Christmas Goodies Part II

So I wanted to try a few new recipes (you know, to help me decide whether or not to add them to our already too long list) this year. Jury's still out.

These are basically semi-sweet chocolate, caramel, and pecans. But the caramel is too hard and they didn't cut up well. However, they do taste pretty darn good :-)

Sweet peanut brittle. I have never been a peanut brittle fan, but My Man likes it. I think they're a keeper.

These are thin mints. That's a ritz cracker in there dipped in peppermint flavored chocolate. These are a little too easy to just pop in my mouth as I walk by, and I'm not even that big of a peppermint fan.

Christmas Goodies

Okay, so every year my sisters, mom and I schedule one day to make Christmas goodies. And yes, I mean one DAY. It cannot be helped. We must play loud music and drive my mother crazy and we must sample everything we make. Multiple times.

One year I should actually figure out the percentage of goodies we actually give away and the percentage that we store. On our persons. Nevermind, that's a terrible idea.

Anyway, the list of goodies always, always includes...

fudge (we just use the recipe on the back of the fluff jar),

hopscotch crunchies (these don't look like much but they are unbelievably awesome and this is the recipe I always get asked for),

and holiday popcorn (1 cup worth of popcorn kernels, 1 package almond bark and 1 1/2 cups m&ms).

It usually includes

pretzel rods dipped in almond bark,

holly

and peanut butter balls,

and this year we added oreo bon bons. My dairy air is not thanking me.

Oh well. We had a blast. We always do.

Oreo Bon Bons (Thanks, Katie!)
I package of oreo cookies - not double stuffed
1 package of soften cream cheese - I usually let it sit out for 20 min and then use it
1 package of vanilla almond bark.

Place the whole package of oreos into the food processor and grind down until it becomes like a fine dust - no big clumps. Place softened cream cheese in the food processor and blend until everything is mixed.

Roll into balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Freeze oreo balls for an hour.

Remove oreo balls from the freezer and dip in the melted almond bark and place on wax paper. Then decorate the bon bons if you want. I always store bon bons in the freezer or refrigerator because they have cream cheese in them. Also, I use a toothpick to dip them.

Holly
10 oz. bag of marshmallows
1 stick butter
1 1/2 T green food coloring
4 1/2 cups frosted corn flakes
red hot candies

Melt marshmallows and butter. Mix together melted mixture, cereal and food coloring and spoon onto a sheet of waxed paper. Place 2 or 3 red hots on each 'drop'. Let cool.

Peanut Butter Balls
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter
3 cups rice crispies
1 package chocolate chips
1/2 block paraffin wax

Melt butter. Mix together sugar, peanut butter, butter, and cereal. Roll into one inch balls.Melt together chocolate and wax. Dip balls into chocolate mixture to cover completely. Remove and let cool on wax paper.

santa claus cake for the kiddos

My icing job should have been so much better on this, but I was trying to keep from having to make another batch :-) I don't think the kids will be too picky...

My Mail Man

This was my mail man today. She was dying to get suited up and go out in the snow. So I let her mail my Christmas cards. BAD IDEA. The mailbox was frozen shut. So here I go in my housecoat and slippers... I hate snow in my slippers. I'm sure our neighbors are loving us.

Sugar Cookies Revisited

Okay, new pics. Fun, festive Christmas Sugar Cookies.

SUGAR COOKIES

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp butter at room temp

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

In a bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light. Add the eggs, vanilla and almond and beat until smooth. In another bowl, stir flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until smooth. Scrape dough onto a sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap and flatten into disc. Wrap and chill about 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 375. Use non-stick baking sheets, or light grease baking sheets.

Divide dough into 4 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one-fourth of dough about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes using cutters. Place on baking sheets, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart. Sprinkle with sugar crystals, if desired, or leave plain to ice after baking.One sheet at a time, bake cookies for 6-8 minutes, or until light brown on the edges (I use my Pampered Chef stoneware so it takes a little longer at first). Transfer to racks to cool.

Store plain cookies in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.

PETIT FOUR CAKE FROSTING:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 of 1/3 of a cup white corn syrup

1 1/2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/4 cup or less water

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp rum, lemon, or almond (optional-I use almond)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a spoon except water. Slowly add water until frosting is desired consistency. Store covered in the fridge up to two weeks.

very busy weekend

crazy busy wonderful weekend. We went to Lily's 3rd Birthday Party. And, as My Man said, her parents set an all all time high precedent for birthday parties :-) Let me just say it was basically a soccer party with an activity leader at an indoor court that involved turf! The kids (and the dads) had a blast! And Lola showed an aptitude for soccer!

