RECIPE: LIQUID GOLD

When Mike and I had to prepare a breakfast for our family reunion we stewed over what to cook.  A friend suggested fried scones and buttermilk syrup.  I wasn't sure until I tried the syrup.  It is so delicious my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  

It's not only good on all breakfast items, but also on desserts too.  Imagine a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream and liquid gold drizzled on top.  ;)

Buttermilk Syrup    
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk (I have substituted milk with lemon juice for the buttermilk and it's good, but not quite as good as with the real thing)
1/2 cup butter
2 tbs. corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients except vanilla in a tall saucepan.  The baking soda makes the syrup foam up so you want a tall pan to avoid spills.  Stirring often, bring the syrup to a low boil. Boil for seven minutes.  Take pot off the heat and add the vanilla.

Now douse your food with the liquid gold and enjoy!

The Model Family

I know it's good to be humble, but my Tess is the most adorable little munchkin ever!

My sister, Noelle, was visiting a couple of weeks ago and took some family pictures for us. 

She has recently started a photography business in Cedar City, Utah.

We are so lucky to have a skilled photographer in the family.  My kids were not very interested in having their pictures taken, but Noelle got them to come around.  Check out some of our family pictures.  Thanks again Noelle.  I don't know how we are going to decide on what pictures to put up in our house.  I love them all. 

I Love Caramel

This week I spent some time with my friend, Rachel, making chocolate covered caramels.

Candies don't last long in our house.  I could barely take a picture before someone was sneaking the candy.

Tess couldn't get enough.

Prince Charming doesn't mind Guittard either.

After Collin was done sucking all the chocolate off I took away the chunck of caramel.  He wasn't happy about that!

Time Flies

Over the weekend I had the chance to go with Mike on a business trip.  It was short and sweet from Saturday to Monday, but nice just to spend some quality time with my husband.  We flew in to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and went straightaway to eat a Philly cheesesteak sandwhich.  We ate at Tony Luke's in south Philadelphia.  I first heard about Tony Luke's on the Food Network.  Tony Luke was on "Throw Down with Bobby Flay."  While we were eating there was a guy trying to eat a five pound sandwhich.  If he ate the entire sandwhich in under 20 minutes it would be free.  The sandwhich was huge and he ended up quitting more than half way through.  Too bad for him.  The sandwhich was like forty bucks!

After stuffing our faces with cheesesteak we headed up to Jim Thorpe.  The town of Jim Thorpe was just a couple hours north of Philadelphia.  We did all of our traveling at night, so I didn't get to see much on the drive beside Christmas lights.  We stayed at The Inn at Jim Thorpe.  It was a charming old hotel. 

Sunday morning as we were checking out the receptionist warned us to be careful, it was slippery out side.  We didn't think much of it until another person warned us as he was walking into the hotel.  When we walked outside everyone was slipping on the sidewalks.  The ground was covered in ice from freezing rain.

Mike was a good sport to wait as I tried to get pictures in the rain.  There was an awesome mansion and an old prison just a few blocks away from our hotel.  We drove by them, but didn't take any pictures.  We were having difficulties driving on frozen roads.  The old prison is the site of several Molly Maguire hangings.    This might not be exciting to anyone else, but we had just watched a movie about them a couple of weeks ago and found it really interesting.

  It was a great trip and we met some really nice people.  I want to go back to have more time to look around and see more of the sights.  There's never enough time these days.

This was a little pineapple picture I saw in one of the local shops.  I just had to take a picture of it. ;)

Snowball Cookies

These cookies are so simple and tasty.  I have a hard time only eating a few.  The recipe is similar to Russian tea cookies or Mexican wedding cookies.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (no substitutions)

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 Tb water

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup chopped pecans

1 Tsp vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

Colored sugar sprinkles

Beat butter and sugar in large mixing bowl until well combined. Add water and vanilla and mix. Mix in flour then chopped pecans.

Shaped into 1 inch balls. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 325˚ for 20 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Cool cookies completely on wire rack. 

Mix colored sugar sprinkles with powdered sugar in a new bowl. Roll cooled cookies in the powdered sugar.

Eat up!

Pass the Butter

Let me start by saying my friend Rachel is a great cook.  Rachel shares tons of her yummy recipes on her blog with good detailed instructions.  I have always thought pastries were intimidating and wouldn't have normally attempted to make them.  After tasting Rachel's Kouign Amann I thought it might be worth trying.

The recipes for croissants and kouign amann are only slightly different.  Once you master the technique of rolling and folding you are set!  A couple of weeks ago (with the encouragement of Rachel) I made kouign amann.  All was well until I walked away from the oven and burned the delicious buttery dough. So sad.  I ended up pulling them apart and eating the flaky inside. 
This week I thought I would try and redeem myself.  I have been laboring over the dough for the last three days.  It really shouldn't have taken this long, but my timing was off and I ended up letting it sit in the fridge overnight.  The dough needs time to rest in the fridge. (The butter has to stay as cold as possible)  This time around I stayed in the kitchen the entire time I was baking to keep a watchful eye.  I baked my pain au chocolate slightly shorter than Rachel's time.  I think a lot depends on your oven.  Let me tell you these are so good and worth the work.  Now I know why a good bakery charges what it does for butter air.  Check out her blog and try one of her recipes.

