Grinch Pills

I saw the idea for Grinch pills floating around for a couple years now and I could never find the green TicTacs and they end up making the item too expensive to sell for a fundraiser so I came up with my own idea. I saw the Mike and Ikes in their green package and I knew they would be perfect. It took me a couple tries but I ended up with a match box design and typed out my own poem, found the Grinch heads on the Net and voila..... Grinch pills. They were very popular. I made a HUNDRED and I don't have any left so it went well.
Here's a peek..

And the poem inside..

Christmas Cutlery Holders

It's been a very busy season. I went through 10 kg of flour doing my Christmas baking and worked on a couple new ideas for my little fundraising sale that I hold every year at work. I think I could have saved myself some time and only made shortbread but that would get a little boring.

Saw this cute idea on Pinterest. I happen to have the Tim Holtz Pill Box die and like to get my money's worth so this was another good way to use it and they work up really quickly.

You just cut off the notched edges, make a black band and a square of gold glitter paper and a smaller square of black, add a couple of black Dewdrops and you're ready for Christmas dinner.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Here's a recipe to try for your Christmas entertaining. This is my GO TO meatball recipe. Forget the grape jelly and chili sauce. This recipe uses fresh ingredients and is much cheaper then buying a couple of bottles of ingredients.
Of course, homemade meatballs take it over the top. Forget those rubbery disks from the grocery store but if you're in a rush, like most of us this holiday season, this sauce will compliment those as well. The best part of all is you can throw them in the crockpot and forget about them until they are ready to serve piping hot. Give this recipe a shot. You won't be disappointed.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs
1 cup brown sugar
1 can tomato paste
1/4 cup low salt soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp hot sauce (or to taste)
1 tsp garlic (fresh)
Mix and pour over meatballs in the crockpot. Meatballs can start off frozen. 5 hours on low heat.

Pumpkin Cake

I quite often get asked to bring my carrot cake to various functions but I was getting a little tired of making the same thing so I did a bit of browsing around the Internet and came up with this recipe for Pumpkin cake. They called it Cinderella cake. I was a little gun shy after making a few duds from Pinterest but I figured you can't go wrong with cream cheese frosting and I was right. This cake is delish, so moist and stays fresh for several days.
I had a little fight with my Bundt pan getting it out but nothing a little frosting wouldn't hide.
Hard to get a decent photo in these gloomy Fall Winter days but you get the idea.

Pumpkin Cake
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree (just over a half of the large can)
1 tsp vanilla

Blend sugar and eggs, add oil. Combine dry ingredients and add to wet. Pour into greased 9 in  Bundt pan. Bake at 350F for 55 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out onto platter.

Coachman's Icing ( Cream Cheese)
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 a brick)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Blend butter, cream cheese and vanilla. add sugar until desired consistency. Frost completely cooled cake and sprinkle with nuts if desired. This amount of frosting will not completely cover cake but is more then adequate for an excellent ratio of icing to cake.

The Mighty Maple

Just trying to figure out how to blog from the iPad.

Thank you Mother Nature for letting me hang onto my leaves until

a vicious windstorm brought them down and blew them around the yard 

necessitating a FOURTH raking of the yard in sub zero temperatures.

Baked Parmesan Caesar Chicken

It's been awhile since I posted a recipe and this one is a keeper. I first starting using creamy Caesar dressing and Italian as a marinade this summer at the suggestion of a friend. Then I was invited to a delicious lunch out and another friend used the marinade base and added the breaded topping and it was delicious.

Here's the recipe if you want to try it yourself:

Baked Parmesan Caesar Chicken
6-8 boneless chicken breasts (I cut them in half)
1/2 cup creamy Caesar dressing
1/2 cup zesty Italian dressing
1 cup shredded Parmesan (the fresh kind)
1 cup bread crumbs

Combine dressings in one bowl, combine cheese and crumbs in another bowl.
Dredge each breast in the dressings and then roll in the crumb mixture. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is done.

Lions Dog Guides

My posts have been a little heavy on the dogs lately. I have been making some cards and working on some other stuff but it's pretty much dark when I leave for work and darkish when I get home so maybe now with the time change, I will have some time to get the items photographed.

Last weekend, the Lions Dog Guides hosted their bi-annual Open House in Oakville to showcase their programs and to allow the public to view their facility and of course, meet the stars of the show, puppies and dogs in training.

Dog Guides offer 6 programs;Canine Vision, Hearing Ear, Seizure Response, Service,
Autism Assistance and Diabetic Alert. It was very interesting to hear how the dogs are trained for the different programs. Did you know that there are breath donors for the Diabetic Alert dogs? People donate their breath when they have a blood sugar low and these are frozen and used to train the dogs to "alert".

Look at the tail wag on this Lab. They really love to work!

 We were greeted by Bev who is completely blind and her Yellow Lab. She is on her 7th Canine Vision dog. The dog was not working so he could enjoy lots of pets and praise from his visitors.

The poodles were adorable. Most likely heading towards a career in Hearing Ear. They were about 12 weeks old.

This little girl was looking for a foster home. Tempting but I think 2 is plenty for right now.