Christmas Preparations

Hello everyone! I just thought that I would post a few pictures of some things that have been going on around our house lately. ;-) Here are the felt coasters that I have been making . :-) I made the poinsettia's for December, and I was thinking that the snowmen would be nice for January and the apple coasters would probably work for anytime of the year! They have been so much fun to make! Here recently we have been reading a story aloud and that has turned out to be a great time to do a hand project! :-)









This next picture is of our table center piece. My Mom made the plaid runner underneath and did a great job! :-)

This one is of my younger brother carefully applying frosting to some cupcakes that he made with Mom from a "Jiffy" cake mix. They were beautiful and made a special dinner treat!

And here is our sweet kitty Frostina, who ventured into the house and found a cozy spot to curl up! ;-)






Hope you all have a blessed day!

~Chloe~ :-)

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

Proverbs 17:22

Snow!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Yea!!! We did get the expected snow, and quite a bit of it! In one of the snow drifts it measured 19 inches! We bundled up this morning and headed outdoors to enjoy it. Some of the snow was kind of powdery, but for the most part it was great for building! :-) We made this snowman (pictured on the left) and it turned out to be some where around 6 feet tall! We had fun making it. :-)

Yesterday we had some vegetable soup and that was a nice warm meal to have during all the winter weather. Also, Mom made up some hot chocolate from a recipe that my Grandma had given us over the phone yesterday. It was really good! :-)

Hot Chocolate Mix

2 cups instant nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup cocoa, unsweetened
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients and store in an air tight container. To make a cup of hot chocolate, mix 1/4 cup dry mix with 1 cup boiling water. Top with marshmallows, whipped cream, or cinnamon and enjoy! Makes approximately 14 cups.

Note: You can also add a few small chocolate chips if you like. :-)

We did some reading aloud and I worked on some more of the coasters yesterday evening and that was lots of fun too. :-)

Today we are going to try to do some Christmas decorating. :-)

In Christ,
~Chloe ~ :-)

"O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever!"

1 Chronicles 16:34

Winter Weather

Hello! This morning I looked out the window and saw a crystal white landscape. It is so pretty! :-) We have gotten a lot of rain and sleet which isn't good for the roads but it still makes everything so pretty and white! :-) There is a chance of getting a little snow later on too. :-)

~Chloe~

Yesterday evening I made some pumpkin pies. I thought I would share the recipe with you. :-)
There are two pie crust recipes listed below. The first one is the one I used and it made a very nice crust. I haven't made the other one but it and the filling recipe are from a "Taste of Home" magazine so it's probably a good recipe too. :-)
(Beside the pie are some felt coasters that I make for December. :-) )


Our Pie Crust Recipe
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup milk
In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening until crumbly. Stir in 1/4 milk .On a floured surface, roll out each portion to fit a 9-in. pie plate Place pastry in plates; trim pastry (set scraps aside if cutouts are desired for the top of the pies) and flute edges. Set shells aside. (Makes 1 pie crust.)



Traditional Pumpkin Pie
(Pie Crust)
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
4 to 6 tbs. cold water
In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening until crumbly. Sprinkle with water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. divide dough in half .On a floured surface, roll out each portion to fit a 9-in. pie plate Place pastry in plates; trim pastry (set scraps aside if cutouts are desired for the top of the pies) and flute edges. Set shells aside. (Makes 2 pie crusts)

Filling:
6 eggs
1 can (29 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp.ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. each ground cloves, nutmeg, and ginger
2 cups evaporated milk
Beat eggs in a mixing bowl. Add pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, salt, cloves,nutmeg and ginger; beat just until smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Pour into pastry shells. Bake at 450* for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350*; bake 40 to 45 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks. If desired, cut the pastry scraps with a 1-inch leaf-shaped ( acorn, star, heart etc.) cookie cutter; ( we put cinnamon and sugar on a small piece aswell.) place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Place on pies. Yield: 2 pies (6-8 servings each).

Note: This is very good with a little bit of whipped cream on top. :-) Mmmmm! :-)

Today an artic front has moved into our area Brrrrr! We are getting lots of rain right now and on Thursday it is supposed to get really cold.(20's*- 30's*) We have been planning on doing some of our Christmas decorating on Friday. :-) That should be fun! :-)

Well, TTYL!

~Chloe~ :-)

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good"

Romans 12:21

Thanksgiving

"O give thanks to the Lord; for he is good because his mercy endureth forever."

Psalm 118:1

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to do a quick post and wish you all a "Happy Thanksgiving! :-)

We had thanksgiving dinner with our relatives early this year. There was lots of tasty foods and good fellowship!

Today I helped my younger brothers finish making some "paper turkey's" that we started the other day. We put them on the refrigerator and they are pretty cute! :-)

It has also been nice to have my Dad and older brother off (from work and college) for

Thanksgiving! :-)

Well, hope you all have a wonderful day and are encouraged in the Lord!

