MommyCoddle

Holiday Baking Tryouts

I  sat down with my December issue of Country Home magazine yesterday and found a recipe that I was dying to try--Microwave Caramels. I've tried out a few candy-type recipes in the last few weeks trying to find something that meets my criteria of yummy, simple and easy-- something I can pass out during the holidays to friends. 
Here's the picture that inspired me:

cute little caramels, dipped in sprinkles (a family favorite), and so easy that two cute little high school girls could manage the recipe all by themselves.

So for starters, here's the recipe listed in Country Home magazine:

MICROWAVE CARAMELS:
nonstick foil (or buttered foil)
1 c. butter
2 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. light corn syrup
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 t. vanilla.

Line a 9x9 baking pan with nonstick (or buttered foil). In a large microwave-safe bowl combine butter, br. sugar, c. syrup and condensed milk; cover loosely with parchment paper. Microwave on high for 4-5 minutes or until butter starts to melt. Whisk to combine mixture. Microwave on high for 4 or 5 minutes more. Whisk well. Microwave an additional 4 to 5 minutes. Whisk gently. Add vanilla.
Pour caramel mixture into the prepared pan. Chill for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until just firm. Using foil, lift block of caramel from the pan. Use a buttered knife to cut into one inch squares.

First of all the chilling process took far longer than the one to one and a half hours. I left them in the fridge while Emma took her riding lesson(one and a half hours exactly). When I came back they were barely firm. I waited another hour--still not firm. So I put them in the freezer. ( I was working during naps--no patience). After about ten minutes I took them out.
I tried cutting the cute little squares and they just weren't coming out of the pan in the cute square shapes. They cut beautifully, but the littlest tug (or the heat from my hands) made them sloth into goopy shapes. As soon as I set the cut "squares on the cutting board, they began to sag into round flat blobs.

So, I decided to improvise. I got out some confectioner's sugar, dipped my hands in it like flour and began rolling them into little balls. I figured they'd be cute as little buckeye-like caramels, partially dipped in white chocolate and sprinkles. They still sagged into tired little blobs.

But, I kept pushing on, thinking maybe these little blogs were kind of cute. They had sort of a chocolate turtle candy shape to them. It could work. So I melted the  white chocolate, filled a bowl with sprinkles and plowed on. The minute the caramel hit the chocolate it lost all ability to hold itself together.

The warm chocolate pulled at the caramels and by the time I got them into the sprinkles they were oblong. I tried about ten of these, looked at the two trays of blobs I had sitting on my counter waiting for dipping and then threw in the towel.

(this one is exceptionally bad, the first one I dipped.)

So, if you're interested, I have half a block of caramels and about thirty caramel blobs clogging up the counter in my kitchen right now. Help yourself. (and by the way, they do taste pretty good, but one is about my max.)

So I hate to discourage you from trying this recipe. In fact, I'd love for someone else to try it and tell me what happens. Am I missing some key element that would have made this recipe one hundred percent better? Should I have chilled it longer? Chilled in between steps? Go for it. And let me know if you do.

But, I don't think I'll be ringing anyone's doorbell this Christmas with a cute little tin of microwave caramels in hand....

The Catch-up in pictures (and words)

***first a quick random item: sometimes when I sit down to my laptop at my desk (which also doubles as my sewing table) I look under the table, feeling with my foot for the sewing machine pedal--as if I need to use it, in order to make my laptop work....odd, I know.**

Well, we've returned from the holidays feeling about as stuffed and satisfied as these little cheeks are with fluffy, white marshmallows. The girls never recovered in time from their colds, and in all reality were probably at their worst while we were away. But we still managed to leave with the full, satisfied feeling after a good weekend with family.

Emma quietly summed up our car ride to my mom's house in her notebook:

"Daddy crying because he can't find a place to get a cup of coffee."
(it made for a high-stress first hour of our roadtrip)

"Daddy happy because he finally found a cup of coffee at the gas station."
(But a very BAD cup of coffee.)

Meanwhile she also left this note for us when we got home.

For those of you who need a translation (like her own mother did)--the sign says, "BUY GOLDFISH". I guessed it was a stove and a fish, but silly me, ha!--it's a cash register and a goldfish! Isn't it funny how even her images for the two words are drawn backwards-with the cash register (buy) on the right, and the fish (goldfish) on the left--just like we all discussed at the end of this post.
She's been hounding us about this for weeks, and I imagine Santa will get involved.

