Almond Joy Cookies

Another new cookie recipe today, Almond Joy Cookies!  They are yummy!  Definitely a keeper.

More Cookie Baking

Today I baked Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.  Everyone loves Reeses Peanut Butter Cup candy, so when I came across this recipe for a cookie, I had to try it.  They came out yummy.

Baking on a Very Cold Day

 Sunday was bitterly cold in my neck of the woods.  I stayed in and did a little baking.  I made thumbprint cookies, using my own homemade jam.  This is a new recipe, and they turned out well.  They are yummy!

I can't forget my grandpuppies, they want cookies too!  I found this recipe for doggie treats, and I hope Murphy and JoJo will like them!

Happy 4. Sunday of Advent

First Batch of Cookies!

This week's baking adventure has turned to cookies.  I have not baked cookies on over 20 years!  I decided that this is the year to start again!  I started with a chocolate chip short bread cookie, a new recipe to me, and I am very pleased with how they turned out.  My taste testers liked them also.  I do know that I made them a bit too large and next time I make them I will have to make them a bit smaller. 

I went shopping yesterday evening for cookie scoops so that I can make more uniform cookies going forward. 

Today's project

By special request, Orange Marmalade!

Happy 3. Sunday of Advent

This Week's Baking Adventures

This week's baking adventure was Mason Jar Pies.  I made six apple and six cherry pies, and they were a hit.  All gone.  I didn't even get one!

Happy 2. Sunday of Advent

November Progress and December Goals

Again, not as much stitching as I would have liked, but I will take what I can get.  I only have one piece left to finish for the crazy January Challenge, so that will be my focus for December.  Meanwhile, I am gathering a list for the 2017 crazy January starts..........

November

WISPS:

10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress

4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3 
April flower of the month

Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)

Justin’s Birth Sampler  finished
Landon’s Stocking  worked on it

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
November Joyful World
December Joyful World
Small bargello ball  worked on it
4 cardinal ornaments finished
 

December

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress
4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3 
April flower of the month
Small bargello ball 

Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)

Landon’s Stocking 

Future New starts
Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
November Joyful World
December Joyful World
 

WIP Wednesday

This is the Santa Train Stocking I should have been working on all year.....well I was doing well until I hit a stitching slump, and now here it is only a short time until Christmas.  Still hoping to get it done in 2016!

Happy 1st Sunday of Advent

Adventures in Baking

This week's adventures in baking found me making a Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie...well, I made
two.....  my Saturday taste tester group has become quite large, and one pie just wasn't going to be enough!   It turned out rather yummy, and I was told "don't change a thing!"

So, here is the recipe:

This pie is best when it is made a day ahead so that it has time to cool and fully set. Once cooled, wrap with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until served and refrigerate remaining pieces.

Ingredients Serves:10-12 servings

Prep time:10 mins, Cook time:60 mins, Total time:1 hour 10 mins

·         1 9-inch pie crust (store-bought or homemade)

·         1 cup granulated sugar

·         1 cup light corn syrup

·         ½ cup butter (1 stick)

·         4 large eggs, beaten

·         ¼ cup bourbon

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (approximately 1 cup)

·         1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

1.     Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a deep dish pie plate with the pie crust, set aside.

2.     Combine sugar, corn syrup and butter in a saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until butter melts and sugar completely dissolves. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

3.     In a large bowl, combine egg, bourbon, vanilla and salt. Mix thoroughly. Very slowly pour cooled sugar mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the heat from the sugar mixture doesn’t cook the egg mixture. Add the chocolate chips and pecans and stir to mix well.

4.     Pour mixture into pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until set and golden on top.

5.     Serve warm or chilled.

 

...and More Jam....

Perhaps I need an intervention!  I made more Christmas Jam this week.  Why, because I had some left over cranberries that I wanted to use up, and because the Christmas Jam has become my new favorite!

A Finish!

I finished this one over the weekend, well actually, right before I left the retreat on Sunday afternoon!  This is the Superheroes Alphabet for my little Justin.  Second time I have stitched this piece. 

Stitching at the Beach.....

 This past weekend, I attended an annual stitching retreat.  I always look forward to this event, because it is truly a get-a-way!  The event is held at Illinois Beach Resort and Conference Center in Zion Illinois. 

 Although the building is a bit dated, it is still a great place!  Most of the time, we never leave the hotel!  This is the view of the hotel from the water. 

 And this is a view of the beach.

 

 Here we are....from the left, Marguerite, Deb is in the middle and I am on the right.  Deb drove up from Kentucky to spend the weekend with us!

 On the left is Eileen Gurak, the designer of Handblessings Designs, and her sidekick, Bobby O'Brien.  They are the organizers of the retreat.  And they do a wonderful job!

