Mixing up a new year.

Merry Christmas to my faithful readers! (all 12 of you!) It's been a while, so I thought I'd update you a bit on my life lately.
 After surviving hives, anaphylactic shock, and prednisone, I 'm here to see another day! Santa was very good to me, despite me not being so good this year. I awoke Christmas morning to unwrap a shiny new RED! Kitchen Aid mixer. So much delight flooded my heart. No more struggling to mix a triple batch of cookies! No more kneading my fave challah recipe for what seemed like 10 hours! No more numb hands from mixing a giant batch of meatloaf. Life is good, indeed.
 My Naps was joy stricken with his new Kindle, and sweet A Bird had gotten everything on her list. "Santa" searched long an hard for that damn Leapfrog leap pad, and finally found one! Let's not forget about Singing Tori, and the Karaoke machine!
 Headed into this new year I, of course, have the standard "I want to lose weight and get healthy" goal. Only, I think this year, it might actually happen. I start WW again next week. It will work, because I will stick to it.
 I also would like to learn to knit socks. I just love hand made socks. A Bird is starting swiming again (she's been promoted to an Eel!!) and has expressed interest in ballet lessons.
 Our efforts to conceive have not yet been fruitful. I will continue to pray, and trust that God will provied.
So that's it for now. I have lots of recipes that I plan on posting..... the anticipation is aweful isn't it?!
Happy New Year!!!!

A tough pill to swallow.

 

I know that God loves us equally.

While I know this fact, I struggle at times to believe this with all of my heart.  When is it the hardest for you? I’m reminded everyday that my God loves me. When my Ava smiles, I’m reminded that doctors told us we had a slim chance to conceive. When my husband hugs me, I’m reminded that God gave him to me. When I go to work, and come home to a roof over my head and food on our table, I’m reminded of God’s Grace. Yet, what is it that makes me struggle to believe that He loves us all equally? When I see so many women conceiving, and others that may never, I struggle. When I see so many suffering from cancer, and others abusing their bodies, and living without medical problems, I struggle. I used to think, Man! those people are lucky… But is it really luck? How can one person struggle, while the next suffers, and I’m supposed to believe that He loves us equally? I can only rationalize this by telling myself that those suffering, are suffering for a reason. It is through our suffering that God’s grace can shine through. I good friend once told me that He does give us more than we can handle, so that we learn to let him take the wheel.

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Turkey for me, Turkey for you…

 

 

photo courtesy of http://www.flouronmyface.com

Today I am thankful for fresh baked bread, real salted butter, cheese, (the doctor’s that will someday perform my bypass surgery from eating to much cheese and butter) my family, my health, Ava’s sweet laugh, and  God’s endless grace. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Seeing Stars

 

Well, I think I’m going to do it. I’ve decided to make my own ornaments this year. This may prove to be quite daunting, and humiliating at the same time. I sat tonight and ran through a practice run. Here’s what came of it:

What do you think? It’s obviously a felt star, with a smaller…. let’s call it “abstract” star in the center. Okay, the smaller star needs some work. Overall not bad eh? I did hand sew with a whip stich… I may want to rethink that move. It took longer than I thought, and when the stuffing began, I saw some peeking through each stich. So, the stiches either need to be closer together, or done with a machine. We’ll see…..

Anyone have any ideas for me?? or, maybe a great website with free patterns and ideas?!

My Yummy Balls

I  love Balls. Nut Butter balls to be exact. My first memory of these crunchy, buttery cookies originated at my Grandmothers house. Growing up, she would bake cookies every year for Christmas. Her jam thumbprints and butter balls were my favorite. She would bake dozens and store them in containers on the front porch to keep them cold. I can remember whenever I was over, sneaking out to the front porch, lifting the lid of each container, pulling back the foil, and shoving and entire cookie after cookie into my mouth, hoping that she wouldn’t notice them missing! Oh man. They were so good. I didn’t even care if they were frozen. Down the hatch they went.

I have a standard recipe that I follow. It’s not my grandmother’s, but it’s close. It calls for walnuts, I usually use pecans. Rather than vanilla, this time I decided to use Almond Extract. They came out well, without an obvious change to the flavor. I also love this cookie because it doesn’t call for eggs! Which can be nice when you are out, as we are right now! (crazy chickens and their molting!)

Nut Butter Balls

adapted from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book

16 tablespoons (2 sticks or 1 cup) butter, softened (I always use salted butter)
About 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt (which I omit when using salted butter)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine butter and 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla, beat well. Add flour and salt, mix completely. Stir in nuts. Roll dough into bite sized balls. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Don’t over bake! You want the bottoms to be slightly browned and the sides to be a pale yellow. Remove from oven and roll in remaining sugar. Set aside to cool completely. When cooled completely, roll again in remaining sugar.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Photo taken by Naps Schrader

Childhood Envy.

When I was younger, it was my sister’s job to make the cookies. Chocolate chip cookies to be exact. I was so jealous that she was the one who was always asked to perform this task. Was I not capable? Was I a lousy baker? Whatever, I was like 8. This drove me mad. I wanted so desperately to, just once, be asked to make the cookies. Yea, they weren’t anything special, just the standard from-the-back-of-the-bag cookies from Tollhouse. I guess it was just the point of it.
Well, guess what? Now, no one has to ask me to make the cookies! I can make them my damn self. And let me tell you, ever since I've found this fantabulous Nigella recipe, I’ve been making A LOT of cookies!





The best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever found. (and I’ve been searching for a while! lol!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from “Nigella Kitchen” by Nigella Lawson (LOVE HER!)

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) soft unsalted butter. (I use 1 1/2 sticks REAL salted butter)
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup superfine sugar (regular sugar works too!)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg, refrigerator-cold
1 egg yolk, refrigerator-cold
2 cups All-Purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 x 11.5 ounce bag milk chocolate morsels or chips

* Preheat oven to 325 degrees

* Melt the butter and let it cool a bit.Put the brown and white sugars into a bowl, pour the slightly cooled, melted butter over them, and beat together.

* Beat in the vanilla, the cold egg, and the cold egg yolk, until mixture is light and creamy.

* Slowly mix in the flour and baking soda until just blended. fold in the chocolate chips.

* Scoop the cookie dough into a quarter cup measure or a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop and drop onto coolie sheet. (this makes HUGE cookies….. when making these for home, I use a regular cookie scoop!) Keep cookies about 3 inches apart on coolie sheet. You will need to make these in 2-3 batches refrigerating the dough between batches.

*  Bake for 15-17 minutes (I bake them for about 20 minutes, Your oven may vary!) Let cool on cookie sheet before transferring to cooling rack.