Carpool/Bus Reminders for Bookbags

We live not far from where my oldest attends kindergarten. Usually I pick him up in carpool each afternoon but sometimes he rides the bus home. I always put a note in his bag for the teacher specifying how he's getting home and remind him when I drop him off in the morning. "I'm picking you up tonight" I'll say, or "Don't forget you're riding the bus home." Seems simple enough, right? Yet, twice this year I've gotten a call from the school office that he's gone to carpool instead of getting on the bus and I've had to go pick him up. Once it was because the teacher got my note mixed up with a note from another day and once my son left the classroom for the bus but ended up in carpool and the teachers running the carpool were none the wiser. Until I didn't show up, that is. Not a big deal, but stressful in the end.

So I decided to add an extra reminder for my son--a transportation clip on his bag. "B" and a yellow school bus for riding the bus home. "C" and a blue car for carpool. I keep the clips by the back door so that as we leave the house in the morning I can attach the right clip to his bag. I made both of these in under a half hour and for a few dollars. You might already have most of the supplies in your house and if your kids are older and craft savvy they could make these themselves.

Here are the supplies: two keychain clips, a length of craft cord and assorted plastic beads and vehicle/school themed buttons.

Just cut a longish length of the craft cord and knot it around the metal keychain loop (less than a dollar at Home Depot). Add the car, bus and letter buttons (purchased at Michael's Crafts) and plastic beads (I had some in my craft bin), tying a knot in between each item and ending with the car/bus. The vehicle buttons hide the last knots well. Use scissors to trim off any excess cord.

These have really helped avoid further confusion. They're durable and easy to clip on and off his bag, and can't hurt anyone if they come undone, which is why I avoided safety pins. Plus they're fun and colorful. Now, an older child might want something more sophisticated but for a kindergartener this works great

Crockpot Meatballs Featured on The Grant Life

Thanks to Kelley at The Grant Life for featuring my Crockpot Cranberry Portabella Mushroom Meatballs recipe last Friday. I've been out of town at a writers conference and am just getting back. I'll have some new recipes posted soon. Thanks Kelley!

Liebster Blog Award

Thanks to Carrie over at Creative Home for sharing the Liebster Blog award with Feeding Four. The award is intended to support bloggers with fewer than 200 followers.

Recipients must:
1.) Thank the giver and link back to his/her blog.
2.) Pass the award on to five more distinguished blogs with 200 or fewer followers.
3.) Copy and paste the above artwork and post about the award on his/her blog.

Liebster is a German term of endearment meaning "dearest." Aww. So here are my five little liebsters:

1.) Business. Blueprints. Brides. Courtney and Dana are good friends of mine who also happen to run a wedding planning business called C&D Events. They post to their blog almost daily with great tips for planning large events (even if you're not planning to get married any time soon), DIY projects, floral arrangements, crafts etc. Plus you can read all the drama behind building a wedding planning empire.

2.) My Road to Savings. I found Erika's blog on a linky party. Right away I connected with her balance of good taste, good health and good sense. I've pinned her Bacon and Pea Pasta and Honey Balsamic Chicken.

3.) A Day in the Life. Yummy recipes. Great photos of cute kids and family anecdotes and stories. What's not to love?

4.) Cakeballs, Cookies & More. The "more" includes yummy recipes for Irish Cream Glazed Doughnuts and Mudside Cupcakes In a Jar. Oh yeah.

5.) Covered in Modge Podge. I want to be Michaela when I grow up. It's that simple. Her craft projects are incredibly thoughtful and adorable. Check out this Big Brother Fort Kit. I bet she's the favorite aunt.

Mudroom Makeover featured at Serenity You

Thanks to Natasha at Serenity You for featuring my Mudroom Makeover. Check out her great blog and join her linky party each Saturday. She's so close to reaching her goal of 100 entries!

Crockpot Cranberry Portabella Mushroom Meatballs over Cheesy Smashed Red Potatoes

This is a comfort food coma-in-a-crock-pot kind of meal but with way fewer calories, sodium and fat. Meatballs in a velvety mushroom-cranberry sauce with tender portabella mushrooms, served in a nest of cheesy smashed red potatoes.Yum. You've noticed that I've been creating a lot of crockpot meals lately? No, this isn't becoming a crockpot recipe blog. I'm just re-discovering ways to cut down my cooking time (like using my crock pot, my bread machine, and freezer meals) while still making healthy, inexpensive, satisfying meals for my family. And, of course, passing on my re-discoveries to all of you.

