Corn Bread Mini Muffins

We are going to a chili cook-off/reverse caroling party tonight (reverse caroling is us sitting in someones driveway and caroling while people walk by) in an amazing local neighborhood that goes bonkers crazy with holiday lights and decorations - it's very impressive I must say. Every tree, wire, lightpost, window, mailbox, probably even their dogs get lit up...and they have hundreds of people walking around looking at them every night for the holiday season. We are going on our Vespa's because the parking will be awful so taking chili is out of the question for me (I measured my crockpot and Vespa "trunk", nope - not going to happen), I decided to bring mini corn bread muffins as our contribution instead.

I don't have an actual "recipe" that I follow but I've been making this for years and it's really good. I start with a boxed corn bread mix, in addition to the egg and milk it calls for add a small can of drained jalapeños, a small can of creamed corn, and about 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I use whatever I have - today was mexican blend but cheddar or monterey jack are good too). Spray a mini muffin tin with non stick spray, fill with about 1 tablespoon of batter (I use my small cookie scoop so they are all pretty much the same size). Bake at 350' for 12-14 minutes or until light brown. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 40 bite size muffins - I'm not sure how many full size muffins this would make, I'd guess 12. You could also make it in a 9" pan or pie plate, adjust the baking time as needed.

Melting Snowman Cocktail

Awwwwwww, it's melting....look how cute this drink is, and it tastes good too! Super easy, hardest part was fishing an orange jimmie out of the jar of sprinkles :)

Vodka, Kahlua, and cream poured over ice, top with whipped cream and decorations. Try it! (Well, try it if you drink and/or like Kahlua - it's never been my favorite but it's really good mixed with cream!)

1 1/2 oz. vodka (3 T.)
1 1/2 oz. Kahlua (3 T.)
2 oz. light cream or half and half (1/4 cup)
miniature chocolate pieces
orange jimmies
whipped cream
ice cubes

Add ice cubes to a 10-12 oz. glass. Pour in the vodka, Kahlua, and cream, stir to incorporate. Top with whipped cream, 2 mini chocolate chips for eyes, and an orange jimmie carrot nose. Makes one cocktail.


Click here for the recipe from BHG.

yep, alcohol in the middle of the winter scene again...

Gift Bag from Wrapping Paper

Have you ever made a gift bag from wrapping paper? I recently learned and love this -  no more having a gift that won't fit a store bought bag (and no more having to run to the store for a bag - just make your own!). It's a little hard to take pictures while folding the paper haha - I need a third hand sometimes. I took a bunch trying to capture what it is I'm doing exactly...


This is an especially good idea if you need a wider bottom bag or are wrapping something that has an odd shape, you can make the bag whatever size you need.

1. Start with a length of wrapping paper that will fit your item. Lay the paper on a flat surface wrong side up.

2. Fold the sides in, overlapping slightly, and tape.

3. Fold up the bottom as wide as you want the base of your bag to be (mine is approx 4").

4. This next part is hard for me to describe, but it isn't hard to do - open up the bottom part you just folded up and fold the sides that have the crease in them towards the center of the bag creating a diamond shape.

5.Then fold the top and bottom points in towards the center of the diamond, overlapping about 1/2" and tape.

6. cut off the top of the bag to however tall you want it to be

7. open up the bag and shape until the bottom is flat

8. put your gift inside and roll down the top to close. 

There - no more buying bags or putting your presents in garbage bags cuz they won't fit in your store bought bag! I guess I should point out that you can only make a bag as large as your wrapping paper - I'm not sure I could make one as big as a garbage bag haha...hmmm, maybe I'll go try. See ya!

Homemade Dog Cookies

Of course I'm not going to forget about my furry "nieces and nephews"  - they need a Christmas gift too!

These are pretty easy to make - it's a quick dough made from normal ingredients that I had on hand (except the wheat germ) that you roll, cut out, bake, and can even personalize (although I chose not to - the recipe calls for cream cheese mixed with flour to pipe names on the cookies but I am shipping these and don't think the cream cheese is going to hold it's shape in the mail. I did add "frosting" to the tops of a couple stockings before realizing it's not practical for me to send them that way).

I thought I had a bone shaped cookie cutter but I don't - so made big stockings, medium scotties, and small stars instead. This recipe made a lot of cookies!

I packaged them in these ziplock gift baggies that I found at a dollar store and will get them out in the mail tomorrow. I better have Sarge taste taste them though before I do :).

Click here for the recipe from All You Magazine.

2/2024 UPDATE: once again the link to a recipe I posted stopped working - I think I learned my lesson in later years to not just link the recipe but to also print it! I cannot find the original recipe I followed but this  different one I found on myrecipes seems right:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour 
• ¾ cup toasted wheat germ 
• ¼ cup brewers yeast 
• ⅓ cup natural chunky peanut butter 
• 1 large egg 
• ¾ cup low sodium chicken broth 
• 3 tablespoons canola oil

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large shallow baking sheet with parchment paper.

• Combine the flour, wheat germ and brewers yeast in a medium bowl. Whisk together the peanut butter, egg, broth and oil in a separate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a spoon or rubber spatula until a rough dough forms. Knead the dough in the bowl 5-6 times until it comes together.
  
