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Instant Hot Cocoa Mix Recipe

December 2, 2016 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

‘Tis the season!  It’s time for hot cocoa, peppermint sticks – and lots of holiday treats!

My kids LOVE hot cocoa.  We make it a lot during the winter – and they are used to good, old fashioned, homemade hot cocoa.  I decided to start experimenting with a hot cocoa mix this year so that we could have something that was super easy to make on the fly, as well as something we could package up and use as gifts for the holiday season.

So this is a recipe for a dry mix – and it is doubled, so it makes a huge batch.  We have been able to use it for after school snacks as well as have enough to make substantial amounts of holiday gifts!

In another post, I will show the labels and 8×10 sign that you can print or buy to set up your own warm beverage bar.

Ingredient for the dry mix:

  • 10 cups of dry milk
  • 1¾ cups of coffee creamer
  • 1¾ cups of cocoa
  • 7 cups of powdered sugar (or your favorite natural sugar substitute, like Stevia)

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  1. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients with a whisk or fork until all are mixed together. Make sure to store this in an air-tight container, or divide into batches for gifts.  This can be used for up to 8 months.

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To make a cup of cocoa, carefully whisk 1 cup of very hot water with 1/3 cup of the hot cocoa mix – serve hot with your favorite hot cocoa toppings like marsh mallows or whipped cream.  You could also add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla to your cup of cocoa for a burst of extra flavor.
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You can also use toppings like peppermint sticks and chocolate chips – so many options – what are your favorite toppings for hot cocoa?  Do you usually use an instant mix, or do you opt for homemade hot cocoa?

To see the free “Hot Beverage Station” printables that go with this recipe, read on!

Hot Beverage Station Printables & Instant Hot Cocoa Recipe

Filed Under: Blog Post, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Featured Recipes, Graphic Design, Holidays, Recipes, Uncategorized, Zazzle Tagged With: free downloads, Holiday DIY

Free download Friday – Hot Beverage Bar with Printables!

November 27, 2016 by TheChoiceUmbrella 8 Comments

Happy Holidays!  I can’t believe that the 2016 holiday season has already arrived and I hope that this post finds you all doing well!

I am kicking off this season with another round of “Free Download Fridays” – and the first one is a set of printables for a hot beverage station.  This year, along with the printables, I am also sharing links to where you can purchase the printables rather than printing them yourself.  I know that things can get tricky when dealing with printer settings, or just having to purchase certain papers when you do not have them at the ready.

This set includes:

  • an 8×10 “Baby it’s Cold Outside Print”
  • 2″ circular hot cocoa mix labels
  • 3″ circular hot cocoa mix labels

The 8×10 print is a white graphic over a chalkboard background, and looks great in a white frame.

Hot Beverage Station Printables & Instant Hot Cocoa Recipe

 

These glass canisters (as well as the red mugs) were found at my local Dollar Tree!   I love the finds at the Dollar Store during the holidays!  I used the pre-printed labels for these, but you can print your own if you would like.  These are the 3 inch labels, but you can also print the 2 inch files for uses on other types of containers.  You can see here that I used an upright jar as well – and this would work with the 2 inch OR 3 inch labels.

Hot Beverage Station Printables & Instant Hot Cocoa Recipe

Upright mason jar:

Hot Beverage Station Printables & Instant Hot Cocoa Recipe

The Fiskars circle cutters are great punches for circular labels – you can use the 2-inch cutter on the 2 inch labels, or the XXL much to create a much larger label.  (3.5 inch)

Hot Beverage Station Printables & Instant Hot Cocoa Recipe

Order the 3″ labels here – super easy and I was very happy with the print job!
Hot Beverage Station Printables & Instant Hot Cocoa Recipe

DOWNLOADS:

Baby It's Cold Outside!

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I would love to hear how you set up your hot beverage bar this holiday season – you can tag #thechoiceumbrella in your posts!  you can see the entire set of pieces here:

zazzle-header_holidays-2016

 

Filed Under: Blog Post, coffee mugs, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Featured Posts, Graphic Design, Holidays, Uncategorized, Zazzle

FREE Download Friday, week 5 – printable holiday gift tags!