All you need for your meatballs

Crockpot Cranberry Portabella Mushroom Meatballs
14 oz canned cranberry sauce
14 oz low-fat and low-sodium cream of mushroom soup
28 oz package frozen turkey meatballs
1/3 cup craisins
8 oz sliced mushrooms like portabella
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion

1.) In a saucepan heat the cranberry jelly until it starts to look more liquid. Add the soup and stir together.
2.) Place all of the other ingredients in a crockpot. Pour the cranberry sauce over top.
3.) Cook the meatballs on low for 5 or 6 hours until the onions are tender.

Cheesy Smashed Red Potatoes
5 medium red potatoes washed and quartered, skin still on
3 Tb light butter spread
1/2 of an 8-oz container of reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese like Cabot's
salt and pepper to taste

1.) Boil the potatoes until tender. Drain.
2.) Smash the potatoes with a potato masher or fork leaving large chunks.
3.) Add spread, sour cream, cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue to mash together until combined. I like to leave big, tender lumps of potato.

Putting it all together...
Scoop out a serving of mashed potatoes and use a large spoon to press down the center into a "bowl" shape. Spoon meatballs and sauce over top. Serve with steamed corn or other veggie or salad. Enjoy!

Mini Chocolate Chunk Cups with Peanut Butter Frosting

Man, what a day. Baby is crying. Phone won't stop ringing--and it's never good news. Hormones are raging. Wait a minute, this is starting to sound like I'm channeling Adele. What's a girl to do but grab a cold glass of milk and a couple of these guys and remember all I have to be thankful for.

"Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons your iniquities;
Who heals your disease;
Who redeems your life from the pit;
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things..."
Psalm 103:1-5

Hope that encourages someone else today, and hope these Mini Chocolate Chunk Cups with Peanut Butter Frosting bring a smile to your face.

Mini Chocolate Chunk Cups with Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes 24

1 package Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Chunk cookie mix, made per directions

Frosting:
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup half and half
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups confectioners sugar
mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1.) Make the cookies as per the instructions on the package. Scoop the cookie dough into 24 lined, mini-muffin cups.
2.) Bake for 10 minutes until set.
3.) While still hot press a spoon into the center of the cookie to form a shallow well. Let cool completely on wire racks.
4.) In a separate bowl combine the frosting ingredients. You can beat them with a mixer or do this by hand until the frosting is smooth. I added the confectioner sugar in batches and I believe it was about 2 cups total. Eyeball the sugar a little if you want the frosting thicker or thinner.
5.) I transferred the frosting to a cake decorating frosting bag with a Wilton's #32 tip because I knew I'd post them on this blog and they had to look pretty. But you can spoon the frosting on too if you don't feel like getting fancy. You're just going to eat them any way. :-)
6.) Frost the cooled chocolate cups and press a few mini chocolate chips on top for good measure. Store, covered, in the fridge. Not sure how long these will keep. I'm betting not long if you have a pulse.

 

This post entered at Serendity and Spice and these other great linky parties.

Like my entry at The Shady Porch Facebook

 The Shady Porch posted my Quick Cinnamon Sugar Twists on her Facebook page. Stop by and "like" my entry if you get a chance and take a few minutes to poke around her page and her blog. She's got some amazing recipes and fun crafts posted.

Empty Hallway to Organized, Beautiful Mudroom

Do you ever get tired of hearing the sound of your own voice? I know I do! "Pick up your bag, please." "Honey, take off your shoes." "Why are their leaves all over the kitchen floor again?!" I don't mind doing housework and keeping things tidy, but I insist that my family members do their share and I try to make sure we're all working smarter, not harder. After all, I don't want to feel like a broken record and I'd rather be having fun together than cleaning all the time or surfing through endless stacks of shoes, papers and coats. Enter my back hallway.

Talk about wasted space. Before I cleaned for this picture it was basically a collect-all for baskets of dirty laundry (the gated door leads into the laundry room and cat box) and broken-down cardboard boxes for recycling. Oh, and book bags, piles of dirty shoes and other paraphernalia. The doorway I'm standing in to take the picture leads into the garage, and the door to the right of where I'm standing leads into the kitchen. 

