Resolve to Make It From Scratch!

Welcome to the first Make It From Scratch carnival of 2008!

It seems the Make It From Scratch community is looking to make some resolutions for the coming year...

1. Cook more meals - Cooking at home is better for our bodies and our pocketbooks, and fun, too! The holidays brought lots of ideas for us to add to our 2008 menus!

• Suzanne offers up a crusty french bread to start our meal.
• At Less than a Shoestring, we're reminded about how to make and pack food for the road- a great tip that avoids stopping at restaurants for me!
• Robbyn reminds us to eat our fruits, and tells us of her experiment with a horned melon at The Back Forty!
• Laura lets us avoid Starbucks and shares how to make chocolate coffee!
• Chef Andrew shares a special horseradish sauce that will surely warm up winter meals!

2. Eat less junk food (or make it at home when I do!) - we all know we'll eat sweets once in a while, but making them from scratch means we'll avoid some chemicals, preservatives, and costs! And, it's always more satisfying to eat something you've made yourself!

• Katy gives us an interesting and unique dessert over at sugarlaws: an apple-onion tart.
• Ginger spices up a typical snack with Holiday Confetti Popcorn.
• Sarah dug out a historical recipe and made peanut butter cups at SARAHSPY.
• I experimented with historic recipes as well over the holidays, making various gingerbread concoctions, over at Sunflowers in my Kitchen
• At Raising 4 Boys, they made super-cute Rudolph cookies! So festive!
• GP is making cookies and peanut butter and jelly bars- complete with tips for life.
• Nini uses candy and pretzels to make delectable looking treats, as well as truffles!
• Heather makes the tried-and-true classic, Banana Nut Bread

3. Make an effort to beautify my home - When I get busy, things around the house get neglected. Taking simple steps and using what I have, I can make the house more home-y, as the crafters have demonstrated!

• Andrea, at her new knitting blog Knits and Knots, shows off her ADORABLE giraffe and frog toys she made for her kids for Christmas.
• I used what I had in my yard to piece together a nice Christmas centerpiece for my home.
• Cindy's at it again, and this time has come up with a practical-yet-beautiful doormat made entirely of plastic bags.
• Mel at Bean Sprouts shows us the star ornament she made out of stuff she had "around the house"- and it turned out great!
• HowToMe reminds us how easy it is to beautify our house with framed photos- and reminds me I have lots I need to print!
• Donetta gives instructions on how to make floral arrangements- another simple yet striking way to make a home beautiful.
• Alison shows us how she beautified her gifts of baked goods by packaging them in decorated lunch sacks! Combining these pretty bags with the goodies above would be fabulous!

4. Take care of myself and stay organized - There's always more I can do, and my fellow bloggers have great ideas!

• Stephanie offers an earache remedy that can be put together with things around the house. Just have to be sure to use a clean sock! ;-)
• And, for those of you who have trouble staying organized, Alex offers a desktop calendar for 2008 to print and assemble. I'll make this for the coolness factor- and to mark the dates for all the future Make It From Scratch carnivals, of course!

Keep one or all of these resolutions, and submit a post for next week to tell us how you did it. Next week we'll be at The Common Room for more Make-It-From-Scratch inspiration! Keep up the good work, everyone!