Cookie making…

on the 37th day on the Countdown to Spring.  I made peanut butter cookies and cherry date cookies this morning.  Recipes on my recipe space. 

I thought I might take some over to my new neighbor to welcome her.  I doubt if she will be there very long as I noticed as she was moving that she is very young.   Definitely not an older widower with brown eyes.  lol

Anyway now my back is hurting from standing on my feet for a couple of hours.

It is 27 degrees and bright sunshine here today.  Much nicer than yesterday although snow is predicted for tomorrow.  I hope Valentine’s Day is clear for my daughter’s birthday.  Thinking back through the years, I can remember all kinds of weather on Valentine’s Day, most commonly an ice storm.

Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Day Twenty Six…

and it is a crisp clear  morning at 25 degrees.  I am up early this morning as I intend to go check out the day after sales here in town.  Probably the best bet will be Wal*Mart.

I am still stuffed from eating over Christmas so all left over candy and cookies have been put in the freezer, hidden behind everything in hopes that I won’t think about them anymore for a few weeks,  I have one more appointment this week on Friday and some lab work to be done, then that is it for this year, the good Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise.

I have some major cleaning to do this week.  Anybody wants to come and help me, feel free to do so.  I will take you to 8th Street Station aka Grumpy Pete’s for lunch.

I still have more pictures to go through to put on my computer.  I think this one of my daughter and her cousin Timmie is so cute.  Marcia was 17 days older than her cousin.  Sadly he died of complications of diabetes when he was 41 years old.  He was a terrific  guy  and I still miss him. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Day Twenty…

and raining with the temp hovering at 36 degrees.  Some areas close by here may get some snow out of this but hopefully only a little sleet and rain here.

The cookie exchange last night was fun.  Liz is such an excellent hostess.  In addition to the cookie exchange we each got a lovely hostess gift.

Inside, a mini bottle of hand lotion and on the back, this verse.

“Every friend is like a snowflake, unique in beauty and design. 

Each sparkles in a different way…some are playful, some refined.

But, unlike fragile snowflakes that fade when the sun appears,

Friends grow even more beautiful with every passing year.”

And a quote from Carl Reiner ~ “A lot of people like snow.  I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.”    I really like that quote.  My feelings exactly.

My haul from the cookie exchange.

I have added to the plate of chocolate covered cherries as I am getting ready to divide all of this stuff into trays to start delivering.  I am heading out to the trunk of my car to get the rest of the goodies.  Of course I will save some for my son.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and the sun is shining wherever you may be, at least in your heart.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Day Nineteen…

on my quest to post every day for one whole month.  I used to post each day when I was on WLS.  For some reason it is harder now.

I had a very nice visit with family yesterday.  My two nieces (my sister Ebby’s daughters), my great niece and great great niece.

My great niece and her daughter (my great great niece, Genna).  For  some reason  Genna loves my exercise bike.

My niece Katie opened her gift and from the looks on her face I think she liked it.

Genna eating a cookie that Aunt Beth made.  Take note of my antique bookcase put together with pegs that I mentioned in a previous post.

Have a really good week you all.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Day eighteen…

and the cookies are finished.  I was given the wrong instructions as to how many to make.  It is 8 packages of 6 to total 4 dozen.  I had forgotten how much work these cookies are,  I made the dough on Friday evening and the cookies yesterday,  Then with rolling into balls, baking 15 minutes, poking holes in the center of them, cooling completely, making the fudge filling, filling the cookies, sprinkling the chopped nuts on top and cooling and packaging.  I was all morning doing this.   Then have you heard the saying, “a messy cook is a good cook?”  I must be a very good cook because when I was done with the cookies I had chopped nuts everywhere and fudge filling  dotted here and there.  The outcome of that was an hour to thoroughly clean the kitchen and hand mop the floor.  The cookies are delicious though.  The next time I will choose a much easier recipe.

As you can see I made extra cookies so that I could have some for cookie trays for my neighbors.

My niece, great niece and great great niece are coming over this afternoon.  My great great niece will be 3 in March so she is really active.  LOL  I am not used to that but I always enjoy seeing her.  She is such a beautiful child.

