Hot Chocolate like at Nordstroms!

So recently I took my 6 year old Christmas Shopping. At one point we ended up at Nordstroms and this wonderful man brought us a tray filled with hot chocolate samples to try. It doesn't get better than chocolate and shopping! The memory alone is enough to keep me smiling! Anyway so my 6 year old finished hers then mine and demanded more. Having spent already more than I care to admit to even myself I promised her I would make some just like theirs once we got home. Here it is:

Hot Chocolate like at Nordstroms

1/4 cup of Hershey's Cocoa
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of hot water
the smallest pinch of cayenne pepper
4 cups of milk
3/4 teaspoon of vanilla
Whipping cream and
Cinnamon for garnish

Heat cocoa, sugar, water, and cayenne on medium low heat stirring constantly until it comes to a boil. Add 4 cups of milk. Stirring constantly, heat chocolate milk until just before boiling. Do not let it boil! You can tell that the mixture is just about to boil if when you stir it you can see a generous amount of steam rising from the pot. Not letting it come to a boil avoids the mixture developing a skin. If you look closely you can also see a little tension in the milk but no bubbles. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Serve with a dollop of whipping cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon or some crushed candy cane.

Enjoy!

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This Home Made Egg Nog is Better than Crack!

Home Made Egg Nog


Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cinnamon stick
generous pinch of ground clove
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
whipping cream for garnish

Directions:
Combine milk, cinnamon, cinnamon stick and clove in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Heat the mixture until just before boiling. You can tell that the mixture is just about to boil if when you stir it you can see a generous amount of steam rising from the pot. Not letting it come to a boil avoids the mixture developing a skin. If you look closely you can also see a little tension in the milk but no bubbles. ( In the South we'd say "It's fitt'n to POP!") Let the cinnamon stick steep for 2 minutes & then remove.

In the bowl of a standing mixer combine egg yolks and sugar. Whisk together until pale and fluffy. With the mixer on low, pour the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks 1/4 a cup at a time, tempering the yolks. Whisk until well incorporated. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat on medium low for about 5 minutes, continually stirring, until thickened and creamy.  Do not let it boil, or the egg nog will curdle.

Stir in the vanilla, heavy cream and nutmeg and refrigerate over night. (Don't skip this step! The egg nog is great, but it is phenomenal after it has had a chance to sit over night!) When ready to serve garnish with a spritz of whipping cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

YUM! Enjoy!

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How to Season a Chalkboard

Seasoning your Chalkboard is very important to do before you use your new chalkboard or one you have just made. Otherwise, the first words or pictures you draw on your board will get "burned" into the board.

1. The first step to seasoning your chalkboard is to take a piece of chalk and and run it vertically along the entire board covering the whole surface.

2. Next run it horizontally along the entire chalkboard.

3. Afterwards you can erase the chalkboard with an eraser or a paper towel. If you prefer a newer looking board use a wet cloth.

4. Enjoy! Your new Chalkboard is ready to use!

For how to make your own framed chalkboard click here.
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How to Make a Framed Chalk Board

This is a super fun and easy project that will make you want to repeat it over and over again! I just got called to be our ward camp director and I plan on using my framed chalk board to help decorate for one of our pre-camp activities.

Supplies:

Cute Frame (TJ Max is an excellent source for inexpensive and unique frames)*
Valspar's Black Chalkboard Paint
Paint tray or large dish
Small roller Brush
Garbage bag and some tape or some other protective surface
Chalk
Have a sheet of masonite cut to fit into the frame you have chosen at your local hardware store

1. Make sure the masonite board you have had cut fits into your frame perfectly. Make any adjustments necessary. I had my board cut to fit standard sized frames, but after I got home I was surprised to find that so many of the frames I had on hand weren't quite standard! I ended up using my quilting ruler, an X-acto knife, and my cutting board. You wouldn't want to do all of your boards this way (lot's of elbow grease), but it works just fine for small adjustments.

2. Protect your work surface with some plastic sheeting or a plastic bag. As you can tell I have reused mine several times:)

3. Make sure the sheet of masonite is clean by wiping it with a damp cloth removing dust and debris. Let it dry.

4. Poor a small amount of chalk board paint into a paint tray or large dish.

5. Lay your masonite on the plastic sheeting and roll on the first coat of chalk board paint. Do this much like you would paint a wall. Start by painting an M or a W then spread the paint with first horizontal lines and then follow through with vertical lines until the whole board is covered.

