more good deals later when things go to 75% off. What deals have you found?

"Holiday Sweets" cupcake papers for half price ~ these will be handy to have in the Christmas kitchen for next year!

Red & cream snowflakes and candy stripes on tissue paper

Votive candles in the Cinnamon and Vanilla Cookies scents ~ these smell yummy!

Extra fine glitter for Christmas crafting

A nice bakery type box for cupcakes and the like

Cookie bags including plates and ribbon ~ 2 in each set


And, found at Rite Aid, these battery tea lights for 99¢ a pack.

A quiet morning in the Christmas kitchen

2011-12-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's quiet in the Christmas kitchen this morning after weeks of cookie-baking, candy-making and just general merry food preparations for this most special of holidays. Today is a day of picking up and putting away -- gifts in their places, gift bags and other wrappings and Christmas cards all being reorganized for use another year. I think, though, that I will not put these items in the attic just yet. It would be prudent to wait and see what I find at the after-Christmas sales that will need to be put away, also.

I feel as if I should rename this blog "Mr. T's Christmas kitchen", for he has done a great amount of the cooking and baking this Christmas season. I looked at a cookie tray one day at church and realized that, except for one kind out of a great variety of cookies on the tray, Mr. T had baked every one of them! He had some downtime at work due to weather in the past couple of weeks, and cheerfully baked and baked on those days at home.

Christmas kitchen gifts from a previous year

One thing about his being home is that it helped us think some things through as to how we might better plan for next year, as far as kitchen gifts and Christmas food preparation in general go. I always bake cookies ahead and freeze them, but didn't start early enough this year. I'm thinking, too, that in late fall I might find a pork loin on sale and freeze it right in the marinade, for Christmas dinner, and I might make a coffeecake or some sweet rolls for Christmas breakfast and freeze them too. I made a nice cran-apple sauce for Christmas dinner yesterday; that would freeze, also...

Just a few random thoughts as I putter in my quiet Christmas kitchen!

Snowman sign on my back door

Quote for the day

2011-12-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

Last night as I was wrapping gifts, I came upon some old gift tags -- not vintage, just old -- that had come from some charity or other. There were only a couple of them left. One of them had this quote printed on the back. I liked it and thought I would share.

"The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing others' loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas." ~ W.C. Jones

It reminds me that as Christians we are to be brightening others' lives, bearing one another's burdens, easing their loads and reaching out to empty hearts and lives with the love of Christ. All year round.

Cranberry Cheese Log ~ a yummy appetizer!

2011-12-16T05:03:00.000-08:00

(Photo by Taste of Home)

Last night I went to a ladies' Christmas fellowship and needed to bring along finger foods to share. I brought a tray of cookies plus a cheese log and crackers. For the crackers I chose Triscuits®, which seemed just right with the flavors and texture of this cheese log. The recipe may be found here: Cranberry Cheese Ball. I chose to form the cheese mixture into a log, as I think cheese logs are easier and neater to serve than cheese balls. I rolled it in chopped toasted walnuts rather than pecans.

This seems to be a very forgiving and adaptable recipe. Rather than gorgonzola, I used just regular crumbled blue cheese (low-fat) from the grocery store since this is what I had, and it worked just fine. I left out the chopped red & green peppers because I had none on hand, and left out the celery due to lack of time. For the onion, I reconstituted 2 teaspoons of dried minced onion in hot water for 10 minutes or so and then drained off the excess water (there wasn't much). The flavor was wonderful and, although I may add the peppers next time, they are not necessary. This seemed to go over very well at the fellowship, and I will definitely be making this again and again at Christmas time. Easy and delicious!

Christmas Star Dishcloths to crochet

2011-12-14T05:04:00.000-08:00

I saw these adorable dishcloths over at Miss Abigail's Hope Chest and just had to share. Here is the link to the free pattern, which downloads as a pdf and looks like fun: Christmas Star Dishcloth The original pattern calls for gold yarn on the edging part, but as you see Kathleen used red, which to my mind looks even nicer. Green would be pretty, too. I am longing to make one of these, but will most likely have to wait until after Christmas. This looks to me as if it would make a nice doily-type item for Christmas decorating, not just a dishcloth.

Photo by Miss Abigail's Hope Chest

Free Christmas Letter Templates from Better Homes and Gardens

2011-12-13T05:25:00.000-08:00

Have you written your Christmas letter yet? Or would you just like some nifty Christmas paper to print out recipes and lists on? Head on over to Better Homes & Gardens for some free Christmas Letter Templates! I think this link will take you directly to the vintage ornament stationery design, which is very cute, but if you click on "show all thumbnails" near the top right, you will see around 35 different designs to choose from. These are free pdf downloads and there are many terrific designs. Have fun!

A nice soup for Christmas Eve

2011-12-12T06:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I tried a recipe for Crockpot Seafood Chowder for the potluck at church. It was actually one I first tried from Quick Cooking magazine about 10 years ago and had forgotten about.

We liked this a lot and I think it would make a wonderful meal for Christmas Eve, with a simple accompaniment like raw vegetables and breadsticks ... something like that. Easy, too ... it could be simmering all afternoon while you enjoy doing other Christmasy things.   

I do need to add that I changed some things about the recipe. First of all, and most important, so pay attention: One of the reviews at the site mentioned the vegetables not getting cooked enough; too crunchy. I did cook it quite a bit longer; around 3 hours on High to start with, and then about 3 hours on Low. So you would probably want to do that, too.

I also changed some things with the ingredients. We sliced the carrots rather than chopping them fine, and cut the potatoes in cubes about 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch square. I left out the imitation crab completely; I did buy it and intended to add it, but after the other seafood was in it didn't seem necessary, so I left it out. I used a 6-ounce bag of frozen salad shrimp rather than the can of shrimp, so the shrimp were larger and seemed like more. Also, I just added the seafood right at the beginning rather than waiting. I had intended to garnish with packaged bacon bits, but we had bacon left from breakfast so I just crumbled that on top.. We found this to be quite flavorful. I guess the canned soups add enough flavor. And it was creamy without being cloyingly thick as some seafood chowders are.

   If I didn't already have a default Christmas Eve soup recipe, I would be making this for Christmas Eve! Maybe your family would like to try it, too.

Date-Nut Casserole Cookies

2011-12-10T04:21:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, strange name. It's because the "batter" for these confections bakes in the oven before being formed into balls. I was intrigued by this recipe years ago as a young teen cooking from my mother's cookbooks, but never tried it, probably because our family already had a treasured traditional date ball recipe. This year, my favorite cooking newsletter, Cook & Tell, published the recipe. It's essentially the same as the one in my old favorite Farm Journal Homemade Cookies book, except it contains more dates. So I just had to try it.

One thing I love about Farm Journal cookbooks is the chatty tone of Nell B. Nichols, their food editor, and the interesting stories behind some of the recipes. The following is undoubtedly what made me want to try this recipe in the first place:

"A Missouri school teacher contributed this recipe. She says she makes the confection cookies every yuletide season. The teachers take turns providing candy daily for their lounge the week before the holiday vacation. Casserole Cookies disappear quickly, which is adequate proof of their popularity.

"You bake the cookie mixture in a casserole. A crust forms on top, but it disappears when you stir the hot cookies with a spoon. When mixture cools, you shape the cookies in 1" balls and roll them in granulated sugar. The white sugar granules glisten on the dark cookie balls."

Hungry yet? Here's the recipe:

CASSEROLE COOKIES
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 8-ounce package chopped dates
1 cup flaked coconut
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
Sugar for coating

Beat eggs well; gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in nuts, dates, coconut and extracts and mix thoroughly. Pour into ungreased 2-quart casserole dish.

Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and while still hot, stir well with wooden spoon. Let mixture cool, then form into 1" balls. Roll in sugar. Makes between 3 and 4 dozen.

We liked these a lot. Maybe your family would like to try them, too. I think they will be great for some of my family members who must avoid wheat and gluten.

Betsy McCall Paper Dolls!

2011-12-09T09:06:00.001-08:00

As mentioned yesterday, I think girls today miss out on a lot of fun with paper dolls. I loved paper dolls as a child and I always liked it when my grandmother passed her McCall's magazine on to us with the paper doll page intact. Betsy McCall was so cute, had such nifty outfits and fun adventures! I was in seventh heaven the year my parents gave me a Betsy McCall Fashion Designer Kit (complete with light box and a whole portfolio of components to design literally hundreds of outfits).

So a few years ago I was delighted when my daughter discovered printable Betsy McCall paper dolls on line. You can check it out here: Betsy McCall paper dolls. This site has 10 years worth of Betsy McCall paper doll pages, with 12 months for each year. To access all of the paper dolls for a particular year, just click on the year -- 1951, 1955, etc. From there you can click on the pictured pages for each month to print the ones you want.

A small cropped version of one of the pages

So much fun!

Winter Holiday Paper Dolls

2011-12-08T08:20:00.001-08:00

Here is a link to more free printables. These adorable Winter Holiday Paper Dolls would make a wonderful gift for a young girl; you could print them out and even include scissors and maybe a nice rectangular tin to keep them in. These pdf files even include some accessories like a Christmas tree, fireplace, etc. If you look around on the site you will find paper dolls for other seasons like Halloween and Thanksgiving. I think that girls today often miss out on the fun of paper dolls. Why not introduce them to that old-fashioned pastime this holiday?

Patterns for American Girl doll clothes!

2011-12-06T12:38:00.001-08:00

Do you have a little girl in your life who owns an American Girl or other 18-inch doll? Do you like to sew? Then you will want to check out this link for free patterns for American Girl doll clothes. These patterns are free pdf downloads. I believe there are patterns for the wardrobes for six different dolls -- Felicity, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Molly, and Josefina.

When my girls were young I bought the American Girl patterns for their dolls, Molly and Samantha. The patterns were a bit pricey then but far cheaper than buying the clothes. I made a lot of outfits for them, including a pretty green plaid flannel cape for Samantha. Now I can make more clothes if I am so inclined. I actually own a Felicity doll myself (she was given to me) and now I can make a wardrobe for her if I like!

I thought others might enjoy making pretty doll clothes from these marvelous free patterns!

Turning coffee canisters into holiday containers!

2011-12-05T09:51:00.001-08:00

In years gone by, I often used coffee cans as containers for Christmas kitchen gifts. I've wondered a number of times about using the large plastic canisters that coffee comes in these days, and have saved a few of them. Today I happened to visit Folgers.com/Holiday to get in on some of their promotions, and found that I could design my own holiday canister. They have a section here where one can choose from a number of holiday designs (to fit 2 sizes of canisters) and then download the design to print out on sticker paper to affix to one's own canister. What a nice idea! I've downloaded a design and will have fun using these recycled canisters as gift containers this Christmas. I thought others might like to check this out, too.

Cute Christmas Countdown Blocks!

2011-12-04T16:37:00.001-08:00

Lots of people on my favorite Christmas crafting forum were making sets of wooden countdown blocks for gifts. They are a neat idea and I had hoped to make some too. But it's not happening before Christmas.

If you are like me and running out of time, you may like to know that you can make a set of countdown blocks out of card stock from a free printable download. Here's the address: Free Countdown Blocks. These are a very cute snowflake design and I am having fun counting down with mine! Even if they do make it very clear how little time I have left for Christmas crafting!

(Photo by Sweet Anne Designs)

Great idea for finding time to do Christmas baking!

2011-12-02T08:42:00.001-08:00

I first read this quote from a subscriber in the December 1995 issue of Cook & Tell. I think of it every year about this time and try to heed the advice. Laura White's mother was one wise woman!

"... As Christmas started to approach, my mother used to make a huge batch of escalloped hamburg, a gigantic stew, a couple of meat loaves, and soup from the Thanksgiving turkey. They were to 'sustain' us, while she did the cookies and other Christmasy things which left her no time for creative meals. Not a bad system." ~ Laura White

I wholeheartedly agree. Cooked my turkey carcass yesterday and will be making soup today!

