The DDA Trouble Free Zone Part 18

[Glynis]

Good morning!

Congrats on all the personal milestones last night.

Deb - You sound like you are miserable. After dealing with this for weeks now and not being able to figure out what is wrong has got to be terribly frustrating. that you find some relief, and soon!!

I got a phone call last night from my parents that my uncle died. He has been suffering from prostrate cancer for about 2 years. It was caught late, and over time had spread to his bones, lymph node and lastly his brain. He was my mom's sister's dh. They have one son still in the area, and 2 daughters, one in SC and one in FL. The girls were both home this week to see him. One had just left yesterday morning to go home and he died that night. It was like after seeing his kids he was ready to go. They don't know when the funeral will be, as it depends on when the girls can get back home (might be difficult with Christmas flights), so I don't know if I will make it home or not. Nicholas' last day of school is Wed (half day) so it could feasibly work out. Provided the kennel has room for the dogs. I will feel really guilty if I don't go, but some things just can't be helped.

to you and your family, Tammi! This is a hard thing to go through at any time of the year, but probably hardest at Christmas time! My thoughts and prayers are with you all!

 

[Glynis]

To all who are trying the cookies from cake mixes: Bravo!!! They are fast, wonderful and so versatile! I love to do red velvet cake cookies, and spread them with cream cheese frosting! Also good is an orange cake mix with vanilla chips or vanilla frosting (kind of like a dreamsicle). You can also roll the white or yellow cookies in colored sugar before baking and they look pretty. Have fun experimenting with them!

I'm off to church in about 25 minutes, so I thought I'd quickly catch up before having to leave. Looks like I'm going to be doing more goody making than I thought. Alan found my stash that I made last week, and ate it all. No more chocolate popcorn, or pretzel wreaths. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow? Yup, going to the store for more ingredients. I have to make more peanut brittle, too. Luckily, the microwave recipe doesn't take much time, and I can speed up the cooling process by putting the trays in the garage to cool down. Looks like I'm going to have to do another 6 or 7 batches to make enough for all our neighbors AND Alan!

Well, I'm off to Church. Talk to you all later today!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Glynis - Good luck with your baking! I had to laugh about putting the brittle in the garage to cool. If we had a garage it wouldn't be any cooler out there than it is inside! Our temps today will be in the mid to high 70's!

 

[Pooh67_68]

Thank you
Hope you have a wonderful time on your trip. I think I have John convinced to give Christmas time a try.

Welcome home, Heidi. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Pooh67_68]

Tammi

for you and your family.

 

[PrincessLeighsDaddy]

Thanks for all the ideas that you have come up with for gifts for my DW. I will take any and all of them into consideration.
We ended up going to the mall last night after DW got home from work. I did manage to find a couple of things for her. Leighanna picked out a necklace and earring set that has her birthstone in it, so I know my wife will definitely enjoy that gift.
We ate dinner at the mall, Chick-fil-a, and then left to go see some Christmas lights. We checked out this place Woodland Lights since the weather has been and continues to be unseasonably warm, it was actually a nice time. Leighanna loved it and saw Santa again. (Thankfully no request for a Butterscotch pony)
Saw some more lights on our way home, and stopped off to get a few groceries to tide us over, until we plan what we are definitely bringing over to my brother's house for our Christmas family get together.

 

[PrincessLeighsDaddy]

Tammi, sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[PNO4TE]

Elin - I hope you feel better in time for your trip! It doesn't sound like you will have much time to rest before you leave!

Thanks, Elizabeth. The ibuprofen seemed to have done the trick and I think the extra 3 hours of sleep this morning after taking it didn't hurt either! One of the reasons I enjoy driving to WDW at Christmas is that Kathrin and Bob do a lot of the driving and I sleep most of the way. Then I am rested for our vacation. Of course, this year they are both busy too, so maybe less sleep time for me this year.

I went grocery shopping and came home and made the quick and easy turtle candy from the DIS quick and easy thread. They turned out very well and Bob and Kristin are giving them a thumbs up. I am also in the process of baking a gingerbread/sugar cookie roll-up slice and bake cookie recipe that I found on the Pillsbury site last year and never got around to making. I will let you all know how it works, as it is also very easy and looks yummy.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

Hi everyone-im back from my day of shopping and just watned to come say hi...its football time so ill be watching the eagles/giants game, which is a huge deal around here!
Other than that, no plans for tonight..i might watch Elf, since I have never seen that..hope you guys are having a great day

 

[PNO4TE]

Jen. Glad you are having a good day!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

Jen. Glad you are having a good day!

hello
how are you doing today

 

[PNO4TE]

As promised... Here is what I have been baking today. The firt picture is of the Quick and Easy Turtles using pretzel squares, Rolos candy and pecan halves:

The second is of Gingerbread Pinwheels.

Here is the recipe:

Gingerbread Pinwheels

1 18-ounce roll refrigerated gingerbread cookies (I could only find 16.25 oz.)
1 18-ounce roll refrigerated sugar cookies (I used 16.25 oz.)
sugar (I used turbinado sugar because of the color and texture of the raw sugar.)

