New Blog Design

Hi all.  If you are visiting today you will see that I have a lovely new home to blog in.  This is sort of a Merry Christmas present to me.  This superb design was done by the very talented Ashton Swank who posts wonderful recipes at Something Swanky.  Thanks so much Ashton.  I love it!, love it!, love it!!!!

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Dark Chocolate Mint Hot Chocolate Gingerbread Man Neighbor Gift

Make some dark chocolate mint hot chocolate gingerbread men for your neighbors this Christmas.  Only takes 2 ingredients and a fun, free bag printable for a sweet mug of hot chocolate.

This weekend is the final HO RAH before Christmas.  It's time for the last minute gift buying, Christmas card send off, and holiday cooking.  We are hoping to finish off our baking to give out our Christmas treat plates for our closest friends.  This year we are planning to give out mini loaves of Pumpkin Bread, Watermelon Hard candy Christmas treats, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cookie Dough Truffles, and our newest addition is these Dark Chocolate Mint Hot Chocolate Gingerbread Men.

They are so cute and make for some yummy hot chocolate!  I love the mint flavor spicing up the deep richness of the dark chocolate while sitting beside my fireplace enjoying the Christmas tree lights.  It allows me to stop and enjoy the season in the midst of all the hustle and bustle.

They are pretty simple to make too.

Start with some Dark Chocolate Candy Mint Melts and a 14 ounce can of Sweetened Condensed Milk.  Heat the condensed milk in a sauce pan over medium heat until it starts to boil.  Stir continuously so that it won't burn.  Once the milk starts boiling, remove from stove top and pour over the dark chocolate mint wafers in a glass bowl.  Stir the condensed milk and mint wafers until the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Pour chocolate mixture into a Gingerbread Boy Silicone Mold.  Place in freezer for 20 minutes to set up.

Carefully pop gingerbread men out of the mold by pushing on the back.  The men will not be hard, so you can bend them back into shape if needed.

If desired, use M&M minis or other candies to add buttons and decorations to each Gingerbread man.

When you are ready to enjoy your hot chocolate, heat up some water or milk.  Add the gingerbread men to the cocoa and let them melt.  Stir well.  I like the taste of 2 of the hot chocolate gingerbread men in my hot milk, but it's up to you on the taste.

If you want to make a few of these for neighbor or friend gifts, I've created a bag topper poem and printable to fit on a 3x4 inch bag so you can give them away.  The poem reads:

Add a little heated milk
And a gingerbread man or two,
Then relax and enjoy the season
And know I'm thinking of you.
Merry Christmas!

You can right click on the picture to save to your computer.  Then go to your computers picture program to print out onto card stock for a quick and easy gift.

If you like this printable and want more, Subscribe to our email newsletter now to keep up to date on all the freebies and ideas we love to share!

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Become #Carton Smart with Pumpkin Cupcakes and Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carton Smart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

The holidays are upon us and that means lots of baking and gift giving.  But have you ever noticed how crazy some of the packaging can be with those gifts?  I mean come on, why do they have to make it so difficult to get into those toys with all the clam shells, the twisties that you can never seem to untwist, and the boxes inside of boxes inside of boxes?

And what about all the baking?  With one good baking day, my trash can can get as full as it does with all the gift wrap the day after Christmas.  It's crazy.  The last time I made my pumpkin bread, I had cans of pumpkin, bags of sugar, and containers of spices overflowing in the trash can.

But what if we could find a way to do just one little thing each day to help with that craziness?  It probably won't make a huge difference in your trash can, but if we all Become Carton Smart with Tetra Pak cartons and Pacific Foods each day, think of the difference it would make collectively.  Especially if it wasn't a hard decision, but actually made things better and easier for you now AND in the long run.

Tetra Pak cartons are made of 70% paper from selectively harvested, regrown trees. They use 1/3 less packaging compared to cans and are recyclable, so they result in 60% less landfill waste than those same cans.  They are great for the environment, but they help you in your kitchen too!  The cartons are space saving and easy to store.  You can open and close them with complete ease, so they won't go to waste hiding in the back of your refrigerator or pantry.  Plus, the unique packaging actually preserves the flavor and nutrients without all the preservatives.  Can't beat that can you?

Be #cartonsmart this holiday by  Following #CartonSmart on Pinterest and Tweeting @CartonSmartTweet @CartonSmartFollow #CartonSmart on Pinterest,  Then come see how the extra wonderful flavor helps to make your food taste even better.  You can try one of these delicious Pumpkin Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and Become Carton Smart today.

In a large bowl, add

15 ounces of Pacific Food Pumpkin Puree

4 Eggs

1 cup Oil

2 cups Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix

2 cups Flour

1 teaspoon Salt

2 teaspoons Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

2 teaspoons Baking Soda.

Mix wet and dry ingredients.

Fill a standard Cupcake/Muffin Pan about 2/3 of the way full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

For the Frosting, you'll need

4 ounces Cream Cheese

1/2 stick of Butter

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

2 cups Powdered Sugar

Mix well.

Now frost your cupcakes and try not to eat the whole batch!

See don't they taste amazing?  And knowing you are making one smart decision by eating these cupcakes with Pacific Food Pumpkin Puree and Tetra Pak cartons makes them taste even better!  From yummy, smart recipes that use ingredients in cartons or "smart" entertaining tips that produce great tasting food with little waste, how can you be #CartonSmart this holiday season?  

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12 Bar Cookie Recipes-12 Weeks of Christmas Treats

I wrote in the first post for 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats that my theme this year was bar cookies. Here is a roundup of the recipes.  Hopefully there is a new recipe or two for you to try. 

