Friendsgiving

A few years ago a group of my girlfriends decided to have a girls-night get together around Thanksgiving time and call it "Friendsgiving". It was a hit and we have been doing it ever since. Pretty much it ends up being a group of girls catching up, drinking wine, eating good food, and getting all mushy telling what we are thankful for and how we all love being friends. I love it! (except the mushy stuff because I have crying...but it is nice to hear!)

This year I offered to host, so I will be making a turkey breast, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, glazed carrots, dutch apple pie, and a pumpkin cheesecake. Other guests will be bringing garlic bread, fruit, and a cheesy-potato dish. I have the table set and everything in place, spent all day yesterday cleaning, and now just waiting to stick the turkey breast in the roaster in a couple hours. Hopefully I will post pics later :)

So I didn't take any pics, but here is one that another girl took :)

Vegas Bomb Cupcakes

**Notice**

This blog post has some things that may be unfamiliar to people who do not frequent bars, alcohol, or energy drinks (ie: my mom), so you will find descriptors in the parentheses. Enjoy! (and don't get too mad at me, Mom :) )

I have had several requests to make cupcakes that incorporate the flavors of a Vegas Bomb (an alcoholic drink, Mom). I can't say that I have ever had one, or if I have I can't remember it (sorry, Mom). However, I have been told it has peach schnapps, coconut rum, Crown Royal (a whiskey, Mom), and Red Bull (an energy drink, Mom). I guess you take all the liqueurs in a shot glass and then fill another glass half way with Red Bull. Then, drop the shot glass in the bigger glass and shoot it (drink it all really fast, Mom). So today I attempted to make some cupcakes using those flavors.

I made my regular white cake batter, but substituted some of the liquid with Red Bull (it gives you wings, Mom), then put in a peach preserve filling, and topped them with a Crown Royal buttercream (yep, that's booze in the frosting, Mom). I then sprinkled coconut flakes on top for the finishing touch.

(Here they are, Mom!)

Meatballs

I don't know if I have shared this recipe before or not... but it is one of my favorites that my mom used to make when I was growing up. It is for meatballs with a yummy sauce over top. You could always shape this into a meatloaf, but she would make little meatballs instead so it would be easier to serve.

For the meatballs:
1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground beef
3 Tbs onion or onion flakes
1 cup cracker crumbs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 egg (beaten)
3/4 cup milk
mix together and form into 8 meatballs
bake at 350 for 1 hour

For the sauce:
1/4 cup ketchup
1 1/2 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Divide the sauce evenly over the meatballs for the last 15 minutes of baking
(PS- I LOVE the sauce, so I always double it... the recipe above it just a single batch though)

and there you have it... pretty simple, tasty, and reminds me of home :)

Recent products

So going off last months cupcake craziness, I made "Red, White, & Blueberry" cupcakes to give away/sell. They were vanilla cake, had a cherry enter, and a vanilla blueberry buttercream, topped with some fresh blueberries.

I must say, the frosting was AWESOME!! I love a good buttercream, but when you add fresh blueberries to the mix.... YUM!

Also, yesterday I made a baby shower cake for some friends of ours who will be expecting a little boy in October (ish). The top tier was supposed to look like a present, with a fondant "bow" on top. This was a new technique for me, but I think it looked pretty cute. It was all chocolate cake with a chocolate fudge filling, vanilla buttercream and fondant accents.

Cupcake Crazy

Yesterday I got on a kick of cupcakes for some reason... and I may have gone a little overboard, but oh well! I had finished making a wedding cake that had a lemon curd filling, and I had some of it left over. I decided to make some strawberry cupcakes and fill them with the lemon curd, just so it wouldn't go to waste. As I was making them, I thought about who I should give them to (because otherwise Brandon and I would sit there and eat the entire batch) and I decided to make a "give-away" on my facebook page. I said that if 20 people "liked" my status, I would draw a random person to get a free dozen of the cupcakes, and if 40 people "liked" it, then I would pick out another name.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes -- strawberry cake, lemon curd filling, lemon buttercream, strawberry fruit snack on top)

It was fun to check and see the comments and look who "liked" the page, and I think it helped more people to see what I can do, which is cool. I am thinking about doing it on a monthly basis and having a little cupcake give-away and I mapped out flavors for every month...

