Buddy Boy Beef Pies

We can't forget Fido at Christmas time, can we?  These are a hit at my house.  My dogs absolutely love them, but then my dogs love just about anything they think is a special treat.  You can give them their everyday dog food and they will gobble it up as long as it's not in their bowl.  But for for Christmas we have to have a really special meal.  These hit the spot.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups wheat flour
1/2 cup powdered dry milk
3/4 cup water
1 egg beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour and dry milk.   Mix in egg.  Add water (a little at time) so that mixture forms a ball.

Roll out dough 1/4" thick.  Cut out shapes with a biscuit cutter.  Tops and bottoms (tops a little smaller than the bottoms).

Roll the cutout shapes a little flatter to fit your muffin pan. 

 Press the larger bottom dough into your muffin tin.

Fill with meat (I used leftover roast from our Christmas party) peas and carrots.  Make sure the vegetables you use are dog friendly.  Pour a couple of teaspoons of stock over it so they don't dry out during baking.  Keep in mind, dogs can't tolerate salt and shouldn't have sugar.  I used a veggie stock, no salt or sugar added.

Cut a slit or two in the top and put it in place.  Pop them in the oven  and wait patiently while baking 17 to 20 minutes.  You can brush the top with a beaten egg to give them more of a sheen.

Store in an airtight container.  You can also freeze them for a longer shelf life, if they last that long!

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RoCkY rOaD cAnDy--YuM!

This is a family (and many of our friends) favorite recipe. It seems everyone we make this candy for, falls in love with it. My mom would make this candy every Christmas season. Although we (my siblings) all loved it, it was my brother Steve’s favorite. My marshmallow-loving husband absolutely fell in love with it after I made it for him the first time. And my daughter once dated a guy who would do just about anything for a batch. So for the marshmallow and chocolate lover on your list, this is a must have recipe.  It is super easy to make.


RECIPE:
One bag of Holiday-shaped marshmallows
Two large chocolate bars
2 cups chopped walnuts

Mix the marshmallows and the nuts into a large bowl.

Melt the chocolate and pour over the nuts and marshmallows.

Stir until well covered.

Spread over a cookie sheet.

Cut into bite-sized pieces.

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Making Holiday Houses

On Sunday my D-I-L, two-year-old granddaughter Hayleigh, and eight-year-old niece Sam, made our Christmas houses.  Usually, we do them out of  gingerbread, but this year we decided to try the Rice Krispies Treats Holiday Houses.

I thought it would be easier for the little ones and more fun if everyone had their own house to decorate.  Although the houses turned out cute and they were a loads of fun, next year I think we'll make the Rice Krispies Treats houses for the little ones and do the gingerbread houses for the adults.

Here are our houses:

This is Amber house.

This one is Sam's.

 

Here is Hayleigh's house.  She loved the pink sugar!  :)

And last but not least, my house.  Like I said, although these were fun, next year I think we'll leave the Rice Krispies Treats houses to the kids and do the traditional gingerbread for the adults.  Has anyone else had experience with these houses?  What did you think? Better than the traditional gingerbread houses?

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Flowerpot snowmen and reindeer

Meet our collection of reindeer, snowmen and ladies from last Saturday's family craft day.  My D-I-L, Amber, hosted it this month.  Although we had a dwindled down crowd those of us who came had a blast.  Thanks Amber!

This is Courtney's reindeer and snow lady, and Amber's cute snowman.

Here is my eight year old niece Sam's reindeer, and my snowman and reindeer.

And again here is Amber's snowman.

Supplies needed

mini flower pot
styrofoam ball for head
googly eyes
bells
white paint
black paint
pink paint
brown paint
Christmas ribbon/material for scarf
Fuzzy pipe cleaners variety of colors
pom-poms variety of colors & sizes
paint brushes
glue guns
scissors
Imagination!

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Holiday cards with Shutterfly

I made my own Holiday cards this season.  I really meant to get to this earlier, but unfortunately I haven't been very organized this year.  Good thing it was super easy with Shutterfly.  A novice computer user would be able to follow their easy directions to create beautiful holiday or special occasion cards that would be unique.

