We made our first round of Christmas cookies at the end of November this year! We started out with Some sugar cookies and royal icing. The recipe was pretty good, but it was a learning experience for me. with the icing, so the flooding icing didn't work out as well as I had hoped.
Emily made the second batch the following weekend, because she didn't get to give cookies to everyone she wanted to, since the cookies had gluten in them. She opted to make some no bake cookies for round two.
The third round of cookies was Alice's project: treats for the band. She attempted to make some pastry Christmas trees, but I was overloaded with my own projects and chores, so I was unable to assist her. They were uneven in size, so some of them were fully cooked, and others were not. I wouldn't allow her to take them, but helped her pick out the fully cooked ones for our family to eat.
She made some cute little Santa hats using strawberries, icing, and blonde Oreos. Since she made them the night before, the Oreos softened in the refrigerator, and people said they were quite good!
The final treat she made was 'fire pit' pretzels and candy. They didn't have red hots at any of the stores I visited, so she tried using crushed cinnamon disks. It didn't quite match her vision, but she ate them, and a few brave souls tried them too. We ended up tossing the rest of these.
I made 5 boxes worth of brownies. One of the boxes was gluten free, so that Emily could give some to her bff Abby. The rest of them were given out to band and non-band members alike, since Alice wanted hers to be exclusively for the band members after the concert.
Billy found a cheddar-potato soup recipe for the crock pot. I just happened to make it the day after my mom and most of the kids went to the church supper and came home with a container of leftover bread sticks! They were the perfect match for the soup, and everyone ate dinner that night!
Billy and I each had an Aldi wine Advent Calendar this year. I did have my glass the first night, but we were both terrible about trying to have one a night, and then we decided that we weren't even enjoying the whites enough to drink them, and we would save them for our friends who actually like white wine. So, we still have the majority of both wine calendars, despite it being the 23rd of December. We liked the beer calendar (that we drank in November) more!
Carl's for the win! I finally found the red hot type candy that I needed!
So we made the fourth round of Christmas cookies!
The fifth round of cookies were actually our annual gingerbread house day, and so they get their own post. = )
One of my big projects was to try my hand at making potato flour. I've been wanting to use my flour mill from Kristy since my birthday!!!! I pulled every potato that we had from the basement. Which actually consisted of three different types!
I started by scrubbing them.
Then peeled them. There were lots of scraps!!!
My pile of peeled potatoes!
I cut them up, and there were actually too many to fit into my pot. So, I sent those with my mom so that Sarah could make some mashed potatoes. I boiled them,
...removed them from the pot...
...mashed them up...
...and then loaded them into the dehydrator!
It took an extremely long time, with several sessions of breaking up thicker areas. I think this is definitely a less is more appliance!
Next time, I'll try to do 1/3-1/2 of the pile that I did this time. Essentially, if I buy a bag of potatoes for a recipe and don't use them all, just make them into flour straight away, no need to collect them for later!
Despite the pile, it was an awfully small amount once dehydrated!
Then, taking out the air, even a smaller amount!
However, when it came to milling it by hand, it was an awfully big pile! I'm so glad that I've done it by hand, but if we ever switch over from store bought flour, we will absolutely need an electric mill or one that clips onto an edge. The handle sticks out further than the base of this mill, so it's hard to get a flow, because you have to constantly move your stationary arm. I tried holding it between my legs to stabilize it, but ended up with several bruises on the insides of my thighs from where the corners dug into me. = 0 Holding it steady while one of my children cranked was the least painful way. = )
Look at that beautiful potato flour!!! I still haven't decided what to make with it, but maybe once my blog is up to date, I'll find the time!
I had sent my mom two salad ideas that had crossed my feed. I had no intention of making either, because I didn't think I'd have an occasion. But, the last moms' meeting of the year we had a kind of party/white elephant gift exchange! So, I bought the makings for this adorable candy cane caprese salad! The basil leaves were from my cute little countertop garden! I brought balsamic vinegar as a dressing. It was really good, and despite only 6 of us attending, I didn't have to bring any home with me! = )
The second salad idea I actually got to bring for the twins' class party! Their teacher sent out an email early in the week that he was buying them pizza on Friday and asked if any parents would like to donate sides. I jumped on the veggie sign up so fast! = )
After washing the cucumbers, I used my ribbon slicer to make thin strips.
Next step was to halve a cherry tomato.
Then thread a toothpick through the ribbon in a zig zag, so that each layer was slightly longer. I was able to fit three folds onto my toothpicks!
I cut out the cheese stars, but didn't assemble them, since they wouldn't be covered in the fridge overnight. I bought an entire block of cheese to use, but it was not enough. I ended up using American Cheese slices for the remainder.
The next morning the cucumbers were still crunchy, the tomatoes fared well, and the cheese was just a little crumbly after being in a container overnight. They came out really cute, with only 3 casualties!!! I am so glad that I got to make these this year.
Grace and Juliet were delighted and highly complementary. They said that people enjoyed them. I didn't get to talk to the teacher after school, so I have no idea whether or not they enjoyed them, and extended that to their friends or not. They also brought up a bag of carrots, the rest of the tomatoes and some ranch, for those who don't care for cucumber.
And today, on the first day of Christmas break, I made devilled eggs! They are not the fancy Christmas tree ones that my mom sent me, but they are quite tasty!
It's been a fun season of baking and making and creating for all of us!
later days
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