candy apples

Because fall is here this is a common treat to eat and make.

Supplies

•  2 quart sauce pan
• cookie sheet
• shortening
• granulated sugar 3 cups
• flavoring cinnamon or cherry optional ( my family is allergic to cinnamon  as of 3 years ago so we avoid that flavor which is sad as we all love it)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• water 1.5  cups 
• 1/2 tbp red food coloring liquid or 1 tsp paste Wilton brand which i like  but use what you like best
• clean dry room temperature apples with steams removed about 8 to 10 depends on size tart apples work and taste best
• wood candy apple sticks the same number as apples

1. grease cookie sheet set aside
2.  prep apple by sticking  sticks into top of apples where the steam had been set aside
3. combine water sugar coloring in sauce pan stir well
4. bring water sugar coloring to a good boil  (300 to 310  degrees f ) do not stir while cooking
5. then turn heat to medium high and cook till hard crack state  you will know this state when candy liquid drizzled in a cup of cold water turns to candy strings
6. add flavoring stir in
7. tilt pan be careful very hot syrup and roll apples in liquid let drip above pan to get rid of excess place on cookie sheet repeat till all  are coated let cool  ( can coat cookie sheet with large granulated sugar to make a sort of crystal effect on bottom of apples I didn't do that but some people like it that way
8. share eat and enjoy

about 30 mins total time cooking not counting cool time another 30 mins
best to eat in the first 24 hours as the candy wicks moisture from the apple and gets sticky over time do not store in fridge makes sticky faster  dry area best

tips:

•  if mixture starts to harden while dipping just set back on heat to soften it back up and continue dipping again.
• also if you mix in 1/8 tsp solid shortening before you dip you won't get as many bubbles on your apples I didn't do that as I don't mind the bubbles but if you do  give that a go.

knitting a shawl with beads

It snowed here in Utah over thanksgiving.  The snow and Christmas coming up made me want to knit something that reminded me of both.  So I started knitting this shawl with size 10 thread in white  and size six seed beads in red size 1 knitting needles.  I know it is not anything fancy but I just have not made anything in so long just to make something I was going a tad stir-crazy.

I hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving with family.   We celebrated a little one this year with just my immediate family.   It was nice to have food we liked and not what others liked it was quiet sweet and nice.   My youngest daughter got into the act of cooking.   She loves to cook and this was her chance.  I made the ham and she and her sisters made the rest from scratch.

In other fun stuff my middle daughter is learning the ukulele.  Her older sister is helping her to learn how

Haunted cookie house

My youngest daughter made our haunted house this year.  We usually do it together but I was busy and she wanted to do it.  She did this yesterday while  I was running errand with my middle daughter.  The oldest decided she would sort of help and did one cobweb and the tomb stone.

Life has been a little crazy busy as of late I hope to be back to blogging soon but that is how life goes.

Chocolate Strawberries...mmmm

My middle daughter wanted to make chocolate strawberries today.  We had just  bought fresh strawberries yesterday for cereal so much for that thought.

Now we have 50 + treats in the fridge.  Here is where the recipe came from if you want to make some too.  Good for valentines or mother's day or any day you have fresh strawberries.  The tan colored sprinkles are caramel flavor.

Apricot Sorbet...

I used the basic fruit sorbet recipe to make an apricot sorbet  just used the same amount of apricot as I did for the blueberries and strawberries combined  and about 1/4 cup lemon to keep it from browning as it chilled.
The fruit I was given at the end of the season last year and we had been using them for smoothies but thought this would be a little different and give the girls a little bit of an easy treat in the freezer instead of having to stop and make a smoothie they just have to get a scoop out of the freezer so much easier for them.  Made the first batch on New Years morning.  Have enough prepared to make 2 more batches.  Then I can probably make about 3 more batches with the fruit I still have in the freezer then I want to go on and make pomegranate sorbet so much easier these days since you can buy that juice already in a bottle then when I was a kid growing up in Cali.  Not so easy then had to go pick the fruit off of my Vova's tree cut open pick out all those little pieces of fruit and mash would take forever to get the juice to make jelly, or this type of thing.   Now I can have a taste of home with out as much work.  That is not to say I will make it all the time as the one disadvantage to it already being juiced over the tree is one cost 12 dollars a bottle and one is free (not counting labor here).   But the 12 dollars is still probably cheaper than the labor.  My children also want me to make some ice-creams in the near future so this little attachment is really going to get a work out too bad I do not have 2 or 3 of them I could get so much more made at one time.

Homemade Sorbets...

Got a new attachment from Santa for Christmas so we made homemade sorbet for new-years eve.

