Ready, set, BAKE!

I got my bake on this week.

And mostly achieved sweet success {literally}

Two of the three recipes, of course,

borrowed from the all-too-fabulous Bakerella.

She makes my culinary heart go pitter-patter....

  First challenge: Oreo Truffles

This one I had to try.

It has only three ingredients.

You'd be a fool not to...

Oreos

Cream Cheese

& White Chocolate Bark

'Nuff said.

If you like cheese cake, this is the recipe for you.

I myself, am not so much a fan and don't really fancy white chocolate too much either....

But it's not about me.

It's about your peeps and how your going to wow-the-pants-off-of-them with your clever truffle making abilities.

With that said....

Crush, blend, pulverize the Oreos (delicious cream filling included).

Mix in the cream cheese.

Roll into balls.

Chill balls (ha!) in the fridge or freezer for about a half hour.

Then get your white chocolate dip on.

Apparently, I made a rookie mistake and bought the wrong chocolate?!

Aaactually, what really happened was I went all fancy and bought nice expensive Bernard Callebaut chocolate

.......desiring fancy balls, of course.

But, what you really want is 'dipping' chocolate....

It "dips" better.

Duh.

The chocolate I used was a bit thick and therefor harder to get a good coat.

Where I went right,

was sprinkling the tops of my truffles with crushed candy cane.

Makes for minty-good Oreo awesomeness.

And unfortunately, I have not one photo to share with you.

Fail.

But Bakerella does, here.

Next Up:

Whoopie Pies w/ Salty Peanut Butter Filling

~H-e-a-v-e-n-l-y~

From the book, 'whoopie Pies':

As featured on Bakerella.

For the recipe and instructions, click here.

I did manage to snag a few photos of the beginning process:

Photos courtesy my 'old' camera.

.........But neglected to get photos of the final product.

Sigh.... Fail.

And lastly,

my own recipe.

'Kay, actually it's not my own recipe, per sayyyyy....

I really don't remember who I got it from,

(flashbacks of a cookie swap from, like, 9 years ago I think?!).

But, it is the best Ginger Snap recipe I've ever used.

Always, ALWAYS results in soft, ginger-cookie perfection!

Soft Ginger Snaps

1 cup sugar

1 cup margarine (I use butter)

1 cup molasses

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 Tbsp hot water

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

3 1/2 cups flour

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, and wet in another.

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.

Refrigerate dough for about an hour.

Roll Tbsp-sized balls.

Roll balls in white sugar.

Leave in ball form when baking (in other words-- don't flatten).

*Bake for 8-10 mins (7 mins was enough in my oven)

at 375 degrees C.

And, once more,

no photos.

F-A-I-L.

Stay tuned, lovely readers,

because there's alot more festive baking where that came from.

I plan to tackle even more festive holiday recipes in the next few weeks:

{Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows)

{Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies}

{Christmas Crunch}

{etc}

 And this time--

there will be pics.

Oh yes, there will be pics....

The 'Nice' List

My good behavior must have paid off this year,

'cause Santa paid me an early visit yesterday-- and boy, did he deliver.....

Ladies and Gentlemen--

~Meet the new love in my life~

{next to my dearest husband}

My.New.Camera. so lovingly entitled: Nikon D90!!!

'Ohhh Yeaaa-hh, S-A-S-S-SY!"

Have I mentioned how much I absolutely love and adore my husband,

xo James xo

(Jim Plumb to you)

not just because he blessed me with this electronic thing-of-beauty...

And not just because he has known an understood how badly I've desired a camera like this for sometime now....

But because he's my best friend and he knows me through and through.

Today, I am over the moon :)

Best.Present.Eva.

Ps. I have NOT forgot about the Whoopy Pies....

I'm just too obsessed with my new toy today to get to it :)

You Do the Crime, You Pay the Fine

Today it's -25.

In temperature terms that is.

Frigidly cold.

Windchill -34.

And what would one find me doing on this bitterly chilly day?!

Appearing in front of the justice of the court in regards to my photo radar ticket (s-p-e-e-d-i-n-g) bestowed upon me this past August.

August the 3rd to be precise.

For the low price of just $113, you too can have a professional portrait like-a-this-a-one!!

So, my plan of attack:

Plead guilty, but beg to have the fine reduced. 

FYI- I am a law abiding citizen folks!

{Except on the third day of August}

Ever since entering the era of mommy-hood, I travel at reasonable speeds people.

Arrive alive, is my motto (wink)!

{And try not to run anyone over along the way}

Moving on.....

As I prepared myself for today's task at hand and evaluated how I might approach the situation... random scenarios began to run through my head.

In one scenario I drop the line, 'Go easy on me, Mister- It's Christmas'.

