This season’s offering:

A variation on an old favorite, the Keep It Clean set. I just love making these! Thankfully, Heather has taken a hiatus from burp cloth-making, and didn’t mind me tagging in on those. Several more sets are already in various states of production, and there are still more on the list.

Of course, at some point my enthusiasm may wane and I’ll have to move on to making something else. Here’s what I learned [again. Why won't this lesson take??] this past Christmas:

One of a particular thing might be fun, and only take a few hours, and leave you wanting to make more!

But — when you decide to make nine more…

…embrace the simple math and common sense which tells you that this might take longer than you think. And you might have a blast pulling fabric and creating beautiful combinations, but you’re going to have to finish them, too.

Ah, but see, even now, I’m thinking about making another of those blankets. Or two. Some people aren’t meant to be helped, even by themselves. And I’ve got ideas for sooo many beautiful baby sets still in my head, yearning to be free….

Told you I’ve been in the kitchen a lot.

OK, so I’ve already shared my love for my crock pot, and also for the thriftiness it affords me in the form of homemade stock. In case you’re looking for the same cheap thrill, here’s how I do it:

Crock Pot Chicken Stock

adapted from A Year of Slow Cooking

1 rotisserie chicken carcass, with some of the skin and bits of meat still attached to the bones

2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (into to or 3 pieces each)

2 stalks celery, roughly chopped

1 onion, peeled and halved

4 – 6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

Throw everything into the crock, and add enough water to cover the chicken (about 10 – 12 cups). Cook on LOW 8 – 10 hours. After it has cooled enough to handle, remove the stone insert filled with the broth, and cool it quickly by setting it in an ice bath in the sink. (Fill the sink with an inch or two of water, add some ice cubes, and then carefully set your stone insert into the water.) Once it has cooled to room temperature, which only takes 15 minutes or so, place the cover on the dish and pop it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, skim off the fat, strain out the vegetables and chicken bones, and pack your beautiful golden broth into freezer containers. Voila! Chicken stock.

Yield: 2 generous quarts

I usually pack mine in quart jars, either glass or plastic, label them with masking tape, and pop them in the freezer. I’ve seen some recommendations to pack it into one cup servings; the larger size works better for me.

Since there are usually carrots and celery lying around in my fridge, making this feels like getting something for nothing, and who doesn’t like that?

We are trying very hard to be ever-so-slightly healthier around here. The first step was to implement a No Drive Thru January; that lasted about a week. It’s new name is Less Drive Thru January.

Next on the list: Eat more greens. Lucky for me, I have a crew of pretty good eaters. They like most veggies, and even the salad-hating boy has come around to being something of a fan. There was fear in the eye of the man of the house, though, when I started flipping through vegan and vegetarian cookbooks.

“We’re not getting rid of meat, are we?”

“No.”

“Because I’m all for upping the vegetables…as long as they’re served with meat.”

“Gotcha.”

Here’s my compromise: pork tenderloin, served with collard greens and sweet potatoes, and a quinoa salad [not shown].

The greens and sweet potatoes were super good, much to even my surprise. The rest of the week, we had soups, pasta, and then some of the leftover pork in a big salad. Yes, we had big salad — in the middle of winter. Every time we have a vegetarian dinner, I’ve gotten to hear how tolerable it is in light of the fact that “we still get to eat meat, which is important.”

Gotcha. Again.

Is it just me, or does it seem like Christmas was a very long time ago?

I mean, except for the fact that all of the decorations are still up. And some of the gifts are still sitting in the living room.

Speaking of gifts:

Moses, smell the roses — are these Sweet and Salty Brownies ever good! So good! They take quite a bit more time than making them from a mix, what with the boiling of the caramel and the melting of the chocolate and all, but they’re totally worth it for those special people in your life (once in a great while.) It’s like eating a really rich piece of candy in cake form, if that makes any sense. Mm.

Also, I found my new very favorite peppermint bark recipe [scroll down to the "candy cane brittle" portion of the recipe in the link] this year, now with cookie crumbs! Very tasty; I only wish it made more. It’s probably just as well that it didn’t. And while I was in homemade everything, why not throw in some marshmallows and hot cocoa mix? Sounds like a recipe for successful hibernation to me! [A word about that cocoa recipe: If you follow those instructions, you will have the richest cup of hot chocolate. The long simmer gives it a super thick texture.]

There were so many wonderful recipes that I didn’t get around to trying, but time and kitchen space ran out. Next time, I need to get an earlier start!

Well, those I didn’t have. We did have freezer paper, though, and a marker. Why not just draw up a couple?

A couple of real beauts, right? Block lettering has never been my strong suit. Nor have faces. Ah, but so what? They’re disposable placemats! The kids were totally happy, and I saved ONE DOLLAR. Actually, what I saved was another trip to Target, and do you want to know the best part of all? After putting it off for a couple of days — waiting for perfect inspiration to strike and thinking about what to use as templates — I just bit the bullet and put pen to paper. We’re making great strides here people!

