There's Nothing Better than a Homemade Gift--Pistachio & Tart Cherry Chocolate Bark

My brothers always used to make almond bark at Christmas time. Melted white chocolate and almonds, melted together and spread thin until cool. Nothing fancy, but a delicious treat, nonetheless. I like to take this theme and expand on it. Simply delicious, there are many combinations that you can make. This one is my favorite.

Pistachio & Tart Cherry Chocolate Bark

Store in the refrigerator. Best when used within one month.

1 lb. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped--I use chocolate chips

8 oz. real white chocolate

12 oz. pistachio nuts (1 1/2 cups), toasted

8 oz. dried cherries (1 1/2 cups)

Place semisweet chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl. Place white chocolate in another bowl. Heat semisweet chocolate in microwave, covered with wax paper on high 2 to 3 minutes or until almost melted, stirring once. Remove from microwave and stir until smooth. Heat white chocolate, covered with wax paper, 1 to 2 minutes or until almost melted, stirring once. Remove from microwave and stir until smooth.

Stir 1 cup pistachios and 1 cup cherries into semisweet chocoalte. On a large cookie sheet, spread chocolate mixture to about 1/4 inch thickness. Spoon dollops of white chocolate onto semisweet chocoalte mixture. Swirl chocolates together with a knife. Sprinkle with remaining cherries and pistachios.

Refrigerate one hour or until firm. Break bark into pieces. Store in tightly sealed container in refrigerator. Pack in decorative boxes, lined with waxed tissue paper or colored cellophane for gift giving.

There's Nothing Better than a Homemade Gift--Sugared Cranberries

Sweet and tangy sugared cranberries make a surprising addition to candy bowls, your favorite apple pie recipe, cheesecake or baked brie. What a nice way to treat your neighbors, your mail carrier, or the paper delivery person.

Sugared Cranberries

3 cups sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves
3 cups water
3 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed
1 cup superfine sugar

Mix sugar, cinnamon sticks and cloves with water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer for 1 minute, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, cool for 15 minutes or so, and pour into a bowl. Stir in cranberries. Cover and refrigerate for about 8 hours. Drain cranberries. Reserve liquid, strain out cinnamon sticks and cloves and use as a simple syrup to add a holiday touch to cocktails.

Place superfine sugar in a bowl and gently toss in cranberries, coating evenly. Place cranberries on a baking sheet to dry, about 1 to 2 hours. Store in an airtight container for 1 to 2 days or package for gift giving.

There's Nothing Better than a Homemade Gift--Citrus Salt

I think I'm sensing a theme here! I must need vitamin C because everything seems to be citrus flavored this year!

Lemon, lime and orange zest add bright, fresh flavor to gourmet sea salt. A great addition to any seafood dish from grilled fish to shrimp stir fry, and perfect for rimming margarita glasses too.

Citrus Salt

2 cups sea salt, grey salt or fleur de sel

2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest

1 tablespoons fresh lime zest

1 tablespoons fresh orange zest

Preheat oven to 225°F. Mix salt with zest and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Place in oven and bake 2 hours, or until zest is dry. Mine only took about 40 minutes, so check it often. Place in a food processor or blender and pulse until evenly mixed. I've only made this once, but I think next time I would just mix it all real well after it's cool and not pulverize it. Divide evenly and package in decorative containers for gift giving.

There's Nothing Better than a Homemade Gift--Sweet Orange Body Scrub

I've been making this body scrub for ages. It's so much more inexpensive than purchasing it and I think it works great. I scented this batch with sweet orange essential oil, but you can choose your favorite scent. This goes together quickly so quickly and you can package it as gardener's hand scrub or body scrub, depending on who you're giving it to.

Super Simple Body Scrub

2 cups Epsom salts or organic cane sugar

1 cup canola oil--or any other scentless oil, like sunflower oil

8 drops of your favorite essential oil-- or more, to desired scent

food coloring

Stir first three ingredients together until well combined, add food coloring in a color to compliment the scent you used. Since I used sweet orange essential oil, I used a peachy orange combination of food coloring to color it. Package in unbreakable containers--no glass in bathrooms!! Use anywhere you'd like super soft skin. Rinse off completely, being sure to rinse shower or bathtub well as oil can make surfaces slippery.

Save Handmade!

Handmade Wooden Toy (above) found at Little Sapling Toys on Etsy.com

My dad used to say that you can't legislate common sense. Here's another attempt at doing that. Have you heard about this?

Quoted from http://www.coolmompicks.com/

"We're all for strengthening the safety standards of mass-produced toys, clothes, and accessories made in China, and banning toxins like phthalates and lead. But this year, congress passed the ill-conceived Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, a law which goes into effect in two months and will absolutely decimate the small toy manufacturers, independent artisans, and crafters who have already earned the public trust.

