BubbaChic

Homemade Christmas - Gift Baskets

Much of the items that I make to give at Christmas are sewn, so it was nice to take a break from sewing and dream up something different. I love the thoughtfulness of someone making up a gift basket tailored to your likes. There is something very special and unique about it. So this weekend, I made up three:

Breakfast Gift Basket

 

Homemade Almond maple granola recipe with blueberry syrup, spatula, festive tea towel, Grandma's Pancake recipe in a bag and recipe cards with ingredients and directions on for the mixes.

The pancake mix is just a blend of all the dry ingredients sealed into a ziplock bag. I whipped up the little white bag to place it all in and printed out the 'Grandma's Pancake Mix' label using this tutorial for printing on fabric. Sharpie straight onto fabric would also work just as well.

Little Girls Gift Basket

The next gift basket was aimed at a girl with an interest in baking/cooking. I made a really simple little ruffle apron and included a timer, measuring spoons and Chocolate chip cookie mix in a jar recipe

I found this great website for gift basket ideas there are so many wonderful ideas and another good resource when you are making food to go in the gift basket is this website which allows you to make your own printable recipe cards for free.

and now...back to the sewing...

 

Deep Fried Turkey

For years now my Dad has confessed his curiosity for deep friend turkey - that is the American way of deep frying turkey...a whole turkey, at once, on Thanksgiving. We have, in the past tried to find a deep friend turkey we could buy as the equipment/oil/turkey needed to do it ourselves would total well over $120. This year a friend overheard me talking about the need to deep fry a turkey this year - with my parents being in town for Thanksgiving and promptly loaned me her turkey fryer - hooray!!

So, we sought advice on how to do it (having found out that the the most common cause of fires on turkey day is from people deep frying turkey) we then researched recipes...brine recipes that the turkey would need to sit in for 24 hours before, injection recipes that would need to be injected in the turkey the night before...the best way to dry a turkey so no dangerous splash back of oil happens...there is most definitely a science to deep frying these beasts.

Our 14lb turkey was brined and marinaded, injected and dried and gently lowered in to the fryer by a rather handsome man using a pink polkadot oven glove (cute bum!)

Where it sat for the next 45 mins

and then we feasted, boy did we feast...a mix of american turkey goodness (that thing was moist and lovely...and not oily at all) and the best of England - Yorkshire puddings, veggies a plenty followed by pecan pie and Bakewell tart.

Vegetating then took place on the sofa...mulling over the black friday ads and getting a plan of attack together for the following morning. All in all, a very sucessful Thanksgiving methinks!

 

Recipe Testing

I have been trying out some new recipes recently and here is a little selection of our favourites for the month!

 

Weight Watchers baked onion rings

 

Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington (Made by Mr B)

Carrot and zucchini bars

 

Chocolate salted caramel tarts

 

Dark chocolate brownie with ginger ice cream and salted caramel sauce

All were very scrummy and well worth making again!

 

 

Best. Homemade. Popsicles. Ever.....FACT!

Maddy and I tried our hand at making these popsicles...they are AMAZING! I think the combination of pudding and graham cracker crust makes them irresistible.

 

We opted for banana and chocolate pudding for ours with two thick layers of graham cracker crust...

 

The only issue now is, to not systematically eat our way through them all at once!

MidSummer

It dawned on me today that we are over half way through the summer and my kids will be heading back to school in just 4 short weeks. It has kind of crept up on me and I now have to start dealing with the fact that the baby of the family will actually be attending proper big boy school...full time...really soon. He has already told me he wants to ride the bus (gulp) which will no doubt mean some covert undercover bus following by me again, along with parking up and sneaking down the halls of his school to ensure he did actually make it to the right classroom.

What makes it slightly more bearable this time is that he will have the  guidance (and protection no doubt) of his big sister, but I am not quite ready for the next chapter of my life to start...its a biggie right?!

Our past week has been spent selling the last of the playroom furniture (it all sold! yay!) and then the subsequent 4+ hour trip to Ikea in Dallas to pick up the new items I needed. Hours upon hours of research and planning has gone into what furniture to put back into the playroom and the very handsome and handy Mr B spent most of his Sunday on the floor of the playroom, putting our new furniture together.

So, we are now painted and furnished and once I have sewed roman shades and put the finishing touches to the room, it will be exciting to finally share it.

 

Winny is certainly enjoying the new shelves and making full use of being higher than anyone in the house and looking down on us all. (and up at the fan on the ceiling too)

 

Our babies are growing and Miss Izzie is still getting weekly vet checks for her broken leg. Her leg is still in a cast (with a new one put on each week to accommodate for her growing legs) and it looks like she will still need another 5 weeks of treatment and cast changes.

 

Bruno, her brother (or Boo Boo as we like to call him) is almost ready to head to a new home, so we are on the look out for a suitable candidate!

 

How can anyone resist this face...seriously??!!

 

 

Baking Week

This week really has been a week of new recipes. Both kids wanted to try their hand at cooking and each picked a recipe they wanted to make. Mads made Daddy lasagne out of her new cook book and Josh made chocolate cake from his new cook book.

This morning whilst trying to decide what to make for breakfast, I realised I had bought some buttermilk yesterday ready to make this treat for breakfast on Sunday. So, a quick google buttermilk pancakes lead me to this recipe and wow....wow, they are amazing...

