Christmas Gift!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas as you remember the real Reason for the Season!


I just wanted to share some things with you on this Christmas Day....


First, this cute movie from YouTube. :)  It's ADORABLE!!!



Christmas Cookies--Gluten, Egg and Dairy Free! (they are YUMMY!!)



Christmas Lights

And, if you are in one of those places (Florida...maybe others) that won't have a White Christmas....here's a picture just for y'all:



Christmastime 2009...in WV! :)



And some other Christmas Pictures



Photo Credit



Photo Credit



I thought this was funny:



Photo Credit



I'll leave you with this reminder, the Real Reason for the Season!!

Photo Credit

Merry Christmas, Y'all! Happy New Year!

<3, Hannah :)

The Disastrous Cake--Part 2

The cake was yummy...and looked pretty, too.


Now, I'm sure at this point, you are wondering "what about the title? Didn't she say "The Disastrous Cake?" Just be patient, my child. That part will soon come.
 
And here is the second part!
 
We ate our dinner (it was delish...if I do say so myself...)....

Our Dinner :)

 
 ....and afterward, removed the cake from the oven. It came out of the pan beautifully...everything was just perfect!! Then, we made the frosting. Ahem. Let's just say...we learned to always add powered sugar--even when the recipe doesn't call for it. No, really. I'm serious. Read on for the full scoop.
 

The frosting was too thin, so, after conferring with my aunt,  we concluded that powdered sugar was needed to thicken it. The problem? The powdered sugar did not respond to the roll call. (Or sugar call, for that matter.) So, my cousin called a neighbor to see if we could borrow some sugar... and when the neighbor didn't answer, we (my cousin, aunt and I) decided to go to the Dollar Tree just down the road.

We arrived just in time.

First it was the little "patter" you hear when it first begins. Then it came in sheets. Yes, it was raining. We searched the aisles of the store--no powered sugar. Anywhere. My aunt decided to get the car. We were to stay in t Dollar Tree until she called...and were to go meet her, run into Food Lion (which was just beside  Dollar Tree), and get some powdered sugar.  When she called, I can't say the rain was any better--I don't know if it was worse, but by all means, it hadn't let up! My cousin had flip-flops on. I had sandals. We had to walk out from under the cover of Dollar Tree, in the rain, and then back under the roof of Food Lion. Because walking fast + flip flops + rain = disaster, we couldn't run. (That probably was a good thing. There can be problems when you run from a store. There can also be problems when you run in the rain. Just saying.) Then another problem arose. My aunt got as close to the curb as she could...but there was that foot or so that just wasn't my BFF right then (A.K.A. out from under the roof...into the rain). Some how, my cousin talked me into getting the money for the sugar. Ahem. She said something like "I have flip-flops on, and they're slippery when they get wet"...etc. It worked. I gave her my purse (so it wouldn't get soaked along with me!) and dashed out.

"How much money do you think you need?" says my aunt.
"I'm not sure", said I, getting wetter (is that a word?) by the minute
"Not really a time for conversation!" Says my cousin, probably laughing (kindly?) at me getting soaked...
"Here. This should be enough", my aunt says, handing me the money. I held it close, bent over, and dashed back to cover. (Note: this all happened in a few seconds...)

I wasn't drenched, thankfully. :)  We proceeded to buy the much needed item, and walked back out. The car is right there.
"Let's go through this way...there isn't a sheet of water pouring down", says my smart cousin. (Why hadn't I thought of that before??) We don't get nearly as wet dashing to the car...and we pull the door handle. Nothing happens. It's locked. We hear the "click!" and try again. This time, our efforts were rewarded, and we were able to leap into safety. All while laughing. :)

