Christmas baking! And more DIY gifts.

I call these "Cheater Truffles" because they were so easy to make! They were a HUGE hit too! I got the recipe from Amy on my cross-country team. Here it is:

1 pkg Oreos (regular or mint)

1 pkg of cream cheese (I used the low-fat kind)

chocolate chips (I used all natural dark chocolate for half of them)

Scrap the filling off each oreo into the blender. Put the remaining cookie part into a zip-loc bag. With a rolling pin crush all the cookies as finely as possible. Blend the filling with the (softened) cream cheese. Now mix the filling/cream cheese with the finely crushed cookies. Roll into 1" balls and chill. Melt chocolate (I did it in the microwave) and dip each ball in chocolate. Chill. Pure yumminess. Jason's dad, Jim, called them "Chocolate Resurrection." That's a huge compliment from him!

This is a chocolate-peanutbutter tofu pie. Ya don't think too much about the tofu part. Don't judge it before you try it. Most people, with the exception of Jim (future FIL) can't taste it! I think it's so yummy! Really rich. The texture is almost like a cheesecake. My roommate Kate made this recipe for our nutrition class "recipe make-over" project. The tofu is to replace a cream-cheese type filling and to make it more nutritional.

Here is the recipe:

Crust*-

1/4 cup butter, melted

10 oz pretzels

2 TBS sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Crush pretzels and sugar in a food processor or blender (or use some elbow grease, a rolling pin, and a ziploc bag) until mixture becomes very fine. With a fork, stir in melted butter until crumbs are moistened. Press into bottom and sides of a 9" pie plate. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

*I cheated. I used a store bought graham cracker crust. And the graham cracker crust is not healthy because it adds hydrogenated oils which are bad for you!! Buuuut i was lazy. And when Kate made the pretzel crust (healthy!! and gluten free for those of you who can't eat gluten!)  it didn't hold together very well and I wanted mine to look pretty. If you figure out how to make it hold together better, let me know! Maybe more butter...

Filling-

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Adam's organic)

1 cup dark chocolate chips (60% cacao)

12 oz. extra firm light silken tofu

1/3 cup maple syrup

Blend peanut butter, melted chocolate, tofu and maple syrup in a blender/food processor until thoughouly mixed and smooth. Pour into pie plate. Let chill before serving. Don't tell your victims tasters the secret ingredient until after they eat half of their piece.

A canvas painting I made for Heidi. I love quotes! They make great inspiration for gifts too!

Josie the artist hard at work...

The final product! I watched her draw a nativity scene in church, and I was inspired to have her draw it on a canvas as a Christmas present for my parents. She started to paint it with me too but I had to finish as she got tired of it. I think this is such a precious gift!

Snapshots of Christmas

Almost everything Josie got for Christmas was something that had to do with Toy Story. She'd been begging my mom for a Buzz and a Rex. When she opened Buzz she exclaimed, "Buzz is the best present ever!" Notice the pajamas and Evil Mr. Pork-Chop as well.

Christmas Eve with the Kellers

Umm... Jason wearing my mom's coat... Ya. Just for laughs!

Traditions.

I love our Christmas traditions! In fact, they are one of the things I enjoy most about Christmas, because they are all centered on Jesus and family! I want to carry them into my future Koemans family!


Tradition #1:
Christmas tree hunting and decorating. As I posted before, we pretty much always go into the woods and cut our own tree. No store parking lot, no tree farm, just the natural woods untouched by commercialism. During this hunting time we usually take sleds and sometimes snacks and hot chocolate. Then, for the decorating part, we have lots of fun, holiday snacks, we play Christmas music, and we try to all decorate as a family! Our tree's "theme" is family. There's no color scheme, nothing orderly. It's special ornaments given to us each year, hand-painted ones by my both of my grandmas, and hand-made ones by us kids. I love it. I'd take our tree, decorated this way, over any perfectly themed and matched tree any day.

Tradition #2:
Ornaments. Every year, sometime between December 1 and December 25, my mom gives each one of us kids an ornament. The purpose is so that when we get move out of the house we can take our own box of ornaments to begin decorating our tree with.


Tradition #3:
Shopping for stockings. Our family plus Jason puts out names in a cup. Everyone draws a name and gets $15. We all go to one store at the same time (this year was Target) and shop for the name we picked. It's all supposed to be secret! This is how our stockings get filled! It's a great and fun way to do it! Heidi had my stocking this year and gave me several pairs of bright/fun socks, purple nail polish, a mug, latte mix, chapstick, and snowflake and snowman gel window clings.