And here's my little sheep. Who sang out and did her motions and smiled. Cutest thing ever. Ever. Did I say ever?

I mean, look at this face!!!!???!

So happy. What a great night.

Let me just tell you,

I have seen the preview for my little girl's Christmas Program tonight. And it's going to be so stinking cute! Can't wait to share pictures from tonight!

funny

So, I neglected to share some of the more humorous shots. My sillies...

Help!

Okay, please vote for a Christmas card (or make a suggestion) so I can finish these, print them, and mail them! Which one's your favorite? I'm naming them so it's easier to vote....

Black Classic

Vintage One
Vintage Two

Flowers

Peace

Weekend

It has been a crazy couple of weeks and I can't even remember exactly what we did... But, I can recount the weekend.

Friday I went shopping, like I always do, with my sisters and my mom. We had lunch at On the Border (AWESOME) and saw New Moon (AWESOME). What a great girls day out. And then that moment when you get home and everyone's so happy to see you (including My Man :-), who watched the kids from 8 to 5 and got absolutely no work done (gasp), so I could shop :-)

Saturday was all day long Christmas decorating that was not completed at the end of the day and the house was trashed. I'm chalking it up to being in a new house. I have to refigure where everything should go!

Sunday was church and then a Thanksgiving leftovers meal with my extended fam. We should have gotten home so much sooner b/c my house was still a mess and the decorating still wasn't done and now there's breakfast mess on top of it... anyway, Sunday night (what? Sabbath?) finished the mantel, put all the boxes away, My Man cleaned up the kitchen and we crashed.

Monday was all day long deep cleaning. I'm still recovering. So, today is cyber catch up day. I'm going to try to catch up here and there, email and stuff, but also... I'm going to try to take the kids' Christmas pictures. I know, I'm certifiably insane. I'll let you know how that goes.

Then maybe I can make 3 dozen oatmeal cookies and a couple dozen sugar cookies?! HA!

Candy Cane Stick Ice Cream Punch

I went through a phase where I was obsessed with this stuff. It was so yummy! I think I drove my extended family crazy by insisting that I bring it to every holiday anywhere near Christmas. I might have been pregnant, but don't tell anyone.

Peppermint Punch
Original recipe yield: 24 servings.

INGREDIENTS:
1 quart peppermint ice cream
1 cup cold milk
2 liters ginger ale, chilled

DIRECTIONS:
Place ice cream in a punch bowl, and allow to soften slightly. Blend in milk and ginger ale. Stir until frothy. Serve at once, or keep chilled until ready to serve.
http://drink.allrecipes.com/AZ/PpprmintPnch.asp

Hopscotch Crunchies

This is a family favorite. Mom used to make these when I was a kid and we dug them back out a few years ago. And once again, big hit. Let the holiday calories begin!

Hopscotch Crunchies

1 cup butterscotch morsels
½ cup creamy peanut butter
3 oz. chow mein noodles
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 pkg wax paper

Melt butterscotch chips and creamy peanut butter. Remove from heat. Stir in chow mein noodles and miniature marshmallows. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto a wax paper lined baking sheet. Chill. Serve.

Been Cooking...Not Blogging

Okay, so, once again, I'm behind. But it's officially acting like fall around here and I just want to... cook! Banana bread, banana muffins with cream cheese frosting, spice cake, chicken noodle soup and fresh bread, chicken and dumplings, white chicken enchilada casserole, no bake cookies, spinach lasagna... busy, busy, busy!

Mama's Stuffing

My mom makes wonderful stuffing from scratch. I love it. This is so good.

Stuffing

2 Tbsp butter
3 ribs of celery
1 large onion
1 cornbread mix
1 small loaf of bread
4 Tbsps of ground sage
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste (lots of pepper for Hubby)
4 - 6cups of turkey broth/chicken broth (Mom boils the turkey neck to make broth)

Fix the cornbread as directed. Set aside. Saute onions and celery in butter. Crumble breadloaf into 9x13. Crumble cornbread into same 9x13. Add eggs, sage, onions, celery, and broth. Stir to consistency. Bake @ 350 covered for 30 minutes, then uncover to brown (5-10 minutes)

Beefy Tortellini Soup

This was served at a dinner party Hubby and I attended. Fell in love (With the soup, I mean. Was already in love with Hubby, of course). I should probably mention that I was in a soup phase. I should also mention I was pregnant and obsessed with soups at the time. Like, every meal.

