Nov. 7, 2008 - Family Night
For Family Night this week, we cooked some brats (from the freezer that I wanted to use up) over the fire pit in the back yard, and worked on these Thanksgiving table runners-which by the way, would make great Christmas gifts for grandparents.
You can sew your own table runner if you are crafty enough. OR if you are like me, you can save yourself a trip to the fabric store, hours of trying to figure out a pattern, cutting it out, messing with the bobbin thingy on your sewing machine, and order them from Oriental Trading Company. We made a personalized family of handprint turkeys. (we used poster paint for the turkeys and fabric paint for the names) We then added a border using corn on the cob. Use paint to make different colored rows on your cob of corn. (easier if you break it in half) Then "roll" the corn around the table runner. Don't forget a Thanksgiving greeting and the year you made your table runner! Have fun!
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Oct. 18, 2008 - Family Night
Benjamin didn't feel well Friday evening, but he had perked up quite a bit by Saturday so we decided to make Mini Caramel Apples-an idea I saw on FamilyFun. (A website/magazine that I love getting ideas from!) They turned out well-much better than I thought they would! I've never been a big fan of the big caramel apples-but these were the perfect caramel/apple ratio and MUCH, MUCH easier for little hands and mouths to handle!
First we melted caramels, used a melon baller to make "mini" apples, pushed mini popsicle sticks into them, dipped and rolled! We put them in the fridge right away to help them "set".
Aren't they cute?? After we finished we went out to the patio to enjoy the cool fall weather, a nice warm fire and our caramel apples.
FYI: Several commenters on the website had problems with the caramel not sticking to the raw apples. We didn't have this problem-but a good suggestion was made to roll the apples in flour or confectioners sugar to give them a "dry coat" first.
Also-save the leftover "big" apples after you've melon-balled them-you can simmer them on the stove with cloves and cinnamon sticks for a nice "fall" aroma in your house!
