Eat Like a Hobbit Day

I should have posted this a bit ago, but better late than never right?
The family and I love to geek out, as you can probably tell from everything I post. We decided to have an Eat Like a Hobbit Day on the Saturday that we would see the newest Hobbit movie. It was a lot of work, and a lot of dishes, and a lot of food, but it was sooo wonderful!

For those of you who may not know, Hobbits eat a lot!
7 meals to be precise.

First breakfast- Blueberry scones
Second breakfast- "Hobbit Holes" (jalapeno bagels fried with an egg in the hole) with sausages
Elevensies- Apple pastries with grapes
Luncheon- Assorted meats (chicken, salted pork, beef) cheeses, breads, pickles, carrots, tomatoes
Tea- Seed cake (caraway, pumpkin and sunflower), Honey cakes, and teas
Dinner- Mushroom, Kale and PoTaTo soup
Supper- Beef with a salad

I know there are a few things most people would add, like fish but I'm allergic, so it just isn't happening in my house. Lots of fun, but I may need a year to recover before we try it again!

Stroopwafels

My husbands family is Dutch, so when my son decided which language to take in high school, he chose Dutch. As part of his learning Dutch he had to make a food that was also Dutch. So of course my son doesn't pick something to make that I have all the ingredients/materials to make in the house. He picks something that I have to buy an iron to make. So we purchased a pizzelle iron to make our stroopwafels. The first batch was meh. The other batches have proceeded to get better and now I think we are near perfection! (At least according to our tastes)

So here they are

They are a delicious crisp cookie filled with a honey caramel. You can place them on your warm coffee or tea and it warms the caramel and makes them gooey and delicious! You can make them in a waffle cone iron or a pizzelle iron like we did.

Stroopwafels
dough
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 c sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 c warm water (slightly above body temp)
2 large eggs
dash of salt

In a mixer bowl; add flour, yeast, cinnamon, & sugar, cut in flour with your hands until it resembles small pellets. Place mixer bowl on mixer and on low slowly pour in the warm water and allow the dough to start coming together. Add eggs one at a time. Add in the dash of salt and knead dough until it's a firm and cohesive dough.

Cover with a damp towel or cling wrap and rest for 30 minutes.

caramel
1 stick of butter
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 T Karo syrup (I used light)
1 T honey
1 T maple syrup
1 T vanilla

Melt butter and sugar stirring slowly over low heat. Add cinnamon, honey and syrups and continue to stir until the caramel comes together and slowly bubbles. Keep stirring because at this stage it's easy to burn. Keep stirring until sugar is all dissolved and caramel is creamy. It will be HOT! Keep caramel warm.

Divide the dough into 40 equal pieces. Roll them into small marbles and cover with a damp cloth so they don't dry out while baking other pieces.

Heat your pizzelle iron or waffle cone machine according to instructions. Place dough ball in the iron, press down and bake each cookie/waffle for approximately 40 seconds. Check to see if browned and puffed up a little. Remove from machine and place it on a flat surface.

*Working quickly while the cookie is hot and pliable (when it cools it will break on you.)

Place your hand on top of the cookie and slice it horizontally in two with a sharp non-serrated knife. (I had to use a towel/clean pot holder because it was too hot.) Because of the yeast it puffs up a bit to make a spot to cut.

Immediately smear a bit of caramel on top of the bottom cookie. Replace the top and gently push down so the caramel spreads. Let cool on a rack. Then do the next dough ball.*

NOTE: * This is the traditional way to do it. But this is not how I did i;. my pizzelle iron has 3 cookie spots. I cooked 2 at a time [3 I couldn't quite do quick enough] set on 3.5. After 40 seconds I took them out and using a towel to protect my hand I cut them horizontally. I then set them aside (I pressed them gently to encourage them to stay flat. After I cooked all of my cookies. I then made my caramel. When my caramel was hot I reopened my cookies and spread the caramel on the bottom cookie half, then smooshed them together. They held up just as well as the traditional way, but was easier for me to do by myself.

Dalek Advent Calendar

I wanted to get this posted before I forget, which seems to be happening more and more frequently lately. This is our new Advent Calendar for the year (and hopefully many years.) It isn't quite finished. This is how finished it was when December 1 rolled around, and will be good enough until after Christmas. It is missing a bit of white felt up top.
What I did was cut out a silhouette of a dalek in black felt, then with fusible web, I cut out grey, and blue parts, I could only find one shade of grey I liked, so I painted some of the grey for a bit more depth. Then I fused them onto the black background leaving black around it (like a coloring book sort of) The Dalek Bumps are blue felt fused onto black felt with black numbers on the blue. Then I glued the bottom and side edges to make pockets. In these pockets we put a piece of paper with our activity for the day on.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and the kids are thrilled, even hubby was quite impressed.
I will try to get a better quality pic when it's all finished, but I figured this camera phone pic was better than nothing right!