We arrive at our destination (home), and check the icing. Wouldn't it be funny if it was thick and we didn't really have to go through all that trouble?? (Answer: No. Not really. Actually, not at all.)  Well, the icing wasn't thick...so we added a little powdered sugar and stirred well. We then took the pot over to the cake (on the counter) and proceeded to pour. It was a little thin, but we (all three of us) decided it would be fine. All of the sudden, it started dripping down...down...now its close to the bottom of the cake (at this point I put my hand under the cake stand. Like that would help.)...now its on the plate...STOP POUR---! Too late. It reached my hand. Due to the fact that it had been heated earlier, it was slightly warm. My hands were still under the plate, and I wasn't prepared for the warmth. I jerked my hands back...but, since I already had enough on my hands to lick off, I indgulged. (Hey, someone has to make sure it's good, right??) It kept pouring down, on to the counter.  We tried to wipe it up...but it just kept comin' down.

 

  Finally, it stopped, and we lifted the cake stand up. *Gasp!* There was icing ALL UNDER THE STAND!!!! *Groan*. Since we should always think on the bright side, we grabbed spoons and took care of it...well, the more delicious way. Don't blame us! Wouldn't you do the same thing??

Eventually, we were able to get it under control (by adding more powered sugar...) and ate our cake...around 9:30-ish. P.M.  Exhausted, we went to bed shortly after.

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So. You've heard the story. Now, what should the name for the title be?? Disobedient Icing? Thinking on the bright yummy side? Always Add Sugar? A Valuable Lesson? Something Else? Or, maybe you prefer the original title? 

 You tell me! Leave a comment...and don't forget to put your name!! :)  (Ahem. Courtney. ;P )

Have a great labor day weekend, y'all!

-Hannah

 

 

 

 

The Disastrous Cake

Well...that might be a little bit of an exaggeration of a title...but still. :) I'll let you decide.

It all began when I went to my cousins house a few Thursdays ago. We enjoy cooking, so decided to make dinner on Friday. (I was staying until Saturday...) We settled on spaghetti--simple, easy, yummy...etc. Then the question arose. What for dessert? We searched the cabinets, and our eyes fell on some icing. (Not literally. ;-P ) What about a cake?? We lost no time getting the cookbooks down, and were soon joyfully turning the pages, looking for that perfect recipe we knew was lurking somewhere inside. We turned one more page and POP! a chocolate pound cake! Yes! That's what we'd do! We started making our grocery list, taking this and that out of the cabinets as we went.
"Okay...flour?"
"We might need some more..."
"Sugar?"
"We should get some more of that, too."
"Cocoa?"
"...I think we have enough."
And so on. We made our list, added what we needed for dinner, and went on with our day.

When it was time to run over to the grocery store (again, not literally), we were ready. The shopping didn't take very long, and we were soon back home again, preparing to make dinner. We made a list, so we wouldn't leave anything out. It looked something like this:
            -Straighten Kitchen
            -Garlic Toast
            -Cake
            -Sauce
            -Pasta
            -Salad
Etc. We made everything dinner related an easy do. The cake...a little more challenging. We weren't sure how it would turn out, because being a cake, it's ingredients had to be exact. We were, for the most part, exact, but, seeing as though we are human, we had to give a little room for human error. A.K.A. not being exactly precise on somethings. But it was very close. We didn't know what would happen if something wasn't exact, and I'm happy to report we didn't find out. :) The cake was yummy...and looked pretty, too.

Now, I'm sure at this point, you are wondering "what about the title? Didn't she say "The Disastrous Cake?" Just be patient, my child. That part will soon come.

I'm back into the blogger world!! :)

Ok…I know I said I would post pictures soon….does 1 month later count as “soon”? (Please say yes. :D ) Ahem.

Also, I said I would post pictures of the snow........but there aren't any pictures on this computer......so those will either have to wait till later, or not come at all. (the most likely one.... ;P )

Since I haven’t blogged…I guess I have some catching up to do!!:)

Well….let’s see…….

Parker won tickets (on 104.7 the FISH!!) to the sold-out Casting Crowns concert!!! :D

The crowd...waiting for the doors to open!!!

