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Tablecloths Masquerading as Tree Skirts

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Holidays, tagged , , , , , , , on December 17, 2009| 1 Comment »

As I roamed through store after store one year searching for a Christmas tree skirt that was proportional to my large tree and that matched my decor, I became frustrated because all I could find were dinky little tree skirts at exorbitant prices. Then a thought occurred to me, “What about using a round tablecloth as a tree skirt?”

Tablecloths can be found in a variety of diameters, fabrics, and colors and you’re more likely to find a tablecloth that matches your home’s decor than a tree skirt! Consider purchasing a round tablecloth at stores like T.J. Maxx, Ross, Marshall’s or Tuesday Morning.

Here’s how I convert tablecloths into tree skirts:
1. Fold the tablecloth in half, then in quarters, and finally in eighths.
2. With a pair of fabric scissors or very sharp scissors, cut the point off the top of the folded fabric following the curve of the hemmed edge to create the hole for the tree trunk. Depending on the diameter of your tree trunk you’ll want to cut about one to two inches from the point, because when you finally open up the fabric, you’ll have a two to four inch hole.
3. Next while the fabric is still folded in eighths, cut a fold from the bottom of the hem all the way up to the cut you just made. This provides an opening in the tablecloth that enables you to drape it around the tree.
4. Using Mighty Mendit, a product advertised on television, you can glue some type of braiding or trim around the raw edge of the center hole and the two cut edges of the side opening. An alternative to this is folding the raw edges under a half-inch and hemming them on your sewing machine. A third option is to just leave the edges raw and tuck them under every year so that no one notices them. As you can probably guess, this is the option I’ve always chosen!

Note: The photo shows a 70″ round tablecloth around the base of a 9′ tree.

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Cooking While Shopping

Posted in In The Kitchen, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 14, 2009| 3 Comments »

Preparing home cooked meals can be challenging during the holiday season. There’s so much to do and so little time. Isn’t it just easier to order out or grab some fast food these days? Well, what about this – get out that crock pot of yours and cook dinner while you shop or wrap? It’s multitasking at it’s best!

Here’s an easy recipe for chicken cooked in a crock pot. It’s called Linnell’s No-Fuss Chicken. I don’t remember the origins of this recipe, so I guessing that it’s probably a conglomeration of recipes that I adapted. It’s certainly not a gourmet dish, but it’s tasty and easy!

2/3 C flour
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 chicken (2.5-3 lbs.), cut up
3 T butter
olive oil
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 envelope Lipton’s Onion Soup
Approximately 2 cups fat free half & half or chicken broth

Directions: In a shallow bowl, combine flour, sage, basil, and seasoned salt. Rinse and pat chicken dry. Cut chicken into pieces. Coat chicken pieces with flour mixture. In a large skillet, melt butter and a couple of swigs of olive oil. Brown chicken on all sides.

Spray crock liner with a vegetable spray and put browned pieces in the crock pot with largest pieces on the bottom. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the cream of chicken soup and the onion soup. Stir in the fat free half & half or the chicken broth. Pour the soup mixture over chicken. Cover and cook on high for 2 to 2.5 hours until the juices run clear.

Serve on a bed of rice or noodles.

Note: This is a clean out your vegetable bin recipe. Any vegetables such as carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, celery, broccoli, onions, mushrooms etc. can be added. Wash, cut, and place veggies on top of the meat before cooking.

Go ahead and go shopping for a couple of hours. Dinner will be waiting for you when you return home!

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Friday’s Fresh Five (12/11/09)

Posted in Art and Crafts, Gift Ideas, Helping Others, In The Kitchen, inspiration, tagged , , , , , on December 11, 2009| 2 Comments »

The spirit of sharing and giving can be found everywhere.

#1 – Free Printable Gift Tags
There are many websites that provide free printable gift tags for all occasions. Just do a Google search for free printable gift tags and select the page that you want to print. Insert white card stock into your color printer, print, and cut out! Here’s a site that had cute Christmas tags.