December 11, 2015 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

I cannot believe that it’s almost the middle of December!  I hope that all of you are enjoying the season – I know how busy it tends to be.  I have to say that I have gotten a lot done around here by using this blog as a reason to complete projects!  If you haven’t seen the first 4 weeks of the DIY downloads, you can check them out on the DIY page.

This week the free printables are pretty straight forward!  Gift tags!  Choose your favorite card stock and print as many as you’d like!  They have completed a lot of pretty packages around here. Personal use only, please.  🙂

I hope you enjoy these and I would love to see how you’re using them in your holiday gift wrapping!

all tags for blog
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Filed Under: Blog Post, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Graphic Design, Holidays, Uncategorized

Free Download Friday, WEEK 4: December Calendar, Holiday Gift List and Letter to Santa!

December 4, 2015 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

It’s December!  We are in full-blown holiday mode!!!  Today’s downloads include a few pages to help with planning for the month of December.

Printable Calendar for the month of December:  Personal use only, please.December Calendar

 

 

Letter to Santa: Personal use only, please.

letter to Santa

 

Holiday Gift Giving Checklist: Personal use only, please.

Christmas gift list for blog

 

My kids have really enjoyed filling out their letters to Santa – if you have friends who might enjoy these as well, please make sure to share with them!

Filed Under: Blog Post, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Graphic Design, Holidays, Uncategorized Tagged With: christmas downloads, free printables

Espresso-Stained Wooden Crate – for gifts this holiday season!

December 2, 2015 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

If you’ve been following along with all of the free downloads and DIY projects this month, it’s time to start thinking of ways to combine all of the gifts to give!

I found these wooden crates for $6 at Michael’s Arts and Crafts last week and used the 50% off coupon – The great thing about this crate in particular is that the jars and bottles that I’ve used for all of these DIY projects along the way will fit inside of it.

The crate was a little light in color though, so I knew that I wanted to either paint it or stain it – but I wanted to use something natural to go along with the theme of the rest of the gifts.  I remember seeing someone on TV last year – I think it was Tori Spelling – use coffee grounds to stain wood, so I decided to do something along those same lines because I knew that coffee would add a rich color and probably be pretty easy!

I found some instant espresso powder for a few bucks at my local grocery store and was pretty excited about it, because all you have to do is add it to hot water and let it dissolve.

It has really done the trick – and very quickly, I might add!

 

Here are the supplies needed:

Wooden Crate or box of choice
Espresso Powder
Paintbrush
Hot water

espresso 1I used 2 heaping tablespoons of the instant espresso in a mug of hot water.

espresso 2

Then I painted the crate, 2-3 coats.

espresso 3

This is after 1 coat of espresso…

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After 2 coats – ready to be filled with all of the other goodies that I have been working on!  I love it!

Next week, I will show everything assembled in the crate and ready to gift to teachers, friends and family members!

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Filed Under: Blog Post, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Holidays, Uncategorized

Fresh Cranberry Relish

December 1, 2015 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

cranberry-relish-pinterest

Fresh Cranberry Relish in just a few steps!

I know that this is posted after Thanksgiving, which is typically when we prepare cranberry relish, but I have noticed a few places that have cranberries on sale this week and since everyone has leftovers, might as well make some more!

This is super easy, you just need 3 ingredients and a processor or blender of some sort.

Fresh Cranberry Relish Ingredients:
1 bag of fresh cranberries
1-2 medium to large navel oranges
table sugar or honey, whichever you prefer to sweeten with

Rinse and drain the cranberries:
creanberry relish 1
Place in processor and squeeze the juice of 1 -2 fresh oranges over the cranberries – you can also use the zest of an orange to add texture and more vibrant citrus taste:
creanberry relish 2Add 2 tablespoons of your sweetener of choice – (honey or sugar):
creanberry relish 3
Taste frequently – you might need to add more orange juice or sweetener!  Pour into serving bowl and chill.
creanberry relish 5

This is such a great addition to a turkey dinner!  Enjoy!creanberry relish 4

Filed Under: Blog Post, Featured Recipes, Holidays, Nutrition, Recipes, Uncategorized

FREE DOWNLOAD FRIDAY – Lavender/Mint Scented Bath Salts Recipe

November 27, 2015 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

Untitled-2

I truly love when I have the time to take a bath – and for aches and pains, I always add Epsom salts for the added benefits of healing.  Since I love essential oils so much as well, I have started adding them to my baths too – which has resulted in my next DIY recipe:

Lavender-Mint scented bath salts!  And once again, you can use whatever scents you’d like – but to stay in line with the homemade body butter that I just made, I am using the same scents.

