Chocolate Covered Caramel Corn Recipe

I am in the midst of holiday baking, and thought I would share my latest recipe creation. I have spent plenty of money in the past buying chocolate covered caramel corn from various children's fundraisers. I thought I would try my hand at my own version of this tasty treat. I will be giving it out as part of our treat gift packages for Christmas. This is my own original recipe.



Chocolate Covered Caramel Corn



14 cups popped popcorn

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

2 packages of milk chocolate almond bark



Pop the popcorn (I have a regular popcorn popper, and 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn yielded 14 cups popped). In a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Heat on medium low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is lightly boiling. Continue to simmer and stir until mixture is a caramely texture. Immediately pour mixture over popcorn, stir and mix well until popcorn is evenly coated. Allow caramel to set. Take the chocolate almond bark, a few squares at a time, and melt in a small saucepan. Remove from heat. Roll chunks and pieces of the caramel corn in the chocolate, and place on waxed paper to cool. Let cool, then enjoy or gift wrap!

Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments Craft Project

Yesterday, the kids and I started the process of making some Christmas ornaments out of a homemade salt dough. It was really simple, I mixed up the dough, then we rolled the dough out with a rolling pin and used cookie cutters to cut out different shapes. You do have to bake these ornaments, but before I put them in the oven, I used a skewer to poke a hole in the top of each ornament, so that we can use some ribbon, yarn, or string to be able to hang them. We will be keeping some of these for our own Christmas tree, but will also give a few for gifts. I got the recipe for the salt dough from http://www.divinedinnerparty.com/christmas-ornament-dough.html .

Salt Dough Recipe

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups water

Mix ingredients together well and knead dough until well blended. If too sticky, add additional flour a little bit at a time until the right consistency is met. If too dry, add additional water in small amounts until desired consistency is achieved. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters, place shaped dough on a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool, then paint.

I was going to buy some special paint to decorate the ornaments with, but the article at the above posted link suggested nail polish as a nice, decorative paint. Since I had plenty of nail polish around, we decided to try that out. I must say that it adds a nice touch to the ornaments, and the shine is lovely!

Overall, this was a great activity to do with the kids, and they loved it!

Christmas in July?

If you are someone who likes to make your Christmas gifts, it might be a good time to start planning and thinking about what you would like to make. I find that not only does making gifts save alot of money, but people really appreciate the personal touch you put into it. And it really is the perfect thing to give someone who already has everything! I have found it easier to make my gifts over the years, because I have morphed my expectations into reasonable ones instead of grandiose ones (for example, there is no way I will be able to make an afghan for everyone on my list).

Smaller projects enable you to give nice gifts, and to be able to make several items. Some ideas for those who do needlework (knitting/crocheting) are doilies, hats, gloves, scarves, slippers, socks, hair pieces, potholders, dishcloths, etc. I have also made things like homemade jams/jellies for gifts (which go nicely with potholders or dishcloths as a gift). My kids have been begging me to crochet them some stuffed animals (they have seen the pattern books in the store, LOL). That just might make it onto my Christmas project list as well! To be even more thrifty, use a free pattern from http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/ or http://www.ravelry.com/ . They have tons of patterns and ideas! My only problem is choosing which ones to use!

If you start your projects now and stick with it, you should have Christmas covered by the time it gets here, and you will have less stress because most of it will be done by the time the season rolls around so you can focus on enjoying family and friends. Go forth and craft in peace!

P.S. The picture comes from www.clipartheaven.com .

Cappuccino Gift

I had previously posted a recipe for Instant Cappuccino Mix www.thethriftyhousewifeblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/instant-cappuccino-mix-recipe-gift-idea.html . I made it into a cute gift by putting the cappuccino mix into a mason jar and giving it a decorative Christmas touch. I placed a square of fabric over the lid and screwed the band around it. For the fabric, I cut it out using pinking shears to prevent fraying and to make it look pretty. Then I tied a matching red ribbon around the band. Voila! Pretty, decorative, useful gift!

Instant Cappuccino Mix Recipe - Gift Idea!

I was looking through a cookbook last night that I have had around the house for while. I picked it up at a thrift store about a year ago and have thumbed through it before, but never paid close attention to what was actually in there. It is a quaint country-style-homecooking type of cookbook called "The Madison County Cookbook", ala "The Bridges of Madison County". It is chock full of great recipes, but this particular one caught my eye. I was thinking "thrifty gift" when I saw it.

I have a few ideas to make it into a rather cute gift. I could repurpose some small coffee cans to use to store the cappuccino mix. To make it presentable and cutesy, the cans could be covered in some fancy paper or a nice fabric. Another idea, which is probably what I will do (especially since I just gave my empty coffee cans to my daughter to craft with), is to place the mix in some Mason canning jars and use some ginghamed Christmas fabric over the top of the lid with some pretty ribbon for presentation. Or I could just go and buy some cute decorative containers to gift it in (there are lots of cute Christmasty tins and such for sale right now). I know a few people who would appreciate a cappuccino gift :)

Now on to the recipe. I made some of this mix tonight, and so far the verdict is that it is a keeper!

Instant Cappuccino Drink Mix

1 cup instant coffee creamer

1 cup instant chocolate drink mix

2/3 cup instant coffee

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Store in an airtight container. To make cappucino, mix 2 tablespoons per cup of hot water (add more or less to get desired flavor). Top with whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon, nutmeg, or chocolate shavings, if desired.

