Merry (Almost) Christmas

Hi!

Sorry, sorry.. I know.. MIA again.

It's been a strange few weeks.. I didn't think Christmas was going to happen in my house. I know it's not about the gifts, but it still has meaning to me in that field.. and even though it's going to be a meager Christmas under my tree this year I got my kid gifts of things that he both needed and wanted, not any useless junk that he'll see and never use.  I knitted scarves for almost all my friends and that makes me tremendously happy.

Christmas eve with the bestie's family tomorrow (even though she is in Africa and we all miss her like crazy!) Then to hang with my family on Sunday.. New years eve with my friends.. new years day with my family :) I get to see my sister and my niece and nephews and my new baby Godson :)

I did all my shopping yesterday.  It was INSANE! But I started early in the day and was home  by 1 (with a massive migraine)

I did my grocery shopping this morning and wrapped all The Kid's gifts before he got home from school.. I just have scarves and some toys to wrap tonight after I finish baking.

I have ALL of next week off.. which is bliss to me, I never take time off work like that.. usually it's just a day or two at a time, or I give myself a long weekend.  I'll be getting an extra week of vacation this year, which makes me happy because I'm actually going to make sure to actually DO something with my time instead of just staying home or whatever.. this year I'm gonna make it happen.. because, well.. because I have someone that makes me want to :)

I will try to pop in tomorrow to wish y'all a Merry Christmas.. if not please have a safe and Happy Christmas.

For now.. I must get to the cookies in my oven :)
♥

No, I haven't disappeared

Sorry I haven’t posted in so long.. I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.. If you Tweet with me you know I’ve been around.  I just have been busy with stuff.. Most of my free time has been spent knitting and learning to crochet (which is a Pain in the ass, I still can’t seem to get it quite right).  I work, I come home & make dinner, have dinner with The Kid and then I knit until my eyes are about to close.

To say I’m broke this year is an understatement.  When I moved I knew it was going to put a strain on my wallet but I really honestly thought I was going to be able to swing it with just a minor inconvenience.

HAHAHAHAHA!

While my paycheck has stayed the same, my cost of living went up by over $200/month

My usual grocery budget of $50/week has gone down to $25-30/week

I’m now holding off as long as I possibly can without having to get gas.. My truck is old and I don’t really like doing that.. But I have to.  It costs more than $50 to fill the tank.. If I just manage to drive as minimally as possible a tank of gas can last me 2 weeks.  I got totally screwed by my bank last month when my account went into overdraft and they didn’t notify me, so it just kept going and in the end I wound up having to hand over an entire paycheck to cover the fees.  That killed me, that was present money.

The Kid wants an X-Box for Christmas.. I already told him that’s not happening.. His birthday is in Feb, he’ll get it then, that’s just money that no matter what I will not have for Christmas this year.  Usually by now I would have most, if not all of my Christmas shopping done.  This year I’ve managed to only get him a gift with my staples rewards (yay, free $! It Does pay to bring in those empty ink cartridges) it’s something he’ll use every day, so it’s cool :) I know he wants a few games for the Wii, and I’m really hoping that we get our Christmas bonus this year. I’m depending on that to be able to get gifts for my kid and for the niece and nephews. Forget getting something for myself, that rarely happens anyway.

I've told the adults they’re getting scarves.. And cookies.  That’s all I can manage for them this year.  I was lucky enough to get a stash of very nice yarn for less than $20 and I've been knitting like mad.  I know the kid won’t wear a scarf no matter how nice the yarn so I've skipped over him in that department.
I know Christmas isn’t about the presents.. I grew up with very little and had a lot of extended family that are no longer close like they used to be.. So it’s just The kid and immediate family now.   I don’t expect anything from anyone but I always try to make it the best Christmas for the kid.  I’m hoping I can manage to swing it this year.. Fingers crossed.

My Thanksgiving baking plan...

I really wanted to take today off so I could get everything done.. But the pile of stuff on my desk and the knowledge that I’d have at least 2 nasty notes on my desk on Monday morning if it was all still sitting there was motivation enough to just come in and get it done so it’s not hanging over my head.

The marshmallows are done, they just need to get stuck on sticks, dipped and sprinkled.

I’m going to get dough made tonight.. A whole LOT of dough so that tomorrow morning I can run and get some shopping done and then come home and bake like a fiend, lol.

