A Visit to Pops!

Eddie's dad had surgery on the 19th. He had skin cancer that was really deep on his right ear. They ended up finding a tumor and removing the whole ear. He will have to have radiation in the future. On Saturday, he was rushed to the hospital. They found him in a pool of blood. After a few transfusions they still couldn't find where he was bleeding from. Go figure! Eddie went to see him tonight!

He sneezed today and they discovered where the bleeding is coming from. DUH! His ear wound! Did that really take 3 days to discover? Yes! DUH! Does Kaiser not have anyone who will properly clean the floor? How sick is that?
Eddie took our Christmas present to Pops. Aren't they cute together? We figured Mr. Potato Head could share his ears if needed!

More Goodies!

Well, we've been cooking some more! These are Eddie's World Famous Deviled Eggs!Everybody loves them. He actually made some for Nini to take to her work party and then Parts requested her very own and Mo always wants them. He made these to take to the Armstrong's last night when we went over to help spread tamales! Delicious!
This year I wanted to attempt Peanut Brittle. I love peanut brittle. We were at See's Candies earlier today and Eddie said I should just buy them and then we wouldn't have to make them. I wanted to make them. I needed Eddie's help! Stirring for an hour is seriously a PAIN! When the goo gets to the hard crack stage it gets harder to stir and then when you take it off the heat to add the butter and then the salt and soda...forget it! I'm to weak to stir the candy. Eddie rescued me and finished off the peanut brittle.

Eddie is a good stirrer! We think this looks like beans instead of peanut brittle! That's my Grandma Wanlass' candy thermometer.

Here is the finished product. I didn't know what size pan to put it in...or how fast we needed to spread it out, so it's kinda not so evenly spread. I'm sure it will taste DE-LI-SCIOUS!

Cookie Makin'

Here is my little chef helping me make cookies today.He was helping me make my delicous white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.

I used the Nestle's swirl chips! They're festive!
The other night I made four cookie doughs. I baked two last night.

These are the Andes Mint chip chocolate cookies! Delicious!

These are the Andes Peppermint cookies! They are really good!

I still have peanut blossoms and oatmeal craisin cookies to make. I also want Eddie to help me make the dough for sugar cookies. They're just sugar drop cookies. I haven't made them in years, but they're delicious. It's Eulalia Robinson Vanick's recipe! I'll take pictures of those too!

More cookies!

So yesterday, I made two more batches of cookies.

Homemade Oreos and Oatmeal.

The oatmeal cookies are from a recipe that says...ward activity. I have no idea what ward or what ward activity. It's a different recipe. Very albino cookies. You're supposed to add chocolate chips to them. I hate oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips. So I added some finely diced walnuts and a couple handfuls of Craisins! They are delicious, if I do say so myself!!!! I have a whole list of goodies I want to make before Christmas. We'll see if I get them all made!!!!!

I Found My Reason to be Glad!

First, I found the TV station with the Christmas Music! Second, "da Mudder" came home from Dialysis heavily medicated. Thus, I didn't have to hear/watch Law & Order or CSI in their many varieties. Third, I decided to make cookies! I haven't baked cookies for Christmas in FOREVER!!! I love Christmas baking. Having Christmas music in the background helped get me back in the spirit. My feet and back hurt so bad by the time I went to bed. Mom came out of her drug induced state about 10:00 p.m. I didn't think I'd ever get to go to bed. I also didn't think I'd get to sleep through the night, but she was kind. I checked on her at 4:00 a.m. and she was okay. She's now starting to moan. Whether that means time for pain meds, I'm not sure. I must check on her though!

What's a girl to do?

I think I have lost the Christmas spirit! It's a good thing we already started decorating...I don't know if it would get done now.
So, my mom had another "procedure" yesterday. She got home from the hospital about 6:30p.m. last night and I made sure she was settled and then had to run to church for a baby shower. It's probably the first baby shower I've actually helped tie the quilt. No one else would, so I helped my friend Patricia. She had already said she wasn't going to, but got hood-winked into it. I felt bad for her so I helped! We left Eddie at home to watch "da mudder". He actually stayed out with her the whole time we were gone and made sure she was okay. He did end up giving her a pain pill before we got home and then we gave her another one. At about 12:40 a.m. she woke us up calling me. She wanted to hurl! So I got her a bucket to hurl in and then got to take care of everything. What fun! She woke me up again at 5:00 a.m. she was wide awake and didn't know what was wrong. So, we decided her arm was hurting again, so I gave her two more pills and we both went back to sleep. She's started her morning off by taking her normal pills and starting to eat breakfast....but then she hurled again! Now she says her face itches...no it's not an allergic reaction....she just says scratching her face feels good! I suppose it's time to pay some attention to her. I hope the Christmas spirit comes back. Or might have to sing with Faith Hill!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Yes, Christmas has thrown up all over the house!

