Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

2ND Annual Griswalds Storage Unit & WallMart Trip

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

A frew friends had told me that I should reblog this story. As I reread it just now, I realized that maybe our “keep it simple” theme didn’t last very long..but we have had a little better luck this year with our trips to WalMart. So far, this year, we have not got 1 dirty look or even a “your are not welcome back here” thrown at us. Ah…life is good.

Chocolate Castles's avatarChocolate Castles

We haven’t figured out yet why these things always seem to happen to us. I remember Erma Bombeck saying that she felt that God allowed the circumstances in her life so she would write about them and give people the gift of laughter. Maybe that is why these things happen to us. All I know is that if Candid Camera were still being filmed today, Frosty and I would probably be the stars of the show, as we just seem to attract “situations”.

It all began Saturday morning, when, “with visions of sugarplums danced in our heads,”  we set out to storage with our sleigh to pick up our Christmas decorations. After Frosty dropped the first box of “treasures”, and us scrambling around trying to salvage the unbroken nativities and the shattered ornaments,we decided that maybe a flat bed dolly would be good to use. So, in a few minutes…

View original post 681 more words

Uncategorized

Melt In Your Mouth Cookies

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

Once again, these cookies are the favorite this year. At a cookie open house that I held yesterday, this cookie was the one that everyone could not get enough of. They simply do melt in your mouth and the flavor is so buttery and sweet. You have to make this cookie one of your Christmas Cookie Keeper Recipes. You will be making them year after year. Merry Christmas!

Chocolate Castles's avatarChocolate Castles

This truly do melt in your mouth, due to the amount of corn starch, they seem to just disappear the minute you pop it in your mouth. They are just such a light and wonderful Christmas cookie.This is one of Frosty’s favorite cookies.
1 cup butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teas vanilla
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Sift flour and cornstarch and add to creamed mixture. Drop by teaspoon onto lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12-14 min. Makes
5 1/2 – 6 dz cookies. When completely cool, frost with the following:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tables butter
2 teas vanilla.
Mix the above 3 ingredients together with enough cream to get it to a good spreading consistency. About 1/3 cup cream. If you need more liquid, add by tablespoons, one at a time. (I use either whipping cream…

View original post 4 more words

Uncategorized

Raspberry Thumbprints Cookies

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

This Friday I am giving an open house for my neighborhood ladies for a Cookie Gingerbread Open House. We are new to the neighborhood and I thought it would be a great way to meet some of the neighbors. This recipe goes with me where ever I go…it is our favorite little thumbprint cookie and reeks of butter with the delicious flavor of the raspberry jam in the center. So easy to make (especially using the Thumbie to make the indentions).

2014-12-10 13.49.59

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teas salt

2 teas vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup of raspberry jam or preserves (love Trader Jo’s brand)

Combine butter and sugar and beat until well combined about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt and beat on medium for about a min. Add the flour and mix in until all is incorporated with butter mixture. Form 1″ balls and place on baking sheet.

Make indention with thumb or the Thumbie (which can be purchased from Etsy shop, “Chocolate Castles for $3.00). Put about 1/4 teas of raspberry jam in center of indention. I also sprinkled red colored sugar over the top of the cookies before baking.

Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 10-12 min. Let cool and keep in air tight container. Makes 4 dozen

Uncategorized

Frosty’s Light Repairs

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

I knew we shouldn’t have driven around this early in the Christmas season looking at the lights of the season. Frosty came home from our ride through decorated neighborhoods a couple of nights ago and now has decided that the few thousand lights we had up is not enough. So back to Santa’s workshop (aka Wallyworld) he went yesterday and is now taking down his first attempt at lighting up our small abode like an airport and is back up the ladder with several more (actually a lot more than several) strands which is going up as I type. I need to get this posted before he blows a fuse and we have no electricity so will close for now and help hold the ladder so we don’t have to make an emergency run to the ER…….or guess they could send the ambulance. for sure they would be able to spot the correct house tonight.

