Homemade Gifts

For the past few years we have done homemade gifts for Davids family at Christmas. This year I am adding my mom and sister to the list. I can't post on what I am doing for them or they will see so I wanted to show you some of the things we've done in the past.

Two years ago we did this mailbox reindeer. We saw that a neighbor in the beginning of our neighborhood had one on their mailbox so David asked them if he could take it to trace a pattern or take pictures so we could make them. I was in charge of the supplies and decorating.

We used shiny red bells for the nose, big googly eyes, red glitter material for the scarf, bungee cord to put around the mailbox and wood stain.

Look how cute he looks there.

This is by far my favorite one we have done. 

 Another great idea that is still considered homemade is a calendar/ anything with photos. Davids sister Gina is the queen of photos and always does a great calendar that we put right in our kitchen.

 One year Darrin and Stacey crafted these Pottery barn inspired wood candles that we keep by our fireplace. There has also been a lot of food gifts and in my book you can't go wrong with those. Later this week I'll show you some inspiration and other ideas that I've been looking into. What have you done for homemade gifts?

Couch Weekend

This year for Christmas I am making homemade gifts for my Mom and Sister. I intended on making them this weekend, but I got sick and spent most of the weekend on the couch like this.

Molly wasn't going to argue with our comfy set up. We watched a bunch of movies.  I'll try to name the ones I can think of: The Other Guys, Easy A, Skyline, The Town, Eat Pray Love and Elf! None really stuck out like wow, you have to see it.

 Davids Mom was so sweet and sent me over a sick basket filled with goodies and yummy soup.

We also had our first snow of the season, not that it snows that much in Georgia. We usually get it a few times a year. It was just flurries but always exciting!

 It stuck a little bit to the ground for a second.

I was trying to get molly to play in it, but I'm sure all she was thinking about was how freezing it was! This morning with the windchill was 6 degrees here! The schools were closed up in the Mountains because they did get 1-2 inches of snow. We also went to Davids work Christmas party on Saturday night and had a good time. It was nice meeting new people since it is a new company for us. Now that we only have 12 days till Christmas I have to step it up and get a game plan. Are you all done with your Christmas Shopping?

Trying to Stay Warm

It's been so cold everywhere even the animals are trying to stay warm. Photos for your weekend of my cute fur nieces.

 Here is the precious Miss. Maddie all curled up with her favorite toy.

Princess Bella is loving the new bed and sheets. Her flannel sheets are also from Target (I love them and wish I would have gotten these ones now).

And Molly trying to stay warm in David's hat.

Fully Stocked Freezer

As of last night, I have given myself the weekend off from cooking and cleaning (I did that too last night). I have fully stocked my freezer with meals, meats and goodies. Here is a look at my freezer.

Don't let me buy anything else at the grocery store for the rest of the month!

Garlic Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta

I have been cooking meals since Sunday for the freezer and for meals to take to the families staying in hotels in our neighborhood. I wanted something kids would eat and that would taste good. I have made 3 different meals x 2 (for later dates) so 6 total. I have also been making regular dinner meals on top of this so at least 3 meals per night since Sunday. I am a cooking fool! I am going to share the recipe for Garlic Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta. I have ruled this one out for kids as there is a lot of chunky things that I know I wouldn't eat as a kid (green peppers, and diced tomato chunks).

This is what my kitchen looked like gearing up my cooking extravaganza. I had to boil my split chicken breasts and shred the chicken off for all the meals during the week. It was nice to do that all at once on Sunday when I had a little more time.
Garlic Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta-
The ingredients:
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 cups cooked chicken diced (or you can cook it before you start your recipe, check instructions)
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. olive oil
2-3 gloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
3/4 cup red or orange bell peppers, chopped (I used green as they are always cheaper)
1 can (14.5-oz) diced tomatoes (undrained)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (use less for a milder flavor)
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2- 1 lb bow tie pasta, cook as directed on package (depending on how much you love pasta)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (may use fresh parsley)
Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions: In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil on medium-high heat and saute chicken until done. Sprinkle with salt and remove from skillet. Keep warm. In same skillet, saute garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil until golden. Add green onions and peppers and cook an additional 2 minutes.

 Add tomatoes, broth, red pepper, cornstarch and salt. Heat to boiling then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Combine chicken, pasta and cilantro. Sprinkle generously with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

 I used the disposable pans since I don't know who is going to eat these.

