It's a very Pinterest Christmas!

I have always been a bit crafty but my discovery of Pinterest definitely has inspired me to start making more things and exploring my creative side. I decided to make this Christmas a "Pinterest Christmas" and make everyone's presents instead of buying them. The fun thing was that my sisters-in-law had the same idea so everyone exchanged homemade, thoughtful gifts. The kids got homemade blankets and toys, the girls received jewelry and scarves. It was great!

For the girls I made homemade vanilla extract. Vanilla is really simple, you just take vanilla beans and soak them in vodka for a few months and voila! The cheapest route was to buy vanilla beans in bulk off of Amazon. So I ended up with about 140 beans! Therefore, I made vanilla for ALL of my girlfriends. I found a label online and then just Photoshopped it to make it more my own. Here is my finished product!

The funny thing is, Malee had the same idea and made vanilla for all of us as well! She also made us homemade earings/pins that she found on Pinterest so we got those instead which were pretty cool. 

One of my vanilla bottles broke during it's travels to Fort Worth. It was very sad. Since Malee already has her own homemade vanilla, I made her something else at the last minute. I made her a scented rice bag. It is pretty simple, just a cloth bag, filled with rice and essential oil (I made this one with tea tree and lavender) You heat it up in the microwave then put it around your neck or in your bed and it is nice and cozy. 

Tim and dad got homemade aftershave and shaving balm. I found the idea on Pinterest, it was actually pinned from The Art of Manliness which is a website that Tim is into. He loves all things "old man" so he wears a robe and smokes a pipe and shaves with a straight razor so I thought this gift was appropriate. I improvised the recipe a bit because I couldn't find all of the ingredients. But it ended up smelling pretty nice. Like the vanilla, I made the labels on Photoshop. They look nice and vintage which was the goal - success!

Tony is not into aftershave at all so he got a couple of crocheted beanies. He wears hats all the time so they were perfect!

Malee pinned these little amigurumi monsters on Pinterest and they looked easy enough and super cute so this is what Isla got from me:

I made Ashton these adorable "Pocket Pixies" which were a hit. We have already played with them a few times. 

So, those were all the things that I made, check out these great customized coasters that Jenn made me. They have random funny quotes on them that I have pinned on Pinterest at some point or another.

And the cutest ever... this hat that my mom made Isla. Oh, and you can see the blanket that Jenn made here as well. 

Yay for our very Pinterest Christmas! I love the idea of homemade presents and hope to do more of that going forward. It makes the gift giving more meaningful and fun! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I definitely did and plan on enjoying my last few days in Texas with my family. 

Christmas Time is here!

Do you know what I love about Lindberg Field? Free Wifi! Why don’t all airports have this? It is nearly 2012 for goodness sakes! DFW doesn’t have it, which is bizarre since it is a gigantic airport! I think I might have to write a strongly worded letter to the powers that be. At any rate, at least I am set up here, on the first leg of my Christmas journey. For the next couple of hours I can browse the World Wide Web rather than buying an overpriced magazine to pass the time. 

I am so excited to be going to Fort Worth, Texas to see my family for Christmas. Tim and Malee live there and since they just had Isla two months ago we are traveling to them rather than our usual rendezvous up in Idaho which is where my mom and dad and Tony and Jenn are. Every other year we do Christmas together. The off years, my siblings go see their in-laws and I crash some random friend’s Christmas Day. It ends up being kind of lame for me. No offense to my wonderful hosts! I have spent time at Brooke and Charley’s house and at Ben and Tricia’s house, and they have all been wonderful! I am so thankful for friends who care enough about me to take me in. So, while I am not home alone moping those years or anything I have to admit, the “family year” is by far superior! 

Over the years we have done some pretty fun things for Christmas. The year that Tony and Jenn got married (today is their anniversary by the way - 10 years!) we all went on a Sleigh Ride with real Clydesdales and sipped hot cocoa, the sleigh took us to a dinner theater that featured Prime Rib and Christmas Carolers, the backdrop was picturesque - snow covered Rocky Mountains. It was the most Christmassy of Christmas things to do! Another year, we had a gingerbread house decorating competition with adults and the kids which was tons of fun, we have some good pictures from that. Food is also a big part of the Holidays for us. Jenn went to culinary school, mom baked for restaurants and Malee and I just love to be in the kitchen. So when we all get together it gets a little out of hand. I think we all go home about 10 pounds heavier than we arrived. Every year we try to pace ourselves and scale back a bit, but it never works. Somehow we end up surrounded by delicious treats! I am sure this year will be no different. I am already thinking of cinnamon rolls for breakfast and eggnog cheesecake for dessert, and mom has already said “oooh, doesn’t this look good?” about more than one recipe that she wants to try! I think our love language is feeding people!

