It's Baking Day!

Last year, I got together with my mom, two sister-in-law's, aunt, and a friend of my mom's to bake on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Today, we're getting together again with a smaller group.

We spend the day making our holiday treats, so that we can stash most of them in the freezer, so that we can get our baking done before the holiday's get hectic. I have 6 different types of cookie dough going with me, as well as candy canes for peppermint bark.

My mom made up the peanut butter stuffing for peanut butter balls, and peanut clusters. We're also making fudge, brownie bites, and peanut brittle.

The day will be fun, and packed with goodies galore! I've got containers and freezer bags to bring the treats home in, so I can stash them away until closer to Christmas.

Thanksgiving Treats Seems To Be Big

Though my little blog has been around less than a month, I have noticed that I am already receiving hits from people doing web searches. Google in particular has really picked up on my posts. The topics vary, but the biggest hit seems to be people wanting to find new Thanksgiving Treats.

Now that Halloween is done, Thanksgiving is the next holiday looming ahead for most people. I've noticed that in often, Thanksgiving is over looked as a plan-ahead holiday, in lieu of people frantically trying to figure out what they are going to do for Christmas. Seeing how many hits I am getting from people looking up Thanksgiving, it makes me smile.

So, in honor of the many wonderful web hits I've gotten from people wanting to find new treats, here area few additions to my growing list of Thanksgiving Treats.

Hot Chocolate-Marshmallow Pudding

What You'll Need:
1 4oz package of pudding mix- any chocolate flavor (white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, etc)
1 cup mini marshmallows
2/3 cup whipped cream topping.

Prepare the pudding according to the directions, and stir in the marshmallows.
Scoop the mix evenly into single serving size microwaveable dishes.
Microwave on high for 35 secs, or until the marshmallows begin to melt & the pudding is heated through. Stir, and top with a scoop of whipped cream.

5 Minute Triple Layer Cookie Cream Pie

What You'll Need:
Milk
2 4-serving size packages of pudding mix (The recipe calls for Chocolate, but you can mix & match with great results!)
1 tub of whipped cream, thawed, divided
1 pie crust- either graham cracker or Oreo cookie, depending on the flavor you go for.
10-12 sandwich cookies

This pie is super easy, and goes over VERY well.
Mix 1 box of pudding according to directions, and add the 2nd mix in. Do not add extra milk!
Set aside 3 cookies, then break and crumble the rest.
In a bowl, mix half the pudding mix with half of the whipped cream, and the cookie crumbles.
In the pie crust, smooth the plain pudding across the bottom. Top with the cookie, pudding, whipped cream mix.
Top the pie with plain whipped cream. Break the remaining 3 cookies into halves, and insert into the top of the pie. Keep cold until you serve.

Notes:

First off, do not use canned whipped cream- it melts!

When I was first given this recipe, it was called the Oreo Cream Pie. I used chocolate pudding, an oreo crust, and oreo cookies. Over time, I came to realize that the flavors could change easily, by using different types of sandwich cookies, puddings, and crusts. Here are some ideas:

Oreo Double Chocolate: Oreo Cookies, Oreo Crust, Chocolate Pudding & Chocolate Whipped Cream
Strawberry Vanilla: Vanilla cookies, Graham crust, vanilla pudding & Strawberry whipped cream
Oreo 2: Oreo cookies, Oreo crust, 1 box vanilla or Oreo pudding, 1 box Chocolate pudding- for this one, prepare the puddings apart using half the required milk in each package. mix the cookies in with the Vanilla or Oreo pudding OR the chocolate pudding, and layer it.
Butterscotch Vanilla: Use butterscotch pudding, with vanilla cookies & a graham crust.

I'd love to hear more ideas! This pie takes about 5 minutes to make, and there is almost always a little left over mix to dip cookies into. I remember one Christmas eve where the kids and I sat around dipping oreos and watching Christmas specials.

Both recipes are easy for kids to help make, and tasty, kid approved flavors. The pie is a fantastic addition to any holiday meal, and can be done easily, quickly, and best of all, frugally.

