Tag Archives: friends

homemade christmas gifts

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When I think back on my favorite gifts I’ve ever received, they are not the most expensive or glamorous, but the most thoughtful. Many of them are homemade: the blue-jean quilt sewn by my grandmother and passed down to me; the handwritten letters my dad writes for me on each birthday; the paintings made for me by my brother. My other most treasured gifts are not “things” at all but experiences: the “girls trips” I’ve taken with my mom; the Taylor Swift concerts I’ve been to with my friend Holly; the time my Gramps took me on a tour of the small Ohio town of his boyhood; the trip to Ireland I took with my brother to explore our family’s Irish roots.

holiday masterpiece

This holiday season, I am approaching gift-giving not as a money-draining, stressful obligation, but instead as a fun challenge. How can I show all of the people I care about how much I care about them? How can I be thoughtful and proactive in gift-giving without breaking the bank?

My answer: homemade, personal gifts.

I mentioned in a post last week about my quest to upcycle gift containers rather than waste money on brand-new bags and boxes. Not only is this good for my wallet, it’s also good for the environment — AND it seems more thoughtful and personal, to boot!

One of my favorite homemade gifts to make for loved ones is hand-knitted scarves. My junior year of college, I studied abroad in England and my friends Janet & Lauren taught me how to knit. Ever since then, I constantly have some sort of knitting project going. {It’s a great project to do while watching TV or on long car rides!} My favorite thing to make is scarves because they are straightforward, versatile, and get a lot of use. With each stitch, I love thinking of the recipient wearing the scarf and staying warm during a cold winter day.

scarf

One Christmas, I made a “scarlet and gray” spirited scarf for my Gramps to wear to cheer on his beloved Ohio State football team. It was one of the first scarves I ever made and I worked on it painstakingly for months, trying to make my rows even and neat. I was so proud of myself when the scarf was completed. And my Gramps’s surprised smile upon opening the gift is one of my favorite Christmas memories!

me and gramps

Here are some good online tutorials for how to knit a scarf:

– http://www.wikihow.com/Knit-a-Scarf
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqeG05HFP1E
– http://www.ehow.com/video_12221356_knit-scarf-beginner.html

I also love to give homemade baked goods as gifts. I mean, think about it: even “the person who has everything” could appreciate a nice big batch of still-warm-from-the-oven brownies, right? 😉 To me, homemade food gifts carry the message of comfort, delight, and indulgence. One year, Holly mailed me a batch of cookies all the way across the country and they made me feel SO special and loved — I swear those were the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten!

holiday treats

Here’s a wrap-up of some of my favorite recipes for delicious holiday treats that would also make great gifts:

– holiday white chocolate pretzels
– butterscotch pudding cookies
– chocolate-covered popcorn
– pumpkin-oatmeal cookies
– red velvet cupcakes with coconut cream-cheese frosting
– rice krispies treats with m&ms

Making someone a homemade gift is almost like prayer: as you work on the gift, you spend time thinking good thoughts about the person and how much you care about them and how lucky you are to have them in your life. I love homemade gifts because, to me, they are the ultimate testament to the warmth, joy, gratitude and selflessness of the holiday season.

Are you making any homemade gifts this year? What are some of your favorite gifts you’ve ever received?

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes …

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Notice anything different?

That’s right, you’re not going crazy: we’ve got a new name!

“Day-by-Day Masterpiece” stems from one of my favorite-ever quotes {I love it so much I have it posted above my writing desk and as my cell phone background} … it comes from the late, great John Wooden, who was a huge inspiration to me and my family. One of the maxims he lived his life by was, “Make each day your masterpiece.”

I find that quote so inspiring because it reminds me that each day is truly a treasure and a blessing. Each day is something to savor. Making your day a “masterpiece” does not mean making each day “perfect.” Far from it — masterpieces are full of mistakes, trial-and-errors, messes and wrong turns and laughter and spontaneity. Indeed, I think that’s part of what makes a day a “masterpiece” — the surprises give our lives variety and richness.

To me, a masterpiece day is a balanced day. Time with my friends, family and loved ones; time spent pursuing my writing goals; physical exercise and delicious, healthful food; quiet time to reflect and relax. Love, laughter, daydreams, peace.

I started this blog to keep track of my steps towards becoming more organized in my day-to-day life and tackling those hidden {and, okay, not-so-hidden} trouble spots that were adding stress and frustration to my life.

Something I’ve discovered is that “organization” doesn’t just pertain to the material possessions you own or how clean your home is. It’s more a way of life; a way of thinking; a way of approaching your day.

So I wanted to give the blog a new title to reflect upon how it has grown and expanded in the past six months since I started chronicling my organizational journey with you.

