No, I am not so on the ball that I have already made Christmas candy this year. I wish I was. I am actually feeling a little behind and still have some decorating and lots of cooking to do. At least the tree is up and full of star wars and star trek ornaments and homemade ornaments that the kids made in previous years. I let the boys decorate the tree last week and it looks cute with its mis-matched ornaments. I took these pictures last year with the intention of writing a blog post then. (...One year later)
We made some simple homemade candy for neighbor and teacher gifts. These are really easy to make and package into cute little gifts.
You can use almond bark or chocolate. Melt in a double boiler or in the microwave in short increments (stirring in-between) Melting discs work well too. There are often melting directions on the package.
These homemade candies are so easy to make. You just dip stuff in chocolate and let it dry on wax paper. Chocolate covered pretzels are one of our favorites.
Last year, we dipped marshmallows and the boys loved them.
Then dip in sprinkles...
Or crushed peppermint candy
Then let dry on wax paper.
Make peppermint bark by spreading white chocolate on waxed paper then sprinkling the chocolate with crushed peppermint. When it dries, break it into pieces.
Peppermint bark is always a favorite.
You can make your candy look festive with colored sugar sprinkles and edible glitter.
Turtles are easy to make too. Just microwave caramels for a few seconds. I think I microwaved these for 7-8 seconds. Then push a pecan into each softened caramel.
Dip in melted chocolate to make turtles. We also love nuts dipped in chocolate for nut clusters, caramels and coconut. Dried berries would be good too.
Use candy molds to make chocolate suckers or festive chocolate shapes. After pouring chocolate into the molds, freeze until firm. Then pop out of the molds.
If gifting your chocolates, wrap in plastic or waxed paper or use containers and tins to package your handmade treats.
These are the best gifts - homemade Christmas treats. Or savor them at home with your friends and family as you make lasting Christmas memories.
2 Comments
Disclosure: The Crayola product, gift card, information, and additional gift pack have been provided by Crayola. However, any opinions are honest and are my own.
We received these Crayola products to make some Holiday crafts and have had such fun crafting as a family. My husband who is pretty artistic made some pretty cool decorations and the boys got really creative too. The boys made all kinds of things out of Model Magic this afternoon. There is quite a collection of small ornaments and creatures drying in the kitchen.
My husband made this Noel ornament last night with Model Magic. It is drying now, but will look lovely on the tree.
My very creative husband also made this charming homemade wrapping paper with Crayola Slick Sticks on poster paper.
I added some Glitter Glue to some of the embellishments after wrapping this package. I love the subtle sparkle.
So have fun and get crafty this holiday. Enjoy crafting together as a family. Check out the Crayola Holiday Crafts Pinterest Board for more ideas.
Disclosure: The Crayola product, gift card, information, and additional gift pack have been provided by Crayola. However, any opinions are honest and are my own.
I hope you all had a relaxing and fun Thanksgiving. We enjoyed spending time with family and being thankful for our blessings. Here are some great ideas for using up that leftover turkey. You can make turkey salad. Make just like chicken salad, but use leftover turkey in place of the chicken. Another easy idea is leftover turkey mashed potato casserole. And my favorite thing to make is Turkey noodle soup. This soup is fantastic. Delicious and comforting on cold winter nights.
We made these family hand turkey crafts at my Catholic Moms group last week and I thought they were so cute I had to share. This is a really easy craft that you can make as a family. Just cut out everyone's handprints on different colored construction paper and layer the handprints to look like the turkey's feathers. Cut out the turkey's body, head, beak, waddle, and draw on the eyes. We mounted them on 12 X 12 scrapbook paper with Elmer's glue, but you could use whatever you have on hand. Thanks for sharing this fun and festive craft Joslyn.
If you just dined on a delicious roast chicken or turkey and want to make sure you utilize the leftover meat, this is an easy way to do just that and have an all new meal. Plus, you can make this ahead and refrigerate it to bake the next day. This is one of those anything goes recipes, so feel free to be creative and use up those leftovers.
Ingredients:
1. Saute onion, celery, and garlic in butter until tender, about 5 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. If you need to, add a little milk or 1/2 & 1/2 to help it mix.
3. Scoop into a greased 9 X 13 baking pan.
4. Cover and refrigerate to bake later or bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until heated through.
Delish!
I made these for my son's kindergarten class snack last week. I had snack on Halloween and thought it would be fun to bring a pumpkin shaped snack. I needed to make 24 pumpkins and was able to do this with 3 boxes of puff pastry. I actually made 25. You could probably save a lot of money by making your own puff pastry, but I was going for the easiest route. It is expensive, usually $4.50 to $5 a box, but it is fun to use every now and then.