Actually, it's looked like this since Saturday...it wasn't even December!

The tree is up, but there's nothing on it yet.

I'm loving the mantle. I need one more thing to balance it out...but other than that, I really like it without all the pictures. I'll need to find a way to keep it looking good throughout the year. I don't know what I'll do with all the pictures that are usually on it. It's too cluttered though.

You can't tell that the stockings are being held up by the letters J O Y!

For Chanukkah we remove the J! Then we have OY! We actually did light a menorah last year for all 8 nights of Chanukkah and I read all the prayers in Hebrew. Probably really bad Hebrew! It was fun. We had dreidels to play with. We had a good time. Maybe this year I'll make some latkes too!

I'm just getting in the holiday spirit! We watched the Grinch last night. THE ORIGINAL! Not that dopey Jim Carey movie. Was Ron Howard on drugs for that one? The only good thing about that movie is the song Faith Hill sings!

I love Christmas! Our Thanksgiving fudge is almost gone...so I'll have to make some Christmas Fudge!!! We're going to make it with Almonds instead of Walnuts!!! MMMMmmmmm!

I'm in the mood for some Christmas music and maybe even a waltz! If only Fred, TJ and Tody were here....we could Sway and Lunge and all that cuz..."we sure know how to throw a party!"

Eddie's new favorite pictures!

Sandy Nov. 19, 1964
Two months before my 3rd birthday.

I found these pictures and Eddie just cracks up. He says I look very mischevious! He also loves the shoes!!! I think I look like a dwarf with that big ol' head!!!!

Another Turkey Day Has Come and Gone!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!This is Eddie's new Thanksgiving hat!
Isn't he adorable?
Now he's washing our turkey to get him ready to cook!

We no longer stuff our turkey with dressing/stuffing. Instead we stuff him with carrots, celery, onions and herbs: rosemary, thyme and sage. The sage we grew in our own garden. I also threw in a lemon this year too! And I brushed the bird with butter! I also lay him on a bed of carrots, celery and onions. He cooked quicker than what we were led to believe, so we'll shorten it by at least an hour next time!

These are the potatoes leaching! We leach them to get some of the potassium out. They're a little better for my Mom that way!

I was inpired by the food network this year. I took something I saw on one of the challenges and created my own new dressing/stuffing item. This is the goo for the stuffing simmering on the stove.

This is the bread waiting to be goo-ed! The little bowl is for Eddie's private dressing. I make him his own without vegies in it!!!

My great idea this year, was to make STUFFINS! Yep! That's right! STUFFINS!

I took some of the stuffing and greased a cupcake tray and made individual STUFFINS! I love the crunchy top of Stuffing, but I also like the soft wet stuff too, so this is a way to get both! They're crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Taste delicious with gravy!!!

I think they went over very well! I think I will do this next year. I developed the idea after seeing a chef making individual crocks of stuffing on a food challenge. I thought, "HEY! That's a great idea! What if I put the stuffing in a cupcake pan?! Eveyone could have there own little stuffing muffin." Hense...STUFFINS!

Did the Easter Bunny come to your Thanksgiving?

He came to ours and brought his brother!!!

The bunnies are from next door. They keep escaping!!! They like our yard. More stuff to eat! Yes! We were bad and threw them carrots and celery!

Patricia and Elizabeth came over for dinner. Patricia made the yams and she brought some delicious baked beans. Cheese and crackers and Guacamole were also provided!!!

They were good!

This is what part of the spred looked like! We had: Turkey, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing with onions and celery, Stuffing without vegies, STUFFINS, Yams, Baked Beans, Green Beans with bacon and almonds, Grandma's cranberry jello salad, Waldorf Salad, Homemade Lion House Rolls, butter, cheese, crackers, guacamole, chips, grapes, berries, pickles, olives, cranberry sauce, Pumpkin pie, Lemon Pie, Apple Pie and cool whip! The turkey was delicious. Moist even though it over cooked a little. Eddie's mashed potatoes were delicious! Everything tasted great!

There were 10 people at our Thanksgiving Feast! 4 Missionaries: Elder Choi - Korea, Elder Pennington - West Virginia, Elder Ball, Chihuahua, Mexico, Elder Wilkins, Arizona, Patricia and Elizabeth, Bubba, Mom, Eddie and myself! Good company and great food!!!

