Yummies for the Holidays

I make and give a lot of home made cookies and candies as gifts to family and friends.  I'm always on the lookout for something new and when I spotted a recipe that included chocolate, peanut butter and pretzels, well, need I say more?

As always, when trying out a new recipe, a sample batch must be made. I like to test out how easy or difficult it is to make, how time-consuming it may be, how much does it produce, and of course, the taste test! My favorite part!

Peanut butter mixture rolled into balls, then pressed between two mini pretzels, and dipped in melted chocolate. How could this combination fail? And it didn't.  It's oh, so good!

What is it about the salty and sweet? Peanut butter and chocolate? Crunchy and creamy?

My melted chocolate wasn't gooey enough for dipping, so I ended up spooning the chocolate onto each pretzel sandwich. I used twice as much chocolate than the recipe called for, but that's OK. It's worth the extra chocolate!

It was easy to make, the most time-consuming task was rolling the peanut butter mixture into small balls.  This could easily be a job for the little ones to do, if you don't mind ending up with half the amount-- because I'm pretty sure it would end up with one ball rolled for the pretzel and one ball rolled for the mouth!

I made this using milk chocolate and when I ran out of that, I used semi-sweet chocolate. Both are equally delicious!

Not quite bite-sized, just one or two would be enough to satisfy that sweet tooth!

These would look lovely packaged up into canning jars or small bags and wrapped with a ribbon as gifts. They'll tempt guests in pretty dishes or platters and make great hostess gifts at the holiday party you're invited to, or for the potluck at the office party.

Ready to make your own?

Chocolate-dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels

1 C creamy peanut butter

2 tbsp softened butter

1 C powdered sugar

3/4 C packed brown sugar

1 pound bag of small pretzel twists (this uses nearly the whole bag)

2 bags of  semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

Combine peanut butter, butter, and sugars and with a mixer, mix until crumbly.  Using hands, roll into small balls, teaspoon size.  Flatten balls slightly and sandwich between two pretzels.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 

Melt chips in microwave. Heat for one minute, stir, then heat in 10 second increments until completely melted. Dip chilled pretzel sandwiches in chocolate then place onto wax paper and refrigerate. (I couldn't dip mine very well, so I spooned chocolate onto the sandwiches instead)

Keep in an air-tight container in the fridge and enjoy or give as gifts! 

Commence Christmas Music!

December 1st and we're getting into the spirit! The tree is up, the Advent Calendar is hung, cookie recipes are calling my name...  It's beginning to feel like Christmas around here! Even Andrew is getting elfish!

Even though Andrew is now working, it doesn't mean that we are spend, spend, spending.  We are still frugal with our money, and I shopped for gifts the whole year, scoring items on sale or with coupons to make it an even sweeter deal.  I'm pretty much done with gifts for the kiddos this year, but I still have a few items I need to pick up for other family members. 

Despite repeated requests not to exchange gifts, we have relatives that insist on giving the children something and I always feel bad not having anything in return. I know it's the season of giving, but I always feel like I'm taking and taking and not giving. So I am trying hard this year to come up with some simple gifts that are thoughtful and appreciated, without feeling like I've just drained the bank account.  I don't spend a whole lot on my own children, so it makes no sense to me to spend a lot on my nieces and nephews. It doesn't mean I love them any less-- on the contrary, I am putting a lot of love into what I am making/creating and hoping they'll like what I've come up with.

Andrew has an Aunt that just loooooves snickers-- I plan on making a cloth bucket and filling it with  full-size snickers candy bars for her.  Simple, yet it will be something I know she'll enjoy, and it didn't cost a lot of money, because I used coupons for the candy bars, and it was just a little bit of time at the sewing machine.  I'll be making several similar gifts like this for the Aunts and Uncles, for the ones that have a sweet tooth and put their favorite candies inside them.

For the kiddos-- I have group gifts for them to share, but I'd like to get them all something special for individual gifts.  I'm still thinking and working on that.  I can't say too much here, but I have a few ideas up my sleeve.

 I get to go out all by myself next week-- a rarity now that Andrew is working and I have to wait for a day off, and I'll be picking up items and stopping at the fabric store for a few things.  I don't want to take the kids with me-- they'll see items I want to keep a surprise.  And I must admit, Peter is not the best shopping companion. Whew! He's a handful, that one!  I don't enjoy shopping with him along, I get all flustered and frustrated and I end up forgetting items on my list, or errors are made with the coupons and I end up paying more than I should have, but I can't figure out what went wrong when I am wrestling with a squirmy, screamy toddler that just wants me to let him go and get. down. now. Just reading that last sentence makes me want to go lie down!  He's a great kid, I know he just wants to run and explore and if mama wants to shop, it's not a good combination! Better to leave him at home where he's on familiar turf and I can do my thing in peace.

