Brown Sugar Body Scrub...

Have you ever tried those wonderful sugar scrubs that you can get from Bath and Body works and other stores that sell bath and body goodies? Well, I found a recipe to make your own. The best part is, you probably already have all of the ingredients in your kitchen. There are many other recipes but, many of them have different ingredients that I didn't have on hand. I thought maybe it would be a great gift to give for Christmas but, first I wanted to make sure it worked. I made a batch this morning and used it on my hands, and I love it. I think I'll leave it on my kitchen sink to just use on my dry hands. The one thing I will say is that the vanilla extract is very subtle in this. I was thinking of getting a different scented essential oil to use, maybe peppermint or something "Christmas-y." I hope you try this. Let me know if you do.

Here's the link...

Brown Sugar Scrub Recipe

Homemade Christmas II

Yesterday, I started sharing some of my favorite homemade gift ideas. Today, I'll share with you my biscotti recipe. My grandmother gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook for my Bridal Shower and I got this recipe from that. I make them every year. They are more time consuming than difficult to make because they are baked twice but, they are worth every minute.

Orange Almond Biscotti
1 C. Sugar
1/2 C. butter, softenened
1 Tbsp. grated orange peel
2 large eggs
3 1/2 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C. slivered almonds, toasted and chopped. (or 1 tsp. almond flavoring)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat sugar, butter, orange peel, and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and almonds. ( I use my hands to mix this because it can be quite stiff).
Shape half of the dough at a time into a rectangle (about 10x3 inches.) You don't have to measure, just eyeball it.
Bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on cookie sheet 15 minutes.
Cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place slices cut side down on cookie sheet.
Bake about 15 minutes or until crisp and light brown. Remove from sheet and cool on a wire rack.
*Special Addition: I melt 1/2 C. of dark chocolate chips with a teaspoon of shortening and then drizzle it over the tops of cooled cookies. They look really fancy this way.

Gift Idea: Last year, I packed these up in pretty cellophane bags and tucked them inside large, round latte mugs I actually found at the Dollar Store!

ENJOY!

*picture from Bettycrocker.com

Homemade Christmas!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I would be doing a post on some of my favorite gift ideas for Christmas. I have changed that idea a bit and have decided to post some of my favorite homemade gift ideas with recipes so you can make them yourself. I will post them over the next couple of days because it's too long to put it all into one post! If you are anything like me, there are so many people that you'd like to give to each year but, you just can't buy everyone a gift. That's why I like making homemade gifts. This first one is really easy, yummy, and inexpensive; It's cocoa mix! My kids love hot cocoa and I actually make this mix for us to use because it only has a few ingredients and none of them are artificial (except for the marshmallows if you add them.) This recipe has been tested by my family and has received rave reviews! Here's how to make it...

Hot Cocoa Mix...*

1 C. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/4 C. sugar (or 1 1/2 C. if you like it sweeter)

3 C. nonfat powdered milk

dash of salt

mini marshmallows (optional)

Combine all of the ingredients (except mallows) in a large bowl, until thoroughly mixed.

Put into desired giving containers, top with mini mallows, if desired and attach with these instrunctions...Add 3 Tbsp. cocoa mix to 6 oz. hot water, stir and enjoy!

Another thing I love to do is to attach a candy cane and on the instructions add "stir with candy cane". It's makes a yummy peppermint hot cocoa!

You can also use several containers for this. This year I used a variety of different containers; cellophane bags, jars, tins, just about anything and decorate it as you'd like. Another idea I like is to fill a cellophane bag with the mix and put it into a ceramic mug. This is a really fun and simple gift to give. The mix makes alot but, I doubled the recipe to be sure I had enough for everyone I wanted to give it to, and the leftover, we'll drink!

Tomorrow, I'll share my recipe for biscotti!

*Recipe from All You Magazine

Countdown to Christmas!

We have started our Christmas traditions already! After all, there's only 23 days left until the big day! Today, we made "ginger-graham" houses. I remember making these when I was young and they are easier to make than the usual gingerbread houses, and the kids can do alot of the work, with a little help from you, of course. Below is a pic of A's house. Here is K's finished product. (I made the tree) :)
Here is A sprinkling pink "snow" on her house.

This is a picture of our homemade advent "calendar".

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make the graham cracker houses.

You will need:

empty pint milk containers (we used empty half and half containers)

Frosting (to use as glue and decorating)

Graham Crackers

Various candies and other edibles for decorating such as...

spice drops, m&m's, smarties, nonpareils, jimmies, sprinkes, etc...

Place your cartons on a safe work surface...it's gonna be messy! Use the frosting as glue and place sheets of graham cracker around the carton to resemble a house. You can look at the above pictures for an idea. If you have cake decorating supplies, you can use those to pipe frosting on the crackers to make doors and windows. If not, stores sell ready made frosting in a can that comes with tips for decorating. After your "house is assembled, decorate as you'd like.

It's alot of fun and very easy.

We don't eat alot of candy around here so, decorating with all the goodies was quite fun for my little ones. Now, the trick is to get them to save their house for decoration! :)