Cornstarch Salt Clay Christmas Ornaments

Cornstarch Salt Clay Christmas Ornaments

This is another project I have wanted to do with my son.  I have such nice memories of creating ornaments with my family.  Since I am addicted to Pinterest, I looked there first.  I found a wonderful recipe that also uses cornstarch.  I copied it down to use the next day.   I even tagged a friend of mine, so she could see the recipe and how their creations were decorated.  My friend Martha asked me for the recipe, so I tried to tag her on Pinterest,  I now, can't find the recipe.  I can find the pictures, but the link is to something unrelated.  So I am going to give the recipe, but I can not give the credit to whom deserves it.  To the right, is the picture, but no link to the author.  When I was a kid, my mom fixed us some salt dough. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I had so much fun making salt dough ornaments. In fact, the picture to the left are some of those ornaments.  Notice the round ornament in the upper left, that was my contribution.  

The next day I cooked up this recipe and it worked beautifully.  The first batch of dough turned out kind of whitish, but the second batch yellowed.  I don't know if this was because I used the same pot I used the first time, or if maybe I used too much salt?  No matter, they baked up beautifully and we had a wonderful time making these ornaments.  My friend, John, came over to help us make some very creative creations. He even made a pacman!  My son wants to make some more, he really enjoyed himself.    

Cornstarch Salt Clay:

2/3 cup salt

1/3 cup baking soda

1/2 cup corn starch

How to: 

Mix salt and soda with 1/3 cup water and bring to boil

In a small bowl combine cornstarch and 1/4 cup water stir well (use a fork)

When the salt and soda reach boiling, remove from heat 

Add the cornstarch mixture and stir vigorously for 1/2 minutes until a ball forms

Put ball of dough on wax paper to cool

Knead well once it's cool enough to handle.  DO NOT STORE USE IMMEDIATELY

I didn't try it, but you could try adding food coloring to make colored creations. 

I baked at 195 for 4 hours, 2 the night we made them, then left them in the heated oven overnight.  The next morning, the tops were hard but the bottoms were not, so I turned them over and baked the for 2 more hours. 

 Decorations:

Buttons
Strings of beads
Bedazzler crystals
Screws
Pipe Cleaners
Any left over beads, buttons, Christmas lights, screws, nuts bolts and whatever your imagination comes up with.

We used the pipe cleaner as hangers for some of the ornaments.  Press into dough before it dries
Some of our buttons came off, so I "gorilla" glued them back on.

Authentic LEBKUCHEN, Gingerbread recipe from scratch. Wonderfully simple.

Here we go, as promised, my Mom's recipe for home made gingerbread.  Mom is German and in Germany, or Deutschland, gingerbread is called Lebkuchen.  I found a recipe for Lebkuchen in an cook book called, "My Favorite Cookies from the old Country."  They called for allowing the dough to sit in a covered bowl for 10 days before using it.  That's more time than I'm willing to wait for cookies, I'd just head right back to the store and get the refrigerated kind.  Well, I really wanted to know an easy recipe for gingerbread, so I called Mom.  As always, she came through with flying colors.  I believe I will make some homemade gingerbread cookies this week.  Let me know how yours turn out, ok? (P.S. The picture is not one of Mom's gingerbread houses, it's one we did with the baby a couple years ago.)
A little note on the cookbook I was reading, they did suggest to leave the cookies out over night to harden and then bake them.  Of course, cover them up first.  I'm not sure why, but it was an interesting step to take.  Well, if you've waited 10 days to make cookies, what's one more night?  Ahhh, but there's nothing better than a house filled with the warm scents of freshly made, freshly baked and decorated, Lebkuchen cookies. 

Note: I didn't have dark corn syrup, so I used molasses. Delicious!



LEBKUCHEN (Gingerbread)


½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup dark corn syrup
1 egg
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. salt



Combine butter and brown sugar in a large bowl; beat until well blended. Add corn syrup and egg; beat until smooth. Combine remaining ingredients in another bowl; stir to mix well then add to butter mixture, a third at a time, mixing after each addition until smooth. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each third in foil and chill at least one hour to make rolling easier. On a well-floured surface roll out one-third of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, cut out cookie shapes, placing them on ungreased baking sheets, 1 inch apart. Bake at 400 deg. F, for 8 minutes or until lightly browned; remove from baking sheet at once onto a cooling rack. While still warm brush with LEMON GLAZE.



