Gift Kit: Easy Like Sunday Morning

After a long Friday night-Saturday of experiencing the weekend to the fullest, sometimes a Bloody Mary isn't enough to shake that feeling of restlessness.  The "have I done enough with my weekend" feeling that never really goes away if you think about it for too long.  And the conquering of the next day goes best with grabbing a cup of coffee, tea, or hot cocoa.  With a towel and a coaster to prevent catastrophes of course.


Components
Cappuccino Mug
Hot Chocolate on a Stick
Printed Tea Towel
Coasters
Coffee-Scented Candle
Fun Straws
Tea Bags
Biscoff Biscuits
Emergency Chocolate

Personalized Cappuccino Mug

When I was in Italy, I got used to drinking 2 cappuccinos a morning.  The first day, my right leg about shook itself off my body.  By the last day, the second cup was what I needed to get through the rest of the caffeine free day.  Now, in my defense, these were European portions, not the huge cups I found for this kit.  Two cups this size and I would have been able to climb up and down those hundreds of steps along the Amalfi Coast... twice.

Materials - from Kate's Creative Space's Primal Instincts
Ceramic Cappuccino Mug
Chalkboard paint - black or contrasting color
Enamel paint - used sage green

Trace or freehand draw a tea bag on the onto the mug using a pencil.  Or freehand for expert level crafting!  Fill in with chalkboard paint.  Let dry; and paint in the opposite direction.  Let dry for 24 hours.

Paint on the string from the end of the tag into the cup.  Remember!  Don't wash in the dishwasher and be careful around the paint!

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

The puppeteer Jeff Dunham taught me you can put anything on a stick or "steek" and make it awesome, while the cake pop revolution taught me that virtually any food item on a stick makes it more tasty.  This is something sushi can claim partial hipster points for since it is eating using sticks.


Ingredients - adapted from 30 Pounds of Apples's Hot Chocolate Sticks and King Arthur Flour's Cocoa Blocks
1/4 cup heavy cream
7oz (1/2+1/8 cup) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate - melted
6 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp coffee - optional if the recipient likes coffee
72 mini marshmallows
wooden stir sticks/cake pop sticks

Mix all ingredients minus the marshmallows together.  Pour mixture into silicone (simply for easier removal) ice cube tray.  Place 4 marshmallows in the corners of each cube & a stick in the center.


Let sit in the freezer overnight.  Pop out and wrap in clusters.  Small tags with how to make hot chocolate on a stick are optional because it's much more entertaining to figure out how to make it yourself.  Personally I go for the "dissolving in saliva" method; it's emergency chocolate on the go.  Sticks really do make everything better!

Printed Tea Towel

Materials - from Brit + Co's DIY Neon Patterned Tea Towels
Spray Dye
Napkins or tea towels
painters tape

Iron and lay out tea towels.

Tape out pattern on the tea towels.  I did a diamond and a tartan pattern.  Use up that painters tape.

Spray the paint onto the towels.  I used 2 colors per towel: green and blue on the tartan tape, yellow and green on the diamond towel.

Let dry for 4 hours.  Remove tape.

Coasters

I've already covered how to make bottle cap coasters and how to use alcohol ink for decoration (scroll to the section on "Coasters" - incredibly original).  If neither of those is what you're looking for in your gift kit, you can try the 3rd option in the flight: using washi or decorative tape on a tile coaster.  I see your challenge and I'm accepting it - you will find a coaster you like.

Materials
Washi tape
Tile in white or complementary colors to your tape
Sealant
sugru, small rubber feet, or no-skid pads (4 per coaster)

It couldn't be more simple: lay the tape however your heart desires across the tile.  Let a little overlap the edges.  Cut; I found using an exact knife worked well.  Seal.  Let dry.  Enjoy not marking your furniture.

Examples of patterns

I recommend designs that don't end with the tape in the middle of the coaster because it looks like you honestly forgot to finish extending the tape.  Plus your cuts have to be perfect, and that's quite annoying after awhile.

Coffee-Scented Candle

From the amount of times I use old votives in crafts, you probably getting the correct impression that I'm addicted to candles.  Extra drinks for you.  I had some ones in the new Glade 3oz design which unfortunately can't run through the dishwasher and masquerade as something new.  Curses, looks like I'll have to burn the midnight candle on repurposing those.