I have Christmas music playing on my internal radio and I love when the kids tell me they hear certain songs on the radio. They still believe in the magic of Christmas and they were so excited when the tree went up. Now it's the battle of the wills between parents and kids at getting them to leave. the. tree. alone. I actually went so far as to take off the garland and tears were flowing, "I'll be good, I'll be good!  No, mama! Please! We won't touch the tree anymore!" I left it off a day before putting it back up and it worked for a while.  The threat has lost its' power now, so the newest warning is: Any bad behavior and you have to take an ornament off the tree!  So far so good!

I've been thumbing through recipe books, looking for new ideas for cookies and bars.  Before kids (B.K.), I used to make hundreds of cookies and give them as gifts.  After kids (A.K.), I'm lucky if I can make a couple of batches and then fend off the hungry cookie monsters. If anyone got a dozen cookies, they're the lucky ones! This year, I have a good feeling I'll be able to make more than a few batches.  I have some cookie ideas bubbling up in that brain of mine and can't wait to make a test batch.

I made eggnog spice cake the other day and man oh man! Is that ever good!!  Moist and flavorful, and I get that great eggnoggy taste I love in every bite! It's a keeper!  Anything cooked in a bundt pan looks great and we love cake that requires no frosting! The only thing is I would cook it a little longer next time, 40-45 minutes isn't long enough, I'll try 50-55 minutes next time. 

Any good cookies recipes you want to share? I'd love to try new ones!

Thankful

We have much to be thankful for:

Family, our health, our home.

We have something else to be extra thankful about:

Andrew got a job!

He is working in the automotive department at Sears.

We are happy, happy, happy!

***

We went to craft day at the Library on Saturday. Since it was nearing Thanksgiving, I figured it would be a pilgrim or turkey related project.  It was turkey related, alright, but this is ridiculous!

Turkey Drumstick Hats?!?

Ah well, we got a good laugh out of it.

***

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Be thankful for what you do and don't have.

xo



Bloopers

It's that time of year again, when I start thinking of Christmas cards and which picture I want to use in it.  Usually I make my own card by printing a picture on card stock, then stamping or fancy-writing a holiday message. If I'm feeling particularly rushed, I'll just print a bunch of copies then slap a photo inside a store-bought card.

That means it's time for family photos!!

I wish I knew of a photographer that didn't charge an arm and leg, or friends that took great photos, but as it is, I have to make do with what I got: Using the timer on the camera and running back and forth to make it just in time before the 'click'.

I think we got some nice photos and the bloopers are just as fun to look and laugh at, too!

Lots of nail-biting, hoping mama doesn't trip running from the camera!

A candid shot of daddy telling them to "look at the camera!"

Big leafy hats modeled by Sylvia.

                                 No shortage of fishy faces, frowns, and closed eyes in this one!

Will some one please tell this kid to sit down and sit still!

I can't tell you how many photos I took with him not looking at the camera!

We took 2 days worth of photos at Ice Mountain, just down the road from us. We have passed through hundreds of times, but this was the first time we actually stopped and walked around, looking in windows of the old restored houses, church, and barns.  Beautiful place and we'll definitely return. I can see future picnics happening here!

Sewing With The Kids Around

Here's why I wait for the kids to go to bed before I sew:

I made a long skinny scarf in the middle of the afternoon. I had an itch to sew. I didn't want to lose my inspiration, so I sewed with the kids underfoot.

I cut, pinned, sewed, then when I pulled the whole thing inside out, I saw this.

aggghhhh!

I pinned right side to wrong side!

sigh...

Instead of cutting it all apart, I just made a little patch to cover it all up.

Good thing it was the lining and not the outside fabric.

Remind me not to sew with the kids around to distract me!

Fancy Schmancy Sammiches

Around here, we sometimes get tired of the same old-same old.

PB&Js get tired.

Plain ol' ham and cheese get old.

Even my number one fave, grilled cheese, gets boring.

Andrew has been having a hankering for a Rueben sammich lately.

I don't care for rye or sauerkraut but hey, if he likes it, by all means, eat it!