#2 – Baking Tip
With holiday baking in full swing, consider this tip: Cookies will spread during baking if you’ve allowed the butter to get too soft, so refrigerate your dough for a couple of hours before baking. Bottom line: When putting a sheet of cookies into the oven to bake, the cooler the cookie dough, the less it will spread.

#3 – Looking for a Unique Gift That Gives Back?
My cousin Laurie is a high school principal. She, along with her daughters Alison and Kelly, and friend Nancy, an intervention specialist, have started a project called BeBuddies. Laurie and her team create one-of-a-kind, handmade BeBuddies. They are asking people to, “Please adopt one this holiday season and support youth who are finding ways to develop their skills and avoid further contact with the juvenile justice system. Every dollar from the sale of BeBuddies will bring resources to teens from 14-18 who are on probation.” Suggested adoption fee for a very cute and unique BeBuddy is $20.00. For more information email BeBuddies@gmail.com. Adopt a BeBuddy and help high-risk youth!

#4 – Christmas Tree Trivia – True or False
A. Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.
B. It is considered bad luck to put up your Christmas tree before the 1st of December.
C. In the first week, a tree in your home will consume as much as a quart of water per day.
D. Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states including Hawaii and Alaska.
E. Thomas Edison’s assistants came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees.
F. Christmas trees generally take 6-8 years to mature.
G. You should never burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace. It can contribute to creosote buildup.

Answers: All true!

#5 – Perspectives on Stress From Catherine Pulsifer
When you find yourself stressed, ask yourself one question: Will this matter in 5 years from now? If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go.

Things could be a lot worse, the stress of the situation always could be worse, but I am alive and I have a lot to be thankful for – so I shall not waste my days with stress and frustrations – Life is too short!

I’m in a holidaze, but hope your holiday season is stress free!

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Project Pomander

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gift Ideas, tagged , , , , , , on December 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

There’s nothing new about pomanders. As a matter of fact pomanders were used in the late Middle Ages through the 17th century to protect against infection and mask against bad smells. Today pomanders are primarily used as room fresheners. According to Wikipedia, the word pomander originates from the French “pomme d’ambre, i.e. apple of amber, is a ball made of perfumes, such as ambergris (whence the name), musk, or civet.”

Modern day pomanders are generally apples or citrus fruit studded with whole cloves. To spice up my life (Ha! Ha!) and get me in the mood for Christmas, I decided to make some citrus pomanders. I purchased oranges, lemons, limes and a jar of whole cloves. Costco is a good place to purchase these items in bulk and inexpensively. Because I didn’t want my home to smell like a dentist’s office, I decided not to follow tradition and chose not to cover the entire surface of the fruit. Hearts, stars, and patterns were more in line with my style.

I washed the fruit first and poured the cloves in a little bowl. If you are really a detail-type person, you could separate in advance the headless cloves from the head-still-intact ones. Unbelievably, I did not do this. Working on a plate, I selected the side of the fruit I wanted to highlight and used cookie cutters to outline the desired design. Holding the cookie cutter in place, I gently poked holes around the outside of the cookie cutter with a bamboo skewer. The cutter may have to be gently rocked from side to side to adequately work the design around the contour of the fruit. Space the holes about one-fourth inch apart, or for a denser-looking design, place them closer together. Push a whole clove into each of the holes.

Had I checked in with Martha Stewart first, I would have used rubber bands to create straight lines and would have shaken my pomanders in Orrisroot (available at health food stores) which is a perfume fixative. Live and learn!

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Stopping Those Drafts

Posted in Art and Crafts, tagged , , , , on December 7, 2009| 2 Comments »

The rare dusting of snow is melting now, but the temperature will be in the 20’s for the next couple of nights. I am glad that I took the time last week to make draft stoppers for some of my doors. No matter what type of weather stripping I put on it, my cranky old front door always plays the hot-cold air exchange game. I’ve been told by a contractor that the ultimate fix for this is to get a new front door. Not being ready or willing to do that, I decided to make some draft stoppers. How hard could it be?