A neat Christmas find at the dollar store

2011-11-30T12:43:00.001-08:00

Our Family Collection of Christmas Memories ~ and a holiday gift list

While visiting our daughter and family recently in northeastern Nevada, we enjoyed visiting Honk's, their local dollar store. At first I didn't think that this Christmas memory book which I picked up was really a Mary Engelbreit book, but it is! How neat! It has space for several years' worth of memories, lists, etc. I plan to start using this right away.

It even has space for a family tree!

There's a December calendar to fill in and lots of info about "Christmas at Our House"

There's even space for your Christmas card list!

All for one dollar! Honk's advertising says "Always an adventure" and it's true. You never know what neat things you will find at the dollar store!

Holiday cruising mission accomplished!

2011-11-28T13:33:00.001-08:00

(Photo from a previous year; we have snow, but not that much!)

Well, I haven't exactly been keeping up with all of FlyLady's holiday cruising missions (designed to help us cruise through the holidays) but I did manage the one for today. The assignment was to decorate one place in your home for Christmas. I had to think about this for awhile. All of my Thanksgiving decor is still in place, and I didn't have time to change everything around today. Then I realized I could do the glass-topped crafting desk in my bedroom. I typically keep seasonal cards and other paper treasures displayed under the glass, and the desk needed decluttering and dusting anyway, so I accomplished two things at once. I changed the fall/Thanksgiving cards for some Christmas/winter ones and decluttered so that now the only items on the desk have to do with Christmas crafts I still need to make.

The cards I just added; this shows one half of the desk top

And here is the other half. Decorating done here and the decks all cleared for more Christmas crafting!

It feels good to have this task accomplished and has inspired me to start swapping fall for Christmas downstairs tomorrow!

I've also been getting a lot of Christmas crafting done this weekend, which is a great encouragement. As soon as we put the tree up (hopefully this weekend), I will start gift wrapping.

Rudolph Day for November

2011-11-28T06:36:00.001-08:00

Rudolph Day for November was not as productive as I would have liked. I came down with a sore throat on Thanksgiving Eve and battled that for most of Thanksgiving Day, though Mr. T was a great help in preparing Thanksgiving dinner so I didn't have to work as hard as I ordinarily would have. The next day was Rudolph Day and the head cold had hit full force by then, but I did celebrate by sipping many cups of hot Candy Cane Lane tea.

I also did some work in my Christmas notebook, pinned some neat Christmas ideas to my Christmas board in Pinterest, leafed through some Christmas books and magazines, and worked on a few top secret craft projects I am doing for gifts. It wasn't a totally wasted Rudolph Day, at least!

Tentative baking list for Christmas 2011

2011-11-19T11:20:00.001-08:00

Here's my tentative list so far. It includes candy, which of course is technically not baking, but I listed it anyhow.

*Ashley's Granola Bars
*Date-Walnut Casserole Cookies
Whipped Shortbread
Eggnog Logs
Sacher Torte Cookies
Pepparkakor
Golden Apricot Cakes
Chocolate Peppermint Trees
Brown Sugar Cut-outs
*Holiday Melting Moments
Peanut Butter Balls
Heavenly Delight

A * indicates a new recipe.

A Christmas tea towel

2011-09-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

I made this for my friend Fuchsia for the Christmas in July swap. It's from the Twelve Days of Christmas pattern set from Crabapple Hill Studio. Since I was making only one tea towel, I opted to omit the number from the pattern (the numbers one through twelve are part of the designs). I had neglected to take photos, so Fuchsia kindly took some for me.

Here is a closer look at the stitching. The design was easy and fun to stitch.

Directions for the scalloped fabric border are also included with the pattern. This is a bonus, as far as I'm concerned, as I've been wanting to learn to make this type of border for a tea towel for a long time. You can't really see it, but I imagine you can if you click on the picture at top -- the edging fabric has a muted design of evergreen sprigs, so it's perfect with the spriggy garland behind the Christmas cookies in the embroidered design.

Earlier in the year, I used the vintage camper design from Sublime Stitching's Camp Out! set to make more of these scallop-edged towels. I thought you might like to see those too, so here they are in two different color combinations:


Blue camper with green edging

Red camper with aqua edging

What a fun pattern this is. Check out Crabapple Hill Studio if you like to embroider. You won't be disappointed!

A "Christmas caravan" ornament

2011-09-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

Our Canadian and British friends call this a "caravan". Here in the states we are more likely to call it a camper or camping trailer -- in this case, a cute little vintage one. I found the camper design in the Sublime Stitching collection called "Camp Out". I've used this design for dish towels and they came out very cute, but I decided to also try making it into a Christmas ornament, and this is the result.

It was easy to decide what colors to use to make it Christmasy, but a bit more difficult to figure out how to make this into an ornament. I made the design smaller by first scanning it, then shrinking it to make it a better size for an ornament. It's still quite large and probably would look better hung in a window or from a peg rack or something, rather than on the Christmas tree. Then I used a homespun in a Christmas plaid, along with green felt, to make the ornament itself. It has a wire hanger trimmed with buttons, and as you can see I put it all together with blanket stitching on each layer. I found the design in Gooseberry Patch Christmas, Book 3. It was used for cross-stitch ornaments there, but I found the design worked admirably for embroidered ornaments, too. What a fun project this was!

Rudolph Day for July

2011-08-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

From the parcel ... handmade magnets by Fuchsia

Rudolph Day for July was uneventful as far as doing any Christmas crafting went, but it was an eventful day in other ways!

I did start out the day by burning a Christmas scented candle on the porch during my quiet time, and I did sip some Candy Cane Lane tea. Later, I had the leftover tea over ice.

As for the eventful part of the day, I had my Christmas in July parcel from Fuchsia to open. I opened the card first

and marveled at the craftsmanship.

Then, I tried to space the opening of the gifts and goodies throughout the day. The shortbread cookies were especially delicious! I shared some of those with my daughter and grandchildren, who thoroughly enjoyed them. There are still some of these yummy shortbread cookies (made in seashell shapes) in my freezer.

The post titled "Christmas in July" below shows the lovely contents of the parcel, so I won't show all the pictures again here.

Part of the fun was also reading the comments of others on the Christmas forum who were also opening their Christmas in July parcels that day. It was especially fun reading Fuchsia's reaction to the contents of the parcel I sent her -- soon, I hope to post pictures of some of those items.

Suffice it to say that Christmas in July was a wonderful way to celebrate Rudolph Day!

Christmas tea wallet

2011-07-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

One Christmas my daughter Carrie made me a lovely little tea wallet.

I have enjoyed it so much. One day I was looking at it and thought that a pretty Christmas tea wallet could be made using green felt and making the little birdie red. So I tried out this idea for my Christmas in July gifts for my swap partner. Here's the outside:

And the inside:
I thought the sort of retro green would make a nice contrast for the inside pockets.

The red bird came out quite cute. It's amazing how different the project looks using different colors of felt! Wouldn't a fall one be cute? You could add a few colored leaves to the branch.

Here is the link to the pattern if others are interested!
Little Birdie Tea Wallet
Enjoy!

Christmas in July!

2011-07-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today is July 25, Christmas in July!

This year I was blessed to be able to take part in a Christmas in July gift exchange at a Christmas crafting forum I frequent. I just finished opening up the parcel my Canadian friend Fuchsia sent me and thought it would be fun to share the contents here.

Wish I had thought to take a photo when I first opened the package. But here it is with only some of the items opened. Festive!

Fuchsia even included some shiny red jingle bells to make the package sound like Christmas even before I opened it.

Here is the lovely Christmas card she made. Now I need to find out how she did this.

Hot apple cider sets the Christmas mood.

These fabulous butter cookies will be wonderful with cider. (And now I need the recipe!)

This beautifully handmade stocking

was stuffed with a candy cane, gift bags with snowman closures,

and these sparkly Christmas light bulb ornaments!

Another view of the pretty magnets.

This gives you an idea of how beautifully each gift was wrapped.

Aren't these note cards gorgeous?

What a fun cross stitch! (My kitchen and dining room have a strawberry theme.)

I've saved the very best for last. Fuchsia is an expert at making these glittery little putz houses.

When I found out we were to be CIJ swap partners, I was so hoping to get one of these. And I was not disappointed! This yellow and blue house is so lovely ... and I love the little snowman in the front yard.

Thank you, Fuchsia, for all of these thoughtful, generous gifts! Merry, merry Christmas in July!

Quote of the day

2011-07-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

I was just browsing through one of my favorite Gooseberry Patch books, Good for You! It's a summery book full of all kinds of fun and healthy ideas. Sadly, I think this one is out of print; sure wish they would bring it back. Anyway, in my browsing I came across a wonderful idea I just had to share:

"When I am stressed, I have a box of Christmas fabrics handy. I go to my sewing room, play Christmas music and sew! It gets my Christmas gifts completed and I keep the Christmas spirit all year long." -- Nancy Stewart

I know I have seen this idea before and thought it was great. This time I decided to file it where I can't lose it -- here in my Christmas kitchen!

A little repurposing project

2011-07-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

I am taking a chance posting this, but I doubt that either my 3-year-old or 5-year old granddaughter looks at my Christmas blog very often.

This is just a whimsical little repurposing project which I am making for them as a small Christmas gift. I had embroidered some pillowcases for gifts last year, and the Walmart brand of cases came in a little fabric pouch with a snap closure. I imagine they are trying to "go green" by eliminating paper and heavy plastic from their packaging. I kept looking at those two pouches and thinking that there must be a way to re-use them.

I finally came up with the idea of making tiny purses from them. I edged the front flap with some trim I had on hand and added a coordinating ribbon (which was the only thing I had to buy for this project!) for a handle/strap.

I stenciled an initial on each one but was not happy with the way the edges of the stencil came out -- too blurry. I think the pouch was just not smooth enough to use the technique of freezer-paper stenciling on. I couldn't think how to fix the problem until it came to me that I could simply embroider a chain stitch around the edges of the initial. Presto! Problem solved! I love it when the Lord shows me a creative solution.

On the back of the purse, I appliqued an adorable felt cupcake design.

I'm planning to put a few small things inside -- perhaps a little notebook and pen, a lip balm, and a coin purse with a few quarters in it. I'm thinking of trying to make a felt coin purse in a cupcake design to coordinate with the purse.

I love repurposing things, don't you?

The Rudolph Day that wasn't

2011-07-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, Rudolph Day for June -- the 25th, of course -- was on the calendar all right, but I just didn't manage to accomplish anything Christmasy in it. Life is really, really busy right now and Saturday is one of the few days Mr. T and I can accomplish anything together. So, Saturday the 25th was full of activity, but none of it profitable toward Christmas. The only thing I managed to do was to drink a cup of Candy Cane Lane tea before bed. I'm certainly hoping that July will be a more festive Rudolph Day, and I have every reason (like a nice Christmas in July parcel I'm planning to open on that day) to hope for that!

May 25 ~ Rudolph Day

2011-05-26T12:24:00.001-07:00

Rudolph Day for May was somewhat underwhelming. Wednesdays are always a really busy day for me, with quite a bit of time spent out of the house. I determined I would do a little something for Rudolph Day, even if only a little. So I spent a bit of time with my Christmas notebook, looking over my lists and crafting timelines. I recently bought a couple of components for handmade gifts, so entered that info in my notebook, crossed off under "materials needed" in my handmade gifts section.

And then I also tried out a pattern for crocheted coasters. A friend had sent me some of these in Valentine colors

and I thought they would also look nice in Christmas colors.

I made a dark green one and have started a burgundy one. Haven't found time to take a picture yet!

