Food Friday: Some Pies

We made the trip safely from our home to my sister's home in North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with her and her family and to help with the pie project.  As I write this on Thanksgiving Eve, it appears as if the project was a success.

Several people involved themselves and between us we made way more than 100 pies.  Apple, blueberry, cherry, pumpkin, sweet potato, peach, pecan, blackberry, chocolate pecan, and others.

Here are some of the ones my sister made:

These cherry pies are dressed in silicon shoulders to keep the edges of the crusts from browning too much, i.e. burning!

Here they are after cooking.  I think they look just plain lovely.  I probably will not eat any of this kind of pie because they turned out well.  In the background are some apple pies. Dear One peeled many apples and worked the corer/slicer.  His work was much appreciated.

It was a very long day.  My sister arose by 5:00 AM, made blueberry muffins for us and, by the time we showed up on the scene, she had already made some pies and was just about ready to head to work.

My brother-in-law, Dear One, and I made many pies during the day and finally my sister put the last ones (more pecan pies) in the oven around 9:15 PM. I think she is going to watch a little football while they are cooking.  I retired!

A Trip to Florence and a Surprising Sight!

We needed to go to Florence for some items that are not available locally.  Along the way, still here in Sumter, I think, we drove by several cotton fields.

These bales of cotton are all ready to go to wherever they go for processing.  Pretty interesting to me.  They made me think of Gone With The Wind.

You can see that there are still some cotton bolls on the ground. I am wondering if I could go glean the fields and possibly spin up some cotton yarn.  I don't know who to ask, but I may venture.  Once I have finished a few more of the unfinished projects I am working on.  Maybe next year...

And a Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I so much appreciate your love and good wishes.  Maybe your day be filled with love and gratitude and wonderful food.

Paper Crafting Boxes Made From Greeting Cards

Paper crafting, paper crafting!  So much fun.  Makes such a mess.  Makes me so happy to make something to give away and make people smile.

We had some leftover Halloween candy. I wanted to make a little treat for the sister we minister to.  I saw on YouTube a video on making a notebook with a Christmas card.  That was pretty interesting.  I even found some notepads to use, but it was going to take more time than my mind could handle.

This got me started thinking about other boxes.  I thought of the Lipstick Boxes I made one time for something, maybe Mother's Day, but they would not have worked with the leftovers.  Then I thought of the hinged boxes that I had made at one time.  The lipstick boxes and the hinged boxes are somewhere here on the blog if people want to search for them.

In this case I purchased a few Thanksgiving cards and cut the front from the inside.  The first cards I had were about 5.5 by 8 inches.

To make the hinged boxes I took the front of the card and placed it face-down in the score board and scored at 1 inch on all for sides.

Box with wet glue on the bottom and Dollar Tree clips (six came in a bag).  You can see a lipstick box in the background about which I had changed my mind.

Next I measure how much length there was in the middle on the long side and subtracted 1 inch.  The remaining measurement gave me the placement of the rest of the score marks.  In this case, I scored at about 3.5 inches and 4.5 inches.  You will recognize that this will give you three one-inch sections and two longer sections.

Fold up on the score lines and burnish carefully.  Cut on all the short lines.  Leave the two long sections alone at this point then put small notches on the other tabs.

Notice the little thumb-hole in the top of the box.  Wait to do it until you have the bottom done, and before you but the final glue on the top.  Use a circle hole punch and only put it about 1/3 of the way on the punch.

Now you are ready for the adhesive. I began using glue BUT the glue I had was taking forever to dry so I began using the dry adhesive tape.

On this model the thumb hole was inadvertently put on the inside of the bottom. Oh well.
.
Now on to some 4.5 " by 6.75" cards.  We still need 1-inch scored all around.  The only difference will be how much space there will be in the two "wells".

This shows the score board, the nifty little very sharp scissors, and the box-to-be with all the cuts made, including notching all the tabs.  You notice that the large sections are NOT notched.

Update: on this card the new score lines were at 2 7/8 and 3 7/8 inches...but if you are going to make these, I suggest cutting a piece of scratch paper the size of your card then scoring that.  Maybe make two or three of these...!  That way you won't spoil the cards with improper score lines.