The background of this picture is part of my next project. But instead of writing a giant post today, I'll save that for tomorrow.
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and you're joyously looking forward to the holidays ahead. I'm feeling very inspired by yesterday's Pay-It-Forward show on Oprah and a short little snippet I read in a magazine about a women who sewed tote bags and filled them with toiletries for women in her local homeless shelter. Yesterday was the first time I have made it through an entire oprah show in a long time. I couldn't peel myself away from all the inspiring acts of generousity. Then a quick trip to target this morning brought all of that consumer-driven, spending-overload smack in my face. I really want to find a way to bring  that spirit of  giving, generosity, and love into our holiday, especially for my children. 

turkey(s) with stuffing

I'm still working my way down that to-do list. Yesterday was 'place cards' for the kids at thanksgiving dinner. My place cards are pretty non-traditional--these stuffed turkeys will be at each plate along with a little name tag strung around their middles.

There are five turkeys in the clutch (brood? what do you call a nest full of turkeys?) And the worst part was cutting out those knobby-kneed legs.
Emma is having a hard time distinguishing between turkeys and chickens. Every time we pass one of those over-the-top inflatable turkey yard ornaments, she laughs and says, "mom, did you SEE that chicken??!!" And no, Emma, these are not the chickens for the kids at Thanksgiving. These are the turkeys--for the tenth time!!

(this one's my favorite because I put his feet on backwards)

Perhaps her forgetfulness is closely related to the fact that "it hurts inside her horehead (forehead)", the skin below her nose matches the color of her rosy-red lips, and I listen to her sniff and snort every twelve seconds. Yes, two days before thanksgiving, I'm nursing two babes back to health. Mary has pretty much the same symptoms as Emma, along with a nasty fever. I like those fevers because it means her body is fighting off the sickness. (right, mom?) We barely made it to the drug store for grape Tylenol and the library for a few movies before everyone collapsed in tears in the parking lot. (I did manage to hold back tears of my own, tho').

Now, they're both under quilts on the sofa watching Kipper. Emma is sucking her thumb and rubbing her belly and Mary is sucking her hand (yes, her hand--just below the thumb) and rubbing back and forth right under her nose.  My little lumps on the sofa. Eventually, I'll drag them off for chicken noodle soup and naps....And I'll take the quiet afternoon at home to get laundry done and my pies and bread made before we head to western Maryland on Thursday.

Placecards: check! ::and a friday favorite

The place card leaves are finished as of last night. I was able to get a little sewing done during Mary's nap, and then miraculously, while Dan was away in the evening at a class at church, I was able to finish them. The miracle-part being that the girls were playing happily and quietly long enough for me to get more sewing done. I can't remember the last time I sewed during the 7-8:30 hour.... When I originally set out to these name cards I wanted to make something that people could take home with them. So instead of writing on the card stock side of the leaves, I just attached a narrow strip of paper for people's names that they can remove later in order use the leaves for something else.

Emma didn't nap yesterday and instead worked on sewing a little pouch. Unfortunately, no nap caught up with her quickly and she had little patience for her mistakes. So, it became a team effort to get the project done with me coaching her on almost every stitch. I also realized in the process that at this age, it's easier for Emma to do overcast stitches, going round and round, instead of trying to do a regular straight stitch. She gets very confused about what side of the fabric she's supposed to be pushing the needle through, gets lots of knots and tangles and before you know it she's tossing the pouch across the bed in frustration. But when she knows that the needle always pushes through from the bottom, it's much easier for now.

The fabric she picked frayed really easily, so I stitched up the sides with my machine for extra strength. Then she picked some ribbon out of my stash for a handle--and of course she picked the thinnest, tulle type of ribbon that I had. But we made it work.

These pictures are so orange because it was such a "floody" day yesterday. They were all taken by desk light--no natural light to speak of.

