Onto the next holiday!

Remember when I posted my kids' Halloween costumes and I said that I LOVE the holidays? Well, Christmas is certainly no exception. It is by far my favorite season of the year. I guess this is just a disclaimer that December is sure to be filled with lots and lots of Christmas posts... so be ye warned. (!)

Here is a picture of a portion of my Christmas tree...

You don't get the whole thing because only the top 2/3's of the tree is decorated! Thank Studley for that one.

Can you tell what my ornaments are? YEP! Gingerbread cookies! I made them the first year we were married, and we are still using them for our Christmas tree. With Knight being in school, we've had to find creative ways to stretch a dollar, and this was one of them. I remember when I was really little, we would make gingerbread cookies every year to put on our tree, so this was the perfect fit for us. And the cool thing is you don't have to make them every year, you just can't eat them. However, they will make your house smell absolutely heavenly!

What you'll need:

Christmas cookie cutters (I found mine at Wal-mart for $2.50)

Ribbon for hanging the ornaments (mine was left over from a different project- $1.00/spool)

Tool to cut hole in cookies (I used a metal straw we had)

Gingerbread cookie recipe (BELOW!)

Gingerbread cookies

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.

• 3/4 sticks butter, softened
• 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed the butter and brown sugar until fluffy and well blended.

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1/2 Tbsp water

Beat in the eggs, molasses and water until well combined.

Beat half of the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in the remaining flour. Knead (or use your mixer's dough hook) until well blended. If dough is too soft, add a little more flour.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours, preferably overnight. You can make it up to 3 days ahead of time. Let sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before rolling out.

Roll out on flour and cut shapes (like you would with sugar cookies).  Don’t forget to poke the hole in the dough for hanging with ribbon! Bake on parchment paper at 350° for 11-13 minutes. Let cool. String ribbon through and hang on tree. Enjoy! 

Merry Christmas!

On Being Grateful

Its not too late to talk about being grateful, right? I kind of took a computer hiatus last week so I could focus on spending time with my family. It was so wonderful!
So now I need to catch up and blog about some of the things I am most grateful for.

1. The thing I am most grateful for in my life is Jesus Christ. 

I am grateful for the ultimate sacrifice He gave to the world so we can return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father again. I am grateful to have been raised in a faithful home, and to have the knowledge of His plan of happiness. It truly gives me the greatest happiness I've ever known. If you want to learn more about my beliefs, visit mormon.org, or just ask me!

2. My wonderful, handsome, loving, caring, smart, funny husband comes in as my close second.

He is my rock, my shoulder to cry on, my best friend. He is so kind, SO patient, and so tender. He is such a wonderful father to our children. He is an incredibly hard worker. He is slow to anger and quick to forgive. He puts God first in all he does, and loves me and our children unconditionally. I will be forever grateful for him in my life.

3. My beautiful, high-spirited, curious, life-loving children.

I honestly never knew the joy that would come from being a mom. It is the hardest yet most rewarding thing I've ever done. My children teach me daily. They constantly amaze me with everything they know and how quickly they are growing up. I am so grateful for the blessing of being a mother.

4. I am grateful for tender mercies.

“But behold, I will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (1 Ne. 1:20).

There have been countless instances since I've been married where things have fallen into place that shouldn't have. We have been blessed so many times when it just didn't make sense. Our car has run longer than it should have, we've found extra money at the end of a tight month, we've avoided catastrophe's, been comforted during family crises, had our daughter's life spared, received work when needed, been healthy among sickness, and the list continues. Its not just the big instances, but every day I find more tender mercies that show me the Lord's love for me and my family. Even things like finding the energy to get through a rough day or having a friend stop by just to say 'hi'. I am so grateful for tender mercies.

5. I am grateful for the little things.

I love starting my morning with hot chocolate, watching beautiful sunsets, game nights with friends, playing in the snow, a hug from my kiddos, a call from my sister, and finding awesome deals. There are so many little things that put a smile on my face every day, and for that, I am grateful.