LEMON GLAZE: In a small bowl 2 cups confectionery sugar add 1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice, stirring with a fork to combine. If too thick add a little at a time more lemon juice until glaze is of spreading consistency. Immediately decorate with sprinkles etc. (I use this same dough and glaze to make gingerbread houses)

Christmas Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Craft with Cinnamon Broom.

Christmas Reindeer Craft with Cinnamon Broom. 

 I don't usually post crafts, but this is one I've wanted to do for years.  After I got out of college, I moved to the beach.  I didn't care for living on the beach during Christmas, because there is no snow.  After growing up in the mountains, I usually had a white Christmas. To combat my homesickness, I decided to go to festivals and craft shows.  I thought that would put me in the Christmas spirit.  One stop was at an assisted living facility that had a craft and bake sale.  I found a Reindeer Broom, and had to have it.  It became a treasured Christmas decoration for years. Then it disappeared.  Every year, I would see a cinnamon broom and think, "I can make a reindeer broom."  I never did.  I've actually had these brooms for a couple of years, just waiting on me to turn them into Rudolph the Reindeer, or more appropriately, Rudolph the red nosed broom-deer.
I purchased everything I needed to make the broom-deer, but never got around to it.  I even had the googly eyes, but had misplaced them, so I purchased another pack.

 Then, misplaced them as well.  A couple of nights ago, my son and I went to the craft store and I told him we needed googly eyes.  He reminded me that we had two packs, and if I wouldn't lose them, I wouldn't have to buy new ones.  Smarty pants.  I purchased the third pack of googly eyes, thinking I should actually buy two packs instead of just one. That way, I could throw one pack in the trash, and then I'd always know where it was.  
I didn't want to lose any more googly eyes, so the brooms were brought out and I went to work.
It was a lot of fun, and not that hard.

I think they are really cute, and the craft was not very time consuming.  That's good, because I don't like to spend all day on a tedious craft, or anything for that matter.  Oh, and I found the other two missing packs of googly eyes.  Well, at least I won't have to buy anymore for a long, long, long, time.











Materials you'll need for:
Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer Broom-deer:

Cinnamon brooms
Pipe Cleaners
Red pom pom balls
Large googly eyes
Large jingle bells
String of small, colored jingle bells
Floral wire
Scissors
Glue

Split the brooms in half and tie each side with a pipe cleaner.  Attach a pine bough, or bells or pom poms to the pipe cleaner.
Glue on the googly eyes and the red nose
Take floral wire and cut to length, then put a pine bough at the base of the head and decorate with bells, pine boughs, or whatever you would like to make him look festive.

Wrap a length of floral wire around the base, under the pine bough, to make a hanger. Twist it tight, then make a loop with the remaining length, to hang on a door or wall.

Balsamic Maple glazed Pork chops, Acorn squash with stewed apples and steamed broccoli

Pic from "Dine with a Darling"

Hey Paw! What's for supper?
Balsamic Maple glazed boneless Pork chops, Acorn squash with stewed apples, raisins and dried cranberries with steamed broccoli.

We love Acorn squash in this house. I'm surprised that so many people don't know what an Acorn squash is! My Mom always made this for us growing up. I use to prepare just one Acorn squash, (one makes two servings). I would "share" mine with my son, well, he likes it so much that I was hardly getting any! So now, I make 2 Acorn squash so we all have enough and there is some left over. Same goes for the broccoli, I have to make sure we all have our own and there is some left over. Hard to believe that my little guy loves broccoli, but he does. He also loves fruits and vegetables, probably because that's really all he knows. When he started on baby food, I tasted some labeled "peaches". Well, it didn't taste like any kind of peach I've ever had! So, from then on, I steamed fresh veggies and fruits for him and pureed them. As for the pork chops, I decided to try something new. I hope you all like it, we did. Let's get started...

Pork Chops:

3 thick cut boneless pork chops
1 cup maple syrup
2-3 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of Caribbean jerk seasoning
1/4 teaspoon of dried pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 350
Place chops in a baking pan
Salt and pepper them to your taste
Mix the rest of the ingredients together and pour over the chops
Let sit for a little bit while you prepare the Acorn Squash
Put the chops and the Acorn squash in the oven at the same time
Bake for 45 minutes turning the chops over 1/2 way through the baking process

Acorn Squash:

Foil lined cookie sheet
Butter
Brown Sugar

Cut the acorn squash in 1/2 and scoop the seeds out
Place, upside down, on the foil lined baking sheet
Place in the oven along with the Pork Chops
Bake for 45 minutes turning the chops over 1/2 way through the baking process

The way to test the Acorn squash to see if they are done, is simply push the skin with your finger. If you're able to easily make an indention, they're done. If not, then allow to bake a little while longer until you are able to make an indention with your finger.

