Ringing in the New Year!

Well this is the last day of 2011 and what have you decided to do with your day?
I have decided to stay in from the elements and bake some bread.
I will probably manage to fit in a nap in between baking and cleaning.

As for tonight, I will be ringing in the New Year with my sweetie and my parents.
I don't have much planned for the evening except spending family time.
What have you planned for ringing in 2012?
Are you going out?
Are you staying home?
Are you having a party?

Do you make resolutions each New Year?
How often do you keep your resolutions?

I resolve not to make any resolutions this year...That should be an easy one to keep!

What ever you do this New Year's Eve, be safe and have fun!

See you next year!

Ham Tomato Bean Soup

                                                               Ham Tomato Bean Soup

Hambone

2 tablespoons of chicken boullion

2 teaspoons of basil

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 palm full of parsley flakes

tomato paste ( 1 large can)

pea beans (uncooked,1/3 of a bag rinsed)

2 onions

2 bayleaves

3 stalks of celery

4 heaping tablespoons of Nordia Ajvar Hot (This is a paste of red peppers,eggplant,hot peppers, and garlic)

this product is imported from Turkey and can be purchased at speciality stores.

3-4 cloves of garlic

1 sweet potato

1 white potato

(any other vegetable you llike often I mince spinach in mine as well although I didn't this time around it is very tasty and a great way to get those who balk at the thought of eating swiss chard ,spinach or kale)

Boil hambone and beans for about 1 hour, remove hambone and clean rest of meat off of it and chop it up and return to pot, add more chopped ham if you have more.

add bayleaves, tomato paste,vegetable spread and chopped garlic cloves and spices boil for another hour before adding the vegetables.

Once you have added vegetables cook until tender and serve soup with homemade biscuits.

                                                     

                                Ham, tomato,bean soup

                                          Vegetable spread

                                          Flaky Biscuits 


 Flaky Biscuits

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk

Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Add shortening and work into the flour until it feels like coarse cornmeal. (If you like real flaky biscuits, increase the amount of shortening.)

Add milk and mix just enough to keep the dough together. Place dough on a floured bread board and knead for a few moments. Use a rolling pin to roll dough out to a half-inch thickness. Roll lightly. Cut with a biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 450 degrees F.

Makes 12.(Thanks to recipe goldmine for the biscuit recipe, the soup is my own creation)

 Such a nice meal on such a blustery evening.

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we did!

Christmas snow!

Well I think we were luckier than most and had a nice skiff of snow on the ground for Christmas.
I was happy it was not too much and that everyone travelling were able to make the trip.

Last night we had a heavy fall of snow and I am enjoying watching the neighbourhood children sleigh down the hill in front of our house (one of the perks of living on a quiet street the children play on the road and sidewalk without fear of being run over by a car or truck).

A few towns around us have been without power since last night, I do hope the power is restored for them soon, pretty chilly out there to be without power, -10 this morning !

I have been watching movies this morning, Serendipity is one I have watched about 6 times this Christmas season, The Princess Bride,and of course all the traditional  Christmas movies were watched... possibly more than once this season!

Today I will be spending with my Daddy while my Mom spends some much needed "me" time in the big city of Peterborough.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

                       My little earth angel celebrating Christmas with her Daddy, my youngest son.

                                         
                                         Christmas Snow!

Tonight my eldest son comes home for Christmas!

I love sharing time with family I look forward to each time we can spend time together.

My boys always come home for Christmas eve and tonight me eldest son and his girlfriend will be arriving.
Then on Saturday morning my youngest son, his girlfriend and my little earth angel will be coming.

In the afternoon my whole family gathers at my parent's place and enjoy a beautiful roast beef dinner.
After we eat our meal we have dessert ( I am baking pumpkin and cranberry cherry pies).
There will also be a large assortment of cookies and squares to choose from.

After dinner we gather in the living room where one of the men plays Santa .

We spend the rest of the afternoon catching up and enjoying eachother's company.

The time we share is always treasured and it flies by all too fast as do the years.

My Christmas Wish for you and yours is a very Merry Christmas and  all the best in 2012 .

Baking and more baking!

Well tonight should be the last night of cookie baking before Christmas.
It always makes me sad to see the end of the Christmas baking, I love to make each treat my family loves this time of year.
I have only my pies to make on Christmas eve  left to do after today which means lots of cookie tins to fill and of course the special gift to my little earth angel.
She will be so much fun to watch this year as she is old enough to get excited about it all.
You will see lots of pictures of our celebrations.
Family, friends and good food to celebrate the birth of our Saviour.
Who could ask for a better Christmas!

