Planning Ahead to Make Christmas Favors

I’ve spent this whole week brainstorming what to make for favors for a group of 14 women from the Ladies Auxiliary to the Fire Company at our Christmas party in December. I have 4 weeks until I need them, but I need to decide soon exactly what I will put together. As I brainstormed, I ran all over town to see what I could get. Did I say how much I miss JoAnn Fabrics and how much I hate shopping?!?

I started with the container…I found small red gift bags at Michaels. I had to go to Walmart to get enough white tissue paper.

Looking around my various project supplies, I first started with soap. I have enough Goats Milk melt & pour soap base and small molds to make an assortment of small soaps. Two or three in a mesh bag will the first item in the bag of favors and suggested a gift bag for a ‘spa’ day.

Next, I found a box of tiny tea lights (battery-operated) that would be a perfect addition to the gift bag.

I wondered if I had time to make 15 hot and cold eye pillows. They are filled with flax seed and can be put in the freezer or microwaved. You can read about how to make them at https://marykisner.com/making-a-hot-or-cold-eye-pillow-for-headaches-or-toothaches/

This is what they look like…cotton on one side and flannel on the other. I have plain muslin for the liner (to keep the flax seeds from poking through the outer fabric.) I think I’ll have enough time…if I can get the fabric, flannel and flax seeds in time!

I found some nice 100% cotton fabric at Walmart but alas…no cotton flannel!

I even tried Michaels…no flannel of any kind! Luckily, Amazon came through and 2 yards of flannel will be delivered tomorrow!

Of course, the eye pillows will need flax seeds for stuffing…but 14 of them will require about 8 pounds of flax seeds (1 cup in each pillow). I had a small bag, but not 8 pounds!

Thank goodness, I could order a 10-pound bag from Amazon. It arrived today!

When I have all the components, I’ll get an assembly line going to crank out 14 eye pillows!

Last, but not least, how about some Christmas M&Ms to snack on while relaxing with a warm eye pillow! Amazon came through again! This bag will show up in a few days.

You can see that preparing these 14 gift bags required some lead time to assemble all the components! Just the brainstorming, sorting through my stash of supplies and running around town took several days. Now, I wait for things to arrive from Amazon so I can start making the eye pillows.

I really like how the focus is around being handmade. I don’t think I’m giving any useless stuff to my friends…the soap can be used, the M&Ms can be eaten and the eye pillow might be soothing during the Christmas season! If nothing else, the bag can be ‘regifted’ to someone else who needs it.

If you plan to have a handmade Christmas, plan ahead so you have time to enjoy the holidays yourself! Enjoy!

Please email me directly if you have comments or questions: maryjkisner@gmail.com.

Making a Traditional Swedish Apple Cake

https://marykisner.com/making-a-traditional-swedish-apple-cake/

I’m always on the lookout for apple cake recipes. I’ve shared at least three so far…French apple cake (with rum), German apple cake and Cinnamon apple cake. I’ll put the links at the end of this post. Most baked apple recipes include pies, dumplings, crumbles and crisps. I’ve focused on the apple cakes…for some reason they interest me.

This recipe was described as ‘a classic dessert that captures the essence of Swedish home baking. Made with cooked apples, this beloved treat is perfect for fika or any cozy gathering.’

Of course, that phrase, ‘perfect for fika…’ peaked my interest. Never heard that word before. I looked it up and found:

“Fika is a cherished Swedish tradition that goes beyond a simple coffee break, embodying a social ritual centered around taking time to pause, relax, and connect with others. The term ‘fika’ (pronounced ‘fee-ka’) is derived from a slang inversion of the Swedish word for coffee or tea. It is equally defined by the presence of a sweet or savory snack. The practice is deeply embedded in Swedish culture and is considered essential for maintaining a healthy work-life balance.”

This recipe came from a website called, https://foodandjourneys.net. Some of the ingredients are listed in grams so I retyped it for my convenience. Here is the recipe:

Prepare the Apples

The first step is to prepare the apples. That takes about half an hour, so don’t preheat the oven too soon!

  1. Peel and slice the apples (I used three apples and weighed them to be sure).

    2. Combine the sliced apples with 1/4 cup honey and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Cook about 15-20 minutes over medium-low heat.

