St. Valentine isn’t a well known Saint in our home yet. Mike and I haven’t been exchanging gifts really since we got married, and there were babies. And the kids, well it is so close to Easter usually that we just skip the red and white candy and just do the ton of sugar in a basket. But this year, there was a little bit of gift-giving that entailed, red, red, and more of the color red.
These gifties were from Ammy and Gramps in New Hampshire.
Happy Valentine’s Day and all the sweetness it brings!
It all comes about when there are two family birthdays very close together. Celebration planning, special dinners, presents, cakes, and more cakes flood my daily planner pages. Yesterday was a day dedicated to making cakes. One for my husband, and cupcakes adorned with Little Miss’ favorite Hello Kitty for her classmates to share. (Yes, this is in addition to the piggy sheet cakes for her party.) And after this round, I am through with the refined sugar for quite a bit I tell you! But I can eat just a small slice of chocolate cake for breakfast just this one last morning right?
These are Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix – yellow cake, with traditional Betty Crocker vanilla frosting, King Arthur Flour pink nonpareils, and Wilton Hello Kitty Icing Decorations. I am a bit shocked myself that this isn’t entirely made from scratch. But after making 6 boxes of cake mix over the course of a week, being pregnant tired and just wanting to sit and knit, I decided to conserve energy this time. Next year maybe we’ll have all natural cakes made of raw cocoa, and pureed dates and walnuts? This is the one that I am talking about. YUM!
This cake is kind of like the traditional red velvet cake without the “red.” After decorating cakes for a bit you get an idea of how much “red” is needed to really make ingredients RED. For the novice among us, it takes A LOT of a single concentrated gel color to get a bright true color. Black and red are particularly difficult. Blue toddler tongues aren’t pretty either. Eating nuclear-bright artificial colors actually turns my stomach. So I left out the red and just paired this King Arthur Flour gluten free chocolate cake with homemade cream cheese frosting. (The frosting recipe is in the Joy of Cooking cookbook.) A dusting of cocoa and a bunch of candles top it all off. And YUM. (We actually ate this one before dinner!) Totally worth it.
Ahh, so there is a little birthday break now. Mine is in May, and I usually don’t make myself a cake. And then Mini Mister’s is in July. Whew, I can get back to sitting on the sofa and knitting. Yesterday Mini Mister demanded a sweater “with sleeves” that is blue. Gotta get on that before the weather outside doesn’t require sweaters with sleeves!
This weekend was a birthday party whirl wind. Little Miss turned three years old last Friday, as did two of her pre-school classmates. This equals three school days of cupcakes, and an entire weekend dedicated to birthday parties. One party was for Little Miss exclusively.
Whew! The shopping. The planning. The sewing. The cooking and the baking. And the clean-up! Finished. Successful. And fun was had by all!
We loved our piggy cake. It took four pre-schoolers to blow out three candles. Vanilla cake–gluten free. Yum! (I wasn’t behind the camera at all that day. I was concentrating on getting this pregnant mama up and down the stairs with all the food stuffs. So I apologize that there aren’t any photos of the wonderful Korean Bibimpab bar, the pink piggy craft table, the chaos in the toy-play-room, or shots of Little Miss avoiding everything on the second floor all alone.)
Our most favorite present was this piggy blanket. (Which did not replace our dingy, scrubby, bear baby blanket. That one is still number one!)
And in a grand thought of being a bit more eco-friendly mama started to sew 25 reusable fabric snack sacks. Pink kitties for the girls, and blue rockets for the boys. Yeah. That didn’t get finished. Maybe for a “happy summer” end of the school year giftie.
On to other important things. My husband’s birthday is four days after Little Miss’ birthday. And we have Valentine’s Day coming up. And two other pre-school birthdays…and…you get the idea. In between, I sit and knit, stitch spring shirts made of breezy linen, and cook yummy veggie dishes to keep this little baby fed well. What are you on to now?
We’ve been doing a little gingerbread thinking here at home and at pre-school.
Graham cracker gingerbread houses stuck with candies of all kinds came home this week.
Foam gingerbread men with googley eyes and buttons pasted on are proudly displayed. We’ve been reading the gingerbread man story over and over and over. And we’ve been eating these gluten-free gingerbread cookie men.
I didn’t think that it would be possible in this universe to actually create a tasty gingerbread man cookie that could hold up to the rigors of toddler icing and sprinkling. But possible it is! Here’s how we did it.
