Fantastic Fudge

To me, fudge is a staple of the holidays. Today I made my first two batches. Now normally I use the one on the back of the marshmallow cream jar. This year I wanted to try something different, so I started looking. I came across a recipe that really piqued my interest. It is FANTASTIC! I like that it has less sugar than traditional fudge. Be sure you only use 5 oz of milk! The big can is TOO much.

FANTASTIC FUDGE

1/2 cup butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups white sugar
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
10 large marshmallows

Put the butter, chocolate chips, and vanilla into a bowl and set aside. I recommend a metal bowl as the first batch I did in a glass bowl set up really fast. Next mix the sugar, evaporated milk, and marshmallows in a large sauce pan. Put it over medium heat and stir until it boils. Reduce the temp and boil for 6 minutes stirring constantly. Pour the sugar mixture over the chocolate mixture and whip for about 2-3 minutes. Pour into a buttered 8X8 pan and let chill on the counter about 2 hours. The second batch we used peppermint extract and mixed in candy cane pieces. You could put nuts into the plain chocolate if you like.

This new recipe was a huge hit with my family! I hope your family enjoys it just as much.

Tropical Christmas Treat

Another day of Christmas prep. Even though I feel YUCK! I knew I had to get some stuff done. So today I filled out Christmas cards, while sipping hot chocolate curled up in my blanket. I love sending a variety of cards, makes it feel more personable to me.


Then I spent a little time baking. Made some Tropical Banana bread, thought I would share the recipe, it came out fantastic!


The final product. Notice there are only 4 loaves, we already finished off the 5th! LOL

Hope y'all enjoy!

St. Nicholas Night

No, I do not mean Christmas Eve. Tonight, December 6th is St. Nicholas Night. Children in Holland, England and Germany celebrate tonight to set the mood for a wonderful Holiday season. Since we have a nontraditional family, and 2 of my kids are with their Dad this weekend we will celebrate next weekend when they are here. (I just never pushed a concrete date into the kids minds.)

So what is St. Nicholas Night all about you ask?

Well... St. Nicholas was a Bishop in Asia Minor around 325 A.D. He was well loved for his generosity and compassion. He provided warm clothing, food, and even small bags of gold for those in need. Legend has it that St. Nicholas, comes down from heaven on his white horse on the the eve of his birthday to help children prepare their hearts for the coming of the Christ Child.

Before my children go to bed we put out a carrot for St. Nicholas' horse, and all of the old hats, mittens, and scarves we no longer use by the fire place. While the kids are sleeping St. Nicholas comes and collects all the things we left for him and in their place he leaves a new hat and gloves for each child. They also get a small bag of gold (chocolate coins.)

In the morning when they wake up we will have cinnamon rolls, and milk while we ohhh and ahhhh over the lovely new hats and mittens, and how amazing it is that St. Nicholas new just what colors to get to match the jackets they have. I will be back with pictures of all their fun when we celebrate.

Here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

Giving it a go!

Well, this is my first blog, so welcome to you all! My focus for this blog is sharing a traditional way of raising a nontraditional family. I believe a lot of old fashioned family fun and time is very important. With both my husband and myself working, we came to the realization that creating family time had to be a priority.

Everything in moderation makes for a happy Mom and a happy family. In today's never ending rush, a lot of people forget to carve out time for those special family moments. What we pass on to our kids they will pass on to theirs. Making memories will help carry them on to being more than productive, it will encourage them to build strong family bonds with the people they are close to.

An important part of any family is time around the kitchen table. Time spent sharing meals lovingly prepared. Time spent talking and going over our day, playing cards, doing homework, working on crafts, all of these things, and so many more, happen around our kitchen table. I hope to provide some easy, inexpensive ways to help facilitate this for your family too.

One of my favorite book's is Mrs. Sharp's Traditions.I picked this fantastic book up on the clearance rack at a book store several years back for $3.97. I have used it for different occasions since then to the wonder and amazement of myself and family. I will share some of her ideas as we continue through this blog.

For now, welcome and enjoy!