Valentine's Gift Guide: For Him

Other titles for this post: Valentine's Gift Guide: For the Hardest Person on Earth to Shop For!

I don't know about you guys, but I think it is so hard to shop for guys. It's not that my husband is super picky, I just feel like there aren't as many options/variety for guys as girls. I feel like the gifts I get for my husband fall into three categories: electronics, alcohol (he's a beer and whiskey lover), or clothes. And none of those options provide endless opportunity for something new and unique. Most guys (husband included) are t-shirts and jeans or sweater and jeans kind of guys, and you can only have so many of those items in your closet, right? Beer and whiskey can be fun, but I feel bad getting the same thing over and over and over again. And electronics, well - let's just say we have a fancy TV, an Xbox, a Wii, new cell phones, etc. Plus they can be expensive so you tend to want to save those types of gifts for big events (i.e. Christmas and Birthdays).

Anyways, all that being said, here are a few ideas for you to show that special guy in your life how much you love him!

This watch! - My husband loves watches. I feel like he has a mini-collection going. While he definitely does not need another one at this point in time, a watch is always a great gift for your guy! I love this all grey suede watch and for only $70, that's a great price!

Adidas Tennis Shoes - Guys and shoes. SOmetimes I think guys are even more shoe-obsessed then women are. I can guarantee that my husband has more shoes in the closet than I do right now, but I love these adidas tennis shoes and I think husband would too!

Shaving Kit - I kind of like how there are becoming more and more products for guys to use these days. While most guys probably aren't very likely to go out and purchase some fancy schmanzy shaving kit on their own, I would bet, they sure would like receiving one! Another great option is Birch Box for Men. It lets them try out different products and see which ones they like the most! I acutally gifted this to my husband last year and he loved it!

Jammies!  - I mentioned in my gift guide for her post, that we don't usually make a big deal out of Valentine's Day and it's true. I think a simple movie night in at home with some snacks and maybe a new pair of comfy jammies or lounging pants would be perfect for Valentine's Day! If your guys a dog lover like Kevin is, these are the perfect men's jammies for him!

Cookies - Is there anything better than homemade goodies? I think not! And if your guy is as big a fan of cookies as my husband is. These cookies would be a great way to show how much  you love him!

Movie Date Night - I mentioned above about a night in with some comfy jams. Target has these Movie Night Kits that you could jazz up with your favorite bottle of wine or your guys favorite beer, a Netflix (or Redbox) flick and maybe some pizza and you've got the perfect Valentine's Date Night In.

Happy shopping!

Valentine's Gift Guide: For Her

valentine's day is just around the corner and i thought it would be fun to put together a little gift guide! husband and i don't typically get to crazy with the valentine's day gifts, but i know some people do, so i thought it'd be fun to put together a little gift guide. and if my husband happens to read this and gets an idea or two from it...even better! ha!

new balances  - i have been searching for a pair of tennis shoes that i can wear to work on my "not so great / i don't want to get dressed days." some days just call for a t-shirt (or hoody in this winter weather we have here in the 'kane) and tennis shoes and these are ADORABLE! and any shoe under $100 in my book is a steal.

pineapple pencil holder - if you're anything like me, you spend a lot of time day dreaming and searching pinterest for what your dream house will look like one day. well my dream house includes my dream office where i can sit and blog and drink coffee (or wine) and do so without being interrupted by my adorable toddler. this pineapple pencil holder needs to sit on my imaginary desk, in my imaginary office, in my imaginary dream home. ;0p

red j-crew vest  - love this. if i hadn't just bought a blue vest, i would definitely snatch this up!

paddywax french apothecary candle - speaking of uninterrupted alone time, these candles would be awesome, while i'm enjoying a glass of wine, in a bubble bath without said toddler popping in to see what mommy is doing. ladies we can dream, we can always dream!

melinda marie small feather necklace - when lincoln finally figured out that he could yank the necklaces off my neck, he did so. with every single piece of jewelry i own. needless to say, i have a pile of broken necklaces and would love to replenish them. now if i can only figure out how to keep them from being ripped off my neck, i might  actually get around to purchasing one. but just because i can't have one, doesn't mean you shouldn't buy that special someone in your life one!

last but not least....flowers! trader joes has beautiful bouquets for crazy cheap! ($3.99-$9.99). Who doesn't love getting flowers on valentine's day! pick some up with a card, bottle of wine and a bar of chocolate and you've got yourself a date!

Christmas Crack: AKA Easy Holiday Gift Ideas!

anybody out there need an easy last minute holiday gift idea for their friends, co-workers, holiday party gifts?? boy, do i have you covered!

let me introduce you to my newest holiday friend, christmas crack. and boy does it deserve it's name. this stuff is so addicting, you pretty much have to give it away as christmas gifts, or you will easily eat an entire batch in one sitting. no joke! i found the recipe from Gaby at What's Gaby Cooking, another fun food blog that i follow fairly regularly. she did not let me down with this recipe.

then i got to decorating! i've mentioned before my love for dressing up jars with pretty christmas decorations from Michael's. it's a super easy way to make your holiday gifts look GREAT! it also makes me look super crafty (when really i'm not! hehe).

and...i'll let you in on a little secret. if you are a christmas procrastinator like i am, it will actually serve you well when it comes to michael's christmas decorations. i ran there this weekend, and everything was 70% off! every single item i bought did not cost more than $0.89. winning!

if you want some more easy christmas holiday gift ideas, that are a little more adult-friendly (aka boozy), check out my past holiday gift ideas here and here!

