Holidays

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When it comes to holiday gift-giving, homemade gifts are the best! Whether you’re giving to the hard-to-shop-for or just looking for easy ways to give quality, personalized, unique gifts on a budget, homemade is a sure bet this season!

What I love most about homemade gifts is that they allow you to share your unique talents with the world. From cooking to crafting, homespun gifts let you add love and intentionality to each present you give. And what’s more festive than that?

Which is why I’m constantly seeking new ideas for homemade gift-giving ideas each holiday season. Today is no exception as I’ll be showing you how I’m re-doing the traditional ho-hum holiday gift-giving basket with a few quick DIYs. Including homemade potpourri jars, a festive recipe for Honey Walnut Bars, a delicious, heart-healthy holiday treat, featuring my favorite holiday time honey treat, the Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey Globe Jars.

Here’s how I put this awesome homemade gift-giving basket together:

One of my favorite basket fillers is homemade Honey Walnut Bars. I love gifting these bars because they are thick and caramelly, while still gluten-free and paleo-friendly with a nutty, crunchy, chewy, scrumptious twist! 

The crust is made with coconut flour, which helps provides a firm, shortbread-like crust. It’s prebaked until golden brown before being topped with the Honey Walnut topping, so it keeps that nice crunchy bite!

For the filling, I make a quick caramel using coconut sugar, maple syrup, and Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey, and coconut oil together. Which makes a smooth, creamy sauce. Once my sauce is cooked, I turn off the heat and add almond milk, flax meal, almond flour, organic vanilla extract, and Himalayan pink salt. Then whisk together to combine.

The flax meal and almond flour help the sauce filling up without fillers. The walnuts are added at the end and stirred into the mix and then the whole shebang is poured over the cooled crust. It’s baked for 30 minutes until the sauce is bubbly brown.

Then for the hardest part: waiting for them to cool off! Once cooled and firm, slice them into squares and try not to devour them all in one sitting. Afterall, you need a square for your gift basket!

When ready to add to my gift basket I cut 3×3″ squares and placed them into a giftable, clean mason jar. You can also bake your bars ahead of time and refrigerate your bars in jars until ready to give. 

I also added a jar of DIY Organic Holiday Potpourri. In my blend, I like to use organic, fresh, whole cranberries, star anise, organic Ceylon cinnamon sticks, fresh, bay leaves, whole nutmeg, clove organic sprigs of rosemary, and dried orange slices.

I like to dry my own orange slices in my dehydrator. Which is super simple to do. Just set your dehydrator, or convection oven, to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, and dry low and slow for 8 hours. When preserved and jarred, these orange slices will last up to 1 year. They taste wonderful in tea, can be strung up to make beautiful holiday garland, and of course, can be used to make festive holiday potpourri!

To finish up, simply jar your organic ingredients in whatever amount you like. I like to layer my jars with the orange slices acting as a leveling seal between layers. Be sure to add directions to your lid. I find that a dry erase marker works well in doing so.

To make potpourri yourself at home, add 8 cups water and simmer on your stovetop or crockpot. Since you are used fresh and dried ingredients, its best to create your potpourri the day of an event or that of gift-giving or to refrigerate, or even freeze it, until ready to give.

I also like to add a Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey Globe Jar to my gift-giving basket. Especially for the foodies on your holiday list, this honey makes the perfect inexpensive gift! You could also pair them with a tin of organic grocery store tea and a jar of dried orange slices, for easy holiday gifts for service workers, teachers, neighbors, and friends. But also be sure to pick up a few of these jars for yourself – you’ll want to because this honey is just that dang good! 

Have you ever seen the Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey Globe Jars? These beautiful glass jars are filled with raw, filtered, organic honey. Honey that is not heated or processed in any way. And what really makes this honey product stand out is that it comes with some real honeycomb inside! 

See the honeycomb in there – it’s totally edible! And who wouldn’t want to receive a little something sweet this season? You’ll be the bee’s knees to everyone on your block this year if you gift them Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey Globe Jars. This honey is an easy, inexpensive, gourmet gift during the holidays!

