On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

..too many emails to reply. Which is very flattering because it means people are reading this crazy blog of mine. Go figure. I'm honestly not trying to be a jerk. I will get to you soon?!!

Check out the crazy amount of snow we've been getting here.

We actually had a snow day because the school buses weren't running except teachers still had to go to school. Thankfully Darcy made it out of the driveway.

This is what I've been up to lately. Working hard in the kitchen.

Melting chocolate,

baking, tasting. O.k., the tasting part wasn't really that hard.

I'm a huge biscotti fan. And I find this almond biscotti recipe from Joy of Baking to be one of the best. I already ate all the ones I didn't package. Did you know that Biscotti is the plural of Biscotto? Ha! Now you do.

Peanut butter cups

Today was one of those days where I needed that pick-me-upper, nerve soothing, quiet place something something. As my mind tries to recall those meditation CDs where they start off with "lie down, close your eyes, relax...", boys are bouncing every which way yelling at each other.

So the next best thing of course was to make myself peanut butter cups.

These are sooOOO delicious! Nom nom nom nom nom...

Nighttime sweets: Fudge with flour recipe

Lastnight, after we put the boys to bed, Darcy and I had a little sweet craving. I had exactly the right ingredients to make Fudge. I never use to really care for fudge until I had some of my mother-in-law's. She makes delicious fudge and this is the delicious recipe which is really easy.

Fudge with Flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup canned milk (regular milk works too)

Place all the ingredients above in a non-stick pan or pot. Slowly bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil no more then 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Immediately add:
1 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Pour into a 9x9 greased pan. Let cool and then cut into squares.
Delicious with a nice, cup of warm herbal tea.

A dash of cuddles and a playdough recipe

Lately it's been getting harder and harder to do much art and craft during the day. Lucius doesn't nap anymore and wants constant attention. Aymeric just wants to be held and cuddled a lot. I'm trying my best to be present for them and do what I can at night after they go to bed. I know they are only little once and before you know it, they don't want anymore snuggles from me.

Lucius has been wanting to play with playdough all the time. He loves running his cars in the playdough. I had a couple of mini tubs of Play-Doh around the house, but after a few times playing with them they dried out. As I was looking through my recipe drawer, I came across this playdough recipe in Darcy's family recipe book. The dough is so soft and it's lasting forever. Thought I needed to share!

Playdough Recipe
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 tbsp cream of tartar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water
food coloring (add drops until desired colour)

Add ingredients together in a pot and heat on medium heat until thickened. (You might need to sprinkle a bit of extra flour to form a ball). Take the ball out of the pot and knead for 4 minutes.
Keep it in a Ziploc bag and the dough will last moist for months!

Cocoa mix

Thought I would make these Classic Cocoa mix jars to give away. They are so super easy to put together and looks fantastic! Hope they taste as good as they look.

Biscuits

Funny how I have never shared this recipe on my blog because I make these biscuits at least once every week. These are so very yummy and they turn out everytime. So here's the link to J.P.'s Big Daddy Biscuits from, of course, the all faithful allrecipes site.
I substitute butter for the shortening and Instead of rolling the dough out and using a cutter, I just divide the dough evenly into 16 pieces and simply put them on a baking sheet. Much faster and easier!


Biscuits served with assortment of cheeses, red wine olives, and a bowl of warm soup. My dinner was, as you can see, scrumptious. I think it's time for a leftovers, night time snack!

Arrowroot and Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

I bought this bag of arrowroot powder a while ago thinking I would make some homemade arrowroot cookies for my boys. I searched online for a recipe and only a few came up. One of them was on Allrecipe site and since I trust the recipe ratings on there I decided to give it a try. And how did it turned out?




After some mixing and rolling and 8-10mins in the oven later. They turned out fantastic!! Lucius loved them. I did put a little less sugar then it asked for for my toddler. He has enough energy already thank you very much.

To make the design you see here (I don't have any cookie cutters, had to be creative.) I used a pizza cutter and an icing bag tip to punch in the designs. The link to this recipe: Arrowroot Cookies


Also, for the big boy of the house, I baked him some chocolate chip cookies. This is definitely the best one I've come across. It's sooooo good!

From Allrecipe site again, here's the link to this recipe: Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Vanilla, baking powder, salt,...

I had a baking frenzy today. The whole house smelled wonderful! I baked with recipes I got from the Allrecipes site and had used many times. Baking is so therapeutic and oh so rewarding.

Lucius just loves these cookies. I cut the sugar in half for my little man and they still turn out just as yummy. The link to this recipe: Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

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Pack these in Darcy's lunch whenever I have them around. Great energy booster for his full day of teaching PE. I can never believe how easy they are to make hence the name. Recipe link: Easy Granola Bars

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I don't know how many times I have made these already. Every time they just turn out great. Substitute half of the white flour with whole wheat. Good with a bit of jam, honey, or some luncheon meat. Recipe link: French Bread Rolls To Die For