1. I used King Arthur Flour’s Gluten-Free Cookie Mix. (It says it is a brown-sugar based mix which means it will produce a softer cookie.) I prepared the dough as indicated on the box, except I substituted 1T of blackstrap molasses for 1T of molasses, and added 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t ground ginger, and 1/8 t ground cloves in the first mix-around.
2. MOST IMPORTANT, CHILL THE DOUGH. It must, must, must be cold. Other wise you’ll get a very sticky debacle. Turn out dough onto plastic wrap and form into a flat disk. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes. The butter will harden quite a bit and the dough should be a bit difficult to roll out.
3. Use a gluten-free flour for dusting your cold work-surface and cold rolling pin. (I used sweet white sorghum flour.) Dust everything liberally. Place dough disk on a piece of parchment paper and roll out to a 1/4″ thickness turning dough frequently to keep it all from sticking. (Keep the dough thicker than you might think to here. The end result is a pretty soft cookie so a thicker cookie will provide a more sturdy base for decorating.)
4. Re-roll scraps using additional flour to keep everything from sticking. Chill the dough as needed in a flat disk shape.
5. Use your favorite cookie cutters and cut away. (I’ve found that the larger cutters work best. Cutters with lots of delicate edges don’t work as well with this soft dough.) Place cookies about 2″ apart on a silpad lined baking sheet and bake at 350° F for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.
6. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes and then carefully remove cookies to a cooling rack with a spatula. Allow the cookies to cool completely before decorating. Makes about 3 dozen medium gingerbread men.
  
A note of toddler-caution: This dough is very delicate and can become sticky quickly and tear easily. Toddlers will place that cookie cutter smack in the middle of the dough circle and you’ll be able to get exactly ONE cookie before you need to chill the dough once more and re-roll everything. It took 20 minutes to produce 2 toddler cookies. And 30 minutes to produce 3 dozen adult cookies.
Little kitchen helpers love, love, love cookie cutters and are so very eager to help. So, if you have the time and patience and let them help. Otherwise, break out the playdough that doesn’t require any chilling, and let them have at it while you turn out those gingerbread men. THEN, let them in on the decorating fun.
The Result…a soft, chewy, very yummy gingerbread man cookie. The extra flour to roll everything out didn’t adversely affect the taste or texture. And your baking time might vary, as my oven runs a bit hot. This is what the kiddos decided would be for dinner last night and then proceeded to run around exclaiming, “you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!”
Happy Holidays all! Meet you back here after the holidays!
P/S How did the link between gingerbread and Christmas come about? The gingerbread man doesn’t mention anything about Christ’s Mass in his little runaway tale…
Oh it is one of the most wonderful times of year! (Isn’t that in a song?) Time for gift making, gift acquiring, gift giving, and gift wrapping. I always lamented the big balls of paper that go out to the trash curb after a festive morn’ of present rummaging. As a kid, I was the kind to smooth each piece of wrapping paper and save it in my closet. For what I don’t remember. But what to do with the scrappy scrapps my sister left tearing through each sheet of paper that enclosed her next present surprise? Even at 8 years old, balls of wrapping paper in the trash was like money down the drain.
In my first few years with the new business title of “homemaker” I did my best to emulate that good Martha Stewart, and adorn my pretty, monochromatic paper-wrapped gifts with plastic ornaments, mini kitchen utensils, jingle bells, and lavish ribbons and bows. Because really, isn’t a gorgeous package just that much more exciting than the plain old paper gift bag with colored tissue paper hanging out the top? And then two kids, not enough hours in the day, and a limited budget reality set in…and maybe a bit of eco-friendly green-ness settled in too…and I made a switch to wrapping our gifts in pretty fabrics.
So honestly, I never knew what people made with those crazy holiday fabrics in the store. Who would want to wear an entire skirt made of fabric printed with little pink snowmen with orange mittens and purple kittens on it? Well, maybe you’d buy a yard of that colorful fabric at 50% off to wrap that gift for your niece. (Note, I’ve made up that fabric print and I don’t have a niece. But if I did, I’d imagine that that is the kind of thing I’d do for her.) For our family, I’ve acquired a gold and white scroll pattern, a red and white swirl pattern, a red and white snowman pattern and a green tree pattern to wrap our gifties this year. And, in a take-it-easy-holiday fashion, I’ve managed to wrap each gift WITHOUT sewing a stitch. So if you don’t sew, or don’t have time to sew, this re-usable gift wrapping tip is for you!
A couple of notes before I show how I did all this.
- Get your fabric on SALE! It can get expensive. Watch for coupons that say 20% off your entire purchase and couple that with a store-wide sale of 30% off holiday prints. And after-the-holiday clearance sales are key winners too!
