• Gift Giving: Christmas Baking Day

    I spent several hours on Saturday, December 11th doing a Christmas Baking Day with Ashley from Reflecting on the Simple Things in Life making treats to give to family, friends, and neighbors.  We started about 3:30 PM and were finished around 10:30 PM that night with another hour added for cleaning and packing up the goodies.  Ashley was kind enough to open her home up so we could get the baking done. The house smelled amazing with all the delicious treats we made throughout the evening.

    Ingredients Table
    (You can tell we shop some of the same sales based on our ingredients table)

    Ashley was organized with several tables full of specific items which helped us keep the clutter off the counter tops and island as we were each working on recipes:

    • Baking Ingredients Table for the recipes we had a picked out
    • Cooking Pans, Bowls, and Utensil Table for easy access to items we need
    • Cooling and Packaging Goodies Table
    • Finished Products Table which was full of treats by the end of the evening

    We would pick out ingredients and utensils as we needed them from the necessary tables.  The goodies got bagged in between baking items.  It was a very efficient system and we were able to accomplish a lot in a relatively short amount of time plus we were able to talk, laugh and enjoy each others company in the kitchen.

    Cooking Pans, Bowls, and Utensil Table

    The kids popped in and out, occasionally helping with recipes that intrigued them.  Our husbands had fun hanging out too.  They were kind enough to pick up the pizza for us and an extra bag of powder (or confectioner’s) sugar for us at the grocery store.  Thankfully that was the only ingredient that we really seemed to go through more than expected.  We were both prepared with the ingredients and items for the day which allowed the event to go smoothly.

    Cooling and Packaging Goodies Table
    Ashley packaging the Cinnamon Rolls! Yum!
    Her smashing sticker is compliments of my daughter, Brina.

    Honestly, despite it being really busy and standing on our feet for a long period of time everything went pretty smoothly. Only one minor casualty, my small Christmas Tree cookie cutter managed to work it’s way down to the garbage disposal.  It made a loud noise when it was turned on so nothing was broken and the tree was able to be bent back into a tree like shape.  The only thing that would have made it a little more efficient would be to have two ovens but since neither of us have that we were able to work everything out fairly well.  Her oven was probably ready for a break by the end of the evening, but I am sure it felt very loved.

    Baked Goods Table
    (Starting to fill up)

    It was our desire to accomplish as much as we could in the time table allotted and we did it.  We had up to 17 recipes prepared to make for the event.  We were able to complete 12 of the recipes which is pretty amazing especially since majority of the items were baking ones and we had only one oven. I will posting the recipes for the ones that we accomplished throughout our baking adventure throughout this week.

    The following are the recipes that we accomplished that evening:

    Below is a picture of all the goodies we were able to make over the course of just a few hours.  I am thankful for the opportunity to share in this event with Ashley.  It was a lot of fun, enjoyable and rewarding.  I look forward to doing it again!

    We DID IT!
    I think we were two very tired Momma’s by the end but we had a lot of fun!

    Table full of Baked Treats to Share with Others

    It was so full we almost didn’t have enough room to squeeze everything on it!

    The recipes that we didn’t get to during our baking day I plan to make over the Holidays as well since I have all the ingredients for them already in our kitchen.   I will be posting the following recipes for you next week:

    • Chocolate Crackle Tops
    • Oreo Truffles
    • Orange Dreamsicle Cookies
    • Berry Shortbread Dreams
    • Sugar Cookies/Bears

  • The Exploding Spice Cabinet

    It had become apparent over the last few weeks that our spice cabinet was overflowing with goods.  We try to keep a stocked spice cabinet (buy ones we use when they go on sale) and haven’t had any problems until recently.  When my husband went to get the garlic salt out of the cabinet and a whole mess of stuff came tumbling down I decided it was time for organizing.

    Our regular spices have always been in alphabetical order on the first shelf.  (It really does help when you are trying to find a spice for a special recipe, my husband loves it that way too).   That shelf was in pretty good shape.  The second shelf holds baking items, sprinkles and bigger containers. This shelf was a little crazy and appeared to where most of the items were falling from lately.  The third or top shelf was where we stored the spices we buy in bulk or extra spices when they go on sale.  I pulled everything out and found what was causing all the commotion.

    The problem was that since having kids we have purchased more “sprinkles”!  When I pulled all the sprinkles out of the cupboard it was amazing how much extra room we had for everything else.  We had Princess Sprinkles, Cars Sprinkles, some for Halloween, Fall, Colored Sprinkles, Holiday Sprinkles, Balls, Shapes, and more sprinkles.  We had different 19 containers of just SPRINKLES (and none of them the same so we couldn’t just consolidate)!  The girls love to help me cook and a lot of their cookies or goodies they make have sprinkles on top so while they are necessary it had gotten out of control.

    The Solution was to go through the sprinkles, find out which ones were almost gone and put them in smaller container or set them aside to use soon.  After re-organizing the sprinkles I even had a little empty shelf space left in the cupboard.

    Sprinkles make everything taste better!  Have you ever tried them on pancakes and waffles?  We love our girls and sprinkles!

  • Family Recipe: Zucchini Bread

    Zucchini BreadI received this Zucchini Bread recipe from my Aunt Mary Ann.  We love having fresh garden veggies throughout the summer months.  Once fall hits we start looking for ways to continue cooking with those delicious vegetables that we are storing in our freezer.  It is a perfect fall recipe that has been a family favorite for many years.  Your kitchen will smell amazing and it is a joy to share the bread with friends and neighbors.

    Zucchini Bread

    3 Eggs

    1 cup Oil

    2 cups Sugar

    Beat together.  Then add:

    1 teaspoon Vanilla

    2 cups grated Zucchini (if using frozen zucchini drain the excess liquid)

    In separate bowl Mix together:

    3 cups Flour

    1/2 teaspoon baking powder

    1 teaspoon salt

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    1 teaspoon cinnamon

    Add flour mixture to the liquid mixture. Optional: blend in 1 cup chopped nuts.  Pour into a greased bundt cake pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Remove from oven, cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

    The Zucchini Bread recipe brings back the flavors and smells of a fresh garden.  Great bread to bring to a fall gathering.