New Years Eve

 Here is what I see out my window today. Just remmants of snow.

Very mild,   almost spring like. I know it won't last  but oh what a nice break after an early  wintry snowy month . A touch of sun...




 Flowering indoors  yet again this tough orchid.......managed to kill  2 others but this one has survived and thrived.
For New Years Eve a quiet celebration  for us, shrimp, strawberries ,   a little wine , watch Royal Canadian Air Farce , not sure which  celebration    from Times Square or Toronto....or will I be asleep?
 For a little excitement, did buy   not 1 but  2 Lotto Max tickets.. tho I do wonder what I would do  with 50 Million..
  ROFLMAO

LRW # 61

Little Red Wagon's challenge this week is leftovers..
 I received a  gift with  a  lovely gift tag attached to it. It was too lovely to be thrown away..
 I wondered how I could reuse it..  perhaps as an ornament for next years Christmas tree..
This terrific  challenge   gave me the perfect    way to   recycle  .
The  only thing I did was accent winter white card base with  red and green layers topped with the   tag just as it came,one can see why I could not throw it out .
I did    raise the  mitt up off the card base.
Love it, in fact this card may be the   master of the cards I make for next Christmas....

Merry Christmas to You!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Dulce De Leche Macaroons and Cherry Meringue Cookies.

Well I did not stick to my plan of only making  5  Christmas cookie treats.... I do have a good excuse. The  store bought  Dulce de leche I had in the  cupboard and it needed to be used up and I had  egg whites left over from  a recipe. Couldn't be wasteful could I? Found  the Dulce De Leche recipe on line  at Taste and Tell blog.

Perhaps I should have stopped at the  first  5 items . Not happy with the way these look. I don't think it was the recipe I think it was the store bought   dulce.  If I had used  regular condensed milk and  made the dulce myself I think it would have been successful. They do taste good however.

Next I had left over  candied cherries to combine with the egg whites.
These are called Forgotten Cookies.
Ingredients;
2 egg whites


Pinch of salt

2/3 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Beat egg whites, to which salt has been added, until  very stiff. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Fold in candied cherries.
 
Drop spoonfuls onto parchment paper.  Turn off heat at once and leave for 2 hours or even overnight, thus the name" forgotten" .

These cookies are  delightful  . Light and  sweet.... Alternatively you could add chocolate chips and pecans.....

  I really am done baking cookies.  Now to package them up to share with  the neighbours and family....

LRW # 60 Challenge

The challenge this week is last minute table favours or place cards .
It so happened I was making favours to take to my daughter's for Christmas Day, a tradition we started many  years ago to take or make  little favours for any holiday  table. .
But they are definitely not  last minute. Time consuming but fun.
 My inspiration came from the Internet after a lot of searching .
First found Lavender Stampers  bird houses and then the tutorial from Stampin Stuff. Thank you both.
Made 11 of these little candy holders....     

Winter Officially Arrives

Winter officially arrives today. Someone should have told Old Man Winter .
 We have had winter for the last month...Lots of snow so far..... Wonder what the winter weather will be like for the  rest of the season.......... Was up early , out my window ,just before the dawn  ..
The full moon   lit the night with  silvery light  No, did not stay up for the eclipse..
A light dusting of snow  covering the front step.

Now it is daylight , the sky is bright blue and the  sun shining brightly...making the shortest day of the year  cheery....  The sedum  , blue spruce and  hydrangea have a unique beauty when dusted with snow.......

I can appreciate the beauty  of winter and  a blanket of snow   but  I long for spring.
Already!

Fudge and Peanut Brittle

The final  2 treats I have made , brown sugar  fudge and microwave peanut brittle....  The long standing favoured  recipes I have posted  before. Blog post 12.20.08.
Will I stick to my resolution not to bake more?
Hum, did find a   Dulce De Leche Macaroon recipe would love to try , that way I could use up the coconut  that is left over.......

Margaret's Party Shortbread

This classic cookie  came   orginally from  an old  Mennonite cookbook. We  first  had them  when they were baked by my  son in law's Mother Marg. She baked  them every Christmas.  We renamed  these  light  melt in your mouth  cookies ; Marg's , after she died  much too young from cancer.

These cookies have become a tradition in the family  Sherry, Rosanne and I make them  every year.....