 Here is an overview of the room.  People are not just sitting around stitching, but they wander around the room to see what everyone else is stitching.

 lots of happy, smiling stitchers!

 The beach is lovely at sunset too!

 It was a great weekend, that ended much too soon!

....and I Made Even More Jam......

I found a recipe for Christmas Jam, and really needed to make some.  Then I read the recipe.  It called for 5 lbs. of sugar!  Surely that was a type-o and they meant 5 cups?  I e-mailed the blog author and she confirmed that it was indeed 5 lbs.......yikes!  But....she mentioned that someone else had made the jam using low sugar pectin and much less sugar, so I decided to give it a try after all.  I used 48 oz. of frozen strawberries, 1 lb. of frozen cranberries, 2 boxes of low sugar pectin, and 5 cups of sugar.  After defrosting the berries, I chopped them in the food processor, and left them a bit chunky.  My taste tester liked it!  So.....I will have to make some more!

October Progress, November Goals

October was a bit better than September, but not by much!  I did get one thing finished, and am almost finished with Justin's Birth Sampler (aka Superheroes Alphabet).  Looking forward to more stitching this month!

October Progress

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress
4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3 
April flower of the month
October Joyful World  finished

Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)

Justin’s Birth Sampler  worked on it
Landon’s Stocking 

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
November Joyful World
4 cardinal ornaments
               

November Goals

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress
4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3 
April flower of the month
 
Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)
Justin’s Birth Sampler 
Landon’s Stocking 

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
November Joyful World
4 cardinal ornaments
 

Apple Strudel

I backed an apple studel.  It looked good, but I don't know how it tasted.  My taste testers ate it all, and I didn't even get a crumb!  I will just have to suck it up and make another one!

Something New from My Kitchen

My favorite appetizer or snack at a German Restaurant is Obatzda, a Bavarian Cheese Spread usually served with Bavarian Pretzels. 

The creator of the original obatzda recipe was Katharina Eisenreich, the innkeeper of the Bräustüberl Weihenstephan from 1920 -1958. She served it to her guests as a light snack to accompany their morning beer and soon the idea spread, with many beer gardens creating their own special recipes.

I have been wanting to try and make my own for a long time, and I finally did it!  And I like it!  I will be serving it to my taste testers soon, I hope they like it too!  I will have to work on my Pretzels, this one is from Marianno's.

This Week's Baking Adventure

A few weeks ago, I baked a raspberry cream cheese coffee cake.  It was good, but I felt I could do better, so I set out to bake it again last night.  I increased the cream cheese and sugar in the cream cheese layer, and doubled the fruit on top, and used blackberries instead of raspberries (because the blackberries were on sale really cheap)! but other wise it was the same...

It was a hit!  All my taste testers declared it better than version 1, and there isn't a crumb left

WIP Wednesday 10-19-2016

Got some stitching time in this week.  I am working on the Superheroes Alphabet.  I would like to get it finished so it can be framed and given to my little Justin for Christmas.  Hope to have it done next week.

This Week's Baking Adventure

This week I baked a Plum Upside Down Cake (I had some plums I needed to use up).  We can also call it Plum cake, version 5.  My taste testers liked it a lot!  Version 4 was their favorite but this one came in a close second.   I forgot to get a picture of the entire cake, and this was the only piece left. 

The recipe called for 4 plums, I used 5 but next time I make it I would use even more, I just like a lot of fruit on my fruity cakes.

I Have a Finish!

I did a little stitching the past few days, and managed to finish the October part of the Snowflower Diaries Joyful World Stitch-a-long.  The hedgehog is just too cute! 

I am ready to start the November chart, but need to purchase the GAST color for the frame so I can get started.....

What I have done instead of stitching.....

Many years ago, I gave up baking for lent one year.  During that time I realized that not baking made my life a bit easier, and I thought I might lose some weight in the process.....well that part didn't happen but I found that if I needed to take something baked to an event or meeting, I could hand one of the children a box of brownie mix and they were more than happy to make it!  Later, they learned to follow a recipe and bake from scratch and life was good.  Since then, they have all moved out on their own, and no one is there to bake for me.  Since retirement, I have spent some time in the kitchen, making jam, trying other new recipes and generally enjoying the "no pressure".  Since my grandmother's recipes were not written down, and mother's recipes are quite unorganized and with the dementia she can't remember anything, I was on a quest to find some recipes that I remember from my childhood and youth.  Two years ago, I wanted to make the Walnut Torte that my mother always made for our birthdays.  I found her recipe for the frosting, but really had to search to find a cake recipe the was like the one she made.  My dear cousin Liz had a cookbook that contained a recipe that seemed right, so I tried it, and it was perfect!  My mom loved it but never remembered baking at all, but my aunt said it was spot on! 