After you pull the squash from the oven, carefully turn them over using an oven mit, or something to keep from burning your fingers. Add butter to your taste and brown sugar, take a spoon and scrape the squash from the shell and stir into the butter and brown sugar. Try not to destroy the shell, as it makes such a pretty presentation on the plate, this green "boat" filled with sweet yumminess!

Stewed Apples:

1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 Red delicious apple
Some sort of fruit juice
Orange Juice
Dried Raisins and cranberries
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon (to taste)

Heat a small saucepan on medium low and add the butter
Wash the apple, then slice into bite size pieces, add to the butter. I leave the skins on, that's where all the nutrients are, and they become soft during the cooking process
Stir it around and let the apples cook a little in the butter
Don't let the butter turn brown!
Add the cinnamon
I use whatever juice is in the fridge, tonight it was actually fruit punch. I just pour in enough to cover the apples half way up, and then add a splash of Orange Juice. It add's a surprise taste that is lovely.
Add the raisins and cranberries and put the lid on let simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples are soft.
Scoop the stewed apples into the prepared Acorn Squash and enjoy!

Steamed Broccoli:

1 bag frozen Broccoli
3 tablespoons butter
salt & pepper
water

I don't own a steamer, I don't have enough room in my little kitchen for lots of gadgets. I've learned to make due with what I have and this is my version of steamed broccoli. I put just enough water to coat the bottom of a sauce pan, then I pour the frozen broccoli in with the water. I salt and pepper and add the butter, then put the lid on. Turn the stove onto medium heat and once a little steam starts to escape the lid, I turn it off and let it sit on the eye until it's time to serve.

There we go, that's what's for supper! Hope you like it, we sure did. In fact, after all my careful planning, my little boy still needed more broccoli. Well, guess that's one way for me to loose weight, right? ha ha ha. Good Night!

For other great acorn squash recipes: http://dinewithadarling.com/tag/splenda/

Potato Carrot Soup slow cooked in the crock pot

Potato Carrot Soup slow cooked in the Crock Pot

I happen to adore potato soup. I sit and dream about it, a lot.  I've even made it a couple of times.  The last time I made it was about 15 years ago.  The experience was so horrible, I've never tried it again.

When I lived in the beautiful state of South Carolina, the winters weren't very wintry.  They were more. Cold with some wind, sprinkled with cold sprinkled with a few warm days.  My opinion is this, if it's winter, then I want snow.  If it's winter, and there is never any snow, it's time to move.  I did move, but not because of the soup.
 I remembered making a batch of potato soup while I lived in Virginia. It turned out very well.  Despite not having the recipe, I decided to give it a try in SC.  I imagined coming home from work to the smell of potato soup, of having a big bowl of it while curled up in front of the TV.  Dreaming of snow.
The next morning before work, I cut up the potatoes, veggies, added seasoning and the cream.  Set the slow cooker on low, walked out excited for the evening to come.  When I came home from work, I went straight to the crock pot for a peek.  I opened the lid, and. Shut the lid. Unplugged the crock pot.  Placed it outside on the steps.  Got into the car, and went to a fast food restaurant. Crushed.
Why?  I found out later, that you don't add the cream/milk at the beginning of the cooking process or it will.......anyone.........curdle.  Yes, curdle.  As in sour milk.  Disgusting.  But wait, that's not the end of the story.
When I came home, I decided to deal with the soup later.  I was not only tired, but disappointed as well, and the soup was already bad so it wouldn't hurt it to wait.  The problem is, my room mate saw the crock pot on the steps and moved it.  Why? Anyone's guess.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Several days later I remembered the crock pot.  If you can imagine, already curdled milk, potatoes, and some SC heat..... the smell of a rotting elephant would have been a welcome breeze to the stench that "soup" put off.  Gingerly taking the pot, lest any of that horrible stuff dripped on me, I dumped it into the wood pile at the back of the property.  I hosed out the crock pot, scrubbed, hosed, scrubbed, hosed and finally brought it inside to put into the dishwasher for two or three cycles.  Just in case.  Thankfully the ordeal was over, the next day was Saturday.  I'd just enjoy the unseasonably warm winter weather.