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Have you noticed the beautiful fall leaves this year? It's soooo neat to see God's handy work!

Today Mom was looking through a October/November "Taste of Home magazine" that has been in our archives ;-) and she found this yummy cookie recipe along with some other recipes that looked pretty good, especially for this time of year! These are called....

Lo-Cal Molasses Cookies

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

In a mixing bowl, beat oil, molasses, 1/4 cup sugar and egg. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves; add to molasses mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Shape into 1-in. balls; roll in remaining sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375* for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set and surface cracks. Yields: 5 dozen

Also, pictured (above the cookies) are some "fall coasters" made out of felt. We got the idea from www.sewchic.blogspot.com . Thanks for sharing these with us, Jessica, they were lot's of fun! :-)

Going into the "longer" evenings makes me start to think about making crafts, sewing, quilting etc. I was looking through a catalog the other day (called "Love To Learn" to view online go to www.LoveToLearn.net) and I ran onto two books that looked interesting. The one is about crocheting and the other about knitting. Both of those are of interest to me and and I thought that I might try to learn how to do them this winter if I get a chance. :-) On Sunday I pulled out our "Little House on the Praire" craft and sewing books. One of them has a sampler that looked like it might be fun to do, and when we went to my Grandma's house the other day she let us borrow an apron pattern she had. :-) Hopefully I can get a project going soon! :-)

~Chloe~:-)

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice!"
Philippians 4:4

Fabric Pumpkin Craft

Yesterday my mom and I went over to a friends house and they showed us how to make these really cute fabric pumpkins! :-) They are relatively easy to make and we were so pleased with the end result.
To begin, cut out a circle of fabric. You can use a pizza pan as a pattern for a larger pumpkin or perhaps a plate for a smaller pumpkin. Next you take take 6 strans of embroidery thread and a needle and start to run a gathering stitch about an 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch from the edge of the fabric. You won't need to tie a knot at the end of this thread, but you should leave a portion out to use later when gathering. After stitching all the way around the edge, gently pull the thread to gather the fabric up a bit and then put stuffing inside the opening. You'll want to put in enough so that the sides of the pumpkin will stand out nicely. Now, carefully pull the threads again until only a small hole remains. It might be helpful for another person to smash down the cotton as your doing this to prevent the thread from breaking. If it does break, don't worry! Just try to find where the thread broke, thread your needle and go at it again! (This happened to me once. :-) ) Once it's all gathered up into a ball, tie a knot in the thread (twice) and then wrap the remaining thread around the pumpkin like you would a package. Pull the thread to the bottom of the pumpkin, (turn the pumpkin over) twist the threads and bring them back up to the top dividing the pumpkin into 1/4 's. Continue doing this until the pumpkin is divided into 1/8's. Now tie the threads off and trim off the excess thread. Now you can add decorative leaves, a small (real) stick, and or a pretty bow made out of ribbon or even a curled up wire or small ribbon (applied with hot glue) to add a finishing touch. This project is so fun and easy to make and I hope you'll be able to try it!

Praise the Lord of the Harvest!

~Chloe~

Hello everyone! I've been collecting pictures of things to post over the last few weeks and I'm finally getting to post them! :-) This first picture is of some delicious pumpkin bread. It's a great bread for this time of year and it freezes really well! Here's the recipe. It's from "Betty Crocker's Bisquick Cookbook".



Golden Pumpkin Loaf

1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin
3 cups Bisquick baking mix
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Heat oven to 350*

1. Blend sugar, egg and pumpkin in large mixer bowl on medium speed. Gradually beat in baking mix and spices on low speed.
2. Pour batter into greased loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.
3. Bake 70 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.


Note:
We normally triple this recipe and keep one loaf out to eat that day :-) and the other two to put in the freezer.


And incase your out of pumpkin pie spice here's a recipe for that. :-)

Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground allspice

This equals 1 tsp. punmpkin pie spice.


Next are some yummy biscuits from "Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book". They are called "Biscuits Supreme".

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powered
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tarter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shortening
2/3 c. milk

Stir together flour, baking powerer, sugar, cream of tarter, and salt. Cut in shortening till mixture resembles course crumbs. Make a well in the center; ass milk all at once. Stir just till dough clings together. Knead gently on a lightly floured surface for 10-12 strokes. Roll or pat to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, dipping cutter in flour between cuts. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 450* oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Serve warm. Makes 10 to 12 biscuits.

And here is our lovely ameila (We call it "ameila- badelia. lol! ) bush. It has a lovely fragrance and when the weather was changing it bloomed all over. It was sooooo pretty! :-)





Well, thats all for now. Hope you all have a wonderful day! Happy Fall and may God bless you!

~Chloe~

" Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
Eph. 6:10,11

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Hello! Here are some flowers ( periwinkles ) that we planted in the spring, aren't they pretty?

We tried a really good recipe for rice pudding today! (To view recipe visit www.thelittleredhens.blogspot.com) For lunch we had some fried chicken sticks with ranch dressing wrapped in floured tortillas. That was fun for a change!