I should also add, I like extra spice, so I added a little bit more cinnamon than the recipe called for. It is delicious!

P.S. This recipe is found on page 61 of "The Madison County Cookbook", copyright 1994.

Cute Potholders to Crochet - Gift Idea!

I found this incredibly cute potholder pattern through http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/ . I was going to try a few other patterns I found there, but after trying this one I am hooked! (No pun intended!) It is a simple cobble stitch to get the textured look, and then layered with a picot edge trim. The pattern is called "Maryanne's Potholder" and it can be found at http://dishclothboutique.20m.com/cpatterns/maryannespholder.html .


In the pattern, it suggests using some yarn to hold the pieces together while joining the two sides. I personally found it easier to just use four safety pins, one at each corner, and remove them after the project is finished. I have made these in quite a few color combinations, my personal favorite is a cream color with a darker contrasting color. The beige ones are nice too, though.


These little cuties can be whipped up quickly and would make a great Christmas gift, or any other kind of gift you might want to give. I plan on giving them in matching pairs. They would go nicely along with a jar of homemade jam or jelly, if you happen to have some on hand. I have tons of chokecherry jelly that I made in preparation for Christmas, so that's what I will be giving out to many unsuspecting family members (unless they are reading my blog, which will leave them suspecting) along with these dainty, yet hefty, potholders.

Free Greeting Cards

I love going to the store and looking at all the cards when I need one for a special occasion. But then I see how much some of these cards cost, it's pretty crazy! I have seen regular greeting cards cost more than $5 a piece. Granted, not all of them cost that much, and there are ways to get nice greeting cards for a much more reasonable price. However, I often find that the cards available for $.99 are pretty well picked over, and there isn't much of a selection.

If you are on a tight budget and need a card, there are ways to do it for next to nothing. There is always the dollar store, they might have them pretty cheap. If you have kids, they can make a greeting card for whatever occasion you need one for. Some occasions may not be appropriate for this, however. You could always make your own greeting card as well. If you are good at things like scrapbooking, this is an excellent way to save on greeting cards and add a nice personal touch.

Then there's always the internet. There are plenty of sites out there that are devoted to free printable greeting cards. Some of them want your personal information before they will let you print a card. I tend to steer clear of these because then it opens up my email for junk mail. We just used a site today that looks pretty good. My daughter has a birthday party to go to, and she found a card she liked at http://www.123printcards.com/ . They even have cute little envelopes to make to go along with your card. There is also http://www.printable-cards.gotfreecards.com/ or http://www.mintprintables.com/ . There are other sites that are free, such as http://www.bluemountain.com/ but you have to become a member to use those. Happy card making!

Free Crochet Patterns

It is getting to be that time of year when thinking about holiday gifts becomes more of a priority. I have been to several crafting stores today to look at pattern books for crocheting gifts. This year, I am more into slippers and socks. In past years, I have crocheted scarves, gloves, hats, afghans, etc.

My problem is that I like one pattern in each book, but I probably wouldn't use the rest of them. I hate to spend the money to buy a whole pattern book for just one pattern that I will use. I decided I would come home and look for some crocheting patterns on the internet and see what I could come up with. At least then, I can find one pattern I like, and I am not out $10 or more dollars for buying the pattern book.

The website www.crochetpatterncentral.com/index.php has many, many, many free patterns, plus links to other free patterns. To see what kind of patterns are available on this website, click on the "site index" option at the bottom of the webpage. Their website says they have thousands of free patterns available. You're sure to get some new ideas for projects just by browsing around there! The picture on this page is actually their logo. What a neat website!

Homemade Oatmeal Bath

Oatmeal baths are a good way to soothe sore, chapped, dry, irritated skin. The last time I checked (and that was a few years ago!), it cost quite a bit for a small box of oatmeal bath packets from the store. I believe a box of about 6 cost around $3-$4, and that was for the generic brand. The Aveeno brand was closer to $5 or $6. I got to wondering if there was a way that I could make my own, as just plain old oatmeal is rather inexpensive.

I managed to find a few ideas online. I haven't tried all of them, but I will share them with you. One idea was to place plain oatmeal in an old nylon stocking, tie a knot in the end, and let it sit in the tub. The soothing part of the oatmeal is supposed to leach out of the stocking and into the bath water. I haven't tried this one personally, but theoretically it sounds like it should work.

Another idea I liked even better was to take some plain oatmeal and place it in the blender or food processor and grind it up until it is a fine powder. You can use it like that, or you can also add a little bit of cornstarch and baking soda to add additionally soothing ingredients. That is the way that I make it, it works great! I actually adapted that recipe from this website http://www.allfreecrafts.com/homemade-gifts/oatmeal-milk-bath.shtml. The way I make it is I take 2 cups of finely ground oatmeal, 1/2 cup of baking soda, and 1/2 cup of cornstarch and mix it all up. Add 3-4 tablespoons per bath. I store the mixture in a ziploc baggie. The cost to make up a batch of this oatmeal bath is pennies on the dollar for what it costs to buy a box of oatmeal bath.

The website I posted above has printable sachets that you can make and put the oatmeal bath mixture into, as well as a more elaborate oatmeal milkbath recipe. I just may have to try that for personal gifts this year, especially Christmas!

thethriftyhousewife