Cleaning out the Freezer

Today it is between -5 and -6 Celsius outside, making this the perfect day to clean out my freezer.  I took everything out put it all in bins outside where it can stay frozen.  Then I unplugged the fridge and started to let it thaw out.  I am all about the speedy method, because I have a TON to do today and 2 little ones with colds at home.  I let it thaw a bit and then scrape off as much as I can and collect it.  It is just like snow.

On Mondays I have the most time to get things done so I try to make the best of it.  I need to be creative so my 2 year old can help if he wants to.  Today we had inside snow playtime.  He sat on the floor in his diaper, with his gloves that he put on alone for the first time.  He just played and played until his hands were too cold.  He would take a break, and start again!

I guess he didn't get enough snow while we were in the mountains!

Mini Vacation!

As a girl born and raised in Colorado, I love everything about the mountains. We decided to go on a skiing vacation with some of our friends.  In a couple of weeks we have Winter break and everything will be full.  We took our girls out of school for a day and met in the Mountains.


The slopes are about 3 hours from where we live.  The trip was beautiful. I love seeing the snow capped mountains.  I love the snow covered trees and especially enjoyed seeing all of the castles this time.


During the day the dads went skiing with the 8 year old girls while my friend and I stayed down off the slopes and played with my little ones.  We had a good time playing in snow, sledding taking discovery walks and making use of the cool attractions they have for kids.  We spent the most time in the Playroom.  They have climbing walls, a punching bag, trampolines, a ball play area and lots more.  At night we went swimming when the others were back.


Mostly I really enjoyed the break just to enjoy time with my family and our friends.  It is always nice to be able to spend time with someone who cherishes time with you even if it means that they are sitting beside you cutting up your food so you can have a bite wile the food is still hot.  What a true friend stay near and just share in your life stage even if they are years past diaper days.  I learned a good deal about true friendship, and I was so thankful to have had that time bonding and feeling like I was out with a friend even while covered in baby throw up like any other day! :)


 Here are some of my favorite shots from our trip

The view from our window

We were playing at the little playground, and spotted this little guy.

We asked if we could go and visit him, and we saw he had a friend too.

Icicles!

There was a piece of furniture in the hotel that was from 1836.  The really cool thing is that it was in the underground walkway connecting the main hotel to the guest apartments.  We stayed in the guest apartments and the kids enjoyed running underground to dinner everyday.  It was really nice not to have to get dressed to go over for our meals.

Buttermilk pancakes with homemade syrup

Sometimes on Saturdays I like to make something special for breakfast. One thing I have learned to do this year that we all love is make homemade pancake syrup.  I am not sure where the original recipe came from, I have used my adapted version for a couple of years now.

Pancakes

1 1/2 c. buttermilk
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla sugar
3 Tbsp melted butter
1 c. AP flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Get 2 bowls combine all the wet ingredients in one and the dry in another.  Wait 5 min. and then mix together slowly.  Let set 5 more minutes until you notice it rises a little.  Use a ladle to portion out onto the grill.

Buttermilk pancake syrup

1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 c. buttermilk
1/2 c butter
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Bring everything but vanilla to a boil in saucepan.  Cook for about 7 min. Remove from heat stir in vanilla and serve.

Mokume Gane technique

I have been working with Fimo off and on since college, but only recently with any real consistency.  This has become one of my favorite techniques. It is called Mogume Gane.  I like it because really anything goes and the more you play with it the more unique the effect is.

Flatten and layer several pieces of clay on one another 

Grab some things you can use to alter the surface of the clay.

Looks like this

or this

Use a thin knife or razor to shave off the raised sections of your clay.  Here are some of my scraps.

This is what you have after you cut off the top.

I use the scraps to make beads.

cut your block into a shape of your choosing for a pendant.

After you bake it you can embellish it to make something really unique!  Most of all just have fun!

Linking up to:

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

FlamingoToes

saved by love creations

Domesblissity

Apple Strudel

A couple of summers ago we were helpers at camp.  I taught crafts and helped in the kitchen.  I was so thrilled about having the chance to learn how to make some Austrian foods.  Apple Strudel was the first recipe I learned.  I was amazed how easy it was to make.

