2nd Annual Christmas Baking Extravaganza 2012

After the success of last years baking day, Amey and I were really looking to up our game this year. We knew that we wanted to make more of the recipes we loved, and find new recipes to add to it. We started buying stuff early and pinning recipes. So when the big day came we had lots of stuff to start out with.

Amey's bar and dining room table is packed full of supplies.

We went shopping seperately and together and even had to get a little more on baking day itself.

We had help this year with the addition of LIzzy! We are so glad to add her to our team of bakers.

One of the biggest changes we made this year was the way we dipped our  chocolates. We learned that if we used the wax it made prettier chocolates and the chocolate was much easier to dip. 

Lizzy was the master of the mixer.

That is why she was covered in flour most of the day.

Amey was the go between. Stirring this and grabbing that. Poor girl worked her tail off that day.

While I spent most of the day in front of the stove  making  fudge and the candied things. 

Although tedious and tiring, we had lots of fun. 

Maybe too much fun.

Even Joslyn had fun playing with the animals and toys.

We decided that dipping the chocolate was the most tedious. 

WE dipped and dipped and dipped

And stirred and stirred and stirred

But the rewards were great. Homemade almond joys.

our newest recipe was homemade butterfingers, which required us to melt candy corn. 

Nope its not chex mix

It's christmas crack!

We had marshmallows coming out of our ears.

And enough cookies to feed the white house staff.

These are my favorite butterscotch haystacks

Homemade marshmallows are sticky. 

smores truffles are gooey and melty.

At the end of the day we felt like this!


SO it was lots of fun and if I wasn't so busy eating the Christmas 

goodies I would have gotten smart and posted pics of the end result. But I didn't. So here are the recipes or links to what we made. Happy New Year!

chocolate fudge

soft gingersnaps with butterscotch chips

Christmas crack

pumpkin snickerdoodles

smores truffles

English toffee

homemade marshmellows  but we liked last years recipe better 

butterscotch haystacks

peanut clusters

Homemade butterfingers

peanut butter fudge we will be looking for a new one next year if you have any ideas.

peanut butter balls the recipe worked but we had to do a lot of converting because it was from the UK

cinnamon almonds this recipe does not work with crock pot bags, dont use one if making

homemade almond joys

we also made pudding cookies and oatmeal cinnamon toffee cookies which I don't have recipes for. 

Christmas Baking Extravaganza 2011

I will start out saying that I don't think I have ever baked as much stuff in my life as we did during this. Secondly, I was a little overwhelmed at first, but it ended up being so much fun and we had a blast!

My best friend Amey and I usually get together every Tuesday at her house and make something fun or just hang out and have lunch. I love that I can go over there and not have to be on edge the whole time about what Joslyn is into. Amey is so good with Joslyn and I love watching them together. Amey's son Brayden is in the third grade and is such a smart child and usually loves to get involved with whatever project we have cooking. So when Amey suggested we do some holiday baking together I jumped at the chance. We took a couple of Tuesdays and planned on what we would make and bought stuff. Then when Tuesday rolled around I was sick with a sinus infection. So half the day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we put these things together and had so much fun making them. I am going to post the list of what we made but I am only posting a few of the recipes, because if I posted them all it would take all night. If you want a recipe that isn't on here comment and ask for it and I will do my best to get it to you. All of the recipes came from The Cookie Bible, Hershey's holiday Favorites book or Pinterest/Internet. Isn't Pinterest wonderful? I hope that you enjoy the pictures and the recipes. Merry Christmas!!!

GOODIES LIST

Peanut Butter Fudge Balls

Haystacks

angel bites

pumpkin fudge

rocky road brownies

iced sugar cookies

PEANUT CLUSTERS
recipe from internet here

REINDEER FEED
recipe from the internet here

REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER BARK
recipe from Hershey's Holiday Favorites 2007 book

2 pkgs Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Premium Baking Bar, broken into pieces
1 2/3 cups (10 oz pkg) Reese's Peanut Butter Chips
1 tablespoon shortening
1/2 cup roasted peanuts or toasted almonds ( coarsely chopped)

1 Cover tray with wax paper
2 place chocolate in medium microwave safe bowl. Microwave at medium 1 minute then stir. If necessary, microwave an additional 30 seconds at a a time, stirring after each heating, until chocolate is melted and smooth when stirred.
3 immediately place peanut butter chips and shortening in second microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at medium 1 minute then stir. If necessary, microwave an additional 30 seconds at a a time, stirring after each heating, until mixture is melted and smooth when stirred. Stir in peanuts
4. Alternately spoon above mixtures onto prepared tray; swirl with knife for marbled effect. Cover; refrigerate  until firm. Break into pieces.

SNICKERDOODLES
recipe found on internet here

these could easily be my favorite cookies

PHILADELPHIA SNOWMAN COOKIES
recipe from The Cookie Bible

1 pkg (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Suggested decorations, such as decorating gels, colored sprinkles, nonpareils, peanut butter cups and twizzlers pull n peels.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, butter and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add flour and baking soda: mix well.
Shape dough into equal number of 1/2 inch and 1 inch diameter balls. Using 1 small and 1 large ball for each snowman, place balls, slightly overlapping, on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten to 1/4-inch thickness with bottom of glass dipped in flour. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake at 325 F for 19 to 21 minutes, (it took us about 16 minutes) or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack. Sprinkle each snowman with sifted powdered sugar. Decorate to resemble snowmen. If using peanut butter cup for the hat, cut cup in half and stick on with icing or decorating gel. (Makes about 3 dozen cookies)

 ENGLISH TOFEE
recipe from Pinterest here

Better than store bought!

