#Christmas #Crafts

I always try to make time for at least one craft at Christmas time. But they have to be easy. This year, I needed a gift idea for promoting my books and came up with ornaments! Michaels had lots of ornament crafts to pick from... I chose clear plastic balls to fill and added sparkly pipe cleaners, sequins, snowflakes, ribbon, and other items I could fit into the ornaments along with printed pics of my books with cute characters. Here's how they came out:

They were a big hit!

And here are a few other crafts I've done over the years that were easy and came out pretty well.

our family singing xmas carols--
painted tp rolls with mini printed music
and baby sock hats!

sent away for EDIBLE LABELS--
won a prize for most creative cookies!

reindeer cookies

marshmallow mice--I miss these little guys,
they're so big now!

I've also done wreathes, stockings, hats, and more. So, I'd say Christmas Crafts are a tradition for me.

Do you have any cherished holiday traditions? or favorite crafts?
Happy December!

Just Desserts #Recipes

Fall is coming.

I hate saying good bye to summer. I love the sun, the warmth, and all of the fun that is summer. But as long as I live in West Virginia, a change of seasons is part of the landscape.

And you know what they say...if you can't beat it, find the good parts and enjoy them. 

For me, one of the benefits of cooler weather is that baking gives the furnace a helping hand. 

So, in honor of being able to bake without challenging the air conditioning, let's talk desserts.  

Here's a couple of tips and a recipe.

Tip #1

Put foil under the pie and wrap. Perfect crust, every time.

To keep crust from getting too dark while the rest of the crust cooks, place foil under the pie and wrap it up over the crust once it's browned. I've bought the foil rings that go around the pie and I hate them. They are never the perfect fit. Or if they come in pieces, it's like trying to put together a puzzle on a piping hot ring. With the foil, I simply bring it up over the crust and press it down with a hot mitt.

Tip #2 

Regular oatmeal in a blender.

Ready to use for cookies!

 Here's a great cookie baking tip. My Aunt Judy is a diabetic, but like many in my family, she has a sweet tooth. In order to bake and keep her carbs low, she told me she replaces white flour with ground oatmeal. I was eager to try it, so I threw a couple of cups of oatmeal in my blender and boom, I had oatmeal flour. I replaced it in a chocolate chip cookie recipe cup for cup with the flour and they were delicious. The cookies were a bit thinner and crispier than the flour variety, but for my family, that's a bonus!

Now, for a recipe. This is my mother-in-law's strawberry pie recipe. Hopefully she doesn't mind sharing. It's too easy to not to share and can be modified for whatever fruit is in season (or you have frozen). Just switch the gelatin flavor to compliment the fruit.

Strawberry Pie

1 1/2 C sugar
1/4 C starch
1 1/12 C water
small box of Jello
strawberries (I use a pound, cleaned and diced)

Mix the water, sugar, and corn starch, cook until clear. Add the Jello.

Pour the strawberries into a pre-baked or no-cooked crust, then pour the hot Jello mix over the strawberries and chill. 

Be sure to pre-cook the crust. Or use a ready-made graham cracker crust. 

Candy Corn Cookies

Ever have so much to do that you just have to ignore it all and bake something??

Well, the need to bake doesn't strike me very often, but today I needed a cookie! My son was just informed that his Army ship out date was moved up to October! (Last we heard it was January) And since it's Fall, and I love candy corn, I decided to make some candy corn cookies! Why not?

Now, I'm not the greatest in the kitchen. I'm more of a scientist than a cook... I love to experiment. So I don't have a recipe for you, I just followed my twenty-year-old Betty Crocker cookbook recipe for chocolate chip cookies and put in candy corn instead of chocolate chips. But only in half the dough--my son doesn't have a lot of faith in my experimenting and doesn't care for candy corn, so I chopped up some Hershey bars and put those in the other half.

Here's what happened...
The candy corn melted--not like smooth melty chocolate, but like that red sugary candy apple coating --and stuck to the pan... Fail!

But I was able to salvage most of the cookies with only a couple minor casualties. Here are a few good ones--and they tasted pretty good too.

Do you like to experiment in the kitchen? That's how recipes are born!
And what Fall Favorite Foods do you look forward to?

Yay for Fall!

