That Quiet Week

This is the quiet relaxing week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I am still enjoying my Christmas decorations and the holiday treats are still hanging around. I was very fortunate this holiday season in that I got to see small groups of my family, share a meal and exchange gifts.

I am going to share several Christmas projects that I managed to get completed and a couple of the recipes I made during the holidays. I also, managed to recover a couple of chairs that I want to share with you. So, let’s get to it!

First, I would like to tell you about some Dollar Tree items that I have discovered and are the on the top of my useful list. Some of them I have mentioned before and some I are new.

Dollar Tree Top Ten (where everything is really one dollar)

1. Foil sheets that come 25 sheets in a box and are 14 in. by 10.5 in. These are easy to work with and so much better than the roll of foil.
2. Parchment paper sheets that come 10 in a pack and are 15in. by 12 in. each. Just like the foil sheets they are so much more easily used than when you get parchment in a roll.
3. Jumbo size 2.5 gallon slider seal storage bags. I use them in the kitchen and everywhere else! When knitting it holds the yarn, pattern and tools. Any other project where you want to keep things together.
4. Picture frames come in a great variety of sizes and designs. I have used them for pictures but also other projects.
5. Disposable roasting, pizza pans, etc. I used these for my holiday meals.
6. Greeting cards are a great item at this store. They are really nice and they have quite a variety. Some are even 2 for $1. I usually buy a month’s worth of birthday, anniversary, etc. at one time. I also keep a small supply of sympathy, get well and congratulations on hand.
7. Clothing hangers which come in a pack of 7. As a side note, I wanted to let you know that there are a lot of craft projects on Pinterest which use hangers. Check out the large snowflakes you can make!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW9m-6mSntc
8. Gift bag, wrap, ribbon and all the party supplies.
9. Craft supplies and they even have teacher supplies. These sections have really grown over the years. I always buy my wreath forms there.
10. Holiday napkins, paper supplies and plastic wear.

These items are so economical and of good quality. You should check them out!

Hacks

1. On Christmas morning my brother was making waffles and discovered he didn’t have enough milk for the batter. He substituted eggnog instead and it came out fantastic! There are recipes online for eggnog pancakes as well. Now, in my brother’s house there is a new Christmas morning tradition.
2. Do you like jar candles like my daughters and I do? (Bath and Body, Avon, etc. ) Does it seem wrong somehow to through the jars out after? Do you like to store things in a neat, nice looking manner? When you’re done burning the candle there is always some wax left in the bottom. Put the jar in the freezer for a couple of hours. This shrinks the wax and it pulls away from the glass. Usually using a butter knife to loosen the wax it comes out in one hunk. Sometimes that doesn’t work and you have to scrape out little pieces. The bottom sticker and any side label will easily come off by soaking the glass in a bowl of warm water. Viola! Nice jars for storage.
3. Have you ever had a pan that has rusty? Usually this is just surface rust and can easily be removed in 2 steps. First pour any cola, although Coke seems to work the best, in your pan covering the rust areas. There is an immediate chemical reaction that begins loosening the rust. If your pan is quite rusty it might need to sit a bit. Then take a piece of foil and scrunch it up a little. Scrub the pan with the foil. This loosens all the rust. Rinse off your pan and dry it. That’s it!
4. If you are already in the process of making a recipe and discover you don’t have enough eggs there are a few solutions. For one egg you can use either 1/4 cup applesauce, 1/4 cup vegetable oil or 1/4 cup mashed banana.
5. I have found that you can freeze cottage cheese and ricotta cheese and still use it in your recipes. I have done this several years and then used them in lasagna or manicotti.
6. The corrugated sleeve that lightbulbs come in can be flattened when the center inserts are taken out. I am sure you have done this to throw it away or recycle it. You can use it instead to protect pictures when mailing them. It gives extra padding inside the envelope to prevent bending.
7. I used to quite often make a mess when putting batter into cupcake pans. Here’s a way to avoid that. Use an empty condiment bottle (like catsup). Wash it thoroughly and then pour your cake batter into it. You can easily squeeze the correct amount of batter into each well in the cupcake pan.

Recipes

Coffee Nuggets

These are similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies but with the coffee flavor.

1/2 cup butter

3 tbsp. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. instant coffee

1 c. sifted flour

1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and coffee until light and fluffy. Add the four and the nuts and mix thoroughly. Chill dough for 1 hour. Use one 1 tbsp. dough for each cookie. Form into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar while warm and then again when cool. Delish!

Pork Meatballs with BBQ Gravy

Meatballs

1.5 pound ground pork

2 eggs

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (if the mixture seems to loose, add more bread crumbs)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. onion powder

salt and pepper

Form into balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. I used a scoop to get the mixture out the bowl which keeps the size of the balls uniform. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven until internal temperature is 145 degrees. It was about 12 minutes for me.

BBQ Gravy

• 3 tbsp. fat (pan drippings, etc)
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1/2 to1 c. barbecue sauce, to taste (homemade or favorite bottled)
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

1. Melt fat in a skillet.
2. Add flour and stir with a whisk over medium heat for a minute or two to cook the rawness from the flour.
3. Slowly add 1 1/2 c. of stock while continuing to whisk.
4. Allow to thicken slightly before whisking in the barbecue sauce.
5. Cook until desired thickness. If mixture is too thick add part or all of the rest of the stock.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I find this is great served with mashed potatoes (cheesy mashed are great too) or even French fries if you are a gravy over the fries person like I am.

Crafty Projects

Square Christmas Wreath

I purchased a square wreath form at (you guessed it) Dollar Tree. I then used a plaid ribbon and wrapped it around covering the entire wreath. The beginning of the ribbon was anchored with hot glue as was the end. I then used another ribbon and some holly leaves to create the bit of accent for the corner. Finally, I suspended three bulb ornaments at varying lengths from thin ribbon which was secured with hot glue on the back of the frame. This wreath can be hung using double sided sticky foam on each corner, as I did, or you could hot glue a hanger of ribbon or yarn on the back. You could take this idea of a square wreath and customize it with your own taste. Any item(s) could be suspended in the center. Use your imagination!

Furniture Covering

I was given two slipper chairs by my friend, Kim. Although the fabric was very nice it didn’t match anything in my house so I decided to cover them using a canvas painter’s drop clothes. I ordered 2 from Walmart at $9.99 each. It turned out that I only needed one and I was able to make two accent pillows out of it too!

I used this blog post at Confessions of a Serial DIYER as a guide.

Slipcovering an Armless Accent Chair

I used yellow dye using the washer method to color the leftover material for the pillows. I had a couple of accent pillows that didn’t match the room any more so they were ready to be covered. I embellished them with twine and buttons. Here was my end result.

Candy Cane Wreath

Of course you can guess where I bought the candy cane wreath form. Using that form I covered it by wrapping it completely with red burlap ribbon. I then used a different ribbon to create the stripes by skipping areas as I wrapped to allow the red to show through. All the ribbon was anchored with hot glue at the beginning and the end to secure it in place. I created a bow accent by using other various ribbon pieces and some ornaments. I used the messy bow technique which I have talked about before (https://www.livinglocurto.com/how-to-make-a-bow/) and hot glued that to the candy cane.

Here’s hoping for a wonderful 2021!! We deserve it! See you next time!