Why, Hello there, Beautiful.

Where have you been all of my life?!

Meet my new favorite toy, my Mixer. Watch it make easy work of creaming butter and sugar!

I can't believe I used to do this by hand!! Who does that?

And in 5 minutes, my persimmon cookie batter is done! A week ago (when I made these cookies last) I'd still be creaming my butter and sugar!

It's magical. I love it. Thanks, Dimples!

In the one week I've had my KA mixer I've made:

Persimmon cookies

Molasses cookies (PW recipe, and it's awesome.)

Pizza dough X3

Brownies

Muffins

mashed potatoes X2

Meatloaf

Scrambled eggs

all just for the sake of using the mixer, I love it so.

Handmade Christmas recap

I think this years' handmade Christmas went much better than the last. First, I started early and collected ideas. That was key. It made me feel organized and the projects didn't seem so difficult, and if one seemed too daunting, I moved on to another idea. Here are some pics of my finished projects.

For my pre-teen nieces I made these little fabric journals. The first one that I made was the blue one, and I was least happy with it's design, so I added her name to it, and a little extra inner pocket. It also fit the best over the journal, so in the end I was very happy with it.

For my one year old nephew I made these little fleece slippers. I used my husbands Moccasin slippers as a template for the design, then googled the "average size of a one year old foot in inches" to get the size. I was delighted when they fit him perfectly. Also, I sewed the buttons on extra tight so he wont be able to pull them off and choke on them. Because I care. :)

And for my four year old niece, I made this purse that I posted a few months ago. She wasn't very impressed with it because there was a giant red gift bag that she fit inside, and it was way cooler. I'm sure she'll love the purse when the giant gift bag stops being so awesome :)

For my 10 year old nephew I made a little fleece hat that had 7 panels, and little ear flaps decorated with buttons. I used my own head as a template for that hat, and since my head is freakishly small, it barely fit his! I think it was cute, though. Maybe he can wear it under a beanie when he goes to the snow :)

Anyways, I had a ton of fun personalizing my gifts, and actually using my sewing machine! I will definitely be doing this again next year, except I'll be starting a little earlier so that my gifts can be more intricate. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll know how to knit by this time next year!

Candy Making

This was my candy making-ist season ever! Along with my Mom and a girlfriend I made about 300 nougats, 250 peanut butter balls, 2 pans of Fudge, 1 pound of candied nuts, 2 slabs of peppermint park, 100 caramel pecan pretzels and 100 Russian tea cookies. Okay, so the last one was not candy, but they were made in the middle of a candy marathon, so they totally count.

For my co-workers I bundled up little packages of Russian Tea Cookies, Fudge, Peppermint Bark and Caramel Pecan Pretzels and Candied nuts, and wrapped them in cute bags. Dimples and I passed out candy every time we had friends over, and we each ate way too much ourselves. Some of it was destroyed in an unfortunate glass breaking incident, and some of the nougats are still in my fridge, bringing me shame for not dipping them in Chocolate yet.

I love the Holidays.

Busy Bee!

I've got a lot of yummy recipes to post, and a lot going on, I've just been way to busy to post! Hopefully that will change as yesterday was my last day at full time job for TWO whole weeks! Woot!

In the meantime, here are some pictures of my Christmas decorations, because I know everyone is dying to see them.

Broccoli, White Bean and Cheddar soup

I found this Broccoli, White Bean and Cheddar Soup Recipe the other day, and thought I would give it a try.
First, when I went to the grocery store I couldn't find "Cannelli Beans" anywhere, so I decided to get Navy Beans. They're white, right? Same thing. (They aren't by the way. Cannelli beans are white kidney beans. Live and learn!)
I used my Turkey stock that I made Thanksgiving Day instead of the Chicken Stock. It smelled so good on the stove! Then I cut up the broccoli, tossed it in, threw in the navy beans and poured it in the blender. This is so easy it's magical, I thought.
Then I turned on the blender that was filled with my delicious smelling soup. FFFFWAP! The steaming hot mixture sprayed all over my kitchen. All over me. All over my floor. Idk, I must have filled the blender too full.
I was pissed. So I poured myself a little bowl of mess and tasted it. Heaven! I almost don't regret the fact that cheesy broccoli bean crap is dripping down my walls.

Almost.