Tag - homemade

Tried It Tuesday: Homemade Play-dough

January 5, 2016

Winter has finally decided to make an appearance this week in Ohio. You know, since it’s January and all.

With the weather cooling down to “cold,” yesterday I decided that the boys and I would have some fun on Elijah’s last day of winter break by making the very first thing I ever tried after I discovered Pinterest.

I’m sure you all remember your first Pinterest project. You either created an inspiring masterpiece that gave you the confidence to attempt another awesome Pinterest DIY or copycat recipe soon after, or you tragically face-planted with an epic Pinterest fail that may or may not have been featured on one of those “Nailed It” memes that make the rounds on Facebook.

Thankfully, my first Pinterest-inspired activity was a huge success, not only because it was easy and turned out as expected, but also because Elijah loved it. It’s been one that we’ve come back to often.

Like yesterday.

Hello, again, homemade play-dough (or playdough, however you want to space it). 🙂

Yep. Play-dough cemented my Pinterest love.

Elijah found that play-dough also cements itself when a little boy leaves it out overnight, but thankfully this homemade dough is easy and inexpensive enough to make (all the ingredients are already in your kitchen) that I can just toss it when it gets forgotten and dried out or when someone steps on it on the floor. Because you know some of it WILL end up on the floor.

(Honestly, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with all makes and brands of play-dough because while it’s fun and we all love it, it can create quite a mess, or rather the children playing with it can. Fortunately, this dough cleans up pretty easily.)

We’ve made several batches with this recipe over the last few years. We’ve even given it away as part of Christmas presents to my nephews one year.

When I told Elijah yesterday that we would be making more, he was so excited that he ran across the room and gave me a giant, dramatic hug.

While I planned to make it in the afternoon, we HAD to do a bit of grocery shopping despite the cold, so we ended up putting our play-dough together right before dinner.

This actually worked out rather well. They each got to help dump in the ingredients and stir up their own batch, and then once the boys each had their dough, they were happily entertained at the kitchen table, leaving me alone to cook dinner.

Perfect.

So, whether you need an easy indoor boredom buster, or just want a few moments of peace, this quick homemade play-dough recipe from How Does She? is a great solution.

For outdoor fun, when it’s not so cold, you can also try one of our other favorites: Homemade Sidewalk Paint.

I really do love Pinterest. You can follow me and keep up with all the fun, helpful, yummy, and/or insightful things I find.

5 of My Favorite Christmas Goodies Recipes

December 8, 2015

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5 of My Favorite Christmas Goodies Recipes, Life in Lape Haven. From our family Christmas cookie exchange, some of my favorite Christmas cookie and treats recipes, including homemade Marshmallows and Gingerbread.

Straight on the heels of telling you that you don’t have to do everything to have a great Christmas, I’m breaking out a list of five of my favorite Christmas goodies recipes to tempt you into making time to try them out. 🙂

Baking Christmas cookies and treats is on our family’s list of must-do traditions. Every year I get together with the ladies in my family (both sides, moms and sisters, whoever can make it), and our children to bake and decorate cookies and goodies. We spend the afternoon in cutesy aprons, taking over one of our kitchens, covering the table and counters with sugar cookies, gingerbread men, and whatever other yummies we’ve brought to make and share.

It’s much easier to keep my sanity during cookie decorating with my excited boys when I have the back-up of a Grandma or two and a couple aunts. 🙂 I love my boys, but Elijah’s stubborn independence and creativity and Josiah’s two-year-old curiosity (and climbing) can really test my reflexes and patience, especially in the kitchen when they are “helping.”

: Cousins decorating cookies together.

: Letting Grandma help him decorate.

: Not wanting Grandma to help him.

By the end of the day, we’ve all laughed, shared good conversation, and sung along with some Christmas music, as we’ve made memories and enough Christmas treats to fill a platter for us each to take home.

So, from our great times of baking and bonding, here are five of my favorite recipes for Christmas cookie and goodies exchanges.

(This post contains an Amazon affiliate link, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission if you use the link.)

ROLO TURTLES

For such an easy, EASY treat, these little guys are deliciously addicting.

All you need are 3 ingredients: pretzels, Rolos, and pecans. Stick some pretzels on a cookie sheet, top them each with a Rolo, pop them in the oven to soften, finish them with a pecan, and you’re done.