July – Red White and Blueberry Swirl

(blueberry and cherry swirled cake, white buttercream)

August – Cookies-n-Cream

(chocolate cake, white buttercream with crushed oreos)

September – Carmel Apple

(white cake, apple filling, white buttercream, caramel drizzle)

October – Pumpkin Spice

(pumpkin cake, cream cheese frosting)

November – Cranberry Almond

(white cake with cranberries, almond cream cheese frosting)

December – Cool Chocolate Mint

(Chocolate cake, chocolate ganache filling, mint frosting)

January – Aunt Lois’s Cake

(Orange cake, pineapple/whipped frosting)

February – Chocolate Covered Strawberry

(chocolate cake, strawberry filling, pink buttercream)

March – Banana Nut

(banana cake, chopped nuts, brown sugar frosting)

April – Red Velvet

(red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting)

May – Chocolate Peanut Butter

(chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting)

All this being said, since I am giving them away for free, it could get a little expensive, so I may have to take off a month here and there. My goal is to make some awesome cupcakes to share & make people happy (obviously), and secondly to help spread the word and hopefully getting a little more paid business. Have any suggestions for flavors?? Want to order something?? Check out my FB page (Amy Cakes Bake Shop) and shoot me a message!

Some of my cakes....

I decided to post some pics of the cakes I have made thus far for Amy Cakes Bake Shop. More to come!

chocolate strawberry cake

facebook themed cake

Mickey Mouse cake

UNO graduation cake

Daisy bridal shower cake

Rubber Duckie Baby Shower cake

New Starts

The other day I decided to make a Facebook page to promote my baking. I absolutely LOVE baking and creating home-made goodies, so if I can get a few people to order things for me to make, how cool would that be? I am not expecting it to be big or anything, but just something fun on the side would be great. The page is called "Amy Cakes Bake Shop", go check it out :) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Cakes-Bake-Shop/531865490186021

One of my co-workers asked me to make her son's birthday cake after seeing several things I randomly brought to work. The cake is going to be Mickey Mouse themed and 2 tiers. I will be making it this week and I am SUPER excited.

Then Brandon's uncle said he recommended me for a graduation cake in May and a birthday cake in August. If those end up getting ordered for sure I will definitely post pics :)

Now I am just in the mood to bake and create! I just can't wait to make something :)

My Irrational Fear Of The Creature That Shall Not Be Named...

I hate them... they are terrible, gross, freaky-looking things... they are creepy... I freak out when I see them... heck I have even almost cried while hearing someone talk about them in detail... I hate to even say/type the name because of fear they will somehow know I am thinking of them and they will come running... I am talking about... spiders.

"but Amy, you grew up on a farm, how can you be afraid of spiders?"... well let me tell you, I don't give a rats butt that I grew up on a farm and was around them when I was little... they freak me out!! Maybe my fear  started when I was scarred after watching the movie "Arachnophobia" when I was little... I really have no idea. I guess the purpose of this entry is to tell you a few little funny (for you) stories and to convey how much I hate... no... DETEST those ugly 8-legged creatures...

For starters... growing up on the farm I saw them quite often... daddy-long-legs, little ones, big ones, and the worst of all.... then ones that live in the barn. I remember helping bale hay in the summer and then hauling the bales home and having to load them into the hay loft of the barn. I distinctly remember going up in the loft and being surrounded by huge, hairy, disgusting barn spiders. They would be everywhere! Sometimes, you wouldn't even see them, but you would accidentally walk through their web and they would fall on you. Dad said to not worry about them, but I did... I stayed outside on the hayrack after that and helped throw bales to whoever was inside...

Our house on the farm was older so naturally there seemed to be more critters that got in. Mice... no problem... a shrew... I could care less... a bird... that was actually kind of fun... crickets... I don't like them, but I can deal.... spiders... I am standing on a chair yelling to whoever else happened to be in the house to come "kill it". I remember one time I went to take a bath and turned on the water and lifted up the cup that was always on the side of the tub and what fell out of it? you guessed it...I went to pick up the bottle of shampoo to throw at it, but what was sitting on top of the bottle... another one of those "things"... yuck. This naturally made me a little afraid of the bathroom for a week or so.... Ok, lets be realistic, more like a month. I got to the point where I would look all over the bathroom to make sure there were not any spiders, and then sit on the toilet and hold my feet up in the air so the only way they could "get me" was if there was one on the back of the toilet...

