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Christmas Aftershocks

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

We survived the holidays. Barely. With 4 extra adult children and 3 grandchildren in our little abode, 2014 couldn’t get here quick enough. Now, we are so glad to have family here to celebrate New Years and the Rose Parade, we just wish that we had been in our 40’s or even 50’s instead of our 60’s.

In the last 5 days I have cooked the following:

homemade meatballs with sauce and spaghetti

Creamed eggs and biscuits, hash browns, bacon, sausage

Ham, scalloped potatoes, fresh sweet potatoes, fresh green beans, barbequed hamburgers and hot dogs, sweet potato fries. Salad, Sister Schubert rolls, chocolate cream pie with fresh whipped cream. 2 cherry pies. Hershey’s chocolate chip cookies

Heavenly Hots, bacon and sausage

Ham sandwiches, chicken nuggets, 3 frozen pizzas

Filled and emptied the dishwasher 12 times. Emptied garbage 26 times.Changed poopie diapers, watched SpongeBob every morning, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every afternoon for 4 days .Because Caleb, our 4 yr old is on a Batman kick, we were all given names of Batman characters. He named me “Joker”. I was told that I had to laugh like the Joker in Batman when I talked. But we loved the memories that were made. The laughter and card games were such a bonding time. Our kids who are expecting their first baby, our 7th grandchild, had the opportunity to announce their great news by posing in front of the float that had a baby carriage and baby yellow ducky, with a sign that said, “Baby’s First Parade”. It was an exciting week, but as soon as the last car pulled out of the driveway, we collapsed and slept for 2 hours. We didn’t even talk for 4 hours. The peace and quiet that had escaped us for 5 days was just to good to interrupt. We felt like we had been on a week long reality survival show.

We barely survived. If it had been a reality show, we would have been the first ones ask to leave. We didn’t even get a T-shirt that said, “we survived grandkids for a week and all we got was this stupid T-shirt”. No, all we were left with was an empty fridge, a house full of toys that they forgot to take, sticky floors and an energy level so low that it will take us another week just to catch up on our sleep. After the last visit, we did learn a lesson. We learned that if we don’t want to loose small items, such as phones, remotes or fireplace gas keys, they had to be put up on the top shelves of closets. We are still looking for part of the ornamental grill that covers the fireplace, that disappeared last visit. Sunday was our first day without watching SpongeBob or having Caleb running through the house with his light sabor, which of course quickly cleaned off the coffee table of candles and magazines.

Both Randy and I feel that we would have been better equipped to handle all this had we been a little younger, say 25-30 years old. But all of it was worth it. We have new precious memories that will last us until next Christmas. A visit any sooner would put us in the old folks home. We think that since it might take us a while to rest up, we will go to them next time. We want them to have the great experience of having house guests. It will be a learning time for them. We will demand having our favorite meals cooked. We will insist that Wheel of Fortune be played all day, at maximum volumne and insist that our prune juice be brought to us at 6 a.m. and our milked warmed around 8 p.m. We will request that our robes be warmed in the dryer and brought to us in the mornings.

If we can’t sleep, we will get up in the middle of the night and watch murder mysteries to lull us back to sleep. Since we know that they are use to having cartoons blaring in the background at all times of the day and night, that shouldn’t bother them.
Earthquake aftershocks cannot compare with the shock of family at Christmas. Family, you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. It’s what keeps the holidays exciting!

Soups · Vegetables

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

Happy 2014!!!! The kids are gone back to their homes, I have my computer back from grandkids and the quiet and space to write. Also, because the fridge is now clear of chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, peanut butter and apple juice, I have room to cook some adult foods. When I sat down last night with the first magazine I have had time to look at in a week, I came across this soup and knew instantly that we would be having some of this delectable sounding soup this week. Also thought that since it is January and cold weather is still lingering, I think I will post different winter soups each day this week. But this mushroom soup had to be first.

yields: 5 cups

1/2 cup butter, divided

3 (8 oz) packages fresh mushrooms, chopped

2 cups whipping cream

1 ( 8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

2 (1 oz) containers home-style concentrated chicken stock (from a 4.66 oz package)

Melt 3 tables butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté 10-12  minutes, or until liquid evaporates.

Transfer to a bowl. Reduce heat and melt remaining 5 tables butter in the Dutch oven. Whisk in flour until smooth; whisk 1 minute.

Gradually whisk in cream and next 2 ingredients.

