Decorations and COOKIES

Christmas is becoming pretty noticeable around here. The houses on our street are lit up with lights, and we are attempting to add to that, if only in the slightest way. The lights on the outside of the garage have decorative wreaths around them and we have a tree up this year, which will continue on in years to come now that we have our own.

We don't have much of a place to put it, but hey.. it's our first year. We'll improve next year.



We also hung some stockings above the fireplace and decorated with H's snowmen.



I've already gotten into the baking spirit. That usually doesn't happen until I'm back in NC and making chocolate chip cookies at both houses. I got a new mixer though and started early. I made both oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and the normal chocolate chip cookies. These recipes can be found on a box of Quaker oats and Nestle Toll House chocolate chips.




I want to try some sort of gingerbread cookie. I've never made those before. Actually, now that I have a fancy mixer I plan to try lots of new goodies. Maybe it's time I begin using that workout machine hiding behind the Christmas tree.

Scented Gingerbread Man

The best part of this craft is not how it looks. It's how it smells! I found an easy to cut gingerbread man template online and printed those off for the kids to cut and paint. We mixed in cinnamon and a touch of glue to the brown paint to make this painting a lot more fun. It smelled great and was a lot more festive than just using plain paint. The cinnamon mixed in also gave a small amount of texture to the gingerbread man.

After painting, the kids could decorate to their liking using a variety of sparkles and buttons by just placing them on the wet paint.

We only had thin paper to use, but I would recommend something a bit thicker to hold up to the paint and whatever decorations you put on top.

Here is my example.

Paper Monsters

I learned last year after doing a craft involving monsters that kids LOVE monsters. Keeping that in mind, I came up with this project with a little help from the internet. This particular craft lets the kids create their own monsters--cute, scary, whatever they dream up.

It's pretty simple. The body is just a circle, which I had all prepped and ready to go. You cut two circles, fold one in half, and glue it on top of the other for the mouth.



I put out a basket of scrap paper and googly eyes, and the rest was up to the kid. Some kids made wings, a tail, crazy hair, etc and it turned into a project that a lot of kids enjoyed.

Here is my example...



Once completed, these became instant toys for many of the kids.

Pasta Fagioli

I have only had pasta fagioli from the Olive Garden and I happen to think it's yummy, so when I came across a recipe for the soup on facebook awhile back I made sure to hang on to it. With the below zero temperatures we've had lately, I figured it was the perfect time to try it out.

I'm posting the way I did it, which was mostly like the recipe I came across, just a few small changes. Beware though--this makes a lot of soup. It filled my 6.5 quart crockpot to the brim and the two of us got four dinners out of this plus a lunch.

Ingredients:
1.5 pounds ground beef
1 small chopped onion
3 chopped carrots
4 chopped celery stalks
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can white kidney beans, drained
2 14.5 oz cans beef broth
3 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp pepper (you may want to use less, as I could tell there was a lot of pepper)
3 tsp dried parsley
a few shakes of chili powder
a few shakes of garlic powder
20 oz spaghetti sauce
8 oz ditalini pasta

Brown the ground beef and drain the fat. Add everything into the crockpot except the pasta. Once everything is in the crockpot except the pasta, cover and cook on low 7-8 hours, or on high 4-5 hours. I cooked the first hour or so on high, and then turned to low for an additional six hours.
Once the soup is done and you're ready to serve, cook the pasta for about a minute or two less than the package directions and then add to soup. I would actually suggest adding to each bowl individually. Otherwise, the pasta continues to cook in the hot soup.

Enjoy!

Q-tip Snowman Painting

Yesterday I did a simple craft with the kids at school--painting a snowman. However, we mixed things up a bit and used q-tips instead of paint brushes. It worked perfectly for the snow and gave the snowman a textured, more snowy look. The paintings are great for the various ages and allow each kid to bring their own creativity to the table.

Here is mine.

Tater Tot Hotdish

Before moving to this part of the country, there were many common Minnesota phrases or words I'd never heard of. The most appetizing of these would have to be the hotdish. In these parts, a hotdish is like a casserole, and the most famous is the Tater Tot hotdish. I attempted to prepare one last winter and only thought it was so-so. However, after adjusting a few things I tried it again yesterday and it was delicious.

Below is how I prepared it and a couple pictures of how it turned out.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
half a pound frozen veggies (I use the mix of carrots, peas, green beans, corn)
2 cans of 10 3/4 ounce cream of mushroom soup
1 pound of tater tots
a handful of shredded cheddar cheese

First, brown the ground beef and flavor to your liking. I just sprinkle with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Once the beef is browned, I drain the grease and pat it dry with a paper towel. Spread the beef along the bottom of a 2 quart casserole.
Then layer the frozen veggies along the top of the beef.
Next layer the soup on top of the veggies.
After that, arrange the tater tots on top of the soup.

Place the casserole, I mean hotdish, into a preheated 350 degree oven and bake uncovered for 40 minutes. After the 40 minutes, take it out of the oven and crank the temperature up to 425 degrees. Sprinkle the cheese on top and place back into the 425 degree oven for an additional 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Welcome

Anyone who knows me would never describe me as being creative. However, over the past year I have had to discover my creative side and put that towards creating projects for my job working with K-5 kids. I'm creating this blog to remember some of the better projects and give anyone out there reading this some simple craft ideas. I will also be using this as a way to show some of my other creative adventures, including recipes, pictures, and anything else that seems to be good posting material. Hopefully you will find something useful. Enjoy!