After measuring the width of the doors, I rummaged through my fabric remnant bin and found some appropriate material. It is best to use a tightly woven fabric so that the filling doesn’t leak out and also try to select fabric that has a design on it so dirt won’t show. It is on the floor after all! For each draft stopper I cut out a rectangle of fabric using the measurement of the door width + 2-inches for seam allowance x 8-inches high. Fold fabric lengthwise with right sides together and pin in place. With your sewing machine stitch all the way up the long side and at one end. Turn the fabric tube right side out.

Filling material for draft stoppers should be somewhat heavy so the units stay in place and should also be somewhat malleable, so that each draft stopper can be pushed in against the door and door sill as tightly as possible. Possible fillers include sand, saw dust, or kitty litter. I opted for the last one since it was cheap and I was at the grocery store when I thought of the idea. I used a 20 pound bag to make three draft stoppers.

It’s probably best to pour the filling into the fabric tube outside the house and having another person to help would be ideal. Because I was alone and it was too cold in my garage, I filled mine in my family room. After spreading newspapers on the floor, I used a large jar to scoop kitty litter into a gallon Ziploc bag. After the Ziploc was about 2/3 filled, I cut 1-inch off the bottom corner of the bag. This was going to be my funnel. Holding the sealed Ziploc in one hand and the fabric tube in the other, I was able to fill the tube with minimal mess. Filling the entire tube required a few refills of the Ziploc bag. When refilling the Ziploc bag, be aware of which corner is the cut one so that the kitty litter does not come spilling out. Fill tube entirely except for the last 1.5-inches at the top. Fold about a half-inch of the top edge of the fabric down to the inside of the tube and carefully sew the tube shut. If it is difficult to sew because the filling is pushing against the machine’s presser foot, you may have to empty some of the filling out. Stitch again next to your first line of stitches for reinforcement.

I placed my draft stoppers on three external doors and I’m already feeling a slight temperature difference in my home. I should have made these years ago. The only trick now is to get my husband to put them back in place every time he goes in and out!

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Friday’s Fresh Five (12/4/09)

Posted in Art and Crafts, Creativity, Gift Ideas, In The Kitchen, Recipes, Style and fashion, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 4, 2009| 1 Comment »

Hope you had an enjoyable Turkey Day and gave many thanks for all of the blessings in your lives.

#1 – Decorating With . . .
Dried apple slices and cinnamon sticks add a homey and fragrant touch to holiday wreaths, garlands, and potpourri, but how about decorating presents with them? Use brown postal wrapping paper (or reuse plain sides of grocery bags) or brown lunch bags to hold your gifts. Tie off packages with any coarse natural fiber twine such as raffia, jute or hemp, and add the finishing touches of dried apple slices and cinnamon sticks.

Here’s a recipe for dried apple slices from the Gooseberry Patch – Coming Home for Christmas Cookbook:
8-10 apples
lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
6 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons arrow root powder

Soak apples in juice for five minutes, then pat dry. Place remaining ingredients in a large plastic storage bag. Add apple slices and shake to coat. Dry apples in a 150 to 200 degree oven for 6 hours. Remove from oven and lay on wax paper and turn daily until dry.

Fresh apples can be used as decorations too:
*Fill large bowls, vases, or hurricane lamps with apples. One vase could contain only red apples, another only green apples or you could have several containers with red and green mixed together. Fresh greens and berries can be tucked in for a festive look.
*Hollowed-out apples can be used to hold dips and spreads or hold votive candles.
* Apples can be added to floral arrangements or wreaths by wiring them or by staking them.

