buttery coconut chocolate things

I have no idea where this idea appeared in my brain from, except that they are a lot like the yummy candy "Almond Joys". If you like those candies, you are sure to like these. I have been meaning to make peppermint patties and my own version of Girl Scout Samoa cookies, and I have all the ingredients, just not the time to make them yet. 

This recipe literally only took me 5 minutes....

I really do have a bad side to my eating habits. lol

I usually focus on eating healthy, major salads, and fruit, and steamed veggies, but every once in a while I will get a sweet craving, and for some unknown reason I always have the ingredients on hand to make something taste bud satisfying worthy :)

My cute new almost sister law even said to me over the weekend "So J.T. says you used to have a real sweet tooth" or something like that. That's right, I couldn't deny it, and I had to sheepishly tell her I still do! I just try really really hard to ingnore it. hehe

 

 Ya know when I think about it though, its in my genes......after all my mother and my grandmother claim to be made out of chocolate and butter, and so, its inevitable that a major case in the descendant line has to show up somewhere. :) (not to mention J.T. is the same way). 

These treats remind me of the birds nests you can make for Easter, only you would use Jelly beans or Jordan almonds

So, I was sitting here thinking, I really want to make a treat out of what I have, so I went in the kitchen and my hands started just putting things together. I had a 1/2 bag of chocolate chips... (The other half had been munched on earlier in the day) and a  bag of sweetened coconut. I started melting the chocolate in a frying pan on low heat.........

I added about a tsp. of butter, and a tbs of caro syrup. You don't need very much. I may have put to much butter in, in fact next time I am thinking of just putting butter flavor in.

Add 1/2 of the coconut

and mix until it looks like the picture above :)

spoon the mixture onto wax paper and plop the almond on top

put the wax paper and treats on a plate and shove em in the freezer for however long it takes for them to become cold and solid :)

then sprinkle the yummy pearls on the cookies to make them festive for easter :)

These are the pearls I used. I found them at Target actually in the food section by their cake mixes and stuff. I thought they were pretty :)

Make sure you save some treats for your hubby when he gets home from work, because they go fast!

Another way to do this would be to toast the coconut in the butter in the frying pan before adding the chocolate :) 

Butternut squash soup/chocolate covered cherries

So, we are to have butternut squash for dinner tonight. I started cooking squash for the first time last year, in all my 8 years of marriage, and it has become a favorite. I have been craving a squash soup, even though I have never tried squash soup, it just sounds soooooo good! I looked to see what a basic recipe would include as far as how to prepare the squash, and I found this great blog that teaches you how to cube butternut squash! One of those mysteries since I started cooking it. I always just washed the squash and then cut it in half, d-seeded it, and then placed each side into a 1/2 inch of water in a cookie sheet, and cooked it at 350 for 45 min. Worked great always, but then when I would scoop the squash out of the shriveled skins, I could never get it all out.
Cubing a butternut squash seemed hard enough, since it took all the force in my energy field just to cut through it once. Well, the Veggie Evangelist at this site:
http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-cut-butternut-squash.html
helped me feel peace of mind that it didn't take wonder woman to be able to cube a butternut squash. You should check out her site and recipes, they are awesome, and I think I will be referring to them often. :)
Anyway, so I am going to be making butternut squash soup, my own style for dinner, Pictures will for sure be posted.

Now, the chocolate covered cherries. I came across a recipe for mint patties. I love myself a big York Peppermint Pattie, my favorite, especially after its been in the freezer for an hour or two. I plan on making them, but I thought I would throw a twist on them and add some maraschino cherrys to the mix : ) I might not be able to add the peppermint, I forgot to buy some extract, but I have almond and vanilla, that I think will make them just as delicious!
Now the question is, do I keep all those chocolate covered cherries and make myself fat, or find someone to share them with :)

Stay tuned for pictures and recipes :)

Apple crumbly shortbread yum

I was craving shortbread. I had one stick of butter, and a can of apple pie filling. I know I need to make my own filling, but I couldn't waste the can in the pantry.
I thought about making an apple pie, but butter is so much better for you than crisco/shortening, so I decided to make make shortbread and put the apple stuff with it. Then I decided it would be yummy to make it crumbly :)