Here is the recipe:

I pkg pastry crust

2-3 large or 3-4 smaller apples diced

5 serving spoons of breadcrumbs (plain, fine)

3 Tbsp. sugar (In Europe on pkg vanilla sugar)

I tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. Butter

1 1/2 Tbsp melted butter or milk

1 rum flavoring (they come in little tsp size bottles here so in US sub. 1 tsp)

Preheat oven to 350F or 200C

Peel, and dice the apples and put them in a bowl, add rum flavoring, and set aside.

In a small pan melt 2 Tbsp butter, add bread crumbs, cinnamon and sugar.  Stir every few minuted to keep even browning.  When the bred crumbs are toasted and the mixture is moist, turn off heat and pour breadcrumbs over apples.  This is my favorite part.  I love the smell of the toasted breadcrumbs mixing with the apples and the fun sizzle sound it makes.  Mix well.  Get your pastry dough lined out on baking paper or your cookies sheet.  Pour the apple mixture into the dough, fold over seal the seam and flip the whole thing so the seam is facing down.  I usually the dough on baking paper, fill it, seal it and use the paper to help me flip it onto a cookie sheet.  Once you have it on the cookie sheet use a knife to cut slits in the top allowing the hot air to escape as it cooks.  Brush milk or melted butter over top and bake until golden brown.  It tastes great with ice cream and is a super go to dessert for company.

Enjoy!

Linking up to:
Mrs Happy Homemaker

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other day we had some friends over, and I had promised to make chocolate chip cookies.  I am not sure why I did, because that was one cookie I didn't have a favorite recipe for.I promised to make one giant chocolate chip cookie for us all to share.

I went to my pantry, to get everything I needed.  I couldn't find molasses anywhere.  I cleaned out our pantry the other day and gave several things new homes.  Clearly I need to label because I lost my molasses.

I needed that molasses to make good on my promise.  Molasses and sugar make brown sugar, a very important ingredient in most cookies I make. I had to learn to make brown sugar, because it is not available here.  All we have here is yellow sugar.  That is the closest thing in texture to brown sugar.  Needless to say I didn't have that either.

What to do??? In perfect me fashion I improvised.  I changed things around a it and added thick and creamy Austrian honey to my cookie dough. Thats right, honey.  You know what it turned out great.  No one knew that I was frazzled about the missing brown sugar and my giant cookie was a hit.

I needed to test the theory behind it all and see if the same would be true for a batch of cookies.  The cookies were AWESOME!  Crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.  That is the ideal texture for me. They were buttery, sweet, and full of chocolatey goodness.  My test tasters agreed this recipe is a keeper.  Who would have thought a few frazzled minutes mixed with a little improvising would produce a new and tasty cookie recipe.

We are going skiing with friends this weekend and I plan to make some for us to snack on, you know for further testing..wink, wink.

Here is the recipe:

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. creamy honey (spreadable, not liquid)

1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted or softened)

1/2 tsp, vanilla extract

2/3 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking 

1 1/2 cup sifted AP flour

3/4 cup roughly chopped chocolate bar (or bakers chocolate)

Mix together sugar, butter, honey,vanilla and egg.  In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet. Do not over mix. Using 2 spoons scoop out batter and place on cookie sheet.  Bake at 200C or 350F until golden brown (about 10 min.)  Let rest on cookie sheet about 3 minutes prior to placing on cooling rack.  This will allow the cookies to set.

Enjoy!

Linking to:
Flamingo Toes
Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
33 Shades of Green

Sticky Slime

Today the kids and I made something that was really fun.  My daughter calls it sticky slime.  I have been looking for things to do with kids using cornstarch because we had 4+ boxes of it in the pantry.  My parents and a friend had sent some to us a while ago because I wasn't sure how to find it here. So I ended up having way too much. Thus began the search for cornstarch recipes. I found a recipe here.

Since I have so much cornstarch I just poured the cornstarch into a large bowl and added water until it was firm, and liquidly at the same time. When you apply pressure it remains firm.  So we could ball it up, but when put straight in the palm of your hand it will run through.  When you just touch it in the bowl it is hard, but if you let your hand sink in it will cover your hand.  This is a great indoor activity.  My little boy is sick and I thought this would be a fun way for him to do something kinda calm since he isn't up to running around like usual.

Be sure and try this out with your kids, it is easy to make and fascinating for kids of all ages! :)

The recipe is:

Aproximately 2 parts Cornstarch to 1 part water.

