Merry Christmas

Pat

Christmas Baking

Today I made a batch of Pretzel Turtles.  These are my Grandson’s favorite.  I love the salty sweet taste.

As you can see these are very easy to make

 

Pretzel Turtles

1 pkg. small pretzels – I use the Snyder’s square ones

1 bag of Rolos Candy

Half Pecans

Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and cover with pretzels.

Top each Pretzel with an unwrapped Rolo – flat side down

Bake at 250 degrees for 4 minutes.  Candy will not melt.

Remove from oven and top each piece with a half pecan pushing down gently.  Cool Slightly and then refrigerate for about 10 minutes or until set.

 

I also made Clove Cookies – they are not too sweet and a very good with a cup of  hot tea.  I got this recipe when I stayed at the Case Sedona Bed and Breakfast in Sedona, Arizona

Clove Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cloves

Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar until well combined; then stir in vanilla.  Add egg and beat until mixture is smooth.  In a small bowl, stir together flour and cloves; gradually add to butter mixture blending thoroughly.

Drop dough by level teaspoonfuls onto well-greased baking sheets, spacing cookies 2-1/2 to 3 inches apart.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until edge are golden brown and puffy tops start to crinkle and collapse.  Immediately transfer cookies to racks and let cool.  Store airtight.

Makes about 4 dozen.

 

Several years ago a friend gave me a recipe for microwave peanut brittle and it turned out perfect.  Last year we installed a new mixcrowave that is a lot more  powerful than the old one.  So I did not make any peanut brittle.  My youngest strongly protested!  So this year I decided to give it a try.  The first batch burnt.  The second batch was more like a hard caramel – edible but slightly sticky.  So the third time was a charm and I made two batches.

Tomorrow or later today I will make the Pecan Sandies, Santa’s Whiskers – Southern Living 1985 Annual Recipes Page 323, and Cranberry Nut Bread.

Do you have favorites that you make only for Christmas?

Tomorrow will be the last trip to the grocery store!

Until later.

Pat

Almost There

I am almost ready for Christmas.  The tree is up, the house is decorated, the shopping is done, the packages are wrapped and the cards are in the mail.  Whew! I made myself tired just thinking about it.  Over the next couple of days I will do some baking and candy making.

Here are a few pictures of my decorated home -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yikes! This room needs a tea dye bath.  It is really not this light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the den -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now if we could just get a sprinkle of snow Christmas Eve I would be thrilled! 

Until next time.

Pat

Snow in Texas and other musings

Tuesday morning they predicted snow for parts of North Texas.  Now I don’t want you followers from Wisconsin, Minnosota and other northern parts of this country to fall off you seat laughing.  But here is a picture of my Grandchildren heading off to school in the snow.  Look hard you can see it!

 

And it is offical the Christmas season has arrived “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” is on TV.

 

This picture reminds me so much of when my sons were little.  Getting them ready for bed early so they could watch the specials on TV.

Last night Mr. Q  and I attended the final tour of “Riverdance”.  We planned to make a nice evening out of it and start with a nice dinner.  But even though we left early due to traffic problems we had a quick sandwich at the Barnes and Noble Cafe across from Bass Hall!  But it still was a nice evening and the performance was great.  A couple of years ago we attended “Lord of the Dance” and I think I preferred it the best of the two.

Catalogs!  Do any of you get tired of receiving junk mail?  I have requested to be taken off of mail lists, but I am still getting tons of catalogs.  I guess it is a sign of the economic times.  Most of them are from companies that I have never done business with.  My desk is really getting me down.  I clean it up and the next day it is stacked high again.  So I sit day after day tearing labels and those darned embedded order forms, with my name and address on them, out to shred. 

I guess I better quit running on and get something done.  I have a round robin quilt to finish along with other projects.

Until next time.

Pat