Yes, I look pretty haggered! I've been cooking for two days! Thanksgiving is officially over....Now for Christmas!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baking Day

So today was baking day! I've wanted to attempt to make Lion House Rolls for the longest time. Today, I finally did! Okay, the first pan of them had problems. I made two different batches. Each batch took two sheets. On the first batch we did the quick rise method by putting the dough in the oven to rise with a pan of warm water and the oven having been warmed up. After rising and then being rolled out...we put one tray back in the oven to rise and one on the table. Well, the one in the oven really swelled and the saran wrap stuck to it and so our first pan of Lion House Rolls are more like Lion House crackers! I think they still taste good!This is another sheet of them before they started to rise!
This is the finished project! We only lost one half of a batch to crackers. I think they'll taste good with soup or as turkey sandwich bread!
I was so happy the rest of the first batch and the second batch actually look, more or less, like the real Lion House rolls! They sure smell good. We've only tasted the "crackers!" I'll let you know how they taste tomorrow.

One batch only make 12 to 18 rolls! That's why we made two batches! The second batch we just let rise normally and it did swell! ha ha ha!

I thought you might like to see one up close!
I can't wait to sink my teeth into this tomorrow!

I also made pies! Two pumpkin and one lemon minus the meringue. I hate meringue! Patricia brought a frozen dutch apple pie last week so we cooked it up too!

We had a slight problem with pie dough. I used to make great crust, but I decided to use the recipe that came with the kitchen aid mixer. It turned out horrible...so we threw it away and ran to the store and Poppin' Fresh saved the day with Pillsbury pie crust! I haven't made pies in forever. Last time I bought Pillsbury pie crust it was folded in quarters and there were always thin spots where it had been folded. They got smart and now it's rolled! It's not the tastiest crust, but I like the pie filling and whip cream the best!!!!

We have everything chopped for the morning. That way we just have to wake up and cook! The Turkey has been bathing all day! He was frozen! Eddie, the former Meat Cutter, says frozen turkeys are fresher than fresh turkeys! If we had a zuccuzzi we would have soaked him in it with the jets running! It would make for great pictures!!! Hopefully we'll take pictures tomorrow and entertain you with our Thanksgiving Feast!

Fantasy Fudge from Grandma Vera Barrus Wanlass

Here is the recipe:
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine or butter
2/3 cups evaporated milk
2 cups chocolate chips
1 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, margarine/butter, and milk in pan bring to a rolling boil. (Do not cook on high to get it to boil! That was Eddie's idea!) Cook over medium heat. Stir constantly. Pull up a chair...it takes a while to get it to boil on medium heat....but that's how you don't get grainy fudge!!! Once it boils, boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Mixture scorches easily! Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Add marshmallow creme, stir until incoporated! Add nuts..stir until mixed well! Add the vanilla! I like this part because it makes the fudge shine!!! Beat until well blended! Pour into greased/buttered 9 X 13 pan. Let it cool! Cut into squares. Makes 3 pounds.

Making Fudge!

Last night we decided to make Fudge! I wanted to make something to get me in the holiday mood!
Eddie thought it took way too long to get the goo to boil. He wanted to put it on high! I said, "No! You'll scorch it!"

He got tired of stirring so I stirred until it boiled! He stirred for the end of the boiling process!

He's a good stirrer!

I took over when the chocolate chips and marshmallow creme went in. He just wasn't stirring fast or hard enough!

The finished project! DE-LI-CIOUS!!!!!!

A Quick Get-Away!

Eddie and I were able to escape this weekend and go to Utah for my cousins wedding.
We're both fighting colds, so we spent a lot of time sleeping!

The wedding was Saturday at 11:40 a.m. in the Salt Lake Temple. The weather was, as Eddie says, "Glorious!" It was crisp and a little chilly!

The reception that night was in Lindon. It was cute little farm!

Here's a picture of me and Auntie Dot. A picture of the proud parents of the Bride: Chris and Chris Adams
The Father of the Bride is also the photographer!!!!

He took some beautiful pictures of the bride!

I guess you can "get a man with a gun!"
I love this one they took at the Salt flats!
The Mother of the Groom made the wedding cake!
The beautiful bride: Jennifer!

She wore a beautiful dress. Her dress, the reception, everything was so Jennifer!

It was beautiful. I love when a wedding truly reflects the people getting married and isn't a cookie cutter wedding!

The back of Jennifer's dress. It was so pretty. She carried a black fan instead of flowers!

On this trip I got to meet Tessa Ann, the newest member of the family!

Dee, Becky, Tessa, Katy and Adam!
Even though it was much too short and Eddie and I felt much too awful, it was a good time. The flights were pretty smooth and the Lord blessed me with complete peace. That and the cool TVs on JetBlue really help my nerves!!!!
We should be staying put for the rest of the year.