Frosty Light Additions
Frosty’s Light Additions
Uncategorized

Brussels Sprouts Coleslaw

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

Today I had 8 ladies here for a luncheon and served this salad. All 8 ladies wanted the recipe. It is scrumptious and so different because of the dressing and shredded brussels sprouts.The flavor is just so creamy and went perfect with the hot vegetable soup and rolls that were served along with it. It is being made tomorrow night to serve alongside a chicken wild rice casserole. It’s just one of those salads that would go well beside any dish.

1 (32 oz) package Green Giant Fresh Trimmed and peeled Brussels Sprouts

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1/2 teas salt

Dressing

1 cup mayo

1 tables white vinegar

1 tables prepared horseradish sauce

1 teas Dijon mustard

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

Pour half of the Brussels sprouts into a colander and lightly rinse. Store remainder in fridge (we doubled the recipe so used the whole bag).

Finely shred Brussels sprouts and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all dressing ingredients until well blended. Add sprouts, onions, carrots and salt; toss to coat. Refrigerate 30 min to blend flavors…Makes about 12 servings (if you used the whole bag of sprouts).

Uncategorized

Back To Normal

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

We are alone for the first time in 5 days. It was time to send Jodi and Noah home to Eric, Jaden and Caleb.  Since we knew she was leaving today, we held off cooking the collard greens and deviled eggs for dinner, after loading her up with triple berry shake for breakfast. We figured that she would never again see the people who sat by her on the plane, so we decided to save ourselves and serve  some of her favorite dishes right before she flew home.

Randy has spent the afternoon in the garage (while it is 40 degrees outside) shampooing some of our rugs that had just a tiny bit of smashed M&M’s, Honey Nut Cherrios, dried apple juice and stains from the pitcher of tea that a set of little sweet hands pulled off the counter. We have dusted today, found a stuffed Nemo under the bed, one little sock and put all the Fall décor back to where it was before Noah visited. We have to admit that we were getting use to the glass bowls void of any candles, but filled with water from Noah thinking that it was fun to pour water in them. We miss finding candy between the couch cushions, as it gave us snacks without even having to leave the couch. Hearing that cute little sound at 5 a.m. really got us up and running for the day.

Just like labor pains, we tend to forget all the above mentioned things as soon as they walk onto the plane, already wanting them to turn around and come back. We would gladly give up our vacation monies to  fund Noah’s carousel addiction.  Times like these make us wish so much that we could be around all of our grandchildren all the time, not just a few times a year. But….we will make sure the rugs are covered by plastic and the furniture is wrapped in bubble wrap before the next set of them come for a visit…

Uncategorized

My Polital Debut

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

Today after going to the mall with my 36 year old daughter, I have decided that I am going to run for office. I’m not sure yet, what I will run for, but which ever political official that can order mall employees around. We had just entered the mall, rented a stroller, for the two year old, not me,when we were approached by a man in his probably 20’s, pass right in front of me to hand Jodi a free sample of hand lotion. I stuck my hand out to get a free sample, but apparently, he must have just been caught up in the moment of giving his sales pitch and didn’t see that my hand was reaching out for some of the magical lotion that, according to him,  can cure everything from cancer to Alzimers. (sorry, don’t know how to spell that, maybe I did, but I have forgot how).

I really didn’t think too much of him ignoring me until we got to the next little teenybopper. Again, free samples. Again, passed over me to give to my daughter. What is going on? I ask her if she noticed that they were completely ignoring me to try to make their sell to someone other than me, who  might, just might, be wearing my, “I love my grandkids more than chocolate” t-shirt. She did say that maybe, just maybe, the salespeople were instructed to go for the young moms because sometimes the “more weathered” ladies were a bit grouchy when people tried to stop them to make a sale. I immediately stuck my nose in the air and marched over to the McDonalds food stand to get my $1.00 apple pie. Who do those youngsters think they are? Do they think that I’m  to cheap to shell out money for hand cream or a hair extention?

If I were President, I would immediately hire people that were over 75 to work in the malls. That way, I would be considered the “youngster” and would be given free samples of hand cream and be ask if I would like to see what I looked like with a hair extention.  Heck, I would like to see what I look like with just a full head of hair that didn’t frame my face with “blonde” (I like to call it blonde, calling it gray makes me sound old).