    3. Drain the apples and set them aside. Discard the liquid.

    Make the cake

    1. Preheat the oven to 350 degreesF. Prepare cake pan or casserole by greasing with butter.

    2. Sift together flour and baking powder.

    3. Cream sugar and butter in a separate, bigger mixing bowl.

    I melted the butter.

    4. Add vanilla extract and eggs and continue mixing.

    5. Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix well.

    6. Transfer about 3/4 of the batter into the prepared pan or casserole. Smooth the top.

    7. Add the drained apples, trying to arrange them evenly.

    8. Randomly place the remaining batter on top.

    9. Place the pan in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, until it turns golden on top or a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

    This Swedish Apple Cake was delicious!

    This certainly was not low carb, but it was one more apple cake in my recipe file. Enjoy!

    If you’d like to check out the other apple cake recipes, here are those links:

    https://marykisner.com/making-french-apple-cake/

    https://marykisner.com/making-german-apple-cake/

    https://marykisner.com/making-cinnamon-apple-cake/

    As always, for comments questions, please contact me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com

    Blog Update November 3, 2025

    (https://marykisner.com/blog-update-november-3-2025/)

    Hello Readers! It’s time to give you a quick update about my Blog. My first blog entry was was in January, 2021. Since then, I’ve written 452 posts about all kinds of stuff. It seems I continue to make, bake or research something at least once a week and I still enjoy sharing how I do it.

    Finding a Specific Post:

    I find the search feature of WordPress to be cumbersome. I did not add ‘tags’ to each post at the very beginning and eventually discovered that was how WordPress indexed things. By the time I realized I should have done that, I just decided to go with my PDF list of posts with hot links. I was already making the list as I went along and it worked for me.

    I sometimes think I should go a step further and pull together posts with a common theme…like sewing projects or greyhound information…and make a booklet available, but that never quite materializes (smile). I guess I’m counting on folks to explore the downloadable PDF that lists all my posts with hot links. You can download it from here (it is also on the ‘Welcome’ page):

    Blog Entries 1_452 marykisnerDownload

    Since the website (run by WordPress) seems to have updated and now the link to the ‘Blog’ on the ‘Welcome’ page doesn’t seem to work, I’ll make a point to put the link to each article at the top of the text. If you have subscribed to my blog, you should receive an email each time I post. That link at the top might be helpful if your computer or phone doesn’t download the pictures. That happened on my phone last week!

    About my readers:

    My website/blog does not function quite like Facebook. I know I have 28 folks subscribed and they receive an email when I post, but I don’t know who reads what. I know how many people read each article each day…but not who they are. I know what countries folks are from that read anything on my website. I seem to have readers in the United States, United Kingdom, Chile, Australia, Ireland, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Canada and a few others. Very interesting! Lately, I’ve noticed someone must be exploring the PDF one post at a time so my viewer numbers have increased to over 100 each day! That’s exciting! I hope someone is trying lots of new stuff! That’s my goal!

    About comments:

    If you recall, a few months ago I had to disconnect the ‘comment’ choice at the end of each post. That worked from that date forward. However, I still receive over 100 spam comments each day that I need to manually remove. Most are not even in English! Thus, I’ve added a note at the end of each post that includes my email address (maryjkisner@gmail.com). I do love to hear from interested folks! It was impossible to find that one comment in the pile of spam. I look forward to hearing from you with questions, comments or suggestions for new topics!

    Reminder:

    This website/blog is designed to give me a place to share the things I’m doing and write about them. Please notice the site is free, there are no advertisements, I do not try to sell you something and I do not discuss politics. Frankly, if you’re not interested…don’t read it! The digital world is invasive enough. My philosophy is…enjoy! Make it yourself!

    I look forward to hearing from you. Enjoy! maryjkisner@gmail.com

    Discovering Details of My LOWRY Family History

    Yesterday I followed a rabbit trail of ideas about my family history. I started with the fiction novels I was reading about the Scottish Highlands and the descriptions of the Tartan plaids that various groups were wearing. Characters could identify friend and foe from a distance, depending on the colors they were wearing. The various colors were associated by Clan name.

