POTD - My Favourite Place to Be

Don't get me wrong, I love my family and I really do love spending time with them, but this place is my haven, where I can go to get away and escape reality...even for just a little while. And besides, my Caroline is here when I'm here. What more could I want?

POTD - Sleeping Beauty

Today was the first day back to school after the Christmas break (can you hear the silence?) and Lauren's first day back since she had open heart surgery on December 15th. As expected, she was pretty tired when she came home.

She came in the door, dropped her bag and her coat, told me (briefly) about her day and went straight to the couch for a nap! You'll have to forgive the blurriness of the photo...I had to shoot without the flash as I didn't want it to wake her up.

Hope everyone is having a GREAT day! Thanks for stopping by!

Embarking on the POTD once more...

Here we go! I'm going to give the Photo a Day challenge another shot this year. Last year I made it to April and completely fizzled out. Not that I stopped taking pictures (hello, scrapbooker!), but I certainly didn't take one a day. I'm sure I took more than 365, but that's not the point, is it?

So far:
Apple Crisp made for my honey. It was DELICIOUS! You can find the recipe here: Mom's Apple Crisp.

This is pouty face:
I think the game he was playing on the computer froze on him before he got a chance to save. We need a new video card. He'll get over it!

And today, LONG after I should have been in bed:
My most wonderful husband drove all over town yesterday and ended up at a Best Buy about 10 km away to find the LAST one to be found just about anywhere in town (I know...we looked far and wide before DD got too tired to hang around the mall anymore).

He brought it home and we tried it out after dinner. I LOVE IT!!! There are SO many activities on it, so you can't really get bored. You could do something different every day for two months because there are over 60 different activities on it. It's FABULOUS!!!

And since 2010 is THE decade, it's going to be my get fit tool. The little Wii board (on the screen) keeps you motivated and congratulates you for all your hard work. Anyway...enough about the Wii Fit Plus...time for dinner!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shamrock Rolls

Ooooh! These are SO good...and so soft...and so chewy...and so moist! You're going to want to make them right now!!!

Here's how to do it:

Ingredients:
1 pkg. dry active yeast (that's 2 1/4 tsp. if you buy in bulk like I do)
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup hot mashed potatoes
1/4 shortening (I used Tenderflake Lard)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk, scalded
1 egg
4 to 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

• Soften yeast in warm water. Combine potatoes, shortening (lard), sugar, salt and hot milk. Cool to lukewarm.
• Add softened yeast and egg. Stir in 2 cups of the flour; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour or enough to make a soft dough. Turn out and knead on lightly floured surface till smooth and elastic, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Place in lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double in size, about 1 hour. Punch down. Shape in ball. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.
• To shape rolls, roll balls to about 1 inch in size and place 3 in each greased muffin tin. Let rise about 1 hour, again till double in size.
• Bake at 400 F about 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 2 dozen rolls.

If you have a stand mixer, here's what I do:

• Soften yeast in warm water in bowl of stand mixer. Add cooled potato mixture and egg.
• Add all 4 cups of flour and set mixer with dough hook to "2" (Cuisinart) and set timer for 8 minutes. At about the 4-minute mark, turn dial to "3". Watch the dough. If it doesn't come away from the sides/bottom add more flour. I usually end up adding another cup for 5 cups total.
• Remove from mixer bowl and transfer to well greased bowl.
• Continue as above.

ENJOY!!! We're going to have some tonight with our traditional New Years appetizers.

The batch above was made for Christmas...I'll make a fresh batch today.

You have GOT to try this!!!

Enjoy the laugh...courtesy of my dad who sent me the link.

WARNING!!!! DO NOT WATCH WITH CHILDREN!


http://santa.sympatico.ca/watch/8a99d45230feb8538577068e7b087a07

Christmas Cookies

What's your favourite type of Christmas cookie? Can you pick a favourite? Or do you just like them all?

If I had to pick one, I'd have to say mine is shortbread. Fortunately, that encompasses an awful LOT of cookies (lucky me!). There's your standard shortbread, brown sugar shortbread, chocolate shortbread, chocolate chip shortbread...and the list goes on!

Since the holidays are upon us, I've been baking...in spades! The kids and the hubby are happy (and possibly fat!) people! This has been the week for shortbread...later this week I'm going to make gingerbread cookies (oh! I got the cutest, tiniest gingerbread man!) and peanut butter chocolate chip from my friend Karin's recipe.

