{Holiday Gifting} Ideas & Inspiration

Are you gearing up for the Holidays yet? Particularly my favorite Holiday...Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know. I knowwwwwwwwwww. Christmas before Thanksgiving is so annoying. Believe me, I know. 

Buttttttt I have been sick and relatively useless all week, so I have been pinning my brains out. 

There are a few different categories of people I will be gifting to this year and obviously each category will receive different gifts...


Gifts for Babies and Kids:

The Lap/Crib/Floor Quilt that I developed for my Beginning Quilt Class would make a great and easier-than-you'd-think gift for kids as a floor or crib quilt. I actually also think that I am going to make this is a lap quilt for my Pop who spends a bit of time everyday in his favorite recliner.

I totally love this idea of simple monogrammed onesies for little ones. Two  of my girlfriends have very adorable little baby girls and I could see maybe monogramming a set of 4 onesies as a gift...

 

(I tried finding link, not available!!!!) 

For friends and family that cook and eat:

I love this apron from the book Sew Liberated

I love making homemade marshmallows with my husband and if we cut them up into little hearts or something I think they would look super cute on top of a cup of cocoa...

(I tried finding link, not available!!!!) 

II would love to make a trio of spice blends for my Dad. Actually, I think we are going to use bigger jars and give him our favorite rib, steak, and chicken blends from everything we cook when he comes to visit ...

Oooo Caramel Sauce

We have a certain family member that LOVES ice cream and LOVES candy, and I had the idea of breaking up his/hers favorite candy pieces and putting them in jars so that they had some handy ice cream toppings. This picture kinda of looks like what I'd do ... 

Ideas for My Girlfriends, Sister, and Cousins:

I really love this Lace-edged Scarf as shown by this great blogger. I don't know that I could actually make this, though. It is on my list, but looks like it would take a bit of time to get just-right.

Making some assortment of these home bodycare treats made by a favorite blogger of mine:

Maybe this Anna Maria Horner Art Student Tote...

Maybe I can make each of them one of my simple Pocketed Purse Organizer ...

 

Then of course there are some ideas for me and my Husband: 

I already made 8 of these AWESOME Lined Drawstring Bags from a favorite blogger of mine, Jeni at In Color Order...

I am also going to make us matching Christmas Stockings using this Anna Maria Horner favorite fabric of mine ...

OK there is my Holiday Present line-up for now. I have a couple other ideas in my head, but I am just not sure what I'll get to. What do you guys have planned???? 

HOLLER!

Cheese Stuffed Hot Peppers [Mmm}

FYI -- This is not a dish for those faint of heart.

My Mom makes the most amazing stuffed hot cherry peppers ever! They make an amazing appetizer, and we usually have them before Christmas dinner. I decided I would try making my own. After about 20 minutes on the phone with Mom, this is what I came up with. 

Whipped cream cheese, provolone, and an Italian cheese blend. Then LOTS, maybe a pound of prosciutto, and a few jars of the Pickled Hot Cherry Peppers. Note that I have tried the same recipe with sweet pepper and they are terrible. Like, gross. I don't know why, but they are.
 

After stuffing the peppers, put them in a baking dish, covered with foil, and bake until the cheese is hot, about 30 minutes. 

Then, of course, you eat them. I advise you to have an ample amount of bread handy so that your face doesn't melt an also to mop up the cheese and pepper juice that got loose. 

 Make some!

HOLLER!

I am a Food Swapper*

I am sitting here writing this blog post, and I can say with certainty, excitement, and a full stomach that I am now a Food Swapper. 

(Terrible iPhone pic)

During my daily blog stalk, I was pointed towards the From Scratch Club blog. Naturally, I scoured their website and checked out everything they had to offer, and boy did they have a lot!! 

The From Scratch Club is a group of women in the Capital Region, NY where I live. They focus a lot on homesteading and supporting local farms/businesses. They offer various technique classes like curing bacon, making dairy items, and fermenting. They have a book club. They have a blog. They even have a podcast.

What really intrigued me was their focus on the local community. Not to throw a pity party, but I moved to the area mainly for work and my boyfriend at the time (my husband now). I had a pretty great core group of friends that also congregated here after college, but other those and my coworkers/friends in the area, I didn't really know many people. When my Husband and I decided this is where we planned on settling down and finally bought a house last year, I really wanted to become a member of my new community.

When I learned about their Food Swaps, that are actually 3 miles from my house, I knew I had to just try it out. What did I really have to lose? 

I wanted to make something amazing. I chose to make a few batches of my Salted Caramel Bars and several jars of Apple Cider Syrup per Marisa's blog - Food in Jars. 

Pardon all of the terrible iPhone pictures. My real camera was dead, naturally, and I wanted to take pictures of everything before I dug in, which I promptly did.

I got to the swap and was greeted warmly by several of the swap helpers. Swelpers? I first met Chris at the check-in table, and she gave me a great intro. Then Deanna walked me over to a table and helped me set-up. Seriously, they were so nice.

I was a little nervous to participate in the swap. I read through various blog posts about strategy, best practices, do's and don'ts, etc. The truth is... you don't need to know anything to go to this swap. The coordinator of the swap was Chris and she is a great hostess.


After I set up my area, complete with samples (**A MUSTTTTTTT**), I walked around and checked out everyone's display and did a little tasting. I was so impressed with all of the time, effort, and care that others put into their swap display. Some people went all out!! 

 

This is Chris, the woman in charge of it all. She went over some general FSC housekeeping items, discussed upcoming classes, the current book club reading Handmade Pantry, and other items.

I didn't realize how much more this event was than just a Food Swap. We had plenty of time to mingle with other swappers, talk to the FSC contributors like Deanna and Chris as I mentioned, but the club also arranged for two guest speakers. How awesome!?

The first was a representative from the Schenectady Green Market, she gave us some great history on the market as well as its plans for the future. I have only been to the market once, but I really need to get their every Sunday. There is no excuse!! The second guest speaker was Marty Butts from Small Potatoes. They also had several FREE raffles going on, one of which I was a BIG WINNER. I won a 1 hour consultation with Marty. Marty and I hit it off right off the bat, because he is a lover of all things caramel. It was only fitting than I won the giveaway.

I won't go over all of the rules of the swap, as FSC's website goes over it very well. But, I will say, my salted caramels were quite the hit. So much so, that my swap card was totally completely full, and I even had people sign-up on the back of my card. 

Needless to say, I am very happy that everyone liked what I made. I can proudly say that I swapped all 10 bags of Salted Caramel Bars, all 4 jars of Apple Cider Syrup, and I also swapped the remaining samples of the caramels and the opened sampled jar of apple cider syrup. I totally forgot to keep an Apple Cider Syrup for myself. Wooops. I don't even think that my Husband got the chance to try it.  

Anyway, here is my loot! 

 (Orange and Lemon extracts!)

 (Quince Jelly)

I want to thank everyone so much for making my first swap so successful and enjoyable! You were all so great and had amazing products to offer. I particularly loved the two pretzels that I just devoured while writing this post. I wish I had all of your blogs to link to, but sadly I don't. Leave me a comment or shoot me an e-mail.

ALSO ---- In your Salted Caramel Bar packages you should notice two different types of bars. I've made both kinds before.. one is a softer caramel bar and the other is a harder caramel bar. Which one do you like better???? I, personally, like the softer caramel. what did you think my little guinea pigs??

Overall, I am happy with my display. I would like to beef it up a little more, i.e. no Daisy sourcream container for spoons. 
 

 

Everyone should seriously do a food swap. Just do it. 

HOLLER!