(Salty + Sweet + Creamy) + (Crunchy + Gooey) = Awesomeness.

Rolo Turtles Recipe

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH TRUFFLES

These started out as something special to make for my husband. If you scroll through my collection of recipes on Pinterest, you’ll see that I’ve pinned quite a few chocolate chip cookie dough recipes because my hubby loves cookie dough.

However, these quickly became a family favorite (as soon as we made the first batch!).

They are pretty easy, but it does take some time to roll them into the balls and dip/cover them in chocolate. I’ve yet to get the hang of making them really pretty when I dip them in the chocolate, but they taste good no matter what they look like. Haha.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles Recipe

Life in Lape Haven: Tried It Tuesday: 5 of My Favorite Christmas Goodies Recipes. From our family Christmas cookie exchange, some of my favorite Christmas cookie and treats recipes, including homemade Marshmallows and Gingerbread.

At the top of the picture, you can see the wrapped caramels.

CARAMELS

These are so yummy, but what else do you expect from something made of basically just butter and sugar. Yeah, these don’t even pretend to be healthy at all.

The first year we made these, we were unprepared for how tasty they were and how long it would take to roll every little piece of caramel up in wax paper. This batch goes on forever because you don’t need big pieces (remember – just butter and sugar)! We split it up between everyone and still had some to freeze.

Caramels Recipe

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

We never really did gingerbread cookies much when I was growing up, and from what I had of other gingerbread cookies, I didn’t mind not having them. However, when I found this recipe, it changed everything.

I love this gingerbread recipe, and both of my boys have loved it, too. In fact, it was Josiah’s favorite of all the cookies during his first Christmas.

I leave the cloves out of the recipe, mostly because I don’t usually have cloves on hand, but other than that I follow the recipe. The dough is a sticky one, so you definitely want to chill or freeze it before you cut out your shapes.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

My sticky-faced helper after we made marshmallows for the first time.

MARSHMALLOWS

Yes, homemade marshmallows. These have made me famous…well, in my family and with a few people at my church. When you taste them, you may join my fan club.

Now, don’t be afraid. They are actually a lot easier than you think and so much more delicious than what you might think based on store-bought ones.

My love for homemade marshmallows can be traced directly to Alton Brown and his episode of Good Eats, “Puff the Magic Mallow,” which was all about marshmallows.

I watched him make marshmallows, then promptly added gelatin to my shopping list. Having loved marshmallows since I was very little, I had to try this.

Now this recipe does call for using a stand mixer (I love my KitchenAid). I guess you could use a hand mixer, but since you have to whip the sugar syrup for at least 13 minutes, it’s rather convenient to be able to let the mixer work without you. (Plus, it’s always dangerous to have little ones running around free while you are occupied and stuck in one spot for that long.)

Homemade Marshmallow Recipe and Tutorial Video

: Last year Elijah did most of the Rolo Turtle assembling.

: Waiting for the cookies to bake.

There you go, five of my favorite Christmas cookies and treats recipes. By the way, if you find you have leftovers, or if you just want to pace yourself with all the sugar intake, you’ll find that the cookie dough truffles, the Rolo turtles, and the caramels all freeze nicely. The gingerbread has never lasted long enough for us to test it out in the freezer, and I would say that the marshmallows need to be used within a couple of weeks. If you’ve not devoured the marshmallows by then or amped up your hot chocolate with a few, you should definitely use them to make Rice Krispies Treats. Oh, talk about deliciousness (That might be a sixth favorite recipe there).

As always, let me know if you try any of these, and tell me what you think about them.

What is your favorite Christmas goodies recipe? Share it in the comments so I can add something new to my list!

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How to Make Salted Caramel Cream

December 3, 2015

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Life in Lape Haven: How to Make Salted Caramel Cream - An easy recipe for making a salted caramel cream for hot chocolate, tea, coffee, or for drizzling over ice cream and other treats.

This post contains an affiliate link, which means that at no extra cost to you, I may receive a small commission if you use the link to make a purchase.

When the weather gets cold and blustery, there is something truly special about a cup of delicious hot chocolate to warm you up, and when I want to make it an extra special treat, I stir in a generous splash of homemade salted caramel cream.

Luscious, sweet, and just a touch salty, this tasty cream is rather easy to make, but it instantly transforms the simple into the decadent.

