Tradition

It's December.

So I pull out the family recipe,

mix the dough with the kids,

roll it all out,

make a pattern,

cut the pieces,

crush the jolly ranchers,

bake,

frost it together,

enjoy the kids,

build,

embellish,

...And feel a part of my Mom's tradition,

[my mom's house this year]

my Grandmother's tradition, 

[my mom's house in 2006]

And my Great-Grandmother's tradition which she brought with her from our heritage in Germany.

Oh, how I love the holidays!

I love making a gingerbread house and imagining what it was like when my great grandmother made one at Christmas time decades ago.

Was she stepping over babies at her feet too?

Was she also baking the extra gingerbread for neighbors and friends?

I love a time when we can think about our friends and family and who and what really matters to us in this world.

I love to think of how God has made a way for us to be connected for eternity through our families.

And I love to think of our Savior who was born at this time and lived a life of giving and loving

so we can all return to him some day.

Merry Christmas, my friends!

With love,

CK

Ornaments Galore!

Every year I like to make some ornaments that remind me of the kids.

This year we made silhouette ornaments, like these.  

(Jocelyn does a great job at blogging, btw.  Check out all her crafts! ;)

I did this project a little different than Jocelyn so here is my tutorial:

First I traced around some pictures of the kids with my Pages program.

I made all the silhouettes 2 inches high and printed them on black construction paper 

and cut them out.

Didn't know you can print on black construction paper, did you?

Ya, check these out.

I cut out some round pieces of THICK cardboard.

I nailed a hole at the top of each one.

I also chose some scrapbook paper and cut the paper the same size.  I punched a hole in the paper right at the place where I nailed a hole through the cardboard circles.

Then I mod podged the paper to the cardboard

(that part was pretty fun)

My son helped me glue his own silhouette to the ornament.  It was fun to help my son identify who was who in the silhouettes (we even had my dog's silhouette in the mix).

For detail, I added glitter glue to the edge of the ornament,

And then I slipped a hook through the hole and added a ribbon. 

It was fun and made a nice handmade ornament gift for the grandparents.

And remember that egg ornament my sister made?

Well, it turns out you can make the same ornament with colored pencils, too!

(I was struggling with the paint)

This ornament is for a special someone in the military ;)

note the flag in Santa's sack

And, unfortunately, I sent this one away before I took a finished picture of the product.

But that is a sketch of Santa standing next to a reindeer... and a penguin ;)

Happy Holidays everyone!

Love you, blog world!  

See you Christmas day with a picture of my gingerbread house!  

(if it doesn't collapse before then, anyway)

-CK

Making Gingerbread Houses

 Designing a Pattern

 

Making the dough

Cutting out shapes

And baking up the walls

And here is a teaser for my house... ;)

 

For those of you who know me personally, you are aware I've been working on this house for weeks!  It may be end up to be the the star of my holiday decor or the bane of my existence.  Oh boy... keep your fingers crossed.

 

-CK

What to do with a Daikon Radish- CSA revisited

Ever seen one of these before?

For you, my daughter demonstrates her disgust for vegetables, in general.

This is a Daikon Radish.  One of the seemingly odd vegetables we received in our CSA box last week.
Our CSA farm usually sends home a newsletter that includes a recipe or two on how to cook our new vegetables.  This week I tried something new with the Daikon Radish and it turned out pretty darn good.

Behold the
Daikon Radish Stir-fry:

First, clean your radish.

Second, grate it.

It looks so good and clean- like fresh fallen snow!!! ;)

Third, step over the baby/child playing at your feet, 

and fire up the stove for some chicken or tofu.

Saute some vegetables.  Hard ones go in first (carrots, onion, celery). 

After the hard vegetables have softened, 

add the DIAKON RADISH.

It will shrink a bit as you cook it, so you can throw in a couple other vegetables if you like.

I suggest spinach, kale or swisschard.

Add salt to taste

OH MY GOODNESS THIS STUFF IS OH-SO GOOD!

(and healthy, too)

Now, if you like your stir-fry saucy (which I do), here is a recipe for some 

basic stir-fry sauce:

1 cup of chicken broth

1 Tbs. cornstarch

2 Tbs. soy sauce

Garlic to taste

(fresh is best!)

Ginger to taste 

(fresh is best!)

Throw all of these ingredients into a mug with a lid or other closed container and 

shake it!

Dump the sauce in with your stir fry and let it thicken over medium-low heat.

Serve your stir-fry over rice.

Enjoy the Daikon Radish!

Mmmmmmmm!

-CK

save the bunnies

I remember when I was little my mother made a plushy carrot purse with a zipper on top.  A little bunny family lived inside.  It was one of those toys that you just have very nice memories about.  Well, who knows what happened to it, but a year or two ago I found a young lady selling the exactly same little bunny family carrots!  I snatched one up and have loved having it around.  

Unfortunately,

There is something going around.

It seems like Gordon (daddy rabbit) had some sort of disease....  it all started with the thread.  

Just a tiny bit of it began to turn brown.

Rusting thread?

The brown spread.

It spread to poor little infant bunny.

And now daddy has spots.

This is Bianca (momma bunny).  This is how they all came to me.  

They used to be such lively folk...

And now they mourn.

I never spilled anything on these little guys.

And yet the disease spreads...

Any help?

Ideas?

They are made of felt, so I fear scrubbing them.  I acknowledge that I will most likely have to make a new little family after the funeral.

I just feel so bad...