This is the entryway that most of our guests and our family use to enter (even though we have a perfectly beautiful foyer, we're pretty informal). So the first impression on entering our home was of dirty cat box smells, piles of recycling and dirty laundry. Oh and dirty floors because a certain hubby insisted his shoes were cold if he left them out in the garage. It was driving me crazy and no matter how often I cleaned or how frequently I nagged this hallway always returned to the same messy state. And the mess usually spilled over into my kitchen.

So over Christmas break this year my hubby and I agreed on an action plan that we could all follow through on and put it into place. Because training the kids is the easy party. Getting your spouse on board takes some negotiating.

My hubby built the custom bench and hook boards using scrap wood from other woodworking projects. I created the no-sew bench cushion using a staple gun, a leftover sheet of plywood, 3" foam, batting and outdoor, washable material from Jo-Ann's. Check out this great tutorial from Honey We're Home. The rag runner is from jcpenney.com. The canvas pictures of our family I've collected over time as CanvasPeople.com has their free 8x10 photo canvas sales.

And this silver tub holds our library books. Finally, everyone knows where they go and where to find them! Each family member has a plastic bin labeled with their initial to hold shoes. I love that these are plastic and not fabric as their shoes are always muddy and we can just hose the buckets out. I also loved the price (just $5 each at Target!) and the bright colors.

This is the boys' spot across from the bench for hanging their coats and bags. The hooks are right at their eye level and they have plenty of space. Originally I was going to glue down the letters for their names but they have so much fun playing with them I just left them as they are. Plus the two-year-old is learning how to spell his name.

For guests, we're going to add a second, higher row of hooks on the kids' wall. I'm also going to install these boot trays below the shoe bench to store guests' shoes when needed. We can slide them back under the bench out of sight when they're not in use. So far I've tried two different stores and they've been out of boot trays. I've heard from a friend that she got hers at the Container Store for under $10 each.

Here are some closeups of the bench in case you're interested in making something similar.

I love how it looks and feels like furniture, versus a built-in.

 And the final touch...a little felt basket for slippers ($11 clearance at Target). Shoes off; slippers on. Aaah. Now you're home.

 One last look. Notice the Wallflower plug-in on the left. Replaces the cat and sneakers smell with eucalyptus mint. :-) For the future we'll also be adding blinds to the window to help with heating and cooling. This might just be my favorite room of the house now. Here's a "before" and "after."

Follow up post: controlling the paperwork chaos. Organizing letters, bills, mail, etc at the door.

Thanks to Natasha at Serenity You for featuring this post!

Crockpot Italian Chicken (and leftover ideas)

I love easy. I love healthy. I also love anything using Italian dressing because my boys will gobble it up. Make your own dressing for this recipe with either the dried Good Seasonings packets from the salad dressing aisle of any store or the Penzey’s Italian dressing mix. That way you can reduce the amount and control the type of oil you use. A prepared light dressing might work too. Just make sure it’s not too sweet since they usually add sugar to enhance the flavor.

Serve Crockpot Italian chicken hot over a bed of brown rice (your freezer rice perhaps?) and with a few veggie sides for a complete meal. Leftovers freeze and reheat well. Just add a little more Italian dressing if the chicken gets too dry. You can also use the leftovers to make a Ranch Chicken Flatbread. Spoon the meat onto warmed flatbreads and top with chopped fresh tomatoes (or prepared tomato bruschetta from the store), lettuce and ranch dressing.

Crockpot Italian Chicken
6 boneless chicken breasts
1 standard-sized bottle of Italian dressing (see note above)

1.) Place the chicken in the bottom of a medium crockpot. Pour the dressing on top.
2.) Cook the chicken on low for around 5 hours.
3.) Turn the crockpot off when the chicken starts to fall apart and let the meat absorb the leftover juices.
4.) Serve over brown rice and with a veggie. Even my boys love this stuff.

New Penzeys Coupon Code--$5 off $10 order!

The Spring 2012 Penzeys catalog came just in time. I'm all out of Italian dressing mix! I thought I'd share the order code for the newest Penzeys Spices coupon. See here if you're not familiar with Penzeys. You can use this code to order online if you don't get the catalog or have a store in your area

$5 off a $10 order: #00002C. Coupon good until May 28, 2012.
http://http://www.penzeys.comwww.penzeys.com

Let me know if you use the coupon and what you get with a comment below. Happy shopping!