Sleepover and Christmas Shopping!

This weekend was such a welcome break from all the stress I have  been feeling lately.
I picked up my little earth angel on Friday afternoon and brought her to my place for a sleepover.
Our sleepovers usually are quite busy trying to fit in the many things I had planned for us to do.
This time it was a one night sleepover so it was really quite busy.

I picked Gretchen up at 4:30pm and because it was getting dark we took the scenic route back to Havelock so we could enjoy the Christmas lights.
Gretchen was so excited each time she would spot more displays of lights she would yell out "more lights Grandma, look pretty!"
We would ooh and ahh at each beautifully decorated tree, house and of course when you are going through each town the light poles are decorated with many different decorations.
Our ride home was an hour long ride of beautiful light displays.

When we arrived home, first thing on her list of things to do was to greet her"friends" Winnie the Pooh,tigger,and her baby.
Once they were all set-up in her Winnie the Pooh chair she was ready to visit with her Poppa Dew.
Once the two of them exchanged jokes and plans for the evening she decided it was time to go next door and visit her Great Nanny and Great Poppie before supper.

Great Nanny was out doing her Christmas shopping.
Great Poppie was waiting for her to come in the livingroom as he heard her on the porch taking her boots off.
When she peeked her head around the corner of the kitchen cupboards to see if he was awake, he greeted her with a smile and a joke.

Gretchen spent about 20 minutes playing games and joking with him before asking if she could visit after she had supper.
Once we ate supper she spied Grandma's baking and asked for Poppa Dew to have some chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallow squares with her.

We also had a nice e-mail for Gretchen to view:
A magic video was created for Gretchen

To watch Santa's message:
http://magicsanta.ca/gateway.html?code=PB0QZB

Once we watched the video about 6 times and Gretchen was super excited about Christmas fast approaching we decided she and Poppa Dew should have some treats with their Christmas cartoons.

They enjoyed a square and watched christmas cartoons together until bath time.

Once we got a bath and Poppa Dew and her made Jiffy Pop together we all settled in to watch Polar Express.
We watched about 1/2 hour of that and then we went next door to say goodnight to Great Poppie and back home to brush our teeth and off to bed for songs and stories.

While we lay there in bed chatting Gretchen was stroking the side of my face telling me that she loved me and I told her I loved her too and thanked her for making my day so special with her visit.
She continued to stroke my face and say "Grandma, you are my bestest friend ever!" and gave me a kiss.
I not only welled up with tears I was so touched by her expression of love I was reminded of the tender moments I use to share with my boys when they were this age...I miss those days.
I told Gretchen that I loved her and she was also my best friend and that I always look forward to my Gretchen-time.
With that she kissed me goodnight and cuddled in for the night.

It was an early morning we got up and visited Great Nanny next door and had a short visit with Great Poppie when he woke-up.
Back to Grandma's and had some of her homemade oatmeal bread toasted with peanutbutter and some greek yogurt with strawberries for breakfast and a glass of milk.

We got washed and dressed then Gretchen picked out the cookie tin she wanted to put her left over popcorn in to take home to share with her Mommy and a small can to put chocolate,peanutbutter ,marshmallow squares in to take home.
She had a nice visit with her Poppa Dew and then we put our toys away,turned on the lights on the Christmas tree and she re-arranged the decorations just so while we chatted about the fact my Christmas tree has all home made decorations made by her Daddy,her Uncle Blair and myself over the years and how she was going to make me some decorations for my tree too!

We gathered up all the things that we were taking back to her house and said our goodbyes and loaded up to go to Peterborough to meet up with her Daddy to go Christmas shopping.

We arrived at his house and up the stairs we went to meet him.
As soon as she opened the door she rushed him with a big hug and proceeded to show me the Christmas tree she has at her Daddy's and the decorations she made for his tree last year.
Once we were ready to roll we could hear Gretchen in the car seat singing a song about going to Value Village to get Christmas Gifts for her Mommy and Daddy.

It was so precious watching her pick out the gifts she wanted to give to them.
Once we finished shopping there we went to the dollar store where she helped me pick out more cookie tins and some candles.

We all went out to lunch at Pizza Hut and once we loaded back into the car she was ready to go home for a nap.

We had a great outing and hopefully will make this a tradition to continue to do Christmas shopping together each Christmas season.