Materials - from Henry Happened's French Vanilla Scented Candle
3 oz votive
Soy wax
Wick with holder and glue
Whole coffee beans
Vanilla beans chopped or vanilla scent

To fill these most votivey of votives, I decided that I wanted to perfectly replicate the smell of an easy Sunday morning all day long.  So much easier than trying to fire up the coffee maker, and grind the beans, and wait for the coffee... Makes me want to just eat a hot chocolate on a stick.  Or enjoy coffee porter.

Extras

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm confident the only shot that needs to be served in any situation is chocolate.  Preferably dark.  Just like my coffee.  And beer.  Rounding out a morning you can look forward to as much as the fun experience of the night before are tea bags of assorted teas and some Biscoff cookies. The world's problems can be solved with a simple supplement of these embodiment of goodness each morning.

Putting it All Together

Place items in cup & place in bag with newspaper as support.  Because they've been running around so much before, the recipient probably haven't had a chance to catch up on local news in their or your neighborhood.  Due to how this also is constructed, you can place the kit in box to wrap as well.  In the world of gift bags, it's nice to have something substantial to unwrap.  After assembly, enjoy 1 drink of choice as this gift is as easy as whatever day on which you've finished assembly.

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Avacado Tuna Pockets

One really cool thing about being an adult is that you get to pick out your own lunch.  After about the first 2 months of doing this, one of the really annoying things about being an adult is get to pick out your own lunch.  The ultimate hangup has to be making it every day; it's hard enough to wake up to make it into work at 8... 8:30.... 9.... 9:30.........

That kid so does not appreciate that sandwich.
<http://areyoufast.msn.com/articles/school-lunches-in-a-snap/251228235#fbid=vIbmafk2MfX>

So my grownup sophisticated strategy is to make everything on Sunday and then to keep eating that for the entire week.  So yes it violates the whole "get sick after 2 days" rule; however there is nothing sweeter than dumping preconfigured meals into the lunchbox each morning.

Other times, you're going to have to make lunch during the middle of the week regardless
<http://homebuilding.thefuntimesguide.com/2006/06/longaberger_co.php>

One nice thing is getting to put a spin on classics because we can now employ "grow-up" foodstuffs because our taste buds have "evolved" (aka: have dwindled away) to appreciate a wider range of culinary delights.  These remix a sauce from a Weight Watchers recipe to add a southwestern kick to ordinary tuna.  Also, sandwiches sound so elementary school; the pocket is the new cool kid who has the option to be served cold or warmed.  And bonus! No crusts.

Ingredients
1 can tuna
1/2 avocado, mashed
2 tbsp sour cream
1-2 tbsp diced tomatoes (based on taste
1 tsp lemon juice
dash salt
1 roll crescent roll dough

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients except the crescent roll dough together in a bowl until well combined.  If it seems a bit runny, add more avocado.

This is definitely not part of the plating process

Separate out the dough into triangles and roll out to about it's minimum thickness.  Patch holes in the dough by pinching around the holes and roll together.  Arrange on the baking sheet.  It's ok if they're hanging over the edge or "don't fit" right now as they are not yet in pocket form.  Before arranging on the baking sheet, you can also put down parchment paper.  That helps with sticking.

Letting it all hang out is another story

Spoon a portion (roughly 1/8) of the mixture into the large triangle section of each of the pieces of dough 

More or less evenly distributed.

Now it's time to tuck your tuna away in pockets.  There are a couple different techniques for forming perfect pockets.  one of the easiest ways to form a pocket is to gather all the corners together and pinch along the edges so you end up with something of a point in the center of the pocket.

Don't let it leak!

I found the mixture to be a bit runny so it was a bit harder to keep everything contained.  Pinch along the short edges of the pocket first and then one side of the longer one letting the longer, skinnier wrap around the other edge.  Sometimes it's easier to pinch one of the longer sides to be the same length as the shorter side and then let the extra dough from the skinny tip point drape down the side of the pocket.