I am using a kitchen aide ice-cream maker attachment to make these.  The recipes are my own to make these and are listed below in the read more section.

Basic syrup recipe

• 2 cups water 
• 2 cups sugar

prep

1. Place in a large pot to boil or it may boil over. Heat the water/sugar over medium heat to make a basic syrup.
2. After the sugar is dissolved  and mixture is thoroughly heated remove from heat. (boil for about 10 mins then cool) makes 3 cups of syrup

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 Citrus sorbet...
Lemon Sorbet

serves 8: 1 small  scoop each  as it is strong as lemon  use a small cookie scoop is the best size.  If you do the modifications below will still serve 8 but normal ice-cream scoop size.

ingredients

• 1 basic syrup recipe  (next time I will double or triple  just this part so 2 or 3  basic syrup recipes this is for for the lime/ lemon/ limon  the others are fine with 1 basic recipe) as it  was just too much of a pucker power for my kids( but me and the husband liked it the way it was but since the kids eat most of it I will make it fit them better.
• 2 cups freshly squeezed Citrus Juice freshly squeezed (we used Lisbon lemons from my grandmother's tree) but any citrus: lemon, limon, lime, orange, tangarine... will work

• 3 teaspoons  Zest from the same fruit as you juiced (I used zest from the above mentioned lemons)

Prep

1. Add both the lemon juice and the  lemon zest to finished basic syrup recipe (1 batch)and chill.
2. After mixture is chilled add to ice-cream maker set speed to stir and pour in sorbet mixture. (about 15 mins in mixer)
3. Freeze for 2 hours before eating.

I could not find my zester so I just put the peels in the blender with the water for the syrup and hit puree  then I just cooked it as for the basic syrup recipe.  But this way is a much stronger flavor so if you want it more mild through it in with the juice not boil with syrup.   But either way will work my was an improvisation from necessity not how I would normally do it. 

The lemon is very tart strong pucker power so if you want it sweeter double or triple  the syrup recipe and do not boil zest.   I will do it that way next time and leave the rest the same.
------------------------

Basic fruit sorbet...

Strawberry Blueberry Sorbet  

serves 8: 1 scoop each


ingredients

• 1 basic syrup recipe
• 8 cups  fruit ( I used 4 cups blueberries and 4 cups strawberries since I am out of season I just used frozen berries that I mostly thawed untill soft enough to mash) but fresh would be better and pretty much any fruit can be used the juicier the fruit the better ie. berries, plums, nectarines and so on over such fruits as apples

prep

1. Chop strawberries into small pieces either by using a food processor or a blender (or smash by hand) until pureed
2. Strain juice into a bowl through wire sieve. This will help get rid of the seeds and some of the pulp skins from the blueberries  Chill.  I ended up with about 4 1/2 cups of puree in a glass measuring cup amazing how much it reduced I had about 1 1/2 cups pulp that  can use for jam or some other fruit items like smoothies and such. 
3. Add the mashed fruit mixture to 1 basic syrup recipe and chill.
4. After mixture is chilled add to Ice Cream Maker. Set speed to stir and pour in sorbet mixture. (about 15 - 20 mins in mixer)
5. Freeze for 2 hours before eating.

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both of these are nice to serve with a few fresh mint leaves as decoration and added flavor

Approximately 3 to 4 cups of fruit will make about 2 cups of sorbet.

Store sorbet in a separate freezer ready bowl in the freezer do not store  in the mixing bowl as scooping out of the mixing bowl can damage it.

Gingerbread houses

kids made thses with their dad, originally uploaded by sunshine's creations.

The kids made these with their dad. My children had fun right before thanksgiving making gingerbread houses with their dad. I some how misplaced this photo.

As you can see there are five Christmas and one Halloween.  The two the least decorated are mine and my husbands ( but he decorated both of them).  He left most of the candy for the children  to do their homes. We had purchased some ginger bread people at the same tine so each house had a family to go with it.  Since it was already past Halloween and we never got around to doing the haunted house one before Halloween they tried to make it look less Halloween and more Christmas hard to do with black icing. 

Halloween fun

Here are some recipes and fun things to do this season.

• Carmel apples  use the next recipe cooked to the hard ball state and the recipe how to make the soft caramel can also be used for caramel apples

so much to do so little time

 

•  Make a mummy mask as a decoration
• Roasted pumpkin seeds recipe 

• Make creepy door way with just black garbage bags looks neat in the breeze and has an interestingly creepy sound when it moves

• Decorate cookie you can use store bought or make your own.  Let the kids decorate them neat or messy they ( what ever their skill level) will all be cute no matter what all together.

• Have some science fun with making your own alien ooze.

