DIY: Christmas Pillows

Decorative pillows are pretty expensive and for some reason I can never find the ones that are on sale. I wanted so festive Christmas pillows for my couch, but quickly realized that I had very expensive taste. I remember seeing a DIY for creating pillow covers so I headed over to Hobby Lobby.

The two pillows I was covering were 18" x 18", so I bought 1 1/2 yards per pillow. However, I really needed two yards per pillow but I made it work. Place your pillow in the middle of the fabric. Bring the bottom sides up to meet, just like you are wrapping a package.

Fold the ends in to create two points. If you have enough fabric, then you can either knot the fabric or pin it together. Since I was a bit short I chose to pin it together. I used a silver reindeer pin that I found at Hobby Lobby to bring it all together. This is a simple and relatively inexpensive way to switch up your couch pillows without spending a fortune.

Zestos Wine

Rose wines have gotten a bad name thanks to the boxed blush wines, but they are making a comeback and you need to give them a try. This Zestos (which means basket in Spanish) Garnacha Rose comes from Madrid and is a bold blend of unique fruits with a clean finish. The wine starts off with red berry notes and ends with some light acidity and minerality. There are also some notes of rose and vegetation that fill you palette after the initial taste. This pairs well with seafood or light pasta. You can also feel free to sip on this as you are getting dinner ready or sitting around relaxing and the color is festive for the holidays. It's fairly inexpensive and can probably be found in your grocery store. Cheers!

Eggnog Lattes Fill the Air

The magic of candles is their ability to wrap a room up with a tempting aroma. No matter what scent you choose, walking into a room with a candle burning is like walking into a big hug. I have already gone through my fall candles, I headed to Target to find a replacement. I should have known that there wouldn't be any fall scents left, so it was time for me to embrace the Christmas scents (which I have absolutely no problem with). I wanted something a little on the sweet side, thought nothing that was sickeningly sweet. I was caught between sparkling cranberry and eggnog latte. I ended up with eggnog latter because it was a beautiful cream color and I had just had a red fall candle. I am so glad I did because it fills the room with this carmelly coffee like aroma. It's like I am drinking an eggnog latte from Starbucks without actually drinking it. These candles are relatively inexpensive, but are fairly clean burning. They would be a perfect last minute addition to a hostess present or gift basket.

Chocolate Peppermint Loaf

Now is the time that I get to go from everything pumpkin to a mix of pumpkin and peppermint (though not together) before going full out peppermint. While perusing the aisles of Trader Joe's, I found this magical box...chocolate peppermint loaf (and yes you could smell the peppermint through the box!) One of my favorite flavor combinations, chocolate and peppermint is the epitome of all things Christmas. So even though I was collecting ingredients to make pumpkin bread, I was also going to snag a box of this to try and boy was I sure glad I did! The bread turned out to be fudgey and pepperminty without it being too overwhelming... and it didn't hurt that it smelled amazing while it was baking! This decadent loaf would be a great winter dessert or get together snack.

If you know how to mix, then you can put this together in flash. First you need to do is mix together water and eggs.  Then add in the dry ingredient mixture and the chocolate peppermint chunks. Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. It will be hard to resist this loaf as it cools, but it will be worth the wait. Be sure to grab this treat before it's gone so that you can get a head start on enjoying the holidays... there are only 7 more Saturdays before Christmas!!

(Almost Paleo) Pumpkin Bread

I am always up for a new recipe and this paleo pumpkin bread recipe sounded delicious. However, we turned it into a non paleo recipe since my friend doesn't like bananas and I didn't have coconut flour. Though it's not paleo it's still a healthy option to satisfy your sweet tooth. This is a melt in your mouth bread that may look like it 's not done because it's so moist. The flavor is pumpkiny and full of fall spice. When I took the bread out of the oven it was wonderful loaf, but then five minutes later I came back and the bread had fallen and cracked. Though I was disappointed that it wasn't as visually appealing as it tasted, I was glad that it tasted delicious.

Ingredients:

1 cup almond butter
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1/4 cup honey (1 banana)
2 eggs, whisked
2 chai tea packets
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour (coconut flour)
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
                                                             1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
                                                             1/2 teaspoon baking soda
                                                             1/2 teaspoon baking powder
                                                             pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix together the almond butter, pumpkin, applesauce and eggs. 

Add the tea to the mixture to the almond butter mixture. Then add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, baking powder and baking soda.

 Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan and line with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 40 minutes. (Note*: The bread will probably fall and it might crack but if you insert a toothpick into the bread and it comes out clean then it's done.) You can serve this with some coffee ice cream or a squeeze of whipped cream for a perfect fall dessert.

Apple Chardonnay Sausage

I enjoy chicken sausage but don't eat it that much because of the high sodium content. As I was browsing through the store, I decided to check out what was available since I haven't had sausage for a while. Sometimes the Cajun style ones are too spicy for me, so this one caught my eye. It was an Apple Chardonnay chicken sausage from Bilinski's. I have never had anything like this before and was intrigued. I had no idea what it would taste like, but decided to give it a try as these sausage are gluten, wheat and preservative free. They are already cooked so all you need to do is brown them in a pan. There are large chunks of apple in the sausage and the Chardonnay flavor was definitely recognizable in the background. It was a much different sausage than what I have had before with a very distinctive flavor. The sausage didn't have the rubbery casing that you had to chew through which was nice. I honestly don't know what I thought about the sausage, but they did also have some other very tempting varieties. Throw some peppers and onions in a pan with these all natural chicken sausage and you have yourself a great meal. I think that these sausage might also be interesting with some maple syrup for breakfast. Next time you are at the store, be sure to pick up a pack is these tasty sausages.