The Goose is Getting Fat!

It's feeling like Christmas around here and we have been very busy little Elfs lately!
In addition to our looming list of homemade gifts to make I of course had to make a few Holiday creations for Lucas.

We had a rod iron rack that held rod iron baskets of vegetables and towels next to our fridge. Unfortunately, the need to toddler proof forced us to take this down as Lucas loved to try to pull it on top of himself. We suffer from the same plight as many others. We neglected to realize that Stainless Steel is NOT MAGNETIC! Now that the magnetic black side was finally available for play, we wanted to give Lucas some much needed magnet fun. I had some magnet sheets from an old project in my craft drawer and I always have felt lying around so I decided to make Lucas some magnets. I started out with ABC. then used the scraps to make triangles, eyeballs, a line, a tounge, and a circle. I had also made him a felt tree with felt ornaments and a star and had attempted to hang it on the livingroom wall. Lucas immediately ripped it right off the wall along with some of the wall paint! We felt the fridge was a little safer. So I used the remaining magnet scraps for the back of my tree. There literally wasn't a scrap of magnet left in the end. I love that you don't need to put anything on the backs of the ornaments or star since felt sticks to felt. The new magnets are a big hit and they wander over to the non-stainless dishwasher from time to time as well.

We also have been working tirelessly on our Christmas presents. Some will have to remain secret of course, but I can reveal that I finished my pattern designs and began cutting on my StarWars finger puppets for my nephew.

This idea was born from talking to my nephew and then watching him play. He had recently seen Star Wars III for the first time and apparently it changed his life much like thousands of other little boys and girls across the world. He later found Lucas' finger puppets and instantly began an extravagant narrative with them. So I thought what better thing than to combine the two! Of course I thought this was a completely original and brilliant idea until I did a Pinterest search. Low and Behold others had come up with the same idea. Luckily I could only find a decent Darth Vader that seemed to be a worthwhile pattern to work from. This left me to be able to make my own designs for the others. I hope they come out as awesome as they are in my head!!

My little niece turned two back in September. She adores taking care of her baby dolls and Lucas whenever she can get a chance. So I thought for her I would make my first quilt. I actually can't believe I've never made a quilt completely on my own, but with the power of Pinterest and Youtube I made it through!

I only have the hand stitching left to do around the binding. I had a wonderful time making this little piece.
If you have never made a quilt and are looking to get started I highly recommend using a combination of  this tutorial for the construction , a quilt tying tutorial - you will need a curved needle- I used a 2", and I needed this youtube quilt binding tutorial inorder to really understand what they were talking about. I will try to add the quilt tying tutorial I used. I forgot to save it to Pinterest and unfortunately they have shut down their search feature at the moment.
We have also been stirring up a little Christmas fun in the kitchen as well! I planned to make a cheese log using this recipe. However this was for a vegan, gluten free party, so the cream cheese was Tofutti. I found that it doesn't harden as well as regular cream cheese so it wouldn't keep it's little square package form on its own like the recipe intended. So I just put it in a small bread dish I had from our wedding and topped it off similar to the tutorial. I used green onions for the green bow. I found they curl best with an actual pair of scissors and if you run it along the inside of the leaf rather than the outside.

 We also made our version of the santa hat brownie bites pictured here. Again since we were going for Vegan/ Gluten Free we ran into a few road blocks. It turns out you can not use Egg substitutes with boxed Gluten free brownie mix. It will end up a crusty, overflowing, undercooked, and somehow overcooked mess. At the last minute we decided to just go Vegan and drop the attempt for Gluten free. I used my favorite Wacky Chocolate Cake recipe (no eggs, no milk, yet super moist and rich) in a mini cupcake tin, frosted with Pillsbury vanilla frosting (no eggs, no milk, no gelatin) and topped with strawberries. Excuse our messy creations as we were unable to purchase tubed frosting since it typically has gelatin products and I still haven't overcome my fear of making my own piping in a pastry wrap tube. So we frosted with a knife and then used fondu forks to decorate. Bill ended up frosting most of them so I could get dressed for the party. What a great guy! He thought it was pretty awesome so he didn't mind the silliness or tediousness too much.

Well, I hope you are having a VERY merry Christmas season!
I have consulted with 2 potential creative cohorts who have said they may be willing to do a guest blog showcasing their amazing holiday creations while I try to keep my current works under wraps.
So keep posted for some gorgeous hand made crafts by Carrie and Heather.

