Christmas

I haven't sat down to do a post in ages!!  I guess we are just busy with the everyday things.  Enjoying the Grands, doing a little traveling, enjoying the day to day tasks of living...

Our current focus is Christmas.  Most of the gifts are wrapped and under the tree.  We have gone to usable or consumable items.  Everyone has enough 'stuff' to dust.  So the presents are wearable, eatable, or tools. Toys also fall under tools for the littles - toys are their tools for learning, growing and fun.  The baking and making has started.  Today's making was Fantasy Fudge.

Fantasy Fudge
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
3 cups sugar
bring to a full boil and boil for 5 minutes - stirring

Turn off the heat and add:
12 oz of chocolate chips
7 oz marshmallow cream
1 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (you can use imitation - the price of real vanilla is off the charts!!)

Stir this all together and pour into a 9x13" pan. I like to do a parchment sling so it lifts out easily for cutting and packaging.

Hope you are having a beautiful season and enjoying some Christmas at your house as well.
alittlebird

Oatmeal Cookies

This morning I made some steel cut oats for our breakfast and doubled the batch.  Yummy breakfast and I had enough leftover to make some oatmeal cookies. (big smile here)

Oatmeal Cookies with leftover oatmeal
1 cup butter, cream with
1 cup brown sugar, and
1/2 cup white sugar
when well creamed add
4 eggs, one at a time mix well until light and fluffy
Now add:
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups leftover oatmeal or steel cut oats from breakfast
4 cups flour (2 3/4 cup wheat berries grinds to just the right amount of flour)

I use a cookie scoop or you can use a tablespoon to drop onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

add ins of your choice - I added raisins and pecans
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes

These are a soft cookie, very tasty and really with the whole grain oats and if you grind your own whole wheat flour a good source of fiber.  Makes 6 dozen

If you only have one cup of leftover oatmeal cut the recipe in half.