My younger sons and I took snack in and they got to have one with the class too. The children were very appreciative and said lots of thank you's while they enjoyed a warm snack. I took them over right after they came out of the oven so that they could be eaten warm. I think they are best served warm. You can make these into whatever shape you want by cutting the dough into your desired shape. The pumpkin cookie cutter shape is a good size.
Store bought puff pastry usually comes 2 sheets to a box.
Ingredients: Puff Pastry Deli sliced ham Sliced cheese 1 egg for egg wash Parchment paper To make the egg wash beat an egg with 2 Tablespoons water.
Unfold the puff pastry into a flat sheet. Cut out the shapes you will be using. After cutting out your shapes, re-roll any leftover dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out additional shapes.
Place a cut-out piece of dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place small pieces of ham and cheese on the dough. Brush the edges with an egg wash. Place a piece of dough on top and press the edges together to seal.
Using a butter knife, cut partway through the dough to make the lines that go up and down a pumpkin. Brush the top with the egg wash.
Bake in a 400 degree F. oven for about 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Linking up at Create with Joy Ingredients:
Heavy whipping cream or whipping cream Sugar Vanilla 1. Using an electric mixer, whip cream with sugar and vanilla until it reaches desired consistency. I use 1/2 to 1 tsp. vanilla and 2 to 3 Tbsp. sugar for each cup of whipping cream. You can use more or less sugar and vanilla depending on your preference. Honestly, I don't usually measure when whipping cream. I've been baking up a storm for the last three days getting ready for the bake sale at the Fall Festival at church. I made these cut-out cookies, milk chocolate oatmeal raisin cookies, and cinnamon rolls for the sale and they all sold really well. The bake sale was today and every one of these cut-out cookies sold, providing more money for the charity work that is supported by the festival. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's over because I am beyond tired and ready for a relaxing night void of anything to do with baking. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe and buttercream icing. I kept it simple by only making pumpkins and leaves and using a writing tip on my icing bags. I used orange, nut brown, and leaf green icing colors to tint the buttercream. I used gold ball sprinkles on the leaves. Linking up at Create with Joy
Disclosure: I received products for review. All opinions are honest and are my own. We just celebrated our four year old's birthday with a dinosaur party. We invited his entire preschool class and everyone had such a fun time. One of the hi-lights of the party was the dinosaur dig. Oriental Trading Company sent us these awesome dinosaur skeletons and dinosaur eggs. My husband buried the dinosaurs and eggs in the dirt before the party. The kids really enjoyed the dinosaur dig and they got to take their "fossils" home with them. The dinosaur eggs open to reveal a tiny dinosaur inside. The children loved opening their eggs to discover which baby dinosaurs they had. Oriental Trading Company also sent us this spectacular personalized birthday banner. I love this design. It added so much to the ambiance of the party. We loved the birthday banner so much that we hung it on his bedroom wall. He loves it and likes being next to his dinosaur wall when looking at books until he falls asleep. Thank you Oriental Trading Company from a very messy and happy birthday boy.
Planning a party? Oriental Trading Co. has you covered. Request a Free Catalog Sign up to receive exclusive offers, promotions and coupons We loved this spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. We had a little leftover tonight, so I put it on homemade pizza before baking and it was the best spinach pizza. So many flavors and how can you go wrong with bacon? Our family loves bacon, like really, really, loves bacon. When I asked my six year old what he wanted for his birthday party meal last summer, he said bacon. Sadly, I got so busy with all of the party food that I completely forgot to make the bacon. But all was well, he got a nice big helping the next day. 10 oz. bag fresh spinach
4 slices bacon 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 cup minced sweet onion 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/4 teaspoon sugar 1 1/2 Tablespoons good-quality aged balsamic vinegar 1. Tear spinach into bite sized pieces and place in a bowl. (I did not do this and the spinach leaves were kind of large for the kids to eat.) 2. In a skillet over medium heat, fry bacon approximately 5 minutes or until crisp; transfer with slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving fat in the skiillet. 3. Return skillet to medium heat; add oil, onion, salt, pepper, and sugar. Cook two to three minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is slightly softened. Add balsamic vinegar; stir together. 4. Pour warm dressing over spinach and toss gently. Crumble bacon over spinach and serve immediately. Makes 6-8 servings. |
Welcome to Home Ec @ HomeHi, I'm Faith, a former Family and Consumer Science teacher turned food blogger. I love God, my family, and food. You can usually find me in the kitchen preparing family friendly, homemade recipes and taking lots of pictures. This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesFan Favorites
|