I also like to enjoy Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey on toast. I drizzle some honey all over toast. If I’m lucky, I’ll get some of that awesome honeycomb on my toast too! The comb has a soft texture that’s totally delicious! This honey is also perfect for hot biscuits, French toast or pancakes! Remember, the comb is the fun and festive part of this unique honey-tasting experience. It can also be used to make a great sore-throat syrup too!

You’ll also want to store your honey at room temperature, such as on a kitchen counter or in a pantry, pie safe, or cabinet. If the honey crystallizes (the natural process of the glucose molecules aligning into crystals), don’t fret. Just place the glass jar in warm water and stir until smooth again. 

To add a fun touch to the Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey Globe Jars I’ll be adding to my gift baskets this year, I added a crochet cozies. This allows my recipient to be able to re-use their honey jar as a fun votive holder after their honey has been enjoyed! Tasty and zero-waste is the way to go! 

To make this cozy, I used 100 yards of organic, cotton yarn and a 4.00mm (size G) crochet hook. 

Begin by chaining 40 SC (single crochet stitches), then join your first chain stitch to your work to form a ring. Making sure to not twist your work as you turn. Continue working on the round until your cozy reaches the desired length of your particular jar. With fewer rows for smaller jars and additional rows allotted for taller jars. Remember, candle cozies are meant to be snug so your looking for a cozy without much slack. That ensures each cozy will have a uniform look!

Finish off your cozy by slip stitching the outer rows of stitches and weave in loose strands. I also like to add a small crochet ribbon. which can be made by creating a double line of 80 SC (single crochet stitches), to the front of my cozy. Then just add it to your basket!

To arrange my basket, I laid out paper shreds in the basket and then set the wrappings to the side. Then it was time to make the Honey Walnut Bars! I do this by adding my basket wrap, twist tie, and gift tag. And done! An amazing, affordable, gift-giving basket anyone would love receiving! 

This season, be on the lookout for Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey Globe Jars. they can be found in the Hispanic aisle of your local Walmart store. You’ll be glad you did!

Friends, I hope this post will inspire you to consider making your own gift baskets this season and to also try the amazing Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey. Now I want to ask, have you tried Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey globe jars? Do you plan on making any festive crafts for the holiday season? Comment below and share your ideas with us!

Connect with Don Victor®:

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Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey Honey Walnut Bars

2017-12-06 11:56:36

Serves 16

A delicious, inexpensive, 1-hour heart-healthy holiday-inspired dessert recipe. Perfect for nights by the fire or gift giving during the holiday season!

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Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

40 min

Total Time

1 hr

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

40 min

Total Time

1 hr

Crust

1. 1 cup coconut flour
2. ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
3. 3 tablespoons Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey
4. ⅓ cup coconut oil

For the filling

1. ¾ cup coconut sugar
2. ⅓ cup Don Victor® Orange Blossom Comb Honey
3. ⅓ cup coconut oil melted
4. ⅓ cup organic almond milk
5. 2 tablespoons flax meal
6. 2 teaspoons almond flour
7. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8. ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
9. 1¼ cup walnuts; chopped and whole for texture

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease an 8x8” square pan with coconut oil.
3. Combine the honey and coconut oil and whisk until fully combined.
4. Stir in the almond flour and salt until smooth and dough-like ball forms.
5. Press the dough into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for 9-11 minutes until golden brown.
7. Transfer to baking rack. Completely cool.
8. For the filling, combine the coconut sugar, honey, and coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk to combine. Cool slightly.
9. While it cools, whisk together the almond milk, flax meal, almond flour, organic vanilla extract, and salt in a small bowl.
10. Add the flax mixture and whisk to combine.
11. Stir in the walnuts. Stir to combine.
12. Pour the pecan mixture over the cooled crust and bake for 30 minutes.
13. cool before servings.
14. Enjoy!

Notes

1. These bars can be made ahead of time and frozen up to a year in advance. Bar will keep in the fridge for one week. Enjoy!