Warm Fuzzies V. Cold Pricklies

I feel like I need to apologize to everyone for not telling them I washed my car last Friday. I thought Mike said there was no snow in the forecast for the next 10 days, so I took my car through the car wash.  With out fail everytime I get my car washed it will snow or rain within 24 hours.  Oh well...

   

We enjoy the snow up here even if it does make the car dirty.

A few weeks ago Mike and I were struggling to find a way to motivate our kids.  We came up with the "Warm Fuzzy" Jars.

Each child has a mason jar with their name on it.  I have a third container with a bunch of pom pom balls.  Through out the day the kids can earn warm fuzzies to fill their jar.  Being nice, helping out with the dishes, saying thank and a host of other things can earn a warm fuzzy. 

We can barter them too. 

I have offered a warm fuzzy for help with Collin in the car, and the kids can offer warm fuzzies to each other (like money) in exchange for something.  When the jar is half full they can pick out a treat at the store.  If they want to forgo the treat and fill the jar to the top they get to pick something at the dollar store. 

When they fight, talk back or disobey we tell them they gave us a cold prickley and take a way a pom pom.  The warm fuzzies can be as easy or hard to get as you want.  My kids haven't realized they could be filling these jars up just about everyother day.  When they catch on we will have to raise our standards.  ;)

OH, and a Happy Birthday to my sister Noelle!

Hobo Mittens

This is my take on hobo mittens.  There are only a few steps to make a unique wrist warmer.

Supplies:

An old sweater or knee high socks.  I found this sweater at the dollar store.  How is that for a score!

sewing machine, and coordinating thread.

a few pins to mark your lines.

Some buttons or other embellishment.

Cut your sleeves to the desired length.  You can make these long to your elbows, short and a little past your wrist, or anything in between.  It's up to you.

Place your arm on the sleeve (with your thumb to the original seam of the sweater) to get an idea of where you are going to trim up your mitten.  I had to make a pattern of my arm because I couldn't take pictures and hold my arm down at the same time.  It might be easier for you to just make a pattern.  You want the sleeve to cover your knuckles.  Keep that in mind when you put your real, or paper arm on the sleeve.  Place your pins to mark where you will begin sewing in and down the arm.  Knit is stretchy, so I find it easier to sew and them trim away the excess.

Back stitch, or fix stitch, the begining right on the original seam.  I gradually tapered in about an inch.  The amount you sew in depends on how big or small you sweater sleeve is to begin with.

 Sew your seam all the way to the end of the sleeve.

Try your sleeve on to make sure you took in enough fabric.  It is easier to take in a little at a time if you are unsure.  It's hard to pick thread out of sweaters.  Trust me;)  When you are satisfied with the fit go ahead and trim the excess fabric about 1/4 inch away from the seam.

Use a pin to mark your thumb seam, give yourself about an inch or little more.  Use another pin to mark about a 1/4 inch to the left of the first pin.  Sew your first pin seam straight down 3/4- 1 inch.  Be sure to back stitch the begining and ending of the seams.  Your second seam is going to angle from the top of the pin head (1/4 inch away from the first seam) to the bottowm of the first seam.  You should have a awkward "V."  Using scissors, snip the fabric in between the two seams.  Don't cut through your stitches!

     

In this picture you can see the cut at the top.  I took this picture and then ending up sewing the seam longer, so your "V" cut should be deeper than the one in the picture.

Roll your unfinished end (the one towards your elbow) under and sew a straight stitch to hem it.

Now add your embellishments.  I added a melted flower to this one and some fabric covered buttons to another pair. 

Your hobo mittens are complete.  Now go make a pair. Or maybe you need to make two or three pairs;)

 

 This is a pair I gave to my niece, Maddy, for her birthday.  So cute on her, don't you think?

Don't Eat My House!

It's gingerbread house time. 

Usually Mike builds the house with the kids, but this kit has been sitting on top of the fridge since last weekend, and it was killing Davis.

  I know using a kit it kind of lazy, but it's really nice with the kids.  They don't have the paitence to wait for the baking.  Once you plant the seed they want to do right then and there.

The finished house...

The finished house being robbed of it's decorations. 

The candy isn't even that good, but that doesn't matter.

Flower Power

I bought this fabric during the summer to make a sun dress for Tess.  She had some really cute purple jelly sandals to match.  We have since moved into a different season and misplaced the shoes.  The dress has an elastic neck and the belt is just simple satin ribbon that I have been holding onto for the last five years.  (I seriously bought it when D was a baby.)  I know there is a pattern out there somewhere for this kind of dress, but I am too lazy to go buy it.  I like to think I am flexing my mommy brain when I try to wing a pattern. 

Melted Flower Winner

On the eve of my melted flower giveaway Tess decided to cut her hair.  I knew she had scissors and she was at the counter cutting paper.  She ran to me and exclaimed "I cut my hair!"  I asked her to show me what she was talking about and she showed me a chunk of hair on the floor that she tried to throw in the garbage.  I took the kids to get their hair cut not more than a month ago.  Tess asked to have her hair cut short, but I wanted to keep it a little longer for pony tails.  I guess I should have listened...

And the winner of the melted flower give away was The Despain Gang!  Thanks for all your comments and support.  I am slowly working on getting more ideas and crafts posted.