After the summer of jam making, and the cooking and baking for John's big birthday bash, I wanted to continue my kitchen adventures....and I started remembering the plum cake that my mother and grandmother used to make.  I found a recipe that I thought might work, and bought some plums and gave it a try. The cake tasted good, but it wasn't quite right.  My father said it was really good but I should have baked it a little longer.  And who knew there were different kinds of plums and I used the wrong ones!   So version 1 was a bit of a fail, and I went in search of other recipes.  There are two basic version of this plum cake, one with yeast and one with baking powder.  I asked my aunt, and she said the one with yeast was the one our family made, and the next day, she presented me with the dough and her recipe!  Yay!  I bought Italian plums, and baked the plum cake.  Version 2 was also somewhat of a fail.  The dough wasn't quite right, my dear aunt is slipping too and that accounts for that part.  The plums were great but they shrunk during the baking so I should have overlapped them on the top of the cake and she didn't tell me to put sugar (with some cinnamon) on top of the cake before baking.  I put powdered sugar on it before serving and it tasted ok, but it wasn't as pretty.  I got another version of the recipe, this time with baking powder instead of yeast from another older lady at our German club that she has been making for years.  I bought more Italian plums and  made that for an EGA meeting.  It looked great and tasted great, but it was more 'cakey' than I wanted.  So version 3 was not a fail, but not what I was looking for.  (may try it again and used a larger baking sheet instead of a spring form pan)   I then went back to the dough recipe for version 1, and used a different size baking sheet, and used Empress plums (they are bigger than the Italian plums, they are what is in season right now) and I baked it a bit longer.  My taste testers at German school were able to taste versions 2, 3, and 4 and let me know that version 4 was the best!  And I liked it the best too!  It isn't quite the recipe I remember my mother and grandmother making, and it looks different, but since we all like the way it tastes, it is now my favorite and will be put in my own cookbook for my family, so they don't have to go through what I am going through.

Here is a picture of the cakes I made for the EGA meeting, Plum Cake version 2 is on the left and my famous Obst Torte is on the right.  There weren't many leftovers!

September Progress, October Goals

It was not a good month.....not much stitching happened.   I am in a slump and just can't stitch for more than 20 minutes at a time......Not one single finish.  Nichts, Nada, Nothing!

I am hoping October will be better....

September

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress

4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3  worked on it

Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)

Justin’s Birth Sampler 
Landon’s Stocking 

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
April flower of the month worked on it
October Joyful World  worked on it
4 cardinal ornaments

October

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress

4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3 
April flower of the month
October Joyful World  
 
Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)
Justin’s Birth Sampler 
Landon’s Stocking 

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
4 cardinal ornaments
       

 

August Progress, September Goals

No quite as much stitching during the month of August as in previous months, but I did make a lot of jam!  And catered a big birthday bash!  And getting ready for the start of German School.  I think September will also be very busy with the start of German School, so not much stitching in September either!

August

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress

4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3 worked on it
Good Friends ornament model  finished

Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)

Justin’s Birth Sampler  worked on it
Landon’s Stocking 

Stitch Maynia (15 new starts in May)

ABC Lessons  finished

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
April flower of the month
September Joyful World  finished
Nautical Mail Art  finished
4 cardinal ornaments
               

September

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress
4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3

Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)

Justin’s Birth Sampler  
Landon’s Stocking 

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
April flower of the month
October Joyful World  
4 cardinal ornaments

  

...ding, dong......

The door bell rang a little while ago.  I wasn't expecting anyone, but I answered it anyway.....glad I did!  John  send me flowers.  Roses. Red roses. A dozen red roses.  In a vase.  With a pretty bow!   (can you tell I don't get flowers delivered very often?)   Wow!  I think I will just sit and stare at them for awhile, and then perhaps find something to stitch that has flowers in it......

...no stitching for the past few days.....

Why?  Well,  yesterday was John's 70th birthday.  John is my gentleman friend.
  I had the brilliant idea of throwing him a surprise party.....So I planned the guest list and the menu, and then found out he absolutely HATES surprise parties.  I did not want to make him uncomfortable, so we had a frank discussion regarding the celebration of his big 7 -0h.  The compromise was that he would host a party at his house, as an open house, and would supply the beverages and the brats, and I would cater the rest.......





So, off I went, lots of shopping, baking, chopping, slicing, cooking,.... well, you get the picture......I forgot to get a picture of all the different salads and side dishes, but remembered to take a picture of the appetizers and the desserts.  Everything was home made, including his birthday cake, which is his great-great grandmother's recipe.  It is a spice cake with a chocolate butter cream frosting and his absolute favorite dessert in the world. 










He had a great time, and so did all that attended.  Very little food was left over, so I think everyone enjoyed it.

Now I have to clean my kitchen and run the dishwasher about 10 more times.....and then I can stitch....

