Teacher Gifts

I lost track of time these last few weeks. There has been so much going on with the kids and wrapping up the semester. Yesterday one of my friends asked me what we gave last year for teacher gifts. That is when I realized that the last day of school is tomorrow and I had not even thought of teacher gifts.

Personally, I prefer to donate money to a class fund to purchase a gift card or some other group gift. That way I don't have to worry about gifts.

This year, being short on time, I just had the kids help me put together some gifts with things we already had at the house.

We made snowmen containers from old peanut butter jars and DH's old socks. The cuff on the socks made great snowmen hats!  I got the idea from here.

I also found some directions for a felt owl ornament from Juicy Bits.  I put the front of the owls together and each of the kids sewed and stuffed an owl.

The kids also helped me make chocolate covered pretzels. We bagged those up and put them in the snowman jars along with the ornament. The kids made cards using clipped images from last year's wrapping paper.

I made gift bags from newspaper. We put the gifts in the bags and decorated with paper snowflakes. The red ribbon was from a gift my daughter received the other day at her class holiday party.

I might be just nuts or cheap or both, but I love reycling or finding new ways to use old things. I hang onto anything I think might be useful down the line. DH thought I cut up a pair of his perfectly good socks for the snowman hats. I told him they were socks he had discarded because they were worn out. I just never threw them out. What do you know, they actually did come in handy...lol.



Newspaper Gift Bags

Snowman jars

Felt owl ornaments

Card decorated with clippings from previous year's wrapping paper

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.

Clam Chowder in Bread Bowl

All this rain during the rainy season in Jakarta has been making me crave soup.  The other night I decided I really wanted some clam chowder in a bread bowl.  I looked up some recipes for clam chowder and came up with this one by taking parts from a couple of recipes.  I get most of my recipe ideas from www.allrecipes.com.  I mixed recipes because I really wanted clam chowder, and I didn’t want to run to the store to get anything I didn’t already have in my pantry.  The kids liked the soup although they weren’t too fond of clams.  DH loved the soup.  Everyone loved the bread bowls. So this isn’t the healthiest recipe, but it certainly hit the spot!
Clam Chowder

• 1 can cream of potato soup
• 1 can baby clams
• 1 cup diced potatoes
• 1 green bell pepper diced
• 1 small onion diced
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 4 strips of bacon chopped into small pieces
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp. butter

I cooked the bacon in the bottom of a soup pot.  The bacon here in Jakarta is actually super lean and more like ham so I added 1 Tbsp. of butter and cooked the bacon in the butter. If using regular bacon, I would drain the excess fat and leave just a little bit for flavor.  When the bacon was part-way cooked, I added the onions and bell peppers and cooked everything until the bacon was crispy.  Then I added some potatoes and stir-fried them briefly.   I added the entire can of clams.  Then I added 2 cups of heavy cream and the can of cream of potato soup.  I added a little salt and white pepper to taste.  I also threw in roughly 1 Tbsp. of dried parsley…I think fresh would be better. I cooked the soup over medium heat until the potatoes were tender.

Bread Bowl
Before starting the soup, I started the dough for the bread bowls. I basically used the recipe for the Italian Bread Bowl from allrecipes.com. I liked this recipe because the ingredients were simple and I had them on hand. I halved the recipes and made 5 smaller bread bowls for our family instead of the 8 in the recipe.  The following recipe makes 4 large bread bowls.

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1-1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 egg white
• 1-1/2 teaspoons water

The instructions are pasted from all recipes.com with a few minor changes to the quantities since I halved the recipe.

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Add salt, oil and 1/2 the flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition.
3. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
4. Punch dough down, and divide into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
7. To make bowls: Cut a 1/2 inch thick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers, leaving 3/4-inch-thick shells. Fill bread bowls with hot soup and serve immediately.

123 Color

This coloring book app is free for just this week!  I think the free download period started yesterday.  The regular price is $9.99 (to get all the coloring books) so get it while it is free!  All the coloring books are included in the free download.  Normally the price would be $0.99 for the app and then $0.99 for each coloring book or $8.99 for all the coloring books.  This app is the International Edition with 17 different languages.  English is the default language, but you can change it under the settings tab to whatever language that you would prefer.  You can color by number, capital letters, lower case letters, and free-style.  Kids can also practice handwriting.  My 3-year old daughter has been playing with it this morning and loves it!   You can check out a more detailed review here: http://kidcalc.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/123-color-international-edition-talking-coloring-book-released/
I have been downloading apps that will help my kids learn mandarin Chinese so this app is perfect since mandarin is one of the 17 language choices that is available. Can I just say I love free stuff?

iPad Apps

So we finally broke down and bought an iPad 2. My son uses one at school in tech class. I thought it was interesting that the school my kids attend begins teaching kids how to use the computer and the iPad starting in kindergarten. Anyways, each month the school librarian gives a recommendation about a free or relatively inexpensive app that she thinks is good for kids.

