Daily Thoughts

Blogger’s Cookie Swap

Chocolate Castles4 Comments

Just received my first dozen cookies from a food blogger. Ginger cookies, with fresh candied ginger. AMAZING!!!! From a blogger in North Carolina and oh how I wish she would have included her info so I could thank her for sending some of the best Christmas cookies EVER!!!! I sent my 3 dozen off today. It was such fun to send cookies to 3 strangers who enjoy blogging about food. I knew when the return address was North Carolina that the cookies would be divine. I mean, food from the South is well, there is just something about Southern food. So am off to a great start with this Cookie Swap. Can hardly wait for the other 2 dozen cookies to arrive.

Because I was in the mood earlier in the afternoon to bake a fresh cranberry cake, which I had seen on Face Book and couldn’t wait another day to try, I whipped up the cake and while it was baking, my neighbor brought over a box that had arrived while we were out of town. I opened it to see the tin of cookies. So tonight, we are sitting, watching The Voice, with a piece of cake in one hand and a cookie in the other. Oh the scents of Christmas, not cedar trees, hot chocolate or pine, but ginger, cakes baking and hot chocolate. Those are the scents that make memories which remain long after the Christmas tree is taken down.

Will post the cranberry cake recipe tomorrow, if I can put these ginger cookies down long enough to type.

Cakes · Chocolate · Desserts · Holiday Fare

Red Velvet Marble Bundt Cake

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Just returning from seeing some of our kids in Florida, I am feeling in the Christmas spirit. This cake is in the new SL magazine and will certainly be just the perfect dessert after you have finished decorating the tree.

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

2 1/2 cups sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups flour

1 teas baking powder

1/2 teas salt

3/4 cup milk

1 teas vanilla

1 tables unsweetened cocoa

1 tables red food coloring

Snowy White Vanilla Glaze

Garnish: mint sprigs

Preheat oven to 325. Beat butter and shortening at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Stir together flour and next 2 ingredients. Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

Transfer 2 1/2 cups of batter to a 2 qt bowl; stir in cocoa and food coloring.

Drop 2 scoops of plain batter into a greased and floured 10″ bundt pan, using a small cookie scoop. Top with 1 scoop of red velvet batter. Repeat around entire pan, covering bottom completely. Continue layering batters in pan, as directed until all the batter is used.

Bake at 325 for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes, or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 mins. Remove from pan to wire rack and cool completely.

Drizzle with Snowy White Vanilla Glaze.

Snowy White Glaze

Wisk together 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tables plus 1 teas milk and 1 teas vanilla until smooth.

*Or you can use your favorite cream cheese frosting to drizzle over cake. Just warm in microwave for 15 sec intervals until you are able to drizzle cream cheese frosting over the cake.

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A Florida Thanksgiving

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We are here visiting our kids in Orlando. We Probably won’t be asked back until their memories allow them to forget what it’s like to have seniors come for the holidays. I feel like we are living the Griswalds Christmas Vacation movie, minus the Christmas tree.
Since our arrival on Wednesday evening, we have witnessed a cat with diarrhea,vomiting throughout the house. We got stuck in a parking garage when we went to have our Thanksgiving meal, only to have Tim and Randy looking around the parking garage trying to find any ticket that would allow us to exit. Tim had folded our ticket to put in his pocket and the machine kept spitting it out as “unreadable” thus the arm would not raise to let us out. So there we were, driving around the garage trying to figure out how we were going to ever get out. On no!!!! What if we weren’t out in time to make the Old Navy 50% off sale that was starting at 7!!!! We began to panic. Christi and I offered to get out and try to force the arm up so Tim could make a run for it, but Randy reminded us that his 3 yr old granddaughter was in the car and didn’t want her witnessing that kind of behavior. So we drove around until we found a ticket that someone had apparently thrown away. After we finally were able to escape, we realized that all we would have had to do was have one of us get out of the car, walk to where you enter the garage and push the button that would have given us a ticket. But I guess we were still trying to digest our lunch and our brains weren’t quite up to par.
After we treated ourselves to chocolate cream pie, Christi and I made a run for it. We almost got out of the house, heading to Old Navy, when Scrooge, I mean Frosty announces that he wants to go with us. Really? He wants to go to an Old Navy 50% off sale? Ok. We will let him go, but I don’t think he realizes what is about to happen. We arrive and there are people who have been standing in line for two hours, just waiting to get in the door. We get our track shoes on and walk right in. Finding a few items we cant live without, we go to get in line. Two hours later, we check out. I think Frosty won’t go with us anymore, he found out what women are willing to do to get a shirt for $9.00. Exhausted, we drive to Starbucks to treat ourselves to a gingerbread latte. They didn’t have any. Depressed, we head home. We are Starbucks deprived, our feet will never be the same and we are too tired to even think about waking up early for Black Friday. As far as we are concerned, they could be giving televisions away, we aren’t going near a store tomorrow.
Today we wake up to Tim’s feet sticking out of the kitchen cabinet. The plumbing has been leaking all night so a new faucet is needed.
After Tim and Randy replace (Tim read on-line how to replace a faucet) the faucet, we head to have lunch. We return home only to find a man sitting in a clunker of a car with no hubcaps, in their driveway. When we drive up he looks at us and speeds away. So now we are locked in the house afraid that he was casing it. So glad we got our shopping done, we’re afraid we might come home to an empty house if we leave. Ah yes, Thanksgiving memories,I think tonight we might watch Christmas Vacation. It will remind us of what we have to look forward to in 3 weeks.

