Pinterest winner! And a question.

Cranberries? Yes, please!

Cranberry Christmas Cake to be exact.

We were having a holiday potluck at book club and I signed up for sweets, no surprise there!

I've been wanting to make this cake ever since I saw on Pinterest, and this was the perfect time.

It's a very simple recipe, the hardest part was not tasting it before I left!

Not the best picture, but I thought it looked yummy and it smelled wonderful.

I guess it was, because this is what I came home with! Now this wasn't eaten all at once, some of it went home with the ladies. 

You can find and print the recipe here - Barefeet in the Kitchen. The only thing I did differently was use orange extract instead of vanilla. The next time I'll add some orange zest to give it even more flavour. I normally use a bundt pan because I like the way it looks, I'll try that next time too.

Last year I made these two ornaments, using the Foxwood Crossing sleds. So simple, I love they way they look.

I bought these after Christmas thinking they would be a cute variation.  

My question is, is it better to stain or paint these sleds? Will either one have an effect on the perforated paper being glued on there? Thoughts or suggestions?

Mythbusting

I had heard about this on Pinterest and looked it up - "wooden spoon over boiling water", this is one of the pins I found.

 Wooden spoon over boiling water

And this is what happened when I tried...

Um, didn't work!

Then I found this one when I looked up "keeping bananas from turning brown"

How to keep bananas from browning quickly

And this is what happened when I tried it.

Ok, it looks like I didn't have it wrapped tight enough and actually should have wrapped them individually.  I'm willing to try again and see what happens.  As for this bunch, looks like future yummy banana bread.

This is not so much mythbusting, just a little different.
Baking your eggs instead of boiling them to make deviled eggs.  Placing them in muffin tins instead of boiling them, super easy.  

Well, one cracked so that ended up getting tossed because it was a bit mushy on the outside.

The others were fine, some were easier to peel than others, no big difference.  But you can see where the eggs shell had touched the bottom and side of the pan.  I think I'll stick to boiling my eggs.

A Welcome and Pinterest Apple Pie

A warm dragon welcome is long overdue to those who have chosen to follow me down the crazy blogging path!  So glad you decided to join in on the fun.  If I've missed taking a peek and following your blog, please let me know.  It looks like some of you don't have a blog, but maybe you do and I missed it?

 

 

Gammy said she was going to make dinner tonight while we were watching the Redskins game, so I was on for dessert.  I asked the boys what they wanted and Garrett decided on apple pie.  I was originally being lazy and asked him if apples from a can would be okay - that would be a no!  So this is the recipe I found on Pinterest, Grandma Ople's Apple Pie.  And he did redeem himself in the kitchen, he used the apple peeler/corer/slicer on all the apples and helped with the "sauce".

 

 

*My take on Grandma Ople's Apple Pie?  Delish, it's a keeper!  I changed it up a bit after reading some of the comments - adding cinnamon/sugar to the apples before putting them in the pie pan and instead of a lattice topping, I cut out footballs with a cookie cutter and placed them on top.  The "sauce" made the footballs nice and crunchy!

*Others take on the apple pie?  Well, I think it's almost gone!  Garrett had two pieces and Gammy really liked it too.

  *Would I make it again?  Oh, yes!  I don't think I'd do the lattice at all, I'll use whatever cookie cutter suits the event instead.

Pinterest Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares Winner!

I'm still baking pumpkin goodies, here's the latest -  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares.

 

 

*My take on the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares?  Another yum!  I didn't line the pan with foil and it turned out just fine.  I think the only thing I'd change with this recipe is to use mini chocolate chips.  The bigger ones seems to clump together.  Not that that's a bad thing, but I wanted to taste the pumpkin.  The batter test was good and the squares were nice and moist.

*Others take on the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares?  Football team approved!  The few leftovers brought home didn't last very long.

  *Would I make it again?  Yes!  I think it would be a great thing to bring for a Halloween gathering we're going to.

Pinterest Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Winner!

Time for more pumpkin goodies.

Here we have Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, although last week DH said he'd had enough of pumpkins.  Good thing I didn't listen to him!