    Of course, my maternal grandfather’s line was the LOWRY name, back at least 5 generations and I remember my mother saying the Lowry’s were Scotch-Irish Americans. I tried looking up the name Lowry in the Scottish list of clans…nothing. So, I pulled up my genealogy program and found the generation listed before coming to America…and lo and behold, there was my 3rd great grandfather, Morrow B. Lowry…born in 1752 in Grey Abbey, County of Down, Northern Ireland!

    I discovered the Tartan plaids in Ireland are associated by County name so I was able to look up the Tartan plaid for Down county!

    The County Down tartan, representing the county in Northern Ireland, is a traditional plaid pattern primarily featuring brown and orange with gray and sky blue accents. The tartan’s colors are symbolic: blue represents the sea, orange and brown represents the earth and landscape, while gray reflects the granite found in the region.

    Of course, then I had to check out the history of Northern Ireland in Wikipedia.

    My goodness! Northern Ireland has been struggling with invaders forever! The region now known as Northern Ireland was historically inhabited by Irish-speaking Gaels. It consisted of several Gaelic kingdoms within the province of Ulster. In 1169, Ireland was invaded by Anglo-Norman forces under the English crown, initiating centuries of foreign dominance and religious strife.

    Many rebellions, battles and wars are documented and remembered to this day. During the Scottish famine of the 1690s, many Scots migrated to Ulster Province adding to the conflicts. You can read many more details on Wikipedia. I had to print out the map to see how close Ireland is to Scotland (I think about 12 miles across the North Channel).

    The following sentence clearly caught my attention:

    Between 1717 and 1775, approximately 200,00 Ulster Presbyterians emigrated to the American colonies, where their descendants are known as Scotch-Irish Americans.

    My mother was right! I suspect my 3rd great grandfather was one of those folks! My second great grandfather was born in Pennsylvania!

    Here’s a picture of County Down coastline. It certainly brings my fiction novels to life!

    So, what do I have left to remember my Lowry family history? I do have my grandfather’s pocket watch. He died before I was born but my brother is older so I’ll have to ask if he has any memories of him.

    I also have a large silver-plated tea pot that has a real story! It weighs 5.58 pounds and could be polished up, but I hate to lose any silver plating that is left.

    Tucked inside the pot was this story…written by my Aunt Winifred when she passed it on to my mother. I’m glad I can read cursive writing! I’ll type it out here, but I think I’ll include a copy in the pot so future generations can read it!

    Silver (?) Tea Pot

    The silver tea pot was brought from Pennsylvania by the William Dundas Lowrys who settled on a large farm near Rochester, Minnesota. They gave the tea pot to their son, Milnor Roberts Lowry (our grandfather) when he and his young wife (Mary Jane Wilcox Lowry) and their first baby our Uncle Will, came to Fergus Falls in a covered wagon in June 1871.

    Milnor R Lowry started a feed store in Fergus Falls, which later became the first bakery in Fergus Falls. He and his family lived upstairs over the store.

    He traded the silver tea pot to a Mr. Smith of Smiths Book Store for wall paper.

    In June, 1945, a Mrs. Sidney Smith brought the tea pot to our house on Whitford St. She was the wife of one of Mr. Smith’s sons. She knew the history of the tea pot and thought it should go back to a member of the Lowry family.

    Mother (Minnie Sweet Lowry) had the tea pot for a little while but was willing to give it to me when our father wanted me to have it. I was interested in family history at that time.

    I gave the tea pot to you, Ruth (Lowry) Bixby, June, 1971

                                                                                    Winifred (Lowry) Nelson, 1971

    Now that I’ve explored my Scotch-Irish heritage and seen the maps and pictures, my fiction novels feel more realistic! Now to figure out how the highlanders wrapped all that tartan fabric around them and then rode horses! Doesn’t seem to be very comfortable! Enjoy!

    Please remember to email me directly if you have comments: maryjkisner@gmail.com.

    Making a Low Carb Cheese Snack

    Today was a day to experiment! Let me first say…if you like cheese, consider just cutting a chunk of cheddar or grab a mozzarella cheese stick. There are no carbs and they are easy to eat on the run.