South Carolina Foliage, Close to Home!

There has been talk recently about the foliage, or lack thereof, here in our neck of the woods.  It turns out we DO have foliage AND it is right across the pond from us!  It is so beautiful.  Not Vermont, but, well, we are not in Vermont anymore and will take what we can get...!

So pretty. Plus there is a nice white birch tree nearby! So great to see.

And two days later, here is another picture of the same tree with the sun shining on it!!

Magnificent view today!!!  Heavenly Father is truly the greatest Creator.

Munchie Monday: Fun with Jello

On Thursday I saw some molds at the grocery store in the aisle by the Jello.  I don't remember if I have made Jello Jigglers before. I certainly did not when our children were little. We had never heard of such a thing.  Well, because the Young Women were having their completion Read-a-thon on Friday and today I thought I would make them some Jello Jigglers.

These are the ones I made:

The nice girl at the Piggly Wiggly, or maybe it was Food Lion, I have forgotten, allowed me to purchase three of the molds with the three boxes of Jello.  (I patronize both stores pretty often...)

These were grape, cherry, and lime.  

Using boiling water I poured 2/3 cup water into a Pyrex measuring cup then emptied one 3-ounce package of Jello into the water and stirred for 3 minutes, by the clock, to be sure the gelatin was activated and the sugar completely dissolved.  At this point I lightly sprayed the molds with cooking spray and poured in the Jello.  Into the refrigerator for four hours and those babies were ready to un-mold and take to the girls.  The un-molding involved running a sharp knife around the molds then inverting the mold onto a plate.  

Because they were all very busy in the Primary Room, I just slipped the Jigglers into the refrigerator.  The beauty of this is that I have the satisfaction of imagining I was a help, and since I was not there when they were served, I am spared the ignominy of the girls rejecting them!  Win, win!

Note: using 2/3 cup of boiling water, there was not enough Jello to fill all the wells to the top.
Note-2:  Be sure you have enough empty space in the refrigerator to place all your filled molds!
Note-3:  I think if I make these again, I will use some silicon molds instead of the hard plastic ones from the grocery store.  This will necessitate having a tray or cookie sheet to place under the silicon mold filled with Jello so perhaps even more empty space in the refrigerator may be necessary.

Food Friday: Mock Tuna Salad Spread

Another of my favorite treats I try to make without animal products is tuna salad.  There are a million "no-tuna" salad spread recipes out there.  Today when we returned from our second week as temple ordinance workers here in South Carolina, I was starving.  (Dear One had found the hidden stash of nutty, dried fruit-y emergency trail mix in the car while he was waiting for me outside the Joann store.  He was NOT starving when we got home!!!)

There were three cans of garbanzo beans on the counter waiting to be put away.  I grabbed one, pulled the ring, drained the beans and started in.

The nifty Ninja Express Chop was the perfect helper here.  In went the drained beans.  A few pulses and it was the perfect texture for me.  Tossed them into a big bowl the added 1/4 of a sweet onion, 2 skinny stalks of celery that I had chopped into smallish pieces, and 2-3 Tablespoons of dill pickle chips.  A few more pulses of the Ninja and dumped into the bowl on top of the beans.

Next I opened a bottle of capers...something I had never purchased before and have totally forgotten the purpose for the purchase...and, using a fork, dug out about 2 teaspoons that drained then put into the Ninja.  One teaspoon maple syrup, 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon of lemon pepper seasoning, and about 3 Tablespoons of tahini and I pulsed again.  This made a great dressing for the "tuna".  After stirring well, I put about 1/4 cup onto a slice of whole wheat bread, some more sliced onions, and a second slice of bread.  All this in about 15 minutes.

It was heavenly.  Or at least, it filled the bill wonderfully.  Foolishly, I ate it so fast that I did not realize I was full so I took a small tortilla and added another small pile of spread to it, rolled it up, and scarfed it down.  Now I am uncomfortable.  When will I learn?