I made the dough this morning and stuck it in the fridge before heading to school to volunteer.  I took it out when I got home a couple of hours later and viola...

The recipe said to scoop about 2 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball - do you know how much that is?!  So I used my handy dandy cookie scoop instead, it worked great.

It made quite a big batch, enough to bring to the football dinner and some to stay home.

*My take on the Pumpkin Snickerdoodles?  Yum!  I'd never made any type of snickerdoodles before and I'm so glad this was my first.  Batter test was good and the cookies nice and soft.

*Others take on the Pumpkin Snickerdoodles?  Once again, the football team liked them, some loved them!  One boy took the last five and told Griffin that I could make him more for his birthday!  Nathan liked them too and was happy when I told him we had more at home.  DH liked them, even after being told they were pumpkin.

  *Would I make it again?  Oh, yes!  I don't think I'd do anything different except continue to use my scoop.  I hope they freeze well, I need to bring some to my parents when we see them!

A friend posted this on fb - Kahlua Pumpkin Cheesecake Martini - and it sounds wonderful!  Today I found the vodka so I'm set for the weekend.  
But I must remember, drinking + stitching = frogging!

Another Pinterest Winner and Beading!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

I know I was going to try doing a Pinterest craft test dummy, but that wasn't going to put food on the table for the boys! 

A friend pinned this recipe, Crockpot Fiesta Chicken, and it was a hit. 

This is her picture, too hungry to take one myself!

*My take on the Fiesta Chicken?  I thought it was quite tasty!  I didn't make the cilantro lime rice, the stink bug invasion has put me off cilantro!  That's another story...

*Others take on the Fiesta Chicken?  The boys said they liked it (the gmen, Nathan wouldn't even try it).  DH liked it, but didn't have it with the rice.

  *Would I make it again?  Yes!  It was very simple to throw together and didn't take that long to shred the chicken.  I also used the low fat cream cheese and it was fine.  I think I'll use "hot" salsa next time to give it a little more umph and I'm wondering if it will be more flavourful tonight for leftovers.

Max doesn't seem too interested in my fairy, but he likes sleeping on the Halloween bag I'm toting it in.  Although Nathan said he caught him sleeping on her this morning and pushed him off - thank you, Nathan.

I finally started beading!  Oh, I am loving the way it looks!  
  

Question for you experienced beaders - I really hate dragging thread underneath from one place to another when I can't hide it, should I being doing those beads individually or just drag it?  You can't really see it for the most part, but I know it's there!  Thoughts? 

Your Pinterest Test Dummy

I don't know about you, but Pinterest can be quite overwhelming.  There are so many amazing ideas - between baking, cooking, and crafting, there's soooo much to choose from. 

My thought here is to show you what I've actually tried and how it worked for me.  My goal is to try doing at LEAST one a week, maybe more... especially with all the holidays coming up. 

The gmen have a pasta dinner the night before their football games and I volunteered to bring dessert every week.  What a great way to test my goodies!

Since pumpkin ideas are coming out of the patch, here's one I tried for them, Pumpkin Pie Croissants.

These looked amazing and if you know me, you know how much I love pumpkin anything. 

Ready for the oven

Baked and smelling yummy

Ready for the boys

*My take on the croissants?  Well, I think because the filling wasn't very thick, I didn't feel like there was enough in them.  I didn't get the pumpkin taste I was looking forward to.  Even if I put more in them, it would have oozed out once I rolled them up.  I did try a batch without cutting them into mini croissants and I thought those tasted better since there seemed to be more filling in them.

*Others take on the croissants?  Only a few came back home.  The boys seemed to like them and the Moms said they did.

*Would I make them again?  Maybe, but not the mini size.  I might even try a different dough method... is there such thing as pumpkin ravioli bites?!

So if you're on Pinterest and see something you'd like someone ELSE to test dummy for you, let me know.  I'll be attempting doing it in between my stitching.  Oh, and I'll work on taking better pictures next time!

Here's another Pinterest idea I made - Daily Calendar.

But please don't ask me if I've kept up with it, I'm a little behind.