Homemade Gift Idea: Magic Spoon with Magic Powder

 Whether it’s for a teacher, co-worker, or all the nieces and nephews, I have an easy, homemade, magical gift idea.

A Mug of Christmas Magic!

  This mug contains a magic spoon, magic powder, candy cane, and a chocolate dipped Oreo cookie!

A magic spoon is a spoon used to stir your hot cocoa, and a marshmallow will magically appear!

To make a magic spoon, take a heavy duty plastic spoon, and scoop up some marshmallow cream,

Dip your spoonful of cream into melted white chocolate and sprinkle with holiday sprinkles.

Now you’ll want to wrap it before packaging it up. I used the corner of a sandwich bag and tied it with some curling ribbon.

After you have dipped your magic spoons, dip a few Oreo cookies. I wanted to get the holiday Oreo cookies. You know the ones, with the red cream in the middle? I couldn’t find any, so I used regular Oreos.

Don't forget to sprinkle the dipped cookies with a little holiday cheer too. And try not to eat the gift components while dipping. Not that I did or anything. That one above? Broke! ;)  Really! It did!

Now wrap up the cookie and tie it to the handle of the mug. Look how cute that is!

Now for the magic powder!

The magic powder is a simple hot cocoa mix. You can make your own with one of the following recipes below, or you can buy some commercial mix. Your choice! I think Costco had a big canister of the mix last time I was there. Or you could  use individual packaged cocoa. You can find those everywhere this time of year.

I found these cool snowflakes at Rite Aid. They are great for decorating cookies, cakes, or magic powder! Want a closer look?

They are actually made of wafer paper. Slightly sweet, they really don't have much of a taste. I bought  bags of these cute little snowflakes! I can think of many uses. I added 3 snowflakes to each cocoa bag.

Now measure the mix into individual serving sizes. See how I bagged the mix in the corner of a baggie. Tie it up with a twist tie or use some curling ribbon. Then trim off the zipper part and the excess plastic. The one on your left is not trimmed yet. The one on the right is trimmed and ready to package.

Now stuff the magic powder and the magic spoon in the Christmas mug that you tied the cookie to. Don’t forget a candy cane.You might wad up a piece of tissue paper and put it in the bottom of the mug to help position the spoon and lift the powder up a bit. It’s all in the presentation folks. Pretty it up!

Now that it’s all wrapped up, you need some instructions to tie on  it.

Tell me how this looks. Sound OK?

Here’s the magic powder hitting the mug of hot water. Looks pretty festive, yes?

After stirring with the magic spoon, I got a marshmallow!

 This IS truly magical!

OH! Don't forget to eat your cookie!

Recipe #1

Alton Browns Hot Cocoa

By Alton Brown

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or more to taste (optional)
• Hot water

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups of water.

Fill your mug half full with the mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry. This also works great with warm milk.

Recipe #2

Best Hot Cocoa Mix

Found at Family Fun

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

• 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Measure all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk them until they are evenly blended.

2. Store the mix in a tightly covered container at room temperature until you're ready to package it. Makes about 4 cups of mix.

3. Spoon 3 or 4 generous tablespoons of cocoa mix into your cup (depending on the size), add boiling water, and stir well."

Recipe #3

Hot Chocolate Mix

(Printable Recipe)

• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 pounds high-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 4 1/2 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cups Dutch process cocoa

Split and scrape vanilla bean and place in a large bowl or jar with the sugar. Work seeds into the sugar with your fingers. Bury the pods under the sugar. Cover tightly and let stand overnight (or up to months–vanilla sugar keeps forever) at room temperature.

In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process semisweet chocolate and dark chocolate until finely ground, using 4-second pulses. Process in batches, if necessary

Remove pod from sugar. Add ground chocolate and cocoa powder to sugar and whisk to blend, making sure to combine well. Store mix airtight at room temperature for up to six months.

Yields: 38 2-Tbsp servings, or 6 3/4-cup servings Adapted from: Gourmet,

Martha Monday: Warm Vanilla Apple Cider Recipe

In the Sierra Foot Hills, about an hours drive outside Sacramento, is a place known as Apple Hill. Come here on any Autumn day and you’ll find  about 50 ranchers sharing not only their  many varieties of apples, but apple pie, apple strudel, apple jelly, and apple bread.

You’ll also find pumpkins and crafts,  music and pony rides, wineries, and pure unprocessed apple juice. That’s the kind that would make this Vanilla Cider perfect! Fresh, farm picked, unprocessed apple cider. But I haven’t made it to Apple Hill this year, YET! So I picked up a bottle from the grocery store to make this perfect seasonal treat. Warm Vanilla Cider by Martha Stewart!

I love to make cider in the crockpot too. Perfect for days like Thanksgiving or Christmas, the crockpot keeps it warm all day and it’s ready for drinking when your family and friends are. Or how about having a nice warm drink when you get back from apple picking? The crockpot and this recipe can help!

