Snowflakes

Image courtesy of: baroon.ir

Remnants of Christmas

I'll still be posting little snippets of Christmas here and there until after the New Year. I love all of the twinkle lights, Christmas cards and ornaments that adorn my home at this time of year. And I always feel a little sad when I have to put it all away until next year.

Putting My Feet Up

Now that another Christmas season has come and gone, I'm looking forward to putting my feet up and relaxing until New Year's Eve.

Christmas eve was spent at my Great-Grandma and Grandpa's house. This is where the feasting began. My Great-Grandma made the most delicious turkey dinner, followed by homemade Lemon Meringue pie.

Our Christmas day consisted of opening presents with our little girl in the morning, then proceeding to head to my Mom and Dad's for Christmas brunch (and more present opening), and lastly we headed to my husband's parents place to enjoy Christmas dinner and even more gift giving. We didn't get home until 11:00pm and we were exhausted.

And Boxing day was spent at my other Great-Grandparent's home. Where we stuffed ourselves with every type of food imaginable.

Now, I'm tired. And stuffed.

I'm putting my feet up and I'm not going anywhere until I absolutely need to. While I'm relaxing, I'll be thinking about how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life whom I love and care for deeply. I'll be thinking about how blessed I am to live in Canada, and how fortunate we are to be able to celebrate Christmas.

I think I'll make some peppermint tea, grab my new copy of Alice Munro's latest collection of short stories 'Too Much Happiness' and then take a nap.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

Marshmallow Snowmen

Gingerbread

I'm totally on a Martha Stewart kick right now. This gem of a gingerbread house, that comes from Martha's website, looks so beautiful. But why is it outside? I don't know. But it certainly makes for a gorgeous photograph. Our family and I make a gingerbread house every year and, believe me, it looks nothing like this one.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I'm so excited. I love this time of year. I love seeing my extended family, eating turkey, listening to carol's and going tobogganing with my family.

2 more sleeps!

Molasses-Gingerbread Cookie Dough
Ingredients:
Makes enough for one house, plus embellishments

1 1/4 cups packed dark-brown sugar
3/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1.Combine brown sugar, molasses, butter, spices, and salt in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. Stir in milk. Remove from heat, and let cool.

2.Pour milk mixture into a mixing bowl; add baking powder and flour. With an electric mixer, and beginning on low speed and increasing to medium, beat until well combined. Divide dough in half; shape into disks. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate overnight. Dough can be frozen up to 1 month; thaw in the refrigerator before using.

Ingredients:
Makes one house

Molasses-Gingerbread Cookie Dough
All-purpose flour, for dusting
Caramel Syrup
Royal Icing
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out gingerbread dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Chill until firm, about 1 hour. Lightly dust top of dough with flour. Place templates on top and cut out shapes with a paring knife. (Use a small utility knife to cut out the windows.) Transfer shapes to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until just beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely.

2.Make caramel syrup, and assemble house.

3.Place royal icing in a pastry bag fitted with a medium plain tip (No. 5 or 6). Pipe to outline windows, doorway, and edges of chimney, including top and base. Outline the four joining points of house, sides, and top of roof. Decorate roof: Starting at the top, pipe a horizontal line of icing in a scallop pattern, making curves in even intervals; pipe another scalloped line so the peaks join the scallops above them in the middle. Pipe icicles around edges. Dust roof with confectioners' sugar.

Edible Snowmen

I couldn't resist posting a picture of these little cuties. My kid just loves them. And their almost too cute to eat...Almost. I found that they were a bit time consumming to make, and I had a difficult time finding all of the ingredients (there's no Bulk Barn near me). But we managed. And we had a lot of fun making them.

Only 3 more sleep's until Christmas...My kid is literally bouncing off the walls.

Christmas Treats

Chocolate and Gingerbread...YUM! I can't wait to try out this recipe. I love baking, especially hoilday baking. I love how the whole house fills up with delicious aromas. And how my daughter's face lights up when she takes her first bite of our homemade treats. This recipe is from Martha Stewart.

Chocolate Gingerbread Bars

Ingredients:

Makes 16

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with a strip of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper. Dust paper and sides of pan with cocoa; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, ginger, pumpkin-pie spice, and baking soda; set aside.

2.In a large bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar, molasses, egg, and sour cream until smooth. Add flour mixture; stir just until moistened (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.

3.Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. Using paper overhang, lift gingerbread from pan. Transfer to a cutting board, and cut into 16 squares. Before serving, dust bars with confectioners sugar, if desired. (To store, keep in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 3 days.)

Christmas Gifts for the Kitties

We have 3 cats...It's a long story. One of our cat's is very old, and the other two are just kittens. I desparately need to find something for them to sleep and play on. Something other than my sofa or my Christmas tree (Yes, one of the kittens climbed into the middle of our tree).

I saw this picture on Martha Stewart's website and I fell in love. It's purrrfect (sorry, I couldn't resist) for my three crazy cat's. Not only is it functional, but it's very stylish too. I'm sure I could pester/bribe my husband into making one (he's very handy).

But he'd better get cracking. There's only 4 more days until Christmas!

Swiss Museli

This recipe is from the delightful blog Whipped. I usually only eat my oatmeal with raspberries (because they are very high in fibre), but I'm definitely going to try this version tomorrow. Eating oatmeal in the morning tends to lift my spirits. Maybe that's because it's very satisfying.

1 1/2 cups vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup muesli (I buy it from the store. You can also make your own.)
1 Banana
1 Green Apple

Put yogurt, milk and muesli in a bowl and stir. Cover and leave in refridgerator overnight. In the morning, add chunks of apple and banana.

Hello World!

Hello Everyone and Welcome to my Blog,

This blog is going to be about EVERYTHING I love. EVERYTHING. I'll be blogging about family, recipes, photographs, interior design, green design, architecture and everything inbetween. Feel free to leave a comment or two. Enjoy!