A trip to the deli counter and a lovely lady that let all 6 of us sample different cheeses and meats--

brown sugar ham? delish!

Jarlsberg cheese? yummy!

We came home with a nice selection of deli meats and cheeses to make 2 kinds of gourmet sammiches:

                                                                      The Rueben.

Rye bread with thinly sliced corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing then pressed on the grill with a side of pickle. The husband reports, "It tastes like another!" It looked good, Mom gobbled up her sammich, but just the smell of the sauerkraut after Andrew opened the can was enough to chase me out of the kitchen and keep me from trying a bite.  Glad you like it honey, more for you!

The Turkey Cubano.

A twist on the Cubano which normally pairs ham and pork, this one uses turkey and ham.

Lightly buttered kaiser roll layered with turkey, ham, jarlsberg cheese, dill pickle, and mustard then pressed on the grill. Oh man!!  SO freakin' good!  And I don't even like pickles!! Even the kids gobbled this one up.

It's nice to shake things up a little, to try something different once in awhile.

When I saw the recipe for Turkey Cubanos, I didn't know what Jarlsberg cheese was, though I had heard of it. I learned it's a swiss cheese, slightly stronger tasting than the usual plain swiss cheese. I tried a bite of Andrew's Cubano with a pickle and liked it, then tried a bite of one without pickle and found I liked the tangy taste the pickle added to it, so I made mine with the pickle, too.  It's the first time I've ever purposely eaten a pickle and enjoyed it.

Eaten anything new lately?

Halloween 2011

The thing about living in the country is that we're so spread out from neighbors that children can't trick or treat around here. People look for other ways to go trick or treating, like the mall or other venues. A local church in town hosts a 'Trunk or Treat' in the parking lot out of the trunks of their cars. It works well, the kids yell "trick or treat" and a little something-something gets dropped in their open bags. We thought we'd try going to one of the little neighborhoods as well and I was quite surprised, though I really shouldn't have been, at how many people were parking their cars and walking around the neighborhood.  There must have been hundreds of costumed kids! I hope those houses stocked up on candies! We went to a couple of houses and then decided to head back to the car, there were just too many people and cars and I didn't think it was safe anymore. Plus, it was cold and started to mist so after a quick walk through the small shopping strip where each store was also giving out candy, we came home.

I made Peter a Transformers costume!

He loves Transformers and has several cars he goes to bed with. I found an image of Optimus Prime from the original Transformers cartoons and used that as my inspiration. I purposely made the outfit a little bigger so he could wear it longer and while I was sewing it he was so excited, trying on unfinished pants and sleeves and shouting in his little 3-year old voice: "Transformers! Transformers!" It's made from warm fleece, which could also be used as jammies or a regular outfit.  I also made a mask from the Transformers autobots logo but he refused to put it on for the picture. I could barely get him to stand still long enough for a picture.

So, time for trick or treating and what does Peter do? Absolutely will not put on the costume. Fine. He can use the Popeye shirt. Nope, won't use that either. I know! We'll put him in camo pants and he can use his camo jacket and he'll be hunter boy, except his camo pants were in the dirty clothes basket and after a sniff-test, determined to be too stinky to wear. We finally managed to get him dressed in regular clothes and after much screaming and whining, got him buckled in the car to go. He perked up once we got out of the car and went trick or treating.

Miss Gretchen as a pink princess.

Someone tell my girls to stop growing up! They were so excited for make-up! I never use make-up myself, but I had coupons to get free make-up, luckily, and bought some eye shadow, blush and lipstick just for Halloween.

Evelyn started out as Frankenstein's bride, but morphed into a black princess bride. I wasn't able to get to the store and buy hair stuff to make her hair black and add white stripes to her hair, but she was ok with that. She was just as excited to wear make-up and I tried to make hers a little more dramatic and boy, did she look like a different girl with all that make-up on! She made Piggy a costume, too!

Miss Sylvia wanted to be a princess, too, and while looking for a fancy dress to wear, she spotted this old Cinderella costume we had that was down in the basement for a couple years. It just fit her and she opted to wear this. Flimsy and poorly made, but she was happy and that's what matters.  I made her wear a shirt and tights underneath since it's see-through and it was cold.

Happy Children make for a Happy Mama.

I'm disappointed Peter didn't wear his costume, but I know he'll wear it later. I enjoyed making it anyway.

Hope Halloween was good for you, too!