Christmas Vacation - In The Kitchen

 I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen during Christmas vacation. Some of it, simply out of sheer boredom. I'm so used to things being hectic lately that I didn't know what to do with myself and all that spare time on my hands. So I baked.  A LOT.

 It started with a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.  And a week later, another double batch.

 Then it went to a double batch of oatmeal scotchies.

 I tried something new to our house too.

 Holiday Ritz crackers.

 They were really good!  I ended up making 3 batches of these over the course of 2 weeks.  Medium J loved them!

 Another new thing I made was sugar cookies.  I've never taken the time to make them because of the whole "rolling out and cutting them" process.  I was surprised to see that it wasn't nearly that time consuming (or messy).

 I chose to sprinkle sugar on the top instead of icing them. I got a little too much sugar, I think.  lol

I don't have any photos, but I also made peanut butter cookies and peanut blossom cookies (which are my favorite).

I also made puppy chow (for my uncle and a friend's family too) and soda cracker candy (for my uncle).

 A friend shared a recipe for Cheese Logs.  I didn't make them, but I might next year. I'm not exactly sure what a cheese log is though.

 I also made cinnamon ornaments (for the first time).

 Little Miss E wanted to help.  She loved helping in the kitchen and I had to keep some cookie dough in the refrigerator for when she came by because she always asked to bake something.

 She did a great job cutting them out with the cookie cutter!

 And I chose to dry them over the course of a couple of days instead of baking them.  I love the way they looked when they were done.  I tried painting them, but didn't like it at all.

Baking

Sometimes when I'm stressed out, I bake.  Today is one of those days.

 Earlier today, I took a double batch of Chocolate Chip cookie dough and a single batch of Oatmeal Raisin cookie dough  out of the freezer to thaw out a bit.  I'm working on baking them now.

Before that, I baked two loaves of Beer Bread.  Yum!

Today...

Today has been a busy day.  After cleaning off the truck this morning we ventured out to get Small T and Big C from a friends house out in the country where they stayed over last night.  This was no small feat as we had an entire day of freezing rain yesterday with some snow in the middle of it all.  It took Big Daddy a long time to get the truck de-iced and warmed up before we could head out.

 Once we picked them up, we headed out of town with Small T to the nearest clinic which was 30 miles away.  She has TMJ Disorder and her jaw was killing her.  So she needed to be seen today.  It was a rough 30 mile trip and it ended up taking about 45 minutes to get there.  Between the clinic visit and then going to Wal-Mart pharmacy to get her prescriptions, this trip ended up taking us about 5 hours before we finally arrived back home.  Let me tell you...I was sure glad to get home.

 After arriving home, I hurried up and made Taco Soup for dinner then washed the dishes.  After that, Small T asked me to help her with the Ugly Christmas Sweater for the contest at school on Wednesday.  I started out sewing the bows along the buttons of the vest she's wearing.  She spent the time making a sparkly headband.  We still have several things to sew on the vest, but she's not at home right now to give me "instructions". :)

I usually bake cookies once a year and that's during the Christmas holiday season.  The other day I made up several batches of different cookies and put the dough in the freezer but tonight I decided to make up a double batch of M&M cookies and bake them right away.  The photo above shows what's left of the first 3 dozen that I baked.  The four guys in the house really hit them hard.  But that's ok.  I'm still baking them and after the initial stampede for cookies, they've slacked off now and I have about 3 dozen on a plate so far.  I should have at least twice that amount by the time I finish up tonight.  Of course, they won't last the weekend, but that's ok.

So...that's my day in a nutshell.  What's everyone else been up to today?

Tuesday, Wednesday, and This Morning...

Gosh...it's been a very busy week so far.  I need a break.  Seriously.  :)  So...this morning, I'm taking a tiny break to spend some time with my yarn and to do a bit of baking (in with the laundry and errands, shower, etc. before we leave for the game tonight).  I swear, a woman's work is never done.

 I thought I would share an update on the pink camo baby blanket that I'm knitting.  After de-stressing with some knitting on and off yesterday (which I definitely needed), I was surprised to see that I had worked 33 rows and had the first skein completely used.  Woo Hoo!!!  Can you tell that I really needed to work off some stress?  I usually don't knit that much in a single day.  And let me tell you...I had very little time to do this.  I was working part of a row or a row, putting it down, doing something else, coming back to the knitting later, working on it some more, and so on.  It makes me smile to see this photo though and I needed a bit of a smile.

 This is a bit of a spontaneous photo that I took this morning while baking yet another two loaf batch of beer bread.  I can't tell you how much of this bread I've baked in the past month, but it's a LOT.  I always make 2 loaves a week for Big C and his college roommate and other buddies.  I've made 2 loaves each time and have given away countless loaves of it to others that have suffered the loss of a loved one or just needed a general pick-me-up, but I've not made a single loaf of it for my own home and Medium J said the other day, "really mom...don't you think you could at least make some for here so we don't have to just smell it?".  lol  So that's what I'm doing right now.  I've got 2 loaves in the oven and in 30 minutes Medium J will have some available for eating on.  :)

By the way, if you'd like the recipe for the beer bread, click here.

Then there's the scrap baby blanket.  This is where I currently stand with it.  I have a few more circles to make up and then I'll be able to start adding the squares around the circles.  This morning, I felt like I needed a bit of crochet time since all I've been doing lately is knitting.  So, that's exactly what I did.  And honestly, I need to have taken a shower already and also to have fixed the hook and eye closure on Small T's pageant dress.  I'm procrastinating on doing that and I really don't know why.  Oh well.  I will do it today.  Before 3 pm.  I have to.  Maybe I should tell Big Daddy to make me do it.  lol  I might have to though.