Advent Calendar

We begin our Advent Calendar Activities again tomorrow.

We're still using the one I made inspired by Allsorts' pattern allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2007/11/advent-calendar.html I keep meaning to try something different, but this one works so well for us. I print out the activities and stuff them in the little pouch. If something unexpected comes up and we need a shorter one I just swap them.

I've had a lot of people ask me what sorts of activities we do. Well, I have to admit as the boys are getting older, it's getting harder and harder to come up with fresh ideas. Here is a list of ideas I've compiled over the years. Most we have done. Some while my nieces were visiting, others are just ideas I've had for others to do. Santa isn't a part of our holiday, and never has been, but he is a big part of other people's holidays, so there are some of those type of ideas too. Hopefully you can find these useful. If you have ideas of your own, (especially ones a 14 year old boy won't roll his eyes at,) please let me know!

Quick 10 min or less
•Write a card to military overseas or veterans hospital
•Color Christmas Picture
•Bunny hop/Conga line through house
•Only speak in Pig Latin or like a pirate
•Learn or make up instructions for a secret handshake
•Write a letter to a distant relative
•Tell Christmas Jokes (have these ready)
•Call Grandparents and sing carols
•Word searches, crossword puzzles, mazes, etc... (there are a lot of online word search & crossword puzzle makers for free.)
•Read a Christmas themed book
•Sing Christmas Carols using kazoos
•Make and Drink fancy hot chocolate (marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, candy cane)
•Make Snowangels

About 30 Minutes
•Hang Stockings
•Paper airplanes- make and fly (Who's goes farthest, highest, etc.)
•Make Ornaments
•Make Paper Snowflakes
•Set Out Nativity
•Paint Rocks (could take longer than 30m)
•Make an ice candle (larger bucket, smaller bucket, tape, greenery, water, freeze, use next day)
•Make stickers using white label stickers and markers
•Make Thumbprint animals on wrapping paper or gift tags (potato stamps would work too)
•Learn an origami project
•Make a birdfeeder
•Make Playdoh
•Look at past holiday pictures in a photo album

More than 30 min
•Bake Bread/Banana Bread
•Make a pom pom garland or string popcorn for a garland
•Make a beaded necklace, bracelet, bookmark
•Make soap/candles •Make Snow globes
•Have a bonfire
•Marbleize paper (liquid starch or shaving cream method)
•Lego building competition
•Make up a crazy dance to some Christmas music
•Take Silly Christmas Pictures (everyone in Santa hats, wearing reindeer antlers, wrapped up in Christmas paper or decorations, etc...)
•Make a memory game for the little kids we know with wooden disks and pictures
•Make Gift tags for our gifts to others •Write your own Christmas Carol •Make Teacher Gifts
•Watch a favorite or new Christmas themed movie
•Follow a treasure map to a large-ish gift or activity
•Write Out Christmas Cards
•Go out and play Bocce (or other game) in the snow
•Make a wreath
•Make/decorate a Christmas themed pillowcase or t-shirt
•Make pajama pants
•Learn a new magic trick or science project
•Star gazing
•Play a family board game
•Have a camp out around the Christmas Tree
•Make Snowman
•Have a video game competition (Wii bowling or boxing are popular)
•Have a snowball fight
•Christmas Charades
•Exchange Stockings Food/Meal Related
•Make Cookies
•Pizza making night
•Decorate Cookies
•Have Milkshakes
•Make Rock Candy
•Have an Indoor Picnic
•Have a Fondue Night
•Have a Candle light supper
•Have an Eat Dessert First night
•Breakfast for dinner

Away From Home
•Watch local Holiday Parade
•Get a Christmas Tree/Decorate Christmas Tree
•Buy a toy for toys for tots
•Visit at a nursing home
•Gather no longer used towels and blankets for local animal shelter
•Go to a production of the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol
•Shop for things for women’s shelter
•Go out to eat at a favorite restaurant
•Go to a movie
•Take a walk/drive to look at holiday lights
•Go Bowling
•Go Sledding
•Go out for ice cream
•Pack a picnic for the park/botanical gardens (weather permitting)

Activities for younger kids or when girls are here
•Use puppets to tell bedtime story
•Have a bubble bath
•Fancy dress up for dinner time
•Give everyone crazy hairstyles
•Paint everyone’s toenails