AMANDA'S BASKETS: LESSON LEARNED, BAKING ALMOST DONE, CHRISTMAS COMING!

Monday, December 21, 2015

LESSON LEARNED, BAKING ALMOST DONE, CHRISTMAS COMING!

First of all, I want to share a lesson about following recipes. When I made my icebox fruitcake, the recipe said to butter the dish before packing in the fruitcake. It should have said LINE THE PAN WITH PLASTIC WRAP...let me repeat that...LINE THE PAN WITH PLASTIC WRAP!

I tried taking the fruitcake out of the pan...no go except in pieces. So, I lined the pan, repacked the fruitcake into the pan. And now it lifts out without any problems. Of course, I now remembered my mother-in-law lining her pan with waxed paper when she made it...better late than never.

Remember this photo?

Well, all of that 'stuff' now looks like this...

I used to have large Christmas tins to keep the cookies and cupcakes in, but I gave them all away during one of my moves. These containers aren't are pretty, but they do the job. Remember, there are other items like the plum pudding, actually, I make cranberry pudding instead, and the icebox fruitcake are in the frig, not on the table.

I still have lefsa and krumkaka on my list of things to make. Those are on schedule for tomorrow.

I have actually been under the weather since Thursday...with cold symptoms. I am beginning to feel better and am now on the mend. I wanted to go out and visit all the places with special Christmas decorations but rather than go out in the rain, I think I will wait until next week. They will all be up so I can still see them.

The weather really is something. This Thursday is supposed to be in the low 70's...last I checked this was the third week in December. Think something is amiss? The highs this week are in the 60's and 70's. I think I can safely rule out a White Christmas here in NYC.

Hope all your plans are coming together...
I think mine are with some delays like being out and about...
New weekly journal post. Spend a few minutes just thinking about it.
Thanks for dropping by...
Relax, take it easy, enjoy the moment...it's a lot easier than stressing out...
Talk to you tomorrow...between Bowl Games!!!!

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?