Marshmallows

When I was deciding what to give Wesley's teachers, I tried to think through something they would all want that was also affordable. I know they probably get lots of things that they appreciate, but then they're stuck finding a home for yet another mug or what-have-you. So, I knew I wanted to give something that would get used up. I thought homemade cocoa and marshamallows would be unique... Who doesn't like cocoa during the supposedly cold winter months??

 

Alton Brown provided the Cocoa Recipe and Smitten Kitchen provided the Marshmallow Recipe.

 

The directions for the marshmallows were deceptively simple and {with wonderful help from Brad} they came together in a snap. I am still a little mystified to think that *we* made actual marshmallows...

 

kind of gross beginnings...

 
Brad's first task was to oil and sugar our pan. He did it with his usual level of perfection and precision:

 

 
Then we waited *and waited* for our sugary syrup to come to the magical temperature.

 

 
They really started to look marhsmallowy after we whipped up the egg whites. The mixture turned white and fluffy right before my eyes.

 

 

Brad poured the goo into the expertly prepared pan.

 

 

The next day, we had mugfuls of perfect hot cocoa

(mine needed more stirring)

 

 

Brad tried one toasted and happily reported it tasted just like a toasted marshmallow.

 

 

We also learned that the Chewbaca Mug likes marshamllows.

Peppermint Crisps

I had been brainstorming what type of cookies to make for the Cookie Exchange. I don't know why, but I'm never content just to make some chocolate chip ones. I had several options printed out and showed them to Brad. He headed out to buy supplies and brought home all the things he could remember. He couldn't find Min Extract, but found Peppermint Extract. I had wanted to make THESE. But that didn't work out. Instead, I gave Peppermint Crisps a try.

The first step is to make Peppermint Sugar Syrup. It smelled amazing, but made my eyes sting and even Brad thought it was a little strong. After you melt your sugar and everything together, you pour it out on parchment paper to solidify. I think it was a little too humid for this step. Mine stayed sticky and a little pliable.

 

 

So after an hour or so of waiting, I threw it in my food processor. I tried it in my mini processor, but it didn't handle it too well so I had to break out the big processor. It probably did not as well as it could have because it was a little gumy, but it made peppermint sugar eventually.

 

 

Meanwhile, I copped up all that chocolate. We just used jumbo hershey bars. Since it was humid, it kept melting to my fingers, but that was a tasty problem to have ;)



 
 It was beautiful seeing the milk and dark chocolate melted together.

 

I stirred in the peppermint sugar and cooconut, then smeared it onto my parchment paper. I must admit, I was disappointed at how little it made...

 

 

There wasn't enough for me to cut it up with a cookie cutter because so much would have been wasted. Instead, I used a knife and made squares. It was delicious the day I made it, but within a few days, they sort of lost their yumminess. All in all, it was a bit too complex with too little results for me to consider making them again.

Christmas Tree Skirt

It's finally Christmas time and I have been dying all year to make a tree skirt I spotted on Pinterest! Instructions are found HERE.

 

I gathered my supplies and my instructions and set to work.

 

 

I opted to lay out my muslin in layers and then I cut several strips at once. So, once I had cut as far as I could reach, I scooted the fabric forward and continued. This was much quicker than cutting one strip the full length and then cutting the next and so on. Here's a picture in case that description didn't make perfect sense:

 

I will say, the directions said to cut 2" strips, but I measured and mine look much smaller than theirs.

 

Also, the directions say to put the line of hot glue about an inch and a half above the previous row. I would say, don't measure and instead lay each strip over the last one to decide where you need glue. the second row, I put the glue in using a rough measurement, but when I stuck the fabric on it left a gap. I later cut short strips and filled in a few gaps so it wasn't a big deal. See:

 

 

It took several nights of working in short bursts, but I got it finished. I was really impressed with the final result!

 

 

 
It is sort of too big for our tree, but I assured Brad that one day we might get a bigger tree ;)

It really is beautiful even though the background kitchen chaos sort of detracts. I'll have a separate post about WHY our kitchen was a mess. Stay tuned.

 

Also, how do you like the deco mesh on the tree this year?
Looks SO much better and more finished than in years past.

Here's a close up without the kitchen chaos...

 

And, you know, it really makes me laugh to think how long I spent on that tree skirt.

 

If I had only know that it wouldn't matter once we finished wrapping all our gifts....

 

 



It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

I have been in love with and intimidated by the deco mesh trend that shows up every Christmas.

The vivid colors are right up my alley, but I envisioned a mess if *I* tried to recreate what I see...