Welcome 2018!

It's time to welcome in another new year!!

Tara and I are doing that by revamping the Really Real Housewives blog. We're changing things up and planning some extra fun and surprises, so stay tuned!

Since we're both busy writing books and raising boys, we're always trying to find the quickest and easiest ways to get the house stuff done, And we'll be sharing those cheats and maybe a few rants and whines here. Here's to 2018 being a year of blessings!

Now, for the official post:

                                                18 quick and easy tips for 2018

1. Got a leather purse that is losing its luster? Clean it with leather furniture wipes. You can buy them in the cleaning aisle of the grocery store.

2. Ink stain on your shirt? Spray it down with hair spray and wash in cold water.

3. Accidentally throw a red sock in the white wash and have a lot of pink clothes? Rewash in cold water adding a bottle of hairspray to the wash (empty a pump bottle, not an aerosol can...to save time  and the ozone layer ;)

4. A dash of vinegar in your pancake batter will make super fluffy pancakes without changing the flavor.

5. Tired of frying bacon? Bake it. Lay it out on a cookie sheet and pop it in the oven on about 350 degrees. Turn every 8-10 minutes until desired crispiness.

6. Dirty, stinky microwave? Heat up a cup of lemon water. Wipe down immediately. The steam from the water will loosen the crusty stuff and help eliminate odors.

7. Smelly hands after cutting onions and such? Wash hands in salty water or shake some salt on your hands and use it like a scrub.

8. Plastic drinking bottles smelling a little funky? Fill with water, vinegar, and salt...allow to sit over night then rinse.

9. Hard water building up in your tea kettle or coffee pot? Add a few ice cubes and salt, swirl around the bottom a bit then wash.

10. If you ever leave the men home alone for a few days and return to a kitchen with what appears to be dried up pancake batter on the counter tops...wet a paper towel and lay it over the spot. Allow to soften, wipe, and toss. Works well on upchucked fur balls too.

11. Tis the season for snow on the windshield. I drive a van and I'm also short, so reaching across the whole thing can be a pain, so my broom is the perfect snow removal tool.

12. Need a quick and easy heat pack? Make a pouch for rice out of a washcloth or a sock and secure with a rubber band. Throw it in a the microwave for 30 seconds and you now have a heat pack.

13. Food, blood, or grass stains on clothes? Pre-treat with dish detergent. Just squeeze a little on the spot and scrub it in and then wash.

14. To best get pre-treater or soap into the fabric, keep a hand held scrubber near the wash. Give stains a little scrub before washing and the stains come out easier.

15. Is your stain still there after a wash? Don't throw it in the dryer! Treat it again and toss back in the wash.

16. Winter static on your clothes? Rub them with a dryer sheet.

17. Getting static from your hairbrush? Hit it with a spritz of hairspray and the problem is solved.

18. I saved the best for last....a quick and easy recipe!

Pan Cookies

Grab a premade cookie mix. Follow the instructions, all but the butter...where it says to soften and add butter...melt the butter before adding it. This will make the batter a little moister. Pour it into a cake pan and spread it out. Bake for 15-20 minutes and you have a batch of pan cookies.

Cut, serve, and enjoy without any fuss.

Christmas Cookies!

Once again I am delighted to have been invited by the Really Real Housewives to do another post for their blog. Thanks ladies, it’s fun to do.

I just learned a good tip from another bowler which she got from her manicurist. It came about because I had once split my nail right up the middle when bowling, thought I had done so again. She told me she had done it a couple of times and the manicurist had told her to mend it with Krazy Glue and then paint over it with clear polish (or coloured I guess). It occurred to me that this would be a good idea for any split nail no matter how it came about. I know mine have a tendency to split at the side when I let them get a tad long. I could cut them before that happens I guess!!

Don’t really have a lot to do except for worrying about Christmas Dinner – no kids or family in Canada – however, I seem to be driving myself crazy about the meal I am cooking. No idea why.

Mind you, I haven’t cooked a whole turkey in a long while so I am flapping about that. I ended up deciding to buy a fresh turkey, the frozen ones are either pre-stuffed or pre-basted and NOT with butter as they lead you to believe. Trouble is, they are rather expensive but not as much more pricey than the frozen ones. I do miss living in NC where turkeys were bred and therefore not so likely to break the bank. I always loved Brussels Sprouts but in the last few years I had gone right off them. I finally realized it was because of the softened water in the building. I cook them in distilled water now and they taste like they should once more.

