C-A-K-E

Maiby and I spent most of last week at my mom's house. On Tuesday while Mom was at work, I made some rainbow cupcakes for her to take to her class for St. Patrick's Day. On Wednesday morning, Mom was frosting the cupcakes while Maiby and I ate breakfast. Maiby wouldn't eat much, so I was trying to coax her to have a little bit more.

Then my mom, the ever-loving grandma, asked if Maiby could have some "C-A-K-E," to which I immediately said no (it was WAY to early in the day) and Maiby prompty said, "Cake?!"

We were both amazed at her comprehension and it left my mom wondering if we would ever be able to spell words out while still trying to keep a secret from Maiby.

Cereal

Don't forget - it's the cereal sale at Rosauer's! More than 14 different kinds, all for 1.69!!

Mint Crinkles

Obviously I messed up the name in the last post, BUT the cookies are pretty good.

3/4 cup finely chopped layered chocolate mint candies (about 24) - I used Andes mints

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

extra mints for the tops, chopped (I think I used 12 or so, but next time I would use a few more, probably about 15-17)

In a heavy small saucepan, heat and stir the 3/4 c chopped mints until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on med to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt; beat until well combined. Beat in cooled chocolate, eggs, and vanilla.** Beat or stir in the flour. Cover and chill 3 hours or until dough is easy to handle.

(** So my bowl is kept in a cupboard that stays really cold, and it was still cold when I was using it, and it made the chocolate get hard pretty fast when I added it, so some of the cookies had big chunks of chocolate when I was rolling them into balls - just something to watch out for)

Preheat oven to 350. Roll into small balls, about 1 1/4". Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes, or until edges are set (the tops should crackle - hence the name). Sprinkle a few pieces of the remaining mints on top of each cookie and pop them back in the oven for 1 minute. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 36 cookies (this is pretty accurate - I ended up with 33).

Store between layers of wax paper in tightly covered container. Store at room temp 24 hours or freeze up to 3 months.

Enjoy!

Cookie Party #2

It's about that time again...we will be doing Mint Crispies (or something that is really close to that) on Friday at 330. Come on over and bring your kids if you've got them!

Christmas Cookies

I have a magazine that is filled with a ton of recipes for different Christmas cookies, and I have decided to attempt making a new kind each week to test them out. If anyone is interested in coming over tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) at 315, you are welcome to chat and have the kids play and test some cookies fresh from the oven.

This weeks cookie: Gingersnaps

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

Okay, it wasn't chicken, and it wasn't dinner, but I got the call tonight - I won a cupcake from the Cupcake Company. I had never heard of them before Lacey posted about the giveaway (thanks, Lacey!!), and then Heidi called and I won! It was delicious - Banana Carmel flavor. I got home, took a picture to show you all, and then James and I split it right down the middle. Woohoo! Thanks, Heidi!


You can check out her cupcakes here.

Cheapies Galore

Do you have a Rosauers? Is it still Thursday before 7 (I think) where you live? Head on over for some great cereal - at 1.69 a box!!! That's right, it's the big cereal sale today, and I just got back with 3 bags of cereal - 17 boxes for under $30. Can't beat that. My receipt says I 'saved' 2.30/box, which I say depends on where you normally shop, but for a few hours today, you just can't beat it...and I'm not doing this to benefit Rosauer's in any way - I usually have a difficult time remembering when the sale is.

What's wrong with this picture?

On Monday, I opened a new box of cereal, and as I was pouring, I noticed something was wrong with it. Can you tell?
No red or purple berries!! And it is not part of a contest, darn it - but at least it was delicious.

Do You Store Food?

Check out this fantastic giveaway from ShelfReliance! They are starting to do regular giveaways, and what better way to start than with a BIG ONE....check it out here for your chance to win.

Food and Sit-ups

Tonight I made a dinner that I have been thinking about having for a while. Have you ever had the Applebee's dish Southwestern Wrap or something like that? It's delicious. One of my favorites. So I made up a recipe and we ate them for dinner. Have you ever made tortillas?? Neither had I, until tonight!! And they were GREAT. Although, they did turn out a bit small. If you are interested in trying it, here is a recipe. It's not the one that I wanted to try, but the internet wasn't working very well and I couldn't get to the one on the Food Storage Network. I will try that recipe another time and decide which one is better.

They were supposed to end up being 8-9" in diameter, but in reality they were more like 5-6". But delicious!! And I added spray to the pan, since we don't have the iron skillet. Try it!

Also, the other day James was doing sit-ups and Maiby wouldn't leave him alone. I was able to get a cute picture of it. Enjoy. She thought it was one of the funnest things ever. (And yes, 'funnest' is a word, and that's how it's spelled...)

Bananas....and more

Friday afternoon we went to lunch at the Institute. It's homemade soup and rolls for $1.75 and a speaker. We try to go every week because the soup is delicious. Maiby doesn't always like the soup, so I try to bring something that she will eat. But this last week was really good so she ate it up; the banana I had put in the diaper bag stayed there. That is, until I was cooking dinner. James was talking on the phone in the other room and I was in the kitchen, so Maiby was entertaining herself in the living room. I peeked my head in to check on her and she was holding the banana from the diaper bag. I didn't worry about it because a banana is pretty harmless; I checked on her again when the house was really quiet a few minutes later and what did I find?? A happy baby eating a banana - luckily she took the peel off first!! I laughed and let her finish the rest of it.

On another note... Thanks, SunDee for your observations about the government paying moms. You brought up some points that I had not considered; I was curious about the rules of subsidizing child care, so I looked at a couple sites and (at least in the state of PA) that there are very specific rules that parents must follow in order to receive subsidized child care. And I think that if they made those same rules for parents that were at home, it would take a lot of money to ensure that those regulations were being met. I appreciate all your observations and the new ideas you brought up that I had not thought of, but I still maintain my position as 'no'.