Sugar is Sweet...and so are these

 

I have been playing with cup cakes, butter-cream frosting and royal icing  as of late.  Here are a few pictures of that playing around.
My kids had fun with all the cupcakes pictured because they got to eat some of them.

All the loose flowers in the trays below they do not get to eat until my younger sisters wedding.  The flowers for the wedding range in size from 2 1/2 inches to 3 inches.  Much larger than any store bought ones I have seen.  You know the funny thing about this is I learned how to do this (cake decorating that is) about 19 years ago so that when I had kids I could make cool cakes. Kids came but I never had the time to make those cool cakes I wanted too. So now my kids are shocked that mom can all of a sudden do things like this. I tell them there are lots of things I know how to do but just don't have the time so they have never seen me do it, at least not in a time in their lives that they can remember that is.  As  I did do it till the oldest was about 4 years old. So not in the last 11 or so years

 

The above is the reason for the other cupcakes kids just have a hard time seeing sweets made but not getting any to eat so I made these to make them happy.  Way too much sweets.  I will probably be giving some to the neighbors.

Caramel Apples

Last week for family home evening the girls and I made caramel apples from scratch.  MMMMM so good!  We used this recipe from the Anderson's that I posted a few years back just cooked it a little longer to the hard ball stage to make the caramel a little more ridged so it would not slide off of the apples.  Place on a greased cookie sheet to cool and enjoy. Please let me know if you make some and if you enjoyed them.

We ate cake..

My husband surprised me with this cake.  Thought I would share it with you.  So cool!  To see how she did this go to her blog cake notes.  Those are real bamboo knitting needles on the cake but the yarn is food.

Let them eat cake...

A little over a week ago.  My husband came home from work  telling about his new co-works wife and the website she has about her hobby making cakes.  I stopped by it and took a look she has several pages of cakes but enclosed in this post are just a few of my favorite ones from her site.  If you check out her blog say Wendy sent you.  For this being her hobby I think she has done a wonderful job.  The other need part is to go through her pages and see how she has progressed in her art.  I wish her many more hours of fun and enjoyment working/playing with this art-form. She is self taught in this hobby similar to I am in most of my hobbys. I did however take classes years ago when I worked at a craft shop to learn how to make cakes and decorate them (the class was free becasue at the end of class I would ring people up for the supplies they wanted to buy so instead of a paycheck during that time for working I got to take the classes).  If you have not ever done this I recommend it (cake decorating that is not working at a craft shop).  It is a fun project to learn how to do and even more fun to see the happiness on your families face when you bring the cake to the party.   The first two wedding cakes in this post are are very elegant to me they show pension for hi detail and simplicity at the same time.

I love the giraffe on this one so much wimsy.

 Oh the flower one in the vase is cupcakes so pretty would be great for Mother's day or Valentines.

 

 All the photos in this post are from cake notes blog I do have permission to use them they are not my work.

13... Snow queen

During this month my oldest daughter became a teenager in years. She has been there mentally and attitude-wise for a long time. I always let them pick special things for their birthdays. She wanted to make cream cheese mints to share at school on her birthday. So we pulled out the supplies (some have gone missing which was sad to not have all the molds any more because we wanted to make roses). Since her birthday is in December, the Christmas month, she wanted to make Santa instead.

I have made more progress on the snow queen. I am now thinking up other uses for this pattern; watch for them in the future.

Neighbors Gift: the Mix

This was a gift from our neighbors the Phillips' last Christmas so now you can use it as a gift to give to your neighbors this Christmas.

• hot chocolate mix or use cocoa for a stronger flavored mix see below*
• powdered non dairy creamer
  
• Marshmallows (usually during the holidays you can get snowman shaped ones)
• peppermint patties
• candy canes
• pressurized whipped cream
  
• Glass wide mouth canning jar (with lid and ring)
  
• none zipping sandwich bags
  
• curly ribbon
  
• glue dots
  
• printed out message for card

directions

1. Fill jar 1/2 full of hot chocolate mix
2. fill 1/4 of jar with creamer (leaves 1/4 empty)
3. add marshmallows to bag and place inside jar to fill last amount of space
4. put lid on top and glue mints down ( use glue dots)
5. write or print out message and glue to side of jar (don't forget to add who from on this paper)
6. glue dot whipped cream to jar
   
7. add curling ribbon around both items and and glue dot candy canes on
   

card reads

Marshmallow Cocoa

1. remove marshmallows from jar. Set aside
2. empty cocoa mix into large mixing bowl
3. blend very well with a whisk
4. place mix back into jar or a container of your choice
5. Place 2 heaping TB mix into a cup, add 1 cup hot water. You can stir with candy cane or add a pattie to the cup, stir until mixture is completely dissolved
6. Top with mini marshmallows or whipped cream or both