Quick Cinnamon Sugar Twists from Pre-made Pizza Dough

 

I was cruising past the deli section of my local grocery store and noticed that the pizza dough was on sale. Ninety-nine-cents? I thought. I can work with that. So, for less than the price of a candy bar, here are a dozen-and-a-half hot and chewy Cinnamon Twists. Quick, easy and yummy even at full price. (For a savory version, dip in butter and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and Italian herbs.)

Pizza Dough Cinnamon Twists

1 lb. of pizza dough

flour for dusting

3 Tbs butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tb cinnamon

1.) Dust your surface with some flour. I used whole wheat. I know, kind of besides the point, right? Anyway, roll the dough out into a semi-rectangle like so.

 2.) Cut the dough into 9 strips and then cut those in half for a total of 18.

 

3.) Alternately dip the strips of dough into the melted butter and then roll into the sugar mix.And don't forget to smile.

 

 4.) Twist the strips and lay out on parchment-lined sheets.

 5.) Bake in 375' oven for 18 minutes. Serve hot. But really they're good cold too.

Crockpot Rosemary Steak Sandwiches

Hello readers. It's been a while, but I haven't forgotten you. Between my kindergartener's very long trackout (winter break lasted almost 5 weeks) and a bout of stomach flu this week I'd all but given up on blogging. But don't feel too badly for me, we also squeezed in a long Christmas week off and a Jamaican vacation. Sigh...still thinking about it.

Did I mention that our resort package came with a nanny? See, I told you not to feel too bad for me.

We may be home but I find myself reluctant to go back to washing dishes, cooking, all that mess. It's the funniest thing though--everyone's still hungry. So I'm embracing my crockpot this month. I love being able to toss a few ingredients in the crockpot in the morning and have dinner done with very little fuss that afternoon. And fewer dishes to wash. Plus this time of year is perfect for crockpot meals, which, compared to how we normally eat, tend to be a little heavy on the meat and sauce.

So Crockpot Rosemary Steak Sandwiches are a mix between two of my favorites--Philly Cheesesteaks and au juice beef sandwiches. Tender, juicy meat cooked all day on a low temp with plenty of onions and fresh rosemary, layered on a baguette and smothered in Provolone and spicy, crisp banana peppers. If you’re feeding little ones you can omit the peppers and serve the bread and meat separate with a veggie. The meat and sauce also freeze and reheat great for later.

Crockpot Rosemary Steak Sandwiches

2 lb beef (I’ve used skirt steak and top round)
1 yellow onion, sliced in strips
1/2 cup A-1 steak sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tb fresh rosemary, chopped, or 1 Tb dried
1 French baguette, lightly toasted
Provolone cheese
1/2 cup Banana peppers, drained

1.) Cut the steaks into four large sections and place the steak, onions and steak sauce in the crockpot. Turn on low heat and cook for 5-6 hours or 3-4 hours on high.
2.) Remove the meat from the crockpot and cut into thin strips. Put back in the crockpot with the rosemary and add the soy sauce. (You can also do this at the very end if you aren't home during the day. Just let the meat cook in the soy sauce and rosemary a bit first.) Continue to cook meat for another 2-3 hours. The meat is ready when it’s tender.
3.) Slice the toasted baguette open and cut into four large sections.
4.) Place the Provolone on the bread and spoon the meat over top. Add the banana peppers to taste and ladle the remaining sauce from the crockpot over the sandwiches. You can also serve the sauce au juice style in a side dish to dip the sandwiches.
Enjoy!

Holiday Cheer Sangria

Here’s a holiday recipe to enjoy with friends and family. Merry Christmas, from our family to yours! May this holiday be filled with Christ’s love, peace and joy in your hearts and memories that will last for years to come. See you in the New Year!

Holiday Cheer SangriaServes 10-12 people

• 2 bottles of red wine. Pinot, rioja, tempranillo, shiraz or zinfandel all work well. Just use something you like drinking on its own but that doesn’t have too distinct of a flavor. I’d steer clear of say a cabernet. Also, you don’t want to spend too much money since you’re basically making a classy fruit punch with it.
• 3 oz (two shots) of either brandy or rum (or both if you like). I prefer brandy.
• Assorted fruit. I used 2 green apples, one large red apple, one lime and two seedless oranges. Sweet, fresh pit fruits like cherries and peaches are yummy too. Of course they’re also out of season right now. I’ve used Maraschino cherries in the past with okay results too. Depends on what you like.
• 2 liters of seltzer or 2 liters of lemon-lime soda like Sprite if you like your sangria a little sweeter.