. Cook, whisking constantly 2 minutes or until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in mushrooms. Use immediately or cool completely if planning to freeze or keep in fridge until needed.

*They used Knorr Homestyle Concentrated Stock.

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Everyone Loves A Parade

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

Everyone Loves A Parade

…Especially if you can watch it live from a warm house with plenty of food. Apparently, we are the most favorite relatives right now. Because we live on the street where the floats line up for the Rose Parade, we have discovered that we have cousins that we didn’t even know we had. This week cousins Frankie Joe and Emma Lou Cox from Arkansas realized that they had 4th cousins who lived in Pasadena, CA….Ha! Seriously, our kids are trying to make us think that they are coming to see us, but we know the truth. They are just wanting to come to the parade…for free. When we heard that they wanted to come, we thought, well, we can let one of the families stay here and get a hotel room for the other. When Frosty began calling around to get a room, we discovered that they are around $400 a night and since we felt we should be paying, since they are in fact, our guests, we decided to “make do” here and have some fun quality family time with 4 extra adults and 3 little wild hellions, oops, I mean darling grandchildren. Frosty says that we will have fun the minute we see them drive away. He is such a grouch sometimes. I can’t believe he doesn’t like a 4 yr old sleeping with us. So making room for an air mattress to be placed in the den, we had to do some arranging. I never mind arranging furniture, but in our quest to make room, and still have the house looking somewhat nice and orderly we had to put some of the den furniture someplace. The only place that had any wall space left was our bedroom in front of the patio door. So I lifted the wing back chair in the air and the side table and set them in front of the window. Actually it looked pretty good. I was proud that I had found a space. When Frosty walked in and saw this he growled, “and how am I suppose to get in bed, there is no room to even put my legs between the chair and the bed!” I told him I had it all figured out. All he had to do was climb up in the chair and swing his legs over onto the bed. He told me we are getting too old for this. I assured him it was only for a week and the extra exercise of climbing would do him good. He told me that he noticed that I had not put in on my side. I informed him that he needed the exercise more than I. Things began to get ugly from there. But I won’t go there today. We will just say that we have learned a few things this past year. Things that we hope we aren’t too old to remember come 2014.
1. If you don’t really want your home used for a bed & breakfast, don’t keep a stocked fridge or have an extra bedroom.
2. Do not answer phone calls when you don’t recognize the number, it will be a computer call or distant cousins from Arkansas.
3. Don’t live on a street that has a parade.
4. Do not, EVER, say, “oh stay as long as you like.”
5. Remember in spite of whatever anyone says, “your family are the ones who bless your heart and love you in spite of all your weirdness.” And that’s the truth.

Thank you for reading Chocolatecastles. and Happy New Year. God’s blessings upon each of you. Baking blessings, TKbakesalot

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Pretzel Crust Butterscotch Pie

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I found this on a food blog called Seededatthetable.com and had to make it. I love butterscotch pie and combining it with the pretzel crust and fresh whipped cream is so awesome. Will take a picture when I finish.
 
For the Crust:
  • 3/4 cup pretzel crumbs
  • 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling:
  • 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 2 Tablespoons cold butter, diced
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Topping:
  • 1 cup cold heavy cream
  • 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl, toss together the pretzel crumbs and graham cracker crumbs with the sugar. Stir in the melted butter until evenly moist. Transfer to a 9″ pie pan and press to line the bottom and sides evenly..Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.

Filling:

Whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl. Add the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the milk. Whisk until blended.

In a large saucepan, bring the rest of the 1 1/2 cups milk just to a boil over medium heat. Immediately remove from the heat and pour the hot milk into the egg mixture in  a very thin stream, whisking constantly to avoid scrambling the eggs. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it returns to a boil and the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes.

Remove from the heat and add the butter and the vanilla, then whisk until the filling is smooth.

Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust. Using the back of a wooden spoon, smooth the filling out evenly. Place plastic wrap  flush to the surface of the pie filling in order to avoid a film developing on top. Refrigerate for at least 2 -4 hours to ensure it is set and cold.

Whipping topping:*See note below

When ready to serve the pie, make the whipped cream topping. Beat the whipping cream in a large bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, then continue to beat until peaks or thickened. Spread over top of pie.

Cut into slices and serve.

*Note

I actually do not add vanilla to whipped cream anymore, I think you taste the filling a little more with just adding the powdered sugar.

Also, if you want to mix up the whipping cream a few hours before serving, beat it well and then cover it with Press N Seal, tightly and it will stay whipped, without watering, for about 4-5 hours. Then spread over pie just before serving.

