Baking Bonanza

Every year around Christmas, my Mom, sisters Kari and Brenda and I like to get together and have a Girl's Baking day.  This last Sunday we did just that and invited our friend Shamara over to help.  My Grandma even stopped by for a bit.  It was a such a fun day and we got through 10 recipes in just a few hours.  It took some planning but it all worked out.

We made two flavors of Fudge.  The first is a traditional chocolate and the second is a peppermint.  We followed this recipe from Nestle for both except in the peppermint one, we substituted mint chips and peppermint extract.

We also made Magic Bars using the recipe on the back of the Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk.

My favorites were these Holly Crackles.

These are my husband's favorite.  Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.

These Oreo Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies sound strange but they are so delicious.

We had to make another batch of these awesome Rolo Turtles.

These Haystack cookies were requested by my sister Brenda.  The recipe is super simple.  Just melt 3/4 cup peanut butter and one bag of chocolate or butterscotch chips in a saucepan.  When melted, add a 10 oz bag of chow mein noodles.  Stir until full coated and then drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper.  Let set up for at least an hour and then enjoy the crunchy goodness.

Finally, a family favorite, Cowboy Cookies.  I will share the recipe for these at a later time.  They come from a cookbook my Mom helped put together when I was in 3rd or 4th grade at my Elementary school.  Lots of great memorable recipes in there.

Quick Christmas Craft Round-Up

To combat what was becoming a rather annoying Facebook game habit, I have taken up this blog. It gets me crafting and into the kitchen. It also keeps the guys at work happy when I bring in a baking project. This Christmas, I have been extra crafty and have been very "Pinspired". I thought I would share some of the crafts I have been doing these past few weeks.

These are gift tag/ornaments I made.  The Inspiration is here.

I loved how easy these recycled magazine bows were to make.  Inspiration here.

An adult size Tutu.  Inspiration here.

Something I put together and put up at work.  The guys love to come in and "Jingle My Bells".

When I first saw this, I knew I had to make it.

And finally, I made this garland but didn't take a photo of it so here is one of the snowmen.

Dollar Store Wreath

I love cheap, cute Christmas crafts.  It's the 4 Cs.  I bought 12 tubes of 12 ornaments each at the dollar store.  Along with 2 coat hangers and some ribbon, I turned them into 2 wreaths.  

 I turned this basket of ornaments into this...

The task was simple.  I took the ornaments out of the package and glued the tops to the ornaments, just so they would stay.  Next, I shaped my hanger into a circle, then untwisted the top.  I began threading ornaments on, one at a time, letting them bunch up until I had filled the entire circle.  I re-twisted the top and tied a bow and viola!  For around $6 and an hour or so of time, you have a wreath.  I've made 3 of them so far.  They are so simple to do as you watch TV.
 

Rolo Turtles

One of my favorite things to buy after a holiday on clearance, is a box of Turtles.  I have been seeing these Rolo Turtles all over Pinterest lately so I decided I had to make them.  I went to the Safeway to buy some of my baking supplies with my groceries and my regular checker asked me what I was up to because there was a bunch of "weird stuff" in my order.  I guess I go there a lot. :)

Rolo Turtles

Pretzels (I used the square ones)
Rolos
Pecans
Place the pretzels on a baking sheet, with space in between.  Then place a Rolo on each pretzel.

Put the pan in the oven at 350 for 4-5 minutes.  The candy will look shiny but not be melted.  Press a pecan into each Rolo.  Be careful not to push too hard and work fast.

Homemade Cocoa Mix

A few years ago, I was an avid Food Network fan.  I was on that channel all the time.  Now, Cooking Channel peaks my interest more often but still, most things on there, let's be honest, I will never make.  You get more than 5 ingredients and my eyes glaze over.  Anyway, one show that I will watch over and over again is Good Eats.  The other day, there was a Chocolate episode on and he made his own Cocoa mix.  I thought it would make great Christmas gifts so I gave it a try.

Homemade Cocoa Mix
2 1/2 cups Powdered Milk
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 cup Cocoa Powder
2 tsp Corn Starch
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Mix thoroughly and store in an air tight container.  Will keep for up to 2 years.
To Make Cocoa, put about 3 tbsp of mix in a cup and pour boiling water over to fill the cup about half way.  Mix well and then fill the cup the rest of the way and enjoy.

My first batch, I made according to the recipe above.  The cayenne added a kick but my husband hated it.  My next batch was made without it and we both preferred it.  (A little cayenne goes a LONG way so be careful.)  I have even added the cocoa mix to my coffee and it made a great mocha.  Give this a try, you won't be sorry. 

The 12 dates of Christmas

I don't know about you but around the holidays, our schedule gets so busy and hectic that we kinda forget to enjoy it.  I was cruising Pinterest, as I do daily, and came across a post for "The 12 Dates of Christmas".  I thought it was a great idea and came up with my own list.  We will start right after Thanksgiving.

When I introduced this to my husband, he wasn't too keen on the idea but he agreed to give it a try.  We shall see how many dates we actually get through.  Most of the "dates" are things that need to be done anyway, but I usually do them alone.  I am just hoping to get some quality time together, which is what is important anyway right?

Melted Crayon Art

Been meaning to do this project for a while.  Here are my supplies:

Glue Gun & Sticks
Crayons
Carboard
Canvas
Wax Paper
Hair Dryer

Glue crayons in a row on the piece of carboard.