The Girl has a set, too. Done and done!

Here it is: All of that stuff on your to-do list? Plus all the other stuff on the mental list that you’re almost afraid to commit to paper? It’ll either get done, or it won’t.

It’s really as simple as that.

“Yeah, but -”

No. No buts. And trust me — I’m right there with ya. Today I had the pleasure of having one of my wisdom teeth yanked out, something decidedly absent from any of my lists pre-dating last weekend (at which point I thought that maybe I’d have to go in for a little adjustment. No such luck.) And I tried to bump up production so that I could still make my numbers for the week, so to speak, but it wasn’t until this morning [read: too late] that the better solution came to me, the one that would have allowed me to deliver treats to the school office tomorrow morning and still get everything done for today. Well, so much for that; make a note to self for next time. To once again quote dear old Dad, it gets easier.

The works-in-progress scattered all over the workroom? They’ll either get done…or they won’t. Same for the “thank you, school office ladies” scones. Where is it written that you can’t bring a treat to someone in January, anyway? Or for Valentine’s Day?

The Grinch couldn’t stop Christmas from coming, and neither can you. If you feel like getting down on yourself, try repeating that old saw, “Next year, things will be different!”

And who knows? Either it will…or it won’t.

The humble slow cooker sure has seen a resurgence in popularity, hasn’t it? And it’s no wonder, because who doesn’t like to come home in the evening and have dinner waiting for you? I do! Sadly, though, it turns out that we have pretty particular tastes when it comes to crock pot cuisine. My husband doesn’t like it when the soup gets too thick (so out with my favorite bean and barley one). I, on the other hand, am really picky about the meat dishes. If it gets too fatty, or takes on a gamey flavor, it’s a no-go. This is usually an issue with anything containing chicken thighs or pork.

Happily, there have been some real winners so far this season:

• Chicken Enchilada Chili was a real crowd-pleaser; I’ve already made it three times in the past six weeks. I omit the onion and celery (because I don’t care for either one in my chili). Also, it calls for 1 1/2 cups of enchilada sauce, which is just a little more than the can, so I just added a little water instead of cracking into a second one.
• Leftover chili is great over baked potatoes. These came out so much better than when I make them in the oven! We’ve tried both russet and sweet potatoes, and they were both terrific (with the chili, in fact, which surprised me as far as the sweet potatoes were concerned.) I still have the somewhat irrational fear that my crock is going to crack, but so far so good.
• The Carnitas was also a hit. The second time around, we didn’t have any beef broth on-hand, so I just used water. Also, the orange wasn’t very juicy, but a little additional orange juice from the carton in the fridge subbed in nicely.

If you have any slow-cooker favorites, please send them my way! As good as these have been, my crew will soon tire of them if I’m not careful. Today, the plan is to fire up the crock and make stock out of the remains of  Monday’s rotisserie chicken. The thrifty part of my heart is singing with joy.

Last week, I had an epiphany. It occurred to me, in the midst of my mental list-making (which closely  resembles staring blankly into the middle distance) that all of the fun stuff that I plan to do with and for my family gets shoved to the end. Every year. My fun little plans to make the season bright get squashed out by the things which cause the most panic to well up in my chest: the “have-tos” of gift-making and shopping and planning and baking and making lists and checking them twice.

If only I could limit myself to making a list and checking it twice. I’m embarrassed by the number of near-identical lists I come across. Why wouldn’t one suffice? No, let me jot that down yet again.

Anyway, I’m trying something radical this year: Shushing the voices in my head that constantly scream what I haven’t finished, and shoehorn in some fun. So far, we’ve managed to decorate the tree (on the day after Thanksgiving, no less, which is always the goal, but …), and I even let the kids help.

They had more fun looking at themselves in the [shatterproof] bulbs, so it took a while, but it was fun! (You may be thinking, “Who doesn’t let their kids help decorate the tree??”, and I’ll tell you: a micromanaging mother of young children who wants it done right. But this is the new RELAXED Mama! Baby steps.)

We also had family fun night on Saturday, featuring pizza and a movie, and last night we watched Christmas specials on TV and ate ice cream. Notice a theme? Lazy? Easy? Sure. Still, we had fun and I was reminded how simple it is to inject a little magic into the everyday if you really, really try.

Because sometimes you have to really, really try not to miss the most wonderful time of the year.

Follow me back over to Heather’s for more quick-fix wrapping ideas for  your tasty treats!

Next week, I plan on returning with lots of good stuff. Namely, all that which has completely sucked up November.

Because it’s over — you know that right? That November’s over? Well, it’s as good as true.

Here’s wishing a happy, lovely Thanksgiving to you and yours!!

]]> http://makeitsnappy.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/but-wait-theres-more-2/feed/ 0 makeitsnappy 060