What about you? What are you especially grateful for this holiday season?

 

My Homemade Bread Recipe

Okay, folks. You asked for it so here it is.

I make our families' bread for many reasons. The main one being it is sooo much cheaper to make than it is to buy. Isn't that the case with so many groceries? It costs me right around $1 ($1.08 to be exact) to make one loaf bread. The comparable loaves at the store sell for over $4. That's a 75% savings for bread that tastes better and is better for you! I was really hesitant in the beginning to start making our own bread, but now its second nature to me. I have been making it for almost a year now, and I can honestly say we will never go back to store-bought bread again.

After a few botched recipes, burnt bread, doughy bread, and flat bread, I have found THE BEST method for bread making. It is pretty specific, has one 'special' ingredient, but the results are totally worth it!

I make the dough in my bread maker (that I found at the DI for $8), then transfer the half-risen dough into bread pans and let it finish rising and bake in my oven. (Thanks for that tip, Alesia!) This way, the bread gets well-kneaded without adding more flour, which can make the bread dry and crumbly. The kneading, in my opinion, is what makes the bread so perfect!

So, add these ingredients to your bread maker in this order:

2 1/2 Cups HOT water

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup oil (I use canola oil)

2 1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

Then sprinkle evenly over top of water mixture:

1/2 cup gluten flour

4 cups wheat flour

1 1/2 cups white flour

Make a hole in middle of flour and add 1 1/2 Tbsp. yeast

Place your bread maker on the 'dough' setting, and let it do its work. I allow my dough to mix and sit in my bread maker for 30 minutes. The whole cycle is supposed to take an hour and  half, but remember, I let my loaves rise in their bread pans before hitting the oven. 

This recipe makes two loaves, so after I take the dough out of my bread maker, I split it down the middle, form two loaves, and transfer to well-greased bread pans. I use 9"x5" ceramic bread pans. The rest of the rising usually takes about 30 more minutes. I stick my loaves in a 350­º oven when they are a little smaller than what I want them to be when I take them out. They will do a little more rising in the first 10 minutes in the oven. I bake them for 25 minutes, then immediately turn them on their side on a cooling rack. Letting them cool on their sides ensures the top won't deflate during cooling, and also leaves nice little guidelines on the side for cutting. 

Voila! Now you have homemade bread! 

**Some Notes**

*I have made this recipe with honey instead of sugar before. It works just as well, but does not freeze well. 

*I live at a high altitude, so the oven temperature, cooking time, and amount of flour may differ accordingly.

*The original recipe I followed was meant to be made in a kitchen mixer, so it is possible! I think the only difference is the order in which you add the ingredients. (Letting the yeast dissolve in the water, etc.)

*Gluten flour is hard to find! I buy mine in the bulk section at a Kroger store near me. It does seem expensive when you buy it, but remember the recipe only calls for 1/2 cup for two loaves.

Please let me know if you decide to try this recipe! I'd love to hear your input!

Cider Nog

I know what you're thinking. "What did that title say? Did Nicole type that right? What in the bageezes is Cider Nog?" Well my friends, it will revolutionize your holiday drink world. I served this odd drink at my monthly recipe exchange this week, and everyone loved it! The girls were definitely a little weary of trying it at first, but most even went back for seconds!

Like apple cider? Like egg nog? Like neither? This is the holiday drink for you!

Cider Nog

1 part vanilla bean ice cream

1 part apple cider

pumpkin pie spice to taste

Let the ice cream melt. Like all the way; until its runny. When I make it, I just eyeball how much of each ingredient I want to use. Put the melted ice cream in a punch bowl or other serving dish. Pour the cider and spice in over your ice cream, and whip together for about a minute. Sprinkle with some cinnamon if desired and enjoy!

What about you? Do you have any great non-traditional holiday treats?

I hope you're enjoying the beginning of this holiday season!

