Peppermint Mocha

I took three days off from blogging to catch up on a lot of work and to take a bit of a break to rest. I had so much wrapping and cleaning to do. I had to do so much shopping and I wanted to spend time with friends, that blogging needed to take a rest.  I've noticed that a lot of people are getting 24 hour bugs or terrible colds and I wanted to be certain to give myself some rest when my body told me that I needed it. If I ignore the need, I get sick. Today was no different. I shopped, cleaned and wrapped some more and tomorrow will be more of the same. I just want to be able to relax on Christmas Eve; which means a lot of hard work and preparation now.

I did take a little bit of time to make some nice treats in order to stay in the spirit of the season. This evening, as I write this,  I'm relaxing with a Christmas episode of Doctor Who and sipping on delightful peppermint mocha. Before I sat down to post, I made myself the tasty drink and it was ridiculously easy to do!

Here is how it's done:

1. Scald one cup of milk and pour into a large mug.

2. To the milk, add one teaspoon of cocoa powder and whisk until foamy.

3. Pour hot, strong coffee into the milky mixture and whisk, again.

4. Place a peppermint stick into the hot drink. The stick will melt, depositing sugary peppermint goodness throughout the mocha!

5. Top off with a generous mound of whipped cream; it's been a long week and you deserve it!

This drink pairs nicely with a chocolate cupcake; especially when the cake has festive sprinkles!

This drink tastes amazing, I love the combination of flavors. I almost feel a bit pampered and a bit naughty drinking it, but not too much. Tomorrow will involve more crazy shopping and cleaning. However, I will also be crafting and baking and I"ll share all of that with you!
Until then~ Toodahloo!

I Made A Kindle Case

One day I was passing my time, scrolling through pins on Pinterest, when I came a across a cool tutorial on making a Kindle cover. What I really liked about this project was that it re-purposed old books. I love projects that involve re-purposing materials, so I thought I'd give it a try. A link to the original tutorial can be found here- http://www.cometogetherkids.com/2011/12/kindle-cover-from-hardcover-book.html. The blogger did an excellent job explaining the steps. I did my project a bit differently, though.

I began my project by gutting a couple of books that I got at a thrift store. Be sure to keep those inside pages to use for other projects!

Then, I took two pages from the book that I gutted and I used them as a template for the fabric pieces. I used a ruler to mark a space for the spine. I cut two pieces, the same size. One to use at the back material and one to fold in half to use for a pocket.

For the next step, I ironed the fabric, taking one piece, folding it in half and pressing it in place. After that, I sewed the pocket piece onto the bottom half of the rectangular fabric piece. I placed a kindle on top of the pocket and marked out where I would sew the seam for the Kindle pocket.

Here, I sewed the straight stitch, to create a pocket to hold a Kindle.

As in the original tutorial, I used heat bond to adhere the fabric to the inside of the book. Since I had a raw edge and visible stitching along the lower perimeter, I folded the sides under and pressed them in place before applying the heat bond.

When I can locate my glue sticks, I'll attach the elastic strips to the corners. This will help hold the Kindle in place. I wanted to have a pocket on both sides so that I had a pocket to keep a pen and a small journal. Usually, I need to write things down when I'm working online. So, having a journal and pen handy is very helpful.

Other than using a sewing machine in a few places and adding an extra pocket, I didn't deviate too much from the original tutorial. I had fun doing this and it was very easy to do. I can't wait to use the left over book innards to make angels tomorrow! Until then~ Toodahloo!

Alphabet Soup

This evening is cold and damp; which is the perfect weather for soup. I decided to make a quick and easy Alphabet Soup, because I love alphabet pasta. From start to finish, it took me nearly an hour to make; but to be honest I was working at a slow pace. I made this soup in layers, but if you wanted, you could throw a few things in at the same time and combine some of the steps.

Here is the recipe:
3 tbsp. olive oil
3 celery stalks
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. dried parsley
1/2 tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 tbsp. marjoram
1 tsp. basil pesto
2 (14.5 oz.) cans of Italian style diced tomatoes
1 (32. oz.) box of chicken stock
12 frozen meatballs (I used turkey meatballs)
1/4 + 2 tbsp. dried alphabet pasta
2 cups of frozen vegetables (I used a California mix)
12 oz. water

Heat a large pot on medium heat. To the pot, add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the chopped celery, minced garlic and dried herbs. Cook the celery until tender. Be certain to keep moving the mixture so that the garlic and herbs don't scorch ( you wouldn't want bitter garlic in your soup).

Next, add the two cans of diced tomatoes and the water. Bring the base to a simmer.