I adapted this recipe from one for Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate that I found last year on Pinterest (where else?). However, I already make a decent cup of cocoa (using the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa box, but doing half regular cocoa and half cocoa). I just needed the Salted Caramel Cream part.

I like having the cream available to add to other things in addition to hot chocolate. It’s perfect in some sweet cinnamon tea (this tea is one of my new favorites, and it’s such a yummy combination with the cream), over warm apple crisp or apple pie, or even on ice cream. Honestly, it’s so good, you might be tempted to just drink it all by itself, and I wouldn’t blame you (probably not the healthiest option, though).

Okay, so how does one make their own container of Salted Caramel Cream? It’s not hard. It might get a little boring even because it does take a little bit of time.

Basically you are mixing water and sugar, and reducing it down to caramelized sugar – that’s the part that takes the longest. Then you mix in some warm cream, salt, and vanilla. This step takes some patience, too, because you have to get it all thoroughly combined. The cooling sugar hardens quickly and needs dissolved back into the cream.

: 5 Ingredients are all you need: Cream, sugar, water, salt, vanilla.

: Allow the sugar and water to reduce.

: Caramelize sugar to an amber color.

: Salted Caramel Cream goodness, cooling and ready to enjoy.

However, once it’s all mixed, you’re done, and it’s delightful.

Having this on-hand for the holidays is a must around here now. The little extra oomph of flavor that the cream brings to hot cocoa, teas, and treats makes it feel even more festive and celebratory. I wouldn’t be surprised if it tasted good in coffee, too.

This Salted Caramel Cream would also make a nice addition to a homemade goodies gift basket…if you can bear to part with it.

(By the way, it works great in a squeeze bottle. You can get them at most stores or through Amazon.)

Okay, here are the real, far-more-detailed instructions so you can make your own batch. Whether you choose to share it or not is up to you.

The Legacy in an Apple Pie Recipe

November 30, 2015

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The Legacy in an Apple Pie - A Delicious, Easy Recipe Four Generations in the Making, Life in Lape Haven. This simple, delicious apple pie recipe combines one of my great-grandma's apple pie filling with another great-grandma's pie crust recipe.

A Delicious, Easy Apple Pie Recipe, Four Generations in the Making

This past week, for Thanksgiving, I made a homemade apple pie from scratch.

Now while that might sound tasty to you, it probably doesn’t sound significant, and maybe in your family, it’s not.

However, for me, this apple pie represented four generations of good cooks (yes, I’m counting myself in there. Trust me – this apple pie earned it for me).

My Great-Grandma Leora (my maternal grandpa’s mother), whose pickles I learned to make this summer, used to make apple pies. It was one of the many recipes for which she is remembered. She often made apple pies ahead and froze them, so that she would have them when apples weren’t in season.

Amazingly enough, when she died, my grandfather found some of her apple pies in the freezer. Since I was pretty young at the time, I don’t remember how many there were, but I do remember my mom telling me that Grandpa had the last of her pies about a year after she’d passed.

How cool is that?

Now I don’t know if Great-Grandma expected her legacy to be her baking, but at least part of it is. Not only was she still feeding her family a year after she’d died, but her recipes have become an inheritance for her grandchildren, great-grandchildren (my cousins and me), and even her great-great grandchildren.

From her pickles to her pies to her cakes and cookies, she’s still at all of our family gatherings.

Of course, Great-Grandma didn’t give out all her secrets. For example, my mom’s apple pies didn’t start tasting exactly like Great-Grandma’s until she figured out that the apples that Great-Grandma used in her pies, the ones from the tree in her yard, were Cortland apples. It made all the difference.

With that knowledge, my mom makes some delicious apple pies!

: Roll out your first half of dough

: Place pie dough into the pie pan

: Add the apples to the prepared crust

As for me, well, I’ve always struggled with getting my pie dough just right. I can slice up the apples and toss them with the sugar and cinnamon and freeze it in batches ready to fill a pie. But my pie crust has never gone well or been “as easy as pie.”

However, knowing that I CAN make pie crust from scratch, I refuse to buy it. I have kept trying out new recipes to find one that works well for me and tastes good.

When I was at my grandma’s learning how to make the lime pickles, I talked to her about my frustrations with making pie dough.

Flipping through her recipes, my grandma found a recipe from her mother, Edith, titled “Never Fail Pie Crust.”

“This is the one I always use, “she told me.