Merry Christmas,

                                                           The McGowans
P.S. That Party I was talking about, well it was a crazy Christmas sweater party. And as you can imagine, we won.

Killin' it in the Kitchen

I am aware this isn't a cooking blog. Also, this isn't a 'being a mom' blog. However, being a mom does require a great deal of creativity and cooking! This creativity isn't always spun from a new innovative idea either. Sometimes the best ideas are the most tried and true. So I wanted to share this big, exciting, innovative, and NOT new idea with you all, because I'm hoping it will change my life or at least my week.
So here it is.
12 meals, 6 bags, 3 recipes, 1 hour
The idea is to take 3 recipes, double them, put them in freezer bags, freeze, thaw, slow cook in a crock pot, and eat. 
I found this idea on pinterest. (are you seeing a theme?)
I then followed the tutorials and recipes on this blog.

I added fresh broccoli, brussel sprouts, and carrots to the French Beef Dip and I substituted a frozen stir fry mix and some peas for the spinach in the Orange Beef Stew.I wanted to make sure we all got our veggies!!

It took me about an hour to do all the chopping and assembling and I couldn't be more excited to see my full freezer! The 'Slap Chop' came in quite handy. (Actually I have the Pampered Chef version, but we like to pretend it's the more ghetto and excitingly silly Slap Chop.)

Bill came home and was drooling over the bags wondering if we really had to freeze them or if we could start cooking them right away! We'll be sure to follow up with how we enjoy them and even more importantly how the little man likes them!

Oh yes, and we finished the rocking chair. Good as new!

What creative solutions have you come up with in the kitchen? Have you found any out of the box solutions to solve your own household time management issues?

1st Birthday Ho-Down

Please ignore our classic error of looking into 2 different cameras. ;)

This weekend we celebrated our son's 1st year. From reading you may know this is kind of a big deal for us, since our son only has half a heart and has already had 2 open heart surgeries during his little life. 

So needless to say this milestone has been on our radar for some time. We celebrated with a fabulous harvest festival that was just as much fun for the adults as it was the kids! 

I wanted to share a few of my projects with you that made this party extra special. 

The first was a simple DIY bunting made with fabric scraps and left over double bias tape from my new curtains. Tutorial posted here.

I think they served their purpose beautifully. Since I used leftover materials this free project saved money I would have spent on balloons or crepe paper. 

My next project was party favors. 

I had found the idea for pies in jar online and thought this would be perfect. After much debate of what to do for filling, I ended up making chocolate. This allowed me to pre-cook the pies so they only needed be refrigerated and EATEN! 

 They came out beautifully and were DELICIOUS. My husband actually found out I have two extra crusts left and is insisting I make 8 more pies ASAP. 

I also purchased adorable custom labels on etsy that I glued onto the tops with craft glue. Detailed tutorial here.

For the kiddos I made chocolate lollipops of frogs, ladybugs, and butterflies. I never realized how easy these are. You make them in the microwave. Also, I didn't feel guilty about giving parents a bunch of junky toys or a bag of candy they would have to ration out all week.

For interior decorations I printed out our favorite pictures of Lucas from the past year. Then I glued them to scrap booking paper and hung them from rope clotheslines around the kitchen with mini clothespins.

Activities: 

We had 2 games and 2 big activities. The first was hay rides on our lawn tractor. The kids loved this! Especially the birthday boy!

 Even a few adults jumped in at the end. 

Then I set up a photo station in front of our shed.

We had lots of hats, fake teeth, mustaches, noses, etc. to choose from and took family photos of everyone in attendance. I made the mustaches out of felt, poster board, craft glue, and wooden kabob sticks.

While everyone was waiting their turn I made Penny Pitch game with Poster board. I printed out some fun pictures of cows, pigs, barns, apple trees, and a cloud and glued them to the poster board. Then I picked up some giant pennies at the dollar store and a huge role of stickers. All the kids loved this game. They got a sticker if their penny landed on one of the items on the board. The older kids stood further back and some of the littlest ones just had fun putting stickers on the board!

The other game was a simple donkey printed out and laminated with a roll of artist tape on the back. This was stuck onto the backs of unsuspecting guests. When they noticed they would in turn have to put it on someone else's back. Even though we made up the game the donkey spent most of the party on my husbands back or my own. Everyone got a kick out it. It was also a nice conversation starter: ' Why is there a donkey on your back?'

Food: 

I TRIED to make a tractor cake. I bought the pan and all the accessories, but in the end it was 2pm and guests were arriving as I stood with frosting in hand not even sure how to put to put the piping bag together! Luckily my Sister-in-law stepped in and saved the day and finished the job for me. It came out adorably.

