Walnut Name Tag Holders for Your Holiday Place Settings

It's that time again where you may be preparing for yet another holiday feast. And if you're anything like me, I love a good excuse to fancy up the place settings. When I was younger, my sisters and I would always looks forward to making name tags for all the big holiday dinners. We had a walnut tree in the backyard, so it was fun to pick the walnuts and get a little crafty for our place settings. I've been using them ever since and I adore the finished look. This is so easy and almost effortless to make, I finished it in one nap time--which with my baby isn't long at all. Here's a peak of what they look like- perfect for Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year's!

Here's the step-by-step on how to make Walnut Name Tag Holders for your holiday place settings:

1. Get a bag of walnuts from your local grocery store
2. Find a side where the walnut sits nicely. GENTLY hammer along the seam to where there's a little crack, it only needs to be large enough to slip your name tag in. 
3. Spray paint your walnut any color your heart desires.
4. Cut your tags to desired size. Mine are about 3"x4".
5. If you like the spray paint and glitter look I took a small paper plate and turned it upside down so the part I wanted to be sprayed was showing on my tag. 
6. Pressing the plate down I sprayed the top of my tag. 
7. While the spray is still wet, sprinkle your glitter on it. Some of my glitter wasn't sticking too good so I also sprayed some spray adhesive on it and that worked great. Glue sticks will also work, I just didn't have that on hand. 

Try them out at your next party. Feel free to send us your photos as well, we'd love to see what you've come up with! You can see how versatile walnuts can be... below is a look at how we took the "natural" look of the walnut paired with this cute printable from make it create for Thanksgiving.

(Recognize Kaitlyn's awesome Magleby's copycat rolls from this morning's post? They're a family favorite! :)

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Healthy Pumpkin Spice Nut Truffles

Okay, so sometimes I sit down to write my little intro to a recipe, and I get a little bit of writers' block. I'm sure that's no surprise, because really, who doesn't get writers' block when they have to write something? But I'm just putting it out there that I do.

Often, my writers' block is followed by a series of not-so-interesting ideas about what I could say about my recipe -- many of which include cheesy stories about my children, too-much-information memories from my childhood, or stupidly academic facts about the food I'm about to share. Today was one of the latter, and I have to admit I had written at least two (complete … but not diagrammed … I'm not that nerdy!) sentences of dry textbook talk about hot amazingly nutritious walnuts are before I had to give myself a little reality check pep-talk that went something like, "Wow! I sound really enthusiastic about nutrition facts there. That's really nerdy of me … (backspace, backspace, backspace)" This, of course, brought me back to a blank screen and my original writers' block, which has now led me to the probably equally nerdy narrative that I have just given you about how my brain works when writing.

Anywho, back to the recipe … Here's the deal in a nutshell (pun intended, of course!): walnuts are good for you, pumpkin spice is yummy, and these truffles are amazingly delicious ... Try them! (Oh, and don't hesitate to hide them in the freezer so that you get them all to yourself!)

Healthy Pumpkin Spice Nut Truffles
15 SERVINGS 
PREP: 10 minutes           COOK: 0 minutes            READY IN: 15 minutes

SIMPLE	HEALTHY	YUM

INGREDIENTS

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• 1 cup walnuts
• 8 dates, diced (and soaked if very dry)
• 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin spice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2-1 teaspoon water
• 1/4 cup white chocolate, melted

DIRECTIONS

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1. Place walnuts in a food processor, and pulse until nearly smooth.
2. Add in dates and pumpkin pie spice. Continue pulsing food processor until the dates are combined with the nuts, making a mostly smooth mash. (You may need to add in water, a small amount at a time, to help keep things mixing.)
3. Roll the mixture into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter, and place on a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. (If the mixture is too warm and/or mushy, you can chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to help make it easier to manage.) Place the balls in the freezer for 2-3 hours. 
4. Once the nut balls have hardened in the freezer, you can then roll them in a light coating of melted chocolate. Replace them in the fridge or freezer to allow the chocolate to set.
5. Once the chocolate is set, these can be stored (i.e. hidden) in a plastic bag in the freezer to enjoy as a small snack, or served to (very grateful) friends.

NUTRITION FACTS

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    1 truffle   79 calories   5.8 g fat   5.8 g carbs    2.6 g protein    4.6 g sugar   

Enjoy! (And don't forget to enter this week's giveaway … just one day left!)