Ingredients;
1/2 lb. butter
1/2 c. icing sugar
2 c. sifted flour- less 2 TBSP.
2 TBSP.cornstarch
Replace the 2 TB. flour with 2 TB.cornstarch.ream butter , add sugar gradually  and blend in flour/ cornstarch mixture. May  need a bit more flour if too sticky.
Roll into cylinders and  chill in fridge.
Cut into 1/3 inch  thick  slices. Place on  buttered cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 300.
Bake 15-20 minutes . Watch like a hawk.  Do not brown!
Almond Icing;
4 TBSP. soft butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
pinch of salt
1-2 TBSP milk
1 tsp. almond extract
Mix  all ingredients together. Ice cookies when cool and  decorate as one likes....

How to wrap gift cards?

I have teenage grandchildren and what  do they want? Money or gift cards..
Can't say I blame them . The generation gap really shows when I buy something I think they would love and  it isn't a resounding success. Not that they say anything , one just knows.
I seem to remember some gifts I received   as a teenager that weren't just    the best est. 
Even tho I understand just giving a gift card seems  blah to me.  Yes I have made some pretty  gift card holders but still  it left me  wanting.
Decided to do a google search.Whatever did we do before google?
Found several what I think are fun ideas to disguise   money or gift cards........
These are the  3 I am trying this year.
The first is  a paper towel roll inside the money gift and filled with   butterfinger jingle bells  my granddaughters favourite  chocolate bar ;

Then   wrapped as a  Christmas Cracker .

The next is a simple ,   Santa bag holding chocolate covered pretzels  hiding  the movie  gift card   inside  behind the pretzels. This one is for my son in law.

This last idea is  from Schlosser  designs  Krispy Treats  Gift  Bags. This one I am hiding the I Tunes gift card  in the Rice Krispies bag. I wrapped the card in saran wrap to protect it.  

 

Tied together.

 I hope  the  little extra surprise of finding  gift cards or money make the gifts more fun to open.

I certainly  feel more satisfaction  trying to   make  this  kind of gift    a bit more special.

 Wonder if   the recipients will think I have lost my mind?

White Christmas Squares

This is another new to me recipe.. oh so yummy!
Had these treats at the  Festival by the Bay at the first of November.   They were  sold by a local restaurant , The Causeway.
Loved them so much   not only because they are  delicious  but  the  festive wintry  look....
Found   a recipe from Australia.
 First  batch was too dry and fell apart.   Tasted good  tho.
So second try , doubled the  white chocolate/shortening mixture.
Changed the recipe by  adding a 2nd  white chocolate  layer with coconut sprinkled on top to give it a more   finished look.
 I had   converted the   ounces to  metric  but feel I need to invest in   a scale for recipes needing  Imperial measures, perhaps the first batch would have been successful. 

White Christmas Squares


3 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup coconut
3/4 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 ounces mixed candied fruit, chopped
2 ounces red and green candied cherries, chopped
1/4 cup raisins

These last 2 ingredients I doubled, first batch was too dry.

 1st :4.5 ounces white vegetable shortening
        4.5 ounces white chocolate chips
 2nd:1   small bag white chocolate   with 1 Tbsp.  white shortening melted together in microwave.
Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan . Line with waxed paper.
Combine Rice Krispies, coconut, powdered milk, confectioners' sugar and all fruit in a large bowl.
Combine  shortening, and  white chocolate in bowl microwave for    about 1 to 2 minutes til soft . Stir until mixture  is smooth.
Combine  1st chocolate  mixture and Rice Krispies mixture.
 Press into the prepared pan .Refrigerate. Once cool and set.
With 2nd white chocolate  mixture  ice the squares and sprinkle with  additional coconut.  Re  chill.
Then can be cut in squares or broken into  shaggy chunks.
I like the shaggy look...

Buckeyes

The second  new cookie I am making  not baking are buckeyes . These are easy no bake treats.. Taste just like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

 This summer the neighbours   all raved about them...... I had never heard of these. However when  I tasted one realized  I know  them as peanut butter balls.. it is all in the name!
I like the  descriptive Buckeye name better since  they do look like that.
 Recipe;
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons shortening
Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar to form a smooth stiff dough.

 Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate.
Melt shortening and chocolate together in microwave.
Remove balls from refrigerator. Insert a wooden toothpick into a ball, and dip into melted chocolate. Return to wax paper, chocolate side down, and remove toothpick.Smooth hole made with toothpick.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set

No Power

Yesterday afternoon at  3:45 the power  decided to go off.... 
No,at that point we  did not have  an ice storm or a blizzard.
 It had rained most of the day, hadn't started to freeze yet. So  I ask the  powers that be, why oh why , does the  electrical system   break?... don't they know I am addicted to everything electrical.
 I have important things to do like play my usual  afternoon game of Scrabble on Pogo,   flick thru TV channels looking for something that catches my attention on HGTV, the Food Network or the Mystery channel, not to mention   starting  supper...  There was still daylight coming in the windows but night falls early at this time of the year around 5ish . Amazingly I  did have my wits about me  and  set about  lighting many candles throughout the house , particularly the bathrooms, note to self make sure I buy more  matches this week. So while I fumed  about the lack of  power   and worried  about how long it would be off  , a week ago   power was off for over 8 hours.
After   all don't "THEY" know  the season finale of Amazing Race  is on as is the creepy finale of Dexter.
Shaking my fist I ask "How could the  Power  Gods  do this to me! "
Settling  down somewhat I  found my  current mystery novel ,managed to read for  a while by the light coming in the windows..... as  I watched   the minutes tick by , we have a battery operated clock so at least I could   see the hours slip  by.  Torture.
DH  had dug out a battery operated radio and several flashlights... he also

had the fireplace crackling so  toasty warm  we were.Being Canadian we are prepared.....

Darkness fell  , candle light was  flickering,

Christmas songs playing softly  on the radio,   poured  a glass of  Magnottas ruby red  blackcurrant wine,  nibbled on  a very old cheddar cheese and  crackers. DH and I actually talked.
Ah, rather  romantic , calm and peaceful.
Power back! after 2 and a half hours.
Thank goodness! this short  taste of pioneer days is not for me....another note to self to make sure I stock up on  batteries..
Pioneer woman I am not.  

Cardamon Snaps

Today the Christmas baking has begun.
Every year I say I am not making as much as other years. Cause guess who eats way too much of it all. ME!
So over the next few days I will post the restrained    5 items I am  making...... Only 5!
Will I stick to my resolve?
After   going thru  my cook books,I decided I would  make a few  family favourites  but mostly try new   cookies.....

Found this new cookie recipe from Better Homes and Garden. I get their  daily emails and  this  cookie recipe was in their All time Favourite Christmas Cookie collection. The link takes you right to the recipe.

This cookie appealed  because it has  3  well loved flavours, cardamon, molasses and cinnamon .

They do  need a day to mellow  the flavours.  I had  to watch the time in the oven decreased my time by 1 minute so not to over bake.

These cookies are dipped in white sugar and cardamon  before baking, love  how they sparkle..They were soft when taken out of the oven but quickly became a crisp cookie.

Christmas Touches

Sprinkled thru the house are  Christmas touches.
 In the kitchen  a lovely  pink and cream splashed poinsettia from my Mom.

 Bright red tea towels.

This lit snowman is from Lenox and has glitter that fills the globe when plugged in, so cheery . He overlooks my baking area in the kitchen.

 Bright box for cookies yet to be baked.



 Mugs waiting for hot chocolate and marshmallows.





 Snowmen I love , this tea light greets visitors in the foyer,










Simple touches in the bathrooms ;
Star container from Rosanne filled with flouresent green glittered apples .
3 crystal candle holders with dark balsam scented votives accented with holiday finger towels.

I so look forward every Christmas to bring out this   favoured Christmas decoration I recieved many years ago from my Granddaughters. It is a  quart sealer jar  filled with potpourri and a string of  Xmas lights , topped with a lace  doily and tied with a bright red and gold ribbon. Each year I refresh the   potpourri  with  oil  scent , this year is cranberry. When the lights are on the  soft scent fills the air . Brings a smile everytime  I look at it.

In the living room ; out come the Xmas  pillows  and the  white   bear for lounging on the sofa.

My little tree is up decorated with apple green, bronze and peacock blue colours..

Mercury glass votive holders  accented with  green and bronze on the mantel.

On the  coffee table more glittered bright green and a  Fitz and Floyd Santa tidbit plate , candy dish and  acorn candle.
An electic  mix  but many loved special to me pieces...

LRW # 58 Use a Die Cut

Here is my  cute  seasonal card using a die cut from Big Shots...  Found   this design on line and  just  loved it. Great for the Grandkids cards.....