And before I go--a friday favorite: my new tube of  Hemp Hand Protector from The Body Shop. I went to a Body Shop home party on Sunday and this is one of the things that I came home with. In the wintertime, (well all the time really), I get really dry hands. The kind where I put lotion on and within minutes you'd never know I'd used it. They just soak everything in. But this stuff is fantastic. It lasts forever--as in the next day, even after dinner dishes, my hands were still soft; and it smells yummy. It is an earthy smell (as in earth mother) that isn't overpowering or in your face.
I highly recommend it. Maybe I need to become a consultant....

My sister's on her way as we speak for a quick weekend visit. I'm looking forward to sunny skies and playing hard.
Happy Weekend!

***ETSY SHOP SALE ends Sunday***

a glimpse of what's to come

Today, I was sitting on Emma's bed, (watching a dance party that I was invited to) when I caught her checking her self out in the mirror, fussing with her hair, tucking it behind her ears, patting her little pink cheeks. When she saw me watching her, she gave me her best, "sto-op!", sassy-teenager exclamation. Whoa, a glimpse into my future.
Also in my future, are thanksgiving table name cards. I'm thinking of bringing back these fabric leaves that I stitched on cardstock awhile back for dacia's tag swap. I was going to post a picture of the Fall fabrics I was pulling out for these, but just wanted to get started. I need to close down the old laptop and get busy. It is the perfect day for sewing--heavy rain, dark skies....Emma is sitting on my bed hand-sewing a pouch. Now the only thing missing for the two of us is some music and a little cup of tea.

oh, and have you seen abby's polka-dot garland? I've got to get my hands on a circle punch like that! I love it!

and I feel so lucky:  I snatched up one of melissa's fabulous box bags in exchange for some pendants and such from my shop. thank you, melissa. I can't wait.

a break in the rain

The forecast is calling for rain for the next few days, so we took the opportunity to get out this morning. Just a simple walk around the farm looking for fall color:

::emma's basket::

::mary's basket:: which sadly came home empty ::

::climbing the stone wall::

::how many pets in this picture?::the entourage that scampered along with us::
answer here

::more pretty pictures from this set here::

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I have a to-do list this week that's taking up three pages of my notebook.
My list is also overflowing with prenatal appointments (all made as of an hour ago), thanksgiving pie-baking, place card making, craft projects and homeschool lesson ideas.
I forgot how much I love making lists. I've been neglecting them lately--just letting the 'to do's' float around in my head. Big mistake. Gosh, it feels good to cross something off a list.  And I love it when my list is filled with tasks I don't dread.

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and on another topic: how do you mac users upload your photos to flickr? do you use the exporter in iPhoto, or do you use flickr's exporting tool? I've been using the one in iPhoto, and it takes forever and sometimes won't finish the job. It shouldn't take this long. Is there a better way that you can share with me?? help!

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hope you're all doing well and enjoying preparations for next week's holiday. I'm a little behind in my blog reading, but I'm slowly making progress on catching up with all of you. You all bring inspiration to me every day.
Happy Tuesday!

fluff and foil.

:::the fluff:::

::the foil:::
you know it's suspicious when your kids are playing silently together in the back bedroom. I just walked in to find that they were "wrapping Christmas presents" with my roll of aluminum foil. My whole roll. My fairly new whole roll. All gone. Foil everywhere.

getting in touch with my preppy teen horse-girl, farmer's market, trendy mom-self.

Phew. Can you tell I have lots of projects on the brain?
It seemed like last week was one filled with phone calls and emails packed with possibility. For starters, I finally got in touch with the manager of the farmer's market. They are definitely still interested in hiring me to blog for the market, but now I need to prepare a presentation to present to the board members next week. It's a mixed bag of people--including some who want nothing to do with the internet or email and have never even heard of a blog. But I'm excited to share with them my ideas and yours. I have such a passion for farmers markets and all that they stand for. And I'm thrilled to be part of it.
Then another possible project came up that will definitely involve me getting in touch with my preppy-teen-horse-girl side. A friend in the horse community got in touch with me about working on personalizing horse blankets, saddle covers and other "girlie" accessories. Apparently, these girls like all their horsey attire to match, even down to the cuff (that's my idea). So we're working on patterns, collecting ideas, and gathering ribbons in all those preppy colors like hot pink and green and red and navy stripes. I've been googling things like 'preppy horse ribbon' and 'matching saddle pads and covers' and 'teen horse apparel' to get myself in the proper mindset.

