Cookie Bouquet

Just to add a few more late pics to my Mother's day post ....

Presenting: Willow's Mother's day gift for Grandma.

I found the little vase at Walmart for a dollar and bought some pink stones to go inside. I was going to get pink M&Ms but, for some reason, my MIL gets mad if you buy her too much chocolate! For me, there's no such thing (so feel free!)

Then I helped Willow make some cute cookie pops to go in it, using Pillsbury sugar cookie dough.

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It would be nice if I could leave it there but I feel compelled to give some advice to other confused bakers out there. See, before making these, there were three things I didn't know about sugar cookies.

1) The dough is very sticky and a nightmare to try to roll out. You should have seen how lightly I dusted flour to begin with and how little flour I was left with at the end! lol

2) I also didn't realize that you're actually meant to bake the cookies for less time than the package suggests (anyone know why it suggests the time it does then? Are they just playing with me?).

3) Sugar cookies grow! Who knew!

So, needless to say, my first few batches were a burnt, over-expanded mess but when I started taking them out earlier and using smaller cookie cutters to cut them out, they turned out fine. Good even. More importantly; Willow had fun making something for her Grandma (and running around after all the sugar).

Here she is, proud of her creation:

Toffee and pics

'Tis the season to make toffee, fa la la la la, la la la laah!

I thought it would be nice to make some homemade toffee to give away as Christmas gifts this year. I wanted to send some to family and friends in England, my Dad loves toffee I know, but hubby doesn't think this is a good idea. He reckons the toffee will melt and go weird during it's travels :( Maybe I'll just try it and hope for the best.

This is a really simple recipe I found online somewhere and adapted slightly that produces a delicious butterscotch toffee you won't be able to just have one of ... really. I'm not even a big toffee eater but I was munching on it while wrapping it up. It's easy to remember too, should you want to make lots. But this does produce quite a bit, especially if you cut it into little squares as I did.

Ingredients needed: 1 cup butter (2 sticks)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

and 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

(1 tsp vanilla, optional)

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add remaining ingredients and stir until boiling. Make sure to keep scraping the bottom to prevent the sugar burning.

Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium and continue to stir non-stop for about 15 minutes. Good exercise for those arms!

If you have a candy thermometer, which I don't, clip it to the side of the pan and stir until it reaches 290 degrees - the soft-crack stage.

Pour the toffee into a buttered or foil-lined (and buttered) 13x9 inch cookie sheet and spread evenly. Allow it to cool down and then let it sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so before cutting with whatever you have that works. Wrap the pieces in foil or plastic wrap. I did half of mine in regular plastic wrap and half in press 'n seal.

My little Christmas tree container that Stephen will be taking to his boss' holiday party on Friday. Should make a change from all the bottles of wine she'll likely get hah.

I filled a gift bag with some toffee and put it inside a matching bucket.

And I put some inside these cute little bags I got from the craft store. I have more than I know who to give to but I'm sure they won't go to waste. Although the above recipe does make a lot of toffee, I actually made two batches, one yesterday and one today.

I also took a pic of the ham/cheese sandwich I made for Willow's lunch today. I think she is getting to the age where she appreciates her food being cut into shapes with funny faces etc so I will probably start doing it more often for her.

Mr Monkey Sammich! Hehe

My monkey enjoying it :)

Mish Mash

How’d you like to be greeted by this first thing in the morning? Not fun!

My day was OK today. Took me a while to get going, chatting to my best friend in England on the phone being the reason. Gosh that girl can talk! (Just kiddin' Nay, I need excuses!) I started with the above but, of course, my dishwasher isn’t working properly so I can only do a few items at a time which can be frustrating. I’ve got so spoiled by it, I hate doing any dishes by hand :(

I got some laundry going and then Willow and I went to pick up the plates she made at the pottery store. It was nice to see hers in the window when we arrived. She liked that too :)

They both turned out really cute, I think they make ideal presents for grandparents.

After that we went to the store to pick up last minute groceries for the food I’m bringing to Marie's on Thanksgiving. The lines weren’t bad so I was pleasantly surprised.

We stopped off to see Daddy at work so I could pick up some directions. He was going to go to Clyde’s Cyder Mill at some point during his work day to pick up the two gallons of cider for thanksgiving but I figured me and Willow would do that since we were already out and about. Clyde’s was also very non-busy and I was expecting huge lines. Love it! I took the liberty of treating myself to ‘some’ of their delicious fudge (I promise that wasn't that ONLY reason I went!) I have been dreaming about buying some for ages. I got half and half peanut butter-chocolate and just plain chocolate. The chocolate was gone by the end of the night! Mmmm.

So we went home after that and had lunch (leftovers from the turkey dinner at church the night before), I tried to get some tidying done but I’m definitely slowing down the bigger I get. When Willow went down for her nap around 3ish, I caught a quick one too. Much needed.

Shortly after we woke up, Stephen came home and it was time to get the dinner going. Well, a bit late to get it going but it wasn't going to take long. I made pork with rice and veggies using one of those McCormick oven bags and seasoning and was very pleased with how it came out. Sheesh, even Stephen was eating it and he doesn’t care much for pork. Will definitely be making it that way again.

While that was cooking, I made my peanut butter pie for tomorrow to try to get a bit of a head start. I’ll post some pics up of everything I make either tomorrow or the day after. After dinner it was time for yet more dishes … they keep reappearing! And then finally some play time with Willow before putting her to bed.

Now I’m like, uh, what to do? Wish I could relax infront of the TV but my hubby is hogging it with his blasted video games. Maybe I’ll go lie down and read some pregnancy books!