Projects done . . . Projects to do . . .

I was happy to complete a crocheting order last night! I love working with soft, cream-colored yarn but was happy to be finished with the project at hand and get started on some brighter colors. Right now, I'm working on a turquoise/cream shawl. The primary color is the turquoise with bands of the cream yarn in two places. I'm working quickly through this one because I've acquired some beautiful, soft green yarn with a darker green in the same green category. I'm always doing that . . . Even as I happily work on one project, my eye is always on the next one.

Although I'm down to just hand sewing on my latest quilt, it has gotten neglected as I finish up orders and work on Christmas gifts. I go between wanting to sew and wanting to knit/crochet. I'm so blessed that my mother instilled the craft of crocheting and knitting into me at an early age. In fact, I was way ahead of the mini skirt fashion craze. I crocheted a skirt for my doll when I was about six or seven . . . and got tired of the project so, thus, the first mini skirt!

My mother disdained quilting for some reason and didn't encourage me into even trying it. I don't know why she disliked it so much but she often said it was 'stupid' to cut up fabric only to sew it together, again. I was married before I took up quilting and discovered it filled an artistic void for me. I was an art major in college but, for financial reasons, had to work outside my love of painting, etc. When I started putting fabrics and colors together, I rediscovered my 'painting'!

Anyway, I enjoy keeping my hands busy in the evening when the work is done and I can relax with a good movie or show on television and accomplish something, too. Which reminds me, I have to put away my pile of sewing stuff that is gracing my chair in the living room before company walks in the door on Thursday!

Have a quick trip to the store for turkey wings to make broth for the gravy and then it is on to baking bread for the stuffing on Thursday.

Funny and truthful . . .

"Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that's not true. Some smaller countries are neutral."
-- Robert Orben

"Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation."
-- Judith Martin

From a favorite poem . . .

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep And miles to go before I sleep.

- Robert Frost

California Cowboy Cookies

This is a fun cookie and is open to most any change you'd like to make to it. If you like to make it more spicy, cinnamon works here. You can use any flavor of chocolate chips you prefer. I like walnuts but if I have pecans on hand, you will find that change in my cookie. You can even snip up pieces of those orange gum drops and add them to the dough. Okay, so you noticed . . . there are oats in the recipe but we can't really call it another oatmeal cookie . . . can we?

California Cowboy Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup white baking chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Blend the dry ingredients together and set aside. Beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, extract, and zest. Mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Stir in baking chips and walnuts.

Form dough into 1/4 cup balls. Place on greased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Flatten to approximately 3-inch rounds. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden and browned around the edges. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 30 cookies, depending on size.

An easy treat suggestion . . .

Of late, I've seen a lot of these special pretzel treats being offered for sale even at bakeries! Upon reflections, I can't see spending two dollars or more for a chocolate-dipped pretzel stick so thought I'd offer some suggestions for making them ourselves.

Ingredients:
Look for those 6-8" pretzel sticks in the snack section of the chip/snack aisle of the store. They are about as thick around as your finger.

Chocolate chips
White Chocolate chips

Finely chopped nuts
Crushed peppermint candy
Colorful cake decorations
Crushed cookie crumbs

Carefully melt the white chocolate chips and dip each pretzel stick to cover a bit more than half the stick. Place on a piece of waxed paper to harden. When the chocolate is set, carefully melt the dark chocolate chips and redip the pretzel sticks leaving a bit of an edges so you can see the white chocolate underneath. Have your toppings ready and immediately roll each stick in the nuts or candy of your choice and set aside to reharden, again.

They would make a nice centerpiece on the table. You can put them upright in a pretty vase or jar and your guests could help themselves as you relax with a cup of coffe after dinner.

The taste of the salt on the pretzel sticks and the sweet of the chocolate makes a unique and tasty contrast.

Countdown to Thanksgiving . . .

We are quite literally within sight of Thankgiving as of today. All I know is that I have a lot of preparation to do tomorrow so that leaves today for clean up and organization. I know life will be easier once I can get that turkey out of the refrigerator in order to put other food stuffs in it's place. Once a year, it would be nice to have an extra refrigerator!

There is always an uneasy sense of anticipation on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. I'm ready to get into the floury dust of baking yet it is a bit too soon! I'm anxious to smell pies baking and turkey broth simmering for the gravy yet it is a bit too soon! Unfortunately, it will seem like minutes before I'm looking back on all the preparations and wondering where the time went and how come it is over already. A human weakness is our rush to reach the goal and not always enjoying the journey to the goal.

I know our dog will be excited about Thanksgiving as she will have the company visiting that enjoy patting her on the head and giving her all the ear scratches she can stand plus the smell of cooking food and hopes of some tasty bits in her dog food that evening.

Just a little bit sad as two of my four children won't be home for the holiday. The family joining us for dinner will be missing one from their crew, too. Funny . . . while the holidays still mean so much to us, as parents, our growing children have no problem being away from home for it. I know, I know, it is a 'rite of passage' and, some day, they will be going through the same thing with their college children.

Here's hoping everyone is busily looking forward to a wonderful day on Thursday and that we all remember to pray for the people who do not have the joy of looking forward to a gathering of friends and family with whom to share a festive meal.

Oatmeal Cookies . . .

The only problem with this picture is that there are only two cookies on the plate. As mentioned earlier, I made the crispy oatmeal cookie recipe on Friday. Besides using a raisin bran type cereal instead of puffed rice, I added a teaspoon of Hazelnut extract. You don't exactly taste the hazelnut but the cookie definitely has a 'haunting' flavor that is hard to pinpoint. It must be a success as we are almost literaly down to two cookies left on the plate.