Nativity Set for the Kids

First Published at Family Home & Life, Dec 2012.

Every Christmas, I have a birthday party for Jesus in my home. We tell the Christmas story gathered around a birthday cake, sing Happy Birthday, and each child gets a candle to blow out on the cake. Since having grand kids, this celebration has become more special to us all.  As the kids have grown older, they have begun to join in with the story telling. This year I wanted to include the kids even more. I decided I would make a nativity for them to use in the story telling. Since there are a lot of cardboard tube "people" made out of empty toilet paper and paper towels rolls around Pinterest, I decided to try to make a nativity using empty toilet paper/paper towel rolls.

Sweet Potato Casserole

First published at Family Home and Life.

I just love fall! And sweet potato dishes are just the thing to remind us that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. This recipe is so easy and so good that you will want to eat it all yourself. I know I sure do! And some times I even have the left overs for breakfast! Yum yum!

Sweet potatoes are inexpensive, filling, so good for you. They have more fiber than oatmeal, rich in vitamin C, potassium, more vitamin A than carrots. And they are low calorie at about 150 each. But not in this recipe! We have it dolled up in butter and brown sugar, and topped off with marshmallows.

Saving Money on Spices

First published at Family Home and Life.

Herbs and spices can make or break your meals and baked goods. A bland meal can be a great one with the addition of the correct seasonings.This time of the year, we all tend to buy a seasoning or spice that we only need a small amount of. Then the rest sits in the back of the pantry until it is thrown out. It can become expensive though when you use spices purchased in the spice section of your grocery store.

Butter Buns, Bet You Can't Eat Just One!

First published at Family Home and Life.

These buns or rolls, have been know around here by a couple of different names. Besides Butter Buns, they are also called Expletive Rolls or OMG! Rolls. That's right, they are so good the person eating them is forced to moan or groan an expletive, usually "Oh My G.... " you get the picture. These Butter Buns will melt in your mouth and have been our family tradition for holiday meals many years now. I use this recipe for my cinnamon rolls too. While they are not hard to make, they do require a bit of time but it will be so worth it!

Drying Peppers

I leave some of my Anaheim Peppers on the plant to ripen. These lovely red peppers are then strung on quilting thread or embroidery floss and hung to dry. Like my drying rake/rack? 

Roasting Peppers

I planted an Anaheim Chili plant last spring in my flower bed and it has just gone crazy producing pepper pods this Fall. I was surprised that they are hotter than I expected; I thought they would have about the same heat as those canned green chilis you buy in the store. Not these, they pack a bit of a punch. But I love to add them to tacos or anything I want to add a bit of roasted pepperiness to. I have tried many ways to roast them, to remove the peel, and I found a way that is easy and fast. Just how I like it. 

* Kids Activity Binder

I sometimes find it hard to keep my older grandchildren occupied while I am busy with the younger children. One day I found some free kids printables online and printed a few things out for them to do.....things like dot to dots, hidden pictures and mazes. Soon, they were finishing them before I could get the next one printed out. That could get expensive fast not to mention it was becoming wasteful.

* Home Made Yogurt

Making yogurt at home is very easy. There is no reason to buy any special equipment as you probably already have what you need. Making your own yogurt allows you to control what is in it, up the protein content if you wish, and is less expensive than store bought.  I like my yogurt to have a little sugar for sweetening, and a little vanilla for flavor. Store bought sweetened yogurt is like eating pudding it is so sweet, but I don't really like the tartness of plain yogurt either. For me, the hardest part of making yogurt is waiting for the milk to reach the right temperature.

                              

Fall Rake Head Wreath

Who says a Wreath has to be round? You can find Rake Wreaths on Pinterest and when I saw this rake head someone had thrown out I knew I wanted to make a Rake Wreath for myself. Super easy too, I purchased the leaves and a small grapevine wreath to spruce it up with at the dollar store.