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Frosty Cancels Storage Unit

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Frosty Cancels Storage Unit

Frosty has decided that if we just line up the boxes that hold all of our Christmas treasures, all along the walls of our house, we can save money by cancelling our storage unit.
Right now, I’m not feeling like Frosty is one of my blessings!
if our house gets broken into, the burglar would just turn around and leave. They would break a leg trying to just get in the door.

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Pumpkin Cranberry Cheesecake

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Quite a few years ago, at a bookstore in Dallas, there was this little paperback titled, “Holiday Celebrations Cookbook” on a table for $1.00. I bought all they had. I’ve given all of them away except I kept one as the recipes in it are really so good and some of them very unusual. This one caught my eye and I have made it to serve during the holidays. It gets great reviews, so here is the recipe.

Crust

1 1/2 cups vanilla wafers, crushed (about 33 wafers)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 finely ground pecans

1/4 cup melted butter

Filling

1 (8 oz) softened cream cheese

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teas lemon juice

1 teas ground cinnamon

1 teas vanilla

1/2 teas ground nutmeg

1 (8 oz) Cool Whip, thawed

Cranberry Sauce

1 1/2 cups whole cranberries

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

2 teas cornstarch

Toss vanilla wafer crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, pecans and melted butter in a large mixing bowl. Press mixture into bottom and 2″ up sides of an 8″ spring form pan.

Bake in preheated 350 oven for 5 minutes. Cool on wire rack. In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin, 1/2 cup sugar, the brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg. After ingredients are well blended, Fold in Cool Whip. Turn mixture into cooled crust and chill for 4 hours. Combine cranberries, water, 1/2 cup sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Cook until mixture boils, stirring constantly. Cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Cool to room temperature, then chill. Spoon over cheesecake. Garnish servings with additional whipped cream.

Daily Thoughts

Thanksgiving Observance

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As Thanksgiving Day quickly approaches, kitchens will be busy, tables will be filled with loved ones (and maybe a few not quite as easily to love) and families will be gathering. Remembering those who live miles away, and those we serve our country and cannot be gathered together with families, this poem will remind us that we have so much to be thankful. In a world that seems to be more and more less thankful for all we have, reflect not just this week, but throughout the year, on how God has truly blessed us.

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;

Count your gain instead of your losses.

County your joys instead of your woes;

Count your friends instead of your foes.

County your smiles instead of your tears;

Count your courage instead of your fears.

Count your full years instead of your lean;

Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.

Count your health instead of your wealth;

Count on God instead of yourself.

Author Unknown

Give thanks to the Lord; HIs love endures forever. Psa 107:1

Daily Thoughts

Caution…Storage Trips May Lead to Divorce

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

I am not saying that when you and your husband or wife go to storage you will automatically get a divorce, but let’s just say that if your marriage isn’t real solid, you might want to stay away from getting Christmas decorations from storage units. Don’t make the trips together…trust me on this, your marriage will suffer.

We decided that since we have several Christmas events coming early, this was the only weekend that we had free to get all the decorations out of storage. We began our morning on a positive note. I even made my man eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfast. We drove both cars so that hopefully we could get this dreaded chore over by noon, making only 2 trips instead of 4 or 5. We arrive at storage, riding up the elevator, Frosty keeps reminding me that this is the year we are going to “refine” our decorations. I thought I had done that last year when I got the decorations to fit in 29 boxes instead of 40.

We began to pack both cars and needed to head back up for another load when he reminded me to lock my car since my purse was in the front seat. I gave him a dirty look and told him that I most certainly had already done that. Hello, I’m not that blond. We went up, loaded up the dolly again and arrived at our cars. When he told me to go around and unlock my car to open the front door, I sheepishly looked at him as we both saw that I had pushed “lock” on the key, the only problem was that I had left the car door wide open, right by my purse. Frosty is now starting to have a melt down. As we are pushing the dolly, two of the boxes fall off and I hear glass breaking. That did not do our mood any good. I immediately call him a bull in a china closet. Maybe we need to take a break and listen to some Christmas carols.

When we are carrying boxes up the stairs, (yes all this has to be carried upstairs) one of the metal chairs that sit one of my Santa’s falls over and cuts my lip open. Now my lip is swollen and we aren’t singing carols anymore. We get everything from this trip upstairs and I tell him that I will NOT carry anymore boxes upstairs until after dark.It is just to embarrassing to think that neighbors might be watching us and wonder where in the world would all this stuff go. We ran into one of our neighbors who quickly ask if we were moving, when he saw us carrying up all the boxes. He wishes. I sent a picture of all our décor to our daughter and she told me that she thinks I have a problem. My problem is that I can’t force myself to throw out all the things that bring back memories when I take them out of the boxes. Besides, if I threw all this stuff out now, what in the world would the kids have to do when we pass? All these boxes of “treasures” assure us that our kids will be working for their inheritance. It serves them right for continually buying us more knick knacks. They say, “oh we had to get it for you, it just had your name written all over it”. Really? Is my name really on 38 angels? On the last trip home from storage, I envisioned us having a lovely dinner tonight, maybe chile and cornbread all the while listening to Christmas music as we begin to unload boxes and Frosty is putting the tree up. Reality hit. We are so exhausted from carrying all the boxes upstairs, we ordered pizza. Forget the music, we aren’t in the holiday spirit right now. All we can think about is taking some aspirin and going to bed. We are giving all our kids Gift Certificates for marriage counseling this year. We want their marriages solid before they decorate for Christmas. 