6. You will need to do 3 coats, but you have to allow for enough time for the coats to dry thoroughly. Valspar Chalkboard paint requires a full 24 hours between coats, so fold up your sheeting, wash out your brush and be patient!

When I purchased my masonite board at Lows it came in a very large sheet for around $8-$9. The first 2 cuts are free and then each subsequent cut is .25$. I had them cut 2 of each size of frame. So for example 3X5, 4X6, 5X7, 8X10 etc. I always have extra frames lying around, so why not extra chalkboards!

7. After you have painted your 3 coats and allowed them to thoroughly dry slip the glass out of your frame and place the new chalkboard, but don't forget to season your chalkboard before using it! (see my tutorial for how to)

*On occasion you may find that the glass in your frame is actually glued down. I used my X-acto blade to slip in between the layers of glass and frame to separate the two, but I'm not sure I would recommend doing this. It would be much easier to find a frame that is not glued to the glass.

Hope you have fun, I certainly did!

I also had fun creating a chalkboard table for my kids to play with while outside. What fun!

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How to Make a Great Apple Pie

This recipe is a combination of a couple of different recipes and tips I have picked up from watching other seasoned homemakers.

What you will need:

For the Crust:

2 1/2 Cups unbleached all-purpose flour (King Arther happens to be my favorite & yes it matters!)
1 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) of chilled butter, cut into 16 pieces
6 tablespoons ice water

For the Filling:

7 Golden Delicious Apples
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
butter for dotting
flour for dusting

How to do it:

 For the Filling:

1. Core and slice your apples. Place in a bowl and mix with sugar and spices. Set aside.

For the crust:
Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

1. The first thing you will want to do is prepare the work surface you will be rolling your pie crust on. You will need a clean, large, flat, work surface such as your kitchen table.

2.  Mix flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl with a wire whisk or else in a mixer such as a KitchenAid.

3. Add cut pieces of butter to the flower mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all of the pieces of butter are coated with flour.

4. Now get ready to make a mess! Dump the bowl of butter and flour mixture onto your work surface. Working as quickly as possible roll the flour and butter creating large wide flakes of butter. It is helpful to have a dough scraper handy. Roll a few times then scrape your flour and butter into a pile and roll again. Some of the butter will stick to your rolling pin and the table, just use the dough scraper to pile it all up again. Once all of the butter has been rolled into wide flakes of butter use your scraper to scoop it back into the bowl.

5. Add 6 tablespoons of ice water to the dough and mix just until combined. There will be some large clumps of formed dough and debris that have not clumped. The dough will not be smooth! Press together with your hands forming a rough ball. Your object in working quickly is to keep the butter cold and flaky so that it remains suspended as identifiable pieces within the dough. This is what makes the crust so tender and flaky with a puffed quality.

 6. Dust a large, clean, flat surface such as your kitchen table with a generous portion of flour. Next sprinkle it with sugar and roll your rolling pin over the surface to help spread it around and coat the rolling pin with flour as well.

7. Separate the ball of dough into two equal halves.

8. Now it's time to roll your pie crust! Here is a video that shows how. My mother-in-law took the time to show me and it was very helpful. You can tell by the picture that the table has been generously dusted. That is key to not having your dough stick to the table or the rolling pin which can result in tearing. You'll notice that when the dough is small I shift it around picking up extra flour to keep it from sticking. As the crust gets rolled bigger I adjust by changing the position of the rolling pin instead. Roll from top to bottom, then from side to side, and then in diagonals, and repeat the process until you have a piece of circular dough large enough to more than  cover your pie plate and account for any unevenness.

9. Center the rolled dough over the pie plate by using your rolling pin to help lift the dough. (Shown in video). Cut the excess dough away leaving about a 1/2 an inch to 1 inch of dough to fall over the sides of the pie plate. This can be done fairly crudely without to much worry.

 

10. Dump your spiced apples into the pie plate, dust with a bit of flour, and dot with butter!

11. Roll the top crust as in step 8 and use it to cover the top of the pie. Trim to the same length as the under-crust. Next fold top layer of crust under the bottom layer of crust creating a pocket.

12. Shape the crust by using your fingers to create ruffles. My pie plate is shaped with ruffles but this works just as well with a regular pie plate.

