These Christmas shirts turned out so cute. My kids can unwrap them Christmas morning and wear them to grandmas house on Christmas day. I just found pictures I liked on the internet to use as my patterns. I cut the pieces out of felt and then glued them to the shirts using fabric glue. I let the glue dry overnight. The whole project took me less than an hour for two shirts. They’re so cute and I made them in less time than it would have taken me to go to the store and buy shirts.

Nothing says thoughtful like a gift you made yourself. I always like to give tasty treats to coworkers that I make myself. Nothing gets more oohs and ahhhs. This year at work I gave pots of jam and chocolate treats. I make the jam when the fruits in season so it’s all ready to go and I spent one evening making two kinds of truffles and covering dried fruit in chocolate. Easy, cheap, and oh so thoughtful. If you want my candy recipes I’ve posted them here on my blog.

I love orange and chocolate together and I remember my mom making orange chocolate truffles as a kid. She used the old double boiler method to make her truffles. For me that’s too much fuss and more mess to clean up.

What you will need:

2 cups of dark chocolate chips or pieces
1.5 sticks of butter
2 teaspoons orange extract
pinch of salt
powdered sugar and cocoa for dusting

I melt my chocolate in the microwave with the butter. I start with one minute then take it out and stir. Then I microwave 30 seconds at a time being sure to stir well each time until its all melted together. After the mixture is melted and smooth I add my extract and a dash of salt. Then I let it chill in the fridge for about two hours. When my truffle mixture is firm I take it out and roll them into balls. You can cover your hand in a plastic bag to keep it from getting messy. I rolled my truffles first in powdered sugar and then in cocoa. These are so delicious and make great gifts. People will think you slaved all day. I got about 30 truffles out of this recipe.

In my house these white chocolate covered apricots are tradition. I’ve made them every year since I was married and I remember my mom making them for the holidays.

They’re so easy. You just need white chocolate and apricots. I melted my chocolate in the microwave for one minute and then stirred it and then microwaved again for one minute. Then I tossed my apricots in made sure they were coated evenly and then I used a small pickle fork to fish them out. I left them on parchment paper to sit until the chocolate hardens. They are so easy and they look great on any holiday dessert plate.

So I know what you’re thinking. If you’ve been paying any attention to my blog there’s been a lot of posts about Christmas. The truth is I’m at least a quarter Jewish (in my mind). Ok so my step father is Jewish and I lived in Israel for a year. Plus potato pancakes were one of the first recipes I learned to make as a kid. I was probably about five or six when I learned the recipe in school. After I learned to make them my mom and I would make latkes and applesauce all the time.

There are two basic style of latke. There are shredded and mashed potato style. The easiest by far are the shredded and this is the recipe I first learned to make as a little girl. For my latkes today I substituted flax meal for the flour to make my latkes gluten free plus they’re a little bit healthier and you don’t miss the flour one bit you really just need something to act as a binder. So here’s my slightly modified latke recipe.

2 cups grated potatoes
2 cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds
2 eggs
Oil for frying

I had an assorted bag of fingerling potatoes there were purple, red, gold, and white potatoes. I shredded them with a cheese grater until I had about two cups. I mixed in two cloves of garlic minced, two tablespoons of flax seeds, and two eggs. In a frying pan I heated my oil until it pops. The key to good latkes is hot oil. I used a tablespoon sized spoon to scoop my latke mixture into the frying pan. Then just cook until their golden brown.

For quick home made applesauce all you need is

apples
sugar
cinnamon

I cut and core my apples leaving the skin on and place them in a sauce pan. I add about a half a cup of sugar to start the apples cooking. I cook my apples on medium low heat with the cover on until their soft. Once your apples have become sauce add sugar and cinnamon to taste. So easy and so yummy! You can use any apples you want. The amount of sugar will change depending on the type and amount of apples you use.

Happy Hanukkah everyone!

I made stockings for my two boys this year and I wanted to decorate them with something special that they would really like. My older son is really into houses. You know windows, doors, a roof, he loves them all. Some kids love cars or trains, he loves houses. We bought him a lego set that came with three doors. He slept with those doors for at least a week. So I thought what could be better than a gingerbread house?

To make the gingerbread house stocking I first found a picture of a gingerbread house to copy. I cut the house out as a pattern to cut my tan felt for the house shape. Then I made my candy and frosting out of different colors of felt. When I was finished cutting I laid my pieces out and glued them onto the stocking with fabric glue. Then left it overnight to dry.

The whole project took me about an hour. Which was well worth the time. My son was so excited in the morning to see his stocking “so perfect” for the holidays.

These truffles are so lemony and buttery. They’re just delicious. They’re also SO easy.

2 cups white chocolate chips
10 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 teaspoons lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Powdered sugar for dusting

I melted my chocolate and butter together in the microwave. The key to making truffles in the microwave is to go slow and don’t overdo it. I start with one minute then stopped to mix. Then keep warming the chocolate 30 seconds at a time making sure to stir. Once my chocolate and butter were melted together and smooth I stirred in my extract and salt. Chill the mixture in the fridge for two hours. Use a small spoon to scoop out the truffles. Roll the truffles into balls and then til them in powdered sugar. I keep my truffles in the fridge to keep them from getting soft until I’m ready to serve them or hand them out as gifts. I got around 30 truffles from this recipe.