......and Even More Jam!

Sigh.  I can't stop making jam.  This weekend I made Salted Cantaloupe Jam, Raspberry Jam and Tart Cherry Jam.  And it is noteworthy to mention that the raspberry jam was made from raspberries that I picked myself, with a little help from a friend. 

The Cantaloupe recipe needs a little work, but it is good anyway.  The Tart Cherry Jam is rather good, it was requested by my dear brother and then my dear sister said she also wanted some.  Too bad they couldn't tell me when tart cherries were in season.  The Raspberry Jam is just marvelous!  When my cousin's raspberries are ready for picking, I will head over and pick some more......see, I can't stop making jam.  I still have empty jars.....

Joyful World Stitch-a-long September Completed

 Finished the stitching for September this evening.  The owls are cute but I wanted swans!

Below is the entire piece so far.  I am stitching this on 40 count Newcastle linen, over 2 fabric threads with 1 strand of the recommended floss.  It is still going to be bigger than I expected......I can't imagine stitching this one 28 count over 2, it would be huge!

More Jam!

Help!  I can't stop making jam!  I had some friends taste test the watermelon jam this week.  They really liked it and told me not to change a thing!  I did however add some apple to the watermelon as I didn't think it was jelled enough and the apple has natural pectin in it.  I am hoping that will make it jell better.  I stopped at Aldi to do some grocery shopping and they had berries on sale, so I bought some.  After a trip to Meijer for more jelly jars, I made some blackberry and tripleberry this afternoon.  Peach Jam has always been my favorite, but.....the tripleberry is outstanding!  My family and friends better like jam, because that is what everyone is getting for Christmas.

And Now it's Really Finished!

Thank you to CalamityJr for pointing out some missed stitching on this piece!  I had forgotten to stitch the colored block around the G.  I am so glad she caught this before I had it framed or finished!

And now it is really done!

ABC Lessons Finished

ABC Lesson by Lizzie*Kate is finished!  This was the last of the 15 new starts from Stitch May-nia that needed to be finished! 

It is stitched on 32 count Lambswool Jobelin with Classic Colorworks threads. 

Not sure yet how I will 'finish' it.

A Finish of a Different Kind

I have spent the last few weeks making jam.  I haven't made jam in a long time....4 years to be exact, so it was high time to make more.

Since I can only cook in massive quantities, I made 36 jars each of three different kinds. 

Perhaps I will make another flavor or two before the summer is over.....

Model Stitching

 I can finally show you what I have been working on!  These are models for Sue Hillis Designs, and now that Sue has posted the design on her Facebook page, I can show you!

This was not a difficult project to stitch, and rather fun to stitch.  That is until the dreaded frog reared his ugly head! 

I was researching fabric, and  stitching merrily away, and then Sue found out about the tight deadline!  I ran out to Welcome Stitchery to get the green gingham checked fabric and was almost finished with the long piece when I noticed I missed a stitch in the middle, and it threw the entire rest of the piece off by two threads.....would have been fine if it was for me...but since it was being photographed for the cover of a leaflet, it had to be correct! 




I stayed up all night to get it finished and started on the smaller piece, but once I got to the backstitched letters, I didn't like the way they looked!  I had to try a few different flosses before I finally was satisfied.  I got it shipped off to Sue Hillis on time and she had it a full day before the deadline!  Yay me!

July Progress, August Goals

There was quite a bit of stitching the early part of July.  Toward the end, I got involved in making jam, so not so much stitching but great progress!

July

WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 
 
In Progress
4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project  worked on it

Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)

Justin’s Birth Sampler worked on it
Landon’s Stocking 

Stitch Maynia (15 new starts in May)

French Alphabet Sampler page 2 finished
Witch’s Stitches finished
ABC Lessons  worked on it

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
Joyful World July finished
Joyful World August  finished
Flags and Friends Photo booth finished
French Alphabet Sampler page 3 worked on it
April flower of the month
Good Friends model  finished
Good Friends ornament model  worked on it
8 cardinal ornaments  4 finished
        
August
WISPS:
10 hours on Rocky Mountain Christmas  
Antique Map and Needlebook
Heirloom Christmas Sampler
Oveture II 

In Progress

4 person RR Marguerite’s
Mini Embellishment Project 
French Alphabet Sampler page 3
Good Friends ornament model 

Crazy January starts (28 new starts in January)

Justin’s Birth Sampler
Landon’s Stocking 

Stitch Maynia (15 new starts in May)

ABC Lessons 

Future New starts

Crystal Violets
Peter’s stocking
Mark & Karen’s wedding sampler
Tony & Melissa’s wedding sampler
Carnival
Walking on Water’s Edge
April flower of the month
September Joyful World
4 cardinal ornaments