Scribbling it down, I tucked it away with several other family recipes that she gave me that day, anxious to try them all out.

Of course, I waited until the day before Thanksgiving to try out the pie crust recipe.

Thankfully, it was the easiest pie dough I’ve ever worked with. I mixed it up and rolled it out in one take! Yea!!!

As I was laying the dough into the pie plate, it occurred to me that I was making an apple pie with one great-grandma’s filling recipe and another great-grandma’s pie crust.

I thought about all the family holidays, church potlucks, and special gatherings that each of those ladies had baked for and brought dishes to. I imagined them as mothers, working in the kitchen while their children (my grandparents among them) played in the next room or helped them with a chair pulled up to the counter. I could see my mom as a little girl, learning how to roll out pie crust from her mother and her grandmothers so that one day she could teach me.

Suddenly I related to my great-grandmas in a way I hadn’t really done before, as wives, moms, and women. It was kind of like that moment as a child when you realize that your parents are people, too. (Haha) I could see the legacy they passed down beyond just wonderful recipes. They both took good care of their families, loved God and serving Him, and shared their gifts with those around them.

I imagine they would both be quite pleased to know that their recipes were continuing to fill the tables (and tummies) at our family festivities.

To top off my great-grandma pie story, at our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, my grandpa reminded us that the day would have been his mother’s (my Great-Grandma Leora’s) birthday.

I was definitely giving thanks for Great-Grandma Leora, Great-Grandma Edith, and their baking legacy as I bit into my first piece of delicious homemade apple pie.

Want to enjoy some tasty apple pie of your own? Here you go – my Great-Grandmas’ Apple Pie recipe. (For good tips on how to roll out your pie crust, read here.) Yum

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Tried It Tuesday: My Kitchen Hack for Mashed Potatoes

November 24, 2015

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Life in Lape Haven: Tried It Tuesday - My Kitchen Hack for Mashed Potatoes. Baked mashed potatoes make dinner preparation easier for me.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that, at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase using the links.

Some days, dinner is my nemesis.

As much as I like cooking and baking and concocting in the kitchen, some days I just don’t want to. It’s like a culinary version of writer’s block. You know you have to feed your family, but eh. (Do we have anything quick, easy, and healthy?)

Sure I could do crockpot meals, if I remembered to start it in the morning, and sometimes I do. Those are good days. Other times, I don’t, and we’re back to deciding what to do for dinner.

I’m pretty sure it was one of THOSE later afternoons that I stumbled upon my new favorite way to make mashed potatoes.

I’d gone through the effort of prepping a whole chicken to roast. Ok, not ALL the prepping – I didn’t have to go out back, kill it, gut it, and pluck it. But I DID thaw it and get it out of the annoying packaging while trying not to drip chicken ew all on my counters and sink to avoid salmonella-ing my family. I also managed to get it into the roasting pan, seasoned well for roasted chicken goodness, and into the oven early enough for it to be done in time for dinner.

But we couldn’t just eat chicken, by itself, for dinner…I guess. So, sides.

Mashed potatoes are great with roasted chicken, and all three of my guys devour them. But the peeling, dicing, boiling – I just didn’t want to. (I sound like some incompetent infomercial actor trying to chop with an appalling lack of skill – “Oh, the peeling and dicing!” Haha. Yeah, it’s not hard. I just didn’t want to.) Plus, my boys were being a little unruly that day, if I remember correctly, so I decided to try something out.

I grabbed the potatoes, about 6 or so, washed them, rubbed them with a little oil, and popped them into the oven on the rack around the roasting pan.

And I was free to move on to corralling my boys for about an hour.

By the time the chicken was done, the potatoes were baked through.

While the chicken rested, I sliced the potatoes in half, then holding them in my Ove’Gloved hand (my Ove’ Glove is one of my favorite kitchen items), with a scoop or two, and sometimes a little squish, I added cooked potato to a bowl in no time. I did a little happy dance when I realized how little time it took me to scoop out the cooked potato flesh versus the time I would have spent peeling and dicing them. My plan was working!

From there I made mashed potatoes the same way I always had: mash them; add butter, milk, and salt; and whip them up well.

The verdict: My guys LOVED them!

The taste is like a baked potato, and while the texture can be a little less fluffy than conventional mashed potatoes, using my good mixer helps get them close enough for us.