That was pretty much the extent of my Rudy Day, but I'm pleased to have accomplished even a little something.

April 2011 ~ Rudolph Day

2011-04-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

Rudolph Day for April was yesterday. Mondays are always very busy days for me, but I planned ahead and made sure Rudolph Day was special anyway, incorporating some Christmasy fun into my day. I started out with a mug of Christmas coffee -- a blend of hazelnut and cinnamon.

I also put on some Christmas socks -- aqua with polka dots of red and green. They have a red Christmas tree on them too, but up closer to the ankle so the tree couldn't really be seen.

While having my morning quiet time, I sipped some Candy Cane Lane tea -- one of my favorites. I try to keep it on hand at all times.

While doing laundry and working at the computer, I listened to Christmas music -- A Classical Christmas and, later, Guitar Winterludes.

While eating lunch, I paged through Christmas Joy, by Susan Branch.

Later, when most of my work was done, I got out my Christmas notebook and did some work on my Christmas list and also on my Christmas crafting timelines. It felt great to get some more planning done. In the evening after supper, I spent time working on a Christmas in July gift for my swap partner on the Christmas crafters' forum.

And that was my Rudolph Day for April!

Quote for the day

2011-04-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

"No matter what the calendar tells us, somehow in a crafter's heart and hands it is ever 'a little bit of Christmas'."
~ Crafts'n' Things magazine, April 1993

March 2011 ~ Rudolph Day

2011-03-26T14:00:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, the 25th, was "Rudolph Day" for March. At the Christmas craft forum I frequent, we are encouraged to plan ahead and craft for Christmas on Rudy Day, along with maybe enjoying Christmas music, holiday coffee or tea, trying a new Christmas recipe, etc.

It was a busy day for me, but I had planned ahead and bought cotton yarn in the "Mistletoe" and "Dark Pine" colors. I hoped to get a bright red too, but our local Wal*mart only had the country red, which looks pinkish to me.

I bought the yarn because I wanted to try out a pattern for square crocheted coasters a friend had told me about. I thought they would be pretty in Christmas colors. This is the result. I like it, but think I would prefer solid colors for the richer look they give. And I think maybe a picot edging might look nice, too.

I also sipped some Twining's Christmas Tea (bought on clearance after Christmas!)

and browsed through some Christmas cookbooks for inspiration:

Gooseberry Patch Farmhouse Christmas (which I was "published" in!)

and The Christmas Kitchen, by Tammy Maltby.

I couldn't resist buying this while we were off on our getaway in January. I'm enjoying it for the prose as well as for the recipes.

And, to top it off, my Christmas cactus actually celebrated by blooming on Rudy Day!

What fun!

Pattern for crocheted chocolate doughnut!

2011-03-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Debbie asked if I would be willing to share the pattern for the crocheted doughnut which can be seen in the post "More Fun With Felt Food". Of course I will share, but I can't take credit for the pattern. I found it at Crochetville while I was searching for a crocheted cupcake pattern. I have yet to find one of those I really like, but this doughnut is adorable. Here is the link: Crocheted Chocolate Doughnut. This is intended to be a pincushion, but I just sewed on colored beads instead since my grandkids are using these doughnuts for play food. Very easy and fun to crochet!

A few more details from vintage cards

2011-03-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

Here are just a very few more of the vignettes and greetings from my vintage Christmas card collection:

This was the cover to a 1960s photo Christmas card. The photo was on the inside of the card.

Love this little glimpse of holly and sheet music!

Here's a cheery Christmas greeting:

And here's an even cheerier one:

Hope you have enjoyed this glimpse of a few of the details of my vintage cards!

February 2011 ~ Rudolph Day

2011-02-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

Here's what I've been working on for Rudolph Day today!

For years, this Christmas throw has been on my "to-do" crafting list. Today, with the added ambience of a blizzard and some Candy Cane Lane tea, it got finished!

This shows part of the throw -- couldn't fit it all in the picture, but you get the idea.

This shows the backing fabric.

One of the pretty scenes that make up this fabric.

A second scene.

The third scene.

The fourth and last scene.

I am so pleased to have finished this at last -- all in one day, too! My fabric stash is lighter by about 6 yards -- 2 each for front and backing of throw, 2 of flannel sandwiched in between -- and this project is off my list!

More details from vintage cards

2011-02-18T09:37:00.001-08:00

Here are a few more vignettes from vintage Christmas cards. I love this one of the skaters in the falling snow.

Here's a lovely vintage greeting. Notice the little star inside the capital "C"!

This whimsical illustration

was found inside of this card:

Here's a striking message:

I love this little poem!

Here's the card it came from:

This stylized greeting (1930s-vintage, wouldn't you guess?)

came from this card:

And look at the sweet vignette of a little red house!

Hope you have enjoyed this look at some of my vintage Christmas cards!

Details from vintage cards

2011-02-08T16:13:00.001-08:00

Recently when I was taking the vintage cards off my Christmas ribbon board, I happened to glance inside the cards -- something I haven't happened to do for quite a few years, probably not since I acquired them. As I did, I noticed details that had escaped me then... how almost all of these small cards had small illustrations and details on the insides of them, too, not to mention the nifty sentiments in their vintage fonts and lettering. So before I put the cards away, I took time to scan many of these details. I will share some of these now and in future posts.

Isn't this Christmas message lovely?

I love this mailbox scene. I have no idea why I like the scenes of packages by a mailbox so much, but for whatever reason, I do.

Look at the detail in this tree trimming scene.

The outside of the card showed the family bringing home the tree.

And look at this sweet little red cottage.

Here are two vintage messages from the insides of cards.

Last of all is a sweet sprig of blue holly.

More to come... hope you have enjoyed this trip down a snowy memory lane!

Christmas mailboxes, 1950

2011-02-03T07:15:00.000-08:00

I love this old photo, which I found in a 1950 copy of New Hampshire Troubadour. It reminds me of old family photos of this vintage in which one of my aunts, a college student at the time, very much resembled the girl approaching the mailboxes in this picture.

This photo just speaks volumes to me of the simpler, happier way life used to be. The day's mail has arrived, so the girl leaves the woodsmoke-tinged warmth of the farmhouse and heads out into the chilly December sunshine to get the mail. No snow blowers back then; just a simple path through the snow. The packages waiting at the mailboxes are simple too -- wrapped in brown paper or holiday wrapping paper and string, a no-no in the post office's book these days. No worries, either, about someone stealing the gifts. Life was so much simpler in so many ways back then. I'm thankful to have some photos like this one to remind me.

Vintage Christmas carol books ~ a small collection

2011-02-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

I have a small collection of vintage Christmas carol books and recently scanned some of the images from them. I thought others might enjoy seeing these lovely old illustrations as well.

Here's one of the book covers.

The back cover of this book is pretty, too.

This one has an image of choir boys.

And lastly, a Victorian village scene.

This rather amusing illustration is on the inside front cover of the above book.

Here is the table of contents from one of the books.

Now for some of the songs. Here's I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

Jingle Bells.

O Christmas Tree.

O Little Town of Bethlehem.

O Holy Night. Love the printing on this one.

The First Noel.

Here We Come A-Wassailing.

This fun saying is a good way to end this whimsical post!

Handcrafted Christmas cards from friends

2011-01-28T05:45:00.000-08:00

I would like to share a few of the lovely cards I received in a card exchange, plus one from a local friend. The creativity of these ladies astounds me! For the card exchange the cards did not need to be handmade, but many were. Some people also tucked in beautiful handmade bookmarks, crocheted snowflakes, etc. Enjoy a look at these lovely cards! (I scanned them, rather than taking pictures, so the quality of the pictures might not be as good this way, but it was the quickest way for me.) I'm sure you can get an idea of the amazing craftsmanship involved!

Love the vintage look of this one! Note the embossed snowflakes in the background.

Isn't this a nice design? Unusual color scheme, but lovely.

Love the cross stitch piece on this. What a wonderful idea!

Isn't this clever? Love the idea of using a Christmas carol.This interesting design had a tag covering the stamped tree. Two cards in one!

Here's a closer look at the tag.
A linoleum block nativity scene.
Love the trees -- some look as if it is snowing.

Love this one from my local friend. The designs and colors tie together beautifully.Isn't this one clever? The star at the top is a tiny sticker.

This is the inside of the above card. Love the snowflakes so just had to show them.

This one is just lovely. Again, a very unusual color scheme but beautiful!
Isn't this one meaningful? The scan doesn't do it justice. There is glitter around the heart.

Hope you have enjoyed this look at these handmade cards!

Christmas thrifting finds

2011-01-24T14:27:00.000-08:00

When Mr. T and I went on our getaway a week or two ago, we visited a very nice thrift store with wonderful prices. In addition, all of their Christmas merchandise was 75% off. The very first thing that caught my eye was this adorable snowman mug. Maybe I'll decorate with it, or maybe some fortunate person will find it in the Christmas-themed basket I usually make for the Yankee Swap at our church ladies' Christmas fellowship!

And then I spotted a lovely glass votive holder. I just knew it would match the one Mr. T had bought me for Christmas several years ago along with a matching glass basket. I love these pieces because they look as if they are carved from ice. Here is the "new" candle holder on our dining table with the other two matching pieces.

Here is a closer look at the basket. I put white cardboard beneath it for the photo to show up the design better. Isn't it gorgeous?

I paid 50¢ each for the mug and the votive holder. What great deals!

Actual Baking/Kitchen List for Christmas 2010

2011-01-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

It's interesting sometimes to see how plans differ from reality. Sometimes they don't differ much; other times, they differ a lot. Such was the case with my actual Christmas baking as opposed to my planned list.

Here's what I actually baked and prepared for Christmas 2010, including a few kitchen gifts.

Cookies:
Whipped Shortbread
Eggnog Logs
Sacher Torte Cookies
Gingerbread Men
Macaroon Kisses
Chocolate Spritz
Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

Candy:
Heavenly Delight (chocolate peanut butter layered fudge)
Lemon Ice Candy
Chocolate Peppermint Bark
White Christmas Candy
Heavenly Fudge (dark chocolate, with nuts)
Pistachio Cranberry Bark
Chocolate Peanut Morsels

Other kitchen gifts:
Snowy Lemon Snack Mix
Cinnamon Pretzels
Hot Chocolate Mix
Pink Hot Cocoa Mix

A super buy at Family Dollar!

2011-01-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

While Mr. T and I were away this past weekend, we went in a Family Dollar store. These are not my favorite dollar stores, since many things are over $1, but they had all the Christmas things on clearance for 90% off. As you can imagine, there were not a lot of Christmas things left. But I did find these adorable chipboard stickers for only 10¢ a package! There were 2 different assortments available, but this one was my favorite. If there's a Family Dollar near you, you might want to take a look.

A wintry wall hanging

2011-01-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

Here is a UFO [unfinished object] of long standing, which I managed to complete last evening! I have long enjoyed the art of D. Morgan, and this cross-stitch pattern is one of her designs. I loved the sentiment and the little picture and started working on this last winter. It was sort of a make-do project from the beginning. I had a country blue Aida on hand, but it wasn't exactly the blue the pattern called for. I used it anyway.

I finished the stitching of this piece some months ago but hadn't decided for sure how to frame it. The long narrow design would require a custom frame, an expenditure I didn't want to make for such a casual project. A friend suggested framing it in fabric, which is something I've done with other similar pieces. I've been stalling around all this time because I didn't have the perfect fabric to frame it with.

I finally decided to use scraps from an old flannel shirt of my dad's. It would add to the sentimental tone of the design even if the blues didn't match exactly. I had planned to embellish this with some glittery snowflakes, but evidently I had used them all up on photo ornaments a few years back. Need to get some more! But I did find 2 matching snowflake trims that I could use. I hand-sewed a length of wide bias tape to the back of this for a casing, and used a dowel from an old calendar towel, slipping white cord into each end to hang it by.