Make It Yourself- Gag Gifts

One thing many people worry about during the holiday season, is who they are buying for, who they can afford to buy for, and how much to spend.

I come from a large family. I'm the second oldest of 4 kids, with divorced parents. My mom is the oldest of 4 kids. My dad is the youngest of 11 kids. My step mom is smack dab in the middle of 7 kids. My husband is the oldest of 2 kids. His mom is the oldest of 3 kids.

All said and done, we usually hit more than our fair share of holiday parties each year, and I've always bought for a few select people, and tried to come up with something small for the rest of the people. Last year, my 'something small' was "Snowman Poop".

I got the idea on Budget101.com. It's easy to do, and costs pennies to make.

Snowman Poop

What You'll Need:
Mini Marshmallows
Glitter
Plastic Baggie- I used ziplock, because that's what I had, but it would look nicer with sandwich bags, tied with ribbon
A small note pad, or a printer with paper

First, put a small handful of mini marshmallows in the baggie, then sprinkle in a touch of glitter. Hold the baggie closed to shake it, then use a ribbon to tie it off. Please make sure to note that the snowman poop is NOT edible, due to the glitter.

Attach a small note with a poem:
Santa looked at his list,
Even checked it twice.
And he has seen that you
have not been very nice.
Since coal's so expensive,
Here's the scoop,
Santa's filling your stocking
with SNOWMAN'S POOP!

There are a lot of fun ideas at Budget101.com for similar, easy to make, cheap to make, fun gag gifts.

Grinch Farts

What You'll Need:
Green M&M's, Skittles, or other round green candies.
Plastic Baggie- I used ziplock, because that's what I had, but it would look nicer with sandwich bags, tied with ribbon
A small note pad, or a printer with paper

Fill the baggies, tie off with a ribbon, and add the following poem:

The Grinch went down to Who-ville
And loaded up his sleigh.
He couldn't resist the yummy smells,
And sampled along the way.
His tummy started to rumble,
Then it began to shout.
Just when he thought he might explode,
He blasted these mighty "toots" out.

The Perfect Man

What You'll Need:
Gingerbread Man Cookie, decorated and ready to eat
Baggie
Ribbon
Note pad or printer & paper

Bag each cookie individually, tie with a ribbon, and attach a note with:

He's quiet, he's sweet,
And if he gives you any trouble,
You can bite his head off!

The website has a lot of gag gifts, and not just Christmas oriented. Some of these would make fun stocking stuffers, or office gifts, or even just gifts to pass out at family parties for some fun.

Here's one I give to kids before Christmas Eve.

Magic Reindeer Food

What You'll Need:
White sugar
Red & Green Decrotive Sugar Crystals
Raw Oatmeal
Glitter
Baggie & Ribbon

I mix a small amount of the sugars, oatmeal, and glitter together in a baggie, and tie it up. When I give it to the children, I tell them that while Santa delivers his gifts, the reindeer get hungry, too. The magic food in the baggie will help them fly fast all night long. We sprinkle it on the front lawn on Christmas Eve.

These little gag gifts are fun, festive, and best of all- easy to make, and cheap to make. Even the kids can help you make these!

Counting Down

My Grandma collected snowmen at Christmas for as long as I could remember. She had a massive collection that encompassed decorating a huge house. She had a Christmas tree that was decorated only in snowmen. There were walls of just shelves filled with snowmen. Snowmen could be found in bathrooms, on the sofa, in the windows, outdoors, and more. She loved her snowmen.

Over the years, I've picked some up, and inherited several of Grandma's snowmen as well. However, last year, I finally settled on something I want to collect at Christmas time that takes up less space, and won't break- stockings. I love stockings! They're so cute, and fun, and the designs are endless.

One thing I've been trying to do for years is find an advent calendar that was reusable, and big enough to fit a small treat in it for 3 kids. It's harder than it sounds!

