• Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact

Kristen Anne Glover

Five in Tow

  • Marriage
  • Parenting
  • Faith
  • Christmas

Simply Homemade: Grow an Amaryllis

Simply Homemade

I love decorating my home for Christmas.  I look forward to it for weeks ahead of time and can hardly wait until the day after Thanksgiving when I haul out all the boxes and the kids and I get to work.

For a whole month, everything looks magical and special. 

Then, January rolls around and all the special things are replaced with the ordinary once again.  It puts me in a bit of a funk every year.

That’s where this Simply Homemade gift comes in.  This present will wake up and bloom just as the holidays are winding down and the cold, dreary days of January set in.

It’s an amaryllis.  

Amaryllises rival poinsettias for the most popular live Christmas plants.  People love to use them as centerpieces or accent plants during the holidays because a bulb planted in November will bloom just in time for Christmas.

We’re a little late for getting our amaryllis to bloom by Christmas, but that’s what makes it a perfect gift.  It will bloom just when something fresh and pretty is most appreciated, after the tree comes down.  I even wrote a little poem to give along with the gift.

Amaryllis poem

You can add the poem to your gift if you’d like, or come up with something of your own!

I love the idea of gifting a little bit of spring to a loved a one for Christmas, and giving an amaryllis couldn’t be easier.

How to Grow (and give) an Amaryllis

The first thing to do is to purchase an amaryllis bulb.  These are sold online (Google Amaryllis bulbs and you’ll have a zillion options) or in just about any store that sells garden items.  They are inexpensive too.  The bulbs I purchased from the Army Exchange were about $2.50 each.

Amaryllis bulbs come in a variety of colors, from the traditional Christmas red to white to pale pink.  You can even find candy cane amaryllis!  The ones below are sold on Amazon (click on the photo if you want the link).

Candy Cane amaryllis

Choosing the bulb to plant is probably the hardest part of this whole project!  The rest is just as easy as playing in the dirt.

How to Force an Amaryllis

1) After you’ve chosen your bulb, pick a pot that is not much bigger than the bulb itself.  Aim to have about 1 inch of dirt around the bulb.

I found a great pot on clearance at Target.  As you can see from the photo, it’s too big for a single bulb, so I planted three.  Amaryllis bulbs like to be cozy, and they bloom better in tight quarters.

2) It’s important to provide good drainage so the bulb doesn’t rot.  I put an inch of sand in the bottom of the pot to help with that, and mixed some sand in with my potting soil.

3) Pack the bulb firmly in soil, leaving the top 1/3 of the bulb exposed.

4)  Water well.  This is the only time you’ll water it until the shoot starts to show, or in 3 weeks, whichever comes first.  How easy is that? 

For decorative purposes, I covered the exposed dirt with Spanish moss and added a little tag to remind myself when to water next since I’m still responsible for this plant until I give it away.

Amaryllis with bow

A reminder to water is a good idea!

At this point, the bulb does not need light, but it does need warmth to sprout.  Keep it in a room above 60 degrees and the bulb will start to shoot up in 2-3 weeks (some varieties may take longer, so be sure to note the grow times on the package).  If you’re in a hurry, you can put the pot on a heating pad on low and it will bloom even faster!

Once the bulb starts to grow, keep it in a sunny window, rotating every day or so to keep the stalks from bending toward the light.  It’s also important to stake the stalk to keep it from breaking as the flowers develop.

Water when the top inch of soil is dry.  Most people tend to over-water plants, so don’t baby it too much! 

If you like, you can give a picture of the bloom with the gift, or just let the flower color be a surprise.  If you are traveling with your gift, you might want to wrap it in cellophane to keep all the dirt where it belongs.  I simply tied a bow around the pot, added the poem, and this very simple homemade gift is ready to give!

simple Amaryllis gift idea

Variations: Amaryllis isn’t the only bulb that’s easy to force into bloom.  Most bulbs will bloom indoors, but some require chill time before they’ll sprout.  Paperwhites, however, can be grown just like amaryllis.  They look like dainty, white daffodils and are very fragrant.  Try planting some every few weeks in different pots for continuous indoor blooms!

Amaryllis can be grown in water.  Fill a glass container with several inches of pretty rocks, marbles, or decorative glass beads.  Fill with water to the top of the rocks and place the bulb on the rocks.  Be sure the water only touches the very bottom of the bulb or it will rot.  It will send down roots into the water and bloom just like it would if it was planted in dirt.

Amaryllis bulbs can be planted outdoors once they are done blooming inside.  You can even save the bulb and replant it inside next Christmas!  The instructions are easy to find online.  Simply Google “Plant an Amaryllis” and you’ll get all the help you need.

Tomorrow’s gift includes tiny lights and carrot noses. 

Crafts Leave a Comment

Simply Homemade: Butter Toffee

Simply Homemade

Like most families, candy and cookie making is a part of our Christmas tradition.  We have our favorites–you know, the goodies we have to make every year or it’s just not Christmas.  We always made extras to give away because sharing food traditions is part of the fun of the season.