I do apologize for the sort of skewed look in the photos. I took them quickly, all with the wall hanging in place on the wall.

But I love the sentiment of this design. It speaks to me not only of the warmth and security of my own home on a wintry day, but also of the cold, blustery storms of life and the fact that I am on my way Home to heaven.

Winter decorating find -- a glittery blue church!

2011-01-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to show you all this pretty church I found at Marshalls a few days after Christmas. I had actually had my eye on this before Christmas, and told myself that if it was still there and could be had for a reasonable price post-holiday, I would get it for my winter decorating. I love to add glitter and sparkle to January with things like this that say "winter" and not necessarily just "Christmas".

When we went in, there was the church still available and it was only $5! After I picked it up, I noticed that the steeple, which should have been atop the bell tower, was missing. I did inquire about that (thinking I might get it for even less) but found that only one discount could be applied -- either the discount for after Christmas, or some other (lesser) percentage for the damaged item. I still felt that $5 was a reasonable price, and I can either fabricate another steeple out of card stock or simply camouflage the large staple at the top of the bell tower with textured snow medium and glitter.

Here's the front view of the church -- you can see the little bell in the tower!

After I brought my find home and we were all admiring it, my granddaughter noticed a little switch on the underside of the church. We guessed that it must light up. Well, it not only lights up -- it is fiber optic, so the lights change color! I really like the church better unlighted, but it is pretty in pink ...

... in blue ...

... in purple ...

... and in a sort of periwinkle color as well.

Other colors also show up in the rotation, including green and yellow. The colors you see here are the ones I happened to catch with the camera.

What fun it will be to put this church out with my other winter decorations. And I really need to make time for that this week!

What winter decorations do you have? What ones are your favorites?

Christmas decorating 2010

2011-01-12T06:11:00.000-08:00

Well, it is past time that I show some of my Christmas decorating, but life is so busy. I just haven't had the time until now. Today is a snow day and I can't go anywhere, so I thought I would take a few minutes now and file a Christmas 2010 Decorating Report. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, as some of my decorating looks much like that of previous years, but I will share the ones I did take.

Here's our Christmas tree. For years we got a real tree off our own property; then for quite a few years we went to a nearby cut-your-own tree farm to get our tree. Several years ago, though, friends who were downsizing gave us an old but very high-quality artificial tree. It even has a wooden trunk! (It also sheds its needles.) Every year we think it will be the last year for this old tree, but then we decide it looks more realistic than other artificial ones we've seen, and so we keep it for another season. It really does look real and has fooled quite a few people.

Our Christmas tree is very eclectic, with all sorts of ornaments -- antique, vintage, humorous, reverent, homemade, child-made, etc. etc. displayed together on one tree. Themed trees are absolutely beautiful, but they are not for us. We have had them in other rooms, in fact, but for our main Christmas tree it will always be a mixture. The younger grandkids helped with some of the decorating, so you will notice the bottom branches are quite laden with ornaments.

The grandkids loved this miniature tree in the upstairs hallway. They decorated it themselves -- can you tell? Please ignore the water-damaged wallpaper behind it; this is a dormer niche where the ice always backs up. We'll try and replace it one of these years.

This is my hutch all decorated for Christmas. Not a lot different from other years, but a little bit.

I saw this candy cane/milk bottle idea on Sugar Pie Farmhouse and also saw it used on someone else's blog. I remembered I had a lovely Christmas milk bottle (an area dairy sold them filled with eggnog!) stashed away, so I pulled it out. So pretty! The little package of light bulbs is vintage.

Here's the chandelier over the dining room table. Not a lot different than previous Christmas seasons, but it still makes me smile.

Here's my favorite little glass cake dome gussied up for Christmas. I put in a vintage red/cream doily and a lovely little holly print teacup and teapot sent to me by a friend. The sprig of glittery red berries broke off some holiday greenery. It was perfect to set off the display.

And here is my kitchen island, decorated much as usual. The vintage Snow Drop Mints tin is a new addition this year.

Well, that is all I have to share of this year's decorating, but I hope you enjoyed this Christmasy glimpse of our home!

Pink Hot Cocoa Mix (and other beverage mixes)

2011-01-07T09:24:00.000-08:00

I always enjoy making hot drink mixes to share as part of a gift basket or just along with some cookies, etc. It's something I do every year. The hot chocolate mix

is on both of my blogs, but I'll link to it again here for those who'd rather not take time to search for it. I've also made a spiced tea mix which is a favorite with some folks.

This year, I tried something new. It's called Holiday Hot Drink Mix but I renamed it "Pink Hot Cocoa Mix" and gave it to several girls (and a family with lots of girls) on my Christmas list.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any left over so I could taste this hot drink for myself. I had asked two of my granddaughters how they liked it, but their reply -- that they liked it, but it just wasn't their favorite -- didn't really tell me much about its flavor.

Today I decided to make up a mini-batch for myself and test it out. I divided the recipe in fourths to produce only a small amount of mix -- it made a cup or more of the dry mix. Then I boiled up some water and poured it over 1/3 cup of the mix in a mug as directed.

It's actually quite good and I would likely make it again. The only thing I thought I would change would be to up the strawberry flavor a bit. (The recipe contains strawberry-flavored Quik®. I would try enhancing the strawberry flavor by adding a bit of unsweetened strawberry Kool-Aid® powder, the type in the little envelopes.

Gift tags from 2009's Christmas cards

2011-01-04T12:20:00.000-08:00

(A scan of an actual Christmas tag my grandmother put on a present years ago.)

As usual, I took a few minutes here and there to turn many of the previous year's Christmas cards into gift tags. Several cards were so pretty or special I saved them to display another year. And I did throw some of the cards away because they were just not suitable for making into tags. But I did make quite a number of tags.

I have some special templates from Current that I trace to make the tags. They work well because you can see the design centered (or however you want it) within the template and so you can see clearly what the tag will look like, or if you can get more than one tag from a particular card. Then I use a small hole punch to put a hole in each tag, and add a string to each one. And that's it!

This is always a fun "decompressing" project for me after the busyness of Christmas. Simple and stress-free! Below are some of my favorite tags from this batch:

Peppermint Whoopie Pies

2011-01-03T11:19:00.001-08:00

One thing I have been thinking about doing this year is to try out various Christmas type recipes all through the year as I have opportunity. That way, my "want-to-try" recipe list may be whittled down to a manageable size -- or it may be nonexistent because I may have tried all the recipes I want to. (It seems as if there is always at least one new recipe per season that I come across during December, however.)

This year I happened upon a recipe after Christmas which I really wanted to try - Peppermint Whoopie Pies . [Now here, for readers outside the northeastern US, I guess I need to define whoopie pies. They are a soft sandwich cookie, usually (but not limited to) chocolate flavored, with a fluffy white filling between the two cookies. They can come in flavors like banana or pumpkin as well, but chocolate is the usual flavor.] These particular whoopie pies are chocolate with a hint of mint in the cookie, just a regular fluffy white filling, and then the edges of the filling are rolled in crushed peppermints. The photo was absolutely gorgeous and, although I knew it was most unlikely my whoopie pies would look like the picture, I wanted to try the recipe anyway.

I enlisted two of my granddaughters to help me make the recipe for a potluck at church. The 7-year-old crushed the peppermints

while the 9-year-old made the cookie batter

and I dropped it onto the cookie sheets. (I detest making drop cookies, but my cookie scoop didn't work with this batter, so doing it myself was the only way to get relatively uniform cookies.) When the cookies were cooled, the 7-year-old made the filling and filled the cookies, while I trimmed the edges with the crushed candy.

Then we refrigerated them overnight and took them to church the next day.

People did enjoy the whoopie pies -- they really were very tasty -- and we got lots of compliments on them. I'm just not sure I would go to all the trouble of making them again. I definitely wouldn't do so unless I had helpers as I did this time. (And if you are inclined to try the recipe yourself, be advised that it doesn't make "3 dozen sandwich cookies" as specified. I made them small -- dropped by teaspoon rather than tablespoon -- and still only got around 2 dozen or so.) But that's one really great reason for trying out Christmas recipes well ahead of time!

Cinnamon Pretzels

2011-01-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

It seems as if every year I have quite a list of new recipes that I want to try for Christmas. Usually -- and this year was no exception -- I also run across one or more new recipes at the last minute that I also want to try. This year my last-minute recipes seemed to tend toward either snack mixes or candy.

I want to share with you one such recipe which was so easy that I was able to try making it on a day when I really didn't have much extra time. I found it at my favorite Christmas site, where it was shared in the recipe database section by my friend HolidayElf. It's a simple cinnamon pretzel mix which is a fantastic blend of salty and sweet flavors. Here it is in HolidayElf's own words:

"They are super fast and simple and have been a major hit with everyone who has tried them. If you like salty/sweet together...this is it. I'm going to make them for friends and co-workers this year for the holidays. (I also bought the pretzels at Dollar Tree, so they cost next to nothing to make.)

CINNAMON PRETZELS
Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 30 minutes
Makes 12 (I cup) servings
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 16 oz. bag small pretzel twists (not sticks)

1. In a large baking pan, stir together the oil, sugar and cinnamon until mixed. Add the pretzels and toss well to coat with cinnamon mixture.

2. Bake, uncovered, in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring twice.

3. Spread out on waxed or parchment paper to cool. Store in airtight container.

I just used a large cookie sheet with sides on it for the baking pan.

Microwave directions below but I didn't try them.

Microwave directions:

1. In a very large bowl, stir together vegetable oil, sugar and cinnamon. Add pretzels, toss well to coat.

2. Place half the pretzel mixture in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on 100% power for 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Spread on waxed/parchment paper to cool.

3. Repeat with remaining pretzel mixture."

Now, the first time I made these (and I did not use the microwave directions either), I did just as HolidayElf directed in preparing the pretzels for the oven. And they turned out very well. But it seemed to me I could make the preparation even easier -- as well as perhaps make the cinnamon sugar adhere to the pretzels better -- if I shook the pretzels in a ziptop bag with the oil first, then added the combined cinnamon and sugar to the same bag and shook them again. I think this did work quite well and it was definitely easier.

Oh, and I should add that I used less oil -- more like a half cup -- both times I made these, and it seemed to work out fine.

Everyone who has tried these has enjoyed them. I gave some to my son-in-law in a plastic bag inside a small metal Christmas bucket. It was a cute presentation and he really liked the pretzels. I had also given him a root beer sampler. I don't know if he happened to try the cinnamon pretzels and the root beer together, but it occurs to me now that might be a very nice combination.

And now I'm wondering how these would be using pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice in place of the cinnamon...

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T06:29:00.000-08:00

I want to take just a minute this morning and wish all of my readers and friends a very happy new year! I hope that 2011 will be a year of health, happiness and spiritual prosperity for each one of you.

More fun with felt food

2010-12-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

Here is some of the play food I made for grandkids' Christmas gifts. I didn't get all of the things made that I planned to, so will be making more of these, plus some other, for spring birthdays coming up. Not all of this is made of felt, as you will see for yourself.

I made a bunch of felt Cheez-It® crackers and my husband found small boxes of Cheez-Its® which we emptied out and put the felt crackers (packed in zip-top bags) into. They came out really cute but apparently I forgot to take pictures. Suffice it to say that they look real enough that my 1-year-old grandson tried to eat a handful. Hope they keep the rest of the food out of his reach. You can see pictures and a tutorial here: Felt Cheez-It® Crackers.

I also made some felt Christmas cookies. I wish I had had time to make more of these as they came out simply adorable. Next year! Here is a plate of cookies.

And here are the cookies packaged in a zip-top bag for giving and storage.