4 cups Cornstarch
2 cups Water

Mix slowly with your hands.  I put some water in the bowl, then added the cornstarch and continued to add the water until it was the consistency I was looking for.

The best way to clean it up is to wait for it to dry.  It can easily be picked up, wiped with damp rag, swept or vacuumed.  It can get pretty messy, but it sure was fun.  I played with it just as much as the kids did.

Linking up to:
Homemaker on a Dime

Sweatshirt into cute bag for toiletries

My daughter had a Hello Kitty sweatshirt that she loved and outgrew. Being sentimental as I am, I held onto it.  I was thinking of things I could turn it into.  I came up with an idea when a  friend of hers spent the night recently.  Her friend had a toiletry bag made of sweat material.  It was also Hello Kitty.

So I made this one for my daughter.  I decided to make it a little more practical for her so she can hang it on the door when she goes to camp or to visit a friend.  The door knobs here are more like handles than knobs, so she should be able to hang it wherever she goes.

Instead of a zipper, I used a loop and a large button. The great thing is that I was able to use the loop for both the buttonhole and the hanger.

When I made the bag, my daughter and husband were gone.  I left it in the entry way so she would see it. When my daughter came home she was so excited and said repeatedly how much she loved it!  I kept thinking to myself, ....that was a morning well spent.

We had dinner guests later, they stop through each year when they are on a mission trip to the Ukraine.  These sweet women usually spend one evening with us each year as they head back to the States. We always enjoy visiting with them.

I try to make something to give to them at dinner. This year I made pendants and last year we made keychains. My daughter could hardly wait to show them the pendants as well as her new toiletry bag.  It made my heart smile.  The more I do it the more addicting it is to up cycle things.  My son ran around  all day with the glove bunny, my daughter bounced around all night with her new bag and I felt so proud.

It is a joy and creates such sweet moments too.  It is sweet, my daughter feels so proud of each thing I make.  She tells everyone about each little thing that I do.  She tells them about my blog, and about the latest thing I made.  She keeps count of my followers and follows every comment.  It is really sweet.  I have promised her that she can post in the near future.  Be sure to look out for that.  She has been making some pretty cool things and she is looking forward to sharing them with all of you!

Linking to:
So Very Creative
Homemaker on a Dime
Skip to my Lou
Making the world cuter
Singing Three Little Birds
The Girl Creative
etcetorize

McDonalds in the dark

This week my daughter had a test in school and a level in her swim class.  She was one of 3 kids in her class to get everything right.  This is always a big deal to us when we hear how well she does in school in her 2nd language.

We went to McDonalds to celebrate a couple of nights later.  Our plan was to go out for dessert and then come back home to eat dinner.  Once we got there we decided to eat dinner there as well.  We had been in there no more than 2 minutes, when all of the lights went out.  I immediately started to play out various scenarios in my head as I sat there with the younger children while my husband and oldest ordered.  A lady that worked there walked by and smirked.  I thought ok, she thinks it is funny so either it is ok or she is a part of whatever is getting ready to happen.  Like a lioness, I was keeping my eye out for anyone planning to make a sudden movement towards my family.  My son was going back and forth between my husband and I, the baby was sleep and I was trying to think of a way to bribe him to stay seated.  All the while the lights are going off and on.

The lights came back in every section but ours and I turned my attention to a man and woman on the other side of the restaurant. It appeared as though they were having a disagreement. They were both standing then he walked away and sat alone at a nearby table.  As I watched, my husband came up and asked me if I thought we should stay in that section or move to the other side where they had light.  We moved and ended up sitting right next to the people I was watching.  It turns out that they were not together. He was sitting there the whole time talking with an imaginary friend, or 2, or 3! The world may never know. Needless to say it added to the dramatic atmosphere.

Strange things aside, we had a good time. The kids got these really cute little Happy Meal boxes ad their toy with the Happy Meal.  My daughter picked them out, because they were practical.

         
When it was time to go my son ran off toward the counter.  He was headed away from the door.  My husband and the girls had already gone to the car. I called after him and said "This way!" then he said "Wait, I need to say Danke!" He proceeded to navigate through everyones knees to the end of the counter.  He yelled "Danke!!" Danke means Thank you in German.

It was a night I won't soon forget.  I love my family and celebrating any and everything with them brings joy to my heart!