Mandatory Christmas Cuteness

Just a few pics from our Christmas celebrations:

Too much sugar.  Too little sleep.

Cousin "O" and Mara

Waiting anxiously.





Mandatory pre-gift pictures.

Gratitude.

Chesney, Isaac and Roni sharing a DS.

Heartfelt and Homemade

We're coming down to crunch time.  Better watch out.  Better not cry.  Better not pout.  Better get the baking done.  With only one week of school left and 2 weeks until the big day, we'll be doing a lot of homemade gift-making this week for:

Teachers, both elementary and Sunday School

Miss Debbie-the bus driver who cares so much for Isaac!

Miss 'Aunt' Debbie-a dear friend and teacher who keeps a watchful eye on my little boy!

'Aunt Suz'- a beloved best friend for nearly 20 years

Dr. R-a local farmer and cherished neighbor 

The ladies in my Lifegroup

Extended family, friends and neighbors

That sounds like a lot.  And it is, but I don't find it a burden.  I love giving back to people who are  so important to me!  This year is different though, as I'm experiencing a fullness and joy through Jesus that I've never really experienced before...and the best way I can show that joy and fullness is in the form of  homemade goodies.

On the to do list for this week:

* 2 batches of Potato Candy

* 2 batches of Sugar Plum Parade Candy (a rich toffee topped with chocolate and black walnuts)

* 2 pans of Baklava- Dr. R says he *knows* good baklava and *mine* is good baklava!

*1 batch each of Peanut Butter and Chocolate fudge
What kind of goodies are you making to share with those important friends and family? 

Potato Candy

Potato candy has been a staple of our holiday traditions for as long as I can remember.  I've heard a number of stories about it's origin; that's it an old Irish, German or Scottish dessert, but I'm not buying it.  Considering peanut butter wasn't commercially available in America until the 1910's at the earliest, it probably didn't come from the Old Country.  I think potato candy is straight up Hillbilly, probably a WWI or Depression-era recipe that used homegrown potatoes when flour was either rationed or prohibitively expensive.  Those are my thoughts anyway.  Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but please provide factual evidence if you do :)

It's definitely an acquired taste, potato candy but it's also addictive.  It's extremely sweet and savory at the same time, and the potato dough sort of melts in your mouth.  The downside is the large amount of sugar this recipe requires.  The plus side is that it contains at least a little bit of nutrition, thanks to the potato and peanut butter.

Okay, the weird thing about this recipe is that there's not really a recipe at all.  I can't give you exact measurements; this recipe is purely intuitive.  It depends on the weight of the tater, the moisture content of said tater, the humidity on the day you're cooking, etc.  But here are the ingredients:

1 potato, a nice mealy Idaho is best
1 BIG bag of powdered sugar
1/2 t of vanilla (to cover the starchy taste)
Peanut butter

First, bake your tater in either the oven or the microwave.  Don't boil it, for the love of Pete!  Boiled potatoes absorb a ton of water and that makes the dough sloppier and requires even more sugar.  Allow the baked potato to cool completely, preferably overnight.

Peel the potato and begin mashing it with a fork until it's as smooth as you can make it.  There WILL be lumps, don't sweat it.  Add the vanilla, then begin adding the powdered sugar, one or two cups at a time.  It's going to melt and it's going to be a big sticky mess initially.  That's normal.  Just keep adding powdered sugar until the mixture has the consistency of rolled cookie dough or unbaked pie crust.  Doughy but manageable is what you're looking for.

Dump the dough out onto a smooth surface and roll out using additional powdered sugar in place of flour.  Add just enough powdered sugar to work the dough; if you add too much, you'll end up with a chalky, crumbly dough and you don't want that.  Roll out to approximately 1/4-1/2 inch thick.

Spread the dough with peanut butter.  Don't skimp!  The peanut butter is your main flavor and the salt really cuts through the sweetness of the powdered sugar.  Spread the peanut butter to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the dough.  Roll up jelly-roll-style and allow to rest for a bit.  This allows the starches in the potato and powdered sugar time to set up into a proper dough.  Once the dough feels dry and set, slice into 1/2 thick rounds and store in an air-tight container.

Makes a great, if unconventional, Christmas gift! 