#2 – Meat Tip From Bob the Market Man
Always scrape or rinse and pat dry any cut of meat that has gone through the meat saw. This includes pork chops, T-bone steaks, porterhouse steaks, and chuck steaks. Scraping, rinsing, or wiping removes any bone dust or fragments that may have adhered to the raw meat.

#3 – Aretha Franklin Sings “Chain, Chain, Chain . . . “
The trend now is to wear multiple chains or necklaces. Layer short and long necklaces together or combine a few longer necklaces for a stylish look. The multiple chain look can be worn with casual attire, such as jeans and a simple blouse, or depending on the design and quality of the necklaces with dressier attire. Bottom line – don’t pile on so many that you’ll fall over!

#4 – Dental Floss Is Not Just for Teeth!
I always keep a container of dental floss in my kitchen drawer. It has a myriad of uses. Because it is thin, yet strong, I use it to truss chicken or turkey. Waxed floss works great for cutting out different types of dough, such as dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, or refrigerator cookies. Refrigerate dough to make it firm, place floss underneath the roll of dough, and cross the left side to the right and the right to the left. Pull floss tightly to cut evenly through dough. This crisscross technique can also be used to cut soft cheese or to loosen stubborn baked cookies or biscuits off baking sheets. Hang pictures with it instead of wire, which can scrape wall paint. Dental floss can come to the rescue many times over when you travel. Use it for quick fixes for broken zipper pulls, luggage tags, bracelets and necklaces, and shoe laces. Sew a button back on with floss, but be sure to pack a needle with a large eye in your travel gear. This holiday season string your cranberries, popcorn, or gumdrops on dental floss. Mint dental floss works great to tie fresh or artificial greens together!

#5 – Thought for Today
For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.
Clarence E. Hodges

Time to start your Christmas shopping – only three weeks left!

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Reach For the Beans

Posted in In The Kitchen, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on December 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

‘Tis the season to be quick and speedy. With time at a premium, but a high desire to entertain, why not make life easier? That’s what I did when I needed a tasty appetizer in a hurry. I simply reached into my pantry and pulled out a can of cannellini beans. Cannellini beans are also called white kidney beans and like other beans, they are high high in protein and fiber and low in fat. Cannellini beans are popular in Tuscan dishes and other Italian cuisine.

Here’s a bean spread recipe that requires few ingredients and is a hearty appetizer when served with toasted baguette slices or pita chips. During the summer when tomatoes are abundant and flavorful, I gently fold in some fresh diced tomatoes after the mixture has been pulsed in the food processor. This is in addition to the sauteed ones. If the spread needs to be thinned, I add additional olive oil like the recipe states, but I use Meyer lemon infused olive oil for a brighter taste.

Cannellini Bean Spread Recipe

This is an adaptation of a recipe from Chef Kurtis Jantz of Trump International Beach Resort in Miami.

4 ounces olive oil, good quality
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 roma tomatoes, small, diced
15.5-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed in cold water and drained
1/2 ounce Italian parsley leaves, rough chopped
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper, fresh-ground, to taste

In a medium, tall-sided sauce pot, add olive oil and heat on high until just below the smoking point. Remove from the heat and carefully add minced garlic. As soon as you smell the aromatics of the garlic (you do not want the garlic to get overly brown), add the tomatoes and stir well. Return pot to the stove over medium heat and add cannellini beans. Simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from stove, and let cool slightly. Fold in parsley. Using blender or food processor, pulse blend just until the beans are broken up but not pureed, leaving some texture. You can add more olive oil to the mixture if you like it thinner. Cool to room temperature and serve.

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The Kids Are Gone Again Blues: Making Homemade Spiced Mocha Mix

Posted in About me, Gift Ideas, Handcrafted Cards, In The Kitchen, Parenting, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Sitting in front of the fireplace with my furry little dog at my feet, I warm my hands on a mug of hot cocoa and savor the rich chocolate flavor. Ah, the good life. You’d never guess that just a few short hours ago I packed up my kids and sent them on their merry way. Each got a hug and a goody bag of Thanksgiving leftovers. Since they left, I’ve washed six loads of laundry, stripped and remade all the beds, cleaned every sticky square inch of my kitchen, mopped dirty floors, and vacuumed leaf-strewn carpets. That was the easy part of my Thanksgiving holiday.