It is sunny and 25 degrees this morning.  Just a great day to be alive and as Red Skelton used to say, “Aren’t you glad we both are?”

You all stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Day seventeen…

of my vow to post each day for the month  of December 20111.  I guess I want to leave a legacy behind.  My Twin has often spoken about having her blog published into a book.  I have thought of that too.  There are many ways to do this.  Here is one good way.  http://blog2print.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/index.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=adwords&utm_campaign=feb09.  Just think of the hundreds of  dollars I could save on Christmas gifts next year if I get my blog printed into a book and give it to family and friends as a gift.  Right now I am maintaining 3 blogs and 2 recipe sites so I could have my choice of what to print.  LOL  Seriously, I have thought of having one of my recipe blogs printed into a book.

I have everything ready to make the cookies for the cookie exchange.  If you missed the recipe it is in a few blogs back.  I will post a picture of the finished product tomorrow.

There was a terrible accident just a few miles down the road from me yesterday afternoon about 5 PM.  A trailer fell from an overpass on I 474 onto Route 29 injuring 5 people. 

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x2105823984/Trailer-falls-off-I-474-overpass  I have traveled that same road many times.

And now I need to stop and get busy.  I hope you all have a peaceful weekend.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

The rain has stopped…

and it is 41 degrees this morning.  Not sunny but not totally dark either like it was yesterday.  We got the equivalent of 24 inches of snow yesterday (2 inches of rain.)  There is a chance of rain or snow on Monday and Tuesday.  I am  crossing my fingers for Christmas Eve so that my son can get here safely.

I made the Rolo cookies/candies yesterday.  They are so easy to make and look so pretty.  I was able to get 48 on one cookie sheet.

Click on the picture for a larger view.

I still have to make my cookies for the cookie exchange next Monday night and some fudge then I will be all done.

As soon as I am off here I need to go to the grocery store and get a few things.  Few things when I go to the grocery store amounts to $50 or more.    I will catch you all later.

Beth.

Just what do you do…

to fill a  boring afternoon??  You go searching for Rolo candy.

That is if you want to have some on hand to make the delicious Rolo cookies.  No Rolo candy at Wal*Mart.  Walmart is such a giant store you would think there would be some there, but no, I  (actually my niece) found them at K Mart.  If you want an easy recipe this is it.  And they are delicious.

 

Rolos Cookies

From my friend Sandi.

•1 bag Rolos chocolates
•Mini pretzel twists
•Pecan halves

Lay pretzels on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Place 1 Rolo chocolate on top of each pretzel. Place in a preheated 250 degree oven for 3-4 minutes until chocolates are soft. Remove from oven and press a pecan half into each softened chocolate. Cool and remove from pan.

In case you all are wondering what all I do with the stuff, well I parcel it out to the mail lady, the garbage man, and the list goes on. If it is something I really like I might eat some of it, usually not.

I woke up this morning at 5 and finally got up at 5:30.  I t is 37 degrees and very cloudy.  The rain is to start by afternoon and continue through the night and tomorrow.  I keep telling myself that rain is so much better than snow.

And now I need to decide what to do with this rainy day that the good Lord has blessed me with.  You all stay safe and be happy.

Beth

First wind chill of the season..

this morning.  It was 6 degrees when I got up this morning and the wind chill was 1 below zero.  I don’t like it when we start having wind chill along with the temperature.  That means winter is definitely closing in.

Yesterday was a fairly decent day although it didn’t get out of the 20s all day.  I went with my daughter to an open house at a small flower shop downtown.  They were serving sherbet punch, cookies, etc.  There were door prizes to be given.  Evidently neither one of us won as I didn’t hear anything.  We each purchased something though.  Marcia got a lovely center piece with live flowers and I purchased the cute snowman you see below.  His tummy lights up and it is so pretty in the dark.

The arrangement is sitting on top of an old wooden bookcase that is put together with wooden pegs.  Jim and I picked it up at an auction probably 40 years ago.

I am going to make oatmeal raisin and snickerdoodle cookies today.  Actually just the dough and I will make the cookies tomorrow.  Cookies don’t spread if you chill the dough  a few hours or overnight.