    

Hometown Christmas

The past few days have been the most joyful, cozy, uplifting days we've enjoyed in ages.  The fact Mr. is going back to work plays a large part in that...what a relief!  Somehow the atmosphere is lighter, the days are brighter and burdens are lifted.  Thank you Lord!

We spent a good deal of time this weekend enjoying local sites and activities.  Saturday morning we attended the annual 'Angel Breakfast' at church, a family-centered breakfast with devotions and crafts for young children.  Both kids ate their fill of French toast and then spent an  hour making Christmas decorations and visiting with their former teachers and Sunday-classmates.  

Afterwards we went downtown to the former marketplace, toured the Heritage museum (free!) and then went to Santaland.  I must admit, it was amazing!  The walls were covered in black cloth and decorated with white lights and enormous snowflakes, so it felt like nighttime!  The Heritage center made gigantic cardboard prints of local historical sites, "cartooned" them and then covered them with snow and special lighting.  The results were absolutely enchanting.    

Naturally Santa and Mrs. Claus were waiting at the end of the tour.  And they were a very good Santa and Mrs. Claus.  Obviously grandparents.  They weren't pushy or aggressive, but very calm and nurturing.  It's the first time Isaac has ever had his picture taken with Santa...he's wanted nothing to do with the department store Santas and I think it's simply because they were so loud.  Not this one.  Isaac said this Santa is different. Said he must be from the South Pole. 

After church this morning, we went to the county fairgrounds for a model train show and the kids had a blast!  There were tons of vendors with scads of tables full of stuff that wasn't terribly interesting.  But then there were train displays.  Hundreds of yards of railway lines, dozens and dozens of trains and extremely creative scenery.  The highlight of the day was when an old conductor allowed Isaac to run the crane that dropped 'scrap' into a passing train.   

Mara isn't particularly interested in trains, but she enjoyed herself mightily watching the train set-ups and visiting with the vendors.  Especially the ones giving away free candy canes.  Yeah, those were her favorites :)

And the best part of our busy, hometown Christmas: tired kids sleep really, really well!  When 7pm rolled around, they were both in their footy-jammies, teeth brushed and ready to turn in.  That's simply the icing on the cake to a fabulous weekend!

What's your family enjoying this Christmas?      

Drunken Desserts Pt. 2

Around 2002 BC (Before Children), the Mister and I frequented the area of Newport, Kentucky.  We found a couple of bed and breakfasts that we enjoyed, and at least once every other month we'd take a long weekend to the area.  If you've never been to Newport, there is so much to do in the area!  There's the aquarium, a couple of museums, the Levee mall, great restaurants, a German beer garden complete with 'Oompah' band and weekly festivals on the Levee proper.  If you're ever in the area, may I suggest Christopher's Bed and Breakfast (an old church) for lodgings and the Syndicate (former mob hangout) for dinner?

Anyway, one summer while we were in the area, Newport hosted a large Celtic festival and we spent most of the day at one particular booth.  The whiskey cake booth.  My husband loved the whiskey cake sold by a little old man and woman so much, and a dollar per slice, they were raking in quite the income.  After about the 15th slice of cake, I started bribing the old man for the recipe.  At first he wouldn't give it up, but after buying a couple more slices and a sheet of raffle tickets and a little pleading, he finally came off the recipe and we've been making it for Christmas ever since. 

I'll save you the bribing and raffle tickets and share the recipe.  This is the simplest, most delicious cake ever.  The old man baked it in a loaf pan, but I prefer a 9X13 pan so it bakes quickly and doesn't get crusty on the edges.  Pick out a decent whiskey for this cake...it doesn't have to be top shelf, but if it's skunky, the resulting cake will be skunky as well. 

Irish Whiskey Cake
1 yellow cake mix (or 1 yellow cake scratch recipe)
1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 whiskey
1 cup of nuts

Combine the first 5 ingredients and beat well.  Fold in the nuts.  Pour into a greased 9X13 pan and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or a tester in the middle comes out clean.  Don't over bake!  Cool slightly then poke holes in the top of the cake to allow the sauce to penetrate.

Sauce
1/2 c whiskey
1/2 water
1 c sugar
1 stick of butter

In a heavy saucepan, combine the 4 ingredients and bring to a boil for 4 minutes.  Pour over warm cake and allow to seep in. 