Despite the nonstop cooking and cleaning, the craziness of playing referee between my kids (yes, even at their ages they still have tiffs), and the constant scheduling of family time around their social schedules, I really love it when my kids come home! But four days goes by quickly, and soon I find myself standing in the driveway waving goodbye to them one by one. As they each drive off, I feel a little emptiness in my heart and sadly I turn around and head back to the house. Miraculously, though, every time they leave and I pass through the threshold of the front door and see the chaotic mess they’ve left behind, that sad feeling is gone! It’s replaced with the Do-You-Think-I’m-The-Maid feeling!

So whether you’re feeling blue because your kids are gone again or you’re just happy to be by yourself again, here’s a recipe for a nice, comforting spicy mocha beverage. A neighbor gave it to me many years ago and it’s a good mix to have around the house during the holidays to serve to guests. For a great gift idea, put the mix in a cellophane bag, tie it up with a pretty ribbon, attach the directions, and tuck in a small bottle of brandy or your favorite liqueur (such as Frangelico or Kahlua) to make your gift complete. Wrapping a bag of mix with a cute pair of coffee mugs is another way to give this mix as a gift. Marshmallows optional with this version!
.
Spiced Mocha Mix
Mix together:
1 cup nondairy powdered creamer
1 cup hot cocoa mix
2/3 cup instant coffee powder/granules (decaffeinated or regular)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Store in an airtight container.

Directions: Place 2-4 tablespoons in the bottom of a mug. Add 6 ounces of boiling water and stir until smooth and blended. Garnish with whipped cream and shaved chocolate. Add your favorite liqueur or brandy to taste – not optional during the holidays!

Don’t forget: When packaging this mix as a gift, make sure to include a printed copy of the directions!

Note: My “Falling Leaves Snowflake” cards were made from outdated calendars. Calendars with beautiful images and high quality paper can be reused for other projects!

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The Twelve Posts of Christmas

Posted in About me, Art and Crafts, Creativity, tagged , , , on November 25, 2009| 1 Comment »

Andy Williams is crooning, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go . . . .” Well, not quite everywhere, but at least at the store where I work. Hanging from a little pop-up Christmas tree in the middle of the store are three-dimensional metal and crystal-embellished ornaments. Rich jewel-toned silky tops, shimmering sweaters, and sequined jackets hang from racks waiting for the holiday spirit to snatch them up. No offense to Pilgrim fans out there, but other than placing a fall wreath on my front door, I did not decorate my home for Thanksgiving. Although I enjoy Thanksgiving because of the obvious three F’s: fall, food, and family, for this holiday crafter there is so much to do with so little time. Like the retail stores, I’ve moved on to Christmas!

With only 12 planned posts before Christmas, I’m offering you my Twelve Posts of Christmas. The contents of these posts won’t stray too far from my original intent, but there will be an emphasis on recipes for entertaining, crafty gifts to make and take, and many other holiday ideas.

Here’s my first holiday idea for you. How about refreshing your front door Christmas wreath? Even if your wreath has seen better days, there’s no need to toss it out. As long as it still has good “bones,” it is salvageable! One of my friends always gets vouchers from me for her birthday. Last year I promised to rework one of her broken necklaces and when I was finished she had a totally different necklace plus two pairs of matching earrings. This year she received a voucher from me to refresh her two front door Christmas wreaths.

It was easy. First I removed faded flower stems by either carefully pulling them off or by cutting them off as close to the glue source as possible. Next, using wire cutters, I removed the bows. Because I wanted to reuse as many original parts of the wreaths as possible, I left the cream-colored berries, pine cones, and leaves on, but took off an overabundance of disintegrating tiny plastic berries and replaced them with more realistic ones. I also removed anything else that was on the verge of falling off.