Christmas is almost here, but you still have time to make these easy cookies.

Easy Slice and Bake Cookies

It's quick and easy to mix together these slice-and-bake cookies whenever you need something sweet. The recipe makes enough dough so you can bake half and put the other half in the freezer—ready to pull out and bake up a few fresh cookies anytime.

1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour (see Tip #2)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt1 cup sugar
5 Tbs canola oil
4 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
Coarse sugar for decoration

1. Whisk white whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat sugar, oil and butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.
2. Place half the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a 10-inch log (it's OK if it's not perfectly round). Repeat with the remaining dough. Wrap and freeze until just firm, about 45 minutes.
3. Reroll the logs to make them rounder and return to the freezer until very firm, at least 1 hour more. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Remove one roll of dough at a time from the freezer and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Unwrap the dough and slice crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, turning the dough a quarter turn after each slice to help keep the cookies round. Place 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Sprinkle each cookie with a little coarse sugar and gently press it into the cookie to help it adhere. Bake 8 minutes for soft cookies or 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining roll of dough, if desired.

TIPS:

1. Make Ahead Tip: Store wrapped rolls of dough in the freezer for up to 3 months.
2. White whole-wheat flour, made from a special variety of white wheat, is light in color and flavor but has the same nutritional properties as regular whole-wheat flour. It is available at large supermarkets and natural-foods stores and online at bobsredmill.com or kingarthurflour.com. Store it in the freezer.

Recipe Source: Eating Well Magazine

I do hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I will see you here again on Dec. 28 when I have been invited to burble at you once again. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Jo's Blog

Addicting, Soft Gingersnaps!

Are you craving that wonderful cinnamon scent that makes your home smell like a gingerbread house this season? Look no further. These gingersnap cookies are my very favorite treat this time of year.

Now I'm not a hard cookie fan, and gingersnaps tend to be...well...hard. So, the good news? These are SOFT! And so delicious. And addicting. Like seriously, I can't eat just one. My kids love them too and love to help me roll the dough into balls and into the sugar/cinnamon mix. Perfect Christmas cookies to give neighbors or to eat yourself. Trust me. Your house and your family will love you forever if you make these.

The Best Gingersnap Cookies Ever

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir together. Place the butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Add the white sugar. Beat in the egg and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Break off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie/baking sheet.

Bake until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. (I check on them before the full ten minutes and if they are slightly cracked, I take them out.) Let cool.

Enjoy! And don't blame me if the whole batch gets eaten before you can give them away to neighbors.

Chantele Sedgwick is a YA author, harpist, wife to one and mom to four. She loves fairy tales, happy endings, Kit Kats and (judging by her bookshelves), buying way too many books. She lives in Utah with her family and can usually be found reading, or talking her husband’s ear off with her endless supply of book ideas. She’s the author of Not Your Average Fairy Tale, Not Your Average Happy Ending, Love, Lucas, Switching Gears (Feb 2017) and Interlude (2018).

Speaking of Parties...

Cookies and Christmas just go together! There's peppermint cookies, sugar cookies, gingerbread men, spraetzles? jammies, and those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kisses on top. Just so many wonderful yummies! With so many cookies, some people have Christmas cookie parties - decorating parties, baking parties, exchanges, recipe swaps, etc. My neighbors do a cookies & beer exchange party. Bring 3 dozen cookies, take 3 dozen cookies or so. And they give out prizes. Last year I won! I found a place that makes edible pictures and I put characters from my books on cookies!

I also love going to a My Favorite Things party where we each bring 5 of our favorite things and go away with 5 new things. I'm bringing book lights and foot cream - for a soothing night ritual.

And neighborhood New Year's Eve parties are the best. Usually we get to bring the kids who run around in the basement while the adults socialize upstairs with the food. Ahh. Ring in the new year right, then walk home! We used to have it at our house when the boys were younger, now we let others have the joy of hosting.

How do you celebrate? What little favorite things would you share? And what goodies do you like to bring to parties?