Cozy Inside Day

A tradition we have to have to start Christmas at our house is the old English drink, Wassail! I'm surprised year after year how many people coming to our parties and house to visit, have never tried it! Every time I smell that amazing smell it brings me back to my childhood days of coming home from school or in from the cold and smelling it constantly roasting on the stove top throughout the month in our kitchen. When I don't think of that, I'm fondly reminded of drinking it as we wandered through our local Dickens Festival after usually performing with our dance group. Anyway you slice it, they're all wonderful memories of the smells and joys of the season!

I made it from scratch for years, but then I discovered a wonderful mix that got the taste to exactly the way I loved it, without having to spend a fortune on TONS of spices. Once I started using it, I was able to throw it all in our coffee peculator and let it sit and now I can get up to a week of enjoyment out of it. The more it simmers and heats up, the richer and more complex the flavors get. Can you say perfect for a warm winters night?!

 The mix is made here locally by the Squire family and is absolutely wonderful! I don't follow the instructions, but instead I throw an entire gallon of Cranberry Juice and the same amount of Apple Juice into my pot, with a half bottle of the powder mix. Stir it up, then in the top of the peculator ( or directly into the pot before my peculator days), I toss in a sliced orange, about 6-8 cinnamon sticks, a handful of whole cloves and a few allspice berries, and off it goes to become the amazing drink it is!!

 Enjoy on a cozy winter's night by the fire with your favorite book, or while getting in the Christmas spirit wrapping gifts!!
#theidearoom @theidearoom

Snow? What Snow!?/ Snow Tutorial

Day 9 for photo a day's theme is weather. Normally by now here we are in the 20's-30's during the day, sometimes in the single digits- those are reeeeeeealy cold days! However, right now here it is a pleasant 58! My kind of winter thus far!! Since there isn't any snow, and it feels really strange to sing "It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas" when my front yard looks like this...

We decided to make our own snow!  It's probably the same two recipes everyone in the world has, but I've had some people give me the deer in the headlights look when I ask their kids if they want to make snow! SO, in honor of our beautiful, perfect (according to me) winter weather- here are our two favorite snow recipes!

Magic Puffy Snow-

 

3 cups of baking soda

1/4 cup of any shampoo

5 Tbsp water

1/4 cup of Citric Acid -click the link to find it, or you can find it in the canning section of your supermarket

food coloring- optional

In a large bowl combine the baking soda, the shampoo and any food coloring you want 1-2 drops. Then let your kids hands do the work and mix them all together until they're combined. After combined add the water until the dough is a little crumbly. They can make snowballs and play with it like this for awhile and when you're ready, sprinkle on the citric acid and watch it puff up and grow! It will keep growing and puffing for 30- 45 minutes or so. Enjoy!!

 

Fun Snow

This is a drier snow and is more powdery for sculpting.

 

2 16 oz containers of corn starch - I've used just one container and 1 can and get good results still

1 can of any shaving cream

glitter, peppermint extract etc. for effect- optional

this recipe can be halved as well

 

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with hands until fully incorporated.

Play!!

#theidearoom @theidearoom

Try Something New

Decembers photo a day challenge for days 7 and 8- dinner time and new.... Perfect, we tried something new at dinner time! I'm not an extremely adventurous eater, but I will try almost anything once. Case and point, our vacation to St. Thomas last summer we tried a great restaurant on the beach, Havana Blue and loved everything they recommended. So for my dinner entree I asked what was popular and was told their most popular veggie... Brussels Sprouts. Ok, I hadn't had anything bad yet, so I went along and ordered it. Out came one of the best meals I had ever had!!

 My awesome dinner doesn't look like much, but the lobster was grilled to perfection, the rice was just right- which I've decided is impossible in the Caribbean, the potatoes were unique- "air foam potatoes" and were incredible and the Brussels sprouts were truly one of the best veggies I've ever tasted! It became my life's mission to reverse every ones stigma on Brussels Sprouts and discover the recipe for these babies. I even emailed the restaurant inquiring what they did. I received a very nice response with a few tips but no secret recipe. Boo. Since then we've experimented and tried different ways and this recipe, though simple it sounds- is pretty close to it and extremely tasty. So ignore what you've heard about the little sprouts and just try something new once!

(pardon the camera phone pic!)

 

Awsome Brussels Sprouts:
adapted from dishingupthedirt.com

3 cups of brussels sprouts

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

optional- sprinkles of cooked bacon (can you ever go wrong with bacon? I think not!)

Sprinkle Kosher Salt (yes it makes a big difference) and ground pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 400.  Trim the ends of the brussels sprouts, and remove any yellow or dirty outer leaves.  Toss them in a large bowl with the oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Place on a baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Stir brussels once halfway through. I like to eat them as they are straight out of the oven, my hubby is a little strange and drizzels white vinegar on everything he can find and loves them that way!
#theidearoom @theidearoom

Christmas Party and Oreo Ball Tutorial

Day 5 of the Idea Room Photo a Day December is themed for Sparkly! This was easy as we got ready for our 12th annual Angel Tree Christmas Party. Every year we choose the names of 2 children from our local Salvatrion Army's Angel Tree program. They find children in need of extra help this year and list their need on an Angel card and then you bring the gifts back and they distribute them to the families. The first year, my husband and I did it on our own, but then thought we could give so much more if we enlisted friends. So, since many like to give at the holidays but don't always know how, we planned a party around it. We send out the childrens needs with our invites every year and then everyone can brings gifts to the party and enjoy food friends and fun. Even those who may not want to bring a gift are enlisted to help wrap the gifts. Its an enjoyable night and gives everyone the chance to think of and serve another person at the beginning of the Christmas business!