Most importantly Lucas loved it.

Also, my dear friend came baring the most beautiful delicious looking gift of all. She made vegetable themed cupcakes that she had slaved over for the past days. But, the cupcakes were never eaten.... you can read more about this tragedy on her vegan cooking blog. 

 

  We all had a wonderful day! Can't wait 'til next year!

Don't make your guests cook! -> Pie in a Jar

So if you are a pinterest and facebook addict like I am you may have seen 'Cake in a Jar.' This concept of making single serving cakes in mason jars made me so excited I talked about it for probably a month straight. When I started to plan for Lucas' birthday party it was a no-brainer that I was going to make them. But then I saw these. The most beautiful creations ever... PIES in a Jar . This was ABSOLUTELY perfect for my Harvest themed birthday party! The concept is to make individual pies in mason jars. The pies are uncooked. You freeze them and then when you want to eat it you bake it for 45-50 minutes and then eat it!
As the party drew closer. I continued to run down the logistics with friends and family as I obsessed over these magical creations. Note that I think she makes FOUR pies in her tutorial and I was planning to make TWENTY FOUR. We later found this is the equivalent of making 6 pies. Flashes of my grandmother bringing seven pies to Thanksgiving one year went before my eyes.
We still talk about it.
Why?
Because that's A LOT OF PIES!
And my apple peeler corer leaves a lot to be desired. It basically works well if every apple is the EXACT same size and shape. But sorry, God don't make 'em that way. My grandmother recommended cherry pies. This made me sulk around the house for a day, because cherries aren't fall fruit and thus do NOT go with my wonderful Harvest theme. I felt like my masterful plan, my hopes and dreams for pies in jars were all falling to pieces before my eyes. Ahh, logistics.
Then it came to me, PUMPKIN pies! I was all excited that I could use my handy Foley mill that I use for making my son's purees or if I lost ambition at the last minute I would just buy canned pumpkin pie filling! Easy Peasy!
Now I don't know the last time I ate pumpkin pie (I don't even like pumpkin pie) and I have never made one in my life. Actually I've never made a pie before. I do make a mean crisp. My mom said I had to wait and make them the day before the party. She was worried about freezing them and thawing them just for our guests to freeze them again. The day before the party my mother-in-law mentioned what uncooked pumpkin pie filling looked like. She said its really runny and kindof gross. AWESOME. So we will give runny uncooked ugly pies to people.

After much discussion, chocolate came into the conversation. Precooked crust was mentioned. All you need is chocolate pudding for the filling was brought up. We were down to the wire and I was SOLD. Note: We did TRY making crusts to see how many we would need to fill a jar. There was flour everywhere and it was a disaster. Again we realized we would at least need enough for 6 pies. So the next day I packed up my one year old on his birthday and we bought out Market Basket of every last box of chocolate pudding and grabbed all the pre-made pie crusts they had. Here's how to make these bad boys.

Roll out 1 pie crust-  (or in my case- unroll my prepackaged crust)

Cut it into quarters with a sharp knife

Use one quarter per jar. Push the center of you quarter to the bottom and push it tight against the glass.

Push the extra onto the sides. Overlap as necessary. Smoosh with your fingers until it feels evenish and completely layers the inside of the glass. Make sure that your edge comes as close to the top of the glass as possible. You can add extra dough if you need to. I used one and half extra pie crusts just for filling in gaps and adding edging to the top

I used a fork along the top rim to make an edge. Then take your fork and poke holes in your crust on the bottom and sides.

Now you really need pie weights or else they do sink down quite a bit in the jars. I used empty baby food jars.They worked perfectly. I used the pie crust directions cooking at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.
 

You can see in the photo my first batch in the upper left. I didn't build them high enough and didn't use the weights. I also took them out a little early. 

Now mix up your pudding as they cool. You can simply follow the directions on the jello box. Once the pudding thickens and your crusts are cooled it's time to add them together!

I let them cool together for about another hour before I sealed them shut and put them in the fridge. I bought labels from this fabulous etsy dealer .

A bunch of party goers forgot their pies when they left so we were left with 6 pies in our fridge. After trying one, my husband and I devoured the remaining 4 in the next 12 hours. They were delicious! And all my guest had to do was EAT them! Or put them in the fridge until they had a lovely chocolate craving.

Note: I used 1/2 pint wide mouth jars. The brand I used was Kerr and we picked them up at Ace Hardware.