Lucky for me, I have a friend who used to own her own florist shop :)

Last night, she taught me a few tricks of the trade.

First, we started with a wreath from Wal-Mart and fluffed it up.

Next, she added the green mesh in a circle around the outside, fluffing and stuffing as she went.
Then, the berry mesh was added in the middle... 

We added some swirly sticks, then the pine cones and lastly, we added the Christmas ornaments.

Then I excitedly placed it above my mantle and added by new tealight holders. Isn't it just fabulous? I'm so thankful for talented friends :)

These are gorgeous and photos don't do them justice. I'm thinking of buying more next time I'm visiting my family :)

Christmas Tree - Cookie Press Cookies

I know, I know...

It's only mid-September so there is NO reason to even mention Christmas cookies yet.

Except I am so ready for cooler weather!! Yesterday was a lovely 70 degrees and I just couldn't stand it any longer! I had to bake more cookies!

My mother-in-law and I actually talked about this urge to bake when Fall is approaching. Do you experience this? My mom and I do and Brad's mom does. Is it a mom thing or a woman thing?

We thought it might be related to a need to prepare for the winter. To stockpile food for the difficult months ahead. Since I am more interested in baking, I thought maybe it was a maternal need to fatten our kids up so they're ready for the leaner winter months.

Whatever the reason, I wanted to make cookies.

Specifically, CHRISTMAS cookies!

Good thing our church's choir is having a Christmas Musical preview party this Saturday so I don't seem completely loony.

I didn't feel like rolling dough and making frosting so I turned to my trusty Cookie Press (follow the link if you're unfamiliar with these.)

Normally, I use my mom's hand-me-down Betty Crocker recipe, but I thought I'd try the recipe on the box...

It starts with 2 1/2 sticks of butter!!

Somewhere out there, Paula Deen was having a very good day!

After I got my dough all mixed up, I was worried it was too stiff..

See what I mean:

I went ahead and filled my press, though, to see how it went and the texture was PERFECT. Not only that, it stayed the perfect texture through a 2 hour process of pressing, decorating, baking, refilling, pressing, decorating, baking, cooking dinner, eating dinner, pressing, giving up on ornaments and using sprinkles, baking, and so on. I was impressed!

Because I wanted to be all cute and festive, I used large circle-shaped sprinkles as ornaments on the trees.

My cookies wouldn't stick to the pan so I had to break them off {gently} and put them on the pan.
As such, I thought I'd bake a few upside down (see bottom right cookie in the next pic) to see which style turned out the best.

After pulling them from the oven, I decided the right-side-up cookies looked nicer... The one in the center on the left edge is an upside down cookie.

Using the ornament sprinkles was very time consuming so on the last batch I just whipped out the green sugar :) Even those turned out very festive. I loved how the sprinkles settled in the ridges created by the press. Sort of looks like garlands wrapped around each tree.

Normally, when I bake cookies I end up with far fewer than the recipe predicts it will yield.

With my usual sugar cookies I chalk it up to my large cookie cutters. With chocolate chip cookies I assume it's because I like big, cakey cookies.

With this recipe I was supposed to get 7 or 8 dozen cookies ... so around 90, right?

Oh no - I ended up with

144 cookies!

If the cookie press portions the dough for me, how on earth did I manage to make a GROSS of cookies?! Please explain this to me! I was so tired of being on my feet and babysitting the oven after the last pan, that I emptied my press of a small batch of dough and called it a night... So, technically I could have made 13 dozen cookies!!

Fun Christmas Commercials :)

Well, it has happened again. The Christmas commercials have arrived and Foldgers has a new sentimental commercial that makes me tear up! Have you seen it yet? I can't find it on youtube, but the premise is this: a brother comes home from being away in West Africa for a long time. His sister has waited up for his arrival and they go to the kitchen to make coffee (naturally!) He hands her a gift. She smiles then takes the bow and sticks it on him saying, "You're my present this year" *aw!!* I tear up just remembering it - Reminds me alot of an old favorite:



And who can forget the Hallmark commercials with the Father of the Bride couple!

This year, we've really been enjoying the Target commercials for their 2-day sale. Have you seen them? They feature two very different sisters preparing to Christmas shop :)

I LOVE the face the blond makes at the end of this one:


We laugh EVERY time this one comes on:




and lastly:


Hope these put a grin on your face like they do for us :) Enjoy the coming month with all the festivities :)

Three Christmases

Well, the Christmas season has already come and gone. This time was particularly special to me because we were in our new home for its first Christmas - and more than that I was just thankful to have Brad back under the same roof with us! In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I really enjoyed spending time in the kitchen with Wesley. I always love to bake before holidays and this time, I really felt like I had the time to go all out! We travelled a bunch and spent more weekends away than we have at home so the time really flew by - and now, I can't believe we're already 7 days into 2009!