With this act going into effect February 10 2009 so many people we love will be affected: Moms who sew beautiful handmade waldorf dolls out of home, artists who have spent decades hand-carving trucks and cars out of natural woods, that guy at the craft show who sold you the cute handmade puzzle--even larger US companies who employ local workers and have not once had any sort of safety issue will no longer be able to sell their goods. Not without investing tens of thousands of dollars into third-party testing and labeling, just to prove that toys that never had a single toxic chemical in them still don't have a single toxic chemical in them."

Read more about it here and be sure to take a few minutes to take action. This is so wrong!

There's Nothing Better than a Homemade Gift--Tangerine Sugar

This one is so easy and it impresses everyone. It's delicious too.

Tangerine Sugar

The bright citrus flavor of this sugar is ideal for sprinkling over grapefruit or stirring into iced tea. You could even dip the rim of a martini or margarita glass in it. I think it would be great sprinkled on buttered toast, but I haven't tried that yet.

3 tablespoons tangerine zest--If you don't have a Microplane Zester, you must purchase one! I use this gadget at least a couple of times a month.

3 cups sugar

Place sugar and zest in food processor. Pulse until you see flecks of zest evenly distributed throughout the sugar. Divide evenly and package in decorative containers for gift giving.

There's Nothing Better than a Homemade Gift--Pumpkin Butter

Got a few minutes and need a few last minute gifts? I'm going to post a few quick recipes and ideas over the next few days. Time is short here, as I'm sure it is where you are!

I whipped this Pumpkin Butter together in about 5 minutes last night, and let it simmer for a half an hour. Cool, place in cute jars, label and it's done. Delicious on toast, muffins, waffles, cornbread. YUM.

Pumpkin Butter

1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree--I used the pumpkin puree I made from this year's jack-o-lanterns
3/4 cup apple juice--I think apple cider would be much better, but I didn't have any!
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves--I didn't have any and the store I went to was out, so I substituted apple pie spice from Penzeys (which if you haven't checked them out, please do! Great spices!)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently.
Transfer to sterile containers and chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Pecan Pumpkin Butter Appetizer Dip

So delicious, your guests will wonder what the secret ingredient is!

8 oz cream cheese

6 TB pumpkin butter

1/3 cup chopped pecans

2 TB crumbled, cooked bacon pieces

2 green onions, finely chopped

Beat cream cheese with pumpkin butter until smooth and creamy. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate or serve immediately. Serve with crackers or pretzels.

My Favorite Day--Smells so Sweet

We've been candle making. A while back, a friend and I went to visit a beekeeper. My friend bought a case of honey to give as Christmas gifts. I came home with a grocery bag full of beeswax bricks, candle wicking, and a mold.

Our boys love to hand dip candles and I bought a taper mold for the extra wax. What a sweet scent the wax makes. I can hardly bear to melt the bricks, but it must be done. They're so beautiful.

We melted the bricks on the stove in an old pot put on top of simmering water and then placed them in a tall can for dipping. We placed the can in a rice cooker filled one quarter of the way with hot water and kept the cooker on. We used a Hunt's spaghetti sauce can for the wax and it worked great. Early in the dipping, we realized that the wax on the wicks was melting off when it was re-dipped, so the boys came up with the idea of dipping it in cool water between wax dips. (The alternative is to wait a bit before re-dipping, but they were too impatient for that!) That worked great, but distorted the candles from neat, layered tapers to grotesque lumps. In other words, the boys LOVED them!

I wish I had pictures, but I had forgotten my camera that day. I'll see if one of my friends got some. The boys were so proud and they actually burned very nicely despite being a bit hideous to look at. No, I don't mean that in a negative way. It's the way they WANTED them to look. "Mine looks like a monster zombie dude." "Mine looks like a mutant turkey leg." "Mine is melted vomit." "No, MINE is melted vomit after eating school lunch!" Eleven year old boys. Gotta love 'em.

We used the excess wax to make tapers in a silicone mold. The mold is basically a silicone tube that you run wicking through from the bottom. Pour in wax, allow it to cool for 30 minutes or so. We found using the frigid outdoor air speeded up the process. Then you have to tug harder than you think you should (it actually feels like you're going to pull the wick right out). And out, pops a beautiful, golden taper candle.

We have a little extra beeswax left. I think we'll make ornaments or something out of it. Any excuse to smell that sweet scent again!

My Favorite DaySugar and Spice and Why Frosty has a Cancer Stick

Excuse me for a moment while I remember fondly the cute little, blond haired boy who's made a gingerbread house with me every year since he was able to stand on a kitchen chair to reach the counter tops. His lips would be stained bright red from some crimson candy, snitched when he thought I wasn't looking. He loved to engineer the building of the house, thought the frosting was like cement, and his sticky fingerprints all over the house's exterior were priceless to me.