Chocolate Milkshake

1. place 1 scoop soft vanilla ice cream and 1 cup milk into a quart jar
   
2. add 2 TB cocoa mix
3. Place lid on jar and shake until blended (or you can blend in a blender) first is more fun for kids

Chocolate Milk

1. place 1 cup milk into a glass
2. Add 2 heaping Tb cocoa mix. Stir to blend

*want to make your own mix ahead of time

• powder milk
• powder sugar
• unsweetened cocoa powder
• non dairy creamer powder
  

mix 10 cups nonfat powder milk, 4 1/2 cups powder sugar, 2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2 cups non dairy creamer.

fill jar 3/4 full with mix and omit the pour and mix instructions in marshmallow cocoa recipe

How to Make Krissy's Cookies

This recipe came from Krissy she said all could share it and that it was a good recipe. Good I think meaning rich in calories. Haven't made it before but looked good so I thought I would give it a whirl . Not for those on a diet or afraid of butter, sugar or chocolate.

Supplies

• 2 cups butter
  
• 24 oz. chocolate chips
  
• 4 cups flour
  
• 2 cups brown sugar
  
• 2 tsp. soda
  
• 1 tsp. salt
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 1 8 oz. Hershey bar (grated)
• 5 cups blended oatmeal
  
• 4 eggs
  
• 2 tsp. baking powder
  
• 2 tsp. vanilla
  
• 3 cups chopped nuts (your choice) (I hate nuts in cookies I will skip this part)

Makes 12 cookies can be halved if you want less

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Steps

1. Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder.
   
2. Cream the butter and both sugars together.
   
3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.
   
4. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar, and nuts.
   
5. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.
   

Bake for 10 minutes -Makes 12 cookies.

Gifts: Handmade Lipgloss

This is a nice gift for little girls to give their friends or teachers for the holiday season.

We got most of our supplies at one place but you are welcome to get yours from other places

Supplies

• lip gloss tube or other container to place it in
• Vitamin E Balm Base 2 drams (where we got ours )
  
• 4 drops flavored oil per 2 drams (essential oil to smell and taste nice mint) where we got it at bottom of page
  
• 1/16 teaspoon Splenda per 2 drams ( to make it taste nice) any grocery store
  
• 1/8 tsp mica or a desired ( this makes it have a nice shine but can be left out) under extra additions on this page
  

Approx 2 drams per tube

heat in microwave in 15 second intervals (for melting) heat in the drams cup which can be procured at a pharmacy. Just set aside to cool doesn't take long. You can make labels or place stickers on it what ever you like.

If making for your self you can use old tubes that are empty if making for others get nice new containers you can get them at most craft stores.

Teachers Gift: Snowman melt

For the next few days here are a few things you can make for teachers or children or neighbors to get ready for the holidays.

1. Instant hot chocolate packages for ease
2. Marshmallows ( usually during the holidays you can get snowman shaped ones)
3. candy canes
4. chocolate kisses or small chocolate candy bars (peppermint patties work great for this)
   
5. Cellophane bag to put items in
6. stapler or tape to attach note card
7. printed out message for card
   

card reads

"I was told you where super good this year.
I am really glad to hear it!
With winter weather coming near
You will need to warm your spirit!
So here is a little snowman cheer
You can watch him melt as you stir your stick
It is ok with a little work he will be back next year, with no fear,
Just add hot water and sip it slow
It is sure to do the trick"

Pumpkin...Big Tree...

The project is done the pumpkin has been cooked and processed by hand and put in bag to freeze till use.  I have roasted the seeds and there are about 3 cups of them for the kids to snack on.  Yes that is the inside of my side by side fridge freezer.  Not much space in there.  I will take these bags out latter to the big freezer in the garage once they are frozen all the way.  The seeds will not stay in the freezer that was just for the photo.

In the process of making the pumpkin seeds my oven decided to play mean for some reason the door decided it didn't want to stay together all the way.  Guess add that to the honey do list.

 

(the red hat is my father-in-law the person up in the tree is my husband can you find him in the top photo and the last photo he is hidden pretty well)

I have the best husband in the world no kidding the at man can do anything he puts his mind too.  A few weeks ago to help out our extended family he and eight other relatives and friends  made a 60 foot tree into a 30 foot tree at the cities requests.

He strapped on his rock climbing gear and up he went into the tree.  I think I would have had some trepidations on this.  I don't talk about him much on here.  He usually isn't involved in most of my craft things but he is very much a part of my life for many many years now.

I could not ask for a more wonderful man as a husband he is caring, loving, silly, responsible  and most important of all very very patient with me and the children.