Chocolate peanutbutter marshmallow squares

Today I decided to get some baking done and figured I would make some squares that are requested quite often over the Christmas season.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

Chocolate Peanutbutter Marshmallow Squares

1 cup of Butter
1 cup of Peanutbutter
16 semi-sweet Baker's chocolate squares
3 cups of milk chocolate chocolate chips
2 bags of coloured mini marshmallows

Grease a large pan with butter and set aside.
In a large pot melt your butter, chocolate squares and chocolate chips and when 1/2 melted add peanutbutter.
Once melted and removed from heat check that it is not too hot before adding the marshmallows.
Once cooled enough to add marshmallows stir them in quickly and pour into greased pan.
Spread into pan and let cool once cooled score squares and put pan into fridge to harden.
After about an hour remove from fridge finish cutting and store in cookie tins lined with wax paper between layers.
Can be kept in refridgerator until ready to use up to 4 weeks.

Christmas Baking

The time is nearing for me to start my Christmas  baking.
Have you started yours?
This year I decided to cut way back on the amount of Christmas baking I usually do only because the cost has almost doubled in the last 2 years.
So instead of sending out trays and cans of cookies to my girlfriends, I went out and purchased lined hard covered books and inside I personalized it and included in each one the person's favourite Christmas cookie recipe of mine .
Each person can now put together their own cookbook full of their favourite recipes.

I still plan on doing Christmas baking for my immediate family and for company over the Christmas season.
Has anyone had to cut back on the amount of baked goods they send out over Christmas?

Weekend Fun

Good Morning!
I hope your weekend was enjoyable.
This past weekend I have spent writing Christmas cards and wrapping gifts.
What did you do ?

Thank-you Rock Recipes!

Each year when I do my Christmas baking I test run a new recipe, sometimes they are a flop and other times they are a hit...Well thanks to Rock Recipes this year's test recipe was a hit!

Picture courtesy of Rock Recipes

Bottom layer

 Cream together:

1 cup butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar


Mix in;

2 2/3 cups flour

Press into the bottom of a 9x13 inch, parchment paper lined baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Topping

In a medium sized saucepan combine:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
2 tbsp whipping cream

Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for only a minute or two before stirring in

2 cups chopped unsalted cashew nuts

As soon as the bottom has baked for 20 minutes, pull it out of the oven and spread the topping evenly over the base and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes.

Cool completely the pan on a wire rack.

Drizzle the top with

1/2 cup melted chocolate chips


*They say the melted chocolate is optional but chocolate is always  a must for this gal!


If you love honey , cashews and shortbread and chocolate this recipe is a keeper!

Melting Moments

Today I am sharing with you my shortbread recipe.

This is the first year my granddaughter baked them with my supervision, she did very well as you can see by the photos.

Melting Moments

3 cups flour
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup cornstarch
1 softened pound of butter
mix together with fork into a dough
roll 1 inch balls
flatten with fork
add sprinkles
bake 325 F for 7-10 mins until golden brown on bottom edge

This cookie is one of my most requested cookie at Christmastime.
Do you have a cookie recipe that people request you to make each Christmas?

My Little Earth Angel

                                            Licking the left over sprinkles she had stuck to her hand after decorating her      
                                            shortbread cookies .
        

                                          Taking her Poppa Dew a sample of her baking.

                                          Playing with her bunny friends on the stairs.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

We were blessed this year with warm temperatures and along with that we have had our fair share of rain.
 This morning I awoke to a skiff of snow covering everything and I have to say it is feeling more like Christmas around here with a little bit of that white stuff.
I have been busying myself getting all my Christmas baking supplies in and trying to ensure I have enough cookie tins to go around this year.
I had a blast with my granddaughter last weekend we not only visited Santa Claus we baked some shortbread together I mostly supervised and she did extremely well following my instructions.
We have baked together before but this time I let her do most of it herself.
She was so proud of her cookies and I of her for following direction so well.
What she didn't eat or share with her grandparents and great-grandparents she took home for her parents.

Have you started your Christmas baking?

Glad I am back online

After a long break from blogging I am back!\
I had computer issues that made it almost unbearable to use my computer but thanks to my wonderful son and his girlfriend I now have a computer that doesn't take forever to do anything on.
Thank-you both for my early Christmas gift!

Last weekend I had a chance to take my little earth angel out to the mall and sit on Santa's knee.
She really didn't warm-up to him until it was almost time to leave and our picture was sans an angel smile but a very memorable trip.
When asked by Santa what she wanted for Christmas she answered "a bumblebee" and after a few more questions to clarify we found she wants a bumblebee broach so the hunt is on!
The picture I have attached was not the one Santa's helper took but on a friend took on her cellphone while Gretchen was explaining to Santa what she wanted.
I hope to make this a tradition each year with her.

Santa actually had his own beard and moustache, so cool!