 1.) Wash your fruit and core and chop it into a variety of shapes that will look pretty and fit into a wine glass later. Make sure you take out any seeds. Place the fruit in a 1/2 gallon pitcher. Isn’t that pretty?

2.) Pour the two bottles of red wine over the fruit and refrigerate overnight.

3.) Add the rum and/or brandy just before serving, stirring with a spoon to combine.
4.) To serve the sangria, place 1-2 ice cubes in a glass along with a few colorful pieces of fruit. Pour the wine over top and add seltzer water or soda to taste. For a strong drink, add less soda. Avoid adding the soda to the whole pitcher as it goes flat quickly and leaves you with watered down wine by the end of the night.

Candy Cane Cookies and Tuxedo Peppermint Bark

A little more than a week until Christmas! If you’re looking for a way to use candy canes, here are two traditional recipes. One is easy (the bark); the other takes a little more finesse (the cookies). But both are festive and yummy.

Peppermint Bark
1 bag bittersweet or dark chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli)
1 bag white chocolate chips
12 mini candy canes, semi-crushed (1/3 cup or so)

1.) In the microwave, melt the chocolate chips in two separate bowls on 50% power.
2.) Line a 9”x13” cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2.) Spread the dark chocolate chips on the paper. Dollop and drizzle white chocolate on top and swirl with a knife to get the marbled effect.
3.) Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies. Press the candy lightly into the chocolate with the back of a clean spoon.
4.) Refrigerate for 30 minutes to harden. Break apart into pieces. Store at room temp or refrigerate.

Candy Cane Cookies
Adapted from Christine’s Cuisine blog post.
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
Wilton’s No Taste Red food coloring gel

1.) Blend butter, sugar, eggs and almond flavoring.
2.) In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt.
3.) Add the dry mix to the wet mix in batches until combined.
4.) Remove half of the dough from the bowl. Color the remaining dough with the red food coloring and flavor with peppermint extract.
5.) Place each half of dough in separate containers in the fridge. I form the dough into two balls and wrap in Saran Wrap. Let chill overnight if possible. The longer they chill, the easier the dough is to handle. You can also spoon the dough out in small teaspoons on two separate plates and cover with Saran Wrap so they’re ready to go the next day. This might also help the dough chill more quickly if you want to bake the cookies the same day.
6.) Using confectioner’s sugar to coat your work space, roll out a tsp-size white dough ball and one red into 4-inch snakes. (You’ll be surprised at how little dough it takes to get a 4-inch snake.) Pinch the ends together and roll the dough so that the two colors twist like a candy-cane pattern. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
7.) Unwrap and crush enough candy canes to equal about 1/2 cup. You want the candy pretty fine, almost like a sugar consistency with some slightly larger chunks for color. I used about two dozen mini candy canes to achieve the 1/2 cup. The boys had fun crushing them with a rolling pin in a quart-sized freezer bag. Set candy aside.
8.) Bake in a 375’ oven for six to eight minutes.
9.) Immediately remove the cookies from the oven and sprinkle with crushed candy. The candy will melt slightly and adhere to the cookie. Let cool before moving from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will be tender with a little candy crunch.

Christmas Tree Cookies

I never learn. Several years ago I made the mistake of scheduling my annual physical in January. Stepping on that scale was a big wake up call. Holy cookies and crumb-cakes Bat Man! But this year I’ve done one worse. We have a Caribbean vacation planned for January. As in bikinis and beaches and lots and lots and lots of candid photo opportunities. Yeah


I’d like to say that this has motivated me to find healthier ways to bake, but I’m just too stuck in my ways. Instead, I’m making less of the good stuff. Like these Christmas cookies. We all love these little guys. We love frosting them. We love decorating them. But most of all we love eating them. (Any May I Please Have a Cookie? fans out there?). I’m happy to share the recipe with you though. Does that cut calories?

Basic Rolled Sugar Cookies4-5 dozen cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter
3 sticks butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp almond flavoring
5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1.) Cream butter, sugar and eggs.
2.) In separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients in batches.
3.) Cover and chill overnight if you can.
4.) Roll out dough to 1/4” thick and cut in tree shapes. Helps to flour the cookie cutter.
5.) Bake 400’ for 6-8 minutes. Let cool completely and brush away any crumbs before frosting.

In the past I’ve made royal icing, but I’ve returned to good, old-fashioned shortening-based decorator frosting. We just prefer the taste. The frosting sets up overnight, and you can stack them in a container the next day. The hot dots candies help cushion the trees too.