I’ll be making a double batch of each of Italian Anis cookies, Chocolate Caramel Bars, Chocolate surprise cookies (which I’ll be filling with Nestle chocolate chips), and a batch of Original Nestle chocolate chip cookies since I never make any “normal” cookies according to one family member.  Not sure if the pumpkin pie will be happening this year, but I’ll also be making a batch of apple pie tartlets since they’re easier to travel with and I can easily spread them across 3 cookie trays.

It’s going to be a LOT of baking and chances I’ll be up till midnight, but it’s all good just for the smiles on the faces of all my family and friends that are going to enjoy them.

and my holiday confection making has begun...

Yesterday in my marshmallow making frenzy I went and whipped the marshmallows a bit longer than I did the last time.. And it made a LOT of marshmallows.

boiling the sugar syrup to 240°f

adding the sugar syrup to the gelatin

about 3 minutes into the process

Marshmallow "batter"

I wound up making a 13X9 inch pan as well as an 8x8 with the remainder.  After I poured most of the marshmallow “batter” into the 13x9 I went and stirred in about half a cup of frozen Nestle Toll House mini morsels into the marshmallow, gave it a good stir and spread it into the 8x8 pan.  Most of the chips stayed intact.. A few melted resulting in a nice swirl effect.  As you see here in the first picture.























They weren’t particularly big, which I’m glad for because they’re seriously sweet (but then again, I’m not a marshmallow fan, I make them purely for the enjoyment of others.

Most of the vanilla marshmallows will be put on lollipop sticks and dipped in chocolate, some will be stuck on top of the chocolate caramel bars and I’ll probably leave some as they are.

I have a plan in my head, but I fear I’m getting ahead of myself and taking tomorrow off work is starting to look like a better and better idea.  I’m sure if I go and make some dough tonight and keep it in the fridge I’ll be able to work tomorrow and then just bake most of Wednesday.  I just really need to find the motivation.  Sleep eluded me last night, and I feel it rapidly catching up with me.

Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies & Baking with The Kid

Baking is something I love to do.  I grew up baking with my grandma and my kid has grown up baking with me.  He’s not so little anymore (who am I kidding, he’s not little at all anymore unless he’s standing next to Shaq).  It’s still something that he enjoys doing with me though.  There’s nothing like the sweet satisfaction of a home baked goodie and the smiles that ensue while enjoying them.

Last week I got a Nestle baking kit from Foodbuzz and last night The Kid and I baked up some mini chocolate chip cookies using the Nestle Tollhouse Mini chocolate chip cookie dough.  Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 12 minutes and viola, cookies!  No mess to clean up, no measuring, just take straight from the fridge to the oven and you’re all set.

I was pretty impressed with the way these mini cookies turned out, from solid little squares on the baking sheet into perfect little round cookies.  Yum!

I'll really be getting my bake on this weekend to prepare for thanksgiving, because what's a holiday without fresh baked home made goodies?  I will be posting pictures to this post later and more this weekend when the baking extravaganza in my kitchen begins :)


I Will be getting this dough again, to use for the bottom of a cookie crusted cheesecake or cheesecake bites (I'm not sure yet) and I'm considering flattening out an entire brick of this dough to fit into an 8x10 cake pan and topping with brownie batter! Yeahhhhhh! Yummy!  There are so many things you can do with this dough.  Whether it's the basic cookie, or you're looking to jazz it up, the possibilities are infinite just use your imagination!

Just be careful.. I like raw cookie dough as much as the next gal, but it's not safe to eat because of the raw eggs in the dough.  I was surprised but you can't eat this stuff raw.. says it right on the package:


Bummer.. I baked just 6 cookies for myself and the kid though and it was just what I needed to shut that sweet tooth up ;)

With the assistance of coupons from Foodbuzz I also got 2 bags of Nestle Toll House Morsels.  Since I'm going to be a baking fiend this weekend, some of those will go towards baking the ever popular Chocolate Caramel Bars

and coating the marshmallows my friend doesn't believe I can make... ya know, these:

and possibly making an attempt at stirring some mini chips into a batch of marshmallows before they set.

The possibilties in my head are endless and once I get myself to the grocery store and sit myself down with a list and a plan I'll know exactly what I'm going to be creating.. since on Thanksgiving I have 3 stops to make and a few people I want to send some goodies to also I have to be sure to make plenty :)