Open House is getting closer. We’re counting down. Just a week left. Today our older son and his family came to help with decorating and cleaning. Along with our two daughters, DH, and my sister Genny, a lot was accomplished! The downstairs is almost entirely ready. Besides the kitchen, of course. Cleaning it for company has to wait until I have more baking and candy-making done. The front porch needs some decorating, too.
Hard to believe the temps reached 68 this afternoon. And will drop to 23 tonight. The twins took the opportunity to play outside for a while.
Today, I made the dough for Icebox Oatmeal Cookies. Tomorrow, I will cut and bake the rolled cookie dough.
I finished the Mocha Truffles today, dipping them in dark chocolate.
Then drizzled them with some light chocolate and some white candy coating…
The Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread cookies are in the freezer. They will be thawed the day before the Open House and then frosted with green frosting and drizzled with dark chocolate.
I tried a new recipe today. Cranberry Orange Cookies. They have a nice orange holiday flavor, thanks to the amount of orange zest in the recipe. They are packed and ready for the freezer. I am wondering if the flavors will mellow a bit once frozen and then thawed.
Genny worked on the chalkboard tree.
When we got it to this point, DD told us “no more tweaking.” I think it’s done!
DD used a chalk marker to draw snowflakes on the dining room windows. She is going to do the top half of the window later.
More updates soon!
~~Rhonda
It’s Saturday and we are now in an all out dash to finish decorating and baking for the Open House. We had a great Thanksgiving Day with our family. Our older son and his wife cooked a lot of the delicious feast, including a wonderful turkey. I really enjoy watching them work in the kitchen together.
My Dad and my sister Paula joined us. We were so happy to have them here!
Great-Pa enjoyed watching the girls make candy turkeys. We’ve been making these for years. Not sure where the idea came from originally, but it is a Thanksgiving tradition that has now been passed down to our grandchildren.
They made a turkey for each place setting.
Snow White gave a pre-feast show by climbing the ladder and singing “Ten Little Turkeys.” Before dinner she sequestered herself in our bedroom, behind closed doors, to practice.
During the afternoon, we worked on the living room Christmas tree. DH put on the beads, I did some of the popcorn and cranberry strings, and the twins put on a lot of ornaments. They had a great time!
Currently, the chalkboard tree is being chalked, the addition hall and aluminum tree are being decorated, DD#3’s tree is being decorated, and I am baking. A lot going on. I’ll post a progress report later.
~~Rhonda 🙂
Monday sure rolls around quickly. This past week, I made Date Balls (one of my personal favorites!),
Raspberry Truffles,
and Elfin Bites (shortbread)
They are stored away in the freezer, awaiting the big day! In the meantime, here’s the menu for this week.
Monday
Pork Chops
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Steamed Broccoli
Homemade Biscuits
Tuesday
Chicken and Black Bean Rice Casserole
Garden Salad
Wednesday
Cheeseburgers
Homemade Buns
Pretzels
Thursday
Heat Free Chili
Friday
Fridge Food
Saturday
Spicy Shredded Pork
Homemade Buns
Veggies and Dip
Sunday
Chicken Tortillini Soup
Cornbread
You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda
We had a fun weekend. Genny came to help with Christmas decorating. We put up the tree in the craft room that holds my Christmas Notebook exchange ornaments. We also finished the glass tree in the upstairs guest room. Genny started on the chalkboard tree.
Here’s the chalkboard tree in 2012.
And 2013.
This year, we’re doing a nativity theme. I drew patterns and Genny worked on the angels.
The twins and their family came Sunday afternoon for lunch and a birthday celebration. The girls turned seven last week. Growing faster all the time!
My daughter-in-law put up the nativity. She also cleaned out my fridge, which is a huge gift in my book. One of my least favorite housekeeping chores.
I’m a day late getting the menu out, but I finished it today.
Monday
Spicy Shrimp
Rice
Sauted Cabbage
Tuesday
Chicken and Barley Soup
I used chicken stock instead of water and chicken bouillon.
