Dala Horses

This past week I have been working on making felt dala horse ornaments. I absolutely LOVE how they turned out. I made 20, each hand stitched by me :) Although a bit time consuming they are super easy to make. I copied a picture of a dala horse off the interweb and traced it onto red felt (40 times for 20 horses). I then stitched a design on each side of the horse, and whip stitched them together. I didn't have any cotton or fluff to fill them with, so I just used the scrap felt and it worked just fine. I still need to add some string to the top so that I can hang them on our Christmas tree (that we don't have yet, but making ornaments seems like a step in the right direction to getting a tree).

 Ah I love them so much. Ben and I have been playing with them since I have finished them. We stack them, put them in funny places, organize them, and generally just look at them and smile. The other night when I was brushing my teeth, I came back into the bedroom to see on my my little horse friends lying on my pillow! Ben also suggested that I make hats and scarfs for them....we'll see about that.

Here are some more pictures, just because they are so cute.

And here is the only picture with all of them. Pile of ponies!!

Pomegranate Chocolates

One of my favorite things about winter is pomegranates. I absolutely love eating them. As my family can attest I often peal a whole pomegranate and eat the seeds out of a bowl with a spoon :) I also love cooking with them. Pomegranate seeds are delicious on salads, or topped on chicken or fish- but really my favorite thing to make with pomegranate seeds is pomegranate chocolates.

This creation came about several years ago when my brother and I were making chocolate raspberries for christmas. After we had finished making all the chocolate raspberries we still had melted chocolate left over, so we did what normal people do and started scrounging through the kitchen to find more things to cover with chocolate. 

We came upon a bowl of pomegranate seeds, and thus pomegranate chocolates were created.  They really couldn't be easier to make and oh so delicious. All  you need are some little baking cups (smaller than the mini cupcake size), a bowl full of pomegranate seeds, and your favorite chocolate for melting. 

Fill the bottom of the baking cups with pomegranate seeds. I usually do this on a baking sheet so that I can easily place the in the fridge to cool. Next melt your chocolate (I always use dark, but use whatever kind of chocolate you like) in a double boiler- or like I do in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water. Once the chocolate is melted, using a teaspoon, spoon chocolate over the pomegranate seeds so that they are covered. Once finished covering the seeds, place one pomegranate seed on top. And that is it. 

A simple, delicious, and refreshing christmas treat. Now the hard part is to not eat them all before giving them to friends, family, and coworkers as gifts :)