The next morning, I got my cup of coffee, a good book, my comfy clothes, and took my seat in the rocking chair on the front porch to enjoy my day.
During this time in SC, I had adopted a pit bull, named Mumblie Peg.  He got this name because he couldn't bark and he was missing part of his back foot.  The, person, who owned him before I got him, fought him in the pits.  Despite being scarred all over, missing part of his back foot and only having the ability to "mumble" when he barked, he was one of the greatest dogs I have ever owned.  He knew exactly how to "work" his nubby foot.  He was, what I call, a watch dog.
 Imagine you were a thief who had just broken into my house:  Mumblie would watch you take everything out of the house, make no move to stop you, make no sound, until.....food appeared.  Then he would watch you melt, as he tucked that stumpy leg under him and limp toward you.  Head lowered, tail wagging, then thump down on his behind so you could feed him, pet him and so on.  As you can see from the picture, Mumblie was not hungry.
 Quite the contrary, everyone in the neighborhood knew about our watch dog, and they fed him.  Many a worker gave that dog their entire lunch, only to realize they'd been had (that's Southern for, tricked), when Mum saw me and came bounding over on all 3 legs and the stump.  He was quite the character.  This morning he came toward me, grinning, tail wagging.  As he came closer, I noticed an odor.  It grew, the closer he got.  My first thought was, he'd gotten hurt and the wound was infected.  No, that wasn't it.  No the smell was of something rotting.  Definitely something rotting, something big.  We were near the river, alligators might have killed something...no, he wouldn't go down there.  By now, he's nearly on the porch and I was gagging because of the horrific stench this dog was putting off.  I ran inside.  I discussed this turn of events with my room mate.  We decided to look around the property to see if there was anything that would explain the smell the dog was emitting.
 Upon leaving the house, I saw Mum heading for the woods.  I followed him.  He went straight for the wood pile.  The same wood pile I had dumped the offending soup into.  I held my nose, went in for a look, and there was no sign of the soup. Anywhere.  Not a scrap, drop, drip, nothing.  Mum had eaten the soup.  Mum smelled like the soup.  My days of  making potato soup were over.  Mum's days of me petting him were over until the smell that permeated his body was gone.  Poor guy.
15 years later, I've worked up the nerve to try again.  Man am I glad!  A girl I worked with had given me her recipe for crock pot potato soup, after I relayed the story to her.  Once we stopped laughing, she wrote it down for me.  That was 12 years ago.  No one can say I'm a coward, well, a chicken, but not a coward.

Sunday I cut up the veggies, put in the seasoning, turned the crock pot on low and left it all day long.  The smell was fantastic, mouth watering, everything I hoped for.  That evening, when it was time to finish the recipe, I couldn't.  I was scared it would be bad, and all that food would be wasted.  So, I waited, on what I don't know, but I waited.  Monday came along, time to do it.  In for a penny, in for a pound.  Let's just say, it was delicious.  I put too many carrots in it, so it wasn't exactly potato soup.  What can I say, I guess potato soup is not my strong point! None-the-less, it was delicious.

Potato Carrot Soup:

2 qts water (or enough to cover veggies) use chicken stock if you like
7 large red potatoes
1 small bag pre-cut carrots
1 large red onion
4 stalks celery
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
2% milk

Cut the veggies up
Place in crock pot
cover with water, add seasoning
cook on low until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender

Pour out the water, reserve some of it

In a skillet melt butter, add flour and brown, gently over medium heat
add some of the reserved liquid until thick and bubbly
add the milk stirring constantly until you achieve a creamy consistency
remove from heat

Take a potato masher and mash the veggies in the crock pot
Add the thickened soup in with the veggies
Stir, serve immediately. Or.....

Fry up some bacon to sprinkle on top, with cheese, scallions, chives.......

Serve with crusty bread and some sweet tea.  OoooooWeeee that's some good stuff!