Last year, I finally figured it out- stockings! After Christmas, when Dollar Tree had their items 50% off, I picked up 12 2-packs of mini stockings for only $.50 each. This year, I plan to string them up along our large archway, and number each stocking.

At night, after the kids are in bed, I'll fill the next day's stocking with some small treat. They can count down to Christmas, get a small treat, and I get to indulge my love of stockings.

I was reading Family Fun tonight, and came across the same idea, only using colorful children's socks in place of stockings, and hanging the sock up each day one at a time. It included a list of ideas for what to fill the stockings with that I really liked.

Here are the ideas it listed:

• Special Coupons: Get Out of Chores Free, or Pick A Movie Rental, for instance.
• Puzzle pieces to a Holiday puzzle- the pieces are collected, and put together through out the month.
• Trading Cards
• Special coins- foreign coins, for instance, or even chocolate foil covered coins.
• A small gift card for a special treat, such as a sundae at a local restaurant.
• Jokes & riddles- stick the answer in the next day's stocking for more fun!
• A mini game, Mad Lib, Sudoku, or even a Christmas coloring page.
• Art supplies.
• A special ornament to hang on the tree.
• A new pair of socks!

Our kids love hot cocoa, so I think that might be a nice one to add as well. You can melt chocolate and cover a plastic spoon with it. Once it dries, wrap it up with plastic wrap on the chocolate end, and add it to the hot cocoa for the kids to stir with. An extra chocolaty treat!

You could put in the pieces to a game for a family game night, too. A coupon for taking the kids sledding, or out to look at the holiday lights would be a fun family way to spend some time, as well.

I hope to make this our newest family tradition, in a long list of traditions I have started over the years. Some are passed down from my family, some from Nick's family, and some are things we've come up with on our own over the years. For instance, we never put candy canes on the tree- Santa does that when he stops by on Christmas Eve.

I know more and more families are shying away from "Santa", but I was raised with Santa, and my kids are raised with Santa. I don't see any harm in it, and the kids eyes just light up when they see the stockings filled by Santa on Christmas morning.

Frugal Halloween Meal

This year, with Halloween on a Saturday, Nick and I have decided to host a party before Trick or Treating for the kids and some of their friends. For the party, instead of a bunch of sugary treats, we are going to serve dinner type foods. When Halloween falls during the week, I always feel so rushed- pick the kids up, get them home, make sure they are fed, get them into costume, get makeup done for them, and get them out the door again. Rush! Rush! Rush!

The appeal of a weekend Halloween is that I don't have to Rush! Rush! Rush! to get the kids from one place to another. We can take our time, eat, get ready, and head out later in the day.

Our menu for the party is going to revolve around kid favorites- pizza and bread sticks. My first idea was to make individual pizzas out of English muffins. However, I just stumbled onto a recipe that looks great, and festive for the spooky holiday- a Pizza Snake! As I have yet to try this, the recipe is from the website, Divine Dinner Parties.

Pizza SnakeThis is one of those Halloween recipe ideas that's fun to have the kids help with. If you're making this for the first time, I'd suggest buying an extra can of crescent rolls to have on hand in case you need to patch your dough in places. Any openings in the snake will split and leak during cooking.

Serves 10-12 as an appetizer. (I think I'll make up 2-3 of these, as it'll be used more as a dinner food!)