Don’t worry, I’ll still be sharing my organizational projects and day-by-day progress with you. But as you’ve probably noticed, I’ve really grown to love cooking and baking and sharing healthy recipes here. I also am delving more and more into simplified, frugal living — everything from couponing to saving money on date night to selling things on Craigslist. I am participating in the monthly book club over at Peanut Butter Fingers and am hoping to start up my own monthly book club on here. {I’d love to have you join me!} And I’m really passionate about living “green” and doing our part to protect our precious environment. I’m hoping to expand that part of the blog in the coming months. Finally, it really inspires me to follow along with Crystal’s weekly and monthly goal-setting over at Money-Saving Mom, and I want to do something similar on here — I’ve already posted about goal-setting and to-do lists. I want this blog to be a place where we can be sources of inspiration for each other!

So how do we make our days masterpieces? That’s what I’m hoping to explore in this blog!

Making the most of each day, being grateful and mindful, living with passion and joy and love — to me, that is a masterpiece day. And you know what masterpiece days add up to, right? A masterpiece life. What more can any of us ask for?

the pantry challenge + white chicken chili with corn muffins recipe

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Confession: my pantry is a bit of a jumbled mess.

I’ve tried organizing it multiple times, but no matter how I sort through all of the cans, jars and boxes, it always looks messy. I finally realized the problem is that I simply have too much stuff crammed in there! So many cans and boxes and mixes that it’s impossible to even know everything that I have. So when I go to the store, I inevitably buy new cans and jars of stuff that is already buried in the back of my pantry. What a waste!

So, inspired by this post by Jill at the lovely blog Reini Days, I’ve made a resolution to use up all the food in my pantry that I already have. I’m not going quite so hardcore as Jill and her family did — I am still giving myself permission to buy new food and ingredients that I don’t currently have if necessary. But I will make an effort each week when doing my meal-planning to make recipes centered around ingredients that already live in my pantry before I go out and buy new things at the store.

The other night, I got my new pantry challenge off to a great start when I made a big batch of chili! I had friends over for Labor Day dinner and I made two big pots of chili. Look at all the cans & boxes from my pantry that I used in this single night:

Count ’em! That’s eight cans and two boxes for a total of ten items that were languishing in my overstuffed pantry! Perfect way to kick off the challenge I’ve set for myself.

Since I had seven friends over, I made two big pots of chili. In one pot, I made a tomato chili recipe from my mom that I am looking forward to sharing with you in the near future. In the other pot, I made a white chicken chili that was delicious and is perfect for anyone who is sensitive to high-acid foods such as tomatoes or suffers from heartburn because this chili is tomato-free! This is the recipe I’m going to share today. I call it “California-style” because I think it’s best served with sliced avocado on top!

california-style white chicken chili

– 1 package chicken breasts or chicken breast tenderloins
– 1 green bell pepper
– 1 orange or yellow bell pepper
– 1 tsp mixed garlic
– 1 tbsp olive oil
– 1 can white beans {I used organic great northern beans}
– 1 can corn
– 1 package white chili seasoning
– 1/4 cup water
– 1 medium avocado

1. Pour the olive oil and garlic into the bottom of a large pot. Turn heat on low. Dice the bell peppers and pour into the pot. Cook for 5-10 minutes, until pepper begins to soften.

2. While pepper is cooking, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

3. Drain the can of beans and corn and pour both into the pot.

4. Add the chicken, water and white chili spice packet and bring chili to a boil.

5. Turn heat down a little and simmer the chili for 20-30 minutes {or longer if you have the time … the chili gets more and more flavorful the longer you cook it. YUM!}

6. Before serving, top chili with diced avocado if desired.

My friend Xun who came over for dinner absolutely loves cornbread, so I served the chili with corn muffins, which were super easy to make. I just used a Jiffy boxed cornbread mix and poured the batter into muffin tins instead of a bread pan.

jiffy corn muffins

– 1 package jiffy cornbread mix
– 1 small can corn
– 1 egg
– 1/3 cup milk or buttermilk

1. Preheat over to 400 degrees.

2. Combine cornbread mix, egg and milk.

3. Drain can of corn and add to the batter. Mix thoroughly.

4. Pour batter into paper-lined muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Each box of mix yields about six muffins. For our get-together, I used two boxes and doubled the ingredients.

These were fantastic! We had a bit of each kind of chili left-over, but the corn muffins were all gobbled up by the night’s end!

It was a really fun night, and chili is such a relaxing meal to cook — all you really need to do is plop all the ingredients in the pot and let it simmer until you’re ready to eat. Perfect for having people over and wanting to spend your time visiting rather than slaving away in a hot kitchen.

So, does anyone else want to join the challenge with me? I’m excited to update you on my progress as I try out new recipes to clear out my pantry!

Have a great day–
Dallas

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-Time spent: 1 hour {including cook time}
-Cost: about $10 {though I had almost all the ingredients in my pantry already, hooray!}

MPM-Winter
This post is linked up to Menu-Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie!