Make Your Own Disney Holiday Wreath

  

                                    

This time of year is my favorite. It is the season for decorations. Halloween, Thanksgiving and christmas. I love to decorate. I love to get into the spirit of the holidays and make my home come alive each year.

I love shopping on Etsy and looking for inspiration on Pinterest as well. A few weeks ago, I was in one of my pinning fits, having a blast pinning away on one of my pinterest profiles, when I saw the most awesome holiday wreaths that are being sold on etsy for hundreds of dollars, and I thought to myself 'hey I can do that, I have a lot of beanie toys and disney toys that I can use to do this!' I mean- why have just one holiday wreath when you can have one for each of your favorite holidays!

So I went into the garage to find my collection of beanie toys that I stashed, I soon found all sorts of holiday beanies to put together with wreaths. 

Just search Disney Wreath for yourself on Pinterest, and you will be amazed at the beautiful wreaths that they have put together.

And while I know that the prices of the Disney Wreaths are worth it, I still find that I can make them myself at a fraction of the cost, with the things I have on hand.

I found a wreath frame at a craft store for $6, I then found a few fall garlands.

                    

I had the pilgrim disney beanies from my vacation to disney world a few years back, and a turkey beanie that was hidden in storage.

                          

                     

By just wrapping a few garlands around the frame, and attaching the dolls with orange ribbon to the frame, you get a custom, festive wreath that looks very expensive, and that you bought it at a department store or Disneyland.
 

                                        

I made one for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I plan to make more for other holidays, but for now these are perfect.

                           

I've had my Christmas wreath for many years, and just by attaching some holiday beanies, I've made it look new! And it really shows my disney spirit! I just attached the dolls by tying them on the wreath with some string, and voila! A custom disney wreath! 

    

                             

                                

So recycle those old beanies and stuffed animals into something festive and new for the holidays, and it may help you save hundreds of dollars on holiday decorations!

What have you recycled for the holidays!

Happy Halloween!

Here at Savvy in the Kitchen, I would like to wish you and your family a happy, healthy, and safe Halloween!

Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate

Well Halloween is two days and things are in full swing here at our house. The kids will be hogwarts students and we will be doing our annual tradition of eating Halloween goodies, watching Halloween specials on T.V. And handing  out candy to the neighborhood kids.

I whipped up a special Halloween drink that my kids went crazy for. It's so warm and chocolaty. It is made with white chocolate and pumpkin flavored 

Coffee creamer. I livened it up with some Halloween food colors and sprinkles to add more fun. My son told me I have to make this drink every Halloween, but I think it can be made anytime of year.  It is sure to be a hit with kids of all ages. 

Pumpkin white hot chocolate  

Ingredients

4 cups of milk 

4 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice flavored coffee creamer

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 oz. white chocolate chips

whipped cream for topping

Combine milk, white chocolate chips and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat. Add flavored coffee creamer and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until the white hot chocolate comes to a simmer, chocolate is melted and is warmed through. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

For garnish add whipped cream, sprinkles, and a licorice stick.

I added a few drops of green and orange food coloring in mug to add Halloween effect.

Harry Potter Pretzel Cheese Brooms

My kids love anything to do with Harry Potter!

They love talking about the movies, the theme park, costumes, the food. So when I saw this idea on Pinterest, posted by many others. I just had to try it myself, knowing my kids would get a kick out of it.

My daughter propped up the brooms. She said it would look cool this way, and I think she is right!

So simple, just take some pretzel sticks, a slice of cheese and a scallion onion sliced very thin length wise. 

Begin by slicing the cheese slice into thirds. Make little slits into cheese to form the bristles, do not cut all the way through, just half way up the cheese. (You get what I mean;)

Wrap bristles around base of pretzel stick and tie with piece of sliced onion.

And that's it! I love this as snacks for well...ANYONE! And it is perfect for a Halloween party appetizers.

My kids loved the flavor and did not mind the onion at all, they actually loved it!

Tell me what you think? 

Avocado Egg Salad Open Faced Sandwiches

I have to say that I love avocados , I love them in everything! And since summer has come to an end even though here in L.A. It still feels very much like summer, I feel like some avocado egg salad open faced sandwiches for lunch. I have some of these small sliced baguette rounds, and so I wanted to show you how they would look as finger food, as well as a spooky  lunch to commemorate the upcoming spooky filled day we call Halloween.

These make about four open faced sandwiches and about twenty small baguette rounds.

5 boiled eggs

2 avocados, flesh removed and diced

1 heaping tablespoon mayonnaise 

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped scallion 

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce like franks (optional)

A pinch of ground pepper 

A dash of salt

Slice boiled eggs and place in a medium sized bowl. Add diced avocados, mayonnaise, scallion, hot sauce, salt and pepper and smash together using a fork or my tool of choice, a potato masher. Mix together well and place on top of a slice of bread. I made a little spider from a black olive and I think I will name him LEG-olas!

More Halloween goodies to come!

Yummy Pumpkin Sausage Pancakes

Yay! Pumpkin season is here! I will be making all kinds of goodies and snacks

That involve Halloween and pumpkins.

I love Halloween. It is I feel my favorite holiday, because it is all about fun, food and dressing up!

I have always wanted to try making pumpkin pancakes and today I thought I might add sausage in the pancake as it cooks. It gave the pancake such a yummy goodness that my kids could not stop eating!

I can't wait for Halloween to get here. The eating, trick-or-treating, the costumes, It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown!

So here is a great pancake recipe to kick off the month of fun! 

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons pumpkin spice mix

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 links breakfast sausage

Begin by chopping up sausage links and cook in a pan on medium-high heat until

Browned, then remove from heat, drain fat and set sausage bits aside. In a large bowl combine flour,sugars, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice and mix until well combined. In a separate bowl add eggs, pumpkin purée, vanilla extract, and milk, mix well then add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

heat a skillet over medium heat. I cook in batches, by pouring batter by 1/3 cupfuls into skillet. I then place four or five bits of cooked sausage on surface of batter in skillet.  Cook until you see bubbles form on surface of pancakes and bottoms are browned. this takes about  1 minutes per side.

These pancakes were a hit with the family! The sausage gave the pancakes a salty-sweet flavor!