13. Create vents in a decorative pattern using a fork to prick the dough.

14. If you like you can add a little interest by adding a "centerpiece". I used small leaf cookie cutters from William Sonoma and added some coarse sugar for fun.

15. Next fashion a pie shield using tin foil so that the edge of the pie does not get overly done.

You can opt to save your "pie Shield" for future use or just make it from scratch each time

 
16. In goes the pie! Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes then rotate the pie a half turn and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees. Bake for 30 more minutes. Remove the pie-shield and bake for a final 10-15 minutes until the pie crust is a delicious golden brown!

17. Enjoy! You deserve it!

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Tips For Running A Stress Free Super Saturday!

Super Saturday is a wonderful Relief Society activity in which sisters get together and craft like mad! It's such a fun experience. This year I left feeling inspired and ready to challenge myself thanks to our great teachers. If you have been challenged with the task of putting a Super Saturday Together here are some tips that I found helpful!

Plan Ahead!

2-3 months ahead of time you will want to decide which crafts, classes, and luncheon you will want to provide. This gives you plenty of time to delegate responsibilities and leave sisters enough time to plan and prepare for what they will be responsible for.

6 weeks before your activity you can start setting out samples and sign ups for sisters so they have plenty of time to decide what they want to make. Sign ups should include a deadline so that you are not caught running around town finding supplies at the last minute! It is a good idea to allow for at least 3 weeks of sign ups to allow everyone a chance to sign up.

If you want the luncheon to be potluck style this is also the time to get your food sign ups ready.

Around 3 weeks before your Super Saturday you can create reminder slips that include what crafts the sisters have signed up for and how much their total is. State the date you would like all monies turned in and start purchasing all of your supplies. This will give you time to sort things out if inventories have changed or you have to find a new source. Depending on the direction you get you can also order a few extra supplies for sisters who may want to participate that day but have not signed up.

 If you have the time and the inclination you can get your committee together around 2 weeks ahead of time and run through the crafts. Some of the sisters will want to do all or some of the other crafts, but it will be very hard for them to find the opportunity to do so the day of as they will be helping others. This is also a fantastic opportunity to see where problems might develop or get the input of others to make the day go by more smoothly.

 Start kitting 1 week ahead of time. This will be the hardest week! You will feel like you are eat, sleep and breathing Super Saturday :) As far as kitting goes, I found it helpful to create bins for each project (I borrowed my daughters toy bins). So for example one of the projects we created was a pop up ornament scrapbook. I put all of the necessary pieces into a Ziplock baggie and labeled it with the sister's name and how many kits she had purchased. I also stored them in alphabetical order within the bin to make it easy for the sister or teacher to find her kit and get started. I also found it helpful to create a set of instructions and make several copies for each craft. This way if the teacher is otherwise occupied sisters had something they could reference at their fingertips. If you are creating extra kits label them with a price $. Labeling them simply as extra creates problems!

Also it is a good idea to check with all your people 1 week before to make sure teachers and anyone else who might be helping are ready and still willing! You will also want to make reminder calls for your potluck signup if you have gone that route.

If you will want the guys to help you set up tables, chairs, etc make the calls ahead of time. 

You may choose to set your tables up and lay out your kits the night before or early that morning. I recommend leaving at least 2 hours before for set up time. Tables can be covered for protection. If you will be working with wood you can set up a separate sanding area so that dust doesn't get stuck on wet projects. Paint brushes, cups, painter's rags, and paint can all be set out.

The day of you will be able to sit back and enjoy because you have delegated well and are so fantastically organized!

Optional: You may choose to offer a Finishing Night. Sisters with unfinished projects (does not have to be a Super Saturday project) can get together and craft and chat.

Helpful Hints: When pricing your kits it is recommended to allow for a $.10 difference on small projects and a $.25 difference on large projects. You will most likely need it! If there is any leftover you can provide a small snack for sisters to munch on while working.

This is just an example of what a schedule might look like.  

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Super Saturday - Painted Towels and Wooden Spoons

I wish I had pictures of all the lovely spoons and towels that people made this Saturday. It was so fun to see all the different color combinations and styles!

If you are creating both towels and spoons I recommend that you start with your spoons and alternate between them and your towels so that you will have something to do during the drying processes.