If I were president, I would carpet all the malls so my knee wouldn’t hurt when I had walked it’s length, trying to look cute and young in my 2″ heeled sandals. I would play Barry Manilow over the loud speakers in the stores so the sales people could hear me yelling at them from the dressing room when trying to get the too small blouse stuck over my head. I think they just keep resizing the clothes. I really don’t think that I have changed 3 sizes in 1 year.

If I were President, I would rent tennis shoes so that after the first 3 hours otf shopping I could bag my cutesy shoes and go rent a pair for comfort. Maybe a sweater rental kiosk would come in handy also.  I would hand out free Heartburn pills for after those times when, trying to look cool in front of your kids and grandkids, we loaded up a bit too much on Auntie Anne’s or Cinnabon after scarfing down a Great American cookie.

All this to say that if you vote for me, I will promise to make our malls in American a more Senior Friendly place.

A place where we would be given our fair share of free samples and youngsters under 30 had to work in the stockrooms. Just a thought.

Uncategorized

Trouble in Dodge (I mean Frisco)

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

They have been here less than 24 hours. All the Fall Décor looks as though it came smashed out of a package thrown over the fence from UPS. We have dined on fast food twice, swept up a broken china plate that Honey forgot to place on a high shelf, a pitcher of fresh brewed tea spilled on the kitchen floor, (but at least Noah tried to get the drink by himself) and the topper: a split in two left foot from me stepping on a miniature Southwest plane, left on the kitchen floor. Ironically, the same brand of plane that brought this “gift” of family to us yesterday. After all, what are the holidays without family? Maybe a few days in Hawaii or NY city? I’m sure we wouldn’t enjoy the Rockettes as much as we are enjoying Rocky the Squirrel on Cartoon network. Or a sandy beach as much as cookie crumbs all over the floors. Yes, family…so tried and true, and full of blog making events. What would the holidays be without them?

Yesterday, Jodi and I actually got to run to the mall, actually, we drove to the mall and ran through the mall, trying to catch Noah. He is at the age when he thinks he is too big for strollers, but he doesn’t realize that mom and Honey cannot run the length of the mall, trying to follow him. The only thing that slowed him down was the escalator that he insisted on going up and down, over and over. So instead of getting any shopping done, we are now experts at riding escalators. That’s it folks, no shopping, just riding the escalators. The positive  was we didn’t spend any money and that made our hubbies so proud. Let’s see just how proud Pops is today when we ask him to babysit for us to get away for a few hours. Maybe when Jodi and I are getting a pedicure, they can scrub the blood off of the bottom of my foot.

Yesterday I texted Eric, our son-in-law, to thank him for giving Jodi a plane ticket to come visit for a few days and to thank him for his sacrifice of being left in Phoenix without his wife and youngest son. After less than 24 hours, I am thinking that he is just paying me back for all the bad things I ever said about him. Eric I am truly sorry and I promise not to ever say anything negative EVER again. You just have to promise not to give any more “gifts” to us for awhile. I think it will take us awhile to rest up from this gift you sent.

Uncategorized

Update on Pumpkin Spice Cake

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

So sorry, Please correct the amount of pumpkin to 1 cup of pumpkin. Didn’t realize I had accidently typed 12…thank you Rose for letting me know…think 12 would have been a little heavy on the pumpkin flavor….

Uncategorized

Savory Caesar Mushroom Caps

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

Great appetizer from Paula Deen.

12 large whole mushrooms

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 ( 8oz) cream cheese, softened

1 teas onion flakes

2 tables roasted pecans (chopped)

1 table olive oil

1/4 teas ground cayenne pepper

3 Tables Briannas Asiago Caesar Salad dressing

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stem. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough ends.

Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Saute until any moisture has disappeared and stems are tender. Set aside to cool.

Combine cream cheese, Asiago Caesar dressing, onion flakes, cayenne pepper, cooled mushroom stems and chopped pecans together mixing well. Mixture should be very thick.

Using a small spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on each mushroom top.

Bake for 20 min in the preheated oven, or until mushrooms are piping hot and the cheese is golden brown.