Honey Beer Bread

Really bad photo but that was all that was left of the bread when I last served it (which was just after Christmas when I had people over for Chili) It is the perfect accompaniment and takes less then 5 mintues to pop in the oven. I first had this at our girls Cottage retreat (thanks Robin) and I've made it several times since. Of course, you best serve it warm from the oven. When I make it again, I'll make sure I take a photo before its devoured.

Honey Beer Bread
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey (warm in microwave for easy pour)
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
4 Tbsp butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Slowly pour in honey and beer until just combined.
3. Pour half of the melted butter into the bottom of the loaf pan. Then add the batter on top in an even layer and brush the rest of the butter over the top.
4. Bake for 40 -50 min until the top of the bread is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Serve immediately.

*Can add 1 cup of grated cheese to make it more savoury

January Goals

I'm not sure about my 20 in 20 yet. I still have to do a recap and I have a feeling that I didn't accomplish too many. But that's ok, I don't really stress about completing everything. Life is busy. For me, they are just some ideas to keep in mind. But I was reading a couple blogs and those people decided to break things down to see if that keeps things more on track.

So for January, I've decided to adopt 3 habits or goals. Recently I had a neighbour come by and pop something in my fridge. Confession: I had been extremely busy the day and night before and I left my kitchen in a mess. Sigh!  So my habit for Jan is to try and leave no dishes in the sink (I usually drip dry as I don't have a dishwasher) I didn't quite start at the beginning of the month but there are no rules here.

1. Leave no dishes in the sink nightly

2. Spend 15 minutes a day reading, working on Planner, shredding documents (I find if I just get started I keep going)

3. Do 2 blog posts a week. (A more concrete goal then so many per year)

August Swap Card

I can't believe I'm typing that. How did we get so far behind? My fault entirely. Too much travel and other stuff going on but I promised I'd catch up and hopefully we will be snowed in a few times this winter so I have to stay home.

Keri did a sweet Fall card...

I can no longer recall what materials she used but isn't it so Fallish and colourful?

I used Neat and Tangled. It's a die set and stamp set called Awesome and I used vellum behind. Clever,eh? It has the blocked outline of the word which always looks good.

And I finally used some washi tape. This is a great way to add some colour quickly to a card. And fast.
So there you go. Another swap card and another blog post.

PS. This is my 600th post and my first post in 2020.

Christmas Baking 2019

Every year I say I'm not going to go to all the time and expense to do all the Christmas baking. The cost of ingredients has really skyrocketed but I seem to enjoy it so much (both the baking and the eating) so I guess I'll keep doing it until I don't.

Baking 2019
Traditional Shortbread
Whipped Shortbread
Almond cookies
Mini Chip Shortbread
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Peanut Butter Balls
Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares
Chocolate Marshmallow Squares
Hot Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
Cadbury Caramilk Cookies
Nainamo Bars
Chipit Cherry Jewel Bars
Cherry Shortbread Squares
M and M cookies

This year I got together with my cousin and her boys as is our annual tradition and our family friend and her daughter joined us. We made 3 types of cookies. It was a fun afternoon.

My friend Keri and I got together and had a mini exchange. We were exchanging 3 types but she wanted peanut brittle as one of my selections so I was happy to oblige. I made a lot of Peanut Brittle also.

I also make my old favourites and I always try to make at least one new type. This year it was the Hot Cocoa cookies and they were really good.

So we will see what next year brings. Maybe I'll continue the baking or maybe not. I'll put my money on YES!

KISSES Hot Cocoa Cookies

It's been so long since I logged onto the Blog, I almost forgot my password. There always seems to be something more pressing to do than sitting down and typing out a post. I DO know there are still a few people that like to look up recipes, myself being one of them so I'm going to keep putting out my hopefully more frequent posts.

I was scrolling through Instagram(another time waster) and spotted this recipe. Every year I do a lot of Christmas baking and I always like to try a new recipe or two. Well I had a helper coming over to hang out for the day (Thanks Kate) and since this recipe involved a few more steps, it was the perfect time to try it.

Hot Cocoa Cookies

3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup chocolate chips
36 Kisses (approx)
18 marshmallows
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cut each marshmallow in half. Set aside. Take wrappers off Kisses. Preheat oven to 350F

Beat butter and sugars,add eggs and vanilla, then dry ingredients. Chill dough.(They suggested 10 min in Freezer but I would chill it longer in fridge)
Roll dough into balls about an inch and a half. Flatten slightly.
Bake 6-7 min: top with marshmallow half and bake an additional 3-4 min( I didn't think the marshmallow was cooking so I went with 4 but I think I would bake slightly less next time)
Remove from oven. Cool one minute and top with KISS.
Allow cookies to cool completely.

These cookies were delicious! and the dough even better!  They are a soft cookie and the topping was yummy. A great addition to your cookie tray

July Swap Card

Whaat? How did I fall so far behind? Life is busy. We did swap these cards awhile ago but I won't lie we are not keeping up (or I should say I am not!)
Keri used the Stampin Up set, I believe is called Cocktail hour to make this gold on gold birthday card...

This might be the set she used. LOL....

But I could be wrong.

I did a cute Fall card using one of my MFT Pure Innocence sets...

I just love paper piecing. Then all your patterned paper coordinates.
This is the set that I used. Its called Sending Blessings.

I'm hoping to visit the My Favourite Things store when I'm back in Florida. It's always a fun roadtrip.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

I can't believe we are heading into the last weekend of the summer. My little blog has been sadly neglected. It's just been too nice to spend time sitting on a computer. I haven't touched my scrapping stuff for 2 months other then to attend a couple Planner classes which I promptly put on the back burner uncompleted. Oh well, Fall is coming and I've set aside a few dates to get going again on some of my hobbies.
I DID make time to try a couple new recipes and this one is a winner!
My garden has reached the end of the zucchini harvest but I'll be buying a few more and grating some to freeze so I can make this delicious bread all winter.

I did make it in a couple different size loaf pans. An 8x4 and a long narrow, single layer lasagne pan which I found made it a little drier. I need to get a second 8x4 pan as I think that's the ideal size or use my ceramic mini loaf ones.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups white sugar

Zest of 2 large lemons

3 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini (squeezed out if its really moist)

Glaze

2 cups icing sugar

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1.      Preheat oven to 325F, prepare 2 8x4 loaf pans. Set aside.

2.      In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

3.      In a medium bowl combine sugar and lemon rind

4.      Add to wet ingredients, whisk until smooth. Stir into dry ingredients. Batter will be thick.

5.      Stir in the zucchini and divide evenly into pans.

6.      Bake 60 to 65 minutes

7.       Right after it comes out of the oven you can add glaze. ( I forgot )