I was curious to try out the iPad as an educational tool for the kids. So far, I have been very impressed with the quality of many of the free educational apps for kids. I am going to add a page that will list the apps that we have tried and that we like. So far I have not paid for any apps but that may change later on down the road. I came across a website today that has lots of great reviews of both free and paid apps for kids (www.smartappsforkids.com). Check it out. I was able to download some paid math apps that are free for a limited time. I think the kids will like the new apps.

The beauty of the free apps is that if the kids get tired of it or if it isn't that great, you can just delete it and try another one. I was surprised that we have had the iPad for almost a month now and the novelty has still not worn off. We all love our iPad!

More Recycled Bows

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  We had a nice quiet Christmas in our apartment in Jakarta.  It was different not to be around friends and extended family, but it was also nice since this was the first time we had ever celebrated Christmas just with our little family.

Anyways, awhile back I posted that I had made some recycled gift bows.  I ended up making tons of them for the Holiday Market fundraiser put on by the school my kids attend.  I put mounting tape on the bottom of the bows so the kids (first graders were in charge of the Holiday Market) could just peel and stick like you would on a normal gift bow. 

I kept the wrapping paper from our Christmas gifts, and I will make more holiday bows for next year.  I think this craft is a great way to give new life to all that wrapping paper that would otherwise just end up in the trash.  I love making these bows…it really can be addicting because making them is so fun.  I just love the way the recycled bows look. I think they are so much more interesting than your average bow. 

Teacher Gift

My son made a snowman from an empty peanut butter container.  I got the idea from Google images when I searched for container crafts.  The hat is made from the cuff of an old sock and the scarf is made from a band cut from just under the cuff.  He colored the band green with a marker, and we tied it on the container.  I helped him tie a bow around the top of the snowman’s hat.  He cut out larger circles from black paper for the eyes and smaller black circles for the mouth.  He cut out an orange triangle-shaped piece for the nose.  The face parts were glued onto the container.  We originally put cotton balls inside the jar.  Then, I thought it would be a good idea to line it with white paper and put a treat on the inside. We took out the cotton balls and I put in some home-made treats. 

My son also made his teacher a card. I wrapped the snowman and card in a clear plastic bag that used to contain some cardstock I bought. I tied it off at the top with a gold ribbon that was from a previous gift someone had given to us.

The whole gift minus the treats was made from re-used items.  I thought it would be nice for my son to give a gift he had made himself…a gift from his heart. I hope his teacher likes it.  We are going to make more snowmen stuffed with treats to give to friends.

This snowman craft is a good way to use those old jars and containers I’ve been accumulating.

 

Gone Public

I made the new blog (http://www.5abroad.blogspot.com/) public today.  I think I've sorted out all the travel and living in Indonesia-related posts.  I hope that this change will be a positive one.  If it doesn't help anyone else, I think it will help me be more organized and focused for future posts.  Sorry for any confusion.

New Blog

I've decided that I want to have this blog focus on things related to living a more sustainable lifestyle.  Therefore, I am moving any posts about traveling and living in Indonesia to a new blog: http://www.5abroad.blogspot.com/.  It will probably take me a few days to move the blog posts to the new blog and to reorganize both blogs.  I will make the new blog public soon.  I want to make sure that I am not duplicating content in two separate blogs. I hope you will come visit me at the new blog and continue to read about our adventures living and traveling abroad.

Another Turkey Craft

I was looking for another craft for the kids to work on and found some fun ideas on pinterest.  I combined a few things that I saw and this is what I came up with:



My 3-year old let me trace her hand.  Then I cut out the shape of her hand on different colored sheets of paper.  I did both the right and left hands.  My daughter put glue on the hands and I helped her attach them to a toilet paper roll.  The face is also made of scraps of colored paper.  I thought leaving the toilet paper roll open on top looked a little funny so I added a hat. 



We put the finished turkey in our front entryway next to the toilet paper roll pumpkins that we made for Halloween.  I just removed the jack-o-lantern faces from the pumpkins.  This was a fun craft to make with my little one.  I love looking at her little handprints and she loves her turkey!

Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

So we were a little late in getting started on Halloween crafts so I thought we would get an earlier start on Thanksgiving.  Sunday evening the kids made turkeys from a paper plate and scraps of colored paper.  They decorated the turkeys with markers and crayons.  I had the kids tell me what they were thankful for and we wrote them on the feathers. The older 2 kids wanted to do their own writing. It was so sweet to read the things they were thankful for: friends, family, church, the earth, toys, bed, clothes, food, home, car, etc.  We had lots of fun making these turkey decorations.







Our new wall decorations! Looks like one of the turkeys is missing a foot…lol.

Fun Halloween

The kids had so much fun this Halloween.  I would never have guessed that the kids would be able to celebrate Halloween in Jakarta.  The locals seemed to know about Halloween.  There were costumes and Halloween decorations available at the stores.  Even our apartment complex put on a Halloween party for the kids and organized trick-or-treating.  We had a great time celebrating Halloween in Jakarta!