By all means, serve this cake warm!  It's okay cold, but warm, it's out of this world!!!!!        

Decking The Halls

Things are getting back to normal here in our household following one.busy.week. We entertained my husband's family on Thanksgiving then afterwards went to my family's house for dessert and good times. Everything went incredibly smoothly, with the exception of one flambeed dish of sweet potatoes LOL. Hope you all had a pleasant holiday surrounded by people you love. And don't forget, Thanksgiving isn't about FEELING thankful, it's about GIVING thanks. Big difference there.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we've started decorating the house for the Christmas season.  I love decorating.  We don't spend a lot of money or book our calenders solid for Christmas, but we really enjoy making the house festive for Christmas and New Years.  We use a lot of greenery, both fresh and artificial, lots of white lights, lots of gold ribbon, lots of glittery sparkly bulbs, ting ting and ornaments.  It comes together so beautifully.  If I had a term to describe my decorating style it would be:

 

*retro-natural-wonderland-homemade ugly-chic*

Yeah, it's a mouth full, but it totally fits my hodge-podge, whatever-catches-my-eye approach to decorating for the holidays.  There are decorations from the 50's right next to Boyd's Bears, and crystal icicles next to shatterproof bulbs from Walmart.  Somehow, it works.  At least I think it does.  So far no one has signed me up for an ambush-holiday-redecorating show on HGTV, so I must be doing okay.

Want a virtual tour?   

Here's the Charlie Brown Christmas tree in the basement family room.  I love how this picture turned out, all warm and glowing :)

                                          

This the big tree in the living room, covered from top to bottom and side to side with every glittery bauble I could lay hands on.  There were a few empty spots when I took this picture, but Isaac filled them in when he came home from school this afternoon.  Please don't tell the angel I cut her head off.

Isaac's tree, covered with Hot Wheels.  We used yards upon yards of fishing line to hang the cars and he was thrilled with the results! 

Mara's Christmas tree, topped with a Boyd's Bear and decorated with *every*single*piece* of play jewelry she owns.  Bangles, baubles, hair clips, rings, necklaces, bracelets and headbands abound! The picture doesn't do it justice, as it IS quite lovely, lit up in the evening. 

 

And finally, our take on the traditional Advent wreath.  I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, especially  the wreath wired together out of bits of greenery. 

So there's a quick tour of our house, decorated for the season.

Who's next?  

Our Brothers' Keepers

I've said it before and I'll say it again: 

I LOVE MY CHURCH!

At first, it was a real adjustment, moving from a church of 100 to a church of 2000, but I absolutely love it.  My church is huge on member involvement and encourages everyone to do something, no matter how small.  My pastor is always saying "We can't do everything, but we can do something." 

We just finished up Missions Month at church, which featured a month of sermons on being missional, whether that involves feeding your neighbor across the road, volunteering at an outreach across town or ministering to a village on the other side of the globe.  And to cap it all off, today we found out about the missions will be supporting next year. 

We're adopting an orphanage.

We're expanding our community garden project.

We're building a new Outreach Center in the most needful area of town.

We're collecting Christmas gifts for children.

And this year, our Christmas gift for Jesus:  a boat.  This year we've chosen to support Central Brazil's Amazon Boat Ministry.  What an awesome mission!  They travel up and down the Amazon River with a staff of doctors, dentists and pastors, ministering to the villager's physical and spiritual needs.  They already have one small boat in use and are in the process of building a second, aptly named The Ark.  We'll be taking up an offering on December 19 that will go directly to this amazing project! 

What are you doing to help your brother this year?

It's Not What You Have-It's What You Know!

I blog a lot about stocking up on food and necessaries (now!) while prices are low, but admittedly, stocking up isn't the only plan of action one might take when preparing for the unknown.  When winter rolls around and there's free time on hand, my thoughts automatically turn to developing skills.  For the most part, we homesteaders/preppers have an unbroken 3 months of free time that we can devote to brushing up on old skills and learning new ones.  From January 2 until sometime in late March or early April, there are no holidays to plan.  Nothing needs winterized or de-winterized.  No grass to cut.  No flowerbeds to weed.  Just solitude.  And there's no better time to learn something new than when you can apply your undivided attention.