Over the weekend, I went to visit my friend Diana (where I also saw Teresa and met Michelle). This is just one of the sweet plates that I brought:
Needless to say, there was happiness all around!!!

The basic recipe for shortbread is this:

1/2 lb. butter
1/2 cup icing (or confectioners) sugar
2 cups flour

There is no baking powder or any other ingredients. And PLEASE! (I'm beggin' ya here) do NOT think you can use margarine in this recipe. This is a Christmas cookie and MUST have butter in it!

Cream together the butter and the sugar. Add the flour one cup at a time and blend it in. Roll the cookie dough into a logs about 2 inches around and 8 inches long. Wrap in waxed paper and chill in the fridge until firm. When you're ready to bake them, remove them from the fridge while you preheat the oven to 300F. Slice the cookies about 1/4" thick and bake until the bottoms are just barely golden.

Remove to wire rack to cool completely. These keep well on the counter of if you are in the mood for baking in the middle of summer, they freeze very well.

Enjoy!

Holiday Happenings

What are your plans for the holidays? They're just around the corner you know!

If you're in the US, you should be ready for Thanksgiving which is in just a couple of days! If you're in Canada, you've got a bit a of a break because Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone...it's not much of a break mind you, because Christmas is just a mere 31 days away!

What would you like your Christmas holiday to be like this year? Is it always chaotic and do you wish for peace? Is it always peaceful and quiet and you'd like to have a bit more noise about you this year?

This year, we are going for a peaceful holiday. DD will have either just had or be soon heading in for open heart surgery and I think a little peace would be a good thing...either before all the excitement of surgery or as some much needed downtime after surgery.

To that end, we're not going anywhere. My parents are in Nova Scotia and the idea of a plane ride (and all those horrible germs in an enclosed space) is not at all appealing. My parents understand of course...they know we can't compromise our daughter's health. Scott's parents are just and hour down the road, so it's not that much of a hike, but it's my thinking that once you have children of your own, you shouldn't have to stress about which house you'll be at or which side of the family you'll be visiting. Christmas should be about those that are most important to you...and while your extended family is certainly VERY important, your first priority should be your immediate family - the people you live with every day.

This year, I'd like to start a few new traditions. The kids are already talking about watching Scrooge on Christmas Eve and I think that's a GREAT idea. We'll add that to the list. I'd like to make Christmas cookies in the week leading up to Christmas. The kids will be off a whole week before Christmas day and what better way to spend the week than making some goodness that everyone can enjoy. I don't know how many cookies will make it to Christmas day, but that isn't the point. The point is, we'll be doing it as a family...and if the cookies are all eaten by Christmas day, then we'll just make more!

I want to continue some old traditions too...when my sister and I were younger, my mom always bought us matching PJ's for Christmas. Our children don't get matching PJ's, but everyone gets a new pair of PJ's. They are wrapped and are the one gift we ALL (even me) get to open on Christmas Eve. Everyone wears new PJ's to bed. I make sure they have at least SOME matching colours in them because the scrapbooker in me wants to make my life easier come scrapbooking time in January!

I want to take more pictures! Last year, we went to Disney World and the year before that Christmas was a less than festive event. I want more pictures! I want to photograph favourite ornaments (not just mine) and record the reasons WHY they are favourites.

For the past few years, Santa has been bringing "bags" instead of filling stockings. Why? I can't find the darn stockings! So this year, I'm buying new ones! If I can, I'll have them personalized with names too! Our family is complete, so I don't need to worry about not being able to find a matching stocking for a baby that might be coming later. This is the year!

I want to make more gifts this year...and not at the last minute either! I seem to have these great ideas every year and then never follow through on them. This year I want to start early and make gifts for the kids teachers and my friends. It's hard to make gifts for the kids because they want the latest and greatest toys...not that they will get everything they see on TV, but they certainly aren't the type to appreciate hand made gifts. I most definitely do NOT want to go overboard. We've bought some gifts already and that is going a long way to not going over budget and breaking the bank in the month of December.

This year, organization will be my friend...I'll start early and avoid all that last minute stress. This is especially important if DD will be in the hospital prior to the actual holiday. The good thing is that she is crafty like me...so while she is recovering we can make gifts together!

That's it for me...what's on tap for you?