Happy Valentine's Day!

So, last night me and the girls got together to make some Valentine's Day treats for our guys!  It was a lot of fun dancing around the kitchen making a huge mess!  We wanted to make several items that were easy and fun and wouldn't take forever.  So what did we make???

The first item was Strawberry fudge!  Sounds like a lot of work doesn't it?  Well, it wasn't, it was 2 ingredients and didn't require a candy thermometer-even better!  I'll post the recipe at the bottom!

Next we made these fun cake balls although we forgot sticks to put them on so we opted for some very nice candy papers I already had.

We all had fun decorating these!  Sounds very time consuming right?  Nope, the cake balls were already made-stay tuned for the recipe!

Next we made some cut out cookies, these were the most time consuming but we all had fun decorating them!

 

So as you can see we had a lot of fun last night!  Don't be chicken, try them yourself!

Here are the recipes:


Strawberry Fudge

1 bag of white chocolate chips
1 container of Strawberry Frosting

Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler, remove from heat and stir in the container of frosting.  Pour into a greased baking dish and decorate the top with sprinkles etc.  Refrigerate until firm, cut with a sharp knife dipped in hot water.

Cake Balls/Pops

1 doz. donut holes
1 bag white chocolate chips or candy coat or almond bark
1 bag of chocolate chips
1 pkg sticks for candy making (available at Michaels)

Melt coatings in a double boiler, dip sticks in the coating and poke 2/3 of the way down into donut hole.  Let set in the freezer for 5 minutes.  Remelt your coatings in double boiler being careful not to over cook them or they will start to crystalize or scorch.  Dip donut holes, shake off excess by tapping on the side of the boiler and place the sticks in a piece of styrofoam with holes poked in it.  A box will work also or place the donut down onto wax paper like a small taffy apple.  Decorate immediately while the coating is still wet.  Let set.

Valentine Cookies

1 1/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
5 Tbs butter softened
2/3 C packed light brown sugar
1 large egg

Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix butter, egg and sugar.  Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix. Knead until it forms a dough. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.   Cut dough in half and roll out on a well floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Bake @ 350 degrees until edges are lightly browned, approximately 12-15 minutes.  Let cool before decorating.

It is a long, cold, winter here in Minnesnowta!

I haven't posted in ages!  I don't know about you but I'm getting super antsy for Spring this year!  Maybe it is because it has been so cold.  Maybe it's because I have the urge to go camping.  Maybe it's because I just want to travel.  Well, whatever the reason, I am getting really antsy for outdoor activities that don't actually require me to go outdoors in the winter!  So, I won't be doing any skiing, snow boarding, or ice fishing this winter!  Well, what can I do instead?  Here's something fun and interesting....

"Wait a minute!  What the?  Are you panning for gold inside?"  Why, yes I am!

 

How is this possible?  Easy!  You can buy just about anything online and these supplies are super cheap!

Yes, yes, it's true!  I paid $15 for a panning kit which came with 2 sized pans, a heavy hammer for prospecting, a pair of tweezers with a magnifying glass attached and 2 plastic vials for specimens.

I know what you're thinking, "surely the pay dirt is terribly expensive!"  But no, it really isn't!  I suppose you could pay a lot for some if you really want to but if your goal is to get rich, then just go to Alaska yourself and pan for it there.  You won't get rich buying pay dirt online but you don't have to pay a lot to have fun either!  You can pay anywhere from $6 up to hundreds of dollars depending on who you buy it from and how much you order.  So, if you want to have a little fun this winter, and you are tired of reading, knitting, or making snowmen in the yard, then check out panning for gold!

Local Dim Sum restaurant

We went out for Dim Sum recently and I took all these great pictures of the food they serve.  It is a tiny restaurant and the food is great but because they only serve Dim Sum on Saturday and Sunday morning, it gets quite crowded!

You are seated at a table with plates and hot tea and a small card to record all your purchases.

Soon after these giant carts on wheels called the steam carts roll by.  They are steaming like mad and the waiter/waitress shows you whats inside each little container.  If you choose something, she places it on your table and marks your card.

They have a cart with fried items too and usually someone walking around with a big tray of desserts as well.

Here are some of our choices!

Pictured above: (top right going clockwise) Pineapple buns, Chinese broccoli, crab claws, fried shrimp dumpling, one pineapple bun, pork buns (shiny). fried taro balls.

My absolute favorite is the fried Taro balls!  They have a very light, airy, almost wispy crunchy exterior and underneath is mashed taro around some vegetables!  It's so awesome!!

At the end of the meal you take your card up to the register.  They total up all your choices and you pay there.  A 15% tip has already been added to your check so you don't need to tip them, unless of course you want to tip them more.

After looking at all these pictures again I have to admit I want to go back this weekend!  Any of my chums care to join us??