 These oreo balls are AMAZING!!! They were the first thing gone and the most requested refill item at our party. They are also super easy, and did I mention they taste AMAZING? Well, it's worth mentioning again and again! To make these balls all you need is a package of regular oreos, chocolate or vanilla are both delicious, an 8oz package of cream cheese and some melting chocolate. You can use candy melts as well, but these are my favorite because they melt so smooth and are so rich in texture and taste!

 

Oreo Balls Recipe:
1 package of Oreos

1 8oz. package of cream cheese at room temperature

16 oz of dipping chocolate

Place Oreos and cream cheese in a food processor or blender and mix until a fine crumb.
Scoop out enough to roll 1 inch balls, I use a cookie scoop to ensure they are all the same size, and roll them into smooth balls.
Place them on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and into the fridge about 30 minutes.
Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave for a minute and then 30 second incriments until it is a smooth ribbon when falling off a stirring spatula.
let the balls sit for a minute or two, then using either a fork or a toothpick, dip each ball into the chocolate, gently taping off the excess chocolate until the ball is smooth.

you can leave them at that or place them in the fridge for 5 minutes just to harden them up when finished. For these I sprayed them with gold Chefmaster edible spray. I think it gives  a more true metallic color than the Wilton brands, but I have used the wilton brands as well and they are fine. After the spray dried, I went over them with a dusting edible gold shimmer dust of  just to get that really shimmery look!
I think they are best served cold, so I keep them in the fridge, but my daughter loves them warm and gooey inside, so to each their own!  Enjoy!! 

here are some other yummies from our party:

from the top: Cranberry Pecan Chex Mix

Snowman Sugar Cookies

Peppermint Patties

Peppermint Cheesecake Cookies

Winter Cherry Snowball Cake Pops

Slow Cooker Candies Pecans- everyone should have this recipe, it smells divine while cooking!
Chocolate Candy Cane Cupcakes

French Vanilla Cupcakes filled with Cranberry Curd and topped with an almond vanilla frosting and sparkling cranberries

#theidearoom @theidearoom

Almost New Looking Pans

For day four of The Idea Room's photo a day the theme was Silver, which coincided with what I was doing today perfectly!! Forever I have been searching for a way to restore my extremely used baking pans to their previous glory days. They only look new so long, and nothing feels better than baking on a shiny new pan, right?

Unfortunately, that was not the case with my pans. I just dealt with them for awhile because I loved how well they baked. But then my Kitchen Aid dough hook fell victim to the grime and I noticed that it was coming off on my hands which we can't have ending up in a recipe! So bought a jumbo bottle of my trusty Bar Keepers Friend. This is amazing stuff and I have relied on it for years!! It's like comet but for all your baking metals! Just a little water, some elbow grease (in my case, a lot of elbow grease since my counters are about an inch to high for my short self), and VOILA! Almost new looking pots, pans and other baking items!

This pic was after the first scrub, I didn't take one more after the final scrub, but now after an afternoon of scrubbing till my arms about fell off- I now have an entire cupboard full of almost new pans! It's almost like Christmas morning! Grab a bottle! You wont regret it!

 #theidearoom @theidearoom

Meaningful Christmas Gift Bath Set

For some reason I actually don't mind running errands during the Christmas holiday season. I get to sing Christmas carols in my car with the kids and generally enjoy it, unless i'm sitting in line on the freeway for more than 45 minutes not moving, but other than that- yep I love being out in the season. Especially this week as I've been starting and finishing up my Christmas gifts for this year.

I saw these on the idea room, I love her site, it has great ideas for all holidays, and knew I had to make them this year for my close friends. I loved that they were more of a spa item but at the same time I loved the rich warm combinations of scents from the middle east of Frankincense and Myrrh, and  the idea of combining it with a meaning and message for the Christmas season!

The supplies were fairly simple to find which I also liked. Once I started, however, my husband loved the idea and wanted me to include them for his client gifts this year as well. SO, at that point finding places that supply 20 of each became a little difficult. After multiple trips to various locations of The Hobby Lobby and Michaels, I was able to clean about 3 locations of each out of their wooden crates and their apothecary bottles. The ones I still needed after cleaning everyone in town out I found online.  The wood crates were unfinished and I stained them with Kona wood stain.

The linen spice bags were super cheap and fit the chocolate gold coins and were both found online. The extra apothecary bottles, if you don't have a Hobby Lobby around, were found here and here.

There you go- a classy and thoughtful Christmas gift that also incorporates the meaning of the Christtmas Season!

#theidearoom @theidearoom

Christmas Hot Chocolate

Red and white are just those colors that make you think Christmas! Being one of my absolute favorite times of year, that's what I think when I see the color combo! Like these red and white jimmies I bought back in July thinking, these would be perfect for our hot chocolate in December! Well now that its December first, bring on the jimmies! (combined with some green ones I found with fun little snowflakes) I pulled these babies out after we went to attend one of our favorite holiday traditions, the Live Nativity here in our city. Its the perfect way to begin the season and help remember the meaning of Christmas before you get caught up in all the hustle and bustle of the malls! We got lucky this year and were able to wait in our hour long line in wonderful temperatures of 54 degrees! Much better than a few years ago when it was 8 degrees!

this hot chocolate is SUPER divine, just add a sprinkle of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne powder, then of course- whipped cream and jimmies!!

#theidearoom, @theidearoom