Place a 17x12-inch sheet of waxed paper onto a cookie sheet. Cut gingerbread cookie dough in half lengthwise. Arrange halves, side by side, on the waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Top with second sheet of waxed paper. Roll dough to form a 15x9-inch rectangle. (Since I could not find the larger tube of gingerbread dough, I made my rectangles smaller and got fewer cookies from this recipe.)

Repeat on work surface with sheets of waxed paper and sugar cookie dough. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. Lifting dough with waxed paper, invert sugar cookie dough rectangle onto gingerbread rectangle. Gently pat doughs together. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Remove and discard waxed paper from top of dough. Using remaining waxed paper and starting with 1 long side, roll up stacked dough jelly-roll fashion, without rolling paper into roll. Wrap roll of dough securely with waxed paper. Freeze 45 minutes or until very firm.

Heat over to 350-degrees F. Unwrap dough; cut into 4 equal rolls. Work with 1 roll at a time; keep remaining 3 rolls in the freezer until ready to slice. Cut each roll into 1/4-inch-thick slices; place 2 inched apart on ungreased cookie sheets, reshaping into rounds as necessary. Sprinkle each cookie with sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets.

Makes 5 dozen cookies.

 

[PNO4TE]

hello
how are you doing today

I am doing just fine! As you can see I have been busy. I am trying another new recipe and will let you know if it works out or not!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

I am doing just fine! As you can see I have been busy. I am trying another new recipe and will let you know if it works out or not!

busy busy!!!!!! I hope you like the new recipe!

 

[Glynis]

Glynis - Good luck with your baking! I had to laugh about putting the brittle in the garage to cool. If we had a garage it wouldn't be any cooler out there than it is inside! Our temps today will be in the mid to high 70's!

That would make it a bit harder! It's quite a blizzard here, today! Driving to church was quite exciting! Now, though, I'm home and plan to stay here. The kitchen is halfway cleaned, and I'm taking a break. I plan to get the rest of it done, so tomorrow can be spent baking. I know I'll end up going to the store at least once tomorrow, so I'm planning that trip now. I have to make a very detailed list, or I just wander aimlessly grabbing whatever looks good. That's just not good for our bank account.

 

[PNO4TE]

And here is my final batch of cookies for today.

These are called Peanut Butter Tarts and are also from the Quick & Easy thread. All they have is refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough and Reese's miniature peanut butter cups. They taste good, but are a pain to get out of the tart pans, even with them greased.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Elin - I don't own a rolling pin. I know you are shocked. I bought the ingredients to make a Jello thing with a graham cracker crust, so we'll see how that goes. DH said the brownies have tough edges, so they were probably done the first time I looked at them and didn't need that extra 5 minutes.

Glynis - Be careful driving around in the snow! They are saying we will get a "cool down" to the mid 50's in the next several days, along with a lot of rain. I hate rain.
I just came back from wandering aimlessly through the grocery and it cost us $90. But last weekend I wandered at Sam's and that was $150. Those large quantities can add up fast! I did get some good deals today, and now we have stuff for dinner for the next several nights. It works so much better to get a bunch of groceries on the weekend so we don't have to go after work, but we don't always manage the big grocery trip on weekends. The grocery had "buy 1, get 1 free" items today. Lunch meat, cereal, potato chips. DH can get chips for free, but he never thinks to do that. Today I had a coupon to get a free bag, and they were b1g1 free, so I got 2 bags for free! I used a handful of coupons so I got quite a bit of stuff for the money.

DH is making pasta with meat sauce for dinner, and I think he is going to get the tree down and see what we can do with it. I really want a new tree skirt & topper, but I will behave and get them the day after Christmas.

 

[PNO4TE]

Elin - I don't own a rolling pin. I know you are shocked.

Somehow, Elizabeth, I am not surprised. HOWEVER... it sounds as if the cooks on the DDA are rubbing off on you a bit.

Next time, take the brownies out when you smell them! I bet they will be perfectly baked then.

 

[Glynis]

My kids are now in agreement: their favorite new treat is the chocolate covered popcorn! We've tried the white almond bark and the brown almond bark, and the kids like the brown the best. I am going to try another batch of the white, and drizzle it with a melted Symphony bar with toffee bits. It was recommended on the treats thread, and I thought I'd give it a try.

I've got bags full of Vicki's gingerbread cookie dough in the freezer, and it's time to pull it out and start baking it up! Tonight would be a great time to do it! There's nothing like the smell of gingerbread while it's snowing outside. Then it's really Christmas!

There was a new recipe posted on the treats thread that sounds yummy! They are called Cake balls. Basically, you make a cake mix according to package directions, crumble it into a large bowl, mix 1/3-1/2 of a can of frosting in until it's a doughy consistency. Make balls out of it and freeze them for a while until they are pretty solid, then dip them in chocolate and decorate however you want. I've got some cake mixes, so I might try that, too. I'm telling you, that thread is so dangerous! There are so many tasty things I want to try!

 

[Blueeyes101817]

I am exhausted and cant believe its only 730!! I just put ELF in since I have never seen that..
The next week is never easy for my family..My aunt cathy died Dec 17 around midnight 8 years ago..So its been a pretty hard day today...And if that wasnt enough, we found out my grandma is getting surgery on Jan 12, the day after Steve leaves for Iraq...I guess im just blah tonight, so i apologize..i have a feeling that after t omorrow, i will be single again, so its just one thing after another lately.

hope you all are having a good day