If you, or someone you’re gifting, doesn’t take baths – this also makes an amazing foot soak.

Lavender-Mint scented bath salts ingredients and instructions:
4 cups of Epsom Salts
1/2 cup of sea salt (optional)
25 – 30 drops of lavender oil
20 drops of peppermint oil
3/4 cup baking soda

Mix all ingredients and transfer to air-tight containers.  These glass jars are from Michael’s Arts & Crafts and cost $1.49 each!

Bath salts 1
Bath salts 2

 

Bath salts 3

 

Bath salts 5To download these labels and view the tutorial on how to cut them out, click here.

Filed Under: Blog Post, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Holidays, Uncategorized

FREE Download Friday, WEEK 3: Homemade Lavender-Mint Body Butter

November 27, 2015 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

Body Butter Blog 1In the winter months, my skin suffers terribly from the cold, dry air.  I also feel like I wash my hands 10 times more than usual to ward off the sick bugs to which we’re all exposed.  Just today alone, I think I washed my hands every 2 minutes due to the fact that my youngest was battling the dreaded stomach bug.  (It’s the worst when the iPad becomes victim…and then you’re stuck cleaning out the USB port with a toothpick.)  So by January of each year, my hands are just so dry and cracked.

I love having a natural moisturizer to use that not only smells great, but also leaves my skin feeling like it’s been flooded with hydration.  I usually use this body butter before I go to bed, and when I wake up in the mornings I can see a huge difference in how my hands are feeling.  I give it as gifts during the holidays to teachers, neighbors, family and friends!

This homemade body butter is light and fragrant – and also make a perfect stocking stuffer or teacher gift during the holidays.

I use coconut oil,

Body Butter Blog 7

 

vitamin E oil,

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and whatever fragrance of essential oil that I’d like.  For this batch, I am using a Lavender

Body Butter Blog 4

and Peppermint

 

Body Butter Blog 5mixture.

Instructions and Ingredients for Body Butter:
4 cups Coconut Oil
1 TBSP Vitamin E Oil
12-15 drops Lavender Essential Oil
12-15 drops Peppermint Essential Oil

***yields 15 Ball 4 oz. jars of body butter

Place all ingredients into mixer, blend for 5 minutes, and spoon into air tight containers.  I used the kitchen aid mixer with the whisk attachment, but you can also use a hand mixer.


Body Butter Blog 3

 

Body Butter Blog 2

For the containers, I am using the Ball 4 oz. jars – you can order them from Amazon, but I find them at  my grocery store at a slightly cheaper price.

For a tutorial on how to print and cut the labels, click here.  Personal use only, please.
Body Butter Blog 8

Filed Under: Blog Post, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Holidays, Uncategorized

Getting ready for Black Friday – from home! Free downloads and DIY recipes all day!

November 23, 2015 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

shopping list 1
This Friday, which is Black Friday 2015, I will be staying home.  🙂  I’ve never been one to wake up early and fight the crowds for a deal – especially now, since we have Amazon Prime.  These past few years, I’m not sure if I even shopped in a stores during the holidays due to the ease of online shopping!

This Friday I am going to take the day to sit around and get a few of these following DIY projects done.  If you’ve been following along with my Free Download Friday posts, you know that I am working to get things done a little earlier this year so that I can enjoy the holiday with my family instead of running around like a mad woman.

This Friday, I will have at least 3 posts throughout the day with recipes and free downloads and by the end of the weekend, I expect to be done with the bulk of our teacher gifts, neighbor gifts and stocking stuffers!  Whoop Whoop!