Chocolate · Desserts · Holiday Fare

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

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A few years back, a dear friend, Debbie had a team of ladies from church to her home for lunch. We quickly filled up on this fudge before she had a change to put the main meal in front of us. We just stood at the cooking bar and kept munching on the fudge. It is a never fail, quick and peanutty. If you don’t like chocolate, just omit the cocoa and it becomes peanut butter fudge.

In a saucepan bring to a rolling boil, stirring continually.
1/2 cup water
3 tables cocoa
2 cups sugar

Before you begin to cook this chocolate mixture, in a separate bowl, put 1 cup of any kind of peanut butter you want. Smooth, crunchy, organic, Unsalted, whatever. To the peanut butter, add 1 teas vanilla.

When mixture is boiling, set timer for 1 minute and boil for exactly 1 minute. Pour boiling chocolate mixture over the peanut butter, vanilla ingredients and stir to melt peanut butter. When all is mixed, pour into a lightly greased pan and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Have mine ready and am taking to the salon where I get my nails done. Maybe they will like it so much they will paint a turkey on my pinky without charging me.
Thank you Debbie for a most easy and yummy fudge that easily becomes a great hostess gift.
Thank you Cora for reminding me about putting it on the blog.

Desserts · Holiday Fare

Pecan Pie Mini Cupcakes

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Found these on FaceBook the other day and decided they looked so good I had to try them, and try I have….about 10 times. These little gems are like eating a piece of pecan pie. Took them when we had dinner last night with some friends and the ladies have all requested the recipe…I can already see them on the Thanksgiving buffet, sitting beside, ever so quietly beside a bowl of whipped cream. You can pop about 10 per hour…..the recipe made 30 mini muffin cups.

1 cup chopped pecans (finely chopped)

1/2 cup flour

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2/3 cup butter, melted

2 eggs, room temperature

1 teas vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 (325 for dark coated pans)

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.

Spray miniature muffin tin with Pam or lightly grease with butter.

Fill each cup 3/4 full. ( I didn’t use paper liners, but if you do, do not grease)

Bake in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes. (Mine took 13 minutes).

How easy is this? Great pecan flavor without the 7000 calories of a piece of pecan pie. This probably only has 3000 calories.

 

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The Scents of Thanksgiving

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

At 3:30 am I woke up to put a turkey in the oven. By 6:30, the house began to smell like a typical Thanksgiving morning. As I sit here, waiting for the turkey to finish baking and the giblets to magically transform into gravy, so many thoughts are racing through my head.

Our Sunday School class at church is feeding about 100 people today. These are men and women who have just been released from prison and are trying to fit back into society. I had truly never thought much about the different aspects of what these men and women go through to begin life again. Just having read, “A Glimpse of Grace” by a lady in Dallas who was sent to prison for some happenings regarding dispensing meds from her pharmacy back in the 90’s and her transformation from the pride of having “it all” to a humble lady who was only known as a number; it really opened my eyes to the different emotional and spiritual needs of people who are now trying to live in a society that has changed since they lived in freedom. Some of them are the same, but some have been transformed into a person that doesn’t quite know how to live in a world where there are so many choices, as their choices have been made for them, while behind bars.

As I am sitting here recalling the memories of different Thanksgiving mornings, when, as a child, I awoke to the most amazing scents of pies and turkeys baking, rolls waiting to rise, and the sweet potatoes just waiting their turn in the oven, There are the memories of when it was now my turn to turn our home into a house filled with all the foods that turn that last Thursday of November into something magical. I began to wonder about the people we will be serving today. Do most of them have precious memories that would be brought back by the smells of Thanksgiving? Most of them probably don’t have the same memories that I have been so blessed to have. Probably some only have memories of different holidays on the streets, or homes where the atmosphere gave way to the smell of alcohol.

Part of the precious Thanksgiving memories, are the scents, and what they represented; security, love, friendships, God’s amazing love and grace to each of us. Most of the ones we will be serving today will probably not have experienced this. It is my prayer this morning that I will be able to somehow share God’s grace and love to the people that will be there today. That these prisoners will not only be set free from the prisons that have held them physically, but that they will find spiritual and emotional freedom that comes from turning their hearts and eyes toward the One who can truly “set them free”.

This Thanksgiving, as that first smell of turkey comes drifting out of the oven, let that scent remind you to thank God for what He has done in your life and lift up the people that may not have the blessing of sitting around the table sharing God’s love with family.