Peppermint Glass

 

 Technically this recipe is for peppermint candy canes, not peppermint glass, but I only got two canes made before the rest of the candy hardened so I had to break it up like this. I am a first time sugar-sculpture-maker and I imagine a lot of you might be too, but if you aren't, then this is a candy cane recipe!

 

First, grease two baking sheets with about one teaspoon of butter.

 

 

Next, bring one cup of sugar, one cup of water, one cup of light corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar to a boil. Stir them together when you first add them, but do not stir them while they are heating. The recipe I used didn't give any specific directions about heating--it just said to bring it to 280 degrees. I got worried because for the first several minutes, I couldn't bring it beyond 225 degrees. This is where the science of cooking kicks in. As the water boils away and the concentration of sugar increases, so does the temperature. Because of this process, it does take about twenty minutes from when the mixture begins to boil and when it reaches 280 degrees.

To speed the process along, I pulled out the thermometer and covered the pan until I saw the boiling increase dramatically.

By the time it reaches 280 degrees, the bubbles should look like this. Remove the pan from the heat.

 Stir in 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract and 6 drops of red food coloring. You should be moving very quickly at this point because every second counts when it comes to shaping the candy.

 

As you can see, I didn't do a great job with pouring. It is difficult to pour evenly in a hurry. I would suggest pouring thinner lines to get thinner peppermint canes if that is what you want. If you just want glass, it doesn't matter! And it still tastes good.

 

Wait one minute to start rolling to cool the candy enough that it won't burn you. It should still be warm though. I waited two minutes and that was too long to get it all rolled.

Here is my candy cane attempt.

This is my husband's.

 

After we finished those, the candy just broke when we rolled it, so we snapped it into bite sized pieces. It's difficult to bite apart, so make sure the pieces are small enough to fit in your mouth. Enjoy!

 

Triple Chocolate Fudge

Every Christmas my mom would make batches and batches of this fudge. It seemed like she did nothing but make fudge for a whole week in December. We put it in little holiday bags and my brother and I delivered it to neighbors, teachers, bus drivers, etc. I've continued the tradition and it's still one of my favorite parts of the holiday season.

 



 

Start by putting 4 cups of sugar, 1 can of evaporated milk, and a full stick of butter in a big pot.

 

Add two squares of unsweetened baking chocolate. We always used Baker's.

 

 

Heat everything on a med-high heat, stirring frequently.

 

 

Once the mixture starts to boil, set the timer for eight minutes.

 

After a few minutes it will start to darken and thicken. Continue to stir, or else the bottom will burn.

 

 

After eight minutes, the mixture will look like this. It will also smell amazing :)

 

Ok, I have a confession to make. Despite the fact that I have made this a million times, I decided to do it differently this time and I was wrong. For some reason I had it into my head that it was the marshmallows that made the fudge stiff to stir so I decided to mix in the chocolate chips first. Big mistake. The chips stiffened the fudge even more quickly and instead of pouring out, I had to scoop out the fudge and plop it onto the cooling pan. So...don't do that. lol. My husband did say the fudge tasted more chocolately done this way so it wasn't ruined, but it was not the stuff of tradition.

Anyway, the next step in the process is to mix in one bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, one bag of milk chocolate and one bag of marshmallows.

 

 

When you're done, pour (or plop) the fudge into a buttered jelly roll pan as quickly as possible to keep it from setting before you've spread it out.

Spread the fudge to all corners of the pan. Then, eat the fudge leftover in the pot and on the spoon. That's the best part--it's warm and delicious!

 

Wait for the fudge to cool and then cut it into squares.

Candy Buttons

 

For Christmas this year I made five kinds of homemade candy to give as gifts. I had a lot of fun making it and it was fairly inexpensive too! I started with Candy Buttons because I thought they would be the easiest. There are only three ingredients and not many steps but I found them to be the most time consuming of everything I made. The reason for this was partly because there was so much icing pipe and partly because the bags I used kept breaking. Even with better bags, I would say the total time for this recipe could still be as much as 45 minutes (It took me about twice that).

 

All you need is 3 cups of confectioner's sugar, one egg white and red and green food coloring. You should also cut up paper into strips to pipe the candy onto.

 

 

Beat the sugar and egg white together for five minutes. Then, separate the icing into two bowls. Add green food coloring to one. It took about eight drops to get the above color. For the red you see below, it took me at least 15 drops.