Once you create your account you are able to load your pictures directly into photo albums or skip that step and just jump to the next step which is what I did.  As soon as I created my account I automatically began searching for the perfect card from the hundreds they have to choose from.  That was the hardest part.  I finally narrowed down the selection to three and I showed those to my husband.  We decided together which one we liked the best.  Then it was easy sailing from there.

I followed the simple steps; ie: adding our names and uploading a picture.  Actually, I uploaded a few pictures so I could decide which would be the best choice for the card we selected.  All you have to do for picture placement is drop and drag.  Then save, preview, and order.  Super easy!  You have the option to edit the picture, but I didn't need those functions since I used a picture that had been taken professionally.  They also have matching address labels in a variety of styles.  It's a great service, one I'll definitely use again.  I hope others will give them a try.

www.shutterfly.com



I have attached a few direct links for anyone interested in creating their own Christmas photo cards:  Christmas Photo Cards

Or for their birthday invitations:  Birthday invitations

This one is for their thank you cards:   Thank You Cards

And last but not least, since this is the party season, their party invitations:   Party Invitations

Hopefully, everyone has as much fun as I did creating their own cards with Shutterfly!

Please note:  The first three people who comment on their Shutterfly experience will receive free Shutterfly product samples.

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Peanut Butter Truffles

We had sort of a snow day yesterday.  It began snowing snowing Saturday night and didn't stop until the following morning when we woke to a Winter Wonderland.  Both my mom and stepson and daughter-in-law's homes lost power for a while during the storm.  I had planned on having my granddaughter, 8 year-old niece, mom, daughter and D-I-L over to make gingerbread cookie pops but the foul weather prevented our gingypop day.  So instead I made Peanut Butter Truffles.

2 cups sugar,  1 5oz. can evaporated milk,  1/2 cup butter,  2 cups mini marshmallows,  3/4 cup creamy peanut butter,  1/2 tsp vanilla,  12 oz. dark chocolate,  2 tsp shortening,  finely chopped peanuts

Butter the sides of medium heavy saucepan.

In the saucepan, combine the sugar, evaporated milk, and butter. 

Cook and stir over medium high heat until mixture is boiling. 

Reduce heat to medium; continue boiling at a moderate, steady rate for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove saucepan from heat.  Stir in marshmallows,

peanut butter, and vanilla

Transfer mixture to a large bowl.

Chill for 45 to 1 hour or until mixture is thick and can be molded.

Line a large baking sheet with waxed paper or parchment paper.  Shape mixture int 1-inch balls; place balls on the prepared baking sheet.  Freeze balls for 15 minutes.

In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate and shortening. 

Cook and stir over low heat until melted. 

Dip balls, one at a time, into melted chocolate.

Let excess chocolate drip off balls.

 

Place on a wire rack set over wax paper. 

If desired, sprinkle truffles with peanuts or drizzle with milk or white chocolate.

Let stand until chocolate is set.

Peanut butter truffles for gift giving or a yummy treat!

Will keep in an air-tight container in the refrigerator up to two weeks.

This post has been linked up to the following parties:

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Little butterball

While surfing the net one October day, I came upon a blog where the blogger had made a cute pumpkin plaque.  She had three pumpkins staggered in size, painted, distressed,  and then glued together large to small with a cute bow tied around the middle.  I visited a few more blogs that day and lo and behold I saw the same pumpkins.  At least the ideas were identical, the projects all turned out differently.  Each had their own unique shapes, they were painted in various colors and of course none of the ribbons were alike, but they all stemmed from the same idea, which gave me a great idea.  Why not do that with a turkey for a Thanksgiving project?  And my little butterball came alive.  So, I looked for a picture of a turkey that I liked that day and took it home to my hubby.   He told me to make him a pattern.  I did in three sizes.  And then I tried to wait patiently to him to find time to cut them out.  That was the hard part!

This is what I started with.   Three pieces; large to small.  Plain wood, thick enough to make it stand once they are stacked.

Base the two bottom pieces with brown, except for his shoes and hat which need to be painted black. 

The top piece I painted to match the picture (at least as much as I could).

Distress the edges slightly with sand paper and scuff the top of the paint.

Using a hot glue gun, glue each piece together.  Make sure the bottom of the feet are even so he will stand up.

Pick a fun fall ribbon and tie around his middle.

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