This next one is supposed to be a pincushion, but I couldn't resist making a chocolate donut! I wanted to make 2, and then 2 more for another family, but ran out of time. I used beads rather than pins for sprinkles, but they still wouldn't be safe for a child of the age to put everything in his mouth. Neither would the Christmas cookies, which also have beads instead of sugar crystals.

Here's the donut on a plate:

And in a bag, ready to give.

Lastly, I made some bow-tie pasta. This was very easy and came out so real-looking. Here are a few bow ties on a plate:

And more of them in a bag:

Still on my list: pancakes, cinnamon rolls, bacon & eggs, cheeseburgers, popsicles....

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:02:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you! Soon, I hope to post a Christmas kitchen report and also to put up some photos of the handmade gifts I made this year. But in the meantime, I hope that each and every one of you has had a truly blessed Christmas Day!

Snowy Lemon Snack Mix

2010-12-21T13:08:00.000-08:00

I guess this recipe is technically titled Chex® Lemon Buddies, but in my opinion that name doesn't really do it justice. so I gave it a new name. I tried this Sunday afternoon when I really wanted to bake some Christmas cookies, but didn't have time. I had seen the recipe on someone's blog and it sounded intriguing. It was very quick and easy to fix. Here's the recipe:

Snowy Lemon Snack Mix

9 cups Rice Chex cereal
1 1/4 cup white vanilla baking chips
1/4 cup butter or margarine
4 tsp grated lemon peel (may use less)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Measure cereal into a large mixing bowl and set aside. In a microwaveable bowl, microwave chips, butter, lemon peel and juice uncovered on high for 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 more seconds or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into a 2-gallon resealable food storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar, seal bag and shake until all the cereal is well-coated.

Notes:

* The recipe didn't say how to store this mix, but obviously airtight is a good idea. I put some in a tin to send to faraway friends who love lemon. I put the rest in a zip-top plastic bag. The blogger who shared this says she keeps hers in the fridge and that makes it even tastier. I haven't tried that, though.

* I just used the juice and rind of one lemon, which turned out to be about 2 tsp. grated rind and about 2 Tblsp. lemon juice.

* I only had 1-gallon zip-top bags to shake the mixture in, so I used one of thosse and just shook half the mixture at a time with 1 cup of powdered sugar. It worked out fine.

This is really delicious if you enjoy lemon, and quite different. Best of all, easy!

Cranberry Pistachio Bark

2010-12-17T08:08:00.000-08:00

This candy recipe has been on my want-to-try list for Christmas goodies for several years now. I finally got around to trying it yesterday. I recommend it!

One thing I did differently was to use dark chocolate almond bark (candy coating) in place of the semisweet chocolate chips. I'm sure the semisweet would have been better, but the almond bark worked just fine and was easy to melt in the microwave. Given some of my disasters in the kitchen lately, I didn't want to take a chance on messing up the melting of the chocolate chips. I already had the coating on hand, and melting it is pretty much foolproof.

So take your choice -- chocolate chips or chocolate coating. Either way, I predict this candy will be a success with your family and friends!

Chocolate Peanut Candy

2010-12-15T05:35:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, I made some of these delicious little candies. They taste like chocolate covered peanuts, only they are in little clusters, not individual nuts. What I love about these is that they are sort of chewy, not hard like just clumps of chocolate and nuts. Here is the link: Chocolate Peanut Candy. I had not made these candies for several years and had forgotten how good (not to mention how quick and easy) they are. Enjoy!

Anniversary giveaway at Green Twig!

2010-12-14T06:59:00.000-08:00

I'm posting about this Christmasy giveaway on both of my blogs, because I know that not all of my readers visit both of them regularly.

This giveaway is over at Green Twig, the blog of my real-life friend Mrs.D. She is celebrating the one-year anniversary of Green Twig with this special event.

She is giving away a gorgeous Christmas-themed market tote and also a sweet set of wintry-looking teacups and saucers with little pine branches on them. Mrs. D is an incredible seamstress and quilter, and made the bag herself. It is so cute and looks as if it would hold a lot of groceries.

So head on over to Green Twig and leave a comment. If you have a blog of your own, Mrs. T also asks that you post about her giveaway there. Two fortunate readers will win either the bag or the teacups, so check out the giveaway now!

Focaccia Bread recipe

2010-12-13T05:41:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have been absent from the Christmas kitchen for a couple of days! Some of that time I have been busy in my real Christmas kitchen!

I'd like to share one more bread recipe which can turn a simple soup supper into a smashing success of a meal -- Focaccia Bread Squares from Taste of Home! We love, love, love this bread. A simple bread machine dough and easy press-into-pan preparation produces something absolutely delicious and quite impressive.

I usually substitute olive oil for butter in the dough. Sometimes I substitute Italian seasoning or pizza spice for the rosemary in the topping.

This bread is a tiny bit more work than just a bread machine loaf, but it is well worth the extra time. Enjoy!

Cheddar Cheese Bread

2010-12-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

Here's another bread machine recipe that would accompany any of yesterday's soups nicely.

CHEDDAR CHEESE BREAD

1 cup water
1/4 cup buttermilk powder
1 to 1-1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
4-1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
3 cups bread flour
1-1/2 tsp. dry yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan in order suggested by manufacturer (which would most likely be the order shown here up through the flour; make a well in the flour and put the yeast in the well). Use basic setting, and I would recommend the light crust setting.

I copied this recipe from my daughter's bread machine cookbook while we were visiting out West one year. It's a keeper!

Recipes to simplify the season

2010-12-09T12:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I mentioned how I like to let supper "cook itself" to free up a little time in this busy season, and promised to post some crockpot soup recipes and more bread recipes. Well, I decided to simplify things for myself today and just copy and paste some recipes from my personal cookbook (on my computer in a word processing program) so there is just one bread recipe here. It's a delicious one, though. Perhaps tomorrow I can post some links for more bread recipes. I think this assortment of soup recipes will be plenty, though. Something here for everyone's taste!

OLD-FASHIONED OATMEAL BREAD (for the bread machine)
1 1/3 cups water
1/4 cup molasses
2 Tblsp. butter or margarine, softened
4 cups bread flour
2/3 cup oats (either type - I use old-fashioned)
2 Tblsp. dry milk
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. yeast

1. Measure and add liquid ingredients to bread pan.
2. Measure and add dry ingredients (except yeast) to bread pan.
3. Use your finger to make a well in the dry ingredients where you will put the yeast. Yeast must NEVER come into contact with liquids when adding ingredients. Measure the yeast and pour it into the well.
4. Snap pan into the bread maker and close lid.
5. Press "Select" button to choose the Sweet setting.
6. Press the "Crust Color" button. I prefer the Light crust for this
bread.
7. Press the Start button.

This is one of our favorite bread recipes to bake in the bread machine. The recipe is from the book which came with our machine.

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP (for the crock pot)

6 cups chicken broth
12 to 15 1/2-ounce frozen meatballs (or 6 to 8 1-oz. ones)
1 small boneless skinless chicken breast (may be frozen)
Sliced celery to taste (I usually use a cup or two)
Cut-up carrots to taste (I usually use baby carrots and quarter them -- again, about a cup or two)
Spinach to taste, stems removed (can use up to a bunch of spinach -- I have also used part of a bag of baby spinach leaves or of frozen cut leaf spinach)
Garlic powder to taste
Lemon pepper to taste
1/4 cup tiny pasta, like alphabets or orzo (add during last hour of
cooking)
Parmesan or Romano cheese to taste

Put the meatballs on a microwave safe plate and defrost them for a
minute or two, so you can quarter them. If using the larger (1 oz.)
meatballs, cut them in eighths.

Put in crock pot along with broth, chicken, vegetables and seasonings.
Cook all day on low or 3 hours on high.

Add pasta during the last hour of cooking. (In the case of alphabets, I have added them just before serving and they cook just fine.)

Before serving, remove the chicken breast and cut it or shred it in small pieces. Return chicken to the soup.

Serve with Parmesan or Romano cheese for people to add to taste.
Probably makes about 6 servings.

This is one of my crock pot standbys!

Here is another favorite:

TORTILLA ENCHILADA SOUP

4 cups chicken broth
2 cans chicken with rice soup
1 small boneless skinless chicken breast (frozen is fine)
1 cup salsa or picante sauce
1 can red enchilada sauce
Flour tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese OR cubes of velveeta-type cheese

In crock pot combine the broth, soup, chicken breast, salsa, and
enchilada sauce. Cook on low for about 4 hours. Remove chicken breast from soup; shred it or cut in small pieces. Return to soup.

When ready to eat, cut flour tortillas into strips (scissors work best
for this).

Put tortilla strips in each bowl and ladle the hot soup on top. Top with shredded cheddar or cubed velveeta.

About 6 servings.

This is just delicious and soooo easy. Great with cornbread!

As you'll see, the following one can be done either in the crockpot, or at the last minute on the stovetop. Naturally, at this time of year I prefer the crockpot option.

TACO SOUP

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (or use less -- even as little as 1/2 lb.)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (28 oz.) crushed or diced tomatoes
1 can (14 oz.) kidney beans, not drained
1 can (17 oz.) whole kernel corn, not drained
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 package taco seasoning
1 to 2 cups water
Shredded cheddar cheese
Crushed tortilla chips

Brown beef in large heavy kettle or Dutch oven; drain off any fat and add onions. Cook until onions are tender.

Add remaining ingredients except cheese and chips; simmer for 15 minutes.

Ladle into bowls; top with shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips, to taste.

Yield: 4-6 servings.

This simple recipe has been a lifesaver for me so many times. Very often, after browning the beef and onions, I combine all the ingredients in a crock pot and cook the soup on low for several hours.

The following recipe can either be cooked in a low oven or in the crockpot. The crockpot option seems slightly easier to me.

GONE-ALL-DAY STEW

1 can tomato soup, undiluted
1 cup water
1/4 cup flour
2 pounds beef chuck, cut in 1-inch cubes, trimmed of fat
3 medium carrots, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 onion, chopped (or use a handful of frozen baby onions)
4 medium potatoes, cut in 1 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 cup celery, cut in 1-inch slices
12 whole large fresh mushrooms (optional but good)
2 beef bouillon cubes ( or 2 tsp. beef bouillon granules)
1 Tblsp. Italian herb seasoning mix
1 bay leaf
3 grinds fresh pepper

In a large casserole dish (at least 3-quart) mix the soup with the water and flour until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover the casserole and bake at 275º for 4 to 5 hours.

(The stew may also be cooked in a slow cooker on Low for the same amount of time.)

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

This delicious stew was a staple for us during the years our kids were at boarding school. It was the perfect meal for Sunday lunch before the trip back to school. I can’t even count the number of times I have given out this recipe over the years.

The following recipe uses frozen meatballs which really simplifies preparation:

MEATBALL STEW

3 medium potatoes, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1 pkg. (16 oz.) fresh baby carrots, quartered
1 large onion, chopped (or equivalent amount of frozen chopped onions)
3 celery ribs, sliced
12 to 16 ounces frozen meatballs, defrosted slightly in microwave and cut in halves or quarters
1 can tomato soup
1 can beef gravy
1 cup water
1 envelope onion soup mix (I used 5 Tblsp. of my own homemade mix)
2 tsp. beef bouillon granules

Place the potatoes, vegetables and meatballs in a 5-quart slow cooker. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour this over the meatball mixture.

Cover and cook on High for 4 to 5 hours. Yield: 6 servings.

This is so good that it's worth keeping a can of beef gravy in my pantry at all times! (I already keep tomato soup on hand, as well as a jar of my homemade onion soup mix. And I keep a bag of meatballs in the freezer to use in Italian wedding soup, so the basic ingredients for this stew are always around.)

The following recipe is a little different with its Italian sausage and seasonings.

