Hot Buttered Rum

In case I haven't mentioned it two thousand times, I haaaaate to bake! Don't misread... I love eating all things baked, I'm just not a big fan of the baking process. So this time of year when my neighbors come door to door with yummy baked goods I'm both thrilled and full of dread. I couldn't possibly poison someone with my baked goods in return!

Last year in lieu of cookies, I did a dried Pasta Fagioli Soup in mason jars. I layered beans, pasta and herbs and then attached directions. It was fairly simple to make a bunch of them, and then I handed them out as teacher's gifts and to neighbors and friends. This year I did the same for teachers, but came across another recipe on Red Hot Kitchen for the neighbors that looked sooo yummy I had to try. (Hi Neighbors, don't worry I'll be by with your Hot Buttered Rums soon :) )

I whipped these up last night. I literally mean, whipped. That's all you do, dump the ingredients in a bowl and whip. I bought these cute Mason Jars at Harris Teeter (and they are on sale right now!) I know Target also sells them but they were sold out when I went yesterday. And for the record, Costco and Bloom do NOT sell them because I dragged three kids to all these places to discover this. Good times.

I'm doing a Tempo Run with Kate and Mile Posts tonight, while simultaneously checking out the neighborhood Christmas lights, and I can't think of a better drink to cozy up to when I get home!

Long Lasting Hot Buttered Rum

2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
8 oz of honey
7 oz Marshmallow fluff
2 sticks of butter
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract


Throw in the butter and brown sugar, then measure out the 8 oz of honey

Add it in, then add the Marshmallow fluff. This cup is the bomb for measuring out wet-dry ingredients such as these. You put in the ingredient then pop it out, nothing left inside that you're trying to scoop out.

1 tablespoon vanilla

Pumpkin Pie Spice and Vanilla

Voila. All those healthy ingredients in one bowl. Hot Buttered Rum? More like Huge Buttered Bum. HAHA

Whip it up.

Here are the small Mason jars. They came in a pack of 12

How cute. Yup, still rockin the old nailpolish!

I added 5 small scoops per jar, which is about 5 tablespoons. Was wishing I had the medium sized scoop! This recipe filled 13 mason jars.

Yup, that took 5 minutes.

Then I printed out a bunch of instructions (make sure to include that this Long-Lasting Hot Buttered Room can store in the fridge for up to 3 months).

Hole Punched the instructions and added ribbon

And tied it on. So easy and cute!

I thought these would be cute as a favor for each guest at the Christmas table as well!

Tacky Tree

Growing up we always had a "tacky" tree. You know the kind... colored lights, homemade ornaments, popcorn strings and tinsel? I very clearly remember the year we bought two trees, just so my mom could decorate one pretty tree for herself!

I love, love, love and appreciate a beautifully decorated Christmas tree! But since I grew up with a tacky tree myself, I really can't imagine any other tree in this house! Each year my mom would make these homemade ornaments with us to hang on the tree. They were so simple, sooo tacky, and one of my favorite Christmas traditions!

These are embarrassingly easy to make. In fact, I decided on a whim we should make them yesterday while it was rainy out, and I even had all the ingredients lying around. The boys can't wait to put them on our "tacky tree" this weekend!

Clay Ornaments

2 cups of flour
1 cup room temp water
1/2 cups of cheapo grantulated salt (like Mortons)



Christmas cookie cut outs and whatever paints or markers you have laying around!

Preheat the oven to 325. Pour the salt in with the flour and mix it up

Slooooowly add the water while mixing

Mix a bit and add more water if it seems way too dry. Should look like this.

Then take it out and shape it into a ball like so

Then knead it for ten minutes. Or three, thats all we had the patience for.

Roll it out, to about a quarter inch thickness, yeah my nailpolish has gotta go

Then cut out your shapes! One very important step I forgot was to punch holes with a toothpick in the tops before baking so that you can hang them on your tree!!!

Then bake for an hour until they are golden brown!

When they are cool, decorate!

Wouldn't Grandma loooooove a few of these? :)

Superheroes

I have two superheroes in my midst. Every night the boys put on their superhero pajamas and begin referring to eachother as Superman and Batman, in place of their real names. Last night I was trying to pack everyone up for our neighborhood summer concert when both boys insisted they wear capes. This proved problematic because I only own one real Batman cape from Target. Superman wanted his cape too! In a moment when we truly were *ontherun* I grabbed a t-shirt and came up with this quick cape.

I had no idea it would be such a hit! The boys loved their new capes which cost me approximately zero dollars and zero cents. The next day we took a trip to the mall and several moms stopped me to say they loved the capes! Little boys were following Batman and Superman around the playarea, pointing and yelling "LOOK MOM! Its SUPERMAN!!"

So here's how to make your little person a superhero in 5 minutes or less for $0

Grab an old kids T-shirt (sorry Uncle Matt, but my Solon Rec T-shirts worked perfectly)

Cut off the sleeves

Then cut up the sides and open up so it lays like this

Cut around the neck

Flip over and draw the emblem of your choice!

And here is the red cape I made last night in action. (Yes, I'm aware I'm not the best artist... but hey it worked).

They took off yelling "Lets fight bad guys!!"

But then ended up just fighting eachother. :)

Crafty

It's that time of year! Time to brainstorm something to give to the various wonderful teachers who have given me 6 hours a week of free time. I mean, who have been teaching and caring for our children all year! First I grabbed some gift cards from Target, but then decided it would be way more cost effective as well as meaningful to try and put a little something together.

I had recently given herb pots to some close girlfriends of mine for their birthday. I just went off that idea and made these little herb pots for my older son's preschool teachers.

All you need is:

A flower pot (got these for $5 each at Target)
Dirt (not sure how much but pretty dirt cheap at Target. get it, dirt cheap.)
Herbs from Home Depot ($3 each)
A Sharpie!

You might be much more crafty than I, and find more ways to spruce this up. I can conceptualize crafts, but I'm not much at execution. But still, I thought these turned out pretty cute!

The pot says "Every day you plant a seed that encourages me to know, the things that I will need to learn to live my life and grow!"


I also thought this might be a cute idea to attach with a Starbucks gift card. My neighbor made me this very tasty granola, and sent me the recipe!

Homemade Granola

Over medium low heat, stir the following ingredients until the sugar dissolves:

• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Turn off heat and set aside. Then in a large bowl combine:

• 3 to 4 cups of granola (start with three and gauge how texture is once you add the wet ingredients)
• 1 to 2 cups chopped pecans
• 1 to 2 cups chopped almonds
• about a 1/2 cup sesame seeds

Pour in the wet ingredients and mix well. It should be slightly wet but not gooey. If it seems too gooey, add more granola. Put into a large cake pan or cookie sheet with sides. Place in the oven for 40 minutes and stir every 10 minutes.

In the used bowl add some chopped assorted dried fruit. Once the granola mix is done, dump it in the bowl and mix to combine it. Make a well in the middle, pushing granola to the sides of the bowl so it can cool evenly.

When its completely cool, serve in airtight jars or bags! This recipe makes 4-5 12 oz Mason Jars!