Month: December 2015

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Christmas Clocks & Car Decor

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To everyone who has read Chocolate Castles in 2021 I just want to thank you. The Annual Report from Word press arrived today and it was exciting to see that over 18,000 people from over 90 countries read my blog this past year. So just wanted to thank each of you who have stopped by at one time or another to check out recipes or stories. Chocolate Castles began in 2009 as a result of friends calling to ask me a recipe. When Jason, my son was with me one day and I received a couple of phone calls requesting a certain recipe, he suggested that I start a blog. When I told him I didn’t have a clue what a blog was, he sat down and showed me. From that point on, I was hooked. It is so exciting to see comments or hear from friends that they found a recipe which was a hit with their family or a story had made them laugh.
Which brings me to what happened as Randy and I were driving home today from buying black eyed peas for tomorrow. . We were stopped at a red light and a young man in a pick up pulled up beside us. I glanced over and saw something that made me perk right up. There hanging in his windows were Christmas lights strung all across the back window of his pick up. When I began to grab Randy’s arm to get him to look over at them, he was already for me. I turned with a huge grin to say, “OH my gosh, look what we can do next year! We can line the dashboard of our car with garland and put those little battery operated Christmas lights all over it” when he gave me the most glaring look and said, “you have got to be kidding me. No lights will be inside or outside our car.” Visions of going to see if I could find another Christmas clock that plays Christmas carols at Walgreens (yes that is where I have found them in years past) which play a different carol on the hour was already going through my mind for next year. I could just see our new Christmas clock sitting proudly on the dashboard right in the middle of the lit garland. We would be the first Friscoians I bet to display our Christmas spirit this way. Just this year I was finally able to talk him into buying the reindeer antlers for the car, but never got him to actually put them on the car. Maybe Christmas 2022 will be the year that I can talk him into driving around with antlers and the red nose on the front of our car. AND…install my new garland with lights!
But next year, the day after Thanksgiving, if you see a little white car with lit garland inside their car, please take the time to wave at us. Maybe you will get to stop at a red light beside us and we will display our holiday spirit by rolling down our car window so you can enjoy the sounds of our new Christmas Clock in the car. Am headed to Walgreens now to see if they still have any before all their Christmas stuff is put away for the year.
So here is to 2022and the continuing of sharing a few of my passions, cooking and writing. Happy New Year to one and all!

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Holiday Stew

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This is a great stew to have for dinner on these cool December nights.

Chocolate Castles

This one is a winner, all you little elfs out there. It was served at a friends progressive dinner the other night and everyone had a fit over it.

1 1/2 lb pork cut into cubes

2 cups chopped onion

16 oz Kielbasa or Polish sausage cut in to 1/2 in slices

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 carrots, pealed and sliced

6 red potatoes pealed and sliced

15 oz chicken broth

2 cans cannelline beans, rinsed and drained

1 can tomato paste

1 teas dried thyme, crushed

1/2 teas ground black pepper

1/2 cup coarsely chopped tomates (you can used canned)

Combine ingredients in slow cooker, except for the tomatoes. Cook on low heat for 8 to 10 hours or high heat for4-5 hours. Add tomatoes and cook 10 more minutes. (You can add the tomates with the rest of the ingredients if using canned). Garnish with any toppings you…

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Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

A Different Type of Christmas Carol

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It’s the dream of every (well almost every) grandmother to have a houseful of family over Christmas, and I am no exception. When our kids from Phoenix decided to come here for Christmas week, we were elated. Oh I could just imagine the sights and sounds we would get to have all around us. The grandkids are now 14, 6 and 3. Our 2 adult kids that live here have one child each, one 18 months, the other family 11 years. We have a granddaughter, 5 which lives in Orlando but was not blessed to see them this Christmas so one less to bake for.  So we have quite a span in ages. About a week ago, I began making cookie dough to put in the freezer so that all I had to do was unthaw and bake.  I made sure that I knew how to find the Christmas music stations on the TV so the house would be filled with “Ring The Bells, Joy to the World and Silent Night while we snacked on homemade cookies, made just for the precious angels that would be running in and out all week. Making sure to have just everyone’s favorite cookie made, I had my checklist all checked twice and made sure that everyone’s favorite was made and on the platter the minute they walked in the house. Isn’t it amazing how we conjure up what we feel like would be the perfect way to begin Christmas. Visions of a pretty platter of peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip and sugar cookies sitting out, while listening to It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas playing in the background. The little ones would bring us the book,  Twas The Night Before Christmas while wiping sleepies from their eyes the first morning here. We would have the fireplace going with Frosty The Snowman movie on the TV while they cuddled on our laps. IS THERE A FAMILY THAT GETS TO ACTUALLY PLAY THIS SCENE OUT? If there is, please send me to them so I can see what that is really like!