The Honeyed Walnuts were a great addition to this. I loved the flavor of the sweet from the honey and the salty from the course sea salt. It would also make a perfect sprinkling on top of  a salad, with lets say, apple slices?

Warm Vanilla Cider

By Martha Stewart

Printable Recipe

6 Cups fresh apple cider
2 TBSP packed brown sugar
2 whole nutmeg seeds
1 Vanilla Bean-split and scraped
6 0z Bourbon (optional)
Whipped Cream
Honeyed Walnuts
In a medium saucepan, combine ingredients. Gently simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and discard solids. Divide among 6 heatproof glasses and top with with a dollop of whipped cream and a few honey walnuts.

Honeyed Walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 1 cup walnuts with 3 TBSP honey and a pinch of course sea salt in a bowl. Toss to coat and spread on a parchment lined baking tray. Bake tossing occasionally until toasted, about 15 minutes Let cool.

Makes 6 cup.
Time: 15 minutes.

Vietnamese Iced Coffee or Cafe sua da!

Ca phe sua da or Cafe sua da

(Vietnamese: cà phê sữa đá)

is a unique Vietnamese coffee recipe.

Literally, ca phe sua da means "iced coffee with milk". Ca phe sua da can be made simply by mixing brewed black coffee with about a quarter to a half as much sweetened condensed milk and then pouring it over ice.

-Wikipedia Encylopedia

When the tempetures hit 110 degrees last week, I was looking for a cold drink that would give me a little jump start. I didn't want to spend my money at one of those coffee houses, yet I wanted a coffee fix in the form of a cool iced drink.

I first saw this drink about a year ago while surfing the blogs. My only question is what took me so long to make it. Don't you hesitate. This simple drink is a coffee lovers must make. Shake it up a bit, add some chocolate, or liquor like Baileys or Kahlua. You might even try those Torrini syrups.
I'm quite fond of the pumpkin spice! :)

And it will keep those coffee house urges away!

Vietnemese Iced Coffee
10 cups strong coffee
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

Combine brewed coffee and sweetened condensed milk in large pitcher. Refrigerate until chilled. Serve over ice.

Other peoples Iced Coffee:

The life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch

Steamy Kitchen

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Watermelon Lemonade

Trying to beat the summer heat?
How about some Watermelon lemonade!
It had been requested several times in this last week so I know it's a hit with the kids.
And just in time for the holiday weekend!

Easy ingredients!
Let me explain the watermelon juice.
You can make your own instead of buying it.
Since it had only been 2 weeks since my surgery, I couldn't lift a watermelon to make my own juice, so I resorted to buying it. If you put cut pieces in the food processor or blender, and give it a few pulses, you can strain the the pulp out and waa-laa, watermelon juice!

I also made cute little dolphin ice cubes with blueberries frozen in them. The kids loved these and I'm going to do the same thing, only with a star ice cube tray for the 4th of July!
Too cute!

Can you see the blue dolphin swimming?
Look closer!

Want a grown up version?
A little spirit and kick?

Add some Smirnoff watermelon vodka!
That will liven up the party. :)

Watermelon Lemonade
by Megan Pires

I can frozen lemonade
1-1 1/2 cups watermelon juice
Gingerale
blueberries for garnish

Mix frozen lemonae with 4 cans of gingerale. Add watermelon juice and ice.
Serve and enjoy!

Celebrate Fall with a Pumpkin Smoothy

When I was a little girl, my pumpkin love affair began. My mom use to save me a little glassful of the pumpkin pie filling after filling up the Thanksgiving pie crust. Sometimes she would skimp just a little on the pie, so I could have my taste. I use to come running in the kitchen and ask, "Did you save me any pumpkin juice?"

That was the beginning.

My Kitchen Windowsill

Then as I grew up, I always thought my favorite color was purple. Ask me today and I would say my favorite was purple. But one time someone said to me something about my favorite color being orange. My favorite color is not orange.

That would be my mothers favorite color, not mine.

My Mother's stuff on display on top of my hutch.

But I do love Fall. The earthy colors of the leaves chancing. The pumpkins and the gourds and the Indian corn. And as I look around, I have alot of orange. Orange dishes, orange glass serving pieces. Orange candles and orange decorations. I never thought of these things being orange but more like earth tones.

I guess I really do love orange. But to amuse me, lets call it "pumpkin chiffon"

To celebrate the return of Autumn, I made a pumpkin smoothie that I have had bookmarked since last Fall. It brought back the memories of my mom and those little glasses of pumpkin juice. It taste just like pumpkin pie without the crust.

Your suppose to use 100% pure pumpkin. I screwed up.
I used the pumpkin pie filling. (in a can)
Oops!

It was delicious!

I'm serving this up to Ruth who is the hostess of an event called Bookmarked Recipes. I have had this bookmarked since July of "07" from Meals.com.
I wish I hadn't waited so long to make it!