Graham Cracky Bars

Banana Sour Cream Bars

Chinese 5-Spice Shortbread

Peanut Butter Butterfinger Bars

Glazed Maple Walnut Bars

Chocolate Streusel Bars

Cherry, Coconut, Cornflake Dream Bars

Caramel, Toffee, White Chocolate Dreams

S'mores Bars

Pink Peppermint Parfait Bars

If you count the above, it only come to 11, since I missed a week when I was sick, so I am going to add a great white brownie recipe from my archives.

Almond White Brownies with Buttermilk Glaze

I hope that you enjoy making one or more of these recipes.  Happy Baking!!!

I want to thank Brenda from Meal Planning Magic for hosting the link up.  I always find great new Christmas goodies to make during this series.

Linking to these great parties:
Cast Party Wednesday
Creative Muster Party
Wonderful Wednesday
Whimsy Wednesday
Wow Me Wednesday at Polka Dots on Parade
Whatever Goes Wednesday
Wow Me Wednesday at Ginger Snap Crafts
Wake Up Wednesday
Wednesday Whatsits
Your Whims Wednesday
Full Plate Thursday
Fantastic Thursday
Showcase Your Talent Thursday
Weekly Creative Party



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It's A Hard Candy Christmas Candy Treats DIY

DIY to make your own Hard Candy Christmas Candy Treats.  A great addition to your Christmas candy tradition.

Some of my fondest memories of holidays are the smells and sweets that came from my childhood kitchen. My mom started making candies not long after I was born to help raise money to build a new chapel for our church.  For the next twenty years of my life, she continued to make suckers to raise money, to support our family, and finally to start her own candy store.  I think these little sweets were the start of a lifetime of candy for my family.



Yet, I admit, until now, I've never tried making hard candy treats on my own.  My own kids had no idea what I was even attempting and I felt so sad that something that had been a staple of my life, was so foreign to them.  But after trying them, we all decided they were definitely a wonderful addition to our Christmas candy treat plates for all our friends, neighbors, and family.

To make these treats you need:

2 cups Sugar
3/4 cup Water
2/3 cup Corn Syrup
1 teaspoon Candy Flavoring
food coloring

You will also need Hard Candy Sucker Mold, a Candy Thermometer, Lollipop Sucker Sticks(depending upon your candy mold), and Pam or other cooking spray.

Start by spraying your candy mold cavities with your cooking spray and placing your sucker sticks in the cavities.  Once you start working with the candy, you will need to move fast, so having this all done ahead of time will definitely save your candy.

If you want to get creative, you can use other types of molds too.  I used a Christmas Holiday Jolly Jigglers Jell-O Jiggler Mold and only filled the cavities a little full.  I also used a silicone mold of hearts and that worked great too.  Just be sure your mold is good for high temperatures.  You don't want to use a chocolate mold or something that will melt when you pour the candy into it.

Mix the sugar, water, and corn syrup in a sauce pan.  Heat on high heat until boiling.

Let the sugar mixture boil until your candy treats reach "Hard Crack Stage" which is 310 degrees.  While boiling, be sure your candy thermometer doesn't touch the bottom of your sauce pan or it'll mess up your readings.

Once your hard candy reaches 310 degrees, remove it from the heat and add your flavoring and your color.  The amount of color will depend upon how rich of a color you want for your candy treats.

Work quickly so your candy treats don't harden in the pan and pour the candy into the sucker molds.

Let the hard candy set up for a half hour or so.  When set, remove from the molds and enjoy your hard candy Christmas candy treats and a new tradition.

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Christmas Mantel & Stocking for Jesus

A Nativity Themed Fireplace Mantel. Very simple but beautiful!

With the temperatures below zero today, I'm extra glad to have my fireplace.  I love to sit in front of it with my comfy chair and a good book, and just while away the evening.  But it makes me even happier to sit there today as I enjoy the tree on one side of my living room, and this beautiful nativity themed Christmas mantel on the other.

I started by having Walgreens print me a picture of the Kneeling Santa that I found here.  The picture is a little grainy up close, but I think it adds to the rustic charm of the picture.  It's just so beautiful and reminds me not to forget the true meaning of Christmas this season.

With our Elliott sign in the center as always, I added the few nativity scenes that I own around the edge of the fireplace mantel.

On the left side is a wooden plaque that my sister made for us last year for Christmas.  It says "Every Family Needs a Stable Foundation".  The Precious Moments nativity scene next to it was actually bought as a gift many years ago.  After carrying it around for five years, I decided to just keep it since it was so sweet.  The small scene on the end is one that I received my first year of College when my mother did the 12 Days of Christmas for me.

The center nativity is a full set featuring kids acting out the nativity scene.  I just love how cute they are.

On the right side of the mantel is a Chalkboard advent calendar with the nativity scene on the bottom.  My sister also made this with her Vinyl business to sell a few years ago at our Christmas craft show.  She had a few left over, so I quickly snatched it up for my advent calendar collection.  The snow globe nativity scene finishes out the Christmas mantel.  It's the only snow globe I have left after collecting them for 10 years and so makes me smile when I see it.

We normally hang our Christmas stockings on the mantel, but I'm afraid of them hanging when we have fires so often, so I'll probably wait to hang them up on Christmas eve.  We have a special stocking for Jesus where the kids give Jesus gifts through the season by doing small acts of service for others and then writing them down and placing it in the stocking.  On Christmas morning we open the stocking first and read all the things that we've done to celebrate the birth of Christ.  I have this stocking hanging by the front door so we can all add our gifts through the season.

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