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Homemade Granola- Heart-Healthy Valentine Treat

By Toni on February 10, 2012 in DIY

Homemade Granola- A Heart-Healthy Valentine Treat

Valentine’s Day shares the month of February with American Heart Awareness Month. Although chocolate would be divine this Valentine’s Day, what tasty treat could we give that combines aesthetic sweetness with being heart-healthy?

How about something containing heart-healthy ingredients like flaxseed, almonds and cinnamon? Something like, let’s say- homemade granola! I’ll call this recipe, “I Heart Homemade Granola”, and instead of giving candy for Valentine treats this year, I’m giving a little “heart” instead.

I Heart Homemade Granola Recipe

Ingredients:

I Heart Homemade Granola Ingredients

5 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flaxseed
2 cups sliced almonds
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1/2 cup apple juice
2 cups dried cranberries

Directions:

mix together oats, flaxseed, almonds, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt
in another bowl mix together oil, honey and apple juice
pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
spread mixture out onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet
bake for 40 minutes
add cranberries and let cool

mix together dry and wet ingredients

bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes

Homemade Granola Heart-Healthy Valentine's Day Treat

my supplies: heart papercraft from Reflection, scrapbook paper, ribbon all from Michaels

Teacher Valentine's Gift

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The Lorax Truffula Tree

By Toni on February 8, 2012 in DIY

How To Make A ‘The Lorax’ Truffula Tree

Centerpiece, Party Table or Party Decoration…. the Lorax Truffula Tree is the perfect focal point for any Seuss party. I made them for my daughters birthday party last year and they were a big hit!

Here is how you make a Truffula Tree made from colored cellophane paper.

Squares of cellophane paper are pinned from the center into a styrofoam ball secured at the top of a stick from a square styrofoam base. You could use any sort of stick but a broom handle or pvc pipe work well. Wrap the stick with ribbon, wrapping paper, or paint it the grey and brown stripes like the ones in the story. A branch found in nature would give it some great character too!

The base is a square styrofoam piece placed in a plain box covered with gift wrapping paper. You may want to weigh it down with a few rocks placed inside the box. Cellophane is used too make the grass.

What’s great about this tree is that candy can be secured to sticks and stuck in the grass or tree to make it look like Truffula Fruit.

How To Throw A “The Lorax” Party

For more Seuss-inspired party inspiration, visit How To Throw A Lorax Party:

How To Throw A 'The Lorax' Themed Party

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Toni’s Homemade Holiday Spice Sangria

By Toni on December 21, 2011 in Beverages, DIY, Giveaways and Promotions, Holiday Recipes, Recipes, Saving Money

The Holidays Enjoyed

Christmas Eve. New Year’s Celebration. Hostess Gifts. Last-Minute Holiday Entertaining. My recipe for Homemade Holiday Spice Sangria is perfect for all holiday occasions.

Eat, Drink and Be Frugal

If you enjoy serving wine to guests for the holidays, the cost for bottled wine can certainly add up. Having a batch of this holiday wine elixir on hand is not only more affordable, it makes a visually stunning holiday presentation and is absolutely delicious.

Toni’s Homemade Holiday Spice Sangria Recipe

Toni’s DIY Holiday Spice Sangria

Ingredients

Basic Red Table Wine- I use a gallon of a basic red wine that I find in bulk at Costco. Trader Joe’s also has great deals for basic red table wine over the holidays.
Cranberry Juice- 1 bottle
Brandy- a little more than half a bottle (save some for your eggnog!)
Oranges- 3 or 4 large; sliced and halved (into half-moon shapes)
Pears- 3 or 4 large; sliced
Cinnamon Sticks- 4 or 5 whole
Cranberries, fresh- 12 oz.
Whole Cloves- put into a tea bag

Instructions

Combine ingredients in large mason or Sangria Jar
Let this mixture “steep” for a 2-3 days in a cool place. If you live someplace cold, you can just leave it outside, unless it will freeze.

http://tonispilsbury.com/tonis-homemade-holiday-spice-sangria/

This year I found the perfect carafes from Rubbermaid to bottle my sangria in to give to friends, neighbors and family. It made great hostess gifts this year for holiday parties I attended.

Simply add a ribbon with a gift tag and you have a beautiful hostess gift for holiday parties.

For an added touch, place a copy of the sangria recipe on the back of the gift tag card. To download a copy of the recipe for your gift tags: DOWNLOAD SANGRIA RECIPE

This Giveaway Is Closed

Win A Rubbermaid Carafe

Win a Rubbermaid Carafe for your holiday sangria from The Organized Cook. Four lucky people will win a carafe to bottle your sangria to serve at home for holiday entertaining or to give away as a gift. There are many ways to enter and it’s simple: ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

Serve and Enjoy! Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To You!

Sincerely,

Toni Spilsbury, The Organized Cook

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Kids Thanksgiving Activities

By Toni on November 19, 2011 in DIY, Survival Guide for Busy Moms

Making Thanksgiving Memories

Yes, it’s true. Last year for Thanksgiving we did a reenactment of the First Thanksgiving with pilgrim hats, Indian headdresses, teepee, pretend fire and all. It was fun and entertaining for the kids and adults- and yes, perhaps a bit overboard.

But there’s nothing wrong with “overboard” when it comes to kids and fun, right? After all, these are Thanksgiving Memories in the making for them.

“Not Overboard” Activities

For some simple activities that don’t require erecting a teepee, check out these adorable Thanksgiving activities from HP Creative Studio:

HP Creative Studio Kid Activities to print- free!

Word Scramble by HP Creative Studios- click here to print

Word Search by HP Creative Studio- click here to download

Fill-In Story by HP Creative Studios- click here to download

The First Thanksgiving Reenactment

If you are interested in making your own First Thanksgiving reenactment, you can make any combination of the following:

1. Pilgrim Hat

These adorable pilgrim hats are made from plain white copy paper and yarn. Here’s a great tutorial from Skip To My Lou.

Pilgrim hats made from plain white copy paper

2. Pretend Fire

A pretend fire can be made from paper towel rolls painted brown and flames cut from red, orange and yellow construction paper. I used a disposable party tray bottom for the base of our fire.

pretend fire made from paper towel rolls and construction paper

3. Native American Teepee

This one can be tricky. Here is a great tutorial from Confessions Of A Prop Junkie.

Native American Teepee

4. Picnic Table

For a table and chair, I brought in our outdoor resin kids picnic bench from Playskool. What’s nice is this doubles as the “kids” table for Thanksgiving Dinner.

The First Thanksgiving Stage- my family room

Have a Happy & Memorable Thanksgiving!

Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving

If you’re not already signed up for my Thanksgiving planning guide “Toni’s 12 Days of Thanksgiving”, sign up now to receive daily tips, videos and recipes:

Black Friday

Don’t forget about our Black Friday special for The Organized Cook Weekly Meal Plan System. The biggest discount-ever- for this monthly subscription that brings you the most recent meal plans straight to your inbox each week is 70% off for one day only!

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Homemade Granola- Heart-Healthy Valentine Treat

Homemade Granola- A Heart-Healthy Valentine Treat