Here’s what I will be making, packaging and labeling:
BODY-BUTTER,-SUGAR-SCRUB,-BATH-SALTS-Labels
Homemade Body Butter – Lavender/Mint
Homemade Sugar Scrub – Brown Sugar/Vanilla
Bath Salts – Lavender/Mint
Pre-made Smoothie kits

I’m hoping to find some small, wooden crates to use as gift boxes for them when it’s time to distribute them.

I’m stocking up to get many of the supplies I’ll need:
Homemade Body Butter:
Coconut Oil
Vitamin E Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Peppermint Essential Oil

 

Homemade Brown Sugar Scrub:
Coconut Oil
Brown Sugar
Vitamin E Oil
Vanilla Essential Oil

Pre-Made Smoothie Jar
Protein Powder of your choice (I will be using Isagenix IsaLean Pro)
Additions like dried fruits, nuts and or chocolate chips

Each of these recipes take only minutes to prepare – seriously!  You will need a mixer of some sort – I use the kitchen aid with the whisk attachment, but you can also use a hand mixer.

Check back tomorrow for more info, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for updates about upcoming downloads and recipes throughout this holiday season!!

Filed Under: Blog Post, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Free Downloads, Holidays

Fall Recipes: Crock Pot Apple Butter Recipe with Printable Labels

November 17, 2015 by TheChoiceUmbrella Leave a Comment

apple butter0

My son adores apple butter – I have not eaten it in years, but every fall he likes to devour an entire jar of it all by himself.

I have seen quite a few recipes online where the apples are cooked overnight in the crock pot, and that sounded like an easy idea – so we decided to give it a try!

We took about 6 pounds of apples, peeled and chopped them, and put them in the crock pot with a few spices – turned it on low, and that was it.  The smell was so amazing that everyone kept walking by the crock pot just to inhale all of the holiday scents – it smelled better than any holiday candle we’ve ever had!

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Once all of the apples were peeled and chopped, we put them in the crock pot with the spices and lemon juice and mixed them together.
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This is what they looked like after about 2 hours in the crock pot on low. The smell was so amazing! Now, off to bed!
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The apples cooked on low all night.
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I turned off the crock pot and ladled the apple mixture into the Ninja – waited for it to cool a bit – and pureed it.  You could also use your food processor or immersion blender, whatever you have.

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This morning’s breakfast was a hit!  Biscuits and apple butter – what a great fall breakfast and we definitely enjoyed how the house smelled during the process.

It will also come in handy as another quick and easy holiday gift to pass on – as it looks great in canning jars!

Recipe below!

Ingredients:
5-6 pounds of apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 TBSP Lemon juice
2 TBSP Cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp AllSpice
1/4 cup honey

Place peeled and diced apples in a crockpot.  Add lemon juice, honey and the rest of the spices and stir to coat the apples.  Turn crockpot on low and allow the apples to stew for 8-10 hours.  (We cooked ours overnight, from about 7 pm to 6 am.)  Once the apples are done cooking, allow them to cool a bit and place in blending appliance of choice – I use a Ninja, but you could use a blender, an immersion blender or food processor – and puree until it has reached the consistency of your desire.

 

And – are you aware of alllll of the health benefits of apples?  I recently found this article and wanted to share it in this very fitting blog post!
http://www.well-beingsecrets.com/apples-health-benefits/

To download your own apple butter labels, click here: Free printable Apple Butter Labels.

Free apple butter labels

If you need help with printing and cutting, here is a tutorial.

If you have enjoyed this recipe, please drop me a line or comment below to let me know!

Filed Under: Blog Post, DIY, DIY Christmas Gifts, Fall Recipes, Featured Recipes, Holidays, Nutrition, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: apple butter, apples, fall recipes

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The Choice Umbrella is a blog that is part of affiliate advertising programs, which means that commissions may be received after clicking on links throughout this website. On occasion, I might also receive and review products that align with my services and beliefs. All of the content and images on The Choice Umbrella’s website belong to Sibyl Smith, unless otherwise stated. Please be sure to show the love and link back to my original post of you’d like to share content! © The Choice Umbrella, 2015.
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