Carnival #83

This week the carnival is I've Got a Little Space to Fill. Thanks to Mama Bear for hosting! There are some great entries this week (as always.) It was hard choosing favorites, but here they are

Green Tomato Pie
Someone recently asked me what to do with a lot of green tomatoes. I suggested fried green tomatoes and relish, but then was stumped. Here is another option.

Recycled Round Plarn Rug
I just love all of Cindy's projects and could easily include her in the favorites list every week. I'd love to have some rugs like this for my mud room.

Blueberry Pie or Blueberry Cheesecake?
I know I said before that ice cream was my weakness, but a more accurate statement might be that ice cream is one of my weaknesses. Cheesecake, well, that really is my favorite, and blueberries are my favorite fruit. This is an interesting article with a link to the recipe, and discussion about how to tweak it to make it even better. Drooling here, really!


Be sure to check out all the entries for yourself, and link to the carnival and your favorites.

We are still looking for more hosts! Please email me makeitfromscratch at yahoo.com

Homemade Bookmarks

I don't know about your house, but we do a lot of reading in ours. Between school and reading for pleasure, someone is always in need of a bookmark. Generally, we use whatever is handy- paper scraps and sticky notes are popular choices. Occasionally, though, I'd like something a little nicer to use in a coffee table book. That's where these homemade bookmarks come into play.

These bookmarks would make great gifts as well. If you ever give books as gifts, be sure to include a bookmark as part of the package. I think it encourages the recipient to dive in right away and if you sign and date the back, it enhances the sentiment.

To make these pretty bookmarks, you will need:
Ribbon of your choice
Silk scrapbooking flowers and leaves
Clear tacky glue
Small decorative brads
Scissors

Cut ribbon on an angle to prevent it from unraveling. I also put a little glue (make sure it dries clear) on the edge with my finger to keep the edge from looking frayed.

Place a drop of glue between two of the silk flowers, layer them together and poke the brad through the centers. Place a drop of glue near one end of the ribbon and on top of the silk leaves. Poke the brad (with the flowers already on it) through the ribbon and then through the leaves.

Open the tines on the brad to secure the entire flower and ribbon. Let the glue dry completely before using.

For Coffee Lovers

The past few weeks, I’ve shared some edible Christmas gift ideas that you can make now to prepare for the holiday season. This week I am talking about treats that you can make yourself for coffee lovers. After this week, I'm going to switch topics a bit to talk about a made from scratch Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, I'll share a few more edible gift ideas and how to put it all together for a gift.

If you have a coffee lover on your list, or if you are a coffee lover yourself there are a lot of edible goodies that you can make to include in a gift package. You can make your own instant coffee mixes, flavor add ins, and treats like biscotti.

Instant coffee mixes involve only a few ingredients. Throw them in the blender and mix. Hillbilly Housewife has some of the best mix recipes I've tried. (There are hot chocolate and tea mixes too.) The Rich Vanilla Coffee Mix is my favorite.

Instant pudding is the secret to her coffee mixes. There is something in the pudding mix that helps the ingredients dissolve. I've tried other recipes without the pudding. They did taste good, but at the bottom of the cup there is a very unappetizing goo left from the ingredients that didn't dissolve.

For those who prefer a good cup of brewed coffee, you can make your own flavor ad ins. Last year I made Irish Cream. It was so good. I will be making it again.

Irish Cream
2 cans condensed milk
2 cans evaporated milk
2 1/2 C cream
12 oz milk chocolate
1 tsp instant coffee
Fifth of whiskey

Melt the chocolate with the condensed milk. Stir in the instant coffee while the mixture is still warm. Then allow it to cool. Mix together the remaining ingredients. Add the cooled chocolate mixture. Mix well. Store in bottles. Mix before filling each bottle. Store in the refrigerator. Shake before using.

I am also thinking about trying Coffee Liquer this year. The recipe was shared by Kathie at Women Not Dabbling in Normal. Of course you can also make non-alcoholic syrups. I have not tried these yet, but Slashfood has a couple of recipes in Make your own coffee syrup. Be sure to check the comments for several more recipes and ideas.

Another idea that will add flavor to coffee is to make chocolate spoons. Simply melt coating chocolate in the double boiler (or microwave, but be careful not to burn it.) Flavors can be added by mixing in a few drops of extracts. Dip spoons into the chocolate, coating about the bowl of the spoon, and place on wax paper to cool. These can also be decorated by drizzling white or colored chocolate over the coated spoon.

A sweet treat is always a nice addition to a cup of coffee. You could make cookies, muffins or other desserts to place in your gift package, but biscotti was made for coffee. It really is so easy to make too. I use a very basic recipe found at Allrecipes, Biscotti. This particular recipe calls for ainise. I substitute almond flavoring. After the biscotti is cooled it can be dipped or drizzled with chocolate too.