Tradition #4:
Christmas Eve. We go to a Christmas Eve service and then get together with the Kellers to have soup and hang out. Sometimes we watch White Christmas. Once we get back home we open our stockings! Then the kids sleep under the Christmas tree!

Tradition #5:
Christmas morning. We wake up (this year my dad had to wake us up at 9am!!) and eat breakfast, then read the Christmas story, then open presents. Sometimes we even have to do kennels at the clinic!


Tradition #6:
Opening presents. We all take turns, one at a time, from youngest to oldest. And you have to say thank you.


Tradition #7:
No Santa. Period. Unless it's a joke. Santa's not real and I don't believe in lying to my kids.


Tradition #8:
Bless a family. We like to include someone(s) in our Christmas that need some extra blessing in their life. Sometimes that means bringing presents and stockings stuffers and Christmas treats to a family who is bankrupt and who's dad tried to commit suicide. Sometimes that means having an employee of my dad's over. Christmas is also about giving and fellowship. I like to emphasis that.

DIY -- Christmas Gifts

I decided that I love DIY (do-it-yourself) projects and crafts, as well as baking! I'm not crazy crafty, nor can I afford to be, but I like doing what I can and I want to do more of it! I have some great projects for the future that I'm excited to try. I'm really excited to get into baking and cooking more! I'll make sure to post about them all! Here's what I did for Christmas gifts - it works out so well because they're cute but not expensive! I do want to find better and more recipes for the mixes though...

making the Vanilla Chai mix

 spices for the Vanilla Chai mix

 Everyone loves cookies! Even when you don't have time to frost them or bake them from scratch!

Green fabric found in the remnant section for about $1. Score!

Hand-made tags that are simply yet cute and classy.

The finished product tied with a bow -- Vanilla Chai or Cappuccino mix! 

(Plus a little bag of cookies!)

Here are some DIY bloggers that I find inspiration from:

Scrappy Chic

Just Something I Made

Nesting Corral

The Pioneer Woman

Christmas Time Is Here

Today we went hunting for our Christmas tree. That is our family tradition, one that I love and plan on carrying into my future Koemans family. We always* go up in the woods somewhere and cut our own tree and do some sledding! It's a blast and lots of fun! Josie is fun to watch as she experiences Christmas and the holiday traditions. Once we get back, we decorate it, although not always on the same day. Here the tradition continues with Christmas music and yummy/special snacks. Each of us kids has our own box of ornaments, because each year my mom gives us a new one! Next year I'll get to take my box for mine and Jason's tree! Josie loved decorating. She would hang all her ornaments on the same couple branches on the back of the tree. Then Nathan would distract her while I'd go and move them to more spread-out locations.

*last year we didn't get a tree because my family didn't want to get one without me, and by the time I was home it was after Christmas so we felt silly getting one!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...?

Does this look like Christmas to you?

I'm thinking it should look something more like this...

I'm dreaming...of a white Christmas...

Well anyway...at least there's only about 8 more days!!!

What Did You Give?

Today was our last day of speech class and we were finishing the final speeches- persuasive. One of the speakers today challenged us with this: "Instead of asking all of your friends what they got for Christmas, ask them what they gave."

This speech inspired me to be more focused on giving than receiving this holiday season, and I would encourage you to do the same! What would you be able to say, when at they end of the season you were asked, "What did you give?"


Here are some great giving options/ideas for this Christmas:


- send a Christmas care package to soldiers www.loveboxesforourtroops.com. The website gives easy, step by step instructions and all you need (except the items to fill the box! You have to get those yourself!) The best part is there is no deadline for these! They could even be after Christmas! Kate and I (and maybe Monz too...but she doesn't know about this yet...) are going to put together a box this weekend to send!


- put together shoe-boxes for the homeless and deliver them to your local mission or hand deliver them when you see them on the streets. (If you hand deliver them, be safe and be friendly. Maybe bring hot chocolate and cookies and talk for a bit too. They needs friends just as much). Ideas for what to put in the boxes would be: McDonald's gift cards, warm socks, gloves, hats, etc, long underwear, snacks (healthy), personal hygiene, flashlights & batteries, notes of encouragement, small Bibles, etc.


- talk to your local church pastor to find out about a family or individual in need and deliver Christmas to them. Arrange to bring presents for each family member and holiday snacks and cheer! Or invite them to a holiday dinner with your family.


There are many other ways or options as well! I would encourage you to find at least one option that fits with your family/budget. No matter how small or how big, I'm sure you can do something. Even just a plate of cookies for the neighbors. And remember God has a special place in his heart for the broken, homeless, poor, lonely, and needy. Do you have room in your heart?


"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." Matthew 10:42


"'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me...whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"
Matthew 25:40, 45