As much as I love spending Christmas with my family, I have to say, I am particularly looking forward to this trip. I feel like it will be the Christmas we missed two year ago. Two years ago, we all had tickets to go to Fort Worth and in October, my dad was diagnosed with throat cancer. He underwent several weeks of radiation. So instead of flying to Tim and Malee’s house, we flew home to Idaho since my dad was too sick to travel. Over Christmas, my dad was in the middle of his treatment. It was horrible. He was thin and weak and sick and we were scared. As much as we wanted to be with him at this time, I have to say, seeing him like that was the hardest thing I have ever gone through. In fact, I am totally tearing up right now thinking back to that whole ordeal. It ended up being the un-Christmas. I think we were all kind of trying to enjoy the holiday but it just fell short and we were just appreciating the fact that we were together, but that’s about it. 

Fast forward two years. My dad no longer has his own voice box BUT he is cancer free and back to his normal self. So this year will be the Christmas we should have had! It will be even better though. My niece, Ashton is four, which is a fun age for presents and other Christmas festivities. She is old enough to really be making memories which is great! I am sure Tony and Jenn have been talking this trip up to her because I am totally on her radar right now. She has called me four times in the last three days - just to talk. (Which is kind of awesome!) So I am looking forward to sleepovers and fun bonding time with her. I also get to meet my new baby niece, Isla. I CAN’T WAIT to hold the little squishy! All the pictures I have seen are so cute I can hardly stand it! 

So anyway, now that you have sat with me through my nostalgic ramblings about my family and the holidays (it’s my blog and I will talk about what I want to!) I am going to shut my laptop and board a plane. Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!!! 

Now they are paying me to do this!

One of the guys at work found out that I like to bake and asked me to make him a dessert for his family's Christmas Eve dinner. I said yes right away without really thinking about all of the stuff I have to do. I immediately regretted it because I have been a bit overwhelmed lately with all sorts of Christmas things. It all worked out, to be honest, it didn't end up taking that long anyway. Oh, and this is the first time I am actually getting paid for this, so that is pretty cool. Baking can definitely be a nice little side gig, so if you are interested, I am officially in business :)

I made him an eggnog cheesecake and it turned out so nice that I think I might have to make one for my own family's Christmas dinner... that is if dessert hasn't already been decided - all the women in my family are amazing in the kitchen and the menu usually has a lot of contributors. I do recommend this recipe though, if you like eggnog you will love this cheesecake. I have made it before and it is very, very yummy!

Eggnog Cheesecake


Crust:

2 cups finely ground gingersnap cookie crumbs

1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling:

3 8 oz. pkg. softened cream cheese

1 cup sugar

3 Tbs. flour

1 cup eggnog

2 eggs

1 tsp. rum extract

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Crust:

In a medium bowl, combine gingersnap crumbs and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9" spring form pan. Bake at 375°F for 7-8 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Filling:

Preheat oven to 425°F.

In a food processor combine cream cheese, sugar, flour and eggnog; process until smooth. Blend in eggs, rum extract, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Pour mixture into cooled crust.

Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 250°F and bake for 45 minutes or until center of cake is barely firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and immediately loosen cake from rim. Let cake cool completely before removing the rim. Let cake cool completely before removing the rim.

Cover and chill at least 8 hours.

Ugly Sweaters

My fabulous new roommate and I threw an Ugly Sweater Party on Saturday. It was so fun! We ended up having about 30 people here which was kind of crazy since we live in a 900 square foot apartment! We did set up a fire pit in the back yard for overflow and we all fit pretty well. You wouldn't believe how challenging it was to find an ugly sweater. I went to the Goodwill and they had nothing! Ugly sweaters are actually a "thing" so I found that second hand stores were either all sold out or priced for a lot more money than I am willing to pay. I ended up getting a red turtleneck and a lovely green sweater vest with Christmas trees and presents on it at Walmart. The cashier actually told me how cute it was and said that she had a similar sweater at home - awkward!

