Ok, so it's official. I'm REALLY bad at this blog thing. My last post was nearly two months ago. Sadness. But, new year means new resolutions and all that. I'm not big on resolutions any more, as I've found that I don't keep them... But, I will try to post on my blog more often!
Things that have happened in the last two months - Christmas, New Year's Eve, my son's birthday, Girl Scout Cookie sales, work, and a whole lot of other stuff!
Christmas was good. We got an XBox360, the Halo Reach version, and lots of games and stuff for it. Again, another huge THANKS to my friends Jarrod N and Ryan C for all their help with that. Jarrod basically was Santa this year, in that he gave me a bunch of the games he had that he doesn't play anymore, and Ryan loaned us his Kinect for an extended amount of time while his xbox is being fixed. Both just made my kids' holiday break, I must say!
New Year's Eve was a fantastically fun time! We had a few people over, had some TASTY food (yes, a large amount of it was TS related! I'll get to that later.), and played on the Kinect. Yep, the grown-ups played on it. It was great fun, especially watching Amy & Rob box! I really need to find the pictures from that!
Also, NYE is my son's birthday, so that was nice to have a few people over that he knows. All the kids stayed up until midnight except the littlest one, which they love doing. We forgot to get confetti this year, though, so they missed doing that, but I certainly didn't miss the clean up!
We had a sleepover for my son's birthday about a week after NYE. He invited 4 boys from his class over for it. Man! Apparently, if 10 & 11 year-old boys are not sleeping, they are STARVING! I swear, every couple hours from 5 until about 3am, they kept coming into the kitchen, asking for snacks, drinks, food of any kind... Insanity!
While all those boys were playing video games, I took my daughters and one of their friends to see Tangled. That is a cute movie! We'll probably have to buy it when it comes out. A nice twist on the traditional Rapunzel story, but nothing unexpected. The girls all loved it!
And lastly, Girl Scout Cookies! Both my older daughters are in Scouts this year, one a Daisy, and one a Brownie, and they just finished up cookie sales. Both set goals of 50 boxes this year, since this is the first year we've done Scouts, and they are in the younger age range so GS discourages them from going door-to-door around the neighborhood since they are young. So, mostly asking friends and family and Mom & Dad's coworkers. But, on a completely awesome note, they both not only made their goals, but passed them by quite a bit! 77 & 78 boxes! Next year, we'll have to shoot for 100! But huge THANK YOUs to everyone that bought from us! If we missed you this year, you can expect to hear from us next year, I'm sure.
Ok, now back to the NYE food... There were a variety of usual snacks - chips, crackers, cookies, etc. Our main course was homemade chili with some TS Onion Onion and Garlic Garlic in it and TS Perfectly Potato Cheddar Soup. We had a variety of "mix-ins" available for the soups, including ham chunks, bacon, cheese, crackers, and sour cream. I also made some pizza bites, I guess we'll call them. I took a can of croissants and separated them into rectangles, which I patted/rolled to make sure they were stuck together. I cut each rectangle in half lengthwise and in thirds the other direction to get 6 smaller squares. Pat those squares even flatter and larger, the place each into a greased cup on a mini muffin pan. Press one pepperoni (or small Canadian bacon round) into each, top witht a small spoonful of the TS Italian-like cheeseball of your choice (I had a Bruschetta one still on hand, but I think the Cheesy Chive Warm Dip would also be a tasty choice!), a little shredded cheese, and another pepperoni on top. Then pull the four corners up to meet on top, bake for about double the time on the croissant package, and serve warm. They were a big hit!
I also made a really tasty dessert for Christmas Eve that I will be making again with a different filling. Mix about 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 2 TBSP TS Warm Up! Mulling Spice into about 4 oz of softened cream cheese until well blended. Separate one can of croissants and place them wide ends overlapping around a pie plate. Do not roll them yet! You should now have a kind of star shape. Spread the cream cheese mixture around the wide ends of the croissants, but not into the center of the pie plate. Top with sliced strawberries and kiwi (I chose these for the red and green, since I made it as a Christmas dessert), then roll the end points under the wide edge. You should now have a wreath-looking shape, open in the middle. Sprinkle the top with about 1 TBSP each sugar and TS Warm Up! Mulling Spice and bake as directed on croissant package, although you will need to bake a bit longer to get the croissants nice and golden brown. Serve warm or cooled. Tasty & pretty!
Ok, I think this one is long enough. Enjoy!
So, on the cooking front - tonight I made what I am going to call Absolutely Almond Joy Pound Cake. It starts with (yes, you guessed it) Tastefully Simple Absolutely Almond Pound Cake Mix. Prepare as directed. Pour into greased loaf pan. Then I topped it with a generous drizzle of chocolate syrup (I think next time I will swirl it into the batter and then add chocolate chips on top), covered that with sliced almonds, and covered those with coconut. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 55 minutes. Cool, cut, enjoy!
Yes, this is very similar to the cupcakes I made last month. However, I think this is easier to eat, and a MUCH faster prep time! Today's was made in honor of my husband's birthday, which was yesterday. We ran out of time to make a cake yesterday, what with life and all happening around us. So, tonight I baked him this cake, which we are enjoying at 11pm while the kids are asleep. They can have some tomorrow.