SWEET SWIRL MARSHMELLOWS
recipe from internet here

These are so good, especially in hot chocolate!

HOMEMADE ALMOND JOYS
recipe from the internet here

Totally worth the extra pounds!

FOOLPROOF CHOCOLATE FUDGE
recipe from the internet here

the easiest and best fudge recipe I have ever had!
Seriously good! I have never had a fudge I liked until this recipe!







Here are some fun pics of the kiddos decorating cookies! Please remember we had been baking for 3 days when we took these pictures. We were so tired!

Thoughts of a not so thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time of happiness and cheer, or is it? I have learned so much about many things since wandering into Celebrate Recovery for the first time. So many things that have changed my views on life but one of the most surprising things I have learned  is that many people don't like or enjoy the holidays. It was a huge shock to me!

As a kid in a disfunctional family, I loved the holidays. When my dad left the house the first time, my life changed forever. Instead of Mom and Dad buying us presents, my mom would work and work and do everything she could to make sure that we would have a good Christmas. If mom would work on Christmas Eve, we would still have Christmas that night when she got home no matter what time it was. Then on Christmas day we would eat a big meal and visit family and friends. Thanksgiving was the same way. It was one guaranteed day that we would get to spend with mom. Time with mom was rare since she was always working. So after we ate ourselves silly we would clear the table and play cards! Laughing and hanging out around the card table was our favorite family past time. Even if we went to Grams's house the cards or dominoes would always come out! Such good memories are surrounded around my holidays!

But now that I have experienced life a little through recovery eyes, I can see why the holidays aren't always good occasions. First of all, the holidays usually bring back memories of loved ones that are no longer here.
I have a friend that lost her mother the other day. I went to the funeral for this lovely woman who was all about her family. But although she is in the best place you can be ( with Jesus) I imagine her family is really going to miss her tomorrow. Not to mention going through Christmas without their mother, wife, sister or grandma is going to be extra hard. So many people out there are going through life missing part of their family. It is easy to pretend that life is not hard without them when we keep busy, but when we have to slow down sometimes our mind goes overboard with memories. Some people are completely alone for many different reasons. Like my dad! Although alienating himself was his doing, the holidays can be very hard on him. And although he would probably not admit it, he would rather not be alone. So luckily John's family is very good about welcoming him in. We go get him on Thanksgiving and get to have much needed time with him and other family. Right now my mom is apart from us and I am very thankful for the friends she has that takes her in on Thanksgiving and Christmas when she can't come home.

Secondly, living with addiction is hard. And if you are a food addict like me Thanksgiving is a holiday where my addiction stares me in the face. But as hard as it is for a food addict during the holidays, it is nothing compared to dealing with an alcohol or drug addiction. Alcohol was never part of our holidays growing up, but I have learned that many families include alcohol as part of their family festivities. Now I am not judging anyone, so if you have alcohol or eggnog during your holidays don't think that I am saying anything to you. But  for drug and alcohol addicts. Holidays are really hard times. Many started their addictions because of events that happened in their families. Whether it was abuse of some kind or growing up with too strict of a lifestyle or many many other reasons, getting back together with that family and reliving that trauma is too much for some people to handle. Also, even if their family is not the reason for them to be in their addiction, sometimes hanging out with people that point out your addiction even if not on purpose, can be really hard. I also want to tell you that I have learned of many occasions where sexual abuse has happened within families and for whatever reason the victim lives in secret oppression from this person. Seeing this person during the holidays and other occasions, can be very traumatic if not dangerous.

Thirdly, holidays are very expensive and busy. We grew up poor in money but not in spirit. One of my mom's spiritual gifts is making friends. My mom can make anyone feel at home and can turn a stranger into a friend in minutes. Because of this, mom has always had many friends at church and at home. And mom's church family always took care of us during holidays where we were having trouble coming up with food or gifts. In fact, year round they were always there for us if we were in need of anything. But for many people asking for help is not second nature. Pride can cause many a man or woman to fall. And sometimes people don't know where to go for help. So spending the holidays without food or gifts to give your children can be devastating. Also, with the stores competing for your attention on the best deals on food and gifts, we can over spend so easily! Then along with dealing with after thanksgiving belly aches we are looking at our empty wallets and trying to figure out Christmas. Buying the biggest and best toys and games for your family can cause major headaches and heartaches. I have been invited by some of my friends to go with them Black Friday shopping. I would never do this. First of all, I can't stand crowds. Secondly, I am the complete opposite of a morning person and cannot stand getting up early. Thirdly, I believe that competing with others for perfectly meaningless reasons only causes more frustration and cause to forget what we are thankful for. I have always wanted to ask some of those crazy black Friday shoppers what they are thankful for while they are freezing their little tushes waiting for a store to open.

So the point to this very long monologue is that we should be mindful of why some people may not share your holiday spirit. And I am saying this to remind us of why we are all broken and we all need Jesus. And as His hands and feet we are to portray Jesus's love and message to the world. His second greatest commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself. So maybe the next time Mr. Scrooge gets in front of us in the grocery line, or passes us on the highway, we will show compassion and remember why Jesus came in the first place. And that is why Celebrate Recovery never has a night off. This Thanksgiving I am going to spend time with family during the day but at night as normal on a Thursday night, I will be spending time with my CR friends. Because recovery is a process and it doesn't stop because it is a holiday. Thank you for letting me share!