In a previous post, my daughter and I decorated a Pringles can to look like Frankenstein. She decided she wanted a whole Frankenstein family so we made a “Mommy Frankenstein” from another Pringles can and a “Baby Frankenstein” from a toilet paper roll.



I made some spider cookies for a bake sale at school.  It’s sugar cookies coated with white royal icing and swirled rings of black icing.



I also baked some owl cupcakes for a Halloween party.  I got the idea by doing a search for Halloween cupcakes online.  There are lots of cool images for owl cupcakes.  The eyes are made from Oreo cookies and the pupils and nose are M&M’s. 



Here are my three munchkins dressed up for Halloween.  My son wore camouflage and we bought a plastic gun.  We already had the helmet.  My daughter wore her ballerina outfit.  My youngest daughter wore a dress made from one of my old prom dresses, and we made a crown from tin foil and cardboard.



We had a fun-filled Halloween.   We hope you did too!

Festive Halloween Candy

I found a fun tutorial  here  while looking for Halloween treat ideas to make for my son’s class. I didn’t have any chocolate candy bars, but I did find individual packets of skittles.  I attached google eyes to a piece of black paper and adhered them to the skittles packets.  Then I wrapped each skittles bag in white crepe paper.  Here’s the end result.

I think the kids will really like the Mummy treats.  For those of you that were wondering where to get google eyes here in Jakarta, I got mine at one of the shops in the Mayestik Marketplace in South Jakarta.
I also made the classic kleenex lollipop ghosts.  The kids had fun helping me make the ghosts.  My daughter helped me draw faces on the ghosts.  It’s an oldie, but a classic.  Kids love these lollipop ghosts!

Do you have any fun and easy Halloween treat ideas you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear about it!

Halloween Crafts from Recyclables

My daughter has been helping me make Halloween decorations.  She loves to make things so it has been fun to do some fun crafts with her.

Craft #1
Jack-O-Lantern Luminary

I had an empty glass jam jar that I cleaned and dried.  I asked my daughter what kind of face she wanted on her jar.  She wanted triangle eyes, a square nose, and a triangle mouth.  I cut the shapes out of masking tape and put in on the jar.  She painted the jar orange.  Then she peeled off the tape and painted the face parts yellow.  I wanted her to leave them clear so that the candlelight would shine through better but she insisted on painting them in…can’t argue with a 4-year old. She could hardly wait for the paint to dry so we could put in a votive candle.  Here’s the end result. 



Craft #2
Empty Box Mummies

I saw a tutorial for some empty box mummies using an old white sheet and google eyes.  The tutorial is here if you want to see the original.  I thought they were adorable!  I had different sizes of empty boxes. My daughter picked out 3 that she liked.  We used toilet paper to wrap our boxes.  I unrolled a long piece.  Then I folded it in half so it would be thicker and not as wide.  My daughter taped one end and we started wrapping the boxes.  We wrapped along the top and sides of the box first and then around the middle.  Periodically I put in a couple of pieces of tape to hold the toilet paper in place.  I cut some round white circles from scrap paper.  Then I cut out some smaller black circles and glued them to the white circles.  Then my daughter glued the eyes to the wrapped boxes.  I thought they turned out really well. The smallest box is actually wrapped with a folded paper towel.  We tried that first, but it didn’t work all that well. 



Craft #3
Toilet paper jack-o-lanterns

I have seen fabric-wrapped toilet paper pumpkins before.  I also came across this tutorial explaining how to make tissue-paper wrapped pumpkins.  Instead of rolling the paper around the toilet paper rolls and tucking in both ends, I thought the pumpkins looked a little better if I just placed the toilet paper roll in the middle of the sheet of tissue paper and then tucked in the paper through the top.  I cut a small strip of green crepe paper for the leaves. I had my daughter crumple a piece of brown origami paper for the stem which we also stuffed through the top.  Instead of drawing on jack-o-lantern faces with a marker, I cut some face parts out of black paper.  My daughter told me what kind of faces she wanted for the pumpkins.  Here my daughter is posing with the box mummies and the jack-o-lanterns.



Craft #4
Pringles Can Frankenstein

I had an empty pringles can that I thought we could decorate as a Frankenstein. We wrapped green paper around the tube for the face.  We cut a strip of black paper and my daughter fringed it for the hair.  Then we wrapped most of the bottom part of the can with black paper and put in a strip of white paper with a little scoop cut out at the top to make his clothes.  I drew in the face with a black marker.  I also attached some brown rolled paper to the sides of the neck.  Here’s the end result.



I had so much fun making these crafts with my 4-year old.  It didn’t really cost us much to make these decorations.  The only thing I purchased that I didn’t already have was the orange tissue paper.  There are so many creative ideas out there for recycled crafts so get your creative juices flowing and go make something!  Happy Crafting and Happy Halloween!