Pumpkin Smoothie
By Libbys
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin, chilled
1 can (12 fl. oz.) * NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Fat Free Milk, chilled
1 cup (6 oz.) vanilla light and nonfat yogurt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Light whipped cream

COMBINE pumpkin, evaporated milk, yogurt, sugar and pumpkin pie spice in blender; cover. Blend until mixture is smooth. If a thinner smoothie is desired, add water, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached.

TOP with whipped cream; sprinkle with additional pumpkin pie spice.

NOTE: For a richer and creamier version of this recipe, substitute NESTLÉ CARNATION Evaporated Low fat 2% Milk or Evaporated Milk for the Evaporated Fat Free Milk.

Yields 4 servings




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Hurricane Ridge and a Raspberry lemonade

We made it to Salt Creek campground in the far northern coast of Washington. You can see the Strait of Juan De Fuco waterway between the USA and Canada, right behind where we're staying.

That would be Canada you see in the distance. Actually, it's Vancouver Island. This is the waterway to get to Victoria, Canada and the ports of Seattle. We saw cruise ships, huge barges, and even a submarine pass through these waters. Sometimes there would be a ridge of fog in between and you could just see the top of the mountains

On our first day of sightseeing, we went to Hurricane Ridge. We are 52oo feet up in the Olympic National Forest. This is looking down on Port Angeles from the top of the ridge. You can barely see the town in the middle of the picture.

This is the spectacular mountain ridge that we drove 17 miles straight up for. It was more then worth every gas guzzling mile and a must see if you are ever in the area! I felt like I was in the movie Sound of Music and wanted to break out in song.

The hills are alive with the sound of music

With songs they have sung for a thousand years

The hills fill my heart with the sound of music

My heart wants to sing every song it hears.

Can you hear it in your head?

I hope it didn't get stuck there and your humming it all day. (insert evil giggle)

The little family (minus me) at a photo opp! That would be the hubby Rich, the daughter Kellie, and the dog Mario. I'm thinking this picture might make the annual Kellie Calender!

The next day we went to Victoria, Canada and this was a view of the mountain from out on the ferry. When we left Port Angeles, it was sunny weather. Then we went through the fog bank and thought it would be foggy and cold in Victoria. But we came out of the fog... to a beautiful day.


After a hard day sightseeing, It was time for a cool refreshing drink. I've made this drink several times now and it's a winner. Simply mash some fresh of frozen raspberries in a pitcher. Add one can of frozen lemonade mix. You can use either pink or regular lemonade. Then add a 2 litter bottle of ginger ale and mix. Float a few berries on top. If your over 21, you can spike it and turn it into a cocktail. Thank you Janet, for this recipe. It's one I will be enjoying a lot . It's perfect!!!

Stay tuned for my Canadian post.

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Totals So Far!

Gas-$447.00

Camping-$259.00

Miles-1150 (total miles, including side trips)

Golf-$130.00

Recommend Reading:

The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

Note: I'm not including food or souveniers because everyone has different habits and budgets.
Besides, I dont want hubby to know what I spent. :) (just kidding! About the spending, not the food and souveniers)

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Red Bull-Whats in that can?

I have a few friends who can't live without their Red Bull. Here's to you Sue! Personally, it doesn't do a thing for me.I wake up, go to the coffee pot twice, sometimes 3 times, and get my fix first thing. But I always wondered-Whats in that can? And why so expensive?
Well, I guess you can put a price on bull bile. Icky!
Here's the info on Red Bull as told by Fitsugar


Let's start with the caloric content: one 8.3 ounce can of
regular Red Bull contains 110 calories and 27 grams of sugar (that is almost 2 tablespoons of sugar). Red Bull Sugar Free contains only 10 calories and is sweetened with aspartame. !

Here's a little info from Wired on the key energy producing ingredients of Red Bull.

Taurine was originally isolated from bull bile in 1827 (hence the name of the drink), but fortunately it is now made synthetically. Taurine's actual effects are wide-ranging - it is an inhibitory neurotransmitter (in some cases acting as a mild sedative), an age-defying antioxidant, and has the potential to steady irregular heartbeats.

To learn about the other ingredients,

Glucuronolactone hardly anyone has looked into exactly what this stuff does, and most research on this ingredient was performed 50 years ago - seems a little dated, don't ya think? Rumor has it that this ingredient fights fatigue and increases well-being - but this could be the "bull" that give the drink its name.

Caffeine does increase concentration and reaction speed, as well as improve emotional state and boost metabolism. One can contains 80 mg of caffeine that is more than three times the caffeine that’s in the same amount of Coke.

Niacin aka vitamin B-3, increases so-called good cholesterol (HDL) by preventing the formation of triglycerides, making it a terrific cholesterol drug. Unfortunately, there isn't enough niacin in a can of Red Bull to have this benefit. And it's not even pure enough to give you the mild head rush dubbed the "niacin flush."

Essentially, Red Bull is basically sugar water mixed with caffeine. I am not a fan of energy drinks and think we are all better off getting our caffeine from less processed sources like coffee (no more than 3 cups a day!) and tea since they contain antioxidants naturally and taste great without all that sugar!
ht:fitsugar