Gifts

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It's time for my yearly ritual of making a huge list of gifts to make and waiting until the last minute to begin. I know it is so stressful to wait until the last minute but it always seems to work out that way. Even if I start making my gift list in March or June, I can't get myself to actually begin sewing until December! Oh well, here is my list for this year and links to the tutorials I am using to make them!



Checkerboards for the boys

Cloth Napkins and coasters for the grandparents

Felt Foods for the younger kids

Bookmarks for the tweens and a few friends

Shoe bags for my dad

Fabric Hopscotch mat for the girls

Apron and Chef hats for the godkids and a couple of aunts

Fancy rubber gloves for some friends

I can't list what I'm making for hubby and my mom because they occasionally read my blog!



Whatdya think? Will it all get done by December 24?

Look Ma no pineapples!

I ran out of pineapples so I used peaches to make an upside down cake. This was my first time ever using peaches and I think it didn't turn out so bad.

Giveaway Day

We just returned from long trip celebrating Thanksgiving with family. Spending time with family was lovely, traveling was not. We had difficulty getting a cab to bring all five of us to the airport and once there, realized that we left Lil' Miss' violin back at her grandparents' house! We had no time to go back to get it since we were already running late, thus we had to have grandma pay $111 to ship it overnight to our house so she could bring it to her lesson the next morning. No, it did not make it in time for her lesson. Yes, of course we are paying grandma back. After flying we had another two hours to drive before finally making it home. The kids were fussy most of the way and cried themselves to sleep about half an hour before we reached our house.

After all of the stress of traveling, I was grateful that we all made it home safely and found our home as we left it. And this morning, I was even more pleased to wake up and realize that today is GIVEAWAY DAY on Sew,Mama,Sew!'s blog. Sew,Mama,Sew! coordinates one day when everyone with a shop or blog can give something away, spreading the holiday spirit. They list all of the participants on the blog to create a master list, and leave the lists up for several days to give readers a more relaxed browsing experience. They also provide some structure with categories and international shipping info.

Last year I had a lot of fun browsing all of the wonderful blogs and even won a prize! This year I hoped to participate myself by giving away a small handmade item, but with our travel plans having us away for NINE days, there was not an opportunity for me to get anything together before the deadline. Oh well, there is always next year! For now, I'll just enjoy all of the fabulous blogs to check out and maybe win something!

Handmade Holidays III

I can hardly contain myself! Handmade Holidays is here again! This is the third year that Sew Mama Sew is doing this and it's just beyond wonderful. Every day for the month of November there are tutorials of great things you can make as gifts for the holidays. There are projects for every kind of gift recipient - kids, adults, crafters, students, you name it. In addition, there is a giveaway each day, which you can enter just by leaving a comment!

Last year I made several Christmas gifts using ideas I got from Handmade Holidays II. This year my list is hopelessly long. I'm hoping to make things for my nephews, godchildren and my own children, as well as gifts for my parents, grandparents and of course, hubby! However, I don't think I'll ever get started actually making anything because I've been spending so much time looking at all of the fantastic handmade tutorials!

I do hope you get to check it out and add some handmade items to your gift giving this year!

Saving dinner the homemade way

I found two boxes of taco shells in my cabinet and I could not remember exactly when I purchased them. The boxes did not have expiration or best used by dates anywhere on them, but did say the taco shells were in seal fresh packs, so I figured they were probably still good. There was a recipe on the back of the box for Taco Casserole that looked delicious, so I decided it would be dinner. The recipe called for taco sauce, which I did not have on hand, so I found a recipe for homemade taco sauce. It was extremely easy to make and tasted better than taco sauces I've purchased from the store!

The recipe also called for a packet of taco seasoning - another ingredient I did not have. Okay, so I should have gone shopping before deciding on dinner! Once again, I found a recipe for homemade taco seasoning. Very simple to make and tasted just like the premade seasoning packets I've bought in the past. I don't think I'll ever purchase taco sauce or taco seasoning again!

Okay, here is the best part of the story. After I prepared seasoned the cooked ground turkey and got ready to fill the casserole dish with the broken taco shells as directed, I noticed a funny smell. A smell coming from the just opened seal fresh taco pack. I thought I'd better taste a piece of taco shell and it was so NOT fresh! For a moment, I considered calling the poison hotline because I could not get the horrible taste out of my mouth! What's even worse, is that after searching and searching I finally found a production date of...

... 2005!

I threw the shells away, but then had to figure out what to do about dinner. I couldn't just serve a dish full of taco meat. I mixed up a cornbread batter and spread it over the taco seasoned ground turkey (to which I added corn kernels... just because I love corn). I baked everything at 400 for about 20 minutes, sprinkled cheddar cheese on top and had a tasty cornbread taco dinner!

Here are the recipes I used for the homemade sauce and seasoning mix.

Homemade Taco Sauce
1 can (8 ounces) unseasoned tomato sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
hot sauce to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Let set for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Homemade Taco Seasoning
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.