Plus, you retain more nutrients baking the potatoes versus boiling them (or so I’ve read), and instead of throwing out the skins, as I would if I peeled them, I save them because my guys love to add a little ketchup (or a LOT, right, Brad?) and eat them.

Since then, this has been my go-to method for making mashed potatoes, especially on those days when I don’t really feel like cooking but want to eat like I have.

Do you have any unique prep or cooking methods that you’ve developed in your kitchen? Have you ever made mashed potatoes from baked potatoes?

My Boys and the T-Shirts

October 24, 2015

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Life In Lape Haven: Write 31 Days - My Boys and the T-Shirts. Easy homemade super hero capes from old t-shirts

I love Pinterest. I really do. It is my homemaking Google. It is the best way to bookmark your finds and favorite pages from around the internet (recipes, articles, how-tos, inspirational quotes, anything) and the best way to find new things to bookmark.

I think my sister-in-law introduced me to this wonderful online world over 3 years ago, and suddenly I was making all kinds of things from scratch, such as bread, chocolate syrup, ice cream, taco seasoning, and 300 crockpot meals (Ok, I haven’t made THAT many, but I probably have almost that many pinned.)

Plus I had tons of great activities to do with my boys, including making our own play dough, sidewalk paint, and every kind of craft you can make with a child’s handprint on paper. (You KNOW it’s true!)

I soon knew at least 25 ways to prepare, reuse, wear, make, display, celebrate, share, show, decorate, or clean just about everything.

And, of course, Christmas and birthday parties would never be the same again.

Ok, actually, I never strive for a “Pinterest-perfect” anything – meal, event, home, or holiday. I don’t have time, money, or patience for that. I’m a bit more practical. But I do truly love the inspiration and creativity that I have found there. I have a little extra daring to try new things or figure out how to make something myself. It has helped me to look twice at common things and think, “What else can I do with this?”

So it was totally normal for me to get struck with inspiration one day while I was sorting out old clothes in my room and relegating worn t-shirts to the rag pile. I was about to be an “Awesome Mom.”

Snatching up my phone, I searched my Pinterest boards for the idea that I knew I had pinned, probably months ago.

There it was! Grabbing a couple of my old shirts, I headed downstairs.

“Hey, boys,” I called as I passed Elijah’s room where the two of them had been playing nicely for a change. “How would you like some super hero capes?”

They came thundering down the stairs behind me, curious and excited about whatever it was that Mommy was preparing to do.

Smoothing the t-shirts out on the table, I snipped off the sleeves and cut down both sides of the shirt. A quick trip with the scissors around the bottom of the neckband at the front of the shirt gave us one completed cape.

My boys were ecstatic!

Repeating the same steps on the other t-shirt, I held up two super hero capes to my eager little boys.

Josiah started calling out, “SuperMAAAAN! SuperMAAAAN!” before I even had the cape slipped over his head.

In probably less than 10 or 15 minutes from the time I had the idea, there were two super hero boys running in circles around the living room, with Josiah shouting, “Supermaaan, flying in the scare!” (He means “air.”)

I totally wish I had taken pictures of the project as we did it, but we were all a little too in to seeing if it would work. Since I didn’t, here are a couple of the many options on Pinterest for making some t-shirt capes for your own little super heroes.

Homemade Super Hero Cape – This one is similar to what I did.

DIY Super Hero Cape – This one opens the neckband to eliminate the choking hazard.

And of course, feel free to follow Life in Lape Haven on Pinterest. I’m always adding something because, you know, I love Pinterest.

Tag - homemade

Tried It Tuesday: Homemade Play-dough

Winter has finally decided to make an appearance this week in Ohio. You know, since it’s January and all.

Yep. Play-dough cemented my Pinterest love.

So, whether you need an easy indoor boredom buster, or just want a few moments of peace, this quick homemade play-dough recipe from How Does She? is a great solution.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

How to Make Salted Caramel Cream

When the weather gets cold and blustery, there is something truly special about a cup of delicious hot chocolate to warm you up, and when I want to make it an extra special treat, I stir in a generous splash of homemade salted caramel cream.

The Legacy in an Apple Pie Recipe

A Delicious, Easy Apple Pie Recipe, Four Generations in the Making

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

Tried It Tuesday: My Kitchen Hack for Mashed Potatoes

Some days, dinner is my nemesis.

The verdict: My guys LOVED them!

My Boys and the T-Shirts