So far, the visit has gone like this:

The 14 year old arrives, gives us a hug, disappeared to the bedroom and worked on his hair for 30 minutes. Then left to go spend the night with his cousin. Haven’t seen or heard from him since. But we still have the 6 and 3 year old right?

Well, after having the 6 year old in our bedroom on a makeshift bed, he awoke this morning asking every 10 minutes, “can I open a present”! Literally, when we finally had to tell him that every time he ask that, we would take one of the presents out from under the tree and give it to someone else. So he rephrased the question to, “can I NOT open a present” telling us that he wasn’t asking “can I open a present now”, so it didin’t count so we couldn’t take any of his presents away since he wasn’t asking that question. After we got that settled and thought, “ok, we won that battle” he begins to stomp around the house singing,  “What do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor, what do you do with a drunken sailor, so early in the morning?”

I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know what I would like to do with a little 6 year old that sings that song over and over 15 times.

Maybe if I offer them some homemade goodies, they will be more in the Christmas spirit. So I bring out all the homemade cookies, that are sure to put a sparkle in their eye. They look at them and say, “Nana, do you have any of those Little Debbie Christmas trees you gave us when you came to visit us?” What? They are choosing Little Debbie over Nana?

Everyone is gone for a couple of hours, even Frosty left (probably is sitting in the car at a park someplace to get some peace and quiet) so I am sitting here, listening to Christmas Bells Are Ringing. At least I can have visions in my head of what some magical family out there is experiencing with family. And I wonder why our kids gave us a CD of Christmas Vacation with Clark Griswald. Maybe because our family much more resembles that family that the families inside the pages of Southern Living.

Do we really think it was an accident that Grandma stepped in front of the reindeer? Hum….maybe she just couldn’t take listening to “what do you do with a drunken sailor” one more time!

Merry Christmas to one and all! May you and your family make some precious memories this year as you celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord! Because of Him, we can have life eternal, peace on Earth and Joy….we give Him thanks for the laughter and joy that fills our home this Christmas!

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Not That God

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The other evening a sweet friend, Janet, gave me a book which was written by her son– in- law, Ryan Smith. The name of the book was Not That God. This morning I again woke up around 4 am and could not go back to sleep so found myself coming downstairs once again to drink hot tea and read. I began to read Not That God. It made me realize that my perception of God is quite often a result of how I as it should be. In my desire to love God and trust Him I seem to fall into the thinking that if I am good enough, pray more and spend time in His Word, I will have a blessed life. (talk about “earning” your salvation) I was raised to fear God with a Holy type of fear. Not to be afraid of Him but to have a Holy respect which would make me realize that He is the Holy One! That He should be honored above all else and to obey His Word in complete trust. As I have grown in years and hopefully in my faith, it seems that I am doing just what I read. That my expectations of who I think God should be is a little off. At times, I think we all feel that if we walk according to His will and simply obey what we know we are suppose to be doing, that it will “get us something”! We begin to treat God like a genie. We obey, He grants our wishes! But as I continued to read, I realized that God is much more interested in our character than our comforts. He allows things to fall on us in order that our love, dependency, and faith in Him will grow. Those valleys that He brings us through are allowed so that we will grow our faith and begin to see that these times of sorrow, sickness or stress can be times of opportunity for us to reach out more to our Heavenly Father. We have a way of keeping God in our own little box of what we feel He should be and expect Him to do. We make our decisions and then expect Him to bless them. We pray and give Him our desires and our requests and then expect Him to answer in the way that we feel is best. So when He doesn’t answer in the way we feel He should, we become angry and wonder ‘where God is”? Not That God is a book that challenges us to rethink what we have always felt about God.

In this Christmas season, it is a great time to begin a new approach to how I really feel about God and His great love for all of us! We always hear that “He is the reason for the season” but as we heard in church last week, “we are the reason for the season” Jesus came to earth as a baby to save us from our sin. God was the first gift giver. We have Christmas because He came as a baby that we might have life eternal. He gave His Son willingly for us. He did it out of a great love for us. After His giving of His most precious Son, how can we not love Him enough to trust Him for the circumstances, the trials or valleys, which He allows to come into our lives? This season, may my heart be open to accepting that “His ways are not my ways, nor His thoughts, my thoughts”. That I will always remember that God is love, but maybe I need to learn to redefine ‘love” in order to understand a little more of what God is trying to do in my life.