SO - to recap our Holiday travels -

I think the Ladies' Banquet at FBC Fannin is a fun, meaningful way to kick off the Christmas season and seeing all the elegantly decorated tables puts me in the Christmas spirit! Mom and Kim really outdid themselves this year and they're already planning for next year when we have a new fellowship hall to decorate!

Of course, decorating my own tree is something I look forward to from Halloween to Thanksgiving! This year, Wes noticed that there is "too much purple" on our tree so I might have to *gasp* incorporate other colors sometime soon....

And, as I mentioned, I enjoyed LOTS of baking with my little kitchen assistant - not all of our projects were as trying as the gingerbread house though some were more "hands on" for Wes! or should I say "hands IN" ?

Another weekend, Brad and I headed up to Tennessee to see his lovely cousin, Stephanie, marry her super sweet fiance - I didn't take my camera in but I really wish I had! She was a beautiful bride and the ceremony was chock-full of wonderful, sweet, thoughtful touches! The thing that really stood out to me was their decision to have everyone sing "The Church's One Foundation" together as Stephanie walked down the aisle and again when the newly-married couple made their exit - What an awesome experience that was!

While on our way home from Jackson, TN we stopped in to see the Shiloh National Military Park and I was really impressed by the monuments and the information there - Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and windy so we weren't able to fully enjoy the tour and see all that there was to see.

After that trip, we had little time before Christmas was upon us - We did squeeze in some couch shopping and we found the set we ended up ordering (no photos until they're in our living room!)

And before we knew it, we were headed to my parents' house for Christmas eve!

In my family, the tradition is to camp out in the Big Room and then Christmas morning we all wake up and open gifts! Well... we all started out in the Big Room and Wes was (naturally) insanely excited to have his Granny and Papaw and to know it was Christmas Eve... He chatterboxed until after 11 pm! Finally he got settled down and people started to drift to sleep.... Fast forward to Christmas morning and not everyone woke up in the Big Room... Some people migrated down stairs to the couch and to the guest bedroom... It was a mysterious phenomenon that I can't explain, but there are those who know what really happened!

Needless to say, it was a very groggy morning but once we saw Wes and Connor eying their stacks we all were ready to rip open our gifts! In a flurry of papers and ribbons and bows, all our gifts were opened and we all examined each others' gifts - I think I am most excited about the GPS's that Kim and I received. Anyone who knows me knows this is JUST what I needed now that we're in a new town! :)

After the gifts were open, it was time for breakfast - and at about 9 am, we ate Turkey and dressing and the whole 9 yards! haha It sounds crazy but it was divine! I loooove my dad's fried turkey!

Then, before we knew it, it was almost 1 and time to head to Brad's parents' house for... LUNCH! We had more turkey and yummy veggies and spent time with Brad's family.

I love Christmas-time when all the generations can come together and this one was even more special because it was Macy's first Christmas! Brad's grandmother also made it special when she showered us all with beautiful crystal from her brother's store and lots of embroidered artwork and super-soft knit blankets! (she even made a PURPLE one for Brad and me) Wes especially loved his scarf and hat!

After the first 2 Christmases, we spent some more time with our families before Wes headed off to Brookhaven.

We headed to Columbia for New Year's Eve and spent time with Wesley's family. We were also there to help celebrate Grandmother and Granddaddy's 60th Anniversary! What a tremendous milestone! We really enjoyed being a part of the party and seeing all of our extended family, too. Plus Wes tried his hand at tree-climbing.... Why did he wait until he was all dressed up?

All in all, we had a WONDERFUL time seeing all of our families - I must say how truly blessed we are, not only to have so many wonderful family members, but also having 3 families who are willing to work together to allow us to visit all of them! I know some couples have difficulties juggling holiday time, but we are really, really thankful that our families all coordinate to make sure that we can spend time with everyone! That, in and of itself was my favorite gift -

But beyond that and beyond the time with family, and all the delicious food, and even better than any wrappable gift was the reminder that this Christmas, just like all other Christmases, was really a time to be thankful that Christ gave us the ultimate gift roughly 2,040 years ago when He submitted to God and was born in the flesh. We may have been busy shopping, baking and travelling, but if we had been too busy to remember the Real Reason for the Season, we would have missed out on Christmas altogether!

Thank you to all of my families for celebrating CHRISTmas with us! We love you all so very much!