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz.) cans crescent rolls
flour, for dusting
1/2 C. prepared pizza sauce
10 oz. thinly sliced pepperoni
10 oz. thinly sliced ham, chopped
10 oz. Italian sausage, cooked, crumbled, and drained
12 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 C. fine, freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Decorating:
Liquid food coloring, your choice of colors
4 egg yolks, divided
2 peppercorns
2 pimento-stuffed green olives
1 roasted red pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. On a lightly floured surface, spread out your two batches of crescent dough end-to-end lenghtwise. Be careful not to let the sections separate.
3. Pinch all the seams together until you get one block of dough.
4. With a flour-brushed rolling pin, roll your crescent dough into a large, long rectangle. Don't roll it too thin, or it will split.
5. Spoon pizza sauce on top of dough, leaving an inch of bare dough on all four edges.
6. Sprinkle meats on top of sauce, followed by any other optional toppings.
7. Sprinkle with cheeses.
8. Fold one side of the dough lenghtwise over the topping, up to the half-point of the rectangle.
9. Fold the other side over to meet it. Pinch and press the dough together on all sides to seal.
10. With a pastry brush, brush the beaten yolk of one egg onto the top of the dough.
11. Fold your filled dough in half lengthwise. The egg yolk should help it stick. A seam should be created lengthwise along the dough. Pinch this seam together to fully seal and make a sort of cylinder. Be sure all seams are well closed. Any open seams will open further during baking.
12. Gently manipulate ends into a snake shape-- one end should be tapered for a tail, and the other shaped for the head. Don't curve it into a snake yet. You'll do that right before baking.

Decorating Instructions:

1. Beat each of your remaining three egg yolks in a separate bowl.
2. Add the food coloring of your choice to each bowl to make three separate "paints."
3. With a pastry brush or a food-safe paintbrush, decorate your snake as desired.
4. Transfer painted snake to a foiled-lined, greased baking sheet.
5. Gently shape as desired, into an "S" or other snakey shape.
6. Stick two peppercorns into the front of the snout for nostrils.
7. Slice your roasted red pepper into a forked tongue. Insert into front of head.
8. Bake your snake about 20 minutes, until golden and cooked through.
9. Remove from oven. Attach olive "eyes" to the top of the head using toothpicks. Pimento centers should face forward.

To go with our Pizza Snake, we'll be serving "Hairy Witches Finger Bread Sticks"

I found this recipe online a year or two ago, and it works out great!

Ingredients:

Tubed bread stick or pizza dough
Green food coloring
Shredded cheese (we use Mozzarella)
Almond slivers
Pizza Sauce (for dipping)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven according to the package.
2. While wearing plastic gloves, knead green food dye into the dough, until the dough is a witchy green color- not to bright!
3. Form the dough into small thin bread sticks, creating a lumpy middle for the knuckles.
4. Insert an Almond sliver into one end as a finger nail
5. Bake for half the time the package states, then remove. Sprinkle the cheese on top, and continue baking. You want the cheese melted enough to stay on top, but to retain it's shape and look like hair. You can also sprinkle with Parmesan cheese for some added flavor, before adding the shredded cheese.
   
6. Serve on a platter with "blood" (Pizza sauce) as an appetizer!

I was able to luck out a few weeks ago, and found a large glass punch bowl, complete with 12 tiny glasses, for only $.79 at my local Goodwill! I'm excited to use it for the party! We are going to just make green punch, and float frozen creepy crawlies in it.

Green Punch

Ingredients:
Green Hawaiian Punch
Squirt (or a generic Grapefruit Soda)
Ice cubes with plastic spiders in them- you can also add gummy worms, plastic bugs, and anything else creepy crawly. Just make sure the plastic is clean, and there is no glitter that can come off in the punch as the ice melts!

Mix the punch & soda, and add the spider ice cubes to the punch before serving!

Halloween Treat Containers

With Halloween knocking on the door, here are a few fun Halloween crafts to do with the kids this year.

**Make sure which ever container you use, that you wash it out thoroughly with hot soapy water, prior to use!!

Pumpkin Treat Carton- Craft found originally at DLTK's Crafts, though I changed it around a bit.

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 gallon milk container, or a 2 liter bottle of soda, empty
• Orange, Black, & Green Construction Paper.
• Glue or Tape
• Scissors
• Stapler if you have one.
  

What To Do:

1. Cut the top portion off the milk jug or 2 liter, starting 1" below where the walls curve inward near the top.
   
2. Cut a 1" straight strip from the top- this will be used as a carrying handle.
3. If you have a stapler, use it to staple the plastic strip to the top, creating a carrying handle. If you do not have a stapler, cut a horizontal slit just below the top edge of the carton, one on both sides, just wide enough to slide the strap into. Slide the strap into from the outside, then use tape or glue to secure the ends to the inside of the carton. Let the glue dry before moving on, if you used glue.
   
