Goodbye to 2010

Out with the old, in with the new!

     I have enjoyed taking the last week off from blogging, FB, surfing the web. It was great to hang out with my awesome teenagers. We have been playing Band Hero, Just Dance, catch with the football, Scrabble. We have caught up on our DVD movies, baked, slept, played and laughed! We just got a good dumping of snow last night so I have a feeling we will be sledding down the hill out back this morning. I hope all of you have had a relaxing and joyful holiday break also.

     I got some fun new toys from Santa this year. I have been sneaking time to curl up by the fire and read on my new Kindle. I love this little ebook reader! Luke asked me to read The Hunger Games first, I downloaded it for $5 and am 65% done! I am actually looking forward to waiting at dance, soccer and carpool now! I also got some great new Cricut Carts, as seen below. Now to lock myself in the craft room and get to creating! I think I will attempt to this afternoon.

     I have been jotting down ideas for the blog for the new year. I am hoping to flesh the ideas out today/tomorrow and hit the ground running! Here's to a Fabulous 2011!

Merry Christmas!

We had fun exploring the Broadmoor Hotel this week. There were some beautiful gingerbread houses, Christmas trees and holiday decor. Here's to a very merry Christmas!

OK, these are my new favorite sugar cookies! Absolutely love that the dough doesn't need to be chilled for hours and that there is only one tiny revision for altitude baking! Thank you Bake @ 350!


Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies

3 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar (I use sugar that I've stored vanilla beans in)
 2 sticks (salted) butter, cold
 1 egg
 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract

Preheat oven to 350. (Only high altitude change is to cut baking soda to 1 3/4 tsp.)

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.

The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling. 

Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets (I recommend freezing the cut out shape on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before baking) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Noel Banner

I finished this today and wanted to get it up so I could share. I plan on adding some "oomph" to the corner bows later. I also shared this over at Today's Creative Blog for her "Get Your Craft On" day. You should go check out the hundreds of great projects being shared over there today!

I had fun making the folded rosette circles, they are tricky when you are first learning how to do them though. It was trial and error for the right size and I almost think I could make them larger next time. That's part of the fun of creating right? Learning by trial and error? The letters are cut from Doodle Bug Glitter paper using the Storybook Cricut Cartridge.

I would love to see Christmas banners you all have done, leave me a message with a link so I can peek, please?

Coconut Custard Pie

I have been trying new recipes for the past week, hoping I'll find a new holiday favorite. I found myself going back to my tried and true holiday stash by the end of the week though. The new recipes were fine, they just didn't taste like Christmas. Coconut Custard Pie, now that is Christmas! I started making this back when the kids were both babies and don't recall where I originally found the recipe. If you like custard I highly recommend you get out your blender and give this a try. Paired with whipped cream and a strong cup of black coffee, you can't go wrong.

Coconut Custard Pie

2 Cups milk

1 Cup sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup flour

6 Tbls butter

1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup coconut

In a Blender, combine milk, sugar, eggs flour, butter, vanilla and salt. Cover and blend for 10 seconds; scrape the sides. Blend for another 10 seconds. Add coconut; blend for 2 seconds. Pour into a greased 10-inch pie plate. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes. Serve warm...or cold. Refrigerate leftovers.

Sleigh Bells Ring

Whew, what a crazy busy week with kids and decorating and tree trimming! I was feeling quite nostalgic and homesick this week for the Pacific NW. The greenery, the snow capped glacier, the gray skies and cold air. It always feels overwhelming to decorate a new home. You'd think I'd be a pro at it after 18 years as an Army wife!

It felt nice to sit in the craft room tonight and play with my Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge. I made this cute little card for the Flaunt it Fridays challenge. Simple, and sweet. Reminding me of Christmases past.

Busy time of year

I am taking a little time off from blogging this week to catch up on some things around here. The holiday season has caught up with me! Enjoy a cup of Joe, the twinkle lights and crisp winter air!

Layouts

I spent the evening scrapbooking with Jacque last night. We went to Archiver's (dangerous!) this time. There were so many cute ideas in the store! It was fun to get some layouts done. This first one is for Hannah's High School book.

I got 2 one page LO's done and 2 two page LO's started last night. Here is the other one pager about my kid's discovering that their Nintendo DS's had WIFI. 

Glitter Everywhere

      I worked on this little Peace sign today an managed to get fine iridescent glitter everywhere! In my hair, on my clothes, all over the work table. Looks like it will be sparkly around here for a few days! The sign was fun to make. I used Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge, burgundy paint, Tacky Glue and some ultra fine glitter I found tucked in the back of a drawer. I ended up using Modge Podge to seal the card stock to the wood.

Peace Out!

Gingerbread

     I was going through some old cookbooks, looking for a cheesecake bar I have been wanting to try. As I pulled one of the books off the shelf a recipe card fell to the floor. "Grandmamas Gingerbread". A flood of memories came rushing in as I held the card. My grandma Helga passed many years ago, but I still think of her often. She taught me to can and bake when I was a young mother. I still use her pyrex mixing bowls that she used to fill with fresh raspberries and cream, for me when I was a little girl. 

     Needless to say, I quickly forgot about cheesecake bars and got busy baking gingerbread! The house smells so fabulous right now! I brewed some Seattle's Best Sleigh Bell coffee and the afternoon was complete. The recipe is included below the photo, for those of you who are craving some spicy gingerbread and cream. Happy December 1st!

Grandma Helga’s Gingerbread

(*High altitude directions can be found at bottom of recipe.)

½ Cup margarine

½ Cup sugar

1 egg

1 Cup molasses

2-½ Cups sifted flour

1-½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. ground cloves

½ tsp salt

1 Cup hot water

Cream margarine and sugar together in a mixer. Add egg and molasses; mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add to sugar mixture; mix well. Add hot water and mix until smooth. Turn into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 fro 30-40 minutes. Let cool, serve with whipped cream, (homemade is best!) and a dusting of nutmeg.

*High Altitude Directions: ½ Cup sugar minus 1 Tbls, add 4 Tbls flour, decrease baking soda by ¼ tsp, increase oven temperature to 365 and bake 25-30 minutes.