 

 

Scoop one of the icings into a plastic bag. You can use pastry tubes if you have them. I used a simple fold-over sandwich bag and cut a hole in the corner. Cover the other bowl with plastic wrap so it won't get hard while you work.

 

 When I squeezed them out, they had little peaks on them. If you want them rounded, make sure you push the peaks down right away. They start drying before you even finish a strip and then the peaks will just snap off.

 

 

By the time I got to the green, it had become so stiff that it wouldn't squeeze out properly so I had to roll each button between my fingers. That's why the plastic wrap over the bowl is so important.

When you have finished piping out all the icing, allow the dots to dry overnight the pop them off and enjoy!

Simply Delicious Chili

This is my favorite chili recipe. I actually used to hate chili, I think because most of the chili I'd eaten was full of green peppers. Then, when I was in college, a lady from church had a bunch of the college kids to her house for dinner and she made an amazing chili. I had several helpings and she even gave me leftovers. I asked for her recipe but she told me that she just threw it together without one, so one day I went over before dinner to help make it. What follows is a variation on her recipe. I still don't measure things, but it's simple to make and I've included photos, of course!

 

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef

1/2 Medium Onion

1 can Refried Beans

1 can Tomatoes

1 can Red Beans, rinsed and drained

Approx. 1/4 bottle of ketchup

Black Pepper, Garlic Powder

Ground Red Pepper

Cumin, Salt

And of course...Chili Powder

 

 

Start by browning the meat in a skillet. Drain it, then add the meat and onions to a large pot. Cook on medium heat until onions are translucent.

 

 

Shake each of the spices over the meat, covering it from side to side. I usually add only a few dashes of salt, but I use copious amounts of the other spices. It may look like a lot, but this makes a lot of chili and you will most likely end up adding more.

 

Add rinsed and drained red beans, tomatoes and refried beans. Stir ingredients together.

Next, add ketchup. I usually take the lid off and squirt two big glops to start off with. Mix it up and taste it. The ketchup adds color, texture and flavor. It makes the chili a bit sweet. If you feel it's not sweet enough after two glops, add a little more until you are satisfied.

 

In the end, it should look about like this. If it is too thick, add a can of water, otherwise, it's ready!

 

 

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some Jiffy cornbread muffins. Enjoy!

Weekly Menu Board

 

I like to plan my meals for the week ahead of time. Wednesday is my grocery day and I find that knowing what I'm making makes time in the store go faster and my grocery bill cheaper. In the past, I've written everything down on a piece of paper on the fridge. I found this idea for a photo frame menu board on Pinterest and modified it slightly. Because I already had all the supplies on hand, this project took me about five minutes to put together. I love it! It's so much nicer looking than my old notepad and it saves paper too!

 

For this project you will need:

1. One photo frame (mine is pretty big. It's for 8X11 photos)

2. Matting board

3. Patterned scrapbook paper. You can usually find books of it in craft stores.

4. One piece of paper. I used off-white card stock, but it depends on the colors you want.

5. Markers. I used permanent for the inside but you definitely at need dry erase for the glass.

6. Dry erase board eraser.

7. Glue and scissors

 

The instructions are simple: Glue the scrapbook paper to the matting to create an interesting design. Write the days of the week, leaving plenty of room for your meals, on the piece of paper. Place the paper in the frame and matting. Now just write your menu plan on the glass next to the corresponding days!



Christmas Countdown

 

Instead of a chocolate advent calendar, I decided to do something a little more interesting this year. I wanted to make sure we did all off the holiday activities we wanted to so I made a list and wrote them down on little pieces of paper. Every day in December we draw a different activity.

Here are a few things we have on our list.

* Drive around town to look at Christmas lights.
* Watch It's A Wonderful Life and drink egg nog
* Make chocolate fudge (a family tradition. I might put our fudge recipe in a later post)
* Make paper snow flakes
* Listen to Christmas music and play board games
* Write new year's resolutions
* Make and decorate sugar cookies
* Bake cinnamon apples
* Read The Polar Express and drink hot chocolate
* Walk (or drive if it's too cold) to McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts and get hot drinks
* Watch A Christmas Carol and eat popcorn
* Go to the mall and look at the Christmas displays

Feel free to use some or our ideas or make up your own. Most importantly enjoy this wonderful time of the year!

Raspberry Bars

I LOVE raspberry bars. They have some delicious ones at Pret a Manger and I wanted to make some of my own. I was so excited when I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine. I altered it slightly by adding more nuts to the top, which I think added a good extra crunch, instead of the confectioners' sugar that the original recipe called for.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups of butter (a little less than three sticks), softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp grated lemon peel

2 1/4 cups ground almonds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup seedless raspberry preserves

 

Cream butter and sugar in large bowl. Beat in egg and lemon peel.