- I used quilting weight cottons (think light weight.) You can also used gorgeous home decor fabrics which are heavier, more expensive, but a bit more showy. Oh, and don’t be afraid to try velor, repurposed-felted cashmere, or even something already made like a linen dishtowel. (Use a linen dishtowel tied up with kitchen twine to wrap up those homemade freezer rolls you plan to give!)
- Buy an extra yard of fabric. Just in case.
- Think of this endeavor as a bit of an investment of both time and money. Wrapping with fabric does take a little more time than wrapping with paper. Next year, you’ll already have a stash lined up. Keep in mind that as you give these away, you’ll need to create a few more to replace them!
- Think about the fabric patterns an colors you select. You’ll want some to coordinate so you can use these patterns as ties to adorn, and hold fast, your packages.
- You’ll need an iron and a pair of pinking shears.
1. Shall we get started? Measure the fabric around the gift, just as you would with paper. Use a pinking shears (important!) to cut your wrapping fabric to size. You’ll want just enough fabric on the sides to fold the “triangle ends” down to the back side of the package. I suggest using pinking shears because then you don’t have to hem the fabric to keep it from fraying. But, if you’d rather, simply roll hem the edges and machine stitch in place!
2. With pinking shears, cut a length of contrasting fabric for the tie. (I liked 3″ wide, by how-ever long. A yard or more long seemed to be enough to tie up a medium sized box.) Fold in thirds, wrong-sides together, and press flat. (I didn’t bother to “finish” the ends, I just cut them off with the pinking shears, so they wouldn’t fray.)
 
3. Fold the fabric around your present. To make crisp folds use an iron. Just hold that baby up to the fabric-wrapped cardboard carton and give it a puff of steam. CAUTION: don’t use an iron when the package underneath is shrink wrapped or could otherwise be damaged by high heat and steam!! Wrap your coordinating tie fabric around the gift and tie it in a bow to the front.
Presto, a very cute gift ready to be put under the tree. (Well, handed off to St. Nicholas who will put it under the tree.) Happy Holidays!!
This year I decided to make a homemade gift for the pre-school teachers and teacher’s aids who work tirelessly for our kids. We attend a cooperative preschool where parents take a big part in the classroom activities. A few times each semester, each family is required to co-op in the classroom and serve as a teacher’s aid for the day. It is a bit of chaotic stress added, but it is a wonderful look into the world as your child sees it. I love to see how the children are learning, how they are interacting, or not interacting, with their peers and with their teachers. And I love to see which activities they love and which they feel they really could do without.
Little Miss loves painting, the hamsters, playing with the doll house, and a little pink bear nicknamed “Mrs. B’s Bear” Mini Mister loves correcting his teacher, “No, it isn’t Yes-vember, it is NO-vember!” He is quick to count and volunteer which letter says what sound. He particularly likes this one very cute little girl, who only likes him back a little bit. It is all so very cute.
Being a teacher’s aid isn’t a simple task. I feel the job is so physical! And keeping your wits about you to prevent that collision or that toy dispute is sometimes mind boggling. Some days after I drop off my pre-schoolers, I feel eternally indebted to these wonderful teachers who take care of my children in the mornings. So, I decided it was chocolate peppermint bark that would be our homemade “thank-you” this holiday season.
This recipe is divine. It is almost painful to let it go. From Orangette, and thanks to Soulemama, for pointing me there.
This weekend was a little tree decorating.
We use a fake tree. I never in my life thought that I would bend to a plastic tree. But there are some eco-upsides to this. Since we live in the suburbs we’d have to track down a recycling service since most just put their dried-out pine skeleton by the curb for the landfill-bound-trash truck come January. We pack our tree in it’s box and plan to use it for many years to come. Maybe I’ll just get a natural pine scented candle to set the mood.
We unpacked our new nativity set. The catalog description indicated this set was “safe for little fingers.” Though I’d have loved to start our Advent traditions with a beautiful set carved of natural wood, the reality is cost here. The President of the United States just proposed to the new conservative House a federal employee salary freeze which may mean that we’d be stuck with our pay-cut-to-switch-to-the-public-sector for another two years or more. Maybe in three years, we can graduate to that beautiful wooden Nativity set I’ve been loving.