Then, you add the meatballs and bring to a boil. After that, you add the chicken stock, bring that to a boil and add the pasta. Cook the pasta for 6 minutes.

Finally, you add your frozen vegetables. I put in about 3/4 of the bag. I should have roughly chopped the vegetables prior to adding them to the soup. The soup was quite chunky. Since there were no small children eating the soup, I figured the adults could handle large bits of vegetable. I kept the soup at a boil for a few more minutes; just long enough to cook the vegetables. At the very end, just before serving, I added the basil pesto.

There you go, a tasty Alphabet Soup. This is a festive soup, because of the colors of the vegetables- the greens, reds and whites. I can't wait to have this for lunch tomorrow, as this recipe made a lot of soup. It would be great to have with crusty bread on the side. I served this with biscuits and it was fantastic! This was very easy to throw together and you can use many substitutions for this recipe and the soup would still be great.

Now, I still have a lot of wrapping to do. I know that I should watch a jolly holiday movie, but I've been craving a Walking Dead marathon. Ever since the show went on a mini- hiatus, I've been going through withdrawal. So, tonight, I'll make myself some festive hot cocoa and have a wrapping party, whilst watching old episodes of the show on Netflix. Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Cookie Of The Week: Sugar Cookies

Every year I make a big batch of sugar cookies for Christmas. I put on some radio station that plays 24 hours of non-stop Christmas music, I put on my apron and I dive in. Usually, it is very time consuming, which is why I only do it once a year. Today, I really wanted to make sugar cookies and, apparently, everybody else in the house was craving them, too! When I finally got around to making the dough, I'd totally forgotten about my "go to" recipe and looked for one in a cookbook. The recipe that I first looked at used a bunch of powdered/icing sugar and you had to let the dough chill for 2 hours! It was then that I remembered another recipe that I had, written down and tucked away in another cookbook. Here it is-

Sugar Cookies
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. shortening
2 c. flour
1 egg
3/4 c. sugar (granulated)
1 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
A dash of salt

Directions:
Let the butter and shortening come to room temperature and place in a large bowl.
Cream the butter.
Add sugar to the butter and cream.
Add the egg and vanilla extract to the sugar and butter mixture and cream until fluffy.
Add one cup of flour, the salt and the baking powder to the butter mixture and blend.
Add the milk to the dough and blend.
Add the remaining flour and blend into fully combined.
Split the dough in half, cover each ball of dough with plastic wrap and chill 30- 60 min.
**The dough will be sticky, this is to accommodate the flour that will be added when the dough is rolled out on a floured surface.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
Roll out the dough, one mound at a time, on a floured surface and cut out cookies with festive cookie cutters. If dough is too sticky, just add a bit of extra flour to the surface, it will blend together as you roll the dough out.

Place the cookies, evenly on a baking sheet and bake 7-9 minutes. If you're baking two pans at once, rotate your cookie sheets half-way through cooking time. This will help the cookies bake evenly. Allow cookies to cool before frosting.

Once the cookies cooled, I frosted them with homemade frosting. The recipe for this frosting is on last week's cookie post. I sprinkled tinted sugar and sprinkles on some of the frosted cookies, too! These are so yummy, I think I've had three, maybe four already with some coffee! Now, I have some wrapping to do. Until next time~ Toodhaloo!

Sunday Evening With The Doctor

The craft that I intended to do today never came to fruition. I grabbed some craft supplies and stared at them for a long time, wondering what I wanted to do. However, I couldn't come up with anything that I really felt excited about. I decorated my Christmas tree earlier today. Then, I wrote letters "from Santa" for my younger nephews. I'll finish that project, tomorrow, and send them out promptly. For the past 3-4 hours I've been indulging in a marathon of Doctor Who- all the Christmas episodes. Right now, I'm still on the David Tennant episodes and watching the episode "Voyage Of The Damned." Kylie Minogue is in that episode.. Kylie- Freaking- Minogue, I should be so lucky..lucky, lucky, lucky! I love these episodes,

I forgot how much I liked David Tennant as "The Doctor." I've liked all of the Doctors; but he is one of my favorites. Watching these episodes brings me back, a few years ago, when I watched a Doctor Who marathon on BBC America. It showcased all of the David Tennant's episodes and led to the regeneration, where Matt Smith took over. It was a very exhausting few days. The morning after the marathon (where I bawled when the 10th Doctor regenerated) I spent that morning re-organizing my kitchen cupboards. That was one of the weirdest mourning experiences I ever endured that was related to pop culture. It was nearly eclipsed recently, when I saw that Jason Orange left Take That. He was to grown up Lady Toesocks, what Jordan Knight was to Little Miss Toesocks. I digress...