Earlier this week I baked some delicious chocolate chip cookies. The recipe is listed below.





ORIGINAL NESTLE TOLL HOUSE MILK CHOCOLATE MORSEL COOKIES

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) LAND O LAKES Butter or Margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups ( 11.5-oz. pkg.) NESTLE TOLL HOUSE Milk Chocolate Morsels (Sometimes we half this, and their still quite good!)
1 cup chopped nuts ( We use 1 cup of oatmeal instead )

Preheat oven to 375* F.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts ( or oatmeal ). Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racksto cool completely.

Sometimes we put some of the cookies in a freezer bag or plastic container, to freeze, then pull them out another day for a quick dessert. :-)






This picture is of a crack in our back yard which is due to the lack of rain we've had this year. However, the Lord did bless us with some rain yesterday, for which we are very thankful!







My brother started college this week, so thats kind of interesting. He and I have also been dealing with some allergy stuff, but hopefully that won't last too long! :-)

In Christ,
Chloe

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men."
Colossians 3:23

Today we have been doing some house cleaning. It's always nice to have things in order. :-) I also got a bycicle this week! I've enjoyed riding it these last few days! :-)
Here is a picture of one of our kitty's, Phoenix, and her 6 kittens. They're really cute! Next is a picture of some cinnamon rolls with a glaze that I made. We have a bread machine that we can make five loaves at a time, and so instead of making them all into bread, we used 1/5 of the dough and made it into cinnamon rolls (Mmmm!) :-) Below that are some tea towels that I've done cross stitch and embroidery on. Thats kind of fun!
On Thursday we got about 8/10 of an inch of rain. Praise the Lord! We still need alot more, but every shower helps!
Well, I guess I'll go for now. Don't lose heart!

~Chloe~

Gal 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Aprons and Cornmeal Muffin Recipe

Gal 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Hello! Today, and for the past several days, it has been very hot where we live. The temperatures have gotton up into the 100's! Wow! It is supposed to "cool down" a little (into the 90's) this weekend though, and there is a chance of getting some much needed rain. Anyway, here is a picture of some corn bread I made yesterday, (recipe listed below) and the aprons that I mentioned in an earlier post. :-D

Cornmeal Muffins

1/2 c. yellow cornmeal
3/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
3 T. oil
1 egg
1/2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 400*. In medium bowl, thoroughly mix together cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Blend in remaining ingredients just until moist. Fill greased muffin pans 2/3-full and bake 20 to 30 minutes. Yields: 8 muffins

Note:
We normally double this recipe and put it in a 13 x 9 inch pan, and cook 23-25 minutes. Enjoy! :)

Baseball

Yesterday we went to watch a ball game with some of our church friends. But before that we met my orthodontist to see about my braces. There was a place on my gum that we wanted him to look at, to make sure it was ok, that may have been caused from a tooth moving really quickly. Since he lives close to the ball field, and was not in his office that day, he just had us come over to his house to adjust the braces. He made an adjustment and said my gum would be fine. :-) While there, he gave a tour of his house (which is an area of an old warehouse that has been remodeled) and even took us up on the roof and pointed out places in the town. We later met our friends at a restaurant to eat, then went to the ballgame. It was the first real ball game I have ever gone to. :-) The game itself didn't go terribly fast, but I still enjoyed watching, visiting with friends, cheering and clapping with the music that was played every now and then to keep the audience involved. :-) Sometimes a baseball would fly up into the stands, and if you caught it, they would let you keep it! Out of the two balls that came towards our area, a friend of ours, caught one! That was pretty neat! There were also people with video camera's that would project the players and audience onto a big screen. Our group was on there some, and that was neat too! The team we were rooting for, won, by one point, and the game was over. After the game they had a large display of fireworks! :-) They were really pretty! On the way out to our vehicle, there were some people riding in horse drawn carriages. :-) I liked those! The only thing was, that they were driving around amongst all the other traffic, which probably wasn't the safest thing. :-/ lol! Anyway, :-) overall we had an enjoyable day! :-)

In Christ!
~Chloe~ :-)

• 
  Hello all!
  I have not posted in quite some time, but I thought I would try to resume.
  Here are some hot rolls that I made today. I really like these, and they are great with honey or just plain. Here is the recipe:
  
  
• Yeast Rolls
  
  1 pkg. active yeast
  1 c. warm water
  3 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 3 cups flour ( We use 1 1/2 white and 1 1/2 wheat)
• 
  Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, oil, salt, egg and flour, stirring to combine well. Let rise one and one half hours. Form dough into balls the size of walnuts. Let rise again one and one half hours. Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
  
  We have a bread machine which is really handy for this recipe! Hope you like it!
  I have also been doing some sewing this week, which has been really fun. I made two aprons! :-D (Maybe I can post pictures of them later.) I've been thinking about doing some gardening as well.
  
  Well, better go for now.
  Chloe :-)