Wednesday
Pork Chops
Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Carrots
Thursday
Cheeseburgers
Homemade Buns
Garden Salad
Friday
Pan Seared Tilapia
Asparagus
Fried Potatoes
Saturday
BBQ Shredded Chicken
Homemade Buns
Coleslaw
Sunday
Tortellini Alfredo
Garden Salad
Garlic Bread
You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday.
~~Rhonda
Wednesday I had the honor of hosting a Christmas card shadow box class for five young ladies and their Moms. We had a great time and they all finished at least one box.
It was a lot of fun to walk them through the process. It was also fun to see how each one placed her own stamp on her box, making something that reflected her own tastes and talents.
We may plan another craft day, and try another Christmas ornament. Thanks, girls and Moms, for a fun day!
~~Rhonda
I have a board on Pinterest that is just for truffle recipes. I pin other recipes there, too, that I think might work for truffles. This recipe for Cherry Fudge is one of those recipes. The picture on the web site ShugarySweets.com was so inviting. They looked delicious. Here’s what I ended up with.
Cherry Fudge Truffles
For dipping:
Snow White gave me a little help with chipping the white chocolate bars.
Place white chocolate and marshmallow cream in a mixing bowl. No need to stir it at this point.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter with sugar, cream and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
Add cherry gelatin and boil for five minutes. Remove from heat.
Pour hot mixture over the chocolate and marshmallow cream and beat with whisk attachment until smooth and creamy. When all chocolate is melted, fold in dried cherries.
Pour in a greased 9-inch pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
The fudge will be too stiff to use a scoop. I used a baby spoon and broke off small pieces.
Wearing gloves, I rolled the pieces into balls. It worked well.
Dip the truffles into melted chocolate. Top with a pink design or sprinkles. I used white candy coating tinted with pink gel food coloring to make the pink topping.
If you have dipping chocolate left over, spread it on a piece of aluminum foil. When it hardens, break it into chunks and store it in a jar or a zippered plastic bag. Mark it with the date so you know how old it is when you pull it from the pantry one day. This chocolate can be chipped and put into cookies, melted and used for dipping, or cut into squares that are perfect for S’mores.
This recipe is a keeper. When I made it this first time, I did not chop the dried cherries. Next time I will. It was in the fridge for about 24 hours. Too hard to scoop, but it worked fine for rolling. Next time, I think I’ll try it after an hour or two in the fridge and see if it can be scooped at that point.
~~Rhonda
We had a busy weekend with Christmas decorating and Christmas cooking going on. Our daughter-in-law came over on Sunday with the grands to help out. Our middle daughter and oldest grand-daughter put up the Three Kings Tree in the library. I made three kinds of truffles and enjoyed having the company.
We also found a puppy in our garage this weekend. It’s a ten week old pit bull mix, according to the vet. DD took the puppy to the vet’s office this morning to see if it has an ID chip. No ID, and a bit underweight, but healthy. We are waiting to see if an owner shows up. If not, the puppy has had several offers for a new home, though our daughters are doing some major lobbying/begging to keep the dog here. After playing Sunday afternoon with Snow White and Rose Red, Puppy was worn out and fell blissfully asleep.
With all three daughters home at the same time this afternoon, we opted for their favorite take-out for supper. The menu for the rest of the week follows:
Monday
Pizza
Tuesday
Roast Beef sandwiches
or Leftover Chicken Taco Chili
Leftover Cornbread
Wednesday
Chicken and Rice
Garden Salad
Thursday
Pork Chops in the Crock Pot
Green Beans
Baked Apples
Friday
That Potato and Hamburger Soup with the French Onion Dip in it that Mom Used to Make
Saturday
Fridge Food
Sunday
Lasagna
Homemade Rolls
Broccoli
Green Salad
You’ll find more menu and recipe ideas at Menu Plan Monday. The site also contains a lot of help for setting up your own weekly menu plans.
~~Rhonda