Set up a booth of sorts with wax paper.  The crayons will splatter so cover more area than you think you will need.

Point the Hair Dryer at the crayons as close as you can get without touching them and just let them melt until you get the desired look.

Halloween Wrap Up

Each year we have an adult Halloween party.  When we started, none of us had kids, so it made sense.  I just wanted to share with you some of the projects my sister and I did for the party.  Thanks to my Aunt Stormy for taking the pictures as my camera is out of commission for good.

My sister, Kari, carved these the very first year.  They are fake, obviously but they look really cute all lit up.

Remember the stuff I posted here and here?  This is how I put them together.  Cute bowls, foam and moss form the Dollar Tree.  They looked nice on black table covering.

 

We made these from cardboard (thanks to Uncle Sean).  Kari cut the shapes, I painted the basic color and she added the pizazz, as she always does.

 

This giant spider is one of my favorite decorations.  The pennant, I just printed from here onto yellow card stock and hung with orange yarn. I got the bloody background at Walgreens for 99 cents.

 

Kari really wanted to make her own pinata but after 2 attempts, she had to go buy one.  We were trying to do things on the cheap so she bought a yellow happy face pinata at the discount grocer, spray painted it orange and added a jack-o-lantern face.  It was a hit, literally!

 

Here are the trophies.  I got the idea here and then we ran with it.  We used chunks of wood, Dollar Tree skeletons, gold spray paint and vinyl letters.  It was actually quite hard to get them to stay how we wanted but I think they turned out great.  Here is a closer look at all the trophies.

 

This is Molly and her amazing Peacock costume that won Best Overall.

I also flexed my sewing skills a bit and made my husband, Roger's and my costumes.  Here they are:

This is Roger with my cousin Chelsey.  He was Fat Bastard from Austin Powers.  I sewed the kilt and hat.  I also made the dangle balls on his hat and socks.

And finally, here I am as Honey Boo Boo.  I took a t-shirt and bedazzled it, made the sash and the tutu.  It was a really fun costume to wear.

A Week Of New Recipes

It's always a struggle to figure out what to make for dinner and what to buy at the grocery store.  If I go to the store without a list, I just feel lost and to make a list without knowing what I am going to be cooking just seems reckless to me.  Those are the days you end up with cookies, chips and a random tub of guacamole when you don't even like guacamole.

In order to keep our grocery budget in check, I usually sit down every Saturday or Sunday and make a list of dinner for the week.  My list consists of five to nine different recipes that are either new or old standbys.  Then I take those recipes and write down everything in them that I don't already have in my cupboards.  This also helps me know when my staples are running low.  After I write own the needed ingredients, I will go through the sales ad for my grocery store.  For me, I only shop at Safeway, I have my favorite checker and I really like their new Just For U program which I can put coupons directly onto my club card.  After I check the ad, I assign the recipes each a day of the week, trying to alternate proteins and ease of preparation dependent upon what we have going on that day.

Last week, I had a pretty free schedule so I decided to make five new recipes, enjoy!

Monday:  Cheesy Chicken Casserole

We really liked this recipe.  I used rotisserie chicken leftovers and left out the peas.  My picky eater of a husband even liked this and said next time the peas would actually be ok.  This will probably be on our menu about once a month.  It was so simple.

Tuesday:  Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

This was pretty good.  We left out the onion.  I have adored Golden Mushroom soup since I discovered it about a year ago.  It is my favorite condensed soup to use.  I prefer my regular old Beef Stroganoff to this but I would make it again.

Wednesday:  Skinny Coconut Shrimp

I had a horrible day this day so I think my bad attitude tainted the recipe.  I bought the wrong shrimp, I waited too long to make it and we didn't eat until almost 8, which is really late for us.  I should have taken more time with this recipe and I think it would have been delicious.  I got irritated with breading each shrimp.  As it was we both liked it and I will make it again.

Thursday:  Swedish Meatballs

This recipe was a jumping off point for me, I kinda went out on my own.  I left out the allspice, celery and onion in the meatballs.  I did follow the meatball cooking instructions though and I thought it gave them a really great texture and flavor.  I enjoyed this recipe and was a little peeved we only had enough leftovers for one of us to take for lunch the next day, so next time I will make a slightly larger batch.

Friday:  Wing It!
We had some cat issues this week and we had to go to the vet on Friday.  We were supposed to try a baked Sweet and Sour Chicken but didn't have time for it so we picked up KFC.  That's what I love about having a plan, it can always change and its no big deal.  That recipe is now on for next week.

I am off to make my menu and see what I can make before payday/grocery day.  Have a great week and thanks for reading.

Halloween Pinwheel Craft

These pinwheels were so easy.
You will need:
Scissors, a dowel or skewer, a double-sided square of paper (any size you want), a small bead and push pin.

Here are some really great instructions for making a pinwheel:
http://www.leslietryon.com/3dcolorcutout/makepinw/makepinwheel.html

I used 6" x 6" paper.  I just took a 12 x 12 piece of scrapbook paper and cut it into 4 squares.
Fold the paper on the diagonal both ways

On each fold, cut about 2/3rds of the way down

Fold over every other corner to the center

Push the pin through each of the 4 corners and directly into the middle of the paper.  Place a bead between the paper and the dowel and push the pin into the dowel to secure it.  I suggest using an extra long push pin.