Christmas Crack

From What's Gaby Cooking

3 cups Cheerios
3 cups Rice Chex
3 cups Wheat Chex
1 cups Pretzel Sticks
2-3 cups m&m’s
24 oz White Chocolate (plus an extra 4-8 oz if needed)

In a large bowl, combine the Cheerios, Chex, Pretzels and m&m’s. Mix them up a bit, making sure that everything is evenly distributed.
Meanwhile, over a double boiler, melt the white chocolate according to the directions on the package.
Once the chocolate has melted and is a smooth consistency, drizzle the chocolate over the cereal mix and combine with a wooden spoon. Make sure all the cereal is covered in chocolate. If you need to melt the extra white chocolate to cover all the mix then go right on ahead!
Once the entire batch has been combined, lay it out to dry on a large sheet of parchment or wax paper. Let dry for 4 hours so the chocolate is cooled and hard. Break it into pieces and store in zip top bags or package it up into jars to give out as gifts.

Make Your Own Wine!

remember way back here...when i mentioned that husband and i were making our own wine? well, we finally went back to bottle it this past week!

we went back to tigard wine crafters to bottle up our merlot we made back in july and it was so much fun. making your wine is a two step process (well probably a lot more than two steps, but you partake in two main steps).

on your first trip, you'll taste test a variety of wines and choose which one you want to make. when we went, she had three reds: a merlot, a cabernet and a blackberry merlot (we chose red but there's also white!) for us to taste and decide which one we wanted to make. we chose the merlot. we mixed everything together and she sent us on our way with instructions to design our very own label and come back in about 8 weeks. this allows the wine time to ferment and turn from essentially grape juice into wine.

this past wednesday, after returning from our mini anniversary moon  we headed back down to tigard wine crafters to bottle, cork, label and take our wine home! the wine continues to age in the bottles for the next 6-8 months and then it's ready to drink! we thought these would make great christmas presents for some of our friends and family back home, but i also think they'd be great as wedding favors or party favors too!

we chose to label our wine with the number "one" in honor of our one year wedding anniversary. inside the number one is the word "one" in as many different languages as we could think of....

if you're in the portland area, i highly recommend hitting up tigard wine crafters to make your very own wine! rumor has it there might be a living social deal for this sometime in november ;0)

Mini Strawberry Crisps

So I bought some mini ramekins from Williams Sonoma over the weekend. 

And I could not wait to put them to work!

Which, luckily for you, means I have the perfect Mother's Day dessert idea for you for this coming weekend!

Oh, and since husband (aka professional taste-tester) is home now, I'm back in the kitchen, 

cooking up a storm!

Now, to get to the good stuff...

Mini Strawberry Crisps! 

These are so easy to make and so delicious and refreshing that they are the perfect treat to "treat" your mom to for Mother's Day.

And since they're "mini" and filled with fruit...technically they're good for you, right?

That's my story and I'm stickin to it ;0)

Happy Monday folks!

Mini Strawberry Crisps

Makes 8 mini strawberry crisps using ramekins

1/2 c oats
1/2 c flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c butter
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 c thinly sliced fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together oatmeal, flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter or margarine until crumbly.

In another bowl, mix strawberries and white sugar together.

Line up your ramekins and spread half the crumb mixture on bottom of each ramekin.
Cover with strawberries and spread remaining crumb mixture over top.

Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes.

Serve warm or cold with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt. 

Enjoy!

Homemade Baileys Holiday Gift Idea

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!! We sure did. We went back to Spokane to visit family and friends and enjoyed a White Christmas (which was so nice since it doesn't really snow here in Portland). 

One of the best things about Christmas is of course all of the holiday goodies, but I especially like giving homemade gifts for the holidays. Last year it was homemade Cranberry Lime Infused Vodka and this year Homemade Baileys! The Baileys was definitely a hit between friends at home and my co-workers and you can be sure this is one recipe that will become a staple around the holidays for me. 

 The best part about this gift is that it is soooo easy to make. Finish it off with some easy holiday decorations from your local craft store and woila! 

I know it's probably too late for a Christmas gift, but New Year's is just around the corner, and if you have a New Year's Party to attend...this would make the PERFECT HOSTESS GIFT!!! (hint hint)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Homemade Baileys

1 3/4 c Jameson Irish Whiskey
1 c Whipping Cream
14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tblsp hershey's chocolate syrup
1 tblsp instant coffee
1 tsp vanilla 

Are you ready for the super difficult instructions...ok. Here it goes. Pour all of the ingredients into your blender and blend for 30 seconds and you're done! Yup. That simple. 

Boozy Holiday Gift Ideas

The holidays tend to be rather gluttonous around my house. There’s always lots of food, lots of drinks and lots of festive cheer! But in between Thanksgiving, Holiday Lights Shows, My nieces Christmas program, holiday shopping, parties and Christmas (wooooo, I’m exhausted just thinking back to all of that)…we found the time to create these fun and festive holiday infused vodka recipes that we gave away to friends as Christmas gifts!

We took cranberries and limes and pomegranate seeds and infused our favorite vodka with the fruit to make a tasty and decorative holiday treat. The best part about this was that it was not only super easy, but also really inexpensive. Don’t like cranberries, limes or pomegranates? This recipe could be easily adaptable using any of your favorite fruits.

Cranberry Lime Infused Vodka

12 Empty Bottles or Jars
2-3 Fifths of Vodka

Cranberries

Limes

Sugar

Make sure your bottles have been rinsed and dried. Put the cranberries and lime peels into the bottles (or the fruit of your choice). We also did a pomegranate version. Using a funnel pour vodka into the bottles until it's about an inch from being full. Add about 1 tablespoon of sugar to each bottle to help sweeten the flavor.

Seal the bottles and let sit anywhere from 2 weeks to several months.

These make great gifts year round!