And if those two things aren't enough to keep my brain happily busy, I've also heard about another possibility at a trendy mother/baby store downtown. They opened this summer and the shop owners-a mother/daughter team-are looking for some unique handmade items from local crafters. So I've been brainstorming ideas of items that I want to take down to the store to share. The girl who told me about the shop had already told the owners about some of my projects and they are interested in seeing things. Honestly, I'm feeling very intimidated by it all. I've never approached a shop owner like this before, and I'm not exactly sure the best way to go about it. Knowing she already has some interest in what I'm doing helps. But I think I'd like to put together some sample work. I'm thinking embroidered tees and onesies....(is embroidered the right word? when I say that I think some people think of machine-embroidery instead of fabric embroidery) and maybe some personalized totes and cuffs. Ugh.

We'll see. I think I'll just start putting things together and see what comes of it. I raided my overflowing scrap basket today and began checking out some of these blank baby tees that I really like.

So, there's much going on in my brain these days. But it is all very exciting to me. I've really been looking for opportunities to make a little bit of extra income on the side, so maybe one of these possibilities would help.

Oh, and that first picture is Emma's pencil can. Yesterday, she opted to clean her room instead of nap. She's at the age now, where she's napping about three days a week and the other days she spends some time in her room 'resting'. She got this mad cleaning buzz that included reorganizing her pencils into said container and setting the dinner table. She even managed to get some "school" done with me, too.

Do any of you mother's of lefty's out there notice that your children write their words and letters backwards? She can spell certain words, like her name, perfectly, but they are mirror-image backwards. Today I had her putting plastic alphabet letters in order and half of them she placed down were backwards. I'm not worried. I really think it must be a left-handed thing that shel'll grow out of. But I'm wondering if anyone else notices this same quirk with their children....?

A good swap indeed.

What better way to start your week than with good mail, no?

Last week, I received a package from my partner for the handmade jewelry swap. I was lucky enough to be paired with the organizer and jewelry-making genius of Jo. She was such a sweet partner and made me the perfect necklace from vintage buttons.

We both agreed how intimidating it is to create jewelry for someone else. When I make my pendants, I'm almost always making something that I like, or that I would wear, but when you create with someone specific in mind, there's a lot more second-guessing of your choices involved.
Jo also included some yummy organic milk chocolate (gone.) and one of her lovely wood block prints.

Jo, it was all perfect. Totally me. You hit it right on! Thank you. thank you.

been doing:

I thought I was making a blogging comeback last week, but it looks like it's already Thursday and here's my first post of the week. I haven't been reading blogs, writing posts, answering emails. The computer and I are strangers this week. But that's okay, because lots of good stuff is getting done in the meantime:

Do your kids have these faber-castell colored pencils? They're fantastic. You can draw with them and then take a wet paintbrush over your work to make it look more like a watercolor painting.

Anyway, we have been busy this week. Finishing up Halloween costumes at the last moment--bagging the sheep costumes for the budget-friendly, but family-favorite hay bale costumes. I promise pictures will come soon. I just have to reenact it all since I wasn't carrying a camera on the day of. (**see below**)

Packing up orders from my etsy shop and sending swaps over the ocean.

Sewing projects that fall more in the category of clothing rescue and reconstruction than anything else. Cutting off stained cuffs and adding a little trim, patching knees and fixing torn seams.

Cleaning out two closets to finally give my husband a place to hang his clothes in our small home. I've been putting it off because it meant going through my four shelves of fabric and sewing supplies and condensing it all into one shelf that would fit in my own closet. Ouch. It meant keeping out only the things that I absolutely LOVED and thought I would use soon. It was kind of like sorting through my fabric by season--leaving out corduroy and browns, reds and mossy greens. But it was worth it just to give him some space of his own.

I've also caught up on ALL my laundry and managed to keep my house somewhat picked up--a new goal of mine--to always have the house pop-in ready or at least pretty close to that.

And of course, we've also been doing the most important things like sitting around the table and drawing silly ed emberley drawings, and painting pictures with just dots of paint and going for walks and raking leaves and picking up sticks and lingering too long in bed....the things that make life worth doing.

**(the hay bale reenactment: candy bribe required for this photoshoot)**