Soon, the 10th Doctor Christmas specials with be through and then it will be time for the 11th Doctor's episodes, which I find to be much darker. I shall soothe my nerves with more hot cocoa and soldier through those episodes. I can't begin to imagine what this years Christmas episode will be like, but I'm certain that I"ll enjoy it! Cookies tomorrow! Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Festive Shows And Movies I'm Watching

Today did not unfold the way that I had intended; this happens sometimes. My master plan was to retrieve a Christmas tree, drink copious amounts of hot cocoa and binge on Doctor Who. I did go to find  tree, but when I went I couldn't find the one that was the appropriate size; they were all too small. So, tomorrow I will get the tree and have cocoa. I will still watch a few Doctor Who Christmas episodes and the rest I'll watch tomorrow. I decided to share with you what I'll be watching the rest of the season to make me feel jolly!

TV Shows
Eureka; S4:E10
The Vicar Of Dibley: S2:E2, S3:E2, The Vicar Of Dibley Christmas Specials S1:E:1, 2
Doctor Who: S2:E1. S3:E1, S4:E1, S4:E15, S6:E14 and S7:E16
Heartland: S4:E10
Miranda: S3:E1
Outnumbered: S4:E7, S5:E1
Catherine Tate: The Christmas Specials
Mr. Bean Christmas Special

I would watch me episodes from Eureka, but there are only the last two season on Netflix, for some reason. Most of these shows and movies can be found on either Netflix and/or Hulu.

Movies
Nativity 1 &2
It's A wonderful Life
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Story

I've already watched some classics, like Elf and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, so I won't be watching them again. I might dig up some other classics, too, but Christmas is less than two weeks away! Tomorrow, I will have so much fun watching all the Doctor Who Christmas episodes and making another craft. I'll also be getting a tree! Tomorrow's post will be back on track. Today was a wacky day. So, if you can find these shows and movies to watch, and you like a lot of British comedy, try watching a few of them, you'll giggle! Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Candy Of The Week: Peanut Brittle

Peanut Brittle is one of those classic homemade candies that is very popular around the holidays. It can be found at many stores, but the store bought brittle is never the same. This is one of my parents favorite holiday treats. Since it is so easy to make, why buy it? This is how you make it; you'll need the following: a medium saucepan. butter spray, a cookie sheet, a candy thermometer, silicon mat (optional, but will change your game), 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of corn syrup, 1/4 cup of water, 2 tbsp butter/margarine, 1 1/2 cups dry roasted peanuts and 1 tsp baking soda.

In the sauce pan above, I combined the sugar, corn syrup, butter and water. I kept stirring the ingredients, helping the sugar to dissolve and blend with the rest of the ingredients.

When the sugars came to a boil, I added the candy thermometer to monitor the temperature. When the temperature reaches 280 degrees F, you add the peanuts and let it boil to 300 degrees F. I made the mistake of misreading the thermometer; so I actually added the peanuts when the syrup mixture reached 230 degrees F. Although this was not how it was supposed to happen, I didn't panic. I treat my kitchen much like I do a Chemistry Lab; when the unexpected happens, I NEVER panic. Since the syrup had a long way to go before it reached the proper temperature, I kept on stirring the mixture so that the peanuts did not scorch.

Once the mixture reached 300 degrees F, I removed the pan from the heat. 

Next, I added the baking soda and stirred quickly. The more you stir, the more the mixture will foam.

Once the mixture is nice and foamy, I transfered the mix onto a greased cookie sheet. You need to be extra cautious with this step, as the candy is very hot! To make my job a lot easier, I lined the cookie sheet with a silicon mat and I greased that. This will make the next step so much easier!

After I allowed the candy to cool, I broke it apart into smaller pieces. This is where the silicon mat comes in handy, because the candy hardens and can be released from the pan in one giant sheet. This made it so much easier to break apart; not to mention, clean up was ridiculously easy! After I broke the pieces to the desired size, I stored them in plastic jars. 

This makes a nice hostess gift or a small gift for a friend, especially if you dress up the jar that you're using to store the candy. It is Good Luck with your candy making! Until next time~ Toodahloo!

I Made A Reindeer Jumper!