Shortbread:
1 1/4 cups of flour
1/2 cup butter
3 tbs of sugar

Mix the flour and the sugar together, then soften the butter just enough to cut through it easily. (Don't do what I did and melt it for 30 seconds in the microwave........it melted........all over.) Cut the butter into the flour and sugar with a pie thingy(sorry I forgot what it was called), like in my picture below, or a fork. Do not pack it together at all, make it as crumbly as possible, and mix the butter into all of it evenly. It should be slightly moist from the butter, mine wasn't because I lost a lot of butter in the microwave, so mine was slightly dry. But it still turned out good. Just remember if you get to much butter though, the crust wont stay together as well, and the same for to little butter.

take a 9 inch pan, and put a little more than half of the mix into the bottom, spread evenly and press slightly, so the crust will still be crumbly, but together, or if you like a more firm crust you can press it more.

Now add the pie filling, I actually wish I had more filling, the idea is to get the gooey part to kind of saturate the crust part. I sprinkled a tiny bit of water onto the syrupy part to help.

Now with the remaining crust crumbs, add 1/2 cup of sugar, some cinnimon and nutmeg if you want, and if its not real moist add a little bit more butter, mix it well, keeping the flour as crumbs

then sprinkle on top of the pie filling

so it looks like this......

taste tester #1 approves

taste tester #2, takes this stuff seriously

sprinkle a little sugar and cinnimon on top

Bake for 35 min. at 400*F

Then cool for 5 minutes, and serve! So Simple! So yummy! Next time I want to try Cherry, its my favorite. The only thing I wish I could have added to it is carmel sauce to drizzle on the bottom crust before adding the filling, and then a little on top too. :) I will post my invented carmel sauce with some carmel corn soon :) Its one of our favorite treats!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My husband is crafty.......and so very sweet!

So in my last post I mentioned how my husband always outdoes me when it comes to gifts. And its not because we are trying to have a contest or anything, he just naturally has sweet thoughts and ideas, and I am always just in awe with what he does for me for valentines day. I am pretty sure he gets that trait from his sweet mommy, but nonetheless he makes me feel like gold. I love him so much! I wanted to share a little bit about the card he wrote me too.....

He told me that even though its hard in this busy world to talk, listen, and hold each other, that he is glad we have each other for forever so he can always show me how much his love for me still grows. Thus the chocolate strawberry roses. :) Melted my heart :)

Dear husband you are so sweet and thoughtful, and that is what I love about you the most!

Here are some other things my heart has been tenderized with :)
Your soft sweet eyes, and face. They melt me
your ability to make me feel loved everyday, even when days are rough
Your love for our little girls
I love the way you laugh, especially at t.v. shows or commercials. You can find the humor in all things and it makes everyone else around you happy too.
You have a natural ability to make friends, and people think you are adorable(so do I)
I love that you support me in my thoughts and ideas and you let me treat you and our family with herbs and essential oils instead of modern medicine, and you inspire me to keep going with the healthy way of life. :)
You let me be the mom I want to be
I love that you have taken on two jobs to support us, I know its not easy, but you keep pluggin a long and you are on top of your responsibilities. It encourages me to try harder too.
I love that you take care of your body, and you have one of a kind blood pressure:) and health from jogging your whole life:) You appreciate your body, and it appreciates you.
I love that you take the kids on jogs and encourage them.
I love that you went and bought Adria a soccor ball and cones, to practice with her before her first game, and that you want to be to everything that the kids do.
I love that you participate in the kids nightly routine every night, and that you have read to the girls every night since our oldest was born, I know our kids will be forever close to you because of that.  It comes natural to you to be cute with them, and you are soooooooo cute with them. :)
I love that you have a personal calendar that you check every morning, and you follow through with your plans for the day. I love your lists and your schedules. :)
I love that I can ask anything of you and you are right there with me to figure it all out.
I love that you encouraged hypnobabies and a natural delivery with our little baby. I couldn't have asked for a more supportive husband during that time, and you still are.
I love that the gospel is important to you, and that you do what you are asked to do without complaining, I know heavenly father knows that about you, and trusts you with each calling he gives you. I think your new calling is absolutely perfect, and that the cub scouts will benefit so much with you being their friend.
I love that everything that is important in life is your passion, it shows and we all know who you are because of it.
I could go on and on, and I love that too :)
My love, my best friend, my companion, You are Amazing :)
Happy Valentines Day! I am super excited for our date tonight!!!
Love you!
Your wife :)