Simple Life: Handmade Christmas Decorations

Natural holiday cheer. Decorate the house a bit, invite family and friends over for mulled wine or cider and set an evening of Holiday spirit merriment. Simply done. Instructions below. Enjoy.

Popcorn Cranberry Garland

You need:

Popcorn - preferably a day old and stale {trust me}

Cranberries - only the still hard ones {trust me}

Dental Floss

a needle

Happy stringing.

Dried Oranges 

You need:

Oranges {by the bag full}

Dehydrator or oven

Slice the oranges and place in dehydrator for 24 hrs or on a baking sheet {single layer} in the oven for 2-4 hrs at 200 F

Dried Oranges and Cinnamon Ornaments

 

You need:

dried orange slices {see above}

cinnamon sticks

twine {of your choice}

My house smells delicious!

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Recipe Weckmänner

Today is St. Martin's Day. As dark cold days are approaching and I think about ways to lighten up the fall mood around here, I make a coordinated effort to move away and brighten, as much as possible, the darker days in our home. 

Here is something I have noticed while raising my children - rediscovering traditions of my own childhood and looking forward to creating memories with our own family. Legend has it, that St. Martin, a roman soldier, met a scantily dressed beggar at the gates of Amiens, asking Martin for  help. The soldier, not having any money or food to give to the beggar on this cold night, parted his cloak in two with a single swipe of his sword, giving one-half to the beggar while keeping the other for himself. It is said that after this night, Martin was baptized and left the army. 

On the days leading up to and on the night of November 11th, you can find children walking in procession through the streets with their handmade lanterns, singing songs of praise and light to St. Martin. They are led by a man on a horse, meeting at a bonfire at a public square or school yard, where the story of St. Martin is retold through a play. While the origin of the lanterns is unclear, they may have come from the bonfire, symbolizing the light it brings in a dark night, as St, Martin brought a flicker of hope to the poor at his time. 

The night singing around the bonfire ends with hot chocolate, mulled wine, and Weckmänner. Growing up receiving and enjoying a Weckmann was always a memorable end to our evening. For e and j's Weckmänner below, I used a Hefezopf recipe {if you're German, click here)} I followed the recipe very loosely, with the main exception that instead of braiding the bread I formed four little men. And I used all purpose flour with great results.

Weckmänner

Ingredients 

{I encourage you to weigh the ingredients if possible as it yields better results}

500g all purpose flour

1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring

1 envelope dry yeast {the German recipe calls for 18g fresh yeast which would be better}

200 ml cold milk

75g sugar 

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

90 g butter, softened

1 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon juice {original recipe calls for lemon zest}

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a kitchen aid type bowl, knead all ingredients on low about 10 minutes, then up the speed and continue kneading for an additional 5 minutes

2. cover the dough and let rest/rise 1 hour

3. divide dough into 4 equal parts, cut your arms and legs using kitchen shears or preferred tool

4. brush the men with egg, add your face and buttons, cover with foil and let rest another hour

5. bake in preheated oven 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. 

6. enjoy while still warm with fresh butter and jam

What about you? Do you have St. Martin's Day traditions?

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How to Preserve Leaves for Decorations

On these days when the last of the leaves are turning and slowly making their way to the ground, fall colored decorations keep my spirits up. Especially the ones we collected in the woods and took home.

My favorite part of fall are the vibrant colors. Whether set against a deep blue sky or gray clouds, they are a beautiful reminder that we are moving from a season of dark green trees with an air filled with heavy humidity and insects calling late at night, to one of crispy cold days and silent nights that feel extra dark. Now that time change has passed and it gets dark before dinner time, it doesn't matter whether or not you participate in Halloween, Michaelmas, or even celebrate Thanksgiving, adding a few fall colors to your home is worth a try to cheer up the home. 

The best way to add some fall colors is to go for things you can toss guilt free after the season. I'm thinking dried oranges and cinnamon, apple cider simmering on the stove, pumpkins, gourds, corn husks, and homemade leave decorations. As a bonus, they are also budget friendly.

