Gift Mason Jars

As some of you may or may not know, I recently became the president of the woman's organization in my congregation. Assignments given at church are not things one volunteers for. My bishop asked and I said yes.

This past Saturday we had an activity where women from the ward (congregation) could make gifts for the holidays. One of my counselors (I have two and a secretary) came up with the idea of putting together dry mixes into wide-mouth quart size mason jars. (That is her below. I don't think she wanted her picture taken. Oops!)

We had the option of packing a muffin, cookie or a soup mix. Contents needed to be packed down well or they would not all fit! There was quite the mess to clean up afterwards, but we all had fun.

Here are 4 finished products. Aren't they cute? Instructions are attached to the jars for the recipient to follow. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to keep mine or give it away. :-)

"The Air Is Full Of Spices"

Greg and I made a wonderful discovery a few months back. We originally went to Cost Plus to find Swedish fish as part of a 25 & 3/4 birthday gift for Lindsie and Greg wanted some loose leaf tea. We somehow wandered down the aisle with the spices and were pleasantly surprised that Cost Plus sells their spices for much less than regular grocery stores. Greg and I do not usually like to shop but when it comes to food, we are all over it.

As we were in the same shopping complex as Cost Plus this evening, we stopped by to pick up a few spices to replace old ones that have lost their potency. They had a Buy 2 get 1 Free sale, so we stocked up.

A dear friend (thanks Grace!) gave this masala dabba to Greg and we are finally putting it to good use! Some of the spices we bought were in baggies so those are the ones that made their way into this awesome spice organizer. There's Cajun spice, garam masala, curry powder, tandoori, and oregano. You can probably guess that near future meals will be Indian influenced.

We also got paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, ancho chili, & we picked up the Chinese five spice when we first discovered the spice aisle. We can't wait to make chili as the flavors will pop now.

(20 points to the person who can tell me where the title came from)