Anyway to hold in the goodness works

In the above picture you can see starting from the top clockwise the fold-down technique, the "fold over the log edge like a blanket" techique, and the traditional pinch at the top technique.  Finish all the pocked making and flatten slightly to evenly spread the mixture through the pocket.

Baking is indiscriminate much like placing the pockets

Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until there is some browning on the outer crust of the pocket.  They take longer to cook than the normal crescent rolls, with browning being an indication that you will not have dough as part of the ingredients.

This is a good level of browning.

And plate up and enjoy your more sophisticated lunch!  Jello is still perfectly acceptable for dessert.

Pictured: sandwich, string cheese, and carrot sticks.

Sidebar: I didn't realized the pictures were so blurry, sorry guys!  I promise better ones for the next pocket tutorial or the next time I make these.  Yeesh, phone cameras.
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Pinwheels

With fall comes football season, and with football season comes tailgating, and with tailgating comes decisions.  Such as "beer or liquor" (my group always did both, why limit your inebriation options?), "set up before or after the game" (if it was noon, 4, or 8, you best expect both!) and "maroon or orange" (because come on, there are no other colors)

LOGAN! He falls forward for a gain of 2!  First Down!
<drafthouse.com>

Through the past 5 years I've buckled down on Saturday to go honor the most sacred of holy days in the church of football.  With the honorable Frank Beamer presiding assisted by Bud Foster.

Lunchpail Defense.  Go to work.
<hokiesports.com>

So while there are many things that could be different from Saturday to Saturday, there were always 2 constants: spinach dip and pinwheels.  Both we figure originated from the football gods to be distributed amongst mortals to enjoy while getting ready to discuss the highly technical maneuvers that were laid out before us.

Depicted: Beamerball
<http://blogs.roanoke.com/andybittervirginiatechfootball/category/schedules/page/3/>

So I present to you, tailgate-worthy pinwheels

Ingredients
5 slices of bacon or precrumbled bacon
1 tube of crescent rolls or 1 crescent roll sheet
1 tub of onion and chive cream cheese (I use the 1/3 and you can't tell the difference)
1 cup of cheddar cheese (this is a rough estimate)

If you didn't get precrumbled bacon, BONUS TUTORIAL!  Bacon on the broiler!  Preheat the oven to broil.  Lay out the bacon on a broiler pan.  This allows the bacon grease to run off the bacon into the broiler pan and you'll end up with a lot less fat on the bacon as it cooks.  Bacon is good enough without all the extra fat.

Put in the oven for about 2-3 minutes on each side depending on how crispy you like it.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Roll out the crescent rolls so there are no seams and just to generally make the surface larger.  Make it about 1/8" thick or thinner; enough to be able to support cream cheese.

Spread the entire tub of cream cheese over the surface.  Go up to all the edges except leave a strip on the far end plain.  Contents may shift during the rolling process.

Cover with cheddar cheese. Again we're going for general coverage on this.  I wouldn't create a layer of cheese, but enough that the surface is covered minus that strip up top.

This is usually what I go for.

Cut up the bacon and spread across the cheese.

Now begins the tricky rolling process.   Starting at the side closest to you begin rolling the crescent dough length-wise.  Make sure to patch tears as you go, keeping mildly tight so it's easier to cut but not so tight as you tear the dough.  Be gentle, and don't rush or it'll be a lot harder to cut.

Tears can easily be patched with some dough from the end.

Plus if you rush you could lose toppings.  That bacon is valuable.  Go munch on a piece if it; it'll make you feel better.

After finishing rolling up the dough, it's time to slice.  Going along the tube, slice pieces about 1/2-3/4" thick.  As you cut, roll the dough slightly back and forth.  It will help preserve the shape.  And it's ok if you have to do some reconstructive surgery.  They're going to be just as good in the end regardless of shape.

Explosion!  This one came out ok

Line a baking sheet or 2 with parchment paper (easier cleanup, I see what you did there) and arrange the pinwheels on it with a small space between each.  Put in the oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes.  Check periodically, you want them to come out lightly browned.

Not yet ready, give it about 4 more minutes

Transfer to a cooling sheet and serve warm.  Be ready to be loved by everyone watching the game.

Good luck to your team!  & I'm going to settle into watching the two best teams on the planet: Virginia Tech and whoever's beating UVA this week.


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