Thank you Seededatthetable.com for this delicious recipe…

Cakes · Desserts · Fruit

Banana Snack Cake

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I always get a little down the day after Christmas, when we have to change our phone recordings from “Hi, this is Frosty and Noel, I’m baking cookies and Frosty’s at the mall,  when we get through, we’ll give you a calll” to just plan ole, “Hi, you have reached Randy and Trudy, please leave a message). It is just so boring. So to drown our sorrows, we thought a banana cake with cream cheese frosting would do the trick. We will sit and get our creative juices flowing for a new Janurary phone message. Hum…”Be a dear and leave your message, Happy New Year” nope, guess I need another piece of cake…

Taken from new Southern Living

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/3 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 med)

1 teas vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teas baking soda

1 teas cinnamon

1/4 teas ground nutmeg

1/4 teas salt

1 cup chopped toasted chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 15×10″ jelly-roll pan. Beat butter at medium speed 1-2 min until creamy. Gradually add both sugars, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Add mashed bananas and vanilla. Beat at low speed just until blended.

Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in 1/2 cup pecans. Spread batter in the pan.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. (Test with inserted knife in center)

Cool completely before frosting.

1 stick butter, softened

1 8 oz softened cream cheese

4 cups powdered sugar

2 teas vanilla

Beat all ingredients together at low speed until well combined and fluffy. Spread over cooled cake.

Daily Thoughts

Grumpy Gets in the Christmas Spirit

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Merry Christmas to all and to all a great time of enjoying your blessings.

Bah Humbug Grumpy Goes Soft
Bah Humbug Grumpy Goes Soft
In spite of Frosty being under the weather a little the past few days, we had a great afternoon of delivering goodie baskets to some friends. Isn’t it amazing that even when you are missing being with family, when you get out and do a nice deed, if just blesses your spirit. Frosty was able to correct me on some Christmas trivia today. Beginning with posting Five Golden Rings 3 days ago and counting down, I apparently don’t know the correct words to Twelve Days of Christmas. I had written Four Turtle Doves, when he tells me that should be Four Calling Birds and today would be Two Turtle Doves. I told him that if he gets any more Christmas smarts and doesn’t stop enjoying doing nice things for friends, I will have to take away his “Bah Humbug” pillow from under his Grumpy doll, which hangs on his side of the bed. So this afternoon, he is back to being his same ole self. He balked when I ask him to help me wrap presents and went on-line to see just how much I had spent on grandkids, throwing those, “you ordered what?” looks at me all afternoon.

He did slip once this afternoon when he told the store clerk “Merry Christmas” as she ask if he would like to use the Senior discount to purchase a last minute gift.

Because of his coughing and wheezing, we are in for the night. He escaped for a couple of hours today, but think that we will watch what has become a tradition in our family each year, Griswalds Family Vacation. I just happen to have jars full of cookies that we will have beside our cups of hot tea.

Christmas for us, will be next week when some of our kids come in. They told us they are coming to see us, but we know they are really coming to watch the Rose Parade. We live on the street where the floats line up, so about 5 a.m. NY day, we go out and walk up and down to see the floats before they start down the parade route. It really is a fun way to begin the New Year and this year, we will enjoy watching the grandkids’ eyes as they see the beautiful floats of some of their favorite characters. All this to say that we are very blessed, in spite of this being a little different year for Christmas. We have not been without some family on Christmas, but just knowing that it’s not just one day that makes up Christmas, it is the knowledge of knowing that Christ came to earth as a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, to give us hope, to give us Peace, but most of all, to give us Eternal Life. That’s the best gift of all…and it offered to us 365 days a year, not just December 25th. When you gather your family around the tree, remember to give thanks for all the things that you do have, instead of thinking about the things you might not have or receive tomorrow. Having Christ in our hearts causes us to sing, Joy To The World, The Lord Has Come.
Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. We love you! Frosty and Noel

 