*Not That God, written by Ryan Smith

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Friday Night Chicken Party

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As we are living in Texas with plenty of storage to “house” our Christmas décor now, a sweet friend mentioned to me over the weekend that I should repost this story. It did make me so thankful for Texas size closets and always a supply of breaded okra in the frozen food aisle.

Chocolate Castles

This is an exciting night….4 couples are coming over to experience a true southern fried chicken dinner, complete with homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy and creamed corn. Their entrance fee is that each couple will have to sing a Christmas carol to get in the front door. Frosty and Noel are ready for this big night. We have our reindeer antlers ready to put on our heads, the bread is rising in the utility closet and the Christmas clock has brand new batteries to proudly play a carol on each hour. The phone is set to play, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” every time it rings; merriment will be felt everywhere. Christmas lights are lit, candles will be burning, it will be a fabulous night.
The greatest thing just happened. Frosty had told me to get out the electric skillet for him to fry the chicken. With 10 people…

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Desserts · Holiday Fare · Uncategorized

Raspberry Almond Bars

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3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

3 egg whites

6 tables sugar

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1 cup sliced almonds, divided

Additional powdered sugar

In a large bowl, cream the butter and 3/4 cup powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and mix well. Press onto the bottom of a greased 13×9″ baking pan. Bake in preheated 350 oven for about 16-18 min. or until lightly browned.

Spread jam over crust. In a large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar 1 table at  time, on high until stiff peaks form. Fold in coconut and 1/2 cup almonds. Spread over jam. Sprinkle with remaining almonds and bake at 350 for about 18 to 20 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool and cut into bars.

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Dashing Through the Snow

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OK, maybe I wasn’t dashing through the snow, maybe it was more like “dashing around the parking lot trying to find where my husband was waiting for me to come out of Walmart”! But it really was “dashing” at least.

We had been out running errands when I realized that we were in a different area than where we tend to stop for some of  our Christmas goodies at our (that’s right, “our” Walmart), when I told Frosty to just pull in to this new Walmart and drop me off at the door to see if they have any of the Christmas spatulas that I have been buying up at all the Walmarts around us. He let me off at the door, as the wind was gusting up to 40 mph and told me that as soon as he saw me walk out, he would pull up to the door and I could jump in. He is just so sweet and thoughtful.

FIrst of all, I have to tell you that these spatulas are just so cute and sell for $1.96. I have bought some from high end kitchen stores for about $12/ea and these are just as cute. I collect spatulas and so am always on the lookout for cute ones. They are my signature little gift for hostess gifts and I attach them with Christmas ribbon to packages or Easter or Valentine…you get the picture, right? So when I had bought all that Walmart had in our area, I went looking on Walmart’s web site and thought I would just go ahead and order some to be delivered but to my wondering eye should appear but “3 spatulas for $18.00?” you have got to be kidding me!!! Do the Walmart people realize that they sell them in their own stores for $1.96? And that is why I decided to just hop out of the car, risk ruining my hair being blown to younder and head in to this new unchartered Walmart. Now back to the story.

I wondered over to the baking aisle and there as big and bright as Rudolfs Red nose, were more Christmas spatulas. So I bought all my arms could carry and started out the door. I did notice that there were carts blowing around the parking lot due to the hurricane force winds. (maybe I am exaggerating just a bit, but I knew that maybe I should have used just a bit more hairspray that morning as mine was only stiff enough to hold in winds up to 20 mph). So before I walk out the automatic glass doors I look down a couple of aisles looking to see if I see Frosty, waiting for me when low and behold, I see him straight ahead down the aisle all the way at the end, about 20 cars down. Clear shot. Knowing that as soon as he sees me, he will hurry to pick me up seeing that I have my hands full and whisk me away to Starbucks to celebrate my new addition to my Christmas Spatula collection. Well, I stood there for just a minute and thought, maybe he is on the phone and just hasn’t seen me walk out the door. So I begin to wave furiously at him, waving both white Walmart bags over my head to get his attention. Nothing…so I begin to walk down the aisle, all the while continuing to GLARE and wave as I continue walking out to meet my darling husband, who in my mind is not so darling right at that moment. When I am about 3 cars away from finally getting to our car, he puts the car in drive and begins to creep toward me. By now, my hair is totally gone, my arms are sore from trying to wave him down and my attitude is not very jolly. When I am seated inside the car I look over to him and give him a “what in the world were you doing that you didn’t see me walking toward you with my purchases” look, he smiled at me and said, “it was you, I didn’t recognize you since  your hair looked different and you had on a jogging suit. I’m not use to you wearing a jogging suit or seeing your hair like that!”