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll to a 1/4-inch thickness. With a 3-inch dog bone shaped cookie cutter, cut out treats and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Press all the scraps together, kneading once or twice, then roll out to 1/4-inch thickness and cut out more treats; repeat if necessary.
  
• Bake treats until lightly browned and fairly hard, rotating the pans from top to bottom once, about 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely; biscuits will harden as they cool. Store in an airtight container.

Sea Salt Body Scrub

Here is a very easy and quick gift you can make out of things you probably have on hand (or it's easy to find the ingredients at the grocery store if you don't).

It just occurred to me that this would also be very good in recipes - it's all natural salt, oil, dried herbs... if you don't want to use it as a body scrub just make some and add a little to a marinade or salad dressing!

To make 2 jars (I think these are half-pint jars, I like that they are wide mouth so it will be easier to scoop the scrub out) mix together 2 cups fine mediterranean sea salt and 1+ Tablespoons Herbs de Provence (store bought mixture of different herbs including rosemary and lavender), then add 1 cup of sunflower oil and mix well (I used my Pampered Chef meat chopping thing to get any lumps out and make sure the mixture is smooth - a spoon would work fine!).

If you don't have those exact ingredients and want to make this using what you have on hand I would substitute table salt and olive oil, then whatever dried herbs you have that seem spa-like (rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender, citrus...).

Put in jars, make a label, tie with a ribbon or twine if you want.



I know just who I'm giving these to, but will keep a secret for now - I'm pretty sure they'll see this!

Travel Jewelry Pouch

I can't decide if this is the lamest thing I've made in a long time or the most clever use of household items and I'm a genius...I'll leave it up to you. I started this blog to show you things I make - for better or worse hahaha! (I will say thoughts of my crafty Grandma came to mind while I was making it, this is right up her alley) The best thing is it literally took me 5 minutes to make - if you find this idea not totally ridiculous and want to make one,  it would be a cute funny quick stocking stuffer (or white elephant gift!). Ok, enough stalling...here it is:

You'll need a square potholder with a hanging loop on the side (use a thinner one that bends easily - I got these potholders at a dollar store 2/$1), 10 snack sized ziplock baggies, a button that fits the loop on the side of the potholder, and some tape.

Lay the potholder inside up (right-side down), place one baggie on the right with the zipper towards the right edge - put a little piece of tape on the top and bottom to hold it in place. Then put a baggie on the left side with the zipper towards the left edge and tape in place. Continue alternating sides, overlapping and taping the baggies until you have 5 on each side.

        

Sew a zigzag stitch down the middle of the potholder (which is also down the middle of the overlapping baggies).

Fold the potholder in half, find where the loop will meet the other side and sew the button on for the closure.

each baggie can hold a different piece of
jewelry and not get tangled together

you can hang it from the loop, although
it's looking much more like a potholder and
some baggies hanging like this! ha!

the jewelry is being protected more since
the potholder has batting or whatever in it
which gives it some cushion. 

I got the idea for this idea here, they made this as an "emergency clutch" holding bandaids, aspirin, etc. - I saw it though and thought it would make a good jewelry pouch. Well, anyone game to make one? :)

Christmas Bell Door Hanger

My friend Janis came over for crafting at Day Camp and we made these cute door hangers out of a bell and a bird...

I found large bells at the craft store, not as big as I was hoping but they're pretty large. We ran a ribbon thru the loop on the top of the bell and tied a knot, leaving long tails - I had this bright green on hand, you could use narrower ribbon or patterned ribbon or twine...use your imagination and whatever you have on hand. 

 Then we raided the Christmas decorating box and came up with some pieces of wired garland, berry picks, cardinals (cardinals just seem like Christmas to me - did you notice my Thanksmas/Christmas tree was decorated with cardinals and poinsettias?), silver leaves...just use whatever you can find. Little pine cones or shells would be cute - whatever will fit on the top of the bell.

After tying on the ribbon, just build up what's going on the bell, hot gluing different things until you like how it looks. For this one I used a berry pick, a 4" piece of garland, a couple silver leaves, and the bird on top. That's about it for directions haha, just hot glue things to the top of the bell and hang it up!

I used one of the dollar store wine glasses
on my craft table as a holder for the bell
 so it stayed put while I hot glued stuff to it,
hands free while hot gluing is always a
good thing...

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

I wanted to make some cookies for a guy that works at our local photography store who helped me a ton with a project - he definitely deserves a sugary treat (I don't know him very well, hopefully he doesn't have dietary restrictions!). The weather is kinda crappy here today and I didn't want to go to the grocery store so was looking for a recipe that I had all the ingredients for already...and then this recipe popped up in an email. Yes, the 'what should I make' problem was solved. This is sugar cookie dough rolled out, spread with butter/cinnamon sugar,  rolled up and sliced (just like cinnamon rolls)...really, do I need to say more? It's a sugar cookie cinnamon roll!! YUM!

after making the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for an hour

roll dough out to about 15"x 6"

spread with butter/cinnamon sugar mixture,
roll up starting with a long edge

cut into 1" slices with a sharp knife

Click here for the recipe from mel's kitchen cafe. They are a little more work than my usual drop cookies, but worth it. I had to bake them for a couple minutes longer than the recipe says, and I frosted with powdered sugar glaze (I made it by mixing 1/2 cup powdered sugar with a tablespoon italian sweet cream coffee creamer) instead of cream cheese - you guessed it, I didn't have cream cheese so substituted!