4. Using Orange construction paper, cover the entire outside of the container, securing the paper with either tape or glue to the carton.

1. Fold the green construction paper to wrap around the handle, securing it with tape or glue. Cut some leaf shapes, and a stem, and glue it to the top of the front of the container, where the face will go.
2. Cut a Jack O'Lantern face with the black construction paper, and glue it to the front.
3. You have a cute container for passing out treats, or for Trick or Treating!

Bat Treat Container- Again, this was found at DLTK's Crafts, and adapted. This is pretty much the same as the one above, just decorated as a bat, instead of a Pumpkin.

What You'll Need-

• 1/2 gallon milk container, or a 2 liter bottle of soda, empty
• Black & White, yellow, or purple Construction Paper.
• Glue or Tape
• Scissors
• Stapler if you have one.

What To Do-

1. Cut the top portion off the milk jug or 2 liter, starting 1" below where the walls curve inward near the top.
   
2. Cut a 1" straight strip from the top- this will be used as a carrying handle.
3. If you have a stapler, use it to staple the plastic strip to the top, creating a carrying handle. If you do not have a stapler, cut a horizontal slit just below the top edge of the carton, one on both sides, just wide enough to slide the strap into. Slide the strap into from the outside, then use tape or glue to secure the ends to the inside of the carton. Let the glue dry before moving on, if you used glue.
4. Using Black construction paper, cover the entire outside of the container, securing the paper with either tape or glue to the carton.
5. Fold more black construction paper to wrap around the handle, securing it with tape or glue. Cut some wing shapes, and glue it to the back of the container.
6. Cut a Bat face with the white, yellow, or purple construction paper, and glue it to the front.
7. You have a cute container for passing out treats, or for Trick or Treating!

Thanksgiving Treats

Thanksgiving is coming faster than I anticipated. Already, I'm looking forward to the lazy day at home with Nick and the kiddos, a warm house, food on the table, and the parade on TV while Nick and I make a wonderful Turkey dinner.

One thing I plan to do this year with the kids, is make some edible Turkey's out of cookies and candy. They're super adorable, and the kids will love them! We've never tried them before, but they look super easy to make.

What you will need:

• Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, or Oreo style sandwich cookies
• Candy Corn
• Chocolate frosting
• Hershey’s Whoppers
• Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
• White tubed frosting

First, you take the cookie, and 6 pieces of candy corn, and insert them into the sandwich frosting, tip first, so that it creates a tail fan.

Next, take the frosting, peanut butter cup, and whopper, and let's make a body. Unwrap the peanut butter cup (actually unwrap two- one to use, one to eat), and turn it on it's side. Smear a bit of frosting onto the top, and press the whopper into it.

From there, you will want to use the white frosting to create two eyes, and a small mouth on the milk ball- you'll want the smaller flat side of the peanut butter cup facing outward.

From there, cover the larger flat side of the PB Cup with more frosting, and press it onto the cookie, towards the bottom away from the tail fan. Use a second cookie to lay flat, and use frosting to secure the bird to the bottom cookie, so it has a 'stand'.

You can play around with other items- some people break the tip of a candy corn off, and use it for a beak on the whopper for the turkey.


For the next treat, you will want:

• Round, baked sugar cookies
• Chocolate or Vanilla Frosting
• M&M Mini's
• Orange tubed frosting

Frost a rainbow type arch along one side of the cookie, and start laying out candy corn on it, to create a tail fan- these can either stick out past the cookie, or be completely on the cookie.

Using more frosting, secure 2 M&M Mini's in the middle to use as eyes.

With the orange tubed frosting, use the small round piping head, and pipe on two feet, and you have adorable Turkey sugar cookies for Thanksgiving!