Christmas Tree Off the Wall? No, It's on the Wall!

Wow, what a busy weekend! I don't think I stopped to breathe once! I ran 6km, took the dogs for a hike through the snowy woods to gather branches, cooked meals for the entire week, sanded a few kitchen cabinet doors, and put up my first Christmas decorations.

Sweet, right?

We don't have a lot of space in the basement family room, so a tree that takes up next to no floor space is just the thing.

We took the dogs tromping through Vivian Forest on Saturday to find fallen tree branches. We were looking for one fairly straight, at least 3 feet long, and in graduating diameters. I took one of those huge IKEA bags to carry them all in (plus some gorgeous greenery) and had it slung over my shoulder like a quiver. Yes, Tom made me carry the whole thing. But he picks up the dog poop, so I guess it's a fair trade off.

Once home, we cut the branches down to the correct lengths and then drilled a small hole through the midpoint of each one. I planned to string twine down through the centre of each one and hang it all together. You could attach each branch individually to the wall, but I thought that was going to end up being a lot of nail holes so I went with the twine..

I then put as many of the branches in the oven as would fit, and baked them at 200 degrees to make sure no bugs would make an appearance later. I learned from the fall acorns and never want to experience that again.

Using a large darning needle I pulled about 5 feet of twine through the hole in the first branch and tied a knot under the branch to hold it in place. I then pulled the needle and twine through the next branch, made sure there was about a 4 inch gap between the two branches and tied a knot under the second one. I then continued on until all of the branches were strung.

The whole thing weighs at least 20 pounds so we used a "biter" picture-hanging hook to hang it from the wall. I used a left over piece of the last branch as a tree stump, wrapped the remaining twine around it, and wedged it between the lowest branch and the floor.

We used double-sided tape in strategic spots to keep the branches level on the wall, and zigzagged a string of 100 mini-lights back and forth down the tree, hooking them over the ends of the branches (and using staples a couple of times to hold them in place).

The double-sided tape isn't very strong so I had to use the lightest ornaments we had and just a few of them at that. I settled on the drums (a personal favourite) and violins that we've had for years.

For the star, I used a real starfish that I bought at Goodwill earlier this year. I'm so terrified it'll fall that there are 4 pieces of double-sided tape on the back of it. I might also loop a string around it and tie it to the tree so that if it does fall, it'll only fall a few inches. I'm not so worried that it'll break (it's falling onto carpet), but that Sasha will find it before I do. She has a strange fascination with the thing - she must smell something I don't.

We have next to no natural light in the basement, so the pictures aren't as clear as I'd like, but isn't a hazy glow from the tree kind of nice anyway?

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I'm linking up here this week!

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends!

And remember everything you're thankful for today

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as you're elbowing people out of the way tomorrow.

(Oh, lighten up, you know you're laughing.)

Smoky Oven-Baked Chicken

Everyone is always looking for a better chicken recipe, right? Well, I think I might have found it. A recipe even better than my last chicken recipe - which was pretty fantastic.

This one is all in the spice blend. It's a modification of the smoky spice blend recipe in Practical Paleo. I didn't have half of the ingredients so I made some substitutions, and, oh my, are they good!

Here is what you need to make 5 tablespoons of spice blend:

1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon sea salt
1/2 tablespoon black pepper

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Take your chicken pieces (I used drumsticks) and toss them in melted coconut oil, bacon fat,or whatever oil you choose. I put the chicken in a bowl, poured some oil on them, and then used tongs to flip them around and make sure they were evenly coated.

Mix your spices in a bag - I use old grocery bags, but a ziploc or a paper bag would work just as well. Put your chicken in the bag, hold the top closed, and shake it up baby.

Once the chicken is evenly coated, lay the pieces out on a cookie sheet or glass dish and bake them for 30-45 minutes, turning once halfway through. You'll have to be the judge on when they're finished.

Serve!

This is my plate. We had the chicken with a potato/onion/sweet pepper semi-mash, and some raw sugar snap peas.

I also used this recipe for chicken wings and it's just as good. Nice smoky flavour with a salt & pepper taste. And check out the colour! Toasty brown and crispy!

This is a recipe you HAVE to try. I'm serious. Don't even hesitate. Do it.

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I'm linking up here this week!