Fast forward a few years and we have Barack Obama looking out one of the windows and one of the snowman has a cigarette. (Now, I had a hard time with this at first, until the laughter became contagious. After all, Frosty, DID have a corncob pipe, so I'll let this candy cigarette pass this time!!) Gales of giggles erupted as we put it together. There was more candy eating than there was decorating. My counter tops are still sticky.

Good times.

You'll find my gingerbread and frosting recipes below. Making the gingerbread from scratch is not hard and it smells delightfully Christmasy. I formed the pieces using a gingerbread house mold that I got at a thrift store for a buck, but you can just cut them out using a template found online OR challenge your creative side and make your own design!

This is one of our traditional Christmas activities. We haven't missed a year and have included dear friends in our gingerbread house construction. It's one of my favorite days!

Gingerbread House Dough

Don't be intimidated by the length of these directions. It goes together really quickly. Make it a family project and you'll have a great, messy, fun time! I DO NOT recommend eating any gingerbread house (however tempting).

5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cups molasses
2 eggs, beaten

In large saucepan, melt shortening on stove over low heat. While shortening is melting, in a separate bowl stir together flour, salt and spices (if using for cookies, add 1 tsp. baking soda). When shortening is half melted, remove from heat and continue to stir until completely melted. Add sugar, molasses and beaten eggs. Mix well and quickly (to prevent eggs from cooking). Add molasses mixture to flour mixture. Mix well. Dough will be soft. Cover and refrigerate until firm enough to handle.

Place in mold and bake as mold manufacturer directs or:

Remove dough from refrigerator when firm enough to handle. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough onto aluminum foil. To prevent aluminum foil from slipping, wipe counter with wet sponge then smooth aluminum foil over damp counter. This will prevent the foil from slipping while dough is being rolled out. Working with a small handful of dough (about the size of a baseball), roll dough onto aluminum foil that has been sprinkled with flour. Sprinkle dough with flour to prevent dough from sticking to rolling-pin. When finished rolling and cutting, LEAVE your piece on the foil and simply lift the foil and place on cookie sheet.

After baking and cooled, simply remove the foil from the back of your baked piece. IF DOUGH IS TOO STIFF, MICROWAVE FOR 10-15 SECONDS TO SOFTEN THE DOUGH. Roll dough to about 1/8” thickness. Place gingerbread house pattern pieces onto dough and cut-out dough pieces (don't forget to cut out windows). A pizza cutter works great for cutting out walls and roof sections. Remove excess dough pieces. Lift entire piece of foil and place on large cookie sheet.

Place cookie sheet in oven. Check frequently to prevent burning. Bake until golden brown. Large pieces may bake as long as 14 minutes. Smaller pieces might take 6 – 7 minutes. To prevent from sagging, bake roof sections until dark brown, almost burnt. When dough pieces are done baking, remove baking sheet from oven. Quickly lift foil from baking sheet and place on a flat area for gingerbread pieces to cool. If pieces have distorted while baking, while still warm, run knife or pizza cutter along sides of walls/roof sections to create a straight edge. If pieces have curled up during baking, while still warm, gently push edges down to lay flat. With gingerbread pieces still on the foil, let cool overnight. Next day – gently peel foil off of gingerbread pieces. You are now ready to assemble, or add windows!

Unused dough may be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks (bring to room temperature and knead briefly to use again).


Royal Icing - Cement Frosting

3 tablespoons meringue powder
6 Tablespoons warm water
1 pound powder sugar
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon Vanilla or Almond flavoring

Note: 3 egg whites may be substituted for 3 tablespoons of meringue powder. Omit the water if using real egg whites.

Because this frosting dries quickly, and very hard, this is the recommended frosting to use for gluing together the walls and roof sections. Keep all utensils completely grease-free. Combine all ingredients, mixing slowly with stationary mixer until peaks form. Beat at high speed for 7 to 10 minutes. This is important for the frosting to be soft enough to use with pastry bag.

This frosting is fast drying – keep bowl covered with a damp cloth. If icing is too thick when using fine tubes, add a few drops of water. For thicker icing, beat in a little extra confectioners sugar.

Store leftover frosting, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for weeks. Re-beat before using again (if using real egg-whites, the frosting will not keep its cementing properties after the initial beating).

This recipe makes about 3 ½ cups of glue frosting.

Frosting Tip: When working with egg whites or meringue powder, keep all utensils grease-free. Any oil or grease will break down the frosting mixture. Note that the "decorators frosting" contains grease (shortening). When decorating, it is helpful to keep one bag exclusively to be used for "glue frosting", and another bag to be used for the decorators frosting. This helps to keep grease away from the "glue frosting".

The First of the Christmas Crafting

We're only giving homemade gifts this year. It really has nothing to do with the "economic downturn", "recession", or the bleak state of our nation's economy. It's more about our own personal scaling back, a hearkening (don't you love that word?) to a simpler time, or a goal in our family to focus less on material goods and more on personal experiences and the time we share with those we love.

