Recycled bows and bags

The first graders at my children's school put on a holiday market as a fundraiser for a charity. Each year they ask for gently used items to sell as well as gift bags and ribbons.

I donated some used gift bags. I also donated some bows made from magazines and some gift bags made from newspaper. My kids helped me make and decorate the bags. They were so fun to make.

Play Dough Update

The recipe I previously posted for non-gooey homemade play dough is still my favorite thus far.  It has been over a week and the stuff is still as good as the day that I made it.  It has not dried out nor has it gotten all gooey and squishy like all the other recipes that I have tried.  This one is definitely a keeper!  The consistency and texture really is much like that of store bought Play Doh.  If you are looking for an easy play dough recipe, definitely give this a try. 

Non-gooey Homemade Play Dough

I don’t know how many homemade play dough recipes I have tried.  None of them have even come remotely close to resembling the store bought Play-Doh.  I’ve tried both cooking and non-cooking recipes and no matter what, the homemade stuff always turns out to be a gooey mess.  I think that maybe the homemade recipes are okay if you live in dry areas, but I have always lived in really humid places. Although some of the homemade play dough is okay initially, it doesn’t take long before it turns into a gooey mess.  Some websites say to just add more flour and knead it into the dough if it becomes to sticky. I just don’t even want to handle the gooey mess much less try to salvage it. 

The last batch of homemade stuff I made had to be scooped out of each container, and it was just gross.  I kept all my original Play-Doh containers so that I have containers in which to put the new homemade play dough.

So back to the original  problem…gooey dough.  I think I finally have a solution to non-gooey play dough.  This stuff actually resembles the store bought brand. At least it's the closest I've come.  The solution was so simple it was almost ridiculous.  Just add less water.  I make Chinese dumplings all the time and realized that the 2 cups of flour to 1 cup of water would probably be appropriate ratio for the play dough recipe as well. This ratio makes for a really nice pliable dough.

I didn't want to have to cook to make play dough so I really was wanting a non-cook recipe. The salt is important but I didn’t like the recipes that called for a ridiculous amount of salt (1 or more cups).  I think too much salt makes the texture of the play dough grainy.  That and I think it’s a waste of perfectly good salt. Overall, I am really liking this recipe.  There is no cooking involved and it's really simple.  Most people already have all the ingredients in their cupboards.

Non-Gooey Play Dough

2 cups flour
2 Tbs. Vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
2 Tbs. Cream of Tartar
1 cup hot or warm water (I did not use boiling water)
Gel food coloring

I mixed all the dry ingredients together.  Then I drizzled the vegetable oil over the mixture.  After that I added about 3/4 cups of the water.  As I kneaded the dough, I added a little more water as needed.  You really shouldn’t need more than 1 cup of water.  The dough might seem a little stiff at first, but it should become more soft and pliable as you knead.  It also helps to let the dough sit for a couple of minutes before kneading again.  I used gel food coloring since the liquid food coloring just adds more moisture to the dough.





I will try and remember to blog again in a month or so about how this play dough has held up.  So far it has been a couple of days and no gooey mess.  The kids have played with it a lot and so far so good.

If anyone has a recipe for homemade play dough that holds up well under humid conditions, I would love to try it out.  Until I can find a better substitute, I think this will be my recipe of choice.

Wheat Tortillas

I've only bought tortillas a couple of times since moving to Jakarta because the packages are so expensive!  It's probably around US $7 for a package of 8.    A friend of mine says that she always makes her own tortillas so I got the recipe from her.  Here it is.  It is simple, and my kids really like it.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose white flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
4 Tbsp. Canola oil
2/3 cups water

Combine all the dry ingredients.  Then add the rest.  Knead a little until it sticks together.  Divide into eight balls and dredge in flour.  You can store them in the fridge in a plastic bag or roll them out immediately. Flatten to a 7 inch disk or larger.  Fry on medium high heat about 30 seconds per side.  Cover with a towel as you make the rest.

Easy Biscuits

DH loves Bisquick biscuits.  I think that I’ve seen Bisquick here in Jakarta on occasion,but as I recall, it is very expensive.  Awhile ago, I looked online (probably at allrecipes.com) and found an easy recipe that DH says tastes just like the Bisquick biscuits he likes so much.  It’s pretty simple to make and both DH and the kids love it warm from the oven.  They taste really good with a little bit of butter and honey.
Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter (softened)
2/3 cup milk

I mix the dry ingredients together first.  Then I put in the butter and milk and mix it all up with a fork. There is no need to knead the mixture.  Make 9 small balls (just pat the dough together)  and put on a greased baking sheet.  Brush the tops of the biscuits with a little bit of milk.  Put in the oven at 220C for about 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

Garden

Back in August, I posted about planting some chili pepper seeds and green onions in plastic buckets.  Well, months and months later, we finally have chili peppers!  I’m not sure what the variety is, but the peppers are a mixture of slightly sweet and spicy.   The package said it was a hot pepper, but milder than other varieties.  I tried planting a couple of other things, but they didn’t turn out so well.

The green onions do well in the plastic buckets as has kang kung (green leafy vegetable).  Sadly, my tomatoes grew some kind of fungus and died without ever producing fruit.  The strawberries never even sprouted, and the pumpkin sprout died.  Of all the things we have planted, the chili peppers have been the most successful. The kids think it is pretty fun to harvest the chili peppers.  They also enjoy going out with a pair of scissors to cut green onions for me.  Although it’s pretty tiny, it’s nice to have our own little garden.

 

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffin

I was at the store the other day and saw that they had Libby brand canned pumpkin.  I had been thinking about baking something like banana bread for the kids to take to school as a snack.  When I saw the canned pumpkin, I thought that muffins sounded good. 

After I got home, I noticed that I had 2 Granny Smith apples that had been sitting in the fruit bowl for over a week with no takers.  Poor little apples were starting to look a little sad so I thought maybe I could make some kind of muffin with pumpkin and apples.  I found a recipe at one of my favorite recipes sites: www.allrecipes.com. The recipe was for a pumpkin apple streusel muffin...perfect!

I did make a few changes since 1) I didn't have pumpkin pie spice and 2) along with the Libby brand canned pumpkin, I also found gold medal wheat flour.  Now that may not seem very exciting to you, but those things can be hard to come by here in Jakarta.  I've learned from experience now that if I see something that I want that is not readily available, I need to buy it right away.  The last time I thought I would go home and think about whether or not I wanted to pay US $7 for a bag of wheat flour, they were sold out by the next day.

Ok..now for the slightly modified recipe.  If you want the original recipe, you can find it here.

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffin

Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour ( this way i can convince myself the muffins are healthy...ha ha)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp nutment
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple

Streusel                    

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, sift together white and wheat flour, sugars, spices, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.               

The muffins were very moist and DH and I thought they were delicious!  Unfortunately, my kids didn't like the muffins as much as we did.  Still, I thought the recipe was worth keeping.  One of these days, I should probably just make a recipe as written and try it first before tweaking it.  As usual, I generally end up making changes because I don't have all the ingredients on hand.  I guess I could learn to plan to make something in advance and then go grocery shopping.  But...that would require too much planning and forethought...lol.