Holidays – Page 2 – The Creative Salad

Passover Matzah Treats

While our family may avoid unleavened bread and thereby celebrate Passover essentially every day of the year (being gluten-free and all), I do appreciate the deliciousness of matzah during Passover and miss eating it.

(Yes, I know that you can now buy gluten-free matzah! Unfortunately it contains potato starch, a big no-no for this family thanks to my husband and daughter’s pesky nightshade allergies.)

If I could eat matzah, here’s what I would be making for our family this week:

Featured above:
1. Apple-Matzah Kugel (pin/source)
2. Matzah S’mores (pin/source)
3. Matzah Almond Brittle (pin/source)
4. Chocolate-Covered Matzah Two Ways: with Candied Kumquats and Toasted Coconut (pin/source)
5. Chocolate-Covered Caramelized Matzah Crunch (as David Lebovitz says, “Whatever holiday you celebrate, you need to make this recipe – it’s amazing.”) (pin/source)
6. Chocolate, Nut, and Dried Fruit Covered Matzah (pin/source)

Please indulge in at least one of these treats for me, okay?

View these and more Passover recipes on my Spring Holiday Inspiration and Sweet Treats Recipes to Try Pinterest boards.

(images obtained via Pinterest)

Happy New Year

2012 is here. Out with the old, in with the new…

January has arrived… and so we took down our beautiful Christmas tree,

packed away our handmade ornaments,

and said goodbye to 2011.

(Oh, how glad I was to reclaim those 25 square feet of the living room that the tree had occupied. Don’t Christmas trees always look so much smaller outside than they turn out to be once they enter your house?!)

May you and your family have a wonderful 2012! We’re so glad you’re here, following along with our blog, and joining us for the ride!

The Dollhouse Gift on Christmas Morning

We’re restoring a family heirloom, the dollhouse made for my husband’s grandmother when she was a little girl. Click here to see all the posts about our Dollhouse Redux Project.

After a frantic painting marathon late last week, we placed the dollhouse under the tree…

It’s furnishings were opened with glee…

and our new (multicultural!) dollhouse family has moved in!

(Yes, all before sunrise.)

It was a hit.

After seeing her play with the dollhouse for hours today, I’m entertaining fantasies of her waking up tomorrow morning and going to play with the dollhouse on her own, giving us a few additional hours of sleep. Wow, does that sound good. If only…

Hanukkah and Christmas Projects from Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts Book

I’ve written before about my love of Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts: 225 Inspired Projects for Year-Round Celebrations, featuring the best holiday craft projects from past issues of Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

Now it’s time for a roundup of my favorite Hanukkah and Christmas crafts from the book, with links to the instructions for each of the crafts on the Martha Stewart Living website.

Here are the Hanukkah and Christmas projects that I’m most excited to try from the book:

Glittered Dreidels – transform plain wooden dreidels into glittery Hanukkah decorations. Use them to adorn presents, garlands, or create dramatic centerpieces by filling a glass jar or hurricane with a variety in a number of different sizes. (link)

Kids’ Glittered Menorah – a fun menorah making project involving a piece of wood, metal nuts, glitter and glue. (We’re in the process of making a similar one using wooden spools instead of the metal nuts.) (link)

Paper Evergreens made from graduated paper circles, gently folded, and adhered to wooden skewers with hot glue. (link)

Embellished Tags use natural materials to dress up ordinary paper solid-colored tags — LOVE LOVE LOVE! (link)

Enjoy these crafts ideas? Peruse the craft section of Martha Stewart website for more ideas or pick up your own copy of Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts today!

Hanukkah Crafts and Activities

We’ve been getting ready for Hanukkah that begins tonight at sundown. Earlier in the month we shared some Hanukkah themed crafts we found on Pinterest. Here are some other fun crafts and activities we’ve been enjoying at our house.