By Nicole Roberts

The LadyPrefers2Save https://theladyprefers2save.com/

Holiday shopping. The hustle. The bustle. The overcrowded stores! Make gifting simple this year with our top picks for the whole family. Take a look through our catalog style guide featuring easy click and buy hover links. Simply hover your mouse over an item and for convenient purchasing!

Whether you are shopping for the ladies, fellas, fuzzies, kiddos, or the house itself, there’s something for everyone in this guide! There are even a few zero-waste things too!

So sit back and browse the guide. You never know what you’ll find! 

Now, I want to ask, what items are still left on your holiday shopping list? Do you have any hard-to-shop-for folks on your list? I’d love to hear all about your must-have holiday wish list below!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post brought to you on behalf of CreateMyCookBook.com. All opinions expressed are my own. My blog’s full disclosure policy can be found here. Thank you.

Recipes. The eternal love songs to our soul. More than simple lists of ingredients, recipes share with the world cultural perspectives, economic stances, and often embrace the true essence of modern globalization. Afterall, where would humanity be without the basics of the recipe?

Which is why I love cookbooks. And I own an awful lot of them. Dozens of them. I always have. I’ve been enamored with cookbooks since childhood and spent many happy childhood afternoons perusing my grandmother’s endless selections of decades-old cooking relics.

My love for all things culinary runs deep. So deep, in fact, that for my fifth birthday I remember asking my grandmother for a copy of Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking. If you’ve ever seen re-runs of Child’s famed PBS series The French Chef, you know why this present was one for the ages!

Over the years I’ve loved how cookbooks have provided me with an academic view of cooking. An anthropological view of gastronomy, if you will. Turn their pages and you’ll often see waxing and waning fashion trends, gender norms through the ages, evolutions within the home, and even the tiny cultural nuances that bring whole communities to life.

Now you may think, why would a minimalist own so many cookbooks when many recipes are instead available online?

For me, nothing replaces the ability to hold a recipe in your hand while cooking. I enjoy the ability to thumb through recipes, to look at ingredients, and read the clever anecdotes that only chefs can provide. To be a foodie is to love cookbooks.

One of my favorite reasons to read cookbooks? They provide foodies like me with proven systems of organization. Every home chef worth their salt in the kitchen has a system for saving their tried and true recipes.

Some use recipe cards. Some stick their clippings in those old-school photo albums with magnetic pages. Some a three-ring binder with plastic sleeves. Others turn to social media, like Pinterest boards.

For me, I like a more personalized means to save my recipes. Especially those listed on my blog. Which is why I have been over the moon with the CreateMyCookbook digital cookbooks.

CreateMyCookbook offers bloggers, foodies, and anyone who wants to create, gift, or fundraise using cookbooks the ability to easily create professional-quality printed cookbooks using the easy of a web-based book designer.

The process of making cookbooks on CreateMyCookbook is very simple:

You start by selecting a binding style. All of their books are constructed to provide you with a vast selection of personalization options that make your cookbook uniquely yours! You can select from a hardback casing, spiral bound books, or hardcover binder-style casings.

CreateMyCookbook prices start at only $19.95 and up for 100-page durable coiling spiral bound cookbooks, $34.95 for 100-page hardback bound cookbooks and $42.95 for 100-page hardback binder books.

With bulk discounts available for each styling and no minimum number of cookbooks required for each purchase, there’s something for everyone and every budget with CreateMyCookbook!

Tweet: Into paper-free digital cookbook design? @cre8mycookbook has you covered with the ability to create zero-waste, minimalist digital cookbook creation options at home this holiday season!

Once you’ve selected your binding style, you simply start creating your cookbook by designing your cover page. Then inscribe an optional dedication page. Next, add your own recipes and photos.

You’ll also be given the option of selecting a horizontal or vertical style layout for each recipe where you can also add your own tips for creating the best version of each dish right on each recipe page.

As you add your recipes to your customized books, the CreateMyCookbook software automatically populates each recipe into a table of contents page, located at the end of each book. This will help you to easily access your recipes and make any organizational or categorial changes that might be needed to your draft.