At my local craft store I selected new ribbon. In my friend’s case, I wanted to get away from the faded, wide, red ribbon that the wreaths were sporting before, because between the poinsettias and the berries there was too much red. I opted for a wide cream brocade ribbon. I thought the light color would look attractive against her black doors and would match the cream-colored berries. I paired up a thinner, gold-edged, transparent, red ribbon with the cream ribbon to tie in the gold of the existing leaves. While at the craft store I also picked up new poinsettias, keeping the same diameter as the old ones, along with the new more realistic berries.

The flowers, berries, and loose items were all hot-glued into place. Pretty new bows were made and instead of placing them at the bottom where they used to be, I positioned the bows at about ten o’clock for the left wreath and two o’clock for the right one. I felt this made each wreath more unique, while still being part of a pair.

Overall, the project took me a couple of hours, but that’s because I was watching a Christmas movie at the same time!

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Praising Persimmons

Posted in In The Kitchen, Recipes, tagged , , , , on November 23, 2009| 2 Comments »

Being able to buy almost every kind of fruit year-round in grocery stores is a marvelous thing, but buyer beware, there’s a fruit that’s only available in stores from September through December – and that’s the persimmon. Stock up now on this heavenly fruit!

Not only are persimmons delicious and beautiful, they are loaded with nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B-6, copper, and lutein. Plus, they contain 6 grams of fiber.

The squat-shaped Fuyu, one of the two most popular types of persimmons, is meant to be eaten while it is firm and crunchy like an apple. Fuyu are great in salsas and salads. Click here for a link to a recipe that includes Fuyu persimmon chunks, mixed in with apples and pomegranate seeds, and is finished off by tossing with mint leaves, lemon juice, and honey.

The other popular variety of persimmon is the acorn-shaped Hachiya. Unlike the Fuyu, these can only be eaten when they are as ripe and squishy as water balloons. Don’t even try to eat these before they’re ready or you’ll regret it! Unripened Hachiyas are loaded with bitter-tasting tannin. To eat the apricot-like flesh of these persimmons just scoop out the soft sweet pulp with a spoon. This pulp can be used in practically any recipe requiring packed pumpkin – pies, cookies, cakes, and quick breads. Sugar levels might have to be adjusted, though, because persimmons are sweeter. Also, persimmon pulp freezes well, so buy now and bake later.

To ripen Hachiya persimmons to perfection just let them sit on your kitchen counter until they’re soft. If you are in a hurry, you can put them in a sealed container with an apple or banana and keep them at room temperature until they are ready. If you are in a super hurry, you can pop them in your freezer overnight and they become soft as they defrost. I learned this last trick from Mr. Struble of Struble Ranch. He said that if there’s a frost while the persimmons are still on the trees, he has to pick them quickly thereafter because of the accelerated ripening. I tried this freezer trick and it worked perfectly.

I made a rich and fruity bread today which my husband thoroughly enjoyed. I’m sure it had something to do with all the whiskey that went into the batter!

Here’s an adaptation of James Beard’s Persimmon Bread:

3½ cups sifted flour
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 to 2½ cups sugar
1 cup melted unsalted butter and cooled to room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2/3 cup Cognac, bourbon or whiskey
2 cups persimmon puree (from about 4 squishy-soft Hachiya persimmons)
2 cups walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
2 cups raisins, or diced dried fruits (such as apricots, cranberries, or dates)

1. Butter 2 loaf pans. Line the bottoms with a piece of parchment paper or dust with flour and tap out any excess.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Sift the first 5 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

4. Make a well in the center, then stir in the butter, eggs, liquor, persimmon puree then the nuts and raisins.

5. Bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes two 9-inch loaves.

If you have favorite persimmon recipes you’d like to share, please send them to me at Linnell@WhatAboutThis.biz.

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