In more recent times, we moved into our house and one of the first nights I remember walking out on the deck to look at the stars. I noticed a spider hanging in its web across the steps, so I went to turn around and get Brandon to kill it. When I turned though, I saw another spider, even bigger, in a web from the edge of the deck to our grill. I paniced a little, but kept calm. Then when I fully turned and looked at the screen door, there was ANOTHER one, even bigger hanging there looking at me, waiting to eat me in my sleep I am sure. Naturally I start crying and yelled for Brandon. He came to the rescue, got me inside and sprayed something to kill them, and they really haven't been a problem since. I would be lying though if I said in that moment I didn't think about selling the house right then and moving out. But anyway...

My next adventure was about a month ago. I was working out to a video in our basement and I felt this strong feeling that I was being watched. Ellie (the dog) was upstairs sleeping, Brandon was at work, and the blinds were closed. I looked around and everything seemed ok, so I continued working out. About 10 minutes later, I was doing push-ups and I see something dark out of the corner of my eye. What do you think was running at me, full speed, with my face about 10 inches off the ground... you bet it was one of "them".  Luckily it heard me scream and stopped running at me. I knelt there paralyzed with fear unable to do much for about 30 seconds. Brandon was gone, so only I could kill it. It took me about 10 minutes to muster up the courage to hit it with Brandon's (not mine) shoe. But then it was on the carpet, I could not bring myself to pick it up no matter how many Kleenexes I had. So I put a cup over it and waited for Brandon to get home.

Fast forward to today,  I discovered I am not only afraid of spiders, but anything that remotely resembles them. A piece of lint on the floor, a bit of food on the oven, a string on the bedspread, a shadow on the ceiling... I know, I am just paranoid. What topped it off was when I was napping on the couch and unknowingly to me, Ellie wanted to sniff my arms. All I feel is her whiskers tickling my skin and since my eyes are closed the first thing I think of is HOLY SHIT A SPIDER IS CRAWLING ON ME AND IT IS GOING TO BITE ME. A high pitched scream made Ellie run into the coffee table (hard) and stay away from me for a little bit.

I have had one experience where I have touched a big spider though. I would be lying if I said I was sober and I willingly did it. A friend in college had a pet tarantula and one night after way too many beers, crying for about a half hour, wearing a paintball mask (yep, I thought at the time if I wore it, the spider wouldn't hurt me, lol) and lots of coaxing, I held it... for about 10 seconds before I completely freaked out.

welp, there you have it... I know this has been a little different topic than most of my posts, but I hoped you enjoyed my little rant... no teasing! :)

Frip Pie

To some people, this may look a little weird, but it is DELISH!! When Brandon lived in Gowrie, IA, he and some friends of ours introduced me to a local restaurant's wonderful creation called a Frip Pie. I was leery at first, but it is super good, easy to make, and I have leftovers for another meal :) 

1- Start with a base of kettle cooked potato chips in a layer on your plate (or fry your own potatoes in a skillet... I like the chips better though)

2- Put some pulled pork with BBQ sauce on top of the chips

3- Add baked beans on top of the pork

4- Top with a helping of coleslaw (for my recipe, click HERE)

There you have it!! If heaven were a tailgate-worthy/messy/BBQ/delicious comfort food... it would be this. Enjoy!

Quick and different lunch

Today for lunch I was going to brown some sausage and combine it with tomato sauce and make a goulash/pasta bake... but as I was in the middle of cooking I decided to go a different route.

Instead, I took crescent roll dough and laid it out, put cheddar cheese and spinach on it. Then I added my cooked sausage, and put more crescent roll dough on top to make a little "pocket".
I baked it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, and it turned out great!

I served it with a side spinach salad with carrot, cucumber, homemade croutons, chickpeas and Italian dressing. Yumm!

Easy-Peasy Cherry Cobbler

This is probably one of the easiest desserts you can make... and it is pretty yummy too!