Cookies:

• ¾ cup (170 g) butter, softened to cool room temperature
• ¾ cup (159 g) granulated sugar
• ¼ cup (29 g) powdered sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ½ cups (355 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 4 tablespoons (57 g) butter, softened
• ½ cup (106 g) packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze:

• 4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• ⅓ cup (38 g) powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 tablespoons milk

INSTRUCTIONS 

• For the cookies, in a large bowl, cream together the 3/4 cup butter and granulated and powdered sugar for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix. Add one cup flour, baking powder and salt. Mix. Add remaining flour and mix just until flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth and soft. 
• Flatten the dough into a thick disk and cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
• For the filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Separate the dough into two pieces working with one half at a time, roll it out to about 1/4-inch thick and about 15-inches by 4-inches or so. Gently spread 2 tablespoons of butter on top of the dough. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the cinnamon sugar mixture and lightly press the sugar mixture into the dough. Starting with one long edge, roll the dough into a tight log. Using a sharp knife (I found a serrated knife worked best), slice the dough into 1-inch pieces, making about 15 cookies per log. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on lined (with silpat or parchment) baking sheets. Repeat with the second half of the dough and the remaining butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the cookies for 9-11 minutes until set but not overbaked. Let the cookies cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Prepare the glaze by mixing together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until thick and smooth. You can do this with an electric mixer or use a blender. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon milk. Continue adding milk, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until the glaze is thick but pourable. Pour the glaze into the corner of a ziplic bag (placing the bag inside a large glass helps as you fill it). Snip off the tip of the corner and drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Fireball Hot Toddy

Haha, like my including alcoholic beverages in a cozy winter scene? I've never had a hot toddy before so not sure how this stacks up, but I'm cold and feeling like a warm drink and saw this recipe...cinnamon whiskey mixed with honey, lemon, and hot water. Very easy and it's just a little glass so I thought I'd try it. I read that hot toddy's are good for the common cold - excellent, I can now honestly say my drinking is medicinal!

1 shot Fireball Whiskey (I used 1 ounce, Dave says a shot is more like 1 1/4 ounce)
1 T. honey
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup boiling water

Stir all ingredients into a mug until the honey melts. Garnish with a lemon slice or cinnamon stick (I had neither and it looks just fine without!).

I only have giant mugs so I poured it into this cute little glass instead - plus it doesn't seem so much like drinking whiskey this way :). Medicine that tastes good, nice!

DIY Christmas Tree

My friend Scott sent me this idea and I had to try it...genius really. I don't know where he got this idea but I'm totally stealing it from him. It's garland wrapped around a tomato cage - totally made my own Christmas tree!

Supplies:
- round tomato cage (or in my case 2 cages!)
- 45' standard soft garland
- 18' wired garland (mine has lights in it, Scott's doesn't)
- a planter or not, depending on where you are going to put it
- pine cones, berries, bulbs, lights...whatever  you want
- a bunch of 4" zip ties
- tape to shape the tip of the tree

All the instructions I needed apparently :)

Scott's tree with the wired garland, bulbs,
berries, and cones. He made two of these. 

Since he is a guy he just sent me these two pictures without any instructions - so of course I blew up his phone texting him a ton of questions... I think I was just supposed to figure it out from the picture haha. After he gave me detailed info I was able to build my own tree, and so can you. Not hard at all once I got going - the worst thing was trying to find the wired garland, every place I checked was out of it. I was going to give up and scrap this idea but then decided to just modify the project and do it with what I could still find, and it turned out great. Different from Scott's of course, but that's the beauty of DIY! He found all of his supplies at Lowes, and made two trees for $50 total (instead of paying $100 each at the store for them!). Mine cost more because I used two cages for one tree and 18' pre-lit garland instead of wired.

Start by putting the cage upside down either in a planter or just flat on the ground. Scott used one cage per tree but I found after wrapping soft garland over one cage without the wired garland to fill it out it made a more triangle shape tree instead of round - so I ended up using two cages to give it more shape. I bent one to fit inside the planter and then put one over the planter for stability. Wrap tape (I used electrical tape) around the 3 legs to make a cone shape on the top. Using the zip ties to hold the garland in place, wind the 45' of standard garland around and around the cage. When it's completely covered add the 18' of wired garland overtop - this makes it fuller and fills in the gaps. I used additional standard garland that had lights in it instead since I couldn't find the wired kind and it turned out good - "make it work" is the motto here. Add whatever decorations you want, I just did a few cones and berries.


I wasn't loving the bottom of the cage being exposed so wrapped an additional string of lights around the the planter - more lights always helps :) Thanks Scott, this was a good one!