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon

Looks like Fall is here, and I'll have more time to post yummy recipes.  Might as well come out of the gate with a winner.  I have been battling Bronchitis for the last 3 weeks.  Finally went to the Doctor last Sunday where they loaded me up on medication that makes you feel worse, before it makes you feel better.  Since then, I was unable to sleep, or eat.  As I felt better, I wanted to eat, but everything hurt my stomach.  Tired of chicken noodle soup and crackers, I started combing the cabinets.  I ate a handful of raisins as I rummaged. Those were pretty good, but a bunch of those on a hurt stomach was not going to be a good idea.  Put the box back.  I found a bag of rice, made a mental note to cook some up for dinner the next day.  Then, WALAAAA, it hit me.  Mom used to make me rice pudding when I couldn't eat anything else.  I went on a hunt for a box of pudding mix, or a bag of the German pudding mix.  Nothing.  Then I remembered my Grandma's Jello Salad recipe.  Hold on, I know I said jello, but if you haven't tried this recipe you need to.  Grandma made a jello salad, then topped it with homemade pudding.  Since I always have eggs, milk, flour and sugar in the house, I knew this was the deal.  I fixed it, it was so good I nearly ate all of it.  It did make a bunch, so I couldn't eat it all.  I finished it off the next day. 
Things to remember.  The rice will absorb  the pudding, so it's best to double the pudding recipe if you are going to let it sit over night.  That way, it will still be creamy the next day.  

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon:

Cook rice according to package instructions.  
I used Sushi Rice, product of USA.  1 1/2 cups rice to 2 cups water

After the rice is cooked and fluffed prepare the pudding.  

1 cup of 2% organic milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup raisins (or more, I like more)
1 tsp. cinnamon (I like more with this too)

In a saucepan add all the ingredients, except raisins and cinnamon

whisk well & constantly to keep from burning.  

Once the pudding thickens, add the raisins and cinnamon
Take off the heat, stir well and pour over the rice.  
Mix well

You can bake it in the oven if you like a crispy topping to the rice pudding.  350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  

I didn't bake it, I gobbled it up.  It's so delicious.  
As I said, I did have leftovers and I learned two things:

1) Already mentioned above, the rice absorbs the pudding
2) If you re-heat it in the microwave the rice becomes a little hard and crunchy.

SO, I did this:

1) I poured some milk into the bowl and heated it with a wet paper towel over the top.  This keeps the moisture in, and gives the rice some more liquid to absorb so it's creamy again.  
2) Made a note to myself:  next time double the pudding recipe.  

Home Made Dark Chocolate Low Fat Pudding

If you're like me, anything "chocolate" is a favorite.  Except maybe the hot pepper chocolate bars, those are kind of, well, scary.  They don't taste very good either.  I love pudding, but I don't like instant pudding.  The pudding that you have to cook on the stove is very delicious, but a little time consuming.  It's also not the healthiest alternative to deserts.
I was watching a medical show and the topic was how to get rid of belly fat.  A hot topic these days.  One thing that was stated as a belly fat fighter, was dark chocolate.  The darker the better.  Sounds too good to be true, so I thought I better act quick before that tip is recanted.

My Grandmothers Homemade Jello Salad recipe is a favorite one on this blog.  Every week, people from all over the world, visit the "Grandma's Jello Salad" blog page.  In the recipe Grandma shares how to make a homemade fruit pudding.  It's delicious.  I was talking to her the other day and told her I was going to try to modify it to make chocolate pudding.  She said to go ahead and let her know how it turned out.  Well, it turned out amazingly well!  It's a versatile recipe, by adding butterscotch chips, vanilla flavoring or use fruit juice instead of milk, this pudding can be made to suit any tastes!

Home Made Dark Chocolate Low Fat Pudding:

1 egg, beaten

1 cup 2% milk

3 tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1 pinch kosher salt

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate Hershey kisses)

In a small bowl add the flour and 1 tablespoon of the milk, mix into a paste, add a little more milk from the 1 cup if needed.  This will keep the flour from clumping.

Add the milk and egg to a small saucepan over medium heat, and heat through

Add the flour paste and continue to whisk

Add the pinch salt

The pudding will thicken quickly, so don't take your eyes from it

Once the pudding starts to thicken lower the heat and add the chocolate chips

Mix well until the chocolate has melted

Taste to see if you need the sugar, add more or less to your tastes

I only added the sugar because dark chocolate can be a bit bitter for young tastes and I wanted my son to enjoy the pudding too, so I added 2 teaspoons raw sugar to it.  

No need to chill until set, it will already be thick, and warm pudding is always tastier than cold.  Cold chocolate pudding is delicious too, but I prefer warm.  

This would be a wonderful pie filling as well.  Add some fruit and you've got a fantastic, easy, fancy desert.