Our 4th of July weekend

We had a very nice 4 day weekend for the 4th of July Holiday.  We decided to get together with the family on Saturday instead of on Thursday.  We had fondue for dinner!  Cheese fondue and Chocolate!!!

The recipes were super easy and didn't require a lot of time or special ingredients.  I will post the recipes at the bottom!

Our family gatherings are so much fun and by the above picture you can see we get a little crazy sometimes!

 After dinner, the boys went outside to light fire crackers and blow up things :/  (not to worry, no animals were injured )                                                                                                                                       

 
 After we ate we played this fun while elephant dice game, it is such a hoot!  Basically, everyone who is playing brings a gently used item from home wrapped like a gift.  If they can't find anything they can purchase something but the cost should not go over $5.  We roll dice and if you get doubles you pick a prize.  All the gifts are opened, the game goes on and there is swapping of gifts and then at the end there is stealing of gifts!  There is a lot of laughing, and moaning and it is such a hoot, everyone loves this game!!  There are many ways to play it but we've revised it so that most everyone goes home with a gift.  Hope you enjoy the recipes!!


FONDUE RECIPES

Bacon Tomato Fondue

1 brick of Velveeta, cubed
1 can of diced tomatoes 
1 package of real bacon bits 

Heat diced tomatoes and their juice in a pan over medium to medium high heat.  Add cubes of Velveeta and stir constantly until all is melted.  Add bacon bits and stir.  Pour into a fondue pot and place over a lit candle.

For dipping in the cheese:
French bread, cubed
tortilla chips
cooked chicken, cubed
steamed broccoli
cooked cubed potato
raw celery
bread sticks
pretzels


Easy Chocolate Fondue

8 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup evaporated milk

In a double boiler melt chocolate in evaporated milk.  Water under pot should be bubbling but not touching the bottom of the pot.  Transfer the whole double boiler to a fondue stand over a lit candle.

For dipping in chocolate:
pound cake, cubed
strawberries
mini marshmallows
cookies
cut up banana
pretzels

On our way to Ron and Marge's

On our way to Ron and Marge's we stopped at a farm that had trout fishing.  It was a really cute set up with an adorable little house used for storage and a little pond fed by a stream.  They raise the trout themselves and you don't need a fishing license to fish there.  My only complaint was that it was over in about 6 seconds!  You get a cane pole with a rather short line and a hook which they bait for you with a piece of corn.  You toss the line in and about 2 seconds later you catch a trout and just yank it in!

It was a nice shady spot right next to their field of cows and the dogs got to come watch!

It was run by a cute little 17 year old girl who unhooked the fish, gutted and cleaned the fish and everything, she was fearless!

More vacation pics

While we were in South Dakota we visited the Crazy Horse Memorial.  They are making a lot of progress on the giant sculpture and it is quite impressive.  We learned that the man who started the sculpture is the same man who did Mount Rushmore.  Unfortunately he died after only completing the head of the sculpture.  His children have now taken over this huge task and they have more modern equipment to move a lot of rock.

This sculpture is so much bigger than Mount Rushmore!  We found out that all of Mount Rushmore would fit inside the head area!

After we watched their informational video and after looking at the sculpture we got to see some Native Americans play some drums and dance.  They were really good and there was some audience participation!!

                                                                                                                                                                 

Fish are in the pond!

I've been working very hard at getting my pond done.  We have had so much rain that I was unable to work on it for a while and dirt was eroding from around the new upper pond.  It was quite frustrating as I couldn't figure out where all this dirt was going, it was as if it dissolved!  We had great weather this weekend so I took it upon myself to work on protecting the dirt from erosion.  I had to dig a lot of dirt and put it around the upper pond, place rocks around it and they spread wood chips in between the cracks.  I also had to pump out the water from all 4 ponds (2 upper and 2 lower) and bail out every last bit of water because of all the mosquito larvae that was swimming around in there! :/  There was a leak in the new liner that had to be repaired and then more rocks had to be placed inside the pond while it filled with water.

To the left is my nephew Phil who really enjoys the pond and has been helping out a lot!!

Here's the work I've been doing on the new upper pond, it was exhausting!

 My family took pity on me and really helped me out today so that I could put my fish in the pond tonight.

In the above picture you have a full view of the old pond on the right with the new addition on the left and the fish floating in ziploc bags.  I float them in bags with their tank water for about 15 minutes until the temperature of their water becomes the same as the temperature of the pond.  We also place some hiding areas in both of the deepest parts of the ponds so they can escape racoons, cats, or birds of prey. 

Tomorrow I plan on replacing part of the liner for the waterfall on the original falls.  A leak developed as a result of an aggressive mole that caused some settling of the rocks.  I kept trying to repair it but it continued to leak so I decided to remove the old liner and redirect the falls.  I will show more pictures of my progress as time goes on.

I appear to be running out of large rocks!  I guess it's time to pay a visit to friends and family in northern MN in order to collect some more for my project!  I will show more pictures later!!  Thanks for reading!