Once you’ve populated your recipes, you’ll be guided through a final review process. The CreateMyCookbook editing features help you to ensure that each photo has the correct look your after and necessary pixelations and sizing, that your spelling is correct for each recipe and that your page layouts are what you want in your final cookbook.

You can even play around and view your cookbook as a final layout This ensures that your cookbook is the cookbook you want to not only create for others but for yourself as well!

Satisfied with your CreateMyCookbook order? You’ll then be promoted to the sites easy-to-follow payment screen and will also be asked, of course, to supply your shipping information.

Once your order is complete you’ll be emailed an order confirmation as well as a digital pdf-version of your cookbook too!

Something else worth mentioning is CreateMyCookbook’s return policy. Should there be any defects in workmanship, printing errors or damage to your cookbook, they’ll gladly provide you with a replacement cookbook or refund your purchase price. And for future orders, you will be able to find your cookbooks both stores on your site dashboard as well as a handy ordering site reminder on the back page of each cookbook.

Now for those looking to give the experience of creating a cookbook this season and not actually making your own, CreateMyCookbook gift certificate is available as well. For fast and easy cookbook creating this holiday season, CreateMyCookbook is your best bet.

If you’re anything like me, then there have been dozens of times when you’ve said to yourself, “I need to get all these family recipes into a book.” Now’s the time to get your family recipes in print and preserve your family’s culinary hertiage before another season passes you by!

Now, say you’re a foodie like me, especially a blogging foodie, consider chronicling your own online culinary adventures with a CreateMyCookbook of your own!

This past month I used CreateMyCookbook to turn many of my blog’s recipes into a fun, fabulous family spiralbound cookbook. My book’s recipient? My husband Daniel.

Why have him search my blog or cookbook library when I can just give him the recipes I know he enjoys eating from week-to-week and season-to-season in a bound, preserved, and ready-to-use format?

When he is craving one of my best meals he can now go to his CreateMyCookbook cookbook and whip up any number of dishes to his heart’s content! As you can see, each recipe page is brightly printed and cleanly designed, perfect for fast, minimalist referencing. Making it the perfect husband-ready present this holiday season!

I was also impressed to see that my order came minimally packaged. While sturdy, my cookbook’s shipper ready for recycling nor contained excess plastic contents, and was protected with inner cardboard sheets which ensured my cookbook stayed pristine before gifting.

Better still? During checkout, I was given the option of gifting my cookbook in a gift sack, bow drawstring, and gift tag. Options available while checking out on their site.

Now don’t stop at simply ordering online alone! Spread the culinary love this holiday season by using CreateMyCookbook to theme your next girls-night-in, or make it a truly zero-waste event by taking the party digital and hosting a long-distance collaborative project for you and your besties this season. You’re just an e-vite, laptop, and a Google Hangout Group chat away from creating cookbooks like a pro!

Create My Cookbook is the perfect gift solution for foodie husband’s, family member gift exchanges, and even gifting for the hard-to-shop-for on your holiday list. Which is why I think you should check out the CreateMyCookbook site this season!

Now, if that isn’t enough to make you head on over to CreateMyCookbook and check things out, I may be able to persuade you with cookies. I have several recipes on my blog that I used in my new CreateMyCookbook that may inspire you to create your own cookbook, too!

Friends, have you tried your hand at creating online cookbooks in the past or do you have a favorite way to organize your family or blog recipes at home? I’d love to hear about them below!

Connect with CreateMyCookBook.com:

Pinterest | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Linked’in

Scented pine cones. You know the ones. Cones that come bagged, highly fragranced, and line the endcaps of craft stores the nation over during the winter holiday season. And while scented pine cones might seem like a non-essential during the holiday season. That is unless you’re really craving that spicy cinnamon holiday aroma at home. In which case, nothing else will quite do or feel as cozy during the holiday season.

While you could purchase pre-scented pine cones at your local craft store or mass market chain in the ballpark of $5.00-$7.00 a bag or you could make your own customized scented holiday pine cones for little more than the cost of a few drops of essential oil. This not only allows you to literally make each batch of scented pine cones for pennies on the dollar, you also help to create a more minimal, zero-waste product this holiday season.

