Small Batch Butter Cream Easter Eggs....hippity hoppity

And Yummity!
I follow recipes...but after making a treat so many times, I kind of fly out on my own and see what happens. Sometimes, it is a true failure. Other times, I am pretty pleased with the change.
I have been making Easter Eggs for like 3 years now. Peanut Butter, Coconut, Butter Cream...all covered in chocolate.
Yesterday, my husband brought home an egg from a local HUGE catholic church, and of course the ingredients were right on the packaging, so I got out what the list said in small portions and went to town.
1 package cream cheese
1 stick softened butter( make sure it is SOFT, it doesnt make for a good consistency if it isn't)
Powdered sugar, I didnt measure, i just know when I mix on high what it should look like...lol...my guess...2 to 2 1/2 cups.
1 tbsp of vanilla
1 tsp of salt
Mix em up... I use a hand mixer and a spatula...make sure it isnt chunky with either butter or cream cheese or sugar...no chunks.
If it seems to "thin", add more powdered sugar.
Spoon a heaping tablespoon onto wax paper, you should make about 12 egg mixtures.
THEN, YOU MUST WAIT!
You have to freeze the uncoated eggs  for a few hours until they are very firm and not sticky, so that they coat easily

Next, pour 1/2 bag of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl with a little oil to keep the melted chocolate thin. Heat until smooth and think mix.
Plop the frozen eggs one at a time into mix, coat and place onto wax paper to dry.  THEN, YOU MUST WAIT AGAIN! Let the coating harden. No need to refrigerate.
EAT!!

Fasnacht Day...aka...DONUTS!!!

This morning, Audrey woke me up at 3 am and she didnt go back to bed until 6am, so I came downstairs with a bit of delirium and lots of time on my hands. So at 6:55 am, I decided to go to the grocery store and get yeast to make Fasnachts!
What are Fasnachts???  You arent from Pennsylvania if you dont know the answer to this.
According to wikipedia:
The word Fastnacht originates from the German words Fast, an adverb meaning almost or nearly, and Nacht, meaning night, eve, indicating the eve of the traditional Lenten fasting period observed by many Christian denominations. It is the equivalent celebration to Mardi Gras or Carnevale.
Fasnacht, sometimes spelled Fastnacht or Faschnacht or Fosnot or Fosnaught is an English name for a fried doughnut served traditionally in the days of Carnival / Fastnacht or on (Shrove Tuesday), the day before Lent starts. Fasnachts were made as a way to empty the pantry of lard, sugar, fat, and butter, which were traditionally fasted from during Lent.

I remember being a young girl and my neighbor Theresa would make fasnachts.  They were square and I think she just shook sugar on them.  THEY WERE NOT DONUTS with holes or filling like I see schlept at the stores! I had two people with those in their hands in the line in front of me....nope, they were wrong.
So, I came home and started "THE DOUGH".

An hour later, once it had risen, Audrey and I set out cutting out or squares. I have to say she was a natural at pounding out the dough and folding it!

 



 I thunked the dough  into....wait for it.....our DEEPFRYER.

I had to dig the deep fryer out of the back of the cabinet on top of the refrigerator just an FYI.
It was so worth the dig! Yes, yes, it was!
This being my first time working with yeast and making dough could have been an epic fail...but it wasnt.
I made a light glaze with powered sugar and hot water to toss them in and them shook some sugar on them.
The kiddo loved them, and I just sent 2 dozen off with my husband.  They cant stay here...or I will eat every single one!!!
Gude Mariye!

Valentines Day Creations

I found some super cute TOILET PAPER ROLL CREATIONS for Valentines.
So, we are "stocking up" on rolls to make these cute little ideas for Audreys classmates.

It feels good to upcycle something, including toilet paper rolls. They're clean....we promise!
I think the Cupid may be the cutest creation.  We will post when we create our own.

The one thing that we did create and turned out GREAT: 2 ingredient fudge.
We made 2 kinds: Chocolate dipped strawberry and chocolate peanut butter. Both turned out divine and taste delectable.

So, what are the 2 ingredients: 1 can of icing and 1 bag of chocolate chips. So, we used strawberry icing and white choc chips( I did add strawberry flavoring to spruce up the flavor) chocolate icing and choc chipa and vanilla icing with peanut butter chips.  Sounds so sugary and crazy right??? But the ingredients are just what you would use to make fudge regularly only compressed.  We added sprinkles and prettied them up....delish! The phone pic doesnt do them justice.  Each can and bag mix together made about 30 pieces of the right thickness of fudge.

Lets go fly a kite

Oh, oh, oh!
Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!

Thats also from Mary Poppins....what can I say, my kiddo has a bit of an obsession! :)
so that is exactly what Cookie was doing this morning.

Anything can happen if you let it, so says Mary Poppins

Audreys newest obsession since seeing the traveling broadway show.
SO, I strapped Cookie with a bag and bonnet onto a flying umbrella for tomorrow!

Lets hope she gets it!
PS: That umbrella is hanging from the second story foyer!

Saying Thank you and Making memories

I cant keep up, no joke, so who cares!
I am enjoying everything we CAN get done each day and loving it.
Audrey found cookie riding her life size pony Smores today.
To say Thank you to our UAFD boys, we made a YUm-MY dinner of cheesy fattening junk for the boys tonight!  Buffalo Chicken and Bleu Cheese Puffs, Mississippi Sin Dip, and Chili Relleno Casserole...OMG!!! Look up these recipes...SOOOO Good!
Val and Lathan and Kendall came over to start a tradition, Ginger bread houses....er.....sugar cones tress and graham cracker presents....um lets just say icing and candy on top  of something....whatever it was, the kids loved it!
We had a ball! Ask Val, she'll tell you how the rest of the night went.  LOL!

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

Audreys First Train ride took place with her Uncle Johnny, the train enthusiast, and the rest of the salter family. We traveled to Wilmington Delaware to ride the Wilmington & Western Holiday Express Light Train. The train was a doodlebug train all lit up and traveled to view neighborhood lights.
So much fun. The Santa train pulled into the station prior to our boarding, and we actually got to share a little dinner with Santa at the Snackbar.

A fun time for all fo us!  Thanks Uncle Johnny and Aunt Samantha for planning a super fun trip!