I forgot to tell you that after the  flower shop open house we had lunch at 8th Street Station aka Grumpy Pete’s.  I don’t know why they changed the name.  I thought Grumpy Pete’s sounded way more classy.  lol

Time to get busy.  You all take time to enjoy the morning.  Today is unique in that it is one of a kind.  Stay safe and be happy!!  Oh, and ‘Hi’ to RB who I know reads my blog each day even though he says they are nothing but gossip.

Beth

Snow flurries only…

and that was enough for me.  I got my Christmas trees out yesterday, cleaned the living room thoroughly and I was exhausted,  Not nearly as much energy as I thought I had.  So the rest can wait for awhile.  Today is laundry day again, having changed the bedding there are 3 loads of it.  YUCK!!  If my ship ever comes in I am going to have a maid.  LOL  Never happen!!

It is beautiful today though.  Bright sunshine and 23 degrees right now and no breeze at all.  Just a perfect almost winter day.  Snow is in the forecast again for Thursday night.  Not too much I hope. 

I have decided on the recipe I am going to make for the cookie exchange. 

Fudge Puddles

My friend Joyce gave me this recipe. These cookies are delicious!

•1/2 cup butter, softened

•1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

•1/2 cup sugar

•1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)

•1 egg

•1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

•1 & 1/4 cups flour

•3/4 teaspoon baking soda

•1/2 teaspoon salt

Fudge filling:

•1 cup milk chocolate chips

•1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

•1 can sweetened condensed milk

•1 teaspoon vanilla extract

•chopped peanuts

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, gradually add to creamed mixture. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Shape into 48 balls, 1 inch each. Place in lightly greased mini muffin tins. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 14 – 16 minutes or until lightly browned. Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make a 1/2 deep indentation in the center of each ball. Cool in pans for 5 minutes, before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

For filling, melt chocolate chips in the microwave a few seconds or until melted. Stir in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until smooth. Fill each shell with filling. Sprinkle with peanuts. Leftover filling can be stored in the fridge and served warm over ice cream.

I will have to make 2 batches of these. 

Gotta go check my laundry.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Let it snow…

Since I don’t have any choice in the matter, bring the snow on.  It would be nice though if it would wait until after I have been to the pharmacy.  Yes, we are supposed to get our first measureable snow today, about an inch.  The western part of the state might get a little bit more.  Perhaps if my old high school classmate is reading  this he could send me an email telling me how much snow they get in the Macomb area.  Thanks RB.

The urge has hit me.  I am going to put out my two little Christmas trees this morning and do some cleaning.  Then I got word yesterday that I have been invited to the cookie exchange again this year.  This year it is 8 dozen cookies divided into portions of 6.  I have the pretty paper plates and decorated zip lock bags, now I have to decide on the perfect cookie that I want to make 8 dozen of.   BUT!!!   I will be coming home with 8 dozen different kinds of cookies.  Unfortunately it will be the day after my son is coming home for our  Christmas with him.  My son is the one I bake the goodies for.  I don’t indulge in them much, just one or two when I am making the cookies.

It was fun reposting an old blog from 2006.  Most of the time it was nice working at the AFB.  I met some lovely military there that I will never forget and a few not so nice military that I would like to forget, namely a Captain and a Major.  Maybe later on I will delve back into the past and recall a few of the things that happened between 1979 and 1989. 

Gotta go get busy now.  You all stay safe and be happy.

Beth

Glorious Day!

I feel good today and this is the first day I have felt good in weeks.  Thank you God!!

I have been out and about this morning.  I stopped by Food Depot which is a supermarket that has name brand food plus the County Market  brand at really low prices.  Today I got some really good bargains.  The most impressive ones being Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk (fat free) for 25 cents a can, Pillsbury family size brownie mix for 88 cents and a 5 lb. bag of flour for 89 cents.  I had my cart full and the total price was $19.71.  Then on to Kroger where I bought the necessities.  Kroger is my favorite store even though they are a bit expensive.

