Cranberry Lime Vodka

I made this 2 weeks ago today... gonna try it later ;)

...Happy New Years...

Got the recipe H-E-R-E

I'm A Lucky Woman...

Ok so I change the words to fit me...
Lucky Wo (Man) lyrics
By: montgomery-gentry

I have days where I hate my job
This little town and the whole world too
And last Sunday when the Porkchop got out of the barnyard
Lord, it put me in a bad mood

I have moments when I curse the rain
Then complain when the sun's too hot
I look around at what everyone has
And I forget about all I've got

But I know I'm a lucky woman
God's given me a pretty fair hand
Got a house and a piece of land
A few dollars in a coffee can

My old vans still running good
My ticker's ticking like they say it should
I got supper in the oven, a good man's loving
And one more day to be my teenagers mom
Lord, knows I'm a lucky woman

Got some friends who would be here fast
I could call 'em any time of day
Got a sister who's got my back
Got a mama who I swears a saint

Got a brand new pair of rain boots
Got a full week off this year
Mom had a close call acouple years ago
It's a miracle she's still here

But I know I'm a lucky woman
God's given me a pretty fair hand
Got a house and a piece of land
A few dollars in a coffee can

My old vans still running good
My ticker's ticking like they say it should
I got supper in the oven, a good man's loving
One more day to be my teenagers mom
Lord, knows I'm a lucky woman

Oh, my old vans still running good
My ticker's ticking like they say it should
I got supper in the oven, a good man's loving
And even my bad days ain't that bad
Yeah, I'm a lucky woman, I'm a lucky, lucky woman

Christmas 2011

Heres our Christmas in a nut shell...

... Christmas Eve...
We drive up to my sisters house & spend the day/evening with family.

... Christmas Day...
We stay home & enjoy the day as a family.
Mom/Nana is usually here with us.

... Day After Christmas ...
We drive up for The Yates Christmas

The best Christmas of all is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up with one another...

Christmas gifts are nice to give & receive but to me Christmas is all about being with the ones you love, spending time together & makin memories. I hope you & your families had a very Merry Christmas.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark

Its good stuff!

We Love it

Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark
(I found the original recipe on T-H-I-S blog.
makes 1 sheet of bark
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
bag of mini pretzels
12-oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
sea salt
1. Wrap a baking sheet with tin foil. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. As it melts, cover the baking sheet in an even layer of mini pretzels.

3. Once the butter is melted, add the sugar and stir to incorporate. Allow the sugar and butter to softly simmer and bubble, but don’t let it boil, so adjust the heat accordingly. Stir occasionally. The browning process should take about three minutes from when it starts to bubble.


4. Once the sugar and butter have caramelized, pour the mixture evenly over the pretzels on the baking sheet. The caramel hardens pretty quickly so it’s important to pour it as evenly as possible from the start. Bake the pretzel-caramel mixture in the oven for 5-7 minutes.

5. In the meantime, set up a double boiler. Fill a saucepan about a quarter ways full with water. Place the pot over a medium flame. Take a large, heatproof bowl and set it on top of the saucepan. Be sure that the water in the pot will not touch the bottom of the dish, otherwise your chocolate will burn! Pour the chocolate chips into the bowl and stir constantly until they’re completely melted.

6. By this time the pretzel-caramel mixture should be done and out of the oven. Pour the chocolate over the pretzel-caramel mixture evenly.

* The 2nd batch I made I just drizzled chocolate over the pretzel-caramel mixture.

7. Spread any remaining thick spots of chocolate with a spatula. Sprinkle sea salt evenly over the bark. Place it in the fridge to cool and harden for about an hour.

* The 2nd batch I made I did add the salt... to me you really dont need it, the pretzels have plenty of salt already.

Once it’s done, the tin foil should pull off easily and you can break the sheet into smaller, bark-like pieces.

Ok, I'm so not a fudge maker... YET!

I've had an interesting mornin in my kitchen today...
I seen a Goats Milk Fudge recipe on Eden Hills Blog & thought I'd give it a try today. Hers looks really great & mine looks... Well you'll see...

This might have something to do with it not turning out! LOL
Also I DONT own a candy thermometer... I know shockin huh with all the makin & bakin I do. Guess I need to get one of those suckers.

I moved it to a BIGGER pot

& then it looked like this...

& then it started lookin alittle scary & it taste alittle scary too!

Merry Christmas :)

Maybe I'll try again... one day.

Ps. I need some peanut butter fudge... please!

Homemade Egg Nog

I made homemade egg nog for the 1st time today...