Anyway, the point is, who doesn't love tortellini? Seriously, best pasta ever invented. Love it.

Also, Hubby and I are huge fans of French bread. Big, crusty, warm, yummy, soup for the soul French bread. Especially with anything pasta and any soup. So this is perfect. Personally, I make my French bread dough in my bread machine and bake it myself. Works for us. Bon appetit!

Beefy Tortellini Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 lb. lean ground beef
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 lb cheese-filled tortellini
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into thin half-rounds
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium saucepan, warm the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic, and stir-fry until the mixture just begins to brown, about 3 minutes. Crumble in the beef and cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink, about 3 minutes.

Add the broth, 1 1/2 cups of water, and the tomatoes. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, basil, and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.

Add the tortellini and cook until al dente according to package directions.

Three minutes before the tortellini are done, add the zucchini to the soup. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is crisp-tender.

Serve the soup with the Parmesan cheese on the side.

I. Am. Overwhelmed.

Let me explain. I asked for Photoshop a couple of years ago for my birthday and have been slowly learning with each occasion to use it. It's Photoshop Elements 5.0 and apparently that's a little different from regular Photoshop.

Like I said, I've been learning bit by bit and have recently found myself very interested in actions. If you know what these are you know what I'm talking about. If you know what a macro is, they're kind of like that. If you don't know what either of those is, let me explain. If you have several steps that you use regularly that you'd like to simplify, you can combine them all into an 'action'. So that when you hit 'go' on said action it runs a bunch of steps with one stroke and speeds and simplifies your process quite a bit.

When I started looking, I found that there are LOTS AND LOTS of actions for regular Photoshop. There are not many out there that are for Elements but they've been slowly popping up. I know next to nothing about actions and once I found them I didn't know how to get them on my computer and use them. So, that brings me to my point. I have been learning bit by bit about Photoshop via Pioneer Woman's tutorials. I just discovered a couple of sites that have PSE (Elements) actions and tutorials. What wonderful sites! I'm so grateful for these women throwing this great information out here for free! I have neither the time nor the money to indulge in actual classes about Photoshop, so these are invaluable to me.

Texas Chicks Blogs and Pics

CoffeeShop Photography

So! To wrap this up. As I learn I'm going to post before and after pictures, well just because I like to torture you and because I'm enjoying them so much I can't help myself. And, I'd like to document my progress (I hope).

And to make sense of my title. There is SO MUCH to learn. My head is swimming. I'd like to learn how to:

Create my own actions

Learn how to use layer masks so I can use other actions to their full capabilities

Better use my camera

That's all I've got right now, but the list is ongoing.

This is what I did today. Not much and it should be subtle. First I adjusted the exposure and then added a little hard light (PW's favorite trick). Not a big difference but I like it.

Old Photos

I had to go through some old photos recently and just fell in love with this pic of Maryanna. I hadn't seen it in so long and she's so little! Then I had to do this. A little mind blowing isn't it?

My kids look so old!

I mean, don't they? They look so old to me! I feel like I have thousands of pictures just like this in my future... Is it just me or am I being a tad sentimental this afternoon? Anyway, Happy Halloween!

This little stinker is going to end me.

End.

Me.

And what's up with this?! Are you TRYING to look 16!? Grandma, if you had anything to do with this, you're in trouble!

I'm not even goint to touch this. He just makes me smile. And I can't wipe the smile off....

Was the butterfly a little much? Oh, who cares. It was so much fun!

I think we're cheering here... I don't really know.

L's like, 'why are we here?'

Maddie and Nana. two peas in a pod.

Camo and pirate. They are gonna love that I posted these :-)

The Ghostrider. We discussed a way to make his hair burn, but none of them seemed practical.

Home and hopped up on hot cocoa.

Mine...

Chris's.... I mean Powell's and Maryanna's.

They were in serious negotiations over the candy.

And that was our Halloween in a nutshell. It was a great night!