Special food gifts are perfect for gift-giving.  They don’t have to be complicated to be delightful.  In fact, today’s gift idea is one of the easiest, but most spectacular, food gifts I’ve ever made: toffee. 

toffee

Homemade toffee

Rich, buttery toffee requires only four ingredients (and one of those is optional).  You can whip  up a batch in about half and hour, but the results are so impressive, it’s hard to imagine that something so decadent could be so easy.

With those credentials, I think it’s safe to say that toffee is the perfect food gift for a simply homemade holiday.  Check out the recipe and you’ll see what I mean.

Homemade Butter Toffee

Ingredients

2 cups of high-quality, unsalted butter (4 sticks)

2 cups white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups dark chocolate chips

2 cups chopped, toasted almonds (optional)

Other Stuff You Need

A candy thermometer

Parchment-lined cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.  A silicone liner works well in place of parchment if you have one.

How to Make This Yumminess

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter and sugar together over medium heat.  Stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Don’t rush this step–the sugar has to dissolve or the toffee will turn grainy and soft.  You may need to turn down the heat to give the sugar time to melt.

Try not to slosh the sugar mixture around in the pan.  You do not want undissolved sugar crystals to get in to the mixture or, you guessed it, bad toffee will result (as if there could be such a thing as bad toffee).

Making toffee

Making toffee

Once the sugar has dissolved, you can turn up the heat to medium-high, stirring almost constantly to keep it from scorching.

The mixture will turn bubbly and darken from a lemony color to a rich, toffee color as it cooks.

toffee recipe

The lemony stage

You will notice that I switched from a spatula to a whisk once the mixture started to bubble.  Whisking helps to incorporate the butter and the sugar.  You do not want the butter floating on the top because that will not make toffee.  That will make…something else.  Mix it in! 

Using a candy thermometer, bring the mixture up to about 298 degrees (it won’t hurt it to go a little over).  This is the hard crack stage.  Toffee cooked to this stage will have a nice crunch and flake into layers when you bite into it.  Yum-o. 

Flaky toffee

It takes a bit to get the toffee to the right temp, so while you’re waiting, you might want to taste the chocolate chips to make sure they are worthy.

As soon as the toffee is up to temperature, immediately pour it out onto the parchment paper.  Working very quickly, spread it out as thinly as possible.  You will only have a minute or two to make this happen because the toffee cools very quickly.  It will begin to resist spreading, and once it does, you’re done.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the entire thing.  When they soften, spread the chocolate over the toffee and follow with the nuts, if desired.  Gently press the nuts into the mixture so they don’t all fall off as soon as you break the toffee into pieces.

Put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to set.  Once the candy is completely cool, break it into pieces and package into pretty little containers for giving!

Pretty packaging

Pretty bowls make great containers for giving

One batch of toffee makes three nice-sized gifts for teachers, neighbors, coworkers, or friends.  Be sure to take some care in packaging because presentation can elevate a simple gift into something truly special!

If you plan to send the toffee in the mail, package it in several air-tight layers (Ziploc baggies inside of other Ziploc baggies inside of a cute little gift bag) so that the toffee arrives as fresh as possible.

Toffee for giving

Toffee for giving

If you really love someone, you can give them the whole shebang (minus the pieces you “tested,” of course).  A lovely glass cracker jar is the perfect container.

toffee packaged

As an aside, it’s best not to put these gifts under the tree while they’re waiting to be gifted or you  might have to make up another batch.  Toffee is hard to resist.

*Option: Salted Toffee

Take the toffee up to the next level of sophistication by making it salted.  Oh. my. goodness.  To do this, simply omit the salt in the recipe.  Then, after you spread the chocolate on the finished toffee, allow it to cool slightly on the counter.  Once the chocolate has just begun to set, sprinkle freshly-ground sea salt over the surface.  Refrigerate to continue setting the chocolate.

Drool. 

Wait!  I didn’t get a picture of salted toffee.  I guess I’m going to have to go back and make another batch!  Oh, the burden.

Tomorrow’s Simply Homemade project involves dirt and a pretty little pot.

Crafts 6 Comments

I believe you can find grace for the mother you are and help to become the mother you long to be—a mom who has the freedom to choose the better things and enjoy her kids right now.

Recent Posts

  • Mr. Whitter’s Cabin
  • Stuck
  • When Your Heart is Hard Toward Your Child

Popular Posts

  • Why God Gave You a Special Needs Child
  • Counting the Hours
  • Painting Tile and Other Ways to Save an Ugly Fireplace
  • What Micah Taught Me
  • Simply Homemade: Snowman Votive Ornaments
  • Simply Homemade: Craft a Peacock Lamp Shade

Sponsored Links

Copyright © 2023 Kristen Anne Glover · All Rights Reserved · Design by Daily Dwelling

Copyright © 2023 · Flourish Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in