    Cheddar has no carbs:

    Mozzarella also has no carbs:

    If you’re looking for a crunchy cheese snack, I found these at Walmart…with 1gm or less of carbs! They don’t taste too bad if you like Parmesan cheese. Also quite carb free!

    Then, I found a recipe to make a cottage cheese snack. It looked pretty easy and cottage cheese is also quite low in carbs…6gm for 1/2 cup. Here is the recipe:

    I like cottage cheese better than Parmesan, so I thought I’d give it a try. Now came the experimenting!

    My First Attempt:

    In my first attempt I used my standard baking sheets with the silicone sheet on them. I scooped out a large spoon of cottage cheese (it called for 2 tablespoons) and even sprinkled a little grated cheddar on half of them.

    I put them in the preheated 400 degreeF oven.

    In 20 minutes they were flat, starting to burn around the edges and quite soggy in the middle. I could barely get them off the sheets…a real mess.

    My Second Attempt:

    Obviously, my silicone mats were not helpful. I got out my roll of parchment paper and cut two for my baking sheets.

    This time I used less cottage cheese and turned the oven down to 350 degreesF. These were at least edible, but the oven was still too hot.

    My Third Attempt:

    This time I turned the oven down to 325 degreesF and timed them for about 30 minutes.

    Then, I turned the oven off, opened the oven door and let them cool and dry out even more. They turned out much better!

    So, I guess it is possible to make a cheese snack with cottage cheese, but frankly…it seemed like a lot of messy work. I might as well just eat 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for 6 gm of carbs!

    My Fourth Attempt to Make a Snack:

    While I was waiting for the last batch to cool, I tried something else. I pulled out 12 corn chips (one serving, 12 chips, had 19 gm of carbs).

    I arranged the corn chips on a dinner plate and put a square of cheddar cheese on each one.

    Then, 20 seconds in the microwave melted the cheese and I had a simple crunchy cheese snack. I think I’ve found a fairly low carb snack/lunch that was very easy to make!

    Frankly, if I want a crunchy cheese snack, I’ll use corn chips and the microwave. If I want cottage cheese, I’ll eat it with a spoon! If I want Parmesan cheese…I can buy a bag of snacks from Walmart! So, that’s my experimenting for the day! Enjoy!

    If you have comments or questions, please email me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com.

    Last Garden Update for 2025

    We finally had a heavy frost and 29 degrees a few days ago, so it is time to give you a final update on the 2025 garden. Everything is out of the garden now. Bert will soon trim the Echinacea stems to ground level, and probably trim the lavender stems off also. Nothing to see there now. The asparagus ferns are still green, but I imagine they won’t last long. They will get trimmed down also.

    The large rain barrel in the garden will be totally emptied and the rain barrels by the shop will be drained and stored until next spring.

    The last of the tomatoes that had been sitting on the counter are finally in the pot. Only four are left and two may not even ripen. We’ll see!

    The carrots are stored in the refrigerator and will stay nice until Christmas.

    And today Bert harvested the rest of the pumpkins! Such fun!

    I feel like we’ve truly decorated for Halloween now! I just noticed that Bert placed the pumpkins with the good sides facing the house so I could see them! I love them!

    Remember, if you have comments or questions, please email me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com.

    Day Trip to Wellsboro, PA

    Yesterday was a lovely day to take a drive north! My brother and his wife live in Wellsboro, PA and we usually meet somewhere between Boalsburg and Wellsboro to have lunch. This time, we decided we’d go all the way to Wellsboro to have lunch with them. While we still don’t see a lot of color change on the mountains around us, I was hoping to see more as we drove north. Of course, I completely forgot to take pictures until we were about 10-15 miles from Wellsboro. When I remembered, I grabbed my phone to quickly take pictures of the mountains thru the car windshield. Not the greatest pictures, but if you’re familiar with Rt. 287 you might recognize some of the pictures near Morris, PA.

    Mark’s house was still standing but when drove down the driveway to the back I was amazed how big the trees were! I guess it had been a long time since we’d been there. I couldn’t see the woodshed until I peeked around the trees!