WHAT? I have been in the car with you all morning and you just realized that  I had on the new jogging suit that I bought 3 days ago? All I could say was I was glad I did have on my new jogging suit as at least I was prepared for the “jog” out to the car. And the different hair style? It wasn’t different before I had to walk the 3 miles from the Walmart door to the car? But in hurricane force winds, the hair is always the first to go. We rode in silence to Starbucks! Maybe paying the $18 for 3 might have been worth the money. I would have got my Christmas spatulas, not had to come home and re roll my hair and would not have had to pay for marriage counseling that week. Christmas….it’s the most wonderful time of the year, as long as you keep your marriage counselor on speed dial!

Cookies · Desserts · Uncategorized

Simple Ginger Cookies

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I have to admit that I bought some Little Debbie Gingerbread men cookies the other day when we were in Phoenix out shopping with some of the grandkids. I have NEVER bought any Little Debbie anything for myself but didn’t have anything at my daughter’s house to make anything. (It is still such a shock to me that other people don’t always just keep items like molasses just in case you might want to make cookies, in the pantry. Or ginger, or cloves, well, you get the picture. I was craving gingerbread cookies, so thus, the Little Debbie. Shocked, they weren’t bad at all, in fact between Frosty and I we ate the entire box of 6 or 8 (but who is counting) in two days. Anyhow, we are home now and found this very simple recipe for ginger cookies. Just made them and they are awesome. Very quick and very easy.

Courtesy of Paula Deen (which tells you that they must be good)

3/4 cup Crisco shortening

1 cup sugar plus more for rolling cookies in

1 large egg, room temp

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups flour

2 teas baking soda

1 teas ground cinnamon

1 teas ground ginger (I used 2 teas)

1/2 teas ground cloves

1/2 teas salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Using electric mixer at low spee, cream the shortening and sugar until well mixed. Add egg and molasses and beat until completely combined. Sift together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a seperate bowl. Stir and the add to creamed mixture. Roll dough into 1″ balls and roll in sugar. Place each ball on baking sheet about 1″ apart. If you use a coated cookie pan you will not need to grease the pan. If not, use parchment paper. Flatten the balls slighty with fingertips. Bake about 11 to 12 min. Cool on paper towels.

 

Cakes · Desserts · Fruit · Holiday Fare · Uncategorized

Raspberry Coconut Cake

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What a gorgeous cake to complete your dessert buffet this Christmas Season.  Red and White in color and coconut and raspberry in flavor.

1 box Duncan Hines French Vanilla or White Cake mix

3 cups flaked coconut, divided

6 ssquares (1 oz ea) white baking chocolate

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam

1 cup (2 sticks ) butter, unsalted and softened

1 cup powdered sugar

Prepare cake batter according to package directions; fold in 2/3 cup coconut. Pour into two greased 9″ round baking pans. Bake at 350 for about 25 to 29 min or until cake tests done. Cool for 10 min before removing from an to wire racks to cool.

In a microwave safe bowl, combine white chocolate and cream. Microwave uncoveed on high for 1 min or until chocolate is almost melted. stir until smooth. Cool to room temp. In a small bowl, combine jam and 1 cup coconut. Spread over one cake layer; top with second layer.

In small mixing bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in melted white chocolate mixture. When frosting is completely smooth, spread over cooled cake sides and top. Toast remaining coconut and sprinkle over top of cake.

 

Cookies · Desserts · Pies · Uncategorized

Pecan Pie Cookies

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Perfect for the cookie exchanges which we all love to attend.

*Am using a mini cupcake pan for these

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 tables light corn syrup

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

2 cups flour

1 teas baking powder

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4  cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 teas vanilla

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in saucepan, and stir in powdered sugar and corn syrup until sugar isi dissolved.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often and stir in the peans utill well combined. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 min to chill.

Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour and baking powder togetehr in a bowl and set aside.

Beat brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter, egg and vanilla in large bowl with mixer. until creamy, about 2 min.

Gradually beat in the flour mixture until well mixed. Pinch off about 1 tables of dough and roll it into a ball. Press the dough into the bottom of an ungreased cupcake pan cup and use your thumb (or Thumbie if youhave one) to cuper the bottom and up the sides about 1/4 inch. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Fill each little crust with about 1 teas of the prepared pecan filling.

Bake in preheated oven untilthe cookie shells are lightly browned about 10 to 13 minutes. Let the cookie cool in the cupcake pan for 5 min and then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.