Cheers to the New Year!

      The start of a new year. Usually, at the start of each year, I am sad about having to start the whole year over again. See, I like the months from about September on and all the months prior are just spent getting to this point. It's odd, but this year I'm filled with excitement. Maybe this change of heart comes from being a mom. I know, I know. I've been a mom for 6 and a half years now. But I think this year is different because both girls are old enough to do more now than in past years, and they are truly enjoying it and Abby is now reaching the age where she remembers it. (The mind of kids younger than 3, or 4 even, have a hard time remembering things they've done in the past, like holidays and trips and such.) I feel so much hope and excitement about the first half of this year that I believe this is going to be a wonderful year!

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

So I started with the first day of cookies, and then stopped. I really did do two more days after that but then I just got so overwhelmed with everything else that something had to give. But I would love to share one of the other cookies I did with you now.

Another cookie we made for Christmas were Gingerbread cookies! I know I've done gingerbread cookies before, but when I looked at my recipe I saw that it included shortening. *blech* I don't know why, but I've been in a mood where I try really hard to avoid using shortening. So anyway, I wanted to do something a little different from the usual gingerbread cookies. (Last Christmas for the 25 Days of Christmas Cookies I made Chewy Gingerbread Cookies.)

2 cups flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. Set the bowl aside.

12 Days of Christmas..Cookies! Day 1 -- A Classic!

I am so happy (and very thankful) to be able to say that this is my third year to get to do 25 Days of Christmas …. In Cookies! The last two years I’ve baked one kind of cookie each day as part of my 25 day celebration. It usually gets pretty hectic as the days go on and I usually get a little behind at one point or another. J But it is always a lot of fun.

I actually had someone ask me about the upcoming cookie madness a couple weeks ago – because we like to share our multitude of cookies. J This year, due to some life events that happened at the beginning of the month, I’m cutting the number of days down from 25 to 12.

So this year I am happy to present the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies! To kick off the fun, I’m baking a classic. This cookie has given me so many headaches over the years that I’ve always fallen back on using a recipe. It sounds crazy but I have never been able to come up with my own recipe for this cookie. Until this year! I made a recipe all my own and it turned out perfect! They taste so delicious to me, that it rivals the Pillsbury refrigerator-roll-of-dough cookies that I made the other day (don’t judge). Without further ado…..

My Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Makin' Mini Felt Boards

It's rough when your kid is sick. Then when both kids are sick at the same time, well, it's not easy either. And then as one gets better while the other gets worse is maddening because the one getting better is ready to run around like a chicken with its head cut off (even if she isn’t fully recovered) which instigates the other and creates a headache. How to keep one on the couch while giving the other a little freedom? It doesn’t make it any easier for us with both girls missing school. Thing 1 has been tracked out of school for nearly 3 ½ weeks, so she was ready to go back when she came down with a fever the night before going back.

Abby bundled up on the recliner.

Anyway, I’m sitting here on the couch during ‘quiet time’. I’m letting the girls stretch out (one on the couch and the other on the recliner) and watch a movie for their down time so long as they stay lying down and quiet. I’ve stopped working on my project so I would be less distracting.


See, for some reason I got it in my head that now was a good time to take on a new project. With two sick kids. Home. Out of school. With a husband who works late a lot really really hard. What can I say? I suppose I like a challenge. J

My workspace on the coffee table amid all the toys. :)

Brace Yourselves...Pumpkin Flavored Everything is Coming!



photo from memegenerator.net

I know, I’m late to the pumpkin party.

I’m chronically late for everything. I joke about how I’ll end up being late to my own funeral. haha

Despite not having blogged about anything pumpkin at all, it sure has been present in my kitchen since I first saw the pie pumpkins in the grocery back in September. We’ve been making pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin bread – LOTS of pumpkin bread.

We’ve bought so many pie pumpkins (and had some given to us) that I lost count of how many I’ve peeled, chopped and steamed. Then the day before Halloween, I took the girls to get our pumpkins for carving. While I was at the stand, I saw such a multitude of tan pumpkins all around that I bought one. I figured, at the time, that it was a good size and I should get a fair amount of pumpkin puree from it. I sorely underestimated this pumpkin.

 

Hearty Baked Potato Soup on a cooold night!

I took the dog out last night and it was cold. Like close-your-eyes-and-you-can-smell-snow kind of cold. Well, almost smell it. The sky was a cover of grey clouds…clouds that you could almost call snow clouds. This chilliness made me very glad that I made such a hearty soup for dinner. J  And the hubby loved it and asked me to write down the recipe in our notebook so we can have it again. He and I both had second helpings…but I’ll be honest, my girls weren’t too excited about it. They don’t seem to really go for any kind of soup. Period. But since there weren’t any leftovers, I’ll mark this as a success. J

Chilly Days & Steamy Mugs o' Hot Cocoa

Man, it’s chilly outside! With highs only in the mid-50’s, I think it’s safe to call it cold! Here in the South, it’s nearly normal to still be wearing shorts on Thanksgiving. And Christmas? Yea, it’s still not uncommon for it to not have reached freezing temps at night. (I do miss the snow in the winter, but man! I love living in the South! J )

However, this year, Mother Nature saw fit to cut short our fall and bring winter early. I don’t know about your families but around here, the chillier it gets the more hot chocolate gets consumed. J If we need some 5 minutes ago, I go with the quick milk and chocolate syrup. If we are relaxing and watching movies or just spending quality time together, the milk goes in a pot on the stove with cocoa powder, sugar and cinnamon – the way my mom used to make it (well, I added the cinnamon part). J  But seeings how my kids always have mom make their hot chocolate and they never get the stuff from the box, the boxed stuff has become the holy grail to them….just like everything else from a box. Haha  Though I did recently let my 3 year old talk me into getting a box of Swiss Miss because it had a snowman on it. (YOU try saying ‘no’ to that face. You won’t win. Period.)

With that in our cupboard, and then quickly out of our cupboard, two things came to me: Number 1-we go through these packets too fast and it will get expensive quick if this becomes a habit. And B-what goes in to those packets? What makes those hot chocolate packets (yes the ones with the marshmallows) so darn irresistible?!?

So as a mom, baking- and cooking- enthusiast, and do-it-yourselfer, I decided to make it myself. J Get on Pinterest and search for hot chocolate mix. Seriously. Those are a lot of different ways to get to the same end result! I felt a little overwhelmed, so I stuck to the basics. Ya ever heard the saying about how some of the best things are the simplest things? Boom.

The Harned Girls’ Hot Chocolate Mix

1 cup powdered milk

¾ cup powdered sugar

¾ cup cocoa powder

1/8 tsp salt

½ package of dry vanilla pudding mix

A mason jar

In a large mixing bowl, whisk it all together. Be careful not to do it too vigorously or you’ll be inhaling that hot chocolate.

Then in batches, run the mixture through a food processor. Pulse it for a minute or two, until all the big clumps are broken up and it looks really well combined. Spoon the smooth dry mix into the Mason jar.

Once it is all in the jar, feel free to give it a test run. For a mug of warm to hot milk, we used 2 tablespoons of the mix.

The girls and I thought it was quiet delicious. And then we topped it off with the teeny tiny marshmallows that you can shake into your cup. Mmmmm!

 

And just like that it will be gone. Promise. ;)

 

 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* We'll do an update with a nicer prettier shot of the full Mason jar because it will be perfect to give out as gifts this holiday season! :) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*