Hand Dipped Chocolates

I got these recipes from Lizzie a few years ago and it's been so fun to make them each Christmas and Valentine's Day!  The kids had a blast!  This year, there was 3 different chocolate making sessions going on.   I stayed up til after midnight with some dear friends dipping chocolates, my daughter and her friend spent the afternoon making them for their teachers and the boys I teach enjoyed learning how to make them as well!  I think I've seen and eaten enough chocolate to last me at least until Valentines Day :)





Peanut Butter Fillings

4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup creamy peanut butter

Mix together. Roll into balls and refrigerate. If the mixture is too soft to roll, refrigerate for an hour or so, then roll into balls and refrigerate again.
Makes about 40 fillings.

Chocolate Truffle Fillings

1 pound of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate finely chopped or 2 2/3 cups of
semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
Place chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl.
Bring cream to a boil over medium-high heat; pour directly over chopped chocolate. Allow to sit 5-10 minutes; use a rubber spatula to gently stir chocolate and cream until combined.
At this point you may add flavorings if you wish. You can add raspberry, almond, hazelnut, cherry, orange, mint or other flavorings or extracts. Just add a very small amount at a time, and taste it. Keep adding until you like the taste.
Pour mixture into a shallow square or rectangular dish, lined with wax paper (hanging over all sides). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold and set.
When you are ready coat the truffles with chocolate, pull the truffles out of the pan by grabbing onto the wax paper. Cut with a butcher knife into bite size squares.
Makes about 50 truffle fillings.

Creme Fillings

4 cups sugar
1 cup butter
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3 cups white chocolate chips
flavoring extracts (orange, vanilla, peppermint, raspberry, hazelnut, almond, etc.)
absorbic acid, ONLY if using a fruit extract (This is powdered vitamin C, found in the
pharmacy section. It brings out the flavor of the exract)
food coloring to match the flavoring that you choose.
Put white chocolate chips in a mixing bowl.
Bring sugar and cream to a boil.
Boil at medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the soft ball stage. Remove from heat.
Chop butter into small pieces and add to the hot mixture. Let melt.
Pour hot mixture over chocolate chips. Blend until smooth.
Dissolve a 1/2 teaspoon of absorbic acid into 1 teaspoons of water. Pour into the mixture along with 1/2 teaspoon of the extract of your choice. Blend and taste. If you want the flavoring stronger, add more absorbic acid and extract (doing the same procedure as before).
Add the food coloring and blend.
Once it cools off, coat your hands with powdered sugar, roll into balls and refrigerate. If the mixture is too soft to roll, refrigerate for an hour or so, then roll into balls and refrigerate again.
*To test the crème filling to see if it’s at the “soft ball” stage-have a glass of cold water ready on the counter and drizzle a small amount of mixture into the water. Then reach in and form the mixture into a ball with your fingers. When the ball of candy is removed from the cold water, the candy instantly flattens and runs between your fingers. This is the “soft ball” stage.

Tempering Chocolate

Chop your chocolate into small pieces. Put in a glass bowl and microwave 30 seconds or so (depending on your microwave). Stir, cook for another 30 seconds. Stir again. Repeat until chocolate is almost melted. Then stir together until it melts completely. The chocolate will still be too hot, so you need to bring the temperature down by adding more chocolate. Add a handful or two of more chopped chocolate and stir until it melts in. Continue stirring chocolate until it is cool. The way to know if it is cool enough, is to put a small amount on your upper lip. If you can feel its warmth, it’s too warm. Continue stirring until you can put it on your upper lip and not feel it.

Another filling recipe that I am dying to try is on my friend Lisa's food blog.

Cheeseball

Homemade Cheeseballs are the best!