Materials:
Wooden Spoon
Tape
Sand Paper
Acrylic Paint (The cheap kind you find at Walmart in little bottles for about 50 cents works perfectly!)
A cup big enough to tip your spoon upside down into while drying

Spoon How To:

Tape off the top portion of the spoon leaving an inch or two between the spoon and the handle.
Lightly sand the handle of your spoon removing excess dust with a quick rinse and dry when finished.
Paint a thin coat on the handle and let it dry until dry to the touch, about 15 min.
Repeat two more times.
Let it sit for 24 hours.
Wash in your dish washer on the heated dry cycle to set the paint.

If you want to create a varigated color look, simply start with the darkest color first and be ready to add plenty of white or cream.

Towel How To:

Materials;

Towel
Tape
Acrylic Paint (The cheap kind you find at Walmart in little bottles for about 50 cents works perfectly!)

Pre-wash and iron the towel so that the paint will better adhere (DONE!)
Create an interesting pattern for your towel by taping along the borders. You may wish to tape a few lines off, criss cross them, or just free hand.
Paint a light coat inside the tape lines. The voids where the tape is will be white like the towel. Use one color or a variety of colors.
Let your towel dry for 15 min.
Add another light coat.
Remove tape and let sit for 2 days.
Wash to soften the paint lines.
Iron for a crisp finish.

This is a picture from a blog how to I found that was really helpful. To visit click here.

I didn't find any linen towels so we ended up using Flower Sack towels found at Kmart & Target, But if I were making these for a loved one I would definitely buy some linen and fashion my own hand towels. I think they would make a great Christmas present!

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Super Saturday Visiting Teaching "Pop By"

Here is another idea we created for our Super Saturday. The idea is to have a stash of handouts that you can just quickly grab to give to the sister you are visiting. This one reads: Thanks for letting us "pop" by! We used Orville Redenbacher's Movie Theater Butter Popcorn. We wrapped the outside of the popcorn bag with scrapbooking paper, added a bow, and the tag.

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Super Saturday - "Rat Eyes" Treat Bag

Here is another tutorial and free printable for a great Halloween treat bag gift we made at our Super Saturday!

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Super Saturday Gift Bag

This is a Christmas gift bag that we created for our Super Saturday. The letter M was a cardboard letter covered in Martha Stewart glitter. You can't really see it very well in the picture but the linen has a gold fleck to it and sparkles a little.

Here is a great tutorial for how to create a draw string gift bag. They can be stuffed with mittens, or treats, or anything you can imagine. I love it!

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Super Saturday - Pop Up Ornament

This was also one of my favorite crafts that we did for our Super Saturday. It is basically a little pop out picture book that can either be hung on the tree like an ornament or set on the coffee table for people to look at. I thought it would be really fun to do one each year and fill them with the most recent pictures of the kids. I imagine that it would be a lot of fun in 20 years or so to look back on all the years, or better yet let the grandkids look at pictures of their parents growing up when they come for a Christmas visit.

Here's what they look like when they are open. This is an example with only 2 pages of pop ups. My favorite is a 3 page pop up, but really you can do as many or as little as you want. Pictures can be put on both the front and back of the book!

Ornament Directions:

Materials:
2 pieces of stiff card board cut to 3X3 squares
2 pieces of decorative scrapbooking paper cut to 4X4 squares
2 or more pieces of cardstock cut to 5 3/4 inch squares
1 Piece of ribbon cut to 2/3 of a yard or 24 inches
1 piece of narrow ribbon cut to 6 inches
1 6 inch piece of hemp or baker's twine
1 tag
1 small crystal embelishment
glue stick (Elmer's Glue All is the best)
wet glue  (I really just like Elmer's)

1. Glue 1 square piece of cardboard centered over wrong side of decorative paper using glue stick.
2. Clip corners leaving an 1/8 in between the corner of the cardboard and your diagonal clip.
3. Fold opposite edges of decorative paper over and glue down using wet glue.
4. Fold and glue remaining edges.
5. Repeat for 2nd set of decorative paper and cardboard.

6. Fold small piece of ribbon in half to create ornament tab. Glue ends together.
7. Glue ornament tab to the inside of one of your finished covers to create the back cover.
8. Fold one of the large square pieces of paper in half.
9. Open up the same piece of paper and fold in half the other way.
10. Open up the same piece of paper once more, turn it over, and add one diagonal fold.