Ingredients:
1 can cherry pie filling (or whatever kind of pie filling you want to use)
1 stick butter or margerine
1 box cake mix (white or yellow)

Optional ingredients for topping:
1 stick butter
a couple handfuls brown sugar
about 2 cups uncooked oatmeal
cinnamon to taste

Directions:
1. Grease either a 9x13 pan (for thinner cobbler) or an 8x8 pan (for thicker cobbler)
2. Evenly spread pie filling in bottom of pan

3. Pour dry cake mix over top of pie filling

4. Melt 1 stick butter and drizzle over cake mix

5. This is the optional part. You can either bake "as is", or put an oatmeal topping on it. If you go with the topping route, mix another stick of melter butter along with some oatmeal and brown sugar (cinnamon too if you like). I just dump and stir until I get the right consistency. Then pour it evenly over top of the cobbler.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes, or until it looks done. Cool slightly and enjoy with a dollop of whipped cream :)

I have plans for this chicken...

Brandon and I are trying to save money and my personal area of weakness (as you can probably guess) is baking/food. It is almost like I walk into the grocery store with 5 things on my list, and it is IMPOSSIBLE for me to walk out with anything less than 10 things... okay let's be real, more like 20 things. I usually shop at HyVee since it is close, I started working there, and I think they have a lot of good products and selection. It seems like there is always some kind of good deal going on as well, and I am a huge fan of their Fuel Buster program. Pretty much you sign up for this card that they swipe on your checkout and it keeps track of the money you earn. For instance I bought a certain pizza last week and since I bought it, I get 10 cents off per gallon of gas the next time I fill up my car. The money keeps accumulating until you use it (or it expires after a month if you don't use it). The last time I filled up, I ended up paying $2.29 per gallon for gas! But anyway... I am getting off track of my original point. I see good deals, fuel savers, food that just looks good that I don't really "need", and I know I buy way too many groceries for just the 2 of us. Granted most of the things I buy that we don't need at the moment are on a good sale. I simply put it in the freezer, or it has a long shelf life or something like that so we can use it later. Butter was an example... usually it is somewhere around $3-$3.50 for a pound, but one particular day it was $1 a pound. The ad said "limit 2 please", so Brandon and I paid separately and we each got our limit. (We may or may not have stopped back later in the day and do the same thing...) I know we didn't really need 8 pounds of butter, but it keeps well in the freezer and I know we would use it eventually, so why not get it when it is on sale? Sorry, I'm rambling again, I will stay on topic now...

So one strategy we are trying for saving money when it comes to groceries is planning out a menu for the week based on the ads/sales, figuring out the ingredients for the recipes, and then go shopping and ONLY GET WHAT IS ON THE LIST. (I realize this it NOT rocket science and a pretty basic concept, but it is hard for me). I think what helps the most is planning what we are going to have for lunch/supper  each day so I don't have to come up with something last minute.

So to finally get to the title of this blog, I bought a rotisserie chicken and will be using it for a few meals. Tonight I cleaned it all up, took the skin off, and got all the good meat off the bones and chopped it up. I ended up with a pretty big bowl full too. Tonight I used some of the meat to make chicken quesadillas. Tomorrow I was planning BBQ chicken sandwiches, and the next meal could be chicken salad sandwiches. When I stop and think about it, by planning out three meals from this one chicken (that was $4.99) it is pretty darn good.
I will have to let you know how the rest of my menu planning goes :)

Valentine's Baking

Since I had to stay up all night (in transition to work night shifts the next two nights) I decided to do a little baking for Valentine's Day.

My first project was to make something that I could take to work. I wanted it to be something to do with Valentines day without being all pink and having hearts all over. So... my inspiration was a chocolate covered strawberry. I started by mixing up a chocolate cake batter in one bowl, and then a strawberry cake batter in another bowl. I then used 3, 9-inch round pans and poured the batter in alternating rings so when the layers are stacked together it will look like a checkerboard pattern. It sounds confusing and I wish I would have remembered to take a picture, but really I just used a plastic separator/divider to create the circles of batter, and lifted them out once all the rings were filled. The chocolate recipe was just a basic one I have done before... I am pretty sure I have already posted at one time. The strawberry cake was a new recipe which I can say I really do like (I will post recipe later). Once I had the three layers assembled, I frosted them in chocolate frosting, and melted chocolate chips and butter to make a chocolate glaze that I poured over top (and later became a hard shell). I then made some chocolate covered strawberries, placed them on top, and sifted a touch of powdered sugar over the whole thing. Here is the end result:

The next cake that I tackled was a red velvet cake for Brandon to take to work. I have never made a red velvet cake before, so this was a new recipe too (obviously). It looked good, but I didn't try any of it, so hopefully it turned out ok. It felt a little dense, but oh well. The recipe for the frosting however, is probably my new favorite icing and I will definitely be using it again. It started with a milk and flour base that is heated and thickened on the stove top, and then combined with creamed butter, sugar, and vanilla. I have never made a frosting that way (and yes, it takes a little more time) but I think it tastes so much better than the normal powdered sugar/milk/butter combo that I knew as a kid. I will post the recipes for both of the cakes and frosting another day, but I just wanted to show off my pictures :) Hopefully I will get to take a pic of the insides of the cakes to se the layers... we shall see

I did have some leftover batter, so I made a few cupcakes. I frosted them with a little of the leftover frosting, put red tinted sugar on top, and then made piped/hardened chocolate hearts to decorate as well.

Peanut Butter Crunch French Toast

Here is one of my favorite breakfast recipes that I don't make nearly enough, but I always love it when I do.

1- Take 2 sliced of bread and spread peanut butter on each side, essentially makeing a peanut butter sandwich. Set asside
2- Next, crack a couple eggs in a shallow bowl and whisk. I like to add a touch of milk and cinnamon.
3- Take another bowl and crush up some type of "flaked" cereal. This can be something like Corn Flakes, Oat Bran Flakes, etc. I used a Whole Wheat Bran Flakes that we had on hand.
3- Dip the peanut butter sandwich in the  egg mixture, making sure to coat all sides. Then dip the sandwich in the crushed up cereal to coat with the "crunchy topping".
4- Put sandwich in a pan on the stove over medium heat and cook until nice and golden brown (or done).
5- The peanut butter will be nice and melty, and the crushed cereal will make a nice crunchy texture. I put a small drizzle of maple syrup on as well and drink with a cold glass of milk. Yum!!

Brandon's Birthday Dinner

Once again for Brandon's birthday, I let him pick out anything for supper and I made it for him/us. On the menu was Cajun/chipotle pork loin chops, steamed green beans, Southern fried cabbage, and a roasted garlic dinner roll. For dessert was angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

 

And now for the recipes....

Cajun/Chipotle Crusted Pork Lion Chop

INGREDIENTS:
2 butterfly pork loin chops
4 T brown sugar
2 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp garlic powder
3 T Cajun seasoning
1 T ground chipotle chili pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1- Place all ingredients in a large ziplock bag and shake to coat meat. Let sit in bag for 20-30 minutes.
2-  If seasoning is too thick, brush some off before cooking, otherwise the flavor can get a little overpowering.
3- Cook on grill, bake in over, or saute in skillet. (I did it in the skillet just because it was too cold to grill)
4- Let stand for 5 minutes to let meat "rest" before cutting.


Southern Fried Cabbage

INGREDIENTS:
4 strips of bacon
2 T vegetable or olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 head o f cabbage - chopped
1 heaping T minced garlic
1 onion - chopped
1 T sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1- heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until cripsy, and break into bite-sized chunks
2- Add cabbage, garlic, onion, and season with salt, pepper, and sugar.
3- Saute until veggies are tender.


Green Beans
I washed and cut the ends off some fresh green beans, then put them in a steamer bag in the microwave for about 6 minutes. Served with a little butter. Done :)

Angel Food Cake
I cheated on dessert because Brandon originally said he wanted to be healthy and not have anything... I couldn't NOT have something sweet, so I just bought an Angel Food cake from HyVee and sliced strawberries with it and topped with whipped cream.

PS- The roasted garlic dinner rolls were also bought from HyVee. They have an awesome selection of homemade Baking Stone breads in the bakery. 

Spinach Souffle

Tonight's supper was spinach souffle, I got this recipe from my good friend Emily. The base recipe is below, and my notes/variations to follow.

 

INGREDIENTS:
1 T olive oil
5 oz baby spinach leaves (about 8 loosely packed cups)
6 eggs
6 T flour
2 cups cottage cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever kind you like)
2 T melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2- Grease a glass baking dish (I used a 8 in square Pyrex dish)
3- Heat oil in a large skillet and add spinach. Saute just long enough for spinach to wilt, about 20-30 seconds. Set aside.
4- Lightly beat eggs in a large bowl. Add flour one tablespoon at a time, mixing between each addition.
5- Add remaining ingredients, mix well. Add spinach.
6- Pour into baking dish and bake for 1 hour, or until set and lightly browned.
7- Makes about 8 servings, easy to double the recipe and then use a 9x13 pan.