(Turns out 'mister' was actually a 'sister')

Another, I consider buttering he/she up with a care package of my homemade Whoopie Pies (post to follow all about making whoopie)...

But I then quickly recoil at the thought of being ticketed yet again for baked-good bribery.

Realizing that none of these scenarios were very realistic, I threw on my lucky jeggings.

Are the really lucky?

One never really knows....

I do know, however, I did manage to have my fine lowered from $113 to a reasonable $85.

Tenderrrrrr....

The End

 

Chocolate Frogs

Hello Frosty

(9 o'clock this morning)

Today, is an excellent day.

It is excellent for the following reasons:

No work (for me that is, but unfortunately not my dearest Jim Plumb),

no school,

no appointments.

Today,

Aaron has his first hockey game of the season (it's been all practise up 'til now) and it's in the 'nicer' 'warmer' arena.

Today,

I'll have time to enjoy coffee with my grammy,

catch up on some paperwork (and maybe even mail it away),

and finally fluff the branches of our new skinny Christmas tree

...which has been standing in my living room in all it's 8 foot glory looking rather naked and dejected.

But, what truly makes Today extra excellent...

The Deathly Hallows.

That's right.

Harry Potter, yo.

For any of you who have read the series,

I know you're just as stoked as I.

Maybe I'll even wear my Harry Potter/Where's Waldo specs in honor of this magical occasion.

Hmm, maybe,

just maybe.

The Open Road

Went road trippin' with my brother this weekend.

Bright and squirrelly Sunday.

It was one of those perfectly gloomy mornings that I love.

I yapped his ear off nearly the whole two hours,

but I don't think he minded.

We laughed a bit too

and said non-sensical things, like 'sasssy' and 'tenderrr'.

We were in good musical company as well.

Florence and the Machines

I {heart} Cosmic Love

plus whatever randomness he had on his iPhone.

Certainly, one of those 'good for the soul' journeys, for reals.

Once destination reached, we got to snuggle a cuddle out of this guy too.

Geoff(y).

Big Girl

Ma baby's all growed up...

Well not really.

She's still only just 4 and just about three quarters.

But......

She's our youngest

and just yesterday she graduated into a .'Big.Girl.Bed'

Up until now

she's been kicking it in her crib/toddler daybed.

A friend of my husbands, via trusty ol' facebook,

was offering a

Deal.Not.To.Be.Refused.

A children's solid oak bed frame, mattress, matching dresser and night stand

all for the price of $80.

DING, DING, DING: We have a deal folks.

So, yesterday's task was disassembling Ava's daybed/crib.

And I knew, in the back of my head, that this would be the defining moment...

When hubby would either suggest we store it down in the basement (I knew this not to be likely...)

OR

Casually mention its sentimental value and all in the same sentence prescribe its near approaching inevitable fate of being donated to The Salvation Army.

Of course, the latter had occurred.

Sweetly, he mentions to me the valuable years this particular crib has served us

(being the only crib we have ever owned and used for both our children; gifted to us by my Dad)

and how it'll be making its journey to some other destination.

I have never been one...

Well, that's not entirely true.

Let me rephrase:

Over the past few years,

I have worked very hard at purging unnecessary items from our household.

(the T.V. show 'Horders' totally freaks me out... and makes me feel really freakin' fantastic about my house, all at the same time)

I am a sentimental person, to a certain degree...

Photos and handmade items hold very important value in my books.

The rest,

I have very easily *mostly* packed up and handed off to whoever was willing to take it.

Baby swing, bouncy chair, clothing (minus a few memorable outfits), high chair...

all of it gone.

But The Crib.

THE CRIB.

Like, if The Crib is gone, then what???

No more kids?!

I'm too young to contemplate the finality of a decision like that.

He might as well have suggested to me to have my tubes tied.

I'm only 28 (just turned... fyi) for Pete's sake, whoever he is....

Now my husband,

not to be mistaken for some cruel insensitive wiener...

Was only assuming the obvious.

We're done with The Crib.

Obviously, it should move along...

somewheres other than our little condo.

Cuz, of course, we no longer need it

and space is limited.

That being said;

We are also a couple who,

from day-to-day,

contemplate, one more?

No more.

Two more?!!!

No more....

And herein lies the (un)official deal:

Once we've bought a house,

an event that will more than likely be occurring this next year or so,

we will potentially have two more children....... potentially.

Two, because of course, we couldn't have the other one being all lonely and whatnot.

Right?!

In conclusion,

tonight, while the hubby and kiddies are all fast asleep in their big girl and big boy beds,

I will ever so quietly sneak The Crib, in all its hardware and pieces,

down to the basement and cover it up with an unsuspecting blanket where no one will think twice about it's contents or suspiciously eye it up for taking up too much space.

Problem solved.