Each year, I try to learn something new.  This year, I've devoted a lot of time to learning knitting, baking sourdough bread and correct methods of pruning trees and berries.  I took my concealed carry training and practiced target shooting.  I've also spent a lot of time reading and re-reading the Bible in an effort to extract new bits of wisdom.  

My plans for this winter include researching medicinal herbs and root cellaring, attempting to make homemade sausage blends and finding a good recipe for sprouted wheat bread.  I'd also like to learn the trick to growing leeks so I don't have to pay $3/bunch for them at the grocery store.  And of course, more knitting.  Knit one.  Perl one.  Knit two.  Perl two.  It gets a bit tedious, but I WILL learn to knit successfully.

Having a full larder and all the necessary accouterments will only get you so far and at some point, what you know (or don't) may be even more important.  Now is a great time to learn or relearn those valuable skills!

What do you want to learn this winter?

      

Late Presents!

My absolute favorite thing about the holidays...late presents! Just when you think that all the hub-bub is over, there's one last goody to unwrap! Tonight, we received our last gift of the season from our dear friends Bob and Ann. Care to guess what it was???

Chickens! A roo with a bright red bow and 2 hens. Okay, there wasn't really a bow; but not for lack of trying :)

Ann and Bob got us interested in chickens last spring and helped us to adopt our first pullets. They've also been extremely generous with their time and their livestock, sharing hens and giving helpful advice. Tonight, they brought over a Christmas gift for the whole family...an Ameracauna rooster and two 5-month old hens. Can't wait to start gathering those green eggs!

Honestly, hasn't this been the best Christmas ever?

Christmas 2009

Round 1- Mara, Isaac and 'Weeba' (Cousin Olivia) getting ready to open presents at Mamaw and Papaw's.

Isaac puzzling over a Leapster accessory.

"Bob-Bob Squarepants!!!"

Mamaw and Papaw laughing out loud.

"Thank you Mara."

Round 2- Opening presents at home.

"I LOVE IT!"

Round 3- Christmas morning. Santa brought digital cameras and stockings full of goodies.

Round 4- Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Mara taking a break from playing fairy. "Boy, are my wings tired."

Cousin Chesney, Cousin Roni, Aunt Tricia and Isaac, crashing after the excitement.

The Baby In The Barn

I just want to share with you the inner-machinations of a 5 year-olds mind. I was looking at a few favorite sites this morning when Isaac came up behind me and pointed at this picture on the monitor.

"Hey," he says, "I know that picture. It's the Baby in the Barn."

('Baby in the Barn' is the kids' term for the Nativity, spoken with reverence, not as a slight.)

He proceeds "Is it Jesus' birthday yet? How old is He?"

I told him noone really knows how old Jesus is, but He's somewhere around 2000 years old.

"Well, do you know what that means?" he says. "This year he'll be 2001! That's way older than daddy!!!"

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from your friends at the Run!

It's Good To Be Gaelic!

Blame it on my Scotch-Irish roots, but I love spirited sweets! I love the idea of making a cake and repeatedly dousing it with liquor until it feels like a brick and has a 3-year shelf-life. But I've always found the flavor off-putting...I think it has to do with those weird little bits of candied fruits. They are just plain disgusting. I mean, where the heck do they even get those lime-green cherries?

Anyway, a year or two ago, I found a recipe for a sensible fruitcake...plenty of alcohol, plenty of spice and no freakish candied fruit. It needs to 'mature' for a month, with a weekly dousing of Guiness, so now is the time to get started if there's going to be fruitcake for Christmas! Give it a try and, in a month, let me know what you think!

Fruit and Stout Cake

1 c. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
2 c. prunes, pitted and chopped into small bits
1 1/2 c. golden raisins
1 1/2 c. currants
1 1/4 c. stout plus more for dousing
2 2/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1 1/4 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Brush a 9X4 loaf pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Combine the prunes, raisins and currants in a medium bowl. Add 1/2 c. stout and let stand.

3. Sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon. In the bowl of an electric blender, cream butter and sugar til fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time mixing well after each and scraping down the sides. Add dry ingredients, half at a time just til combined. Fold in fruit mixture.