    We had time to visit a bit before we drove down to Main Street and the restaurant, Beck’s Bistro Restaurant. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the restaurant…but the food was great!

    Always nice to visit with my big brother and his wife Lita! They even stood still long enough so I could take some pictures of all of us! Love to all!

    If you have comments or questions, please email me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com.

    Enjoy!

    Making Sausage Cheese Muffins

    In my search for low-carb foods, I came across a recipe for Sausage Cheese Pie. It sounded interesting. The picture even looked interesting, but before I had even begun, I was suggesting changes.

    There are only two of us and leftover pie would be hard to keep in the fridge. I also didn’t want to mess with a pie crust, so we thought a casserole dish might work. That still made a messy leftover. Finally, we adapted the recipe to work in my silicone muffin pan.

    Our adapted recipe looks like this:

    The original pie recipe suggested we cook the sausage and onion together, mix in the shredded cheese and put it in the pie crust. Then the eggs and milk were beat together and poured on top. It would bake like a custard on top.

    We ended up cooking the sausage and onions first and just mixing everything together. The sausage was in the freezer so we thawed it in the refrigerator overnight.

    Bert doesn’t mind doing the chopping and cooking of meat and onion. Thank goodness!

    Of course, we didn’t have Monterey Jack cheese, so again, we improvised. I chopped up some slices of American Cheese and added the shredded Cheddar cheese to make 1 1/2 cup of cheese.

    Then we added the eggs and milk (in this case we used my Coconut milk) and mixed it all up.

    Finally, we scooped the mixture into the muffin pan. Each cup held about 1/4 cup of the mixture.

    Muffins ready for the oven:

    You can see they bubbled up and left a mess. However, the silicone pan is so easy to clean and the bits of cheese mixture that bubbled out was pretty tasty too!

    When they cooled a little I could lift them out of the pan with a tablespoon. They actually tasted GREAT! I think two would make a meal for me…Bert could handle three!

    The carb count for the whole recipe was about 25g…mostly for the onion and milk. Divided by 12 muffins, each muffin was about 2g! Not bad!

    Remember, I’d love to hear from you but my website can’t support all the spam comments I get so I had turn off that feature. Please contact me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com if you have comments or questions. Thanks!

    Making New Socks More Comfortable

    It’s the little things that can be annoying! I have yet to buy a new pair of socks that are comfortable right out of the package! I have a whole drawer full of socks that are almost OK. Since I don’t like tight socks…at my toes or my ankle…I try to buy a bigger size. However, then my feet slide around in my shoes. If I buy the correct size, the top of the sock usually has a ‘hem’ or several strings of tight elastic that drives me nuts. Here are two socks that show the tight hem at the top. I have yet to fix these so I can wear them.

    I just ordered new socks that did have mostly cotton with added stretchy fibers. They looked (online) like the top might lay flat.

    Amazingly, the socks fit well but, of course, the band at the top was too snug for me. So, I did what I usually do to make them more comfortable…I cut off the band and zigzagged the edges. When flat, the top looks ruffled, but when I put them on, they lay flat on my lower calf. The sock has enough stretch to stay up and top doesn’t drive me nuts! I ended up cutting the top band off all 9 pairs of socks and zigzagged the edges. Here are the pictures…pretty simple and worked great! Time to clean out my sock drawer and fix all the ones driving me nuts!

    Here are better pictures with the white socks.

    Nothing better than socks that fit AND are comfortable!

    If you have questions or comments, please email me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com.

    Random Updates

    This post covers the last two weeks of craziness in my life. Writing it down has helped me let go of all the stress. Enjoy!

    Garden Update

    The garden is winding down. As we finish harvesting tomatoes, pumpkins and carrots, Bert will clean up the plants. I think the last thing before winter is to cut off the dried stalks of the echinacea and lavender.

    Mary’s Health Update

    I’m pretty recovered from my lumpectomy and radiation. Apparently, the cancer was sensitive to estrogen so I’m on an estrogen-blocking pill for the next five years! I recently had a bone scan and of course, I’m at high risk for fractures, so now I’ll start Prolia shots every six months and take extra calcium. Geez! It never ends.