I've been collecting craft ideas, with a special focus on using things that we already have or that use recycled products, in my Christmas folder. My Christmas folder is an organizational secret I've been using for years. In it are craft ideas, to do lists, secret present lists and pictures/sources of the gifts for Young One, and the return envelopes from all of the Christmas cards we receive (makes it easy if we can't find someones address or if we have a new addition to our list.) I rip up magazines all year, pulling out intriguing recipes, crafts, and gift ideas. Or I print ideas and recipes from the internet. There are many wonderful bloggers out there that are filled with great, simple ideas.

On a side note, I use and reuse Young One's old school folders for years, basically until they fall apart. This is another cheapskate tendency. I just can't bear to throw them away, so I have spaceship folders, Garfield (from a shortlived stage), and sports themed folders everywhere! I keep one in my car filled with restaurant coupons for those times when we're out and about and just can't decide on where to go to grab a bite to eat. I also keep my gas coupons, car wash coupons, and any freebie or discount offers that I might want to pick up while errand running.

Each Christmas gift that we're making this year has been carefully and thoughtfully chosen for it's recipient. Today, I made these Bath Bombs for some very special women in my life (who happen to know NOTHING about this blog, tee hee). Bath bombs, bath fizzies, if you don't know what they are, are these fun, scented fizzy thingies (technical term) that you place in your bath to fizz and scent the water deliciously. They also soften your skin beautifully. I had most of the ingredients in the house already, so this one went together very quickly!

Bath Bombs

You can find citric acid at your local health food store, at a wine making supply store, or online at Bulk Foods. Organic cane sugar (turbinado sugar) is found at your local grocery store. Read the entire recipe before starting! You must be very careful how much water you add. Trust me, I learned this the hard way and gave Young One the ones that bubbled over and out of the molds because they were too damp. He loved playing with them and smelled like a lime for a day. Very little water is the key. Use just enough to make it clump together.

1/2 cup citric acid

1 cup baking soda

3/4 cornstarch

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

About 6 drops of food coloring

10 to 15 drops of essential oil

equipment: a small spray bottle, ice cube trays, storage jars for gift giving

Stir together citric acid, baking soda, and cornstarch. Sift through a fine sieve or a flour sifter. Stir in sugar. Place a very small amount of water in the spray bottle. Add food coloring--try to match the color to the essential oil that you're using. I used a very small amount of green to match the lime essential oil that I used. Spritz the dry mixture lightly, it should be damp, but not fizzing. Mix with a metal spoon and spritz and mix until mixture clumps together. Add essential oil until strength of scent is to your liking. Continue mixing until scent is well dispersed. If mixture no longer clumps, spritz with more water and mix well. Pack firmly into ice cube tray, pressing firmly. Let dry at room temperature overnight. Pop out of trays gently and pack in jars. Label with instructions to add 2 to each bath to enjoy effervescent relaxation.

You could use candy molds or when I was making the last batch, I decided that packing them into a cookie scoop would be the easiest way to do it. Just pack firmly, pressing down on the mixture if you can, then pop out. I'll try this next time.

I'll share more of my Christmas gift making as time goes on. Print them and file away in your new Christmas folder. Did I inspired you to start one? I truly hope that you are simplifying your gift giving this year too. I figure, if we cut back, we can help others more this season. No, I'm not talking about making sure that other people can buy presents or get presents, like with Toys for Tots (although this organization does do wonderful things). I'd rather be able to give to the very poor. Those that are hungry or homeless. I feel their need is greater this year and because of our country's financial situation, there are probably greater numbers in need.

Peace to you!

Aren't these Cute?

I just love this blog. Snickerdoodles. First of all, it's a great name, it's one of my favorite cookies, and she's a darn good writer. Her make and take craft nights got me thinking that I should try to get a group organized too.

Follow the link above to her latest project. Great for the holidays, but I think you could probably have these out all year. And, she uses recycled materials. Love it!

My Favorite Day (well, hour)--A Little Holiday Cheer

I took an hour to myself yesterday and it was so much fun!














I love to decorate my front porch, especially during the holiday season. There's something about the scent of pine boughs, spruce tops, and juniper that just gets me happy. Snipping dried branches and flowers, rose hips, and berries from my yard (and purchasing just a few) and placing them in my porch containers is really very easy. Just give them a trim and stick them in! The secret up here in the frozen North, is to thaw out your containers of potting soil with hot water before adding the greenery. I always give them a good soaking after I put the greenery in. It helps to freeze the branches in place.

I feel almost Martha Stewart-ish over this.

Merry Christmas! Happy Winter Solstice! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanza!

Who am I forgetting? Whatever your religious leanings, whatever you celebrate (or don't) this time of year, I wish you all good things!

Peace.