December 14, 2012

A terrible tragedy happened today- 

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Newtown, CT

May they be blessed with peace and light in their lives.

December 19, 2012

It's that time of year...

The time when Lissy and I make chocolate butterscotch peanut clusters-

MMMMMMM!

Just a wee bit of tasting evidence...

Recipe:

• 3 parts semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 part butterscotch chips
• a whole bunch of dry roasted peanuts
• melt over low in pan, add in peanuts until nice and lumpy
• drop by teaspoonfull onto parchment paper
• to cool put in fridge or freezer until set

I keep these in a large tupperware container in the fridge until they are given away or ALL eaten. Doesn't take very long around here!

December 15, 2012

Pie Night-

Our friends have a really fun get together every year. 

Everyone brings some sort of pie- visits, eats and then eats some more! 

Instead of the typical pie I wanted to bring something different and I decided on

 Salted caramel brownie whoopie pies (say that fast 5x) 

They were A HIT! So dang good. Except they are rich so we ended cutting them up into 4 so that all could share in the goodness! Here's the recipe if you are in the mood to make something super yummy! The brownies could have baked a bit longer... They were a bit mushy but that's what made them

 OH SO GOOD!

SALTED CARAMEL BROWNIE PIES

*Recipe by Bakers Royale

Brownie Cookie 

• 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, sifted

Salted Caramel Creme Filling 

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups confectioner sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salted
• 1/4 cup caramel

Brownie cookies:

1. Place 7oz. of the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan over low heat and gently stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.
2. Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat for 15 minutes or until pale and creamy. Add in flour, baking powder, melted chocolate mixture, remaining 5 oz. of chocolate and mix to combine. Set aside to to stand for 10 minutes.
3. Spoon 2 tablespoonful of the mixture, onto parchment lined bake sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8–10 minutes or until puffed and cracked. Allow to cool completely on trays.

Caramel creme filling and assembly:

1. Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamed. Add in confectioner sugar and salt and beat until light combined. Add in caramel and beat until combined.
2. Spread a teaspoon and a half of caramel creme on underside of one brownie cookie and place a second brownie cookie bottom side down on top frosting.

December 14, 2012

The kids love it when it is Spirit week at school. The only day this missed this week was Monday which was ugly sweater day because... we forgot! Here some pictures of my mixed up/crazy hair kiddos!

Just lovely!

I love the fact that they have the desire and confidence to go to school looking like this! 

Too funny!

In case you missed tonight's sunset-

The most AMAZING thing about January is the sunsets!

Photo shoot

Now that the Christmas cards are in the mail I can share the photos I took of the kids. 

They always whine and complain about taking Christmas pictures- even Paul and the dog hate it! SO I have to get creative, seize a good hair day and yes, sometimes even resort to bribery!

I love fall and the fall colors,
but like my Christmas cards to be more in keeping with the season.

Thankfully this was the first shot of 5 and turned out great. Xander REALLY does not like to pose for photos. I also love how with b&w you capture the person and not the scenery!

Thankfully my girls don't mind posing for pictures!


A few relatively painless shots and a whole lot of cropping and figuring out how to use Zazzle's completely NON USER FRIENDLY photo editing software and this is what I came up with-

The quality came out great, but didn't scan so swell because of the shine on the paper. 

Next year I need to preview LAST year's card or letter BEFORE I hit send. I didn't realize until I had already received my cards that I had used this quote LAST year too. Evidently I really like it! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We finally got the decoration out (last Sunday).  Much to Alyssa's dismay at it being a week later than normal. With Thanksgiving being early this year I knew that I had an extra week to put off getting everything out and also having to have it out for sooo long.

 This is my favorite picture that Xander took. Really cool!

 Really, why do you have to torture me?

 Alyssa doing the "getting out the decorations" happy dance!

 I can't quite reach...

Uh, maybe not?!

 Great idea Daddy!

 We're a good team!

 Beautiful!