4. Pour batter into pan and bake until dark brown and set in the center, til a cake tester comes out clean. About 3-3 1/2 hours. (No, that isn't a typo. 3-3 1/2 hours) Cracks will appear on top of the cake. Remove from oven and sprinkle with 1/2 c. stout. Let stand on wire rack for 30 minutes, remove from pan and discard parchment. Let cool completely.

5. Wrap in muslin or cheesecloth and douse with remaining 1/4 c. stout. Store in a cool dark place, dousing with 1/4 c. stout once a week for a month before serving.


Oh, and on a personal note: DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, LYNCH! I'll bring one for Christmas, but no swiping my recipe! Remember what happened with the whiskey cake?

Post-Holiday Slow Down

One holiday down, 3 more to go! We're getting back to normal after a chilly Halloween weekend. The kids made out like bandits....huge bags of candy plus a few small toys like activity books and bubbles. Gotta love non-edible Halloween treats! I'll post some pictures for you soon...Mara was Tinkerbell and Isaac was a Nascar pit crew feller...Jeff picked up a new digital camera for me last week and I haven't loaded the software yet, so no pics to show today.

I don't have much to post about today; the garden is through, the canning is pretty much done and no pictures to show off; but I do want to tell you about the fun Jeff and I had yesterday. Isaac and Mara helped their Mamaw and Papaw to rake leaves all afternoon, so Jeff and I did something we haven't done in nearly 5 years- metal detecting! A friend of ours lives in an old one-room schoolhouse and let us hunt his property to see what we could find. We spent around 3 hours hunting and found some interesting things; a piece of costume jewelry, a pocket watch, a few coins, a spoon, etc. Nothing particularly valuable, but still fun to find! I think the change of scenery and routine was great for everyone!

On the agenda for this week: the usual stuff. Grocery shopping, laundry, canning or drying a few more apples, and probably raking some leaves. And deer hunting, lots and lots of deer hunting. Every time Jeff comes home empty-handed, Mara just drops her head and cries. Can't take too much more of the disappointment!

So, til later, take care.

Local Fun

More close to home fun today! We packed a picnic dinner and took the kids hiking at John Bryan State Park today. The kids had a great time climbing paths, exploring caves and skipping rocks. We walked an old stagecoach path and talked about how scary it must have been to be riding in a stage coach, 2 feet from the edge of a 200 foot drop-off into the Little Miami River. We walked for about an hour, picnicked, played on the playground and then went to Yellow Springs for some soft serve ice cream.




Jeff and the kids throwing rocks off one of the wooden bridges.




Isaac and Mara playing in the mouth of a cave...and Isaac getting dripped on!




More exploring caves.




More rock throwing.

Mara getting brave and exploring on her own...note the way the roots of the tree are growing on the surface of the soil.

Hometown Holiday

This is our week off. We've spent the past 2 weeks building coops, pouring sidewalks, wrangling chickens, constructing fences, so the rest of this week, our family is enjoying a hometown holiday. Our plan this morning was to go fishing at 'Uncle Joe's' pond, but it as it turns out, we're supposed to have up to 1.5 inches of rain today. So icksne on the ishingfe. Instead, we loaded up the kids and drove about 25 miles to the USAF museum, just outside of Dayton, Ohio. Admission is free and it's really a fascinating place. They have displays on the early days of flight right up to modern aircraft; they also have the original Apollo 11 space module and Bockscar, the plane that dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb that ended WWII. Sometimes it's easy to forget what neat stuff you can see and do locally. Anyway, here's some pics I took before my camera batteries took a permanent vacation.

Isaac and Mara in front of the Apollo 11 space module. Notice how the bottom got all burned up from entering the atmosphere.

Bockscar...the plane that brought an end to WWII.

Leftover space food from one of the Apollo missions. Or as I call it: "Food Stores, NASA-Style".

Mara and Isaac trying out some aircraft. There were a number of hands-on, crawl-in, try-it-out type exhibits at the museum.

Isaac in front of 'Hop Along', a helicopter in the Cold War exhibit.

The marketing geniuses who designed the museum put the main walkway to the exhibits right through the gift shop, so needless to say, we did a little gift-shopping. We found some very affordable foam rockets for the kids to play with and a machine that embosses pictures onto coins. All in all, a good, inexpensive, local trip for the whole family.

Easter 09

Nothing but a little sleepy-eyed, dressed-up, sugar-rushed gratuitous Easter cuteness for you.