 

We have a new family favourite...and there is something seemingly very magical about the addition of buttermilk which just takes pancakes to the next level, yum, can't wait to make some for Mr B...

Foooooooood

This week marks the begining of Vacation Bible School (VBS) for us at our churhc and I am helping out 250 kiddies per day with different craft projects. A lot of the last few weeks has been devoted to the planning of this along with the looking after of 2 children, 1 husband 3 cats and 2 kittens (one of whom needs her cast changed every week)

So, this is one of those catch-up post which lists all the new recipes I have tried. I fell in love with Panera Breads chopped Asaian Chicken Salad...I dream of that salad but at $8 a pop I knew I needed to try and make it for myself. Thats when I happened to run across this recipe and last week, I made Jay and I 4 Asaian Chicken Chopped Salads and they were YUMMY!!!!

 

If you are going to do this recipe, you HAVE to make BOTH dressings!! (I added some hot thai chilli sauce into my peanut sauce for a kick!) It is soooo good, you will not regret it! (and the wontons, don't forget the wontons!!)

 

I also made this Banoffee Cheesecake with Pecan Caramel Sauce for a BBQ around a friends house...and then made an extra one for Jay to take into his work, along with 2 Bakewell Tarts for his team who are working uber hard at the moment.

 

Being a Mama

I cherish time with my babes, but I have come to realise that in order to be the Mama they need, I also need to take time out for me. I have fought that feeling for almost 5 years since becoming a mother, thinking it was selfish. Now they are older its easier for me to see that when I am well rested, had a chance to miss them, had a break once in a while, then I am actually a better wife/mother.

But its still difficult.

My family and friends and no longer just a few miles away and over the last six years of being in the States we have now built up a network of close friends that I trust my children will be safe and protected with. I am paranoid, I know that. I own it.

I was chatting with a sweet close friend yesterday. The kiddies were playing in a swimming pool and we were looking on, like Mother hens watching our brood whilst also clucking away to each other. She mentioned that she now realises how patient her mother had been with her every time they baked together. I understand! Before even contemplating my response, the words 'baking with my children is sometimes a test of endurance!! But I remember baking bread with my own Mum and I want them to have those memories....'

And it helps - sometimes it really helps to have that bigger picture. I know that when me and Mads bake or cook or craft or create, things will get messy. Glitter will end up all over the lounge. Eggs will end up on the floor...and in the spur of the moment the perfectionist in me starts getting stressed and fretting and then I have to remind myself that the process of creation is what I remember as a child more than the final product.

 

I don't remember the taste of the bread roll I had baked, the pizza Mum and I made...I remember her and me doing it. Her spurring me on to make a roll that looked like a hedgehog from that dough, her smile as our pizza was ready she served it to the family. That what I remember. And its those things I want my kids to remember every time they smell baking bread, or baking pizza...

So, regardless of how much mess they create, how much they whine that it takes too long to mix this recipe...I will persevere (God willing) and try harder each day to be the Mother they deserve to have.

 

 

Bakewell In A Jar

It seems that Cupcakes are not the only treat you can cook in a jar as a cute gift! Before heading off on our travels I tried my hand at making a batch of Bakewell Tarts in Jars as Thank You gifts and a Birthday treat for friends.

 

I was pleased with the results - I used my tried and tested recipe and just made smaller versions. I usually pre-bake the pie crust for 10 minutes on the larger versions but that was impossible and not needed on the smaller ones. In fact getting the crust in place was the trickiest part of the whole process.

 

One lesson I learned with these smaller versions is to only fill the jar halfway with the almond-custard (after a good dollop of jam in the bottom) as I overfilled a few of mine and they spilled over the top - which meant then I had to eat them, which meant then I was off my diet...you see the issues it makes have a domino effect!! 

I decorated the outside with a paper doiley and some cute scrapbook card and stuck on a spoon...cute gift!

Teacher Appreciation (Cupcake in a Jar)

I wanted to make something as a small teacher appreciation gift this year. Time is very limited at the moment because of the impending quilt deadline, so I knew it had to be quick and easy but also have a handcrafted feel.

Cupcakes in a jar seemed to fit the bill exactly! A trip to Walmart to get a box of 12 mason jars ($8 for big half pint ones, $7 for 12 smaller ones) a pack of lemon Duncan Hines cake mix and Betty Crocker lemon frosting and we were good to go!

 
 

The cakes can be prepared just as it says on the box (add a package of Dream Whip to give the cake a much denser homemade feel - Thanks Jodee for that tip!) The mason jars simply need to be sterilised, washed and greased with butter and then filled with cake batter between 1/3 to 1/2. Bake as directed on the cake box (mine were baked at 350 for around 20 minutes)

 

 

When they come out - let them cool.

 

When cool, grab a spoon and scoop out half of the cake. Put a good dollop of frosting in and replace the cake.

 

Put another dollop of frosting on the top and decorate (we used sprinkles)

 

Seal and decorate the jar! (add a plastic spoon also!)

 

 

We used some craft supplies we already had on hand, scrapbook paper, vintage lace trim, ribbon and I made gift tags with the help of the sewing machine (sewing on paper is easy and looks cute I think!)

 

 
 

et voila, cute and tasty gift!