It's that time of year! The time when I overdo it with the cocoa and whipped cream, I dig out as many Christmas movies on DVD that I can't already find on Netflix and I lose my mind a little. It is, by now, December 11th and if you've been following me for a while, you might have already guessed that I love the holidays, especially Christmas. One of my favorite holiday movies to watch is Bridget Jones' Diary. I love the movie. I love the book. I love the sequels (in both book and movie format). I saw the movie in the theater when I was in college and had just gone through a horrid break up; the movie was what I needed.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie was the turkey curry buffet. I think that, next year, I'll have a turkey curry buffet and force encourage my guests to wear reindeer jumpers. The turkey curry buffet was full of gags and zingers; but the most memorable was when "Bridget" met "Mark Darcy," who happened to be wearing the most ridiculous reindeer jumper the whole of Britain had ever seen. However, we all secretly delighted in the reindeer jumper. As such, I have decided that I must have a festive reindeer jumper.

It all began with a few sweaters that I found at a thrift shop. The sweater on the top is nice and sparkly, which is perfect for winter. It is also nice and big and loose, which will be great for pairing with a number of skirts and jeans. The sweater on the bottom is the perfect shade of brown for a reindeer. It is also very soft.

The next step that I had to take was decide which reindeer shape I wanted to have to make my reindeer jumper. I searched on Pinterest and found a number of printable silhouettes in various styles. Ultimately, I ended up with a nice one. I figured that it would be too much of a bother to print out the shape; so I free-handed it instead. 

After I drew the silhouette, I cut out the shape to use as a template and I set it aside for later use.

My next step was to prepare the sweater for a silhouette to transfer as an applique onto the silver sweater. I used heat bond; I cut it to the desired size and ironed it onto the brown sweater following the directions on the heat bond package.

Once the heat bond have adhered to the sweater and had cooled, I used the template to trace the reindeer shape on the top of the heat bond paper. I actually had to do this on two pieces of fabric, because the shape was so large that it needed be done on two pieces in order to accommodate the antlers. 

           

I cut out the shape and ironed the piece onto the sweater. I considered using a bell for the nose, but decided to use a red self- adhesive felt dot for the nose. For my final step, I sewed the outline of the silhouette in place. Sometimes, the heat bond does not bond as well as I'd like and even though this jumper will be hand washed (as are the instructions for the silver sweater), it's still best to sew the applique in place.

There you go, I wonderful reindeer jumper! Make this following these steps and you'll be the envy of all your friends! I can't wait to wear this on my next girl day! Woohoo! This would be adorable with snowflake leggings. This was a fun project and not hard to do. It would be a great project for a Saturday afternoon. Now, I have a Christmas movie to watch. Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Gingerbread Cafe Au Lait

Today it is windy and raining, just not a great day for doing anything outside. I decided that today would be a great day to do some crafts, catch up on watching vlogmas videos on youtube and working on other tasks. Then, this afternoon I decided that I needed something really special. I then remembered some gingerbread syrup for coffee that I had in my refrigerator. It dawned on me to make a latte to have alongside my gingerbread men. However, my latte machine died this summer, so a latte was out of the question. Then next option was a cafe au lait.

 I learned to makes these over a decade ago. You take scalded milk and add it to strong coffee. So, while I put some milk in a small saucepan on medium heat to warm, I added a spoonful of the gingerbread syrup to the bottom of my mug and poured hot coffee, halfway filling the mug. Then, I blended the two. Gingerbread syrup is not my creation. I discovered it on a blog that I follow a few years ago. It is amazing stuff and is perfect for this time of year. It can be found here: http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/search?q=GIngerbread+Coffee. The article also has amazing recipes for a few other gingerbread related treats. My favorite is the gingerbread biscotti- seriously!

Once the milk starts to simmer to the point that little bubbles are forming on the sides of the pot, it is time to remove the pan and carefully pour the milk into the coffee. I then topped it off with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg!

This is spectacular with my gingerbread men! Now, I will enjoy some Christmas tv episodes. Have you seen the Miranda Christmas episode or The Vicar Of Dibley Christmas specials? They make me laugh, especially Miranda Hart, she is a hoot! At any rate, I'm about to get festive!
Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Decking The Halls And Bingeing On Gingerbread Men

My sister and I made this star!