8 oz. pkg cream cheese
2 C. sharp cheese (grated)
1/8 Cup finely chopped onion
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 cup parsley
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Combine first 5 ingredients, shape and then roll in parsley and chopped nuts.   Chill until ready to serve.
*Variations:
-omit the onion
-use dried onions
-use a Ranch Dressing packet in place of the onion and oregano

12 Proven Ways to Get Along With EVERYONE

Cute Roxanne shared this at a Women's Conference not too long ago.  She was giving a lesson on communication (which was a great lesson BTW)... These 12 rules have been swimming around in my head and I have really tried to take them to heart.

1. Before you say anything to anyone, ask yourself three things:   It is true?  Is it kind?   Is it necessary?

2. Make promises sparingly and keep them faithfully.

3. Never miss an opportunity to compliment or to say something encouraging to someone.

4. Refuse to talk negatively about others.  Don't gossip and don't listen to gossip.

5. Have a forgiving view of people. Believe that most people are doing the best they can.

6. Keep an open mind.  Discuss, don't argue.  It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable.

7. Forget about counting to 10. Count to 1000... before you do or say anything that could make matters worse!

8. Let your virtues speak for themselves.

9. If someone criticizes you, see if there is any truth to what they are saying: If so, make changes.  If there is no truth to the criticism, ignore it and live so that no one will believe the negative remark.

10. Cultivate your sense of humor!   Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.

11. Listen, listen, listen! Make it a practice to do more listening to than talking.

12. Do not seek so much to be consoled, as to console.  Do not seek so much to be understood, as to understand.  Do not seek so much to be loved, as to love.

Who knew taquitos were this easy?

Why is it that some things are really quite simple? Erika was so sweet to come and teach the boys how to make Taquitos. All we did was roll mashed potatos (yes that's right, mashed potatoes!) into a corn tortilla! Then we fried them in oil. Then we topped them with some yummy guacamole, lettuce, cheese, tomotos, sour cream, you know, the works. It was scrumptious.

Pictures with my point and shoot... no editing!

I just got back from a trip to Utah for Thanksgiving...after 15 hours in the car with 4 kids. I spent the car ride reading digital photography books and dreaming about all the cool shots I am going to be able to take when I FINALLY get my hands on a nice SLR... However, I think these pictures from the trip turned out well. These were taken with my Canon PowerShot SD1000 Digital ELPH. Do they call it an 'elph' to make you think of 'elf'? It is a tiny little camera, the size of a deck of cards... which I love because it's so easy to stick in your pocket and pull it out to capture that perfect shot. I used the Digital Macro feature on the close ups. It's the feature that has a tulip icon with a capitol D on it.  The top picture is from a fun restaurant we discovered with some killer Greek food.  My kids are used to me now taking pictures of their food before they can eat it... if the food looks good, it must be photographed.   Below is my baby, with the gorgeous mountain range in the background.  I love the detail on her lips.

My kids were decorating cookies and I love how this picture shows the detail on the cookie with the kids in the background.  The morning sunlight coming in through the window is perfect!  Below is Great Grandma's hand with my one year old's hand.  So precious.

Pigging out on pumpking pie.  I love the pies texture as well as my little ones cute freckles.  I'm so not there yet, but I enjoy these pictures.  So when do I need to start putting a little trademark on my photos?  I know I'm totally getting ahead of myself, but just wondering :) 

Date Rolls

When looking for a fun recipe to enhance our unit on the Middle East, I came across these.    Cooking with kids is such a great way to teach.  I have to hold back from just reading the recipe and telling the kids what to do.  I have the kids read the recipe and we work together to figure it out.  With these cookies, we discovered that making a pancake shape with the dough, and then adding the date mixture and pinching it closed, made for a fun filled cookie.  These were surprisingly easy and delicious.   Trust me, my mouth is watering right now just thinking about them.  Think butter shortbread with a mild date filling.  Be really careful not to overcook!

Date Rolls
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 stick less 1 tablespoon sweet butter, softened
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons milk

FILLING :

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 cups dates, pitted and chopped

Make the filling first. Melt the butter together with the water in a saucepan, then add the chopped dates. Cook on a low heat, stirring the dates and pressing down until they become a soft paste. Remove and cool.