Yesterday afternoon the urge came on me to try something different.  I roughly crushed peppermint sticks and decided to make peppermint cookies.  I made up the recipe and they turned out to be delicious.  I was just thinking what I usually use to start a cookie recipe.  Most cookie recipes start basically the same.  One thing I did differently was to use all powdered sugar (sifted) in place of regular sugar.  I think an addition of crushed walnuts or pecans would have been nice and a bit of white frosting topped with a miniature cane would make them look festive.   Now to try them on my official taste testers, my daughter and son in law.  If they like them I will put the recipe on my recipe space.

 

 

It is getting time to think about lunch,  the cleaning will wait until tomorrow.  You all stay safe and be happy.

Beth

C’mon sunshine…

It is a gray morning. checking in at 45 degrees with a 70% chance of rain.  I am doing laundry and contemplating whether I should clean a bit and put out some Christmas decoration.  I need to start my Christmas baking too.  The trunk of my car which is my freezer works very nicely.  Now if only I could work up just a tiny bit of energy I would do all of these things.

I am basking in the glory of the thought of not having another doctor appointment for a couple of weeks (the Good Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise.)  I love that old saying.  Both my mom and daddy used it a lot, my mom  the most.  Not sure about the creeks but I have the Illinois River at my back door.

I need to stop for a minute and go check my laundry.  Be right back.   20 minutes later:  I’m back and the laundry is all done for a couple of days.

No news so far today and for that I am ever thankful.  I hope you all have a good weekend.  Stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Attention John Sandford Fans!

Do you love the Prey series written by author John Sandford?  I do!!  He is my very favorite author.  On November 6 at 8 PM CST a movie adapted from ‘A Certain Prey’ will be shown on the USA network.  Starring as Lucas Davenport will be Mark Harmon.  I have already programmed the DVR to record this as November 6 falls on a Sunday and I can’t miss Desperate Housewives.

Yesterday was a glorious day!  I felt better than I had for weeks and I thank God for that.  I found another Christmas gift, this one for my son in law.  I am just about to wind up my Christmas shopping except for my daughter who will give me no ideas at all.  She just says money.  That is no fun.  I love to open presents.  Then my daughter and I ate at 8th Street Station aka Grumpy Pete’s.  I finally had an appetite and the food tasted good.

I also purchased Halloween candy.  Last year I had very few trick or treaters and I ended up with all of these cookie recipes using the candy.  The Baby Ruth cookie was my favorite.

Baby Ruth Cookies

Ingredients

•1/2 cup butter, softened

•3/4 cup sugar

•1 egg

•1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

•1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

•1/2 teaspoon baking soda

•1/2 teaspoon salt

•2 Baby Ruth candy bars (2.1 ounces each), chopped

Directions

•In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in candy bars.

•Drop by rounded teaspoon full 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Immediately remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 4 dozen. 

Other cookie recipes on my recipe site.  http://msbethmariesrecipes.blogspot.com/

On a sadder note, the Cardinals are on the verge of losing the World Series.  C’mon guys!!

You all stay safe and be happy!!

Beth

Homemade cookies tomorrow…

I have just finished making cookie dough to bake tomorrow.  I find that cookies are easier to bake and hold their shape better if the dough is chilled thoroughly first.  I fixed old fashioned oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip dough.  The recipe for the oatmeal cookies is on my recipe space, the chocolate chip recipe is on the Nestle chocolate chip package.  I have tried many recipes for chocolate chip cookies and I haven’t found one yet that beats the recipe on the bag.  I will put some of the cookies in the freezer and share the rest with my daughter and son in law.

This has been a pretty miserable day weather wise.  A severe thunderstorm woke me up this morning at 5:30.  Lots of lightning and loud booms.  I turned over and went back to sleep for another hour and a half.  The sun tries to come out every now and then in between rain showers.

I have been out today, paying a bill and going to the grocery store.  I settled in to watch the trial which was recessed ASAP till tomorrow morning at 8 AM.  No verdict on the Blagojevich trial yet.  Trials fascinate me.  I sat on the jury in a federal drug case quite a few years ago and on the jury of a drunk driving case in my county.  That is the extent of my jury experience.  I wouldn’t mind doing jury duty again if it was in town here.  I sure don’t want to have to drive to Peoria,

I hope you all are having a sunny day.  Stay safe and be happy!

  Beth