11. Repeat steps 8 through 10 for the other square piece of paper.
12.  Fold each of the square pieces of paper into a small square by pinching in the diagonal folds.

13. Chain the two small pop up squares together by slipping one of the small squares into the other small square and gluing. Test to make sure it will open correctly before using the glue.

14. Glue the pop-out squares you have created to both the front and back covers of your ornament, making sure you add a little glue on the other side of the ornament tab.

15. Now is the time to add your 2 5/8 in pictures. You can glue them to both the front and the back of your ornament’s pages. Some of them will remain square, while others will need to be folded diagonally. It is helpful to place each picture before gluing and folding to make sure that they will be oriented in the direction you want them to face.
 16. Let your ornament sit open for a while so that you don’t accidentally glue your ornament shut.
 17. After Your ornament has finished drying close it up and tie a ribbon around the center in a bow.
 18. Bedazzle the letter i in Christmas for the Merry Merry Christmas tag.

 19. Connect your Merry Merry Christmas tag using the small piece of hemp and tie a knot.
 20. Voila! You are finished!

Here are just two of the other cute patterns we used.

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Super Saturday - "Boo Bag"

As part of our Super Saturday crafts we decided to do a few quick neighbor gifts or visiting teaching handouts. One of them was the you've been booed "Boo Bag".

So basically Women decorated a brown paper bag, but it was up to them to fill it with goodies :-)

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Super Saturday - Dino Hoodie

One of my very favorite projects for Super Saturday was the dino hoodie project! We used all kinds of fleece and all different colors of hoodies. It was so fun to see how they all turned out!

Materials:
fleece (I bought 4 inches of 3 different patterns of fleece) 
hoodie
thread
sewing machine
triangle template (I made a triangle template with a 3 inch base and a 3 inch height) with a fold line marked at the base of the template
pins
iron
ironing board
Quilting ruler

How To:
1. Cut fleece strips into 3 inch strips using your quilting ruler.
2. Cut strips into 3 by 6 inch rectangles.
3. Take a rectangle piece of fleece and fold it in half so that you now have a 3 in square.
4. Using the triangle template trim your rectangle into a folded triangle. When you open it up it should be in the shape of a diamond. Make sure to place the fold line on the template on the fold of your fleece. Repeat for all pieces of fleece.
5. Iron a fold line down the center of the hoodie. The hood already has a center seam.
6. Pin the diamond pieces in a continuous line to the center seam of the hoodie so that the short ends of the diamond are running along the center seam.
7. Stitch along the center seam over the diamonds from the top of the hood to the bottom of the hoodie.
8. Close up the diamonds so that they create triangle spikes by top stitching them closed.
9. Clip threads and you are done!

You can also experiment with the size of spikes you create. Larger spikes tend to flop around from side to side and are very cute. The shorter spikes tend to stick straight up and are a different kind of fun. For the most part though I tend to like a triangle that is based off a square. So for example: when creating my triangle template I start with a 4 inch square (or 3 inch square...etc). The bottom of the square will be the bottom of your triangle. Mark the center at the top of the square, so at the 2 inch mark. Use a ruler to connect the bottom corners to the center on the top of your square and trim edges to form a triangle.

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How To Carve a Pumpkin

This week I got to visit my youngest's kindergarten class and demonstrate how to carve a pumpkin. It was very fun and I enjoyed watching all the kids' reactions. I thought I knew pretty much how to carve a pumpkin, but before I went in I thought I would do just a little research just to make sure. Here's what I learned.

1. The first thing you have to do is decide how you will be lighting your jack-o'-lantern up. For example, will you be using a candle or Christmas lights*?

2. For a candle cut a hole in the top of your pumpkin, for Christmas lights it is handy to make the hole in the bottom. You will need to make the hole about two inches larger than your jar, so that it and the Christmas lights will fit through.

3. Next you have to gut the pumpkin using a large metal spoon or a fleshing tool. Remove seeds, pulp, and flesh.

4. Sketch the design you want to put on your pumpkin or print a free template from online.

5. Tape your design onto your pumpkin so it doesn't move around. Next use a sharp awl, needle tool, or thumb tack to transfer your design by pricking holes around the contour of your design.

6. Carve your pumpkin using a serrated kitchen knife or one found in a pumpkin carving kit.

*If you choose to use Christmas lights wind them around a large mason jar and fasten in place with a bit of tape.

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