Thanksgiving Placemats for Children: Tutorial

I've been posting a lot of food recipes on here, but I also promised some craft and DIY projects too and I've been skimping on that promise.
Sorry.

As it is, I'm a Pinterest addict. Seriously. Ask my husband or any of my friends.
But last year, I posted a little project I did with my daughter and her friend (whom I was watching at the time) and I've had a really good response to it.
So, I thought that I would spread the holiday cheer to you as well, and also for those who follow me on Pinterest, a little bitty instructional on how to do the actual project.

By the way, you can follow me on Pinterest here!

Anyway, back to the tutorial.
This was crazy simple to do, especially since I was doing it with a 10-month old and a 1-year old.
Other than a little prep (unless you want to try to wrangle kids and write at the same time, which I don't recommend), this really takes no time at all. Just a lot of patience.

Please excuse my terrible handwriting.

First off, you're going to need some supplies!

• Card Stock - I used patterned card stock for scrapbooking
• Washable paints
• Paintbrush
• Marker
• Pencil
• Egg carton (cut in half_
• Lots of patience and wipes

Now comes the prep! I did a lot of my prep work during nap time, but whenever you can find the time to do yours, do it!
Using a black marker, I wrote out the poem "You've Made A Difference" by Joanna Fuchs (which you can find a copy of it here. You can add your child's name like I did along with the "First Thanksgiving" and their age, if you want.
Then, using a pencil, I freehanded the outline of a tree. With my tree, I made a few branches and stuff, but I didn't worry too much about details because your kiddos are going to go crazy around the edges of the branches so they'll be pretty well hidden.
Once satisfied with the tree, I used a brown paint to paint within the lines of my tree.

Then the waiting time. Depending on the time of the year at your home, this can take anywhere from a few hours to dry to overnight.

Here's the fun part!
Aprons, bibs, being naked - whatever works to minimize the damage of getting paint everywhere, go for it. I also found it a lot easier to do each kiddo one at a time and have them sit in my lap so I could control how much of a mess we made.
With my daughter and her friend, I cut an egg carton in half and filled each place with a different color paint. Green, Brown, Red, Yellow, and Orange. Then I let them go crazy by dipping their fingers into the paint and with some careful instruction, had them dot like crazy all over the tree branches. They seriously had a blast with that.
Whether your tree comes out looking like something from Charlie Brown or something out of a Life photo-shoot, it doesn't really matter.

Lastly came the frustrating part (at least for the kiddos). After cleaning off their hands, I painted the palm and thumb of their hand with the brown paint (make sure to wash your paintbrush each time you switch colors!). Then their pointer finger with green, middle with yellow, ring finger with orange, and lastly, their pinky with red. You can do whatever color combination you like too!
Then it's time to press their hand onto the paper!
You might have to help a bit here by making sure their palm and all of their fingers touch the paper to transfer the paint.
As you can see in the picture, my daughter wanted to wiggle her fingers a bit. That's fine too!

With that, you're pretty much done! Make sure to wash your kiddo's hands and repeat for any remaining kids, and clean up your mess!
Once all the paint was dry, I used a marker to draw in the turkey's legs and eye, as well as his waddle.

You can choose to laminate your pretty little placemat or leave it as is - card stock holds up pretty well as long as you don't get it wet.

And that's it for the Thanksgiving placemat tutorial!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Placemat

Supplies:

• Card Stock - I used patterned card stock for scrapbooking
• Washable paints
• Paintbrush
• Marker
• Pencil
• Egg carton (cut in half_
• Lots of patience and wipes

Instructions:

1. Write out poem "You've Made A Difference" by Joanna Fuchs (or any other fitting poem)
2. Write our child's name, age, and "(First) Thanksgiving (year)". (Optional)
3. Draw out a tree using a pencil and paint within the lines. Allow to dry.
4. Using an egg carton, or any other method of holding paint, allow children to finger paint the leaves on the tree using green, brown, yellow, orange, and red.
5. Wash hands
6. Paint child's palm and thumb with brown paint, then painting the remaining fingers with the remaining colors.
7. Press child's hand onto paper, ensuring that the paint is spread evenly on paper.
8. Wash hands and allow to dry.
9. Draw in legs, eye, and waddle on handprint turkey.
10. Laminate. (Optional)

A little bit of Southern charm: Beignets

Cinnamon rolls on Sunday mornings has become tradition in our house. And usually, I cop out by just buying mine pre-made from the grocery store and all I have to do is pop them in the oven, then BAM! Instant happiness for my family.

Unfortunately, when I went to the grocery store this week - I forgot to buy the beloved cinnamon rolls (I blame pregnancy brain), and thus, I'm given horrified stares the night before.

It's not that I have a problem with making cinnamon rolls from scratch - I actually prefer them that way.

It's the fact that i refuse to wake up at 5am to have them ready for breakfast.

Maybe later in the pregnancy when my insomnia kicks in, but not at this point - no siree.

So while contemplating a good substitute (and believe me, I have a plethora of cinnamon roll substitutes), I decided to browse Pinterest this morning while watching cartoons with my daughter. And low and behold, I came across a Southern classic that I have yet to grace my family with.

Beignets.

Deep-fried, sugar-covered, French donuts.

They're better than donuts in my opinion, especially when I saturate them with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. Oh. My. Gosh.

Now don't get me wrong here, I am not a fan of any kind of deep-fried food. 

I know, I know. You gasp and wail in the shame of the Southerner that I am - believe me, my husband does. But I have never been one for the greasy, deep-fried stuff that my American counterparts seem to love.

I blame it on my mom who raised me as a health-nut.

I was even a vegetarian when I worked at a summer camp on a ranch. Don't even ask how I managed that.

But. I love these.

Back to the beignets.

I found these babies on Pinterest (I actually have a Lousisana/French cuisine cookbook with the same recipe, but I was too lazy to dig it out), so props go to Chocolate, Chocolate and More.

Let me tell you, beignets sound scary, but they're super easy to make.

Yes, they have to rise like every other yeast-based dough, but it's a one-hour rise time and then it's straight to cooking and they cook up crazy fast.

Also, you can tweak the recipe as needed and they stay pretty much the same.

So without further ado,

Buttermilk Beignets

(Adapted from Chocolate, Chocolate and More's recipe for Buttermilk Beignets)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 packages active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 4-5 cups bread flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• Oil for frying
• Powdered sugar

Directions

1. Heat milk in a small saucepan until just warm. Remove from heat. In a large mixing bowl, combine buttermilk, yeast, sugar, and milk. Stir to combine. Let the mixture rest for about five minutes or until the yeast mixture begins to foam. 
2. Add in 4 cups of bread flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. With a dough hook, mix on low until all the ingredients are combined (about 3-5 minutes). Switch speed to medium and knead the mixture until the dough begins to pull away from the sides. Add bread flour by 1/4 cup as needed. The dough should still be sticky.
3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for an hour.
4. In a fryer or large pan, pour in about 3 inches of oil and preheat oil to 375 degrees over medium heat. Line a draining rack or plate with paper towels and set to the side.
5. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and roll out dough into a square and then fold it over itself a few times. Roll it out again to about 1/2 inch thickness. Folding the dough will help create air pockets and make the beignets fluffy.
6. Cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch squares (I never measure my squares, but I like them about the size of my palm). Gentle stretch your squares and then drop them into the hot oil.
7. Let fry for about a minute on each side until golden brown, then remove them to a plate and sprinkle generously with powdered sugar.
8. Repeat with remaining squares and enjoy!

If you like this recipe, feel free to check out some more of my recipes!

Photos taken with iPhone4 and edited with iPhoto.
All images owned by Butcher, Baker, and the Homemaker.