My Lucky Day ;)

Last week I when i reached into the cabinet and grabbed a pot to fix meal I decided I need to invest in a new set of cookware. My non-stick skillets are not so non-stick anymore. My pots and pans are dented and dinged. When DH and I married, I brought with me the set I bought when I moved into my own home 20 years ago. We did receive a new set when we married 14 years ago. Both sets have seen better days and need to be retired. I pulled out the sets to inspect and behind them i found the cast iron skillets DH brought home a few years after we married. I remember putting them aside thinking it was too much hassle to maintain them.

Well, now I've reconsidered after doing some research online. With 2 cast iron skillets, a dutch oven, grill pan and a griddle I'm seeing the error of my thinking when I set these at the back of the cabinet. The sky's the limit with these. I've discovered my new set of pots and pans.

Today i baked a apple pie in one. Simple. Lined it with the pie crust then added the apples. I placed it in the oven and let it preheat with the  oven. The pie came out perfect. Now I'm wondering if I can bake a turkey or ham in a dutch oven- maybe I'll research and find out if there's a cast iron oval roaster. I'm going to google it right now... :)

LadyBug!

Our little LadyBug.

Game Snack Time

Warm chocolate cake right out of the oven with a glass of cold milk- no icing.

Practice Writing "A" and "a"

Practice, practice, practice.

Good job, well done!

Little man is busy raking leaves with a stick.

My Duckling

We are playing outside this afternoon and little man and I had fun with our shadows. I thought he was pretending to be a bird but he says he was pretending to be a duck. My duckling :)

Scary! ;)

Little Man is pretending to be hulk today.

AHHHHH!

I woke up this morning with a goal in mind. The tree is down, boxed away, and back in the garage. The Christmas decorations are stowed away and the furniture is back where it normally resides. The clutter is gone. My house is back to normal.

My Gift

He's gives me joy and I'm so thankful God has entrusted me to be his mom.

Want A Ride? Birthday Cake Anyone??

Little Man received a gift bix of legos and he's discovered mom knows how to build with them.

My Ham

He loves hamming it up for the camera.

Happy New Year!

We have been watching Veggie Tales' Beauty and the Beet and munched on nachos. Little Man is playing with his legos he received on Christmas. Dear Hubby and Romie dog are napping.

I am not ready to take down the tree and put away the decorations. I'm  not ready to decorate for Valentine's Day.  :(

Blah! 

Snow

The last 2-3 days has been pouring down rain. Today we have a snow and sleet mix. That means it's chili and hot cocoa time.

Little Man received a remote control dinosaur for Christmas. We couldn't get it out of the box. There were screws (we couldn't find the right sized screwdriver to remove the screws) holding it in. He ignored it until this morning. He couldn't wait any longer. I finally found the right sized tool and he was happily roaring when I left the house for work.

Not Dieting

We enjoyed Christmas dinner at Dear Hubby's aunts house yeaterday. I didnt eat one slice of pie, cake or any cookies. I did eat a piece of fudge.

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas!

Instructions!

I cannot bake hams. I burn them. Bad.

So this afternoon Dear Hubby's aunt decided to teach me step by step how to bake a ham.

I see the errors I've been making. 1) not enough water in bottom of pan, 2) covering the whole pan with foil instead of just the ham.

I'll test this out and let ya know how it goes.

Mantle Scarf

I've discovered embroidery is soothing.

Last Minute!

It's almost Christmas!

I am nowhere near being ready. Nothing wrapped, nothing baked, nothing dusted... :)

So Far...

Dear Hubby came home one day a few weeks ago from work and was excited about a treat one of his coworkers spouse made. Puff corn with white chocolate aka Angel Poop.

Our church is having a Tasting Tea tomorrow evening after the children's Christmas program so I decided to make the treat that my husband expressed so much glee over. 

So, I gathered most of the needed items from the local market (ever thought you had all of what you needed then discovered you needed one important ingredient you really shouldn't substitute anything else for??) and... It went like this:

I started with 1 TBsp shortening in the bowl.  So far, so good.

Then I added the 1 square of white almond bark. So far, still good.

After that I discovered the recipe calls for white chocolate chips (WHAT??? I didn't know that... seems my eyes skipped that part when I was reading the recipe OR my brain didn't retain it- it could go either way :) ). I stared in my cupboard and dug around...not a white chocolate chip to be found.  So, I decided brown chocolate chips work just as well because that's what I have in my pantry. I added a cup full. Then I decided that wasn't enough and added another. So far, still cookin'.

Then I put the bowl in the microwave and pushed the number 1. So far, all's well.

It needed another 30 seconds so I added that. Pulled it out and started stirring. So far this was going really well. It was smooth and glossy and ready to go over the puff corn in the bigger bowl on the counter to be coated. My baking sheet was lined with wax paper. All I had to do was complete the steps.

Instead- I had an idea. I'm not sure why (other than I was still wrestling with not having enough white) I decided to throw in some big, fluffy, fat, white (all you experienced cooks, bakers, and candlestick makers out there know where I'm going with this, I'm sure... -I had no white chocolate chips, remember) marshmallows. But the thought took hold and in the bowl they landed. Back in the microwave it went. When it came out 30 seconds later and I started stirring I realized this could not be drizzled over Chester's puff corn. It was far past the drizzle stage. Instead of dear hubs sweet n salty treat I had......

FUDGE!!!

I broke the news to dear hubby as gently as I could and he said, "ALRIGHT!"  seems FUDGE is his next happiest treat.

So far, still good- but hanging close to the edge of that line.

I started over. Same steps but NO fluffy, white, fat marshmallows. I Iearned my lesson.

It was finished and spread out on wax paper to cool when dear hubby walked in the kitchen and asked, "What's that??" 

I'm still puzzled how 30 seconds and some marshmallow derailed my whole recipe.

So far I've learned:

1) Next time I will print the recipe and take it to the market with me

and

2) if it calls for white chocolate chips, then white chocolate chips it will be. ;)

Keeping Up

Its been challenging to take the time to update my blog, so my one and only new years resolution is to be better about keeping it current.

Right now I'm listening to Christmas songs on the radio and listening to Little Man play his game on the iPad. Dear Hubby is joyfully marking off items on his Christmas list with a hand full of 20-60 percent off coupons.

Little Man and I made homemade ornaments again this year but I won't post pics until after Christmas so it won't ruin the "surprise" for some of you.

Our Little Ladybug is walking now and talking. She chatters away to Little Man.