**AMY'S NOTES**
**For the seasonings, the recipe just calls for salt and pepper. I like to add a lot more pepper than what the original calls for (more like 1 tsp). I also omit the salt and use 3/4 to 1 tsp garlic salt instead. I also sprinkle dill weed on top before baking (did not mix in).

**When wilting the spinach, I did it in batches since my saute pan wasn't the biggest. This prevents the leaves at the bottom from getting over cooked and the ones on top from being undercooked. By only putting a thin layer in the pan at a time, it makes the spinach easier to stir and cooks more evenly. It really doesn't take that long anyways!

**The thing that I love about this recipe is that it is great as is, but there are so many variations you could do also. It would be great adding some sauteed veggies like bell peppers, mushrooms, onions etc. I think it would also be good with a 1/2 pound of cooked sausage... or bacon (gasp!)

**My point being: you can do a lot of different things with this recipe... come to think of it, you can do a lot with most recipes! Maybe that is one reason I love about cooking... you can tweak, add, subtract, substitute, EXPERIMENT and make food they way you/your family likes it. Make it your own! Obviously some things are more exact and can't be changed too drastically (think baking... that is more of a science) but I believe there is always a LITTLE wiggle room with any recipe. Enjoy and happy cooking :)

Steampot Supper

This last Sunday Brandon and I had a few of our good friends over and had a steampot supper (think like Joe's Crab Shack).
I did not use a recipe, nor have I ever done ANYTHING remotely like this before... so this was a huge experiment. I had looked up online how long to boil the meats, but other than that, it was just "dump and stir".

In the pot were 2 pounds of red potatoes, 2 large onions, 4 pounds of shrimp, a dozen baby ears of sweetcorn, 4 pounds of andouille sausage, and a whole bunch of crab (king and snow). For the liquid I used water, a couple cans of beer, and a TON of garlic and Old Bay seasoning. That is pretty much it.

Some of the pots I used to make everything in... to the right in red is an 18 quart roaster oven that I used as well.

 

The yummy food getting ready to be added to the pots

CRAB!!

The table of food

Yes, everyone has their own little dish of melted butter to dip in :)

Other side included whole wheat dinner rolls, southwest ranch coleslaw/salad, mixed seasoned veggies, and there were brownies for dessert. We also had fresh-cut lemons and little dishes of butter for everyone's enjoyment. Of course a few adult beverages were served as well. At first I had wanted to just line the table with a bunch of paper and pour everything in the middle and just have everybody dig in... but then with the different side dishes it was going to be too hard to do that. We did end up using plates and silverware (and bought some crab leg splitters from Joe's Crab Shack), but we still dumped all the crab in the middle of the table.

 After supper, we played a board game that one of our friends brought over called Settlers of Catan. It took a little while to get used to, but once we got the hang of it, the game was SO much fun! I would say a very short description would be a strategy game where you collect various cards and trade them in to build roads and towns to get points and then win the game. Kind of like a combination of Pit and Monopoly.... maybe... sounds strange but it was fun :)

All in all, the night went very well and everything turned out SO yummy! I definitely want to do this again sometime. Thanks to those that came and made the night so much fun!!

Christmas Gifts

Ok this is a little late, but I didn't want to spoil the surprise of anyone... but anyway... I made spiced sugar body scrubs (thanks Pinterest) and gave them to several people as homemade Christmas gifts. I don't remember the exact recipe, and I know I tweaked it anyway so it really doesn't matter what the original recipe is. 

The main ingredients are:

Brown sugar

White sugar

Spices (nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon)

Coconut oil

Olive oil

 Pretty much all I did was mix the ingredients together until I was happy with the consistency.  The only downfall was that it took a LOT more oil than I was expecting, and the coconut oil was a little pricy. It also is solid at room temp, so I needed to run the jar under hot water to get it into a liquid.

Lastly, I made little labels and put them on the jars and gave them to a few people. I meant to give them to more people than I did, but I ran out of the coconut oil and it was too expensive to buy more.  Sorry!

 

It was a fun, quick project, to help soften skin and help others relax a little ... plus it smelled wonderful! I also think this could work well with all white sugar and using a peppermint extract or lemon extract. Really, I am sure you could use about any essential oils that you liked. I might have to make more of these in various scents.