In another bowl, mix flour, 2 cups ground almonds and cinnamon.

Gradually beat dry mixture into creamed mixture.

Press 2 cups of the dough into bottom of greased 13X9 pan.

Spread on raspberry preserves.

Crumble remaining dough onto preserves. (It is a bit wet to "crumble" so I just dropped pinchfuls). Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup or so ground almonds over top.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until light brown.

Cool and cut into bars. Enjoy!

Pizza Rolls

If you're looking for a quick, simple fun recipe for that's kid and adult friendly, this is it! There are only a few ingredients and it's so easy to make, you can get the kids involved. I found this recipe on Pinterest as a pepperoni recipe. I modified it slightly to a Hawaiian pizza. I also separated the rolls so they would turn out crispier.

(Sorry this picture hardly has any in it. We were so hungry I forgot to take a photo after they came out of the oven til they were half gone. :)

Ingredients:

3 cans (10 rolls each) of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits

Block of cheese (I used cheddar)

1 Beaten egg

Grated parmesan

Italian seasoning

Garlic powder

1 jar pizza or marinara sauce

Whatever other pizza toppings you'd like (I used ham and pineapple)

Preheat oven to 425

Start by using your fingers to flatten out the biscuits into small thin circles. Be careful not to spread them too thin so they break!

Cut the cheese into squares (I was in a hurry, so they're more like chunks). Put cheese and other pizza ingredients in middle of biscuit.

Wrap dough around ingredients, pinching it together. Make sure there are no holes and place, pinched side down, onto greased baking pan.

Mix beaten egg, Italian seasoning, garlic and Parmesan together. Brush lightly onto rolls, being sure to cover all sides. Do not let rolls touch. The sides that touch will not crisp properly.

 

Bake rolls at 425 for 18-20 minutes.

A couple of my rolls were not sealed well, and the cheese leaked out, as you see. So be careful! lol.

Serve with warm pizza or marinara sauce. Enjoy!

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

 

I love breakfast casseroles but I usually don't have a lot of time in the morning to make a fancy breakfast. The great thing about this recipe is that it can be made the night before in the crock pot and be ready when you wake up. I got this recipe from Pinterest. It was pinned from www.alattewithotta.com. I tweaked it a bit because I love bacon and cheese and I didn't think there was enough in the original recipe.

My husband wanted to help, so he cooked the bacon first. I do not recommend using a George Foreman for this. We'd seen his Mom do it and I don't know if hers was a different grill or what, but it took FOREVER for the bacon to cook since it couldn't sit in its own fat. We cooked the whole package of bacon to use later but we only put about 10 strips in the casserole (the original called for 8-10). When I make this again, I will probably add even more bacon. You can never have too much!

 



 

The casserole is layered. The first layer is frozen hash browns, followed by sauteed garlic and onion, then bacon, then cheese.

 

 

When you're done, it should look like this. It just about filled my crockpot, which is a 4qt, I believe.

Next step is to mix together 12 eggs, 1 cup milk, salt and pepper. The original recipe called for 1/2 tsp of each but I just eyeballed it. I love salt and pepper.



 

Pour the egg mixture over the casserole.

 

It looks pretty gross, but it will taste so good!

Turn the crockpot on low and cook for 8-10 hours. I did about 9 and it was perfect. The edges were a little burnt, but that's to be expected.

In the morning it will look like this. Again, this isn't being made for its aesthetic qualities.

Just scoop it out and enjoy!

 

All in, all this was a good recipe. It was tasty, when I added extra cheese and bacon. It's really to your own taste as to how much of that you want to put in, though. The best part is it's easy and it's great to wake up to!

 

Here is the recipe:

 

10 (or so) strips of bacon                    1 bag (2lb) frozen hash browns    1 c milk

1 onion, peeled and chopped              1 bag (8oz) shredded cheese         salt and pepper to taste

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced      12 eggs

 

1. Spray crockpot with cooking spray.

2. Cook bacon til crisp. Cut into pieces.

3. Saute onion and garlic

4. Layer ingredients, starting with hashbrowns and ending with cheese: 1/3 hash browns, 1/3 bacon, 1/3 onion garlic, 1/3 cheese, repeat.

5. In large bowl, mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

6. Pour egg mixture over crockpot. Cover and turn on low. Cook 8-10 hours.