Combine everything right in your pan.

I put these in the freezer and then will thaw them and reheat them in the oven at 350 for approx 20-30 mins. I might need to add some more liquid depending on if my noodles ate it up.

Media Closet Shelving Unit and New Printer

I mentioned yesterday about a little home project David worked on this weekend. We have a media closet (under the stairs) which is where I would go in the event of a tornado. 1 week ago today the tornado hit our neighborhood and I recall most everyone that they interviewed on the news talked about this little closet under the stairs where they went for safety. It's quite big in there actually and we had this shelving unit in there before, but the problem now was that we had this huge printer and I couldn't move it out of the way.

So David built this custom unit that fits all of our media equipment and our big printer. The key to this is the bottom where the printer is sitting. It is a rolling cart that you can move out of the way.

Here is a closer look as I was starting to pull it out. I ran out of time this morning to move the whole thing, but you get the idea.  The cart is also helpful if there is any paper jams in the back so we can access all sides. We still need to sand and stain it to make it pretty.

Speaking of printer, this is our gigantic laser printer. We had one just like this that fit in our office and a few months ago during a lightning storm it killed our printer. We got the old one free from Davids old work when they were moving and didn't want it anymore. We also got all this ink (which is majorly expensive) so we searched online for replacement parts and didn't have much luck. A new printer costs anywhere from $350(refurbished) - $800ish. We knew we didn't just want to give up on fixing/replacing it so we got on craigslist and found one at an office building downtown that they were having a moving type sale at. We called and the lady said that the ink exploded or something and she wanted way too much for it. So we told her to call us if it didn't sell. Well, it didn't sell and it was only $50!! David picked it up and cleaned out the ink issue and we have a brand new laser printer. We are still adjusting the colors and changing out the ink, but we could run a mini-printing press from our closet now. I am in charge of the neighborhood newsletter so this has helped make it much easier to produce. The other major bonus with this printer is that it has a flipper so it can print back and front without you doing anything.

Weekend Update and Best Pizza Crust Recipe

This weekend we spent some time with friends, but we mostly went shopping around, cooking and David did a project (more on this later). It isn't the fun kind of shopping either, although I do find grocery shopping fun. When our power went out because of the tornado activity on Tuesday, we had to throw away most of our food. We went to 3 different stores (Sams, Kroger and Walmart) and spent close to $300. There is also another reason for spending that much. I volunteered to help cook meals for some of the families staying in hotels because they can't go back to their homes for a long while. I start on Wednesday for a Mom and her 5 children. I'll share some of my recipes I tried, some I decided halfway through aren't kid friendly, but I'll save them in my freezer just in case or we'll eat them. Now, I want to share with you the best pizza crust recipe we've found so far. 

Ingredients-

1 pk dry yeast

1/3 c warm water

1 t sugar

1 c cold water

2 T olive oil

1 T sugar

1/4 t garlic salt

1/2 t salt

1/2 t dry oregano leaves

3- 3 1/2 c flour

Directions- 

Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir in the sugar. Let stand about 5 mins or until its very bubbly. Combine the remaining ingredients and about half the flour. Use your dough hook (kitchenaid Mixer) and beat to a smooth batter. Beat in the yeast mixture and continue to add the rest of the flour. Work it into a ball with your dough hook and when it starts to form the ball you can take it out and hand knead a few times if you'd like. Make sure to use a lot of flour as my dough ball was quite sticky. Place it in a bowl with a little pam or oil  with a lid set on top (not tightly closed) or a big ziplock bag sprayed with Pam inside. You can let it sit in a warm sunny spot, or sometimes I turn on the oven and place it on top of the stove/counter area (no direct hot air should touch it though). Once it has doubled in size (approx 30-60mins) punch it down and form your pizza. We have done round pizzas but we decided to place it on a baking sheet in a big square shape. Make sure you grease your pans and put cornmeal down to prevent sticking. Put your toppings on and here is the trick. Let it rise AGAIN in a warm spot for 20 mins. Bake at 450 for 15-20 mins.

We put sausage and black olives on ours.

It came out great and tasted so good. You must give it a try. It makes buying a pizza seem silly.You can also make your dough ahead of time and freeze it, just don't let it rise that second time. Thaw it for 30 mins and continue from there.