Melodyisms

Well..now that Melody is such a grown up girl using the potty she has come out with some great lines!

Yesterday after going poop she stood up after wiping..with help...and bent over to look at it and said this, "Wow, look at that big log!" When she has to go she runs to her little potty that we keep in the living room and yells, "I have to go pee pee or poopie!" And look out if you are in her way! When she does go pee she smirks and says, "I went tinkle, tinkle." Although lastnight when she went just a tiny little bit she looked up and said, "I went tinkle!" To which I asked, "You didn't go tinkle, tinkle?" Her response was, "No, just one tinkle!"

While I have been baking lately she comes out and helps me in the kitchen and then takes the kitchen stool and goes to her easel or into the living room and becomes a chef. She makes pudding and cake usually. All pretend but boy is it fun to listen to her at work! "I need to make pudding..chocolate..yes chocolate and I need milk and I need butter and flour and I have to mix it up over and over again!"

"Mommy, can I do a proszac? (project..but it never comes out quite right..that is the best spelling I can do to even come close to how she says it) She has become the crafty queen lately! Today we will be working on Christmas trees!

That is it for today..we are off to work on the projects before Kylie wakes up from her nap.

Salad

Are you the type of person who LOVES salads? I am and I have found my new favorite! I went to a Holiday Party a week or so ago and this was served. It is a super easy salad to make but it has so much flavor!

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce
(I also use iceberg lettuce)
pears
feta cheese

walnuts and sugar for making candy walnuts
I use my own homemade dressing - balsamic vinegar and canola oil and spices
(You can buy the pre-made dry package from Good Seasons - This is what the host of the party did)

All you need to do to make this salad is put the walnuts in a pan and add some sugar. Warm until the sugar is no longer crystallized and is coating the walnuts. Keep a close eye on it and don't put it on too high of a temp..medium at most. Let cool. Then cut/chop the lettuce after rinsing. Peel and slice pears. Add feta and walnuts on top! Use the dressing on the whole salad or add to each one separately. Either way it is Scrumdidilyumptious!! Try it yourself! It can't get any better..fruits and veggies and dairy all in one salad! YUMMY! I am making this to bring to the Lavieri family Christmas Eve gathering this year.

These pictures really don't do it justice. Also I didn't add the walnuts before these photos were taken because I usually add them right before serving. Try it and let me know what you think of it! I personally could eat it at least once a day for the rest of my life! :)

Reindeer Cookies

Yesterday during the mountains of snow we made reindeer cookies! (Peanut butter cookies that look like reindeer!) They are so cute and fun to do with you little kitchen helpers! Melody is my little kitchen helper and she was the one to put on the eyes and noses for the reindeer. I took a recipe I found years ago in Taste of Home magazine and changed it to make it work for us.

The cast of characters are:

Peanut butter cookie dough (recipe to follow)
red and green m&m's
mini pretzels

The amount depends on how many cookies you want to make! I doubled the recipe for my peanut butter cookie dough and I got about 30 cookies or so...hard to know because they were being eaten as they were made!! Below you will see me slicing up the cookie dough. I had made it the night before so I would have more time but I think it would work better if made maybe 20 minutes ahead and only slightly chilled...mine was chilled for about 10 hours! Just make the dough..roll it into about a 2 inch circle/roll and wrap in plastic wrap and chill just a little! Then take it out and let it warm for about 5 minutes. Slice about 1/3 of an inch each slice..more if you want. Once the slices are made place on a cookie sheet and using thumb and forefinger, make a slight indentation one-third of the way down the sides of each slice. (This makes the shape of the reindeer's face.)

This is what it looks like shaped into the face.

Then add two pretzels to make the antlers.

Add two green m&m's for eyes.

Add one red m&m for nose. (Thinking Rudolph here people!)

This is a full pan of pre-cooked cookies. None will be exactly the same shape as you have to pinch it and smoosh it a bit to make it look smooth...easy really but I prefer my reindeer to not have cracks in their faces. Now place them in a 350* oven for about 9-11 minutes until light golden brown. I put mine in for 9 minutes and they came out perfectly. I also used a the oven temperature for the reindeer cookie recipe and not for the peanut butter cookies..so make sure you watch the temps when making them just as regular cookies. Remove to wire racks to cool. Me, I just let them cool on the pan in between and then placed them in a container to store.

Here they are after coming out of the oven. MMMMMM YUMMY!!

They are done and placed on a plate for show. I store them in a plastic container (Ziplock/Glad) and they last for as long as they can with five people in the house!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

From: Betty Crocker's Cooky Book - Copyright 1963
This was what my father always used to make peanut butter cookies!

I usually double this recipe!

1/2 cup shortening (half butter or margarine)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
1 1/4 cups Flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix shortening, peanut butter, sugars, and egg thoroughly. Blend all dry ingredients; stir into shortening mixture.

Heat oven to 375*. Roll dough into 1 1/4" balls. Place 3" apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Flatten crisscross style with fork dipped in flour. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen 2 1/2" cookies.

Snow the day after...

The snow is over with..for now. We are due for a Nor'easter tomorrow!! Here is the forcast for tonight through Sunday:

Tonight: Clear and cold. Low: 18.

Saturday: Sunshine early, then increasing cloudiness through the afternoon - then a chance for snow at night. Snow may mix with or change to sleet, freezing rain toward daybreak. Becoming windy. Low: 18. High: 28.

Sunday: Snow or mixed precipitation (heavy at times) in the morning, ending by evening. Low: 22. High: 29.

Here are the day after photos of the snow. They are still plowing us out a bit. They really didn't do much until this morning. It snowed a bit on and off throughout the night..just little flurries. We do have around a foot of snow..maybe a little bit more. I need to take a ruler outside to find out for sure..lol. But it is rather deep and will be much worse by Sunday afternoon!

We are headed to my in-laws tonight for a nice family dinner and tree decorating with the kids. It should be lots of fun. Maybe we will leave and head home not so late and pick up some necessities at the store before we get stuck at home all weekend!!

Hotel Glasses - EWWWWW!!

Don't Ever Drink From Hotel Glasses

OMG! I am so glad I don't leave the house that often right now!! YUCK!

Snow - Part 6

These are untouched photos. Please excuse the lighting. My flash decided to not go off because of the lighting outside bouncing off of the whiter than white snow! You can no longer see the rock on the lawn. See that bump?

Snow - Part 5

Here it was about 4:30 - 5pm. All of Melody and Kylie's outside toys are buried in snow.

See how much snow is sitting on top of these?? And it wasn't even done yet!!

Our lights out front on the railing. This is the first year we have put lights outside and they actually look very nice in the dark. :)

Snow - Radar

This is the most recent radar blip for the area. Looks like we will be getting snow for a few more hours at least! They are saying till around midnight! Wow!

Snow - Part 4

Photos taken just a few minutes ago at 2:35pm. It has bee snowing now for 4 hours and it is non stop!! Check out the last three photos...you can really see the snow in them!

Below is a shot of where my Blazer is parked..it is the second car you can see in..red..but it is covered with about 6 inches of snow! See how heavy the snow is falling?

Can you pick out just one flake? There are only about a billion falling at once, if not more!!

Snow - Part 3

This is the back and front of our apartment about three hours into it at 1:15pm. It is whiter than white out there right now and it isn't about to stop anytime soon! We are expecting 10 inches if not more!!