Preserving Fall Leaves

You need:

Vegetable Glycerin

Surfactant 

a heavy book

newspaper or wax paper

paper towels

fresh or already dried leaves 

Directions

1. Gather the leaves of your choice. I used both fresh and already dried leaves for this project. 

2. Fill a large bowl with one gallon of water, add 2 cups of vegetable glycerin and a few drops (3-5 drops) of surfactant to the bowl. Stir to mix.

3. Place each fresh or dried leave in the bowl, then lay on a paper towel to dry. You want to be more careful with a dried leave as they break fairly quickly.

4. Let the leaves dry for 1 to 3 hours or longer if necessary. Then, if preferred, lay them in between sheets of newspaper before placing them in the pages of your book to dry. The newspaper is optional but if you omit it, you may run the risk of messing up your book due to the moisture that is still in them. Leave the leaves in the book for a day or longer. 

5. Once they are dried you are ready to use them for your project or as decorations. My first ones are framed and my next batch will be used for window garlands in the kids' room. 

The difference in using dried and fresh leaves is that the vegetable glycerin with the surfactant helps keep the color better than if you were to just dry them. The solution also makes the leaves soft and less delicate for projects.

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Simple Moments

Some moments that shaped our week -- Textures turned toys and fall colors

 

sharing here

Looking for last minute Halloween Cookie Recipe or Pumpkin carving ideas? Go here and here or click the pictures. :)

 

Little House in the Pumpkin

 Last week I had an Instagram post reminding myself to embrace fall baking despite the not so fall-like temperatures, especially after I found all these goodies at the local Farmer's Market. Among my finds was a pumpkin. A good sized heavy cooking pumpkin. 

A pumpkin fresh from the Farmer's Market was just the right thing to take home to lift my fall spirits. This pumpkin, grown among many from a small seed in the farmer's fields, so heavy and plump with oh such delicious goodness that awoke a desire in me to preserve and devour it all at the same time. And then I gently remind myself that there are more pumpkins to return to for later if I wish. 

Carving pumpkins is a tradition; a delight for most around this time of the year. Walking amongst the many beautiful fall fruits, rich in color and scent, we usually choose the darker skinned variety to carve. But before I arrived at the Market, I already knew I wanted to cook with the healthy flesh insides instead of just discarding it. And so without further ado - in mostly just pictures our fall pumpkin house. 

Little House in the Pumpkin

Pumpkin

large sharp chef's knife

boning knife

ice cream scoop

two bowls (one for the seeds and one for the flesh)

I chose to cut the end off instead of the top. Also, I spy a little hand... curious eyes and hands are always near.

Free handed the windows. If desired draw them on before cutting.

She not only helped gather materials from the yard, she also played with it for a while. Win, win in my book.

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Mummy Cookies

Temperatures have dipped again a little this week. It feels more like fall than summer now, which is great considering Halloween is right around the corner already. This year I've been embracing fall with all its might, crunchy leaves, deep blue skies, and even the too warm temperatures.  I've been eyeballing Thanksgiving dishes for a while now, eager to get busy in the kitchen baking fall treats. 

But, alas, we still do have a few more days to go until November. Pumpkin spice for Mummy Cookies aside, we are still in Halloween mode over here.

All year round I've been making simple chocolate chip cookies or sugar cookies to share with our morning or afternoon cuppa. But then I came across our gingerbread cut out one day when e was playing with her playdough and I remembered seeing a Mummy Cookie online somewhere, which gave me the final nudge to give it a try also, using said gingerbread cut out. So we got busy in the kitchen yesterday afternoon. 

Mummy Cookies

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 c sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 melted chocolate chips

2 TBS cocoa powder 

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

3 c flour (unbleached)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Royal Icing

Instructions

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit

2. in a mixing bowl, add butter and sugar - beat on medium speed until combined.

3. add egg, vanilla, melted chocolate chips, cocoa, and pumpkin spice - mix well

4. add flour with baking powder and salt, one cup at a time, mix until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. roll out dough about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (mine worked better on the thicker side)

6. punch 'em out and bake on a cookie sheet for 9- 12 minutes

7. let cool completely before icing with royal icing (small tip if available)

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