Hope this gives you some ideas for edible gifts for someone on your list. Or maybe just some ideas for frugal coffee treats for yourself!

Next week, Thanksgiving. Any recipe requests?

Coffee beans photo credit: DA photography

Carnival #82

Thanks to Julie for hosting this week's carnival at Chez Artz. Be sure to check out the whole carnival, but these posts really caught my eye.

Frugal Ideas for Date Nights
I love the idea of creating a special night with your sweetie without spending a lot of money. she has included several wonderful sounding appetizers to try.

Berry-Lemon Pudding Cake
I just can't resist berries. Mmmmm.

Homemade Croutons
I use my old bread to make bread crumbs, but using it for croutons is another deliciously frugal thing to do with it.

Interested in hosting? The fall schedule is looking a little sparse! Email me at makeitfromscratch at yahoo.com for available dates!

Crazy Crafts for Kids

My kids and the kids I babysit love to make crafts. We often make ornaments, magnets and picture frames, but once in a while, my creativity just isn't there when they want it to be. On days like those, I hand over the craft supplies and let them go crazy.

When I was younger, oh who am I kidding, I STILL love to take an afternoon and just make something from whatever I've got on hand. I am one of those moms who never throws any of my scraps away. I have also been known to keep things like holiday cards, ribbons from invitations and salvageable pieces from broken items around the house. They come handy on days when the kids want to make something. All of this stuff goes into a box- okay several boxes and bags packed in a large plastic storage tote- for a rainy day.

Letting the kids make whatever they want with whatever you have is a great way to build their creativity and let their imaginations run wild. Our boxes contained things like: popsicle sticks, googly eyes, felt pieces, ribbon pieces, feathers, fuzzy stickers, wood scraps, plastic shredded gift bag filler, magnets, pompoms, string and yarn and fabric pieces. Some of the places I get the items in our boxes are yard sales, craft and discount/thrift stores, scraps from projects I've made and scraps from school projects.

Don't be intimidated if you aren't crafty. Kids love to be turned loose on a table full of regular household items (clothespins, fabric from old clothing, toothpicks, thread, yarn from an old sweater, faux flowers, paper plates and chopsticks to name a few) that they can twist and glue into critters and cars. I have to admit that I had started some housework while the kids were busy, but I jumped in with the kids when I saw all the fun they were having. Crafting doesn't have to have a particular structure for it to be fun and productive.

Quick Breads: a treat for now or a gift for later.

If you are new to baking, quick breads are a good place to start. Quick breads do not use complicated ingredients or techniques. They do not require the time that other breads do either because they use baking powder or baking soda instead of yeast. There are a wide variety of quick breads. They range from the down home goodness of cornbread to the almost dessert like sweet breads like banana bread.

These breads freeze well. Make a double batch when you are baking, and freeze the extra. To protect the bread in the freezer, wrap the bread in plastic wrap and put into a freezer bag. It will keep nicely for up to three months.

Quick breads, especially the sweet varieties, are a nice addition to holiday gift baskets or trays. If your gift is for a small family or you would like to include a variety of breads, a mini loaf pan is a great tool to have. Many recipes will also work well as muffins too. Just remember that you will need to adjust baking times for the smaller loaves. Recipes calling for an hour of baking time in a full sized loaf generally take about 40 minutes in the mini loaf pans. Loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Here are a couple of my favorite sweet quick breads recipes.



If you have a Amish Friendship Bread starter, it is a great source for making gift breads. Make it in the traditional cinnamon variety or try other varieties too. If you don't have a starter, you can make your own. Not familiar with this bread or want to make your own starter? I talked more about it in this post, Chocolate Banana Amish Friendship Bread.





Quick breads are easy to make, give delicious results, and store well in the freezer. Mix up a double batch of quick bread and enjoy some now, and freeze the rest for gifts later.


Other edible gift ideas:
This Season's Bounty. Next Season's Gifts

Carnival #81

This week the carnival is at Funny about Money. What a great group of entries we have this week. There are some wonderfully creative ideas, and recipes that are making me hungry just by the titles. Be sure to go check all the entries out, but here are some that caught my eye this week.

Five Days for the Freezer
Kate shares the freezer meals she prepared after their monthly shopping trip. I am inspired!

Frugal Ikea Hacks: Make Your Own Laptop Case
I don't have a laptop. I don't sew, but this post is still extremely interesting to me. Guess I just love when someone figures out how to solve a problem without spending a lot of money!

Brownie Mix–Gift in a Jar
Had to include this with the edible gift theme that we started last week. I love how she finished this gift by hot gluing a label to the jar.

Thanks for you support of the Carnival! Enjoy!