Shortening Decorator Frosting
4 cups confectioner sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 Tb milk (plus more until right consistency)
1 tsp vanilla
1.) Cream all ingredients together. Add more milk until desired consistency.
2.) For the cookies above I used Wilton’s leaf green food gel.
3.) We love rainbow sprinkles and hot dots for decorating but you can always get fancy too.
4.) Freeze any leftover frosting and re-use it at a later date. You’ll never know the difference.

Just a word about timing. I confess that when I do these cookies every year I usually take a few days. I make the dough one night. Put it away. I bake the cookies off the next day and let them cool. The day after that I make the frosting and we decorate. The next day we eat them all. You get the idea.

Double Chocolate Orange Biscotti

I’ve been cooking and baking like a mad woman lately, which also means I’ve been eating, unfortunately, which means more time at the gym and less time to blog. All excuses aside here’s a little recipe adapted from the brilliant Dave Lebovitz’ “Living the sweet life in Paris” blog. Look here for the original recipe. I came across this recipe on pinterest, a cool little Web page that makes my computer emit a loud time-sucking sound whenever I turn it on. But at least it’s useful. So pin this on your recipe board and bake these biscotti. In that order.

Double Chocolate Orange Biscotti
2 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tb orange juice concentrate thawed
2 tsp dried orange peel
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cups dark chocolate chips
1.) Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
2.) In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, o.j. concentrate and orange peel.
3.) Add the flour mix to the wet mix in batches.
4.) When combined, mix the almonds and chocolate chips in by hand.
5.) Drop the dough in spoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet in two long rows. With floured fingers, shape the two rows of dough into narrow, squared off logs. Dust with extra flour for that rustic look or glaze with cream for a more finished look.
6.) Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
7.) Using a butcher knife and pressing evenly so the biscotti doesn’t crumble, slice the log into 36 pieces.
8.) Arrange the pieces, flat-side down on two baking sheets. Place in the oven and bake for another 8 minutes each side. Let cool before storing.
9.) You can also melt good chocolate and dip the biscotti in the chocolate. The chocolate will harden as it cools. But these were so rich any more chocolate in my mind was overkill.
10.) These will generally keep for a week or two. They don’t usually last longer than that at our house because they get eaten pretty quickly. They’re great with ice cream, a hot cup of coffee or cocoa and especially as a decadent breakfast.

 

During my most recent trip to Penzey's I stocked up on some yummy items for baking. Highly recommend especially the natural cocoa and the Vietnamese Cinnamon. Hugely superior to most of what you find in the stores and well worth the little higher price.

Need a gong this Thanksgiving

Have you ever felt something so strongly words don't do it justice? I find myself there this Thanksgiving. Listing the things I'm thankful for seems empty and self-serving, like I'm bragging or patting myself on the back. What I really want is a giant gong. Something bronze, preferably with a big hammer. Something loud and resonating. Something that says, "THANK YOU!!!" I don't have a gong, unfortunately. If you want to lend me yours, I'll take good care of it.

So since the internet equivalent to words without words is photos, I'll share one of something I'm grateful for.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving and don't forget to give thanks!

Thankful Things Place Cards

I'm hosting Thanksgiving next week for my husband's family and a few close friends. Because there are so many of us (we're expecting 30+ guests this year) we're usually more of a buffet-style-paper-plate-and-plastic-cup-grab-a-seat-anywhere crowd. We're still serving buffet style, but I thought it would be nice to have place settings at the 11 available seats (8 at my new dining room table and 3 at the kitchen counter). Instead of place cards with guests' names at each seat I made Thankful Things place cards.

Ignore that crumb in the corner. :-) The idea is for each setting to have a different thing we're thankful for. One tag says "Family" another will say "Friends" and another "Health." You get the idea. Okay, I'm not very crafty so I was pretty proud of these. And they were really inexpensive. I used my own wrought iron napkin rings and jazzed them up with the same gold pen I wrote with on the tags and some really inexpensive fall bead thingies from Michael's. (Don't you like my crafting vocabulary?) The "thingies" were 30 cents a piece on sale. I extracted six or seven strands out of each thingy and wrapped them around my napkin rings. Then I used brown thread to tie the gift tags. The gift tags were the most expensive item at $4 a package and the pen cost me about $2. All in all though, not bad. Hopefully the food will look this good!