    And then there’s my blood sugar! The Dr. increased my meds and I’m back to testing one or more times a day. Joy. Combined with low-carb meals, I’m hoping things get back to normal. So, I’ll not mention my health issues again, but just know that the low-carb recipes I post will be part of my learning process.

    Bake Sale Update

    I recently wrote about the yard sale/bake sale by the Ladies Auxiliary to the Boalsburg Fire Company. You can read about it here: https://marykisner.com/trying-to-increase-bake-sale-participation/

    My goal was to encourage our members to donate baked goods to the sale. We are a very small group and we’re all getting older. Many in our group don’t bake anymore. By providing an assortment of cake mixes and a recipe to make cookies using the mixes, along with disposable foil pans for breads, etc. our group came through with a nice collection of baked goods at the sale. I was so proud of our members! We’ll be writing a nice check to the Fire Company with our profit!

    Oven Update

    I was really organized the week of the sale…I was baking 2+ box mixes of scones every day for several days. I was having trouble getting the scones to bake thoroughly…the oven was just unreliable! And then…it wouldn’t heat right at all! On Tuesday of the week of the Bake Sale, I stopped baking and gave up! What a disappointment! Bert immediately ordered a new stove, but of course it would not come for over a week…after the bake sale! Thank goodness the other members of the Auxiliary came through with more items to sell. Of course, I now have a shelf of mixes available for the next sale in the spring…or even Christmas! The only problem is that I won’t be able to eat them! Way too many carbs. Oh well!

    My new oven is beautiful! Even the inside is shiny! It’s been 23 years since I saw such a shiny oven! So, I’m back in baking business…but now I’ll have to change what I bake!

    Ted’s Visit

    During the week when I had no oven, Ted came to visit! So wonderful to see him after a year of emails, texts and phone calls. Luckily, he wasn’t craving home baked goodies…no oven, no baking!

    He managed to connect with Ben, our grandson, who started at Penn State this fall. They hiked up to a nearby fire tower and then stopped to visit with us on the way back. Hugs all around!

    Recipes to Come

    (Remember, all the recipes I’ve written over the last 4 years can be found in the PDF on the Welcome page. When you find one you like, you can click on the hot link and go directly to the article.)

    I’m already researching how I can eat low-carb and be satisfied with little to no bread or desserts. If you’re not interested in the recipes, go back to the PDF list of articles. I’m aware not everyone will care about low-carb recipes, so I’ll make sure I share other projects I’m working on that have nothing to do with food!

    Bracelet Catalog

    I seem to be getting deeper into making specialty and custom bracelets. I don’t need a huge inventory of bracelets until next summer so I’m focused on researching, designing and making bracelets that might help specific issues. When I make a bracelet for a specific request, I add it to my catalog…in case someone else could benefit. The catalog is a work in progress and not ready for distribution, but I will post the cover and the Table of Contents here. If you look through the list and don’t see a specific issue that you are interested in, please let me know. That might be the exact thing I should add to the catalog!

    I’ve added this disclaimer to my business cards and to each bracelet description:

    Each of the beads in your bracelet have meaning and together support each other for your well-being. You can wear the bracelet or carry it in your pocket. Each time you wear it or handle it remember its intention. Reminder: This bracelet is not medical device. Its purpose is to help you focus and send positive energy to your mind and body. Mary Kisner

    Here’s an example of a custom bracelet I just finished:

    *The person requesting this bracelet wanted the Good Luck bracelet focused on finding romance (not winning at the Casino). I started with my GOOD LUCK bracelet, with White Agate, Malachite and Green Aventurine. I added Rose Quartz to the bracelet to give the intention a nudge in that direction.

    Looking Ahead

    So that’s what’s been happening over the last two weeks. I’m exhausted just writing about it all! I’m looking forward to having all my medical issues settle down. I hope I can find good recipes for low-carb cooking/eating. Finally, my bracelet research is giving new meaning to my life. I’m not sure which bracelets I’ll be taking to the festival next July, but I’ll have fun figuring it out! Enjoy!

    I would love to hear from you if you have comments, suggestions or questions. (Remember, I had to disable the comments feature in this blog because of all the spam “comments” that I’m sure are not from actual people.)

    Contact me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com.