Fresh Eggs from Our Little Farm

My family really likes it :)

Homemade Egg Nog

6 farm fresh eggs at room temperature and separated
3/4 cup sugar (for the yolks)
6 TBS sugar (for the whites)
1 tsp vanilla extract (one of these days I'm gonna have my own bottle of homemade)
a few dashes of nutmeg (or freshly grated)
1 cup of cream
4 cups of raw goat milk

Started with the egg whites..beating them to soft peaks. Then gradually adding 1 TBS sugar at a time until all 6 TBS have been added and stiff peaks form. Put in a bowl to the side. In a large bowl beat egg yolks until lighter in color. Gradually add 1/3 cup of sugar at a time and beat until dissolves..adding more sugar slowly until you've added the 3/4 cup of sugar. Add the milk, cream, nutmeg and vanilla to the egg yolk mixture. Stir to combine. Whisk egg whites into milk mixture. Chill before serving.

* I got this recipe from Frizzled Farm fb page... check it out.
** This recipe is RAW..nothing was pasteurized but you could easily do that if you wanted to.

Linkin up to Fresh from the Farm Recipe Swap

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies...

These are one of my favorite cookies to make and eat... taste like little yummy brownies. I got this recipe from my 2008 FamilyFun magazine. Heres the link to the recipe so you can make them, Chocolate Crinkles. Recipe below...

Santa would love some of this on Christmas Eve!

• *** Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 6-oz. bag semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

How to make it

1. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, cocoa powder and sugar; beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly mix in the wet ingredients, then stir in the chips. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in confectioners' sugar. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 12 minutes. Makes 25 to 35 cookies.

Recyclable Christmas Goody Containers

Heres a cute, recyclable idea to share your Christmas goodies with family & friends... oatmeal containers. I started saving them in the summer & knew I would use them for something. So as I was makin/bakin caramel corn this mornin I remembered the containers & did this...

Simple & Cute

* I think it would be cute to leave the oatmeal wrapper on the container & fill it with these hm oatmeal drop cookies

** Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #5

Kay & I Bakin Chrstmas Cookies

Sugar & Spice Makes Everything Nice...
Brown Sugar & Spice Cutout Cookies

I shared & let Kay wear it last night... I'm so nice, lol

Hey Memaw
Kay says she gets the finger lickin while your cookin from you, lol

I ♥ Cookies & spendin time with any of my teenagers in the kitchen.

Icing...
I put about 2/3 cup of powder sugar in bowl then added 1T. milk at a time... usually about 2T. was good. Then added food coloring, if it was too thin for my likin then I just added more powder sugar. (Thanks Jackie)

I am linking to Farmchick's Farm Photo Friday

...Christmas News...

...Dear God, I'm not asking for anything today,
I just want to say thank you...
(My FB status this mornin)
I dont talk much about the my stress at Christmas time... you see every year we dont have money for Christmas & every year I start to stress til I remember to just hand it all over to God, he will come through for us... & he has every year. I'm so glad I have the courage to hand it over to him then stand back, not worry & let him work his power... do you know how hard it is to tell your kids you have no money for Christmas. We are not rich but we are not poor, everything we have we work hard for, save up for or we make it ourselves. We spend on all three of our teenagers what some people spend on one.

My honey just walked into the kitchen as I'm gettin ready to wash dishes. He tells me he just got some good news... his work just gave them their Christmas bonus... Thank You God for coming through for us again this year! I'm so happy & relieved.

We may not be blessed with lots of money... But we are blessed with Gods love, our wonderful lovin family life, a nice warm home, family & friends that love us & love hangin out with us.

I just had to share this... Merry Christmas. Gotta go wash my dishes now, lol

Sisters...

"Sisters annoy, interfere, criticize. Indulge in monumental sulks, in huffs, in snide remarks. Borrow. Break. Monopolize the bathroom. Are always underfoot. But if catastrophe should strike, sisters are there. Defending you against all comers."
~ Pam Brown

"In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips."

~ Unknown

Pictures from Christmas Cookie Night 2011

Christmas Cookie Night

...Its A Christmas Tradition...
Makin Christmas memories to last us a lifetime with family & friends

More Christmas Cookie Night 2011 pics H-E-R-E

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

This was my 1st time makin biscottis... they take alot of work & time to make so ...If anyone makes you Biscottis you should really appreciate them, Just sayin ;)

Original recipe here:  Almond Biscotti

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup brown sugar 
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups slivered almonds, toasted
4 large eggs
3 teaspoons almond extract

1 bag of dried cranberries ( I didnt measure how much I added to my dough)
plus bakin chocolate to melt and drizzle

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in almonds. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and almond extract; stir into flour mixture. (Dough will appear very dry but will come together when kneaded.) If the dough will just not stick together, add water one tablespoon at a time until the dough just stays together. 

The dough will be very sticky, so have your surfaced floured and baking sheet ready before you start to knead the dough. Transfer dough to a floured work surface; knead until smooth. Divide dough in half; shape into two logs, each about 1 ½ inches high and 2 ½ inches wide. The logs will spread out a little, so keep this in mind. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet (or silicone mats), and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake the logs until they are puffed and outside is firm (the tops may crack), about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 2 hours.

Using a serrated knife, thinly slice the logs crosswise, 1/4 inch thick. Lay slices on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until crisp and lightly golden, rotating pans and turning biscotti over halfway through, 20 minutes total. Cool completely before serving or storing.