On Family Meal Planning

Our family is on a budget. Surprised? Well, you shouldn't be. Knight is a full-time student, so we have to carefully plan out our expenditures every month. I'm sure we are like a lot of you out there... right? RIGHT???
Meal planning is one way we are able to anticipate and manage our food budget. I HATE- okay, hate is a strong word, but I really, really, really dislike- deciding what we want for dinner, starting to make it, and finding out we are missing one crucial ingredient. Does this ever happen to you? Well, it gets my panties all in a wad, so I try to avoid it as much as I can. I have done this method of meal planning for about a year now, and it seems to suit our needs quite well.
Now, this is a simple method, and some may even call it 'old-school', but like I said it works for our family.

Excuse the chicken scratch... I'm the only one who usually sees this!

At the beginning of each month I sit down with my handy-dandy notebook and my calendar and make a list that looks like this. Here is a breakdown of what my monthly meal plan consists of:
1. First, I break down the month into weeks. Easy enough...
2. The next thing I do is write in the corresponding week anything we might have planned that would affect the meal plan.  See where I listed my birthday and Thanksgiving break?
3. Then I will list the meals we are having each week for our big Sunday night dinner and our Meatless Monday dinner. Those are annotated with the boxed 'S' and 'MM's.
4. I then write in parentheses next to each meal how many nights it will feed our family. Usually our Sunday meals will last two or three nights, but some are meant for just one night. I don't like cooking every night, so I like making bigger portions to have for leftover nights. We also like having breakfast for dinner about once a week- its really cheap, and my kids love breakfast foods. So those are listed as well.
5. Lastly, I'll fill in the weeks with however many more meals we'll need.

Voila! There is my monthly meal plan. 
But the plan can't stop there, right?  RIGHT!
The next page of my notebook is our grocery list. At the beginning of each month, we also do our 'big shop'. This will be the shopping trip where we'll go to Sam's Club for our big things and our local grocery store for all the stuff we don't get at Sam's. I leave room in our budget for one small weekly shopping trip that usually includes things like bananas, milk, and eggs. But this monthly shopping trip will cover all the items we need for our meal plan.

Its usually a shopping trip we do together as a family on a Saturday, but sometimes I'll go when Princess is in Joy School so I just have Studley with me. MUCH easier to shop with one kid in tow than two!

What about you? How do you do your family meal planning?

Bird Feeder Tutorial

We are having unusually warm weather over here in the western half of the states. It has been great for my kiddos to enjoy crunching the fall leaves without freezing off their toes at the same time!
We did this craft with Princess' Joy School group and it was a hit. All the kids loved getting their hands messy with the glue goop. Now every morning, Princess wants to check out the window to see if any birds have eaten any of the seeds off her bird feeder.
And its really quite simple....
Step 1: Make the glue goop...

 This is a mixture of one part vegetable shortening and one part oatmeal. We have a little boy with a peanut allergy in our play group, so we couldn't do the traditional peanut butter on our bird feeders. Come to find out, this mixture is even easier to use, and just as loved by the birds! I mixed our goop with a large popsicle stick; also used to schmear it on our pine cones.









I found the perfect pine cones in the yard of a house down the street from us. I went over there, knocked on their door, asked for their pine cones, and the homeowner was elated to get rid of some pine cones! So that part was easy. :)
I ended up baking our pine cones at 200° for about half hour... this was because when I was tying the first string around the first pine cone, a spider crawled out! I freaked out and decided I needed to 'kill' our pine cones. All for a better cause, right?
Step 2: After you've cooked your pine cones, tie a string or piece of yard around the top of your pine cone. I used left over yarn from making my AWESOME Rapunzel wig for my daughter. (had to boast, sorry)
Step 3: Schmear that goop on your pine cone, then roll in bird seed.
Step 4: Hang on a tree branch and wait to hear the chirp of starving little birds!

On a more serious note- Although we are having great weather over here in the west, there have been many families affected by Hurricane Sandy. Our hearts and prayers go out to them!