HEARTY PASTA TOMATO SOUP (with sausage)

6 cups beef broth
28 ounces stewed tomatoes
15-16 ounces tomato sauce
2 cups sliced zucchini (I use the frozen zucchini-squash blend if fresh zucchini is not available)
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup sliced carrots (I use baby carrots)
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 lb. Italian link sausage, sliced about 1/2 inch thick with scissors
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1 garlic clove, minced
Pasta of your choice, OR 2 cups frozen cheese tortellini
Grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Place all ingredients except the last two in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Cover and cook on High for 4 to 5 hours until the vegetables are tender and the sausage slices are cooked and tender.

At this point, add pasta to your taste and continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes or until pasta is cooked. I used orzo, so only had to wait about 15 minutes. Rotini or elbows would probably take 20 minutes or so. If you choose to use the tortellini, you need to cook it first, then stir into the soup and cook for about 30 minutes or so.

Yield: 10-12 servings

Again, frozen chopped onions and frozen diced green peppers can really simplify matters when preparing a crockpot recipe. I highly recommend keeping them on hand.

This next one has a nice beefy flavor from the beef gravy and mushroom soup. A nice change from tomato flavors.

GROUND BEEF STEW
1 pound ground beef
6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
16 ounces baby carrots
3 cups water
2 Tbslp. dry onion soup mix
1/2 tsp. minced garlic (or 1 garlic clove, minced)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted (or equivalent)
1 can beef gravy (or equivalent)

In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. In a slow cooker, combine the next nine ingredients; stir in the beef. Cover and cook on High for 4 to 5 hours. Stir in soup and gravy; cover and cook 1 hour more or until heated through.

Yield: 12 servings.

This last recipe is not a crockpot one, but it is incredibly simple to put together at the last minute.

ZESTY CHICKEN CHEESE SOUP

1 can whole kernel corn (don’t drain)
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (don’t drain)
1 small can diced green chilies (optional)
1 can premium chunk white chicken, flaked
8 ounces velveeta-type cheese, cubed

In heavy saucepan or dutch oven, combine everything except the cheese and begin heating these ingredients while you cube the cheese. Add the cheese to the saucepan and continue to heat, stirring until cheese is melted and soup is piping hot.

This recipe came from an early Quick Cooking magazine and is the fastest soup you will ever make -- just a matter of opening cans, heating and stirring -- and is also delicious!

I hope these recipes make your Christmas season a little less stressful -- so you will have more time to truly enjoy the holiday and celebrate the reason for the season!

Cranberry Oat Bread

2010-12-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

One of the best ways I have found to free up time for Christmas crafting, baking, decorating, etc. is to have supper cook itself -- that is, put a soup in the crockpot and bread or dough in the bread machine. Bread is the easiest, because there is nothing to do at the last minute. Over the next few days I will post some of my favorite soup and bread recipes, and hope that they will be helpful to someone else.

This is probably our very favorite bread machine recipe. Here's the link: Cranberry Oat Bread. It's very good with raisins instead of the dried cranberries, too. And it smells so wonderful as it bakes!

Gingerbread Men

2010-12-07T08:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent some good quality time in my Christmas kitchen and baked two kinds of cookies -- Macaroon Kisses and Gingerbread Men. Interesting -- neither of these cookies were on my tentative baking list for this holiday, but I ended up baking them anyway! The macaroon kisses (you can find the recipe by typing the name into the search box at the top left) were baked because I had a package of almond chocolate kisses to use up -- they were from an after-Christmas sale last year. And the gingerbread men -- well, just because. The following recipe is slightly adapted from Cook & Tell, and is my favorite recipe for ginger guys. Note that it is easily made in a saucepan!

GINGERBREAD MEN

1/2 cup shortening (or use real margarine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 tsp. vinegar
1 egg, beaten
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. salt

In a large, heavy saucepan, place shortening, sugar, molasses, and vinegar. Bring to a boil, stirring. Remove from heat and cool mixture to room temperature.

Add beaten egg to cooled mixture in saucepan. Sift together remaining ingredients and stir into molasses mixture using a wooden spoon. Mix well. Form mixture into a ball; wrap in plastic wrap and chill for several hours.

Working with a small amount of dough at a time, and leaving the remainder of dough in the fridge, roll out dough 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thick and cut with desired cookie cutters.

Bake on ungreased baking sheets at 375º for 8-12 minutes. Mine took about 8 minutes or even a little less. Makes a bunch of gingerbread men.

Christmas Cut-Out Cookies

2010-12-06T07:49:00.001-08:00

"When lights and decorations go up along main streets across the country, rolling pins and cookie cutters of many shapes soon come to light in the kitchen. Then, more than at any other season, rolled cookies have top popularity. By the time Christmas arrives, cookie stars, hearts, crescents, jaunty gingerbread boys and animals dangle from the branches of twinkling Christmas trees."
~ Nell Nicholson, in Farm Journal's Homemade Cookies.

It's still true. For a good many people, the best Christmas cookies are the kind you cut out with holiday cutters and sprinkle with colored sugars and sprinkles before baking -- or, alternatively, bake first and then frost and add the trimmings. I have made plenty of cut-out cookies in my day -- by myself, with my own kids, and now with grandkids -- and thought I would share a few of my favorites here. There are other cut-out cookies here in the Christmas kitchen as well, and I will label them as such so they can easily be found.

Here's the first one:

SUGAR COOKIES

1 1/4 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
5 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Sift
together dry ingredients and add alternately with milk. If the dough is
sticky, add flour if necessary to make the dough easier to handle.

Roll dough 1/4-inch thick on a well-floured surface, and cut with cookie
cutters of your choice. Sprinkle with colored sugars or sprinkles.

Bake on ungreased baking sheets at 375° for 8 minutes. Remove to wire
racks to cool. Makes about 100 cookies.

This recipe came from a Farm Journal Christmas magazine from the early 1960s. It was supposed to be a very easy dough for children to roll and cut, and I remember helping to make these as a child. Later, I used this recipe for my own kids to make and decorate cut-out cookies when they were young.

This next recipe is a newer favorite of mine, although I suspect the recipe itself is quite old.

BROWN SUGAR CUT-OUT COOKIES

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter flavor Crisco® (I use the sticks -- so, 1 stick for this recipe)
2 eggs
3 Tblsp. cold water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

Cream sugar and Crisco® until fluffy, using an electric mixer. Add the eggs, water, and vanilla and combine well. Sift the dry ingredients together. Work them into the sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or your hands, if necessary. When well blended, form the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap to chill for several hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, roll the dough very thin on a floured surface. Cut out shapes and decorate with colored sugars and sprinkles, pressing down lightly. Using a floured spatula, transfer the decorated cookies to a foil-or-parchment-covered cookie sheet. Re-roll the scraps to make more cookies. Repeat the cutting and sprinkling process.

Bake at 350º for 6 to 8 minutes until golden brown. Remove to cooling racks.

Yields a lot of cookies; I have never counted to determine how many, and the original recipe, which I found in Cook & Tell, didn't say.

And this last one is from my dear friend Marilyn's mother. Love the festive combination of flavors in this one!

CHRISTMAS CUT-OUT COOKIES

1 cup shortening (may use half margarine)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. almond extract
3/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. orange extract
2 unbeaten eggs
2 1/2 cups flour

Combine all but the flour and beat thoroughly. Add flour and mix well. Chill dough thoroughly.

Roll small portions of dough 1/4-inch thick and cut out. [Edited to add: decorate cookies before baking with sprinkles and colored sugars; or, bake the cookies plain and frost when cool.]

Bake for 8-10 minutes in 375º oven.

The yield is unspecified on this one, too. You really do get a lot of cookies from cut-out recipes, especially if you re-roll the scraps, a process that sometimes seems interminable. But I always do it.

Whichever recipe you choose, have fun. Happy Baking!

Candy Cane Cookies

2010-12-05T18:16:00.000-08:00

Probably almost everyone has this recipe already, but I thought I would share it anyway just in case.

CANDY CANE COOKIES
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. red food coloring

Heat oven to 375°. Mix thoroughly the butter, sugar, egg, and flavorings. Blend in flour and salt. Divide dough in half and remove one half to a separate bowl. Blend food coloring into one half of dough.

Shape 1 teaspoon of dough of each color into a 4-inch rope. For smooth, even ropes, roll them back and forth on a lightly floured surface. Place the 2 ropes side by side; press them together lightly and twist.

Complete cookies one at a time. Place on ungreased baking sheet as they are completed. Curve top of each cookie down to form the handle of the "candy cane".

Bake about 9 minutes or until set and very light brown.

Remove to racks and cool.

Makes about 4 dozen.

It's been years since I made these cookies, but my kids always liked helping to make these. It's sort of like playing with play dough! I've been thinking I need to make these cookies with my granddaughters this year.

Dipped Cherry Cookies

2010-12-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

Here's another recipe link to one of my newer Christmas cookie favorites. I tried these last year for the first time and we liked them a lot -- enough so that they are on my baking list for this year as well. They are a very pretty cookie and add some color to the cookie tray. I did not have edible glitter so I used red sugar and white sugar. You can find the recipe here: Dipped Cherry Cookies. Enjoy!

Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies

2010-12-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is a link to the recipe for another of our favorite Christmas cookies. For years, I made a very similar recipe that had only the caramel drizzle, and those cookies are absolutely wonderful. But the chocolate puts this recipe over the top! I hope your family enjoys these Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies as much as we do!

In other kitchen news, I tried a couple of new recipes today -- a bread recipe and a fudge recipe. Both easy recipes. I'll report back tomorrow as to how they turned out!

Cranberry Pecan Sandies

2010-12-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

Today in the Christmas kitchen, here's another recipe:

CRANBERRY PECAN SANDIES

1 package (15.6 oz.) cranberry quick bread mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg
2 Tablespoons orange juice
3/4 cup chopped pecans
30 to 36 pecan halves
Sugar for dipping

Orange Glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 to 4 teaspoons orange juice

In a large mixing bowl, combine the bread mix, butter, egg, and orange juice. Stir in chopped pecans.

Roll into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. [I tend to line cookie sheets with parchment paper even when recipes say “ungreased”. Just seems to work better with my aging cookie sheets.]

Flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar (grease the glass lightly before the first dipping).

Press a pecan half into center of each cookie.

Bake at 350º for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks.

Cool completely before glazing.

For glaze, whisk confectioners’ sugar and 2 tsp. orange juice in small bowl; add additional 1 to 2 tsp. orange juice if needed for drizzling consistency. Drizzle glaze decoratively over cookies.

Yield: 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies.

These are just delicious and super-easy! The recipe came from the Nov/Dec 2006 issue of Simple & Delicious magazine. I was very pleased to discover that these cookies freeze perfectly, glaze and all!

Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

2010-12-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Today in the Christmas kitchen, I'd like to share a recipe I adapted from the December 2006 issue of my favorite cooking newsletter, Cook & Tell. This recipe has become a "must-make" for Christmas every year.

RASPBERRY ALMOND THUMBPRINTS

2/3 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1-1/2 tsp. almond extract
2-3 tsp. water

In large bowl, cream together sugar, softened butter, and 1/2 tsp. extract. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour until well mixed.

Heat oven to 350º. Form dough into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Make an indentation in each cookie with your thumb; fill indentation with jam.

Bake at 350º for about 15 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Let stand on cookie sheets for about 1 minute before removing to rack.

Let cookies cool on wire racks. I like to place waxed paper under the cooling racks before glazing the cookies.

Stir together the glaze ingredients, using only enough of the water to make a good glazing consistency. Drizzle glaze over cookies. Let set completely before storing or stacking cookies.

Yield: 3-1/2 dozen.

