Christmas Party and Syrup Recipe

Last Saturday was our Church Christmas Party. Patrick and I are the activities committee in our ward, so we got to put it together. The tradition is to have a breakfast... we had a lot of fun!

We have the sweetest Bishop ever. He is always so willing to get involved and help out. Actually, we had lots of helpers that we were very thankful for! You guys are the best! We could not have done it without you!

We were so glad to have such a great turn out! We love our ward and feel like they are family away from our family.

Even Santa showed up... what a treat!

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For the activity I made our favorite homemade syrup. I made enough to fill up my big red pot. This recipe was given to me by a friend several years ago and I use it any chance I can. It really is TO DIE FOR!!! It is quite the crowd pleaser. Don't be put off by the ingredients, you've got to try it.

Amazingly Good Homemade Syrup

Combine in large sauce pan and stir over medium heat until incorporated:

1 Cup Butter (works best if it's room temperature)

1 Cup Buttermilk

2 Cups Sugar

2 Tbls Light corn syrup
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Boil these together for 3-5 minutes. Take off the heat and add:

1 Tbls vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

Be careful because the baking soda causes it to double in size, so make sure your pot is big enough to handle that.

This tastes similar to Kneaders or Magleby's restaurant syrup... if you don't know what that is, then you're just gonna have to trust me, it's good!

This syrup is obviously not the most healthy, but for special occasions it really hits the spot! It's great on pancakes, waffles and crepes, but it's also fantastic as a caramel sauce on ice cream, as a dip for apples, melt in a few chocolate chips and it's a

fabulous chocolate sauce. My favorite is to smear my waffles with peanut butter and then top it off with this syrup- heaven! Can you say "heart-attack"? Just thinkin' about it makes my mouth water!

It's perfect for Christmas morning.

Enjoy!

Fun Halloween Treats

Need an idea for a fun Halloween treat?

I saw this and thought we'd give it a try...

Mini- Caramel Apples

They are so cute and so yummy!

You will need:

• A few Granny Smith apples
• Your favorite chocolate for melting
• Your favorite toppings to put on the chocolate
• small wooden skewers
• A melon baller

It depends on how many you want to make. We were able to get about 10 apple balls from each apple. We melted white chocolate, milk chocolate and peanut butter chips, but only work with one type of chocolate at a time- so it stays warm enough.

Ball your apple and be sure to leave a piece of the peel at the top where the skewer will go in- this makes it look like a real apple. Have your chocolate and your toppings ready so the apple doesn't have time to go brown. Put the skewer in and dip the apple in the chocolate and then into your toppings. Place them in the fridge until they set up. That's it!

I tried it with caramel, but because there was no peel, it slid right off- oops!

Our favorite combinations were:

• White Chocolate dipped in Cinnamon-sugar
• White Chocolate dipped in crushed Oreo's
• Milk chocolate dipped in chopped peanuts
• Milk Chocolate dipped in toffee Chips
• Milk Chocolate dipped in Coconut
• Peanut butter chips dipped in mini-chocolate chips
• Any chocolate dipped in fun Halloween Sprinkles

Edible Eyeballs

You will need:

• a package of mini-powdered donuts
• a package of gummi Life Savers
• a package of mini-M&M's or Mini-Reese's Pieces
• Red decorating Frosting
• White frosting for glue

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*This is so easy, but so fun.*

Use the red frosting to make "veins" on the donuts. Place the life saver in the middle of the donut and add a drop of the white frosting in the middle of that. Place the M&M on top of the life saver. Ohhh... creepy!

HappyHalloween!!

Pucker up, baby!

I am a huge LIME lover.

HUGE!

Our favorite restaurant is an all you can eat Brazilian BBQ with the most amazing food. But, my favorite thing on the menu is their fantastic Lemonade, which is actually a Limeade.

It is heaven in a glass. Seriously!

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I Googled it, found this recipe and have made it several times. It tastes exactly the same. And to me, it is HEAVEN!

It is the PERFECT summer drink. Tart. Sweet. Yummy! You GOTTA try it!

Brazilian Lemonade

4 Limes

1 cup Sugar

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk (maybe a touch more)

6 cups Water

Lots of Ice

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Wash the limes thoroughly. Cut off the ends and slice into eight wedges, leaving the peel on. Place limes in the blender with the sugar, sweetened condensed milk and half the water.

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Blend in an electric blender, pulsing for only a couple seconds about 3 times (this will depend on the power of your blender. If you blend too much it will become very bitter. The pulp should be blended up, but most of the peel should not). Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove the lime rinds.

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Add the rest of the water. I usually pour it through the strainer to pick up any left over flavor. Stir and pour into a glass with plenty of ice. WOW!

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Don’t make it too far in advanced. It tends to turn bitter after a few hours.

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That's it! So easy and so good!

This recipe claims to serve 8... But not at our house!

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Let me know what you think!!

Yummy-Yummy to my Tummy

I love to cook.

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Love it!

When I cook I enjoy the process of making it just as much as I love eating it.

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My cute mama was a Home Ec. teacher- so I grew up with my very own personal teacher and have enjoyed cooking my entire life.

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I like to try a new recipe and if I love it, I stash it in my 3 ring binder that has become a very sloppy cookbook over the years.

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I love my sloppy cookbook.

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It's full of recipes ripped out of magazines, jotted down on the back of an envelope or printed from foodnetwork.com. One day I will make it look pretty and organized, maybe.

I can tell the recipes I especially love in my cookbook because they are speckled with grease stains or other various spots.

I will post some of my favorite recipes every once in a while.

As far as cookies goes, this is one of my favorite.

Peanut Butter with chocolate chunks- what's not to love...
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~Peanut Butter Cookies~

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar(plus more later for sprinkling)
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips
(I only had a big block of chocolate so I chopped it up and it worked great!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chips.

Place sprinkling sugar on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Using a fork, lightly indent with a crissscross pattern (I used a spoon to keep it smooth on top), but do not overly flatten cookies.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.


Because it's just the 2 of us I usually package some up to give away... otherwise, I would eat ALL of them! Sometimes I have extra dough and not enough time to cook it all. When that happens I like to lay it out on plastic wrap and roll it out like a thick snake... wrap it up, stick it in the fridge or freezer and voila it's ready to slice up and cook any time. BUT- most of the time when I do that I end up eating all the dough.

They are so, so good!

Enjoy!

PS... My amazing husband has been giving me photography lessons... thanks baby!