An item that could even be used for hostess gifts, teacher appreciation gifts, You’ve Been Jingled baskets, and Girl Scout projects later this season. Plus, you’ll get the pleasure of having taken a quaint little walk through nature as you gather up pine cones this fall season!

And the best part? This project takes so little time to pull together. Here’s how to make it:

Supplies:

• 24 Pine cones (per batch)
• Essential oils (cinnamon, clove, frankincense, citrus, spearmint—whatever you like best!)
• 1 Gallon Plastic Storage Bag or covered bucket (such as a cleaned out cat litter or laundry soap pail)
• Cookie Cooling Rack
• Cookie Sheet
• Convection Oven or Standard Oven
• Dinner Plate or Fermenting Stone
• Tin Foil

How to Scent Your Pine Cones at Home:

Take a walk: Take a walk in nature and procure at least 2 dozen pine cones. You’re ideally looking for pine cones that will look pretty on a wreath, bowled, or used as holiday decor or ornaments. 

Soak your pine cones: After your lovely walk foraging through the woods for pine cones (or in my case an adventurous trip to my front yard), you’ll need to remove any debris or critters that might be hiding inside. The easiest way to do this is to fill up the sink and soak your pine cones.

As pine cones float, so you’ll need to place a plate or something weighted over the pine cones so they’ll sink back beneath the water. Such a clean dinner plate or fermenting stone. Soak your pine cones for 2-3 hours.

Bake them: After your cones have soaked, remove them from their water bath and let them drip dry on a towel. Then lay the pine cones out on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 150º oven for 30 minutes. This will help the cones open up and will kill off any gross stuff that may have made it through the bathing process. Such as small insects.

After your pine cones have finished baking, transfer them to a cookie cooling rack. Be sure to cool your pine cones for 1 hour on a wire cooling rack. Once the pine cones have cooled completely, transfer them to a gallon zip lock bag.

Add essential oils: Now, the fun part— adding the essential oils! you’ll need to create a blend of essential oils that is most fitting to your home. Keep in mind, you will need a combination of 60 drops of essential oil, no matter which blends you use.

I used 20 drops each cinnamon oil, frankincense oil, and clove oil for a very festive scent. Once you’ve made your scent mix, pour the blend over your bagged pine cones, then seal up your bag and give it a good shake.

Make sure all of your pine cones are covered equally. Place your bag somewhere in your home where it won’t be disturbed for 1 week so that the pine cones can soak up all that essential oil goodness. Keep in mind, the longer you let the pine cones sit, the stronger the smell, so if you can wait 2 weeks—even better!

So, that’s it! How simple was that? I like to keep several bowls full of pine cones throughout my home each holiday season for a rustic, minimalist flair. I especially love placing bowls of pine cones in my kitchen, on my pie safe as they fill the whole room with a fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon scent!

But don’t stop there…

Consider making Pumpkin Spice Scented Pine Cones with:

• 15 drops organic cinnamon essential oil.
• 15 drops organic ginger essential oil.
• 15 drops organic nutmeg essential oil.
• 10 drops organic clove bud essential oil.
• 5 drops organic cardamom essential oil.

Sweater Weather Scented Pine Cones with:

• 30 drops eucalyptus essential oil
• 20 drops juniper berry essential oil
• 10 drops sage essential oil

Or Flannel Scented Pine Cones with: 

• 30 drops cardamom essential oil
• 10  drops cinnamon bark essential oil
• 10 drops orange essential oil
• 10 drops clove essential oil

Try different varieties! And remember, you’ll need to again add new fragrance your cones every 60 days or so. To do so, just add additional essential oil to your cones, bag them up, wait, and voila new comes! Used pine cones can also be composted, used to decorate garden beds over the winter months, or used as fire pit starters as well! The possibilities are limitless!

Friends, this is a super simple project this holiday season and I hope you all will give them a try this season! Now, tell me, have you already made holiday scented pine cones at home or do you have a really great DIY project or tutorial that you want to share with others? I’d love to hear about it below!