Pepparkakor Cookies

2010-11-29T08:41:00.000-08:00

It's nearly December, and that means I will be spending lots more time here in my Christmas kitchen. One thing I will be doing is to share a few recipes which I have neglected to post here, although they may very well be on my other blog, "Across My Kitchen Table" which I started a couple of years before this special Christmas one. I thought I would start with this wonderful cookie recipe. Bake these soon, and see if these cookies don't get you and your family in the Christmas spirit!

PEPPARKAKOR

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tblsp. dark molasses
1 egg
3 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tblsp. cinnamon
1 Tblsp. ginger
1 Tblsp. cloves
Juice and grated rind of 1 orange
Red or green colored sugar if desired

Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy; add molasses and egg. Mix until blended.

Sift flour, soda and spices into creamed mixture. Add orange juice and rind; mix until well blended.

Roll dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into heart or reindeer shapes. Transfer to cookie sheets. Sprinkle with red or green sugar, if you like. I usually do.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes, until brown. Cool on rack and store in a covered tin.

Makes at least 3 to 4 dozen cookies.

I found this recipe many years ago in an old Country Woman magazine. The lady who submitted it said that these were the first cookies she baked each year to make her house really smell like Christmas. It works!

Of course, you need not limit yourself to hearts and reindeer; those are just the shapes I most often use. Some years I cut some pine trees and moose as well!

Cookie mystery solved!

2010-11-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

(At least in part...)

I've mentioned before how one of my mother's traditional cookie recipes for Christmas was called Chocolate Spritz. These were not made with a cookie press but instead were small molded cookies, shaped into balls and dipped in colored candy sprinkles before baking. We kids adored these cookies. They are very chocolatey and delicious. My mother used to store her bowls of cookie dough in our cold front entry or back porch to save room in the refrigerator. It seemed that at Christmastime there were always several bowls of dough, covered with plates, stacked up in these cold storage areas. We enjoyed all manner of raw cookie dough (and we all lived to grow up, too! Could the eggs have been safer back then?) but the Chocolate Spritz dough was our favorite. It tasted like chocolate ice cream.

One year I remember helping my mother prepare for Christmas by copying some of her most-used recipes onto lined paper, to be placed in her special Christmas notebook. Chocolate Spritz was, of course, one of them. I don't know if I thought, back then, to ask where she found the recipe. I certainly didn't know at that time (I was probably 9 or 10) that the term "spritz" usually referred to a pressed cookie.

Years later, though, I got to wondering about that. I believe I did ask her where she had ever found the recipe, and she said she had found it in a magazine. I don't recall if I ever asked why it was not a pressed cookie. I guess I thought maybe she had never had a cookie press (they were kind of a specialty item back in the 1950s) and so she had probably adapted the recipe to make molded cookies.

Well, the mystery of the recipe's provenance has been solved! Recently I was looking over some very old Christmas magazines which my mother had given me a few years back. She had been saving them for years. One of the oldest was a supermarket magazine called Better Living, from December 1952. This particular magazine was pretty much in tatters, so I decided to just go through it and see if there was anything worth salvaging -- for instance, some vintage ads or pics which I could turn into graphics, or a recipe or gift idea. Not far into the magazine I came upon an article titled "Our Christmas Cooky Swap". Who knew the cookie swap idea was that old? I certainly didn't!

And then, on the next pages, an article titled "20 Great Swap Cookies" with the subtitle "Over one hundred wonderful cookies were exchanged at the two Swaps. We selected and tested these for you." As I glanced over the picture of the cookies, lined up on glass trays, I spied something that resembled my mother's Chocolate Spritz. And sure enough, that particular cookie did indeed bear the name "Chocolate Spritz"! Eagerly, I turned to the recipes to see if it was the same. And guess what? Well, you've probably already guessed it. That particularly recipe had been neatly clipped out of the article, leaving a small rectangular hole in the middle of the page. I will wonder no more where my mother ever found that recipe.

But I will probably never know why this molded cookie is called "spritz"!

Would you like the recipe? I thought you might.

CHOCOLATE SPRITZ

3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 tsp. salt
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted*
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tblsp. milk
2 cups sifted cake flour*
Multicolored candy sprinkles

Heat oven to 375°.
Work shortening until creamy. Stir in sugar gradually, then beat until
fluffy. Add egg, salt, chocolate, milk, and vanilla, and mix well.
Stir in flour gradually.

Shape dough into balls; roll or dip in candy sprinkles. Place on
ungreased baking sheet and bake 8 to 10 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen.

I've given the recipe here as I got it from my mother, but when I make them I change a few things. *I use 6 Tblsp. baking cocoa instead of melted chocolate, and *I use 2 cups regular flour instead of cake flour. Easier and cheaper, and they don’t taste any different.

Enjoy these vintage cookies!!

Chocolate Mint Crisps -- a favorite Christmas cookie!

2010-11-15T12:02:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before how much I love Christmas magazines. Only with great strength of character can I prevent myself from buying some new ones each year! Over time I have noticed that some of them are starting to repeat their recipes and ideas, so I've been better able to resist.

Often, though, I can't resist the Country Woman Christmas special magazines, and this recipe is from one of those, from 2006, I think. Often, when I visit my daughter Joanna in the fall, she will have one of these special issues waiting for me as a sweet welcome gift.

I love chocolate and mint together, and especially at Christmas time. Over the years I've tried quite a few recipes that feature those two flavors together. I can definitely say that this one -- Chocolate Mint Crisps -- is the best of the best I've tried.

They mix up so easily in a saucepan, and the swirled mint topping is so pretty. The cookies freeze well -- always important, to me -- and they are absolutely delicious. I think I would describe them as chewy, rather than crispy, and the topping/frosting helps to keep them that way.

If you're looking for something new and different for your cookie trays, I highly recommend these!

Oh, and by the way, the graphic at the top is one that I made from a very old --1952 -- Christmas magazine!

Simple paper ornaments

2010-11-09T06:44:00.000-08:00

Here are some paper ornaments I recently tried making with the help of my granddaughters. They turned out okay, but I guess I will use them for gift tags or package tie-ons rather than enclosing them in Christmas cards as I had thought of doing.

I found these some years ago in a small Mary Engelbreit book -- I forget which one. The instructions were quite sketchy. Basically, one draws a heart on manila file folder or card stock and draws a little design in the center of the heart and decorates the edges of the heart. I used stickers for the center design because my drawing skills are not that great, and used markers for the decorating part.

Then you cut out the heart and trace a second, larger heart with ruffly edges from newsprint, and glue the smaller heart to the ruffly one. Then the entire thing gets glued to another, larger heart cut from red construction paper, and a hanger is added.

I don't have any of the fancy die-cutting machines, which would certainly make this project easier and more precise. I think, in retrospect, that red card stock would be a better choice than construction paper for the largest heart. (These already look pink in the scan, although the construction paper I used was most definitely red.) If I ever acquire one of those wonderful paper-crafting machines, I might give these another try. In the meantime, they will be cute on Christmas packages!

Clearing the decks for Christmas preparations

2010-11-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about preparing for Christmas. I want to simplify these last weeks before Christmas, freeing me up to enjoy crafting, baking, and decorating for this most meaningful of all holidays.

• It's always helpful to have some main-dish type meals in the freezer, ready for company or family. I plan to make 2 pans of vegetable lasagna, which freezes beautifully and goes over well with everyone I know. I'll freeze it in foil 13X9 pans so there'll be less cleanup as well. You can find the recipe :here.

Earlier this week, I made and froze five containers of meatballs, using this recipe:Make-Ahead Meatballs. These are a good basic meatball which can be used in a variety of ways -- spaghetti and meatballs, Swedish meatballs, sweet and sour meatballs, meatball subs, soup, or anywhere you would use the purchased frozen meatballs.

Even if you don't have a lot of freezer space, you can do something similar. Each week you could do something like roast a small turkey, bake a ham, or make a large meat loaf. For easy, almost-instant sides, you could fix a large pasta salad or a large potato salad, bake a pot of beans or make a large casserole of macaroni & cheese. Along with things like frozen vegetable blends, bagged salad or baby carrots, you could coast along for a week's worth of simple meals. You can then use the time you saved to do some Christmas baking, crafting, or decorating. This type of meal will also get you out the door quicker (with less cleanup, too) for all of those family Christmas activities you're likely to be involved in.

• Some people take time to clean and organize their craft room or even their whole house in preparation for Christmas. I admire them, and I like the idea in principle, even if I can never seem to make it work. What I've done instead is to sort of clear the decks in my crafting areas, clearing the flat surfaces, getting the ironing caught up so the iron and ironing board are freed up for ready use, and put away any materials that won't be needed for my Christmas projects. As far as the whole house goes, I'll be doing my FlyLady routines to keep it under control and even improve things a little.

* As mentioned in the previous post, I've also taken some time to go through my Christmas notebook and do a reality check concerning my crafting. I've redone my list and, though it is still long, I think it's doable.

I also rewrote my Christmas list -- which includes both crafted and purchased gifts -- as the former one was just a jumble of ideas for various people.

I noted down what gifts need to be ordered online and where I will order them from.

I revised my list of what craft materials I still need to purchase for projects -- it's quite a short list at this point -- and also bought some of these this week.

I located all of the recipes I hope to use for Christmas and also noted down some new ones I want to try.

So there are a few notes on how I'm trying to prepare for the wonderful, busy season ahead. Maybe they will give someone else a few ideas. What are some ways you prepare for the season?

Reality check ...

2010-11-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

... for Christmas crafting

Today Mr. T had to run a work-related errand in a city about an hour from here. He asked if I would like to go along. It's a rainy, rainy day. Rain was steadily falling here when we left and it got much heavier as we neared the city. Now that I'm back home, the rain is falling heavily here too. I took along an embroidery project, but what I really wanted to do was work on something toward Christmas. So I settled on taking along my Christmas notebook and revising my Christmas crafting list.

I had reached the conclusion while we were out West that there was no way I would accomplish that long list I had written out earlier. Major revisions were in order. This little car trip with my hubby today gave me the quiet time I needed to sit and think things through with regard to my crafting list.

I tabled a couple of the big projects that simply weren't going to get done. My list now includes a few more simple sewing projects than it did. Can't share the list here as some of the recipients read my blog. But it is a great feeling to have revised that list. It looks much more doable now.

Tentative Christmas baking list for 2010

2010-10-31T11:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent a few minutes working in my Christmas notebook. I made up a tentative baking list for this Christmas. Here's the list so far:

Pepparkakor
Whipped Shortbread
Eggnog Logs
Sacher Tortes
Peppermint Cookie Wands*
Almond Raspberry Thumbprints
Chocolate-Dipped Maple Logs*
Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies
Dipped Cherry Cookies
Cashew Crescents*
Mini Cinnamon Roll Cookies*
Golden Apricot Cakes
Paula Deen's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Plus other things -- candy making, homemade mixes, etc.
Hot Chocolate Mix
Pink Hot Chocolate Mix*
Bran muffin batter
Lemon Ice Candy
Heavenly Delight

* Denotes a new-to-me recipe.

Pillowcase grocery totes as a gift

2010-09-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

I seemed to be in a real pillowcase mode with my Christmas gifts for 2009... I made vintage style ones and also embroidered and cross-stitched ones. But it went beyond that. I saw a tutorial for making pillowcase grocery totes from existing pillowcases. You can find it here:

pillowcase grocery totes

I had so much fun making these. I wanted to make a set for each of my daughters for Christmas. I think I ended up with a set of eight for each girl, plus I made a few for myself. Mostly, I just used pillowcases I had on hand. We love flannel sheets, but we don't love flannel pillowcases (not to sleep on, anyway; I've occasionally used some as sort of slipcovers for pillows). And every set of flannel sheets comes with two of them. They turned out to make gorgeous, sturdy grocery totes. I also purchased several pillowcases at the thrift store for 50¢ each to use for this project. Each tote took an hour or less to make. It was so much fun to see how the different prints turned out!
A snowflake tote.