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Three French Hens

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

To continue the tradition, I had to buy 3 hens today, which spoke French. But before I let them show off for you, I have to give you a quick overview of my day. This has not been the best Christmas Eve Eve. Frosty is sick with bronchitis and since I am really a very loving wife who likes to brag that I am the best wife EVER, I went to pick up his meds for him. Because the Pharmacy told me that they had no record of him dropping off his prescription, I got so upset thinking that he might have contracted Alzeimers during his drive from Urgent Care to CVS and just thought he forgot where he dropped off the prescription. I was so upset and worried about him that  unbeknownst to me, I left my wallet on the counter, at CVS.  I head to the grocery store to pick up a few things that will make him feel better, like Mrs. Grass’s chicken soup. I get up to the counter to buy the soup and discover that I don’t have my wallet. I panic and run to the car. I call CVS to find out if they have my wallet. If they don’t have it I guess I left it at the same PO that I thought I had left my credit card last week, only to discover that it was in my pocket the whole time (after cancelling it from the car before anyone could charge their entire Christmas on it). Thank the Lord, CVS had it. Someone had turned it in. I leave my groceries at Von’s and drive as fast as I could to CVS to retrieve my wallet. I head home. I simply cannot go back to the store right now. They still didn’t have Frosty’s meds ready. So upon arriving at home, I wake up my  patient who is trying to sleep so he can heal quickly and ask him if he made a mistake and dropped off the prescription at a different drug store. . He assured me he did not. After I relay my day to him, he feels so sorry for me that he tells me that he will go to the grocery store with me, even though he sounds like he has TB.  We head to Randalls  Grocery Store this time. I didn’t want to go back to Von’s as I was too embarrassed. We pick up things for the next two days, which included the last qt of egg nog that the store had on the shelves. He was so ready to go home and pour a glass of Eggnog to watch Wheel of Fortune. He lets me off at the back stairs. I leave two sacks at the bottom and carry two up. When I reach the top of the stairs, I hear a crash. I look down and Eggnog is running down our driveway faster than you can say On Dancer, On Donder, On Vixen.

When Frosty returns from parking his car he rounds the corner to watch the qt of Eggnog that we had just bought flowing down the driveway. I did remind him that he didn’t have to cancel all the credit cards and he should be giving thanks for that. Tomrrow I will go to a different Randalls to buy him more Eggnog. I guess I should actually cook him something besides frozen pizza that we had bought to have for dinner tonight. Maybe I will fix one of the 3 hens with rice stuffing to make up for spilling his Egg Nog. Right now, he is downstairs picking up the broken glass and hosing down the diriveway. Maybe a French Hen will get him in a better mood.

Breads · Breakfast · Casseroles · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Meats

Four Turtle Doves…Cheesey Sausage Breakfast Bread

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IMG_1998

I know I am going backwards on the Twelve Days of Christmas, but I like the song better when it is counting down than up…much more fun to sing. So today, I am associating the Four Turtle Doves to this….It was cool enough to wear a Christmas tutleneck shirt while eating four chocolate Dove candies. I know, I know, ridiculous. Anyway, am posting the cheesy sausage biscuit bake that I took to church today. There was not a crumb left, and since our class isn’t Baptist, who is known for eating food, no matter what;(and since I am Southern Bapt, I can say that), the fact that there was not a crumb left let me know that the class liked it. Then several ladies ask if I was going to post the recipe. So here it is;
You know the moment that you take something out of the oven and you just know you have a winner, this was one of these recipes. Taken from Face Book, I was so anxious to make it because it sounded like a dish we would love. I modified it just a touch, well, maybe more than a touch.
1 16 oz can of flaky biscuits
1/2 can milk (I used whipping cream)
5 eggs
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1 small can of diced green chiles (opt)
1/2 lb of mild Jimmy Dean Sausage (or half a package of bacon, fried and crumbled)
1/2 teas garlic powder
1/2 teas black pepper
1 teas Lawry’s Seasoned salt
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion or green onions

Saute sausage in small skillet with onion. Drain and set aside.
Cut each biscuit into 4 parts. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whip the eggs with the cream (milk). Add the seasonings and cheese. Stir until well combined. Add the drained sausage-onion mixture and stir. When blended. add the cut biscuits. Allow to sit for about 30 minutes giving the biscuits time to absorb some of the egg mixture. Pour into a well greased 9×13 baking dish. Bake in 350 preheated over for about 45 min of until it tests done in the middle IMG_1998</a preheated 350 oven until golden and bubbly and knife is clean when inserted into middle. About 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. Serve immediately.
Will taste delish after coming in from watching Rose Parade. Serve with fruit plate and hash browns!