So, that was a few weeks ago. Since the FISH only gave away 4 tickets, Mom and Lydia had to stay home. :( Actually, they didn’t stay home. They went somewere to eat, and Belk, and Frys Electric…. ;) Anyway, Dad, Parker, Graham and I went to the concert. It. Was. Amazing. Period. :D CALEB http://calebmusic.com/), (Steven Curtis Chapman's sons) opened the gig by playing three songs. They were very good. (Sorry these pictures aren't the best...we were sitting kinda far back)

Caleb and Will Chapman

Then, Kutless came up, and rocked out the stage. ;) They were good too!

THEN, Casting Crowns came out. Wow. (Side note: I really love Casting Crowns, but even more in concert. You can hear the violin a WHOLE lot better. ;) )

They sang several songs, and then Mark Hall (lead singer for CC), started talking about their song, Voice of Truth, (LOVE that song, BTW :D) and he said something along the lines of: “I had the privilege of finishing this song with one of my heroes, and he is here to sing it with me tonight.” And then, Steven Curtis Chapman walked out!!!!!!!!!!!!! (And the crowd goes wild. Totally.) Soooo….needless to say, that was a lot of fun. :)

"Us" at the concert... :) (L-R: me, Parker, Dad, Graham. Graham was cold...and didn't bring a jacket....so he used Dad's. ;) )

Fast Forward a few days. No. Rewind… Yeah…rewind a few days. (this was before the concert.) :P

Lydia and I made peanut butter cookies!!(http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2010/03/peanut-butter-cookies-gluten-free-vegan.html) Those things were yummy!! (We were supposed to take a few to the concert for dessert….but, when my mom dropped us off at Dad’s office…we left the cookies in the VAN!! :( Ah well. We each had one when we got home. Even though it was 11:00 at night. :) ) Enjoy the pictures!! (and, you know you want some. You really do. Be honest with your self. You KNOW you HAVE to eat one of these cookies!! Well, you can!! Just click on the link above…and wah-lah!! :D)

Stirring...

We added mini chocolate chips to the recipe....because peanut butter and chocolate go well together. :P

Lydia really enjoyed eating the dough, as witnessed by the picture above :)

Look at those cute little fingers!! :) Lydia also enjoyed "decorating" the cookies. ;)

mmm...they smelled SO good!!

And then, a few random pictures. ;) Just because. :D

Yeah....don't ask. (Remember: These are RANDOM!! :P )

Wasabi peas=SPICY.

pepper

cilantro on chicken

another *random* picture....

Well, let’s all hope that I post again soon. (Even if it is next month. We already agreed that is considered “soon”, remember?? ;) )

Poppers!!

Wow…I really haven’t been great about posting…. Oops!! Life has been BUSY!!!!!!!!!! With biology, violin, and everything else, I haven’t had that much time to post!! However, I’m sure you understand. :) At least, I hope you do! :)

We bought 2 bags of cranberries, so yesterday, I made some yummy cranberry-chocolate poppers!
We washed them on Wednesday, and let them dry sitting out (by placing them on a pan of paper towels.)…..hmmm…..somehow, we had significantly larger amount then than we did when I made these..... I wonder what happened????
I decided to post the recipe. Hope you enjoy them!!

Warning: These are addictive!!!!! I made these Friday night....and they were pretty much gone by Saturday afternoon!!! :P

What you need:
Cranberries (fresh works best, I think)
White or Dark chocolate (We used unsweetened Baker’s chocolate, and of course, added sweetener!)

What you do:
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Add cranberries, and stir well. Make sure that all the cranberries are coated in chocolate!! Place the chocolate-coated yummies on a pan with wax paper. Try to let the excess chocolate drip off before you put them on the wax paper, if you can help it. Other wise, they will stick. Freeze until….well….frozen!! :) Then, gobble them up. Pop them in your mouth. Eat them. Share them. What ever you do, ENJOY!!

Special thanks to Aunt Linda for introducing these to us!!

Has anyone ever had these before? If you have, please comment and encourage others to try them!!! :) Also, when you try them, let me know how they turn out!!

-Hannah