We had a contest for the ugliest sweater and the best food so ended up with some delicious fare. I ended up making a few things I found on Pinterest. (Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest yet?) So let's see...

I made these "Pretzel Hugs" which combines sweet and salty and is a great little snack.

I also made these adorable Santa Hat cupcakes. They just turned out too cute!

Then I found this GREAT idea to turn a plain old vegetable crudite and fruit plate into something festive.

Everyone else brought great food as well (thanks to the prize incentive) a shout out to the Lowery's who won with their brie puffs - so great!

We had a "photo booth" with fun props to capture everyone's winning look. Here are a couple of pictures of the party crew:

Don't you wish you were there? Don't worry, we will be here the same time next year! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Under the Stars

One of my favorite things of the Christmas Season is "Christmas Under the Stars". My church hosts it every year. We gather at McGee park which is all lit up with twinkle lights and we sing Christmas Carols and listen to the story of Christ's birth while holding cheap little candles that drip wax all over you if you are not careful. Then we eat TONS of homemade cookies and drink hot cider and just be friends. It is good fun!
Since I don't need much of an excuse to bake, I made tons of cookies for the event. I made my mom's traditional sugar cookies. It is funny how food can be so nostalgic, these cookies totally make me think of childhood Christmas's. I think if I made them any other time of the year, I would still think of Christmas. I did discover though, that these are pretty time consuming because you have to cut them into shapes and then frost and decorate them. So, if you attempt to make these make sure you have enough time. Tossing some pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough in the oven is much quicker! I quadrupled this recipe and it made 84 cookies so one recipe should make 18-19 cookies.

Sugar Cookies:

1 cup butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

4 cups flour

Frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup butter

2-4 Tbs. milk

Cookies:

Mix butter, sugar and salt until smooth. Add egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours. Roll on floured surface and cut into shapes. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes.

(notice my OCD tendencies here?)

Frosting:

Mix together powdered sugar and butter. Add milk until the frosting is a good spreading consistency. Use food coloring for tinting. Frost cookies and decorate with sprinkles if desired.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

The fun thing about making everyone's birthday cakes is that I get to try new recipes. I get to make things that I might never otherwise make. This week my friend Tricia asked for a pineapple upside down cake. No offense Tricia - but when I think of pineapple upside down cake I think of 1973 and groovy fondue parties with a cake covered in pineapple rings and maraschino cherries to follow. Without it being requested, I doubt I ever would have made one.

What do you know... it turned out to be quite yummy! I nixed the cherries because they seemed just too retro. I am not much for fruity cakes but I did think it was good. The actual cake part was very good. It was very moist and had good flavor Next time I need a yellow cake recipe, I think I am going to try this recipe without the pineapple.

Here is the recipe in case any of you want a great throwback dessert. :)

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large pineapple cored, sliced into 1/3-inch rings (about 10)

1/4 cup dark rum

1/2 cup heavy cream

For the cake:

2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup fresh pineapple juice

1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions

Combine butter and brown sugar in a skillet and heat until bubbly. Add pineapple and caramelized to a deep golden brown, turning once. Remove from skillet and set aside. Pour rum and cream into a skillet and cook over low heat 5 minutes, until thickened, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat.

Butter a 10-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper. Arrange pineapple rings to cover bottom of pan. Pour cooled sauce over pineapple and set pan aside.

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla. Combine pineapple juice and buttermilk. Alternately add sifted dry ingredients and juice/buttermilk mixture to creamed mixture (begin and end with dry ingredients.) Whip egg whites to soft peaks and fold into batter. 

Bake at 350 degrees about 40-45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Invert onto a serving platter.

Rest cake on rack for 2 minutes. Slide a paring knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Place a serving platter over the pan and hold tightly. Invert the cake onto the platter. Carefully remove the cake pan. If any fruit sticks to the pan bottom, remove and position on top of cake.

And there you have it. Delicious, moist yellow cake topped with caramelized pineapple. YUM!