This was a king-size pillowcase from the thrift store.

A blue toile in flannel

This flannel sheep pillowcase made a smaller tote, so I kept it for myself.

More snowflakes.

A western design.

Most importantly, I managed to devise a way to present the pillowcase grocery totes as a gift! That had been on my mind for some time. Of course I could have just stuffed them in a gift bag or a large box, but then the recipients would have to think of a way to store them. My idea was to make the gift packaging something that would be usable for storing the bags.

As I observed shoppers at my local supermarket, I noticed that most of them who use fabric bags just bring them all stuffed into one bag, and then just send that bag along on the conveyor ahead of their groceries. I also envisioned that they probably store the fabric bags in just the same way -- stuffed into one bag and hung on a peg or nail or whatever.

So it made sense to package the bags within one of the totes. But I wanted/needed some sort of label -- something to make it look a bit gift-y and to identify it. So I came up with the idea to make a clear plastic pocket for the container tote and to attach it with bias tape. I then made up a label to slip into the clear pocket.
For the plastic pocket, I utilized a clear plastic pocket that had come on a package of pillowcases -- a set that I had bought to embroider. I cut the pocket off, then edged it with bias tape and sewed it to the tote, then slipped the label in.
The pocket without the label in place.

I designed the label to be the right size to fit the pocket and printed it out on card stock.

I figured that when the recipient starts using the bags, she can put anything she'd like in the clear pocket -- coupons, shopping list, a picture of the kids, whatever. I am quite pleased with how this idea worked out.
The pocket with label in place

So there you have it. Hope someone else can use this idea!

Some crafting from last Christmas

2010-09-10T04:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, I guess I posted these on my regular blog back in January, but I really should have put them here, too. First, here is a train quilt I made for one grandson (age 1 1/2):

This is just a panel, but it came out so cute. It was free, too... the panel and matching fabric came from a thrift store.

This shows the back.

And this, taken a few months later, shows the quilt in use:

From matching fabric I was able to make 2 vintage-style pillowcases for the little guy's siblings.

Two more pillowcases -- one for a girl and one for a boy.

Two more... the pink fabric on one, and the kitten fabric on the other are both vintage fabrics handed down from my grandmother. She would be pleased to see how I've used them. I'm not completely satisfied with the border print on the kitten one, but it was the best I could find to coordinate with the kittens.

Lastly, a snowman pillowcase for a little boy who wanted to build a big snowman. I do apologize for the blurry photo. The fabric is really cute.

This inspires me to get crafting for this Christmas. How about you?

Adding labels...

2010-08-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

Quite some time ago my daughter suggested I label the posts here on my Christmas blog so that people could find recipes and crafts more easily. So, I am finally getting around to doing so, and am adding labels to both my blogs. It's going to take some time, but I think in the end it will be helpful to my readers -- and to me as well. Stay tuned...

Most recent crocheted stocking

2010-08-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

I neglected to post this picture before Christmas 2009. I have been making these for my grandchildren for several years now as the new babies come along. This is the most recent one. I make some in the dark green and some in the dark red and put a little embroidered banner on each one with their name. (As you can see, I did this one in both red and green. Sometimes I add touches of cream as well.)

These stockings may be a little small to be the ones the kids will eventually hang on Christmas Eve, but they do stretch, and they make nice wall decor anyway. I think one of my daughters does use these as the ones to hang on Christmas Eve. When I give these, I have been filling them full of baby socks -- pastels for girls and mini athletic socks for boys.

Some Christmas gift ideas

2010-07-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Over at the crafters' corner on my favorite Christmas forum, we were brainstorming some ideas that would make use of the items we were currently crafting. I thought our ideas for gifts might give someone else some inspiration. So here are some of our thoughts:

* Maybe pair handmade tortilla cozies with matching fabric napkins and add some homemade taco seasoning or fajita seasoning mix.

* The fabric trimmed dish towels with a knitted or crocheted dishcloth (like this one, for example: seed stitch dishcloth)and a bottle of especially nice dishwashing liquid or hand soap.

* Or, the fabric trimmed dish towels with some pot holders made from matching or coordinating fabric.

* A set of pillowcases with some sachets for the linen closet, or scented shelf liner or a nice linen spray. (The Gooseberry Patch Gifts for Giving books even have some ideas for making these things yourself!)

* A set of pillowcase grocery totes with a handmade coupon wallet.

* A batch of homemade laundry soap, cleverly packaged and paired with a clothespin bag filled with nice new clothespins. The first Gooseberry Patch Gifts for Giving book has a recipe for lemon-fresh laundry rinse which is a possibility, too.

* For a family, one of the felt puzzle mats combined with a nice jigsaw puzzle and some homemade hot cocoa mix and maybe some homemade snack mixes, popcorn balls or candy.

Another idea I have had for a family is to make some special Christmas items (advent calendars, table runner, napkins, rag garlands, etc. etc.) and give to them before Christmas so they can all have the fun of using the items as part of their family's Christmas preparations.

I have tons more ideas here on my Christmas blog, so be sure to go over there and check out the archives for more inspiration!

Christmas shopping trip ... in late June

2010-07-09T18:56:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Mr. T got out of work early on a Friday. It just so happened that earlier that week I had received an email announcing a Porch Sale at Cracker Barrel restaurants on that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you have never been to one of their porch sales, you have missed some great deals. The items are all 70% off and include everything from toys and Christmas ornaments to clothing and dinnerware. I have found the porch sales to be terrific sources for Christmas gifts to stash away. But Mr. T had plans for Saturday, and Sunday would have been out of the question, so I had figured we wouldn't get to the sale. The nearest Cracker Barrel is nearly an hour and a half south of here.

So, when he arrived home early on Friday, he suggested we hit that sale -- and, of course, plan to eat a late lunch at the restaurant while we were at it. We were both in the mood for breakfast (served all day at Cracker Barrel) and even had a couple of ideas as to what we wanted to order. All that changed when our server started telling us about a summer breakfast special -- the Blueberry Streusel French Toast Breakfast.

Here's how they describe it: "Three slices of our blueberry streusel bread, dipped in eggs and then grilled to a golden brown. Topped with real butter and served with a warm bottle of Dickinson’s® blueberry syrup. Comes with two eggs, cooked to order, and our own hickory-smoked bacon or sausage patties. $7.29/French Toast Only $5.99".

Well, we just had to try this breakfast special! And were we glad we did! It was simply delicious. We both had it with scrambled eggs. Mr. T had bacon and I had sausage patties, which I love at Cracker Barrel.

As we were eating, another server came by and saw what we had ordered. She commented that she had just tried the meal the preceding day and found it delicious. We agreed. I think Cracker Barrel has outdone themselves with this one! Our server told us to spread the word about how good it is, so I am doing so!

I did find some great buys at the porch sale, too, but cannot describe them here because the recipient reads my blogs. Suffice it to say I found a wonderful gift at an incredible price!

If you get to a Cracker Barrel this summer, be sure and try the blueberry streusel French toast...

Another pretty, practical gift

2010-06-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a second handmade gift which my daughter Carrie gave me this past Christmas. Again, I am not sure where she found the pattern, but I expect she found it online somewhere. What a great resource the internet is for crafters!

This is a holder for my crochet hooks. Here's a look at the inside.

You can, of course, tuck the hooks under the flap to protect them. I left some of them out just to show the hooks.

Here's the outside.

What a super cute fabric she used! And I love the leather button that holds it closed. It's a great, secure way to store crochet hooks, and I love the fact that something so useful can also be so pretty.

A lovely, useful Christmas gift

2010-06-18T12:23:00.001-07:00

Thought I would show, rather belatedly, one of my handmade Christmas gifts from my daughter Carrie. I really need to get the link from her for this super cute project. It's a little wallet to hold tea bags and whatever else one might like that would fit. She put tea bags in one side and index cards in the other.

Here's the inside of the wallet. Isn't it so beautifully done? This year is the first time she has done much embroidery; she has pretty much taught herself. I am envious of the perfect look of this blanket stitch!

And here's the outside (I saved the best for last! Love this cute bluebird!)

I think I will use this next time we go to the cabin up north. The index cards will come in handy for devotions and list-making, and the wallet will be a neat way to take along an assortment of tea bags.

Repurposing a small cross stitch sampler

2010-06-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here is sort of an unusual gift I just made. This stitchery piece, originally intended to be a birth sampler, had been languishing in my stack of UFOs for more years than I even want to think about. I think I didn't finish this until the baby in question was around 6 or 7 years old. I kept thinking I would frame this for her wall anyway, but it didn't fit a standard frame. So I thought this year (as she is graduating from high school) that I would frame it in fabric. Then that seemed not a great idea, since she will be heading off to college and it would just be something to leave behind at home. I thought a tote bag might work, but then it would have to be a very small tote bag in order not to overwhelm the size of the stitchery. Looking through Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing, I came across a pattern called an Artsy Clutch. So I decided to try making one, using this stitchery for one side.

The project was easy and fun to make. I used a vintage green floral slipcover fabric for the lining.

The closure is a stitched-in elastic loop and a vintage green button.

I'm still not sure how much I like the result, but the recipient seemed pleased. I thought she could use it to hold jewelry, or socks, or even a Bible or other book.

I would definitely make more of these clutches, though, from regular fabric rather than a cross stitch sampler. They are easy, and would be cute in many variations of color and fabrics.

A pretty Christmas pin

2010-06-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

This beautiful pin (sorry the photo is slightly blurry) was cross-stitched by my friend Ruth. I don't know what size Aida she used, but it is tiny. I placed it on a white background for the picture so it would show up better. I love the detail in the snow scene on this pin!

Fresh-cut pine

2010-06-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my newer Christmas decorations, and one of my favorites. I found it for a bargain price a few years ago at Jo-Ann Fabrics after Christmas. What fun!

A dish towel gift idea

2010-06-01T12:18:00.001-07:00

Recently I made another set of those fabric-trimmed dish towels for a gift. I decided to post about it here, because of the "gift packaging" I did with these.

If you wish to see other sets of them, check my regular blog, Across My Kitchen Table . I have made several different sets of these towels, which are so quick and easy!

I found the pattern at Sew4Home , which is a new favorite site of mine. Sign up for their emails and see what's new each week. They have some fabulous projects with very clear instructions.

For the towel part I used Bistro Towels, which have a sort of birds-eye weave on one side and terry on the other. I found these towels on clearance (a set of 3 for $3) at Wal Mart.

This gift was for a dear friend of mine. With her youngest child graduating from high school this year, she has completed over 2 decades of home schooling. I thought it deserved a little remembrance, but wanted it to be a useful gift. I remembered I had in my stash a scrap of school-themed fabric. As it turned out, there was plenty to make 2 of these dish towels. For the narrow trim I used some scraps of Mary Engelbreit cherry fabric from my stash.

I decided to add a seed stitch dishcloth to the gift, since I had one on hand. (Incidentally, the pattern didn't call for an edging, but I decided to add one by simply single crocheting around all four edges.)

I packaged the items for gift giving by tying some pretty sheer ribbon around the stack of towels and dishcloth.

I think my friend enjoyed the packaging as much as she did the gift!

Vintage paper bell

2010-05-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

Years ago, my grandmother, who has now passed on, gave me a box of vintage paper goods -- place mats, table cloths, centerpieces, cardboard cutouts of Pilgrims and Easter bunnies, etc. In the box was a green honeycomb paper bell. I remember seeing bells like this at my grandmother's home in the 1950s. I didn't use the bell, though, because it was missing the little clips that hold it in position. Finally I realized, a year or two ago, that green paper clips would work just fine for the purpose. And they do!

My granddaughters made the red paper chain this past Christmas, and I thought it made a great addition to the green bell.