Sa

Cakes · Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Fruit · Holiday Fare

Five Golden Ring Recipe: Cherry Date Pecan Cake

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How did it get to be 5 days before Christmas? The days just go by so quickly before I make it halfway down my “to do” list of grand ideas to make this Christmas more special than ever. I haven’t even had time to sit by the fire and look through Christmas magazines yet this year to see all the great new recipes. Last night, I actually went to pick up our Christmas cards and addressed them and mailed them this morning.. I am so proud. The salon where I get my nails done had an open house today. They had trays of egg rolls, spring rolls,meat pies and cookies and invited all the customers to come by to say Merry Christmas. It was a very nice gesture and makes it feel like Christmas. Enjoying the festivities today made me want to do something nice for someone so I am going to really try to do something nice for someone these next 5 days. Someone who could never repay me and someone who would never expect it. .

The next 5 recipes are what I would call “golden” and have become very special through the years. They just make it feel like Christmas. This first one is Cherry Date Pecan Cake which I use to watch my mom make for years, before she passed it down to me. When I saw her buying dates and cherries, I knew it was Christmas baking time. Have just finished mixing this cake and is in the oven as we speak. Am using them as hostess gifts for several open houses we are invited to attend. My favorite way to eat them is with a big dollop of fresh whipped cream.

1st Golden Ring Recipe: Cherry Date Pecan Cake

1 lb chopped dates

1 lb candied cherries ( I live my whole, but you can chop them if you like)

3 cups chopped pecans

1 cup sugar

4 eggs, separated (works better at room temperature)

1 cup flour

2 rounded teas of baking powder

1 teas salt

2 teas vanilla

Cream sugar and egg yolks until creamy. Add vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt. to creamed mixture. With clean beaters, (no grease on them as egg whites do not whip up stiff if grease is on bowl or beaters) whip 4 egg whites until they are still, around 4-5 minutes. Add fruit  and pecans to batter with heavy spatula. This is hard to mix but keep folding until fruit is distributed into batter. Add beaten egg whites and fold in to mixture until it is all folded in. Pour into individual greased loaf pans or a greased bundt pan . Bake until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in middle of cake. Baking time depends on size of pan you use. The batter made 4 small loaf pans and 1 long loaf pan. When finished baking, cool and wrap as gifts. These little cakes keep for a long period of time in the fridge. So make them this weekend and eat on them all through Christmas.

Daily Thoughts

Retirement for Dummies

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

We have just completed our first week of Frosty’s retirement. All our friends have been asking him the last couple of years when he was going to retire. His answer was always the same, “I don’t know if I will ever retire” Every time we are leaving Walmart and the little old man at the door tells us “have a good day”, my sweet hubby always says, “I could do that if I ever retire”.

This past week found us the first few days trying to decide if he really wanted to look for a new adventure or truly just retire. I told him that I knew what I wanted him to do. Guess I should have not spoken that idea out loud. Actually, at the first of the week, we were both saying, “this might be great” we can go anywhere, do anything and stay up as late as we wanted, not having to get up at the crack of dawn. That was Monday. By Tuesday, we realized that even when we didn’t have to get up early or go to bed at 10, we were so used to going to bed at 10 and getting up at 6:30 a.m,.that our bodies apparently hadn’t realized that we were now in our “retirement” season. We were still falling asleep on the couch by 9:30 and waking up each morning at 6:30.

As we relaxed that first night, pondering our new season of life, we had grand plans. We would cook together, go to grocery shop together and he agreed to watch Ellen with me at 4 in the afternoons. OK, I was getting excited about having a friend by my side all during the day. We could go get pedicures together, walk around the mall, lazily in the afternoons, all the while sipping a Starbucks. We would have time to do all the things we always said we never had the time. I had this all planned. Mondays he could fold clothes while I vacuumed the house. I would now have someone to help me change the sheets. How fun, is this going to be great or what?

Tuesday arrives. It was” what”. We made it a whole day before we began to set up some rules. But…I’m sure that we just have to get used to this. This was our week, at a glance:

Monday….excited about new adventure and made all our plans of what we would do together.  So fun.

Tuesday…we are still speaking, but the tone isn’t as sweet as it was yesterday; trying to remember why this was fun yesterday.

Wednesday…I’m watching Ellen by myself. He is in den watching a recorded football game from last week.

Thursday….we have yellow tape down the middle of the kitchen. He is not allowed on my half, except when he is doing his half of the dishes. Barely speaking.

Friday…just shoot me!

Maybe next week we will sign up for a class on How To Do Retirement. Our lists we made last week, of fun things to do,  were thrown out the car window today when I suggested that maybe tomorrow he might want to go to Walmart to see if they had an opening as a door greeter.

If we survive next week, I will update you on our progress or ask if anyone knows a good lawyer.