{A Lovely Day}

Yes, I'm a little late in posting about our Valentine's Day, but anyway . . . We had lots of  yummy treats. I'm not sure which I enjoyed more, the chocolate covered strawberries or the fudge (you'll find the super easy recipe below). The kids came home with lots of cute Valentine's from their friends and more treats : ) My sweet husband got me roses and a lovely decorative heart letter opener. I got him a new wallet with a picture of his lovely wife tucked inside. I made coupon books for the kids so they could get out of doing a few of their jobs and do a few fun activities with mom. We enjoyed heart waffles with strawberry freezer jam for our candle light dinner. We played a few Valentine games, my personal favorite being our new bingo game. I got the idea and template from  eighteen25 then went to work finding all kinds of pictures showing the love in our family. I changed things up a bit by moving the images into different positions so all our cards were a little different. We used Valentine M&M's for our game pieces. It was a lovely day!

 

Fudge

Put in large bowl:

3 packages chocolate chips (or any other flavor)

1 pint or small jar (7½ oz.) Kraft marshmallow cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 sticks of butter (not margarine)

In separate pan:

4½ cups sugar

1 large can evaporated milk

Boil briskly for 7 minutes (do not count until mixture reaches a full rolling boil). Stir constantly or it will scorch. Pour over 
mixture in the bowl, beat thoroughly. Pour into greased pan and chill in refrigerator. Before it is too firm, cut into pieces.

When making chocolate fudge, I use one bag of semi-sweet and two bags of milk chocolate chips. 
Also, I've tried non-Kraft marshmallow cream and it makes a difference.

{Before & After}

I was recently preparing for a fun weekend with grandparents and cousins and decided to do a little baking. The kitchen got a little out of control as I baked three different types of bread (banana, zucchini, and pumpkin chocolate chip), oatmeal cookies and dinner. As I was getting close to finishing up I really had to laugh at the sight that surrounded me. Sarah was happily entertained in her exer-saucer and you can see the television in the background the was keeping Emma and Ben occupied, and well the kitchen . . . a complete disaster! I know my mother taught me better and I generally clean up as I go, but the results were yummy anyway : )

Oatmeal Cookies

1 C Sugar
½ t Salt
1 C Shortening
½ C Hot Water
2 Eggs
2 C Flour
½ t Vanilla
2 C Oatmeal
1 t Soda
½ lb Raisins or Craisins
½ t Nutmeg
2 C Chocolate Chips

Cream the shortening and sugar. Dissolve the soda in hot
water. Mix all ingredients, raisins and chocolate chips last.
Drop dough on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes at 375.

Fall Treat

I made these the other night for our Family Home Evening treat. Jake wasn't so sure about the pumpkin ice cream, but it's actually pretty good. Especially when it's sandwiched between soft ginger snap cookies : ) You can find the recipe for the cookies here.

2009 Calendars

Family, friends and bloggers have been requesting 2009 calendars and I'm happy to say they are ready! This year's file is similar to the one from last year. It's a month and days only file, you choose your own size, color, pattern etc. then add the little calendar. This year I'm also including templates for the bracket frame and an oval frame. I've include a sample of a few of my own 2009 calendars. I'll be printing mine as 4x6.

You can download the file HERE

And in the spirit of Christmas giving, I'm going to put together a set of calendars for one of my faithful blog readers! Here are the details. . .

~ Leave a comment on ANY post through December 10th (more comments = more entries)
~ On December 11th I'll randomly choose 1 comment and post the winner
~ The winner will email me 12 of their favorite images
~ I'll send back the jpegs for 12 calendars with coordinating colors/patterns

Hope you all enjoy sorting through your photos to find the perfect images for your calendars. I'm sure you're loved ones will enjoy these calendars as much as my family.

Happy New Year

I hope you're all recovering well from the holidays. We had a wonderful time in Idaho visiting grandparents and cousins. It can be hard to be far from family during the holidays and we were blessed to not miss out on all the family fun this year. We arrived home around midnight New Year's day. I definitely have some catching up to do around here and plenty of photos to edit.

I made these 2008 desk calendars as Christmas gifts for family. If you'd like to make one yourself, I'll email you the psd file for the calendars (see side bar for email.) I made mine 4x6, but I've also seen them 5x7 size. The calendars can be resized to fit either. I used a hard round brush tool for my circles, you could also use the marque tool to make squares rather than circles. The second picture shows the frame I use to display the photos. It's one of those inexpensive clear frames you can find at Walmart, they come in both sizes. It was so fun looking back through favorite photos as I put them together.

Enjoy the new year!

A Favorite Recipe

I picked this recipe up from the grocery store probably 8 years ago (I know because we haven't lived near this store for about that long!) I didn't actually try the recipe until a few months ago, and now it's a family favorite. I probably have a lot of recipes that would be favorites if I would just try them, but I'm not an adventurous eater. You know the type, likes to eat at the same few restaurants, always orders the same thing, cycles through the same old recipes month after month. That's me! So my challenge to myself and to you is to try a new recipe. I'll even make it easy for you by giving you a new recipe. Happy cooking!!

Salsa Chicken

4 boneless, skinless breast halves
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
2 cups water
2 cups minute rice, uncooked
1 can black beans, drained
1 cup Cheddar or Mexican cheese
sour cream (optional)

Bring chicken, salsa, taco seasoning mix and water to a boil in a large skillet; cover.
Simmer 10 minutes. Return to boil. Stir in rice and beans. Sprinkle with cheese; cover.
Cook on low heat 5 minutes. Top with sour cream if desired.

Baking Cookies

A friend gave Hannah this cute little apron for her birthday and we had to try it out Friday night with a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Thanks Cora! I would have taken a picture of the cookies, but there wasn't any good light by the time they were done and when I thought of it again the cookies were gone. Here's the recipe. It came from my grandma and is a family favorite.

1 C Shortening
1 C White Sugar
1/2 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
1/2 t Baking Soda
1 t Salt
2 1/2 C Flour
1 C Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Cream shortening and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, blend thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 for 10 minutes. Enjoy!!

Grandma's Gingersnaps

My grandmother has the best recipe for soft gingersnaps! I remember eating them in her kitchen, I remember the first time she helped me make them, I remember she gave me a little card to write down the recipe. I still love gingersnaps, and if you ask Hannah what her favorite cookie is, it's gingersnaps. Thanks for the recipe and the memories Grandma, I love you! Happy Birthday.

3/4 C Shortening
3/4 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Molasses
1 Egg
2 t Soda
1/2 t Salt
2 t Ginger
1 t Cinnamon
1/2 t Ground Cloves
2 1/4 C Flour

Cream shortening, sugar, molasses, and egg. Add
remaining dry ingredients. Mix well. Roll into balls,
then roll in white sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet
and flatten slightly. Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes.

Enjoy!