I spent the day cleaning the rooms that I wished to decorate. I really wanted to get at least some of the decorations up. I had to go the the attic to gather all of the decorations and carry them down two sets of stairs. The thing about my attic is, it is tremendously cold up there. I like to get up there and out of there, quickly. However, another interesting thing about my attic is that, when my nephews come to visit, they look upon the attic like it was "Narnia." There is so much to discover up there. As such, when I do get there and try to find things, the items are not always in the same spot as I where left them. Needless to say, it took longer than expected. I was able to get one room decorated and tomorrow, I'll put the rest up. With a Nor'Easter blowing lots of snow outside, it's nice to spend the day setting up snow globes for display. Now, I want to sit down with a bowl of popcorn, a gingerbread man and a cup of cocoa. I can't decide if I want to watch "Camp Takota" or "Love Actually." Perhaps, I'll watch both! Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Cookie Of The Week: Gingerbread Men

I had a marvelous and wonderful plan for today. It was going to be filled with baking and decorating. I dressed with a snazzy Christmas t-shirt and Christmas Argyle socks. I was primed and ready for a very merry day. Then, the realization that yet another storm was creeping it's way towards my direction. Ordinarily, this would not be a huge issue. However, I'd planned on going shopping for presents and stocking stuffers on the very day that the storm would be at it's most fierce. Therefore, my plans had to be changed. I didn't get home until late afternoon. By the time I got home, I still had to check emails, etc. and I needed to make French Toast Casserole for the nights meal. By the time the meal had been consumed and I'd cleaned up, I still needed to bake cookies. I didn't get things done until ten minutes before 9:00 pm. I was a bit bothered, as I had assured you yesterday that my post would return to it's normal schedule today. As such, I can make no promises for tomorrow, life is too unpredictable.

When I had originally planned on baking gingerbread men cookies, I considered that various recipe options: a tried and true recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, a Martha Stewart recipe or a recipe from an old cookbook from the 1950's that I found, containing hand written recipes. Anyone of these would have been delightful. Ultimately, I relied on the naughty route- the Betty Crocker Gingerbread Man cookie mix! I found it a Walmart and grabbed it for those "just in case I'm in a bind" moments in life. Really, all I wanted was an adorable cookie and I think I've achieved that.

Not to disappoint, I did make my own icing. Here is the recipe:
1 cup Confectioner's (Powdered) Sugar
1 tbsp butter (softened)
2 tbsp milk

In a medium bowl, combined the butter and sugar. Blend at the lowest speed while adding milk a little at a time. Once all the milk has been added, blend until smooth on low speed. Once combined, change the mixer speed to the highest setting and whip for 3 minutes. This will ensure that the butter is fully mixed and the frosting won't separate.

Once the frosting was mixed, I scooped it into a quart size ziploc bag. When I was ready to decorate, I cut a tip off of one corner, in order to pipe the frosting onto the cookies.

I baked the cookies according to the instructions on the bag of cookie mix. I let the dough chill for a few hours before I rolled the dough out and cut out the little men. I allowed the men to cool before I added the decorations.

Here are the most adorable cookies that I've made since I was 5 years old! I love how some of the candy buttons are shaped like gingerbread men. I could resist using raisins for the eyes. I hope these taste yummy, I'll find out tomorrow. These will be wonderful with a hot cup of coffee. I'll enjoy these when I'm decorating the house, tomorrow. I'll let you know how it all worked out. Now, it's 9:30 at night and it's time for me to have a nice cup of hot cocoa. Until next time~ Toodahloo!

Recycled Christmas Card Ornaments

Each Christmas, I receive many beautiful Christmas cards. When the holidays have past and I'm taking down the decor, I find it difficult to part with some of the cards. Some of these cards are far too pretty to toss away! Traditionally, I go through the cards and tuck some away, some for sentiment, others for aesthetic reasons. I always tell myself that, one day, these cards with be used for something creative. Today, I'm finally finding a way to use some of the cards.

I've decided to make some Christmas ornaments. For the project, I'll be using: glue, ribbon, lace ribbon, an old shipping envelope and Christmas cards.

First, I cut out portions of the cards (front and back) that I want to use.

Next, I trace the shape of the card cut-outs onto the envelopes.

Then, I cut out the shapes from the envelopes and I trim the excess.

Then, I cut out the holiday greetings from the cards.

I glued the greetings to the back part of the ornament.

After I've cut the ribbon to the desired length, I glue one end to one side of the envelope piece and glue the other end to the opposite side of the envelope piece.

Next, I glued the lace along the perimeter of the square and I applied glue to the surface of the envelope piece.

Finally, I glued my selected pieces onto the front and back of the envelope piece. I set the ornaments aside to dry. In order to keep the card piece from curling, I placed a heavy book on top of the ornaments; making certain to protect the book from the glue.

That is my ornament project. This year, I'll be keeping an eye on any pretty cards sent my way. Tomorrow, my post will be return at it's regular time. Today, I needed to recover from traveling and I couldn't relax until I cleaned my dwelling. I continue to remain festive this week, and I'll be baking and crafting, still. I will share my cheer with you each day. Until next time~ Toodahloo!