But “safe for little fingers” has now been tried and tested over and over in our home. I remember as a kid looking at nativity figurines that were “not for touching.” As a mom seeking to set new family Advent traditions, I feel it was imperative for the kids to be able to play with each of the characters in this important scene. So far, Cassie from the PBS show Dragon Tales has been to visit Mary and Joseph as has Hello Kitty. And I’ve seen one of the Wise Men going for a spin in Speed Racer’s Mach 5 car, and the animals keep on getting holed up with the food near our play kitchen. I wonder where I am going to find Baby Jesus come Christmas day afternoon!
And finally, my husband did a fabulous job of picking out the kids’ Christmas Mass outfits. We usually try to play it a bit more business casual on Sunday mornings, but Christmas is a bit special. Surprisingly both kids tolerated their “dress-up” outfits quite well. Mini Mister exclaimed, “I’m just like daddy,” when my husband fastened his little tie and adjusted his suit jacket (he sees his daddy leaving in a suit and tie each morning now.) Little Miss twirled and twirled and announced she was a princess before falling down dizzy. We’ll see how easily these outfits go on come 30 minutes before Christmas vigil Mass time!
 
After these Advent basics and a trip to the fabric store…I am on to a bit of fabric-y fun…stay tuned!
Growing up I thought it was about waiting patiently, or pining away rather impatiently, for your prince-charming to come by on a white horse with chocolates in a red-heart-shaped cardboard box (the bigger the better) and cut long-stem roses to sweep you off your feet in love, admiration, and fantastic fantasy. *blink, blink* back to reality…I don’t like horses, have been afraid of them since I was 5 years old and watched the movie The Black Stallion, most drugstore chocolates are wrapped in not-so-eco-friendly packaging, contain tons of preservatives and artificial colors and flavors, and those cut long-stemmed roses, I’d rather have a couple lovely rose bushes out back, thank you.
February 14th is actually the Roman Catholic feast day to celebrate the Saint Valentine(s), neither of whom were linked to anything romantic. So, we are Catholic, but where does that leave me, a non-cradle Catholic, and our family? What am I going to do this Valentine’s day with my family? What do I want my children to come away from this holiday learning, feeling, and doing? Well, perhaps we can adopt some of the soul-ful elements about connecting with those you love from the commercial holiday and start to build some of new family traditions unique to our family.
If you have been reading here for a bit, you know I am most certainly a planner…so, in the planning mode, I plan to make this February 14th about sweetness just like this:
- send snail-mail hand-written notes to those we love and admire and tell them why we do
- document what we love and admire about these special people so we can remember these wonderful bits for years to come
- create a few heart-themed surprises like heart-shaped gluten-free cookies and stuffed heart pockets filled with sweet treats and trinkets we can keep close to our hearts when we are remembering who loves us
What do you think about Valentine’s day? What do you do with your family to make it a special time.
P.S. These little hearts are inspired by SouleMama’s The Family Heart idea in Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures . Read about the book in her words at her blog. Can you tell she is one of my favorite crafters?
 photo by Joe King
We went to NJ this weekend for my brother-in-law’s wedding. It was a wonderful event filled with friends and family, food and drink, and God and warm welcome. I am so happy for the wedding couple, and I can’t wait to see what life has in store for all of us as extended family.
My little ones served as ring bearer and flower girl, although neither of them walked down the aisle without me. (Actually the flower girl had to be carried.) But needless to say, as you can see in our pics, both had a wonderful time when not in the spotlight.
  
Kam. Persimmon in English that is. This time of year is when we get beautifully ripe, sweet, soft fruit from the Asian market. This persimmon you eat, peeled with a fork if it is soft. Or you can also eat it dried. There is another variety of Kam that gets so soft you have to eat it like a soft boiled egg. I turn it upside down on its head, score the skin with a knife and peel it back, and take a spoon and enjoy.
On our fall season honeymoon to Korea we saw tons of persimmon trees just loaded with fruit. And we also saw the traditional way Korean people dry persimmons hanging outdoors.
The other thing I am loving about winter, is that I am finally well enough to finish our handmade Christmas presents. Socks anyone? This bricker pattern you can find here.
What are you loving about the winter season?
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thank you for stopping by my blog  I am a 35 year old mom to a 4 year old son, a 3 year old daughter, a son born in May, and a wife to my life wonderful. I write in this space when my crafty inspiration strikes or when I get to pondering about how we can live more simply and better connect with the earth around us. We are a family surviving the suburbs, contending with commercialism, and getting to a greener lifestyle. Welcome! ~Abbie a few blogs I like in no particular order Permission © Organizing-Life 2009
All images and designs are property of Organizing-Life. Please do not copy any original designs or photography without written permission. Thank you!
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