To make the dough, sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Cut the soft butter into small pieces and work it into the flour with your fingers. Add the sugar and mix in thoroughly. Make a well in the center, pour in the oil and milk, then continue to knead the dough until pieces flake off the sides of the bowl. Knead a further 10 minutes, then roll into a ball and chill.

Now preheat the oven to 350° F and grease a large baking tray. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into three portions. Knead each well.

On a floured board roll out and flatten a ball of dough. Cut into a neat rectangle shape. Spread one-third of the date mixture thinly over the top. Roll the rectangle into a roll and continue to roll backwards and forwards until it grows longer and thinner. Slice this into flat, diagonal sections, about 1 1/2 inches thick. Repeat this process using the remaining balls of dough.  (Or make some filled cookies... yummmm)

Place all slices side by side on the greased baking sheet and prick the tops lightly with a fork. Bake for 25-30 minutes in the pre-heated oven until slightly colored (don't overcook). Allow to cool, then dust with powdered sugar.

Makes about 24 rolls.

From "Cooking the Middle Eastern Way" by Christine Osborne   http://www.ummah.net/family/recipes/date_rolls.html

Enrichment Night Cooking Group

This month's theme was Thanksgiving Sides.  It was awesome!!  We ate and ate and were stuffed.   I don't have all the recipes yet, but if there's one you want, let me know and I'll hunt it down.  Here's what we had.  Zucchini Casserole (me), Red Cabbage (Portia), Pumpkin Dessert (Cyndi), Cranberry sauce (Celina), Crescent Rolls (Andrea from Lisa), Green Bean Casserole (Holly), Zucchini with Parmesan (Steph), Broccoli Casserole (Terri Helms),

Here is my recipe for Zucchini Casserole. I diced the vegetables this time, instead of slicing or shredding and it was great.

ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE

1 box stuffing
5-6 cups thinly sliced or shredded zucchini
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 cup sliced or shredded carrots
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter, stir in stuffing mix. Spread 2/3 of the stuffing mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish. If desired, sautee or par boil onions, zucchini and carrots to soften. Stir with the soup and sour cream. Pour over stuffing and then top with remaining stuffing. Bake for 45 minutes.


LION HOUSE CRESCENT ROLLS
from Lisa's foodie blog


2 tablespoons yeast
2 cups water warm
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup dry milk powder
1 egg
5 1/2 cups flour
melted butter

Warm water to between 105 and 115 degrees. Mix yeast, water and 1 tsp of the sugar and let stand 5 minutes. Add the rest of the sugar, butter, salt, dry milk, egg, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat together till smooth. Gradually add remaining flour till soft dough is formed. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead till smooth and elastic. (It takes me about 15 minutes.) Place in greased bowl; cover and let rise till double in bulk. Punch down; divide into thirds. Roll out one-third of dough into circle; cut into 12 pie-shaped pieces. Starting at wide end, roll up each piece into crescent. Place on greased baking sheet with point on bottom. Repeat with remainder of dough. Brush tops with melted butter (or margarine). Let rise till double. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Makes 3 dozen rolls.

PUMPKIN PIE CAKE

1 (29 oz.) Can pumpkin
4 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 1/2 Cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 package yellow cake mix
1 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix the first 7 ingredients. Pour into an ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix over mixture and then pour melted butter over the top. Sprinkle with pecans.   Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Let cool and then refrigerate. It's great warm or cold. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Pinatas

We made these pinatas for our unit on Mexican Americans.  You won't believe how easy they are to make.  You make a solution of flour and water, (add a little salt to deter molding) you want a sticky, gluey consistency.  Then you blow up a balloon, rip strips of newspaper and dip them in the solution and then layer over the balloon.  After a day or two it will be dry and you can simply paint it or glue tissue paper to it.  We then cut a small whole in the top and added some prizes!  Fun and easy!  You wouldn't believe how hard it was to break!