Christmas cookies

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mmm, we made Christmas cookies today and I had to share the decorations. I was happy with white icing but the kids really wanted some color so we were inventive. They put green spirulina powder in some and made some light green, then they took acceptable fruit gel bars, cut them up, and used them for more decoration. We also had some acceptable chocolate chips. Powdered sugar "snow" topped it all off. Interesting to say the least, LOL.
A sugar cookie tip to share with you all, whip up the fat, sugar, and eggs a TON till they look like frosting, then add the rest of the ingredients and just stir enough to incorporate. chill that for at least an hour before rolling. They turn out so good. Same with the frosting, beat the heck out of it.

pumpkin pie candy-so easy! let the kids play with it

I don't know why but I'm having problems with these pictures today. One is the dough straight from the mixer, one is the dough after it was kneaded, which made the texture much better, and one is a few finished pieces.

I just had an extra sweet potato and I didn't want to feed it to the chickens so I invented something instead...YAY a new recipe! This was so fun and the kids are playing with it right now. It feels like a playdoh and tastes so yummy.

1 sweet potato
powdered sugar
pie spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, etc.

stuff to roll it in, optional, chopped nuts, coconut, cinnamon sugar

in a food processor or just smoosh it up if you don't have one,
mash up the sweet potato (cooked well in the jacket tastes best, it naturally carmalizes) then add powdered sugar slowly until you have a very stiff dough. Add spices to taste.

For my size of sweet potato (med) I used about 2 lbs of powdered sugar and about 2 tsp of a pumpkin pie spice mix that I made before.

I used the food processor until it began to get a little too stiff, then I moved it to the mixer with the dough hook. The kids took it from there. They're making balls to roll in chopped pecans, coconut, and cinnamon sugar. These are very rich but I'm going to have a hard time not eating them all.

Purple funeral potatoes...

We were gifted 100 lbs of potatoes yesterday. I was excited but imagine my surprise when I started grating and they were bright PURPLE!
I googled purple potatoes and found that they were Peruvian but are gaining popularity in the U.S.
My kids love anything with big color.
So, today we are having purple funeral potatoes, veggies, and Bryers Neapolitan for dessert.

For the funeral potatoes I raw grated a casserole dish full, added enough milk to almost cover the top, some real butter pats, real sour cream with only cream as an ingredient, and sharp cheddar cheese with annatto grated very finely. These all got mixed together and afterwards I'll taste and salt cause you never know how salty the cheese is. Some of us also like garlic sprinkled on it.

These cook for an hour at least at 350.

BTW, I use way less sour cream and butter and more milk than most recipes call for. I just feel like it's more affordable that way and I can have it 4 times for the cost of 1 normal time.

For lunch we had bagels and lunchmeat with lettuce, and a smoothie just for a quick idea.

Homemade dipped cherry cordials and other chocolates

Oh my goodness, I'm drooling. We're making dipped cordial cherries.

We made a fondant out of 1/4 c butter
2 1/4 c powdered sugar
1 TBSP of the juice the cherries were packaged in
1/2 tsp vanilla (listing only alcohol and vanilla)
1/8 tsp almond extract (listing only alcohol and oil of almond)

If you don't have approved extracts just use a little more juice. Mix it all together and knead well till it's like playdoh. Add more powdered sugar if needed.

Then we wrapped that around some all natural maraschino cherries (not approved, got them at Whole Foods and took the chance out of desparation.) keeping the stems on, and froze them for an hour.

We melted a bag of ghiradelli chocolate chips (we used semi-sweet but might try different kinds if this works) on low and then let that cool so it wasn't hot but it was still liquid. Then dipped the cherries and fondant via stem in the chocolate, covering completely. Set it on waxed paper and put it back in the freezer.

Now we'll set it out at room temperature for 3 days, that should semi-liquefy the centers. I can't tell you how excited I am for these.

These were my kryptonite before. I was doing great for Christmas and then a well meaning neighbor gave us some regular chocolate covered cherries. Oh, I almost opened that box and if I had I'd have eaten them ALL and been a monster for 3 days. I'm proud to say that the box is still unopened just waiting to pawn off on an unsuspecting person soon. We'll wait for our yummy ones, and they should be WAY better than dollar store chocolates!

BTW, you can make the same fondant but flavor it with any approved flavoring or plain cocoa, knead well, shape, freeze, and dip for different flavored chocolates. They'll stay solid because they don't have the cherries to liquify them.

another FYI, many times nuts have BHT sprayed on them or the packaging so while they may look natural, be aware unless they're in the shell or approved.

Biggest hit and biggest bomb for Christmas

The biggest bomb first...We tried some red striped candy canes from Whole Food and they were a BAD idea! Just a 1/2 day reaction for us so it was probably a preservative or something unlisted but bad definitely! Just the kids who chose the striped ones showed reactions quickly each time they ate them. Our white ones from the Feingold list were fine.

The biggest hit...MOON SAND! I found a great deal on Amazon with free shipping. A $29 kit was $3.50. I bought 5 different kits between the kids and they've played with it all yesterday and today. They haven't reacted at all, there's no smell, and the color doesn't stick to their hands like playdoh or clay. It doesn't dry out either. I know I'm a whimp but I hate homemade play doh.
We have relegated the moon sand to the kitchen table only and there have been a few dustings of sand on places other than the moon sand tub but it sweeps up quickly so I don't worry about it.
Andrew was cute...he read the package and was telling Adam all about it and he said, "It's real sand from the moon, sand from the moon doesn't stick like sand here."

Source for White Candy Canes

http://www.spanglercandy.com/order/christmasorder.php

Here's a great source for Christmas Candy Canes. We buy a case of 144 for $15 plus shipping and use it for 2 years.

The picture shows red canes but buy these kind in peppermint all white. You will see a drop down screen where you can choose the last option, peppermint all white.

I hope that if you buy these candy canes you'll leave a little note in the comments section to please keep these all white candy canes around for Feingold safe kids. They went away last year but thanks to members of the Feingold association they are back. That's why I'm posting them here for everyone to see. I hope they sell plenty this year.

Traditional Candy Canes or
Cane Classics
12 Count Cradles

12 count boxes
12 standard canes per case
144 .5 oz canes (cane is 6" tall)

**Order by the case**

Spangler Candy Canes in traditional peppermint and gourmet flavors!

R=red
G= green
W = white
MC = multi-colored