Hello!
Here is my post that is ALL about The Marine Corps Birthday & Thanksgiving (With a little bit of Football Season thrown in there)! If your family member is deployed during November, these are def. themes you can do ALOT with!
So, I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of my Awesome USMC Birthday Celebration boxes (I forgot to snap them before I taped the boxes up... ) But I can give you a list of what I included:
*Cake (homemade and baked in mason jars to keep them airtight, I will explain below)
*Cigars (because what Marine wouldn't want to smoke a cigar to celebrate)
*Magazines (about Guns & Cars)
*A few DVD's (Favorite Military Inspired Ones keep with the theme best)
*And any other types of food you think they would love to have...
I also decorated the boxes with Red, White, and Blue Paper, USMC stickers, Pictures from our balls over the years, etc.
Ok, So Now Onto "Cake-in-a-Jar" (Or Pumpkin Bread in a Jar, shown above).... It's actually pretty simple...
You just need to buy the cake mix, the ingredients listed on the box, 2-3 Mason Jars (depending on size, and I also Highly recommend Wide-Mouth Jars, easier for the guys to scoop out the goods), and Frosting (you will be shipping this separate and unopened for your loved one to put on the cake themselves. (Or the recipe for Pumpkin Bread that I am going to list below)...
You mix all the ingredients like normal and then pour the cake mix or bread mix into clean mason jars.
I usually soak mine in warm water after cleaning them, up until about 3 minutes before I need to use them, that way they are pre-warmed for the oven and will have less of a chance of cracking.
With the Cake and Bread you want to fill the jars about half-way up.
And cooking time is usually going to depend on the oven, I will usually start off the bat with the cooking times listed on the box. And they always take longer, so use your best judgement from there.
After you have finished baking the cake/bread, immediately pull it out of the over and grab the top to the jars. You want to put the lid on as soon as possible and screw it on there tightly (Be careful, it gets Very Hot Very Fast, I usually wear Oven Mitts when putting the lids on.)
You then just leave them to cool off, and after a few minutes you should hear a "POP" noise from each jar, that is the jars vacuum-sealing themselves. And that means they are air-tight and ready to be shipped. I ALWAYS wrap these jars individual in bubble wrap so the glass does not break when the boxes are being thrown around.
These cakes/bread have lasted for 3 or 4 weeks in my shipping experience and still arrived fresh and moist. It is best to tell your Marine to let the bread air out for 30 min-hour before eating it as well.
Here is my Thanksgiving Box:
And I managed to find almost everything from a basic Thanksgiving feast that was either canned or microwaveable and thus shippable. =)
Here is my List:
*Hormel Complete Turkey and Dressing
*Idaho Microwave Mashed Potatoes
*Jar of Gravy
*canned Corn, Green Beans, Olives
*Canned Cranberry
*Homemade Pumpkin Bread in a Jar
*A Football (deflated) with a Pump
*My husband's favorite football teams Flag
You can pretty much throw in anything that has to do with football as well (including pictures and scores from games they might be missing)... I wrote different reasons i was Thankful for my husband and different things I was Thankful for as well on the box.
So Here is my Recipe for Homemade Pumpkin Bread (it turned out perfect):
*3 Cups Sugar *1 Cup Oil *4 Eggs (Beaten) *3 1/2 Cups Flour
*1 Can Pumpkin *2 tsp Baking Soda *2 tsp Salt *1 tsp Baking Powder
*1 tsp Nutmeg *1 tsp AllSpice *1 tsp Cinnamon *1/2 tsp Cloves
*2/3 cups of water *Optional: 1/2 Cup of raisins, craisins, or chopped pecans
1. Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees
2. Mix Sugar & Oil
3. Add Eggs (Beaten) & Pumpkin
4. Sift together dry ingredients in a separate bowl
5. Add dry ingredients alternating with the Water to the Pumpkin Mixture
6. Pour into 2-3 Greased (I recommend using PAM Baking Spray) Mason Jars
7. Cook 90 minutes (minimum, most ovens will require a little while longer than this, but remember it will continue cooking even after you pull it out!)
Hope this helped with your USMC birthday and Thanksgiving Boxes!!! I know that my Marine and his unit loved being able to eat something that resembled a Thanksgiving dinner (even though it was all microwave and not close to the real thing... Remember, anything is better than an MRE)