Not at all an appealing picture, but it really is tasty.

Anyway,  this is really not bad at all.  Even Dear One might like it if he gave it a chance.  He nicely declined but said he would love some strawberry shortcake with the strawberries I got at The Pig yesterday on their reduced produce shelf. 

Okay, so it was just a matter of hauling out the ingredients to make the baking powder biscuits, mixing them up and putting them in the oven to bake.  Next was washing, capping, slicing, and sugaring the berries and finally opening some oldish, but unopened, heavy whipping cream I had gotten to make something when my sister and her husband were here weeks ago but which never happened.  Whipped cream was ready by the time the biscuits were cooked and the berries all set.  He loved the strawberry shortcake...

Icicles!!!

It was 27 degrees outside on Wednesday morning.  Wednesday is trash day.  Dear One dragged the trash bin out to the curb to meet the trash truck.  Well, not to MEET the truck, but just to have the bin ready for the men.

When I went out for a walk around 9 AM, this is what I saw:

Icicles!!  You could have knocked me over with a feather, and you KNOW what a trick THAT would have been.  Well, even as I watched them, those babies melted.  There were not even any remnants left when I returned from my walk...and it was only a short walk that day.

Small Paper Crafting Project: Covered Notebooks

The ladies in our Relief Society are putting together boxes of gifts for the young missionaries.  One of the things we are doing is to contribute top-bound spiral pocket notebooks. I loved that idea and wanted to make some.  My first effort was to make one from scratch.  It turned out that I did not have the most important tool I needed...the hole punch.  This made me remember fondly the industrial paper punch/binder I left in Vermont.

To make a long story shorter, I decided to take some already-made notebooks and cover them with pretty papers.  Even here there was a learning curve!  It turns out that beautiful heavy card stock is NOT the thing to use.  At least not on this iteration.

The final time through I used regular "Recollections" paper (the Fashionably Chic 6 inch by 6 inch pad that I got at Michaels) and was successful.

1. Choose the paper.
2. Remove the binding coil from the notebook.  Save it carefully.  Too bad to have it roll under the table and get stepped on...
3. Cut the paper to the correct size.  In this case the notebook was 3" by 5" so the paper was cut 4" by 6".
4. Place the cover face down on the paper then fold up the paper, long sides first, then short sides.
5. Cut a triangle off each corner of the paper about 1/8 inch away from corner to reduce bulk when glueing.
6. Using DRY glue, put glue on all folded edges. I used double-sided tape until it ran out, then a glue-runner.
7. Press the long glued edges to the back side of the cover and press down well.  Glue down the top and bottom of the decorative paper to the back of the cover. Press well.
8. Use another piece of the same (or coordinating) paper that is about 2 1/2 inch by 3 3/4 inch and dry glue down, covering completely the back side of the cover.
9.  It is handy if you remember which end is the one with the punched holes for the coil binding.  Either way, now take the back cover and lay it on top of the front covered cover and use a paper punch to punch out the holes for the coil to be re-inserted.  I used a Japanese screw punch to make the holes.  I am too cheap to buy a Cinch machine...but also, I don't like their binding wires, so this punch worked for me.
10.  Re-insert the coil you took off at the beginning.  Remember to press it together so the coil stays on the notebook.

You could repeat this process with the backs of the notebooks, but I chose not to after the first two did not work as well as I had hoped.

To make the back covers a little bit more interesting, I punched a flourish out of white card stock, wrote a scripture reference and Merry Christmas on it then wet-glued the flourish onto the bottom of the back cover.  Not classy or anything, but more interesting than nothing, and the scriptures are good ones...! In my opinion.

You can see that I started out covering the backs BUT they were kind of nasty.  Not so nasty that I didn't give them to the missionary box.  Some missionary will probably not mind too much.

The Great 2019 Garden!

The other morning the temperature dropped to 27 degrees F.  That took care of the basil.  And the tomato plant.

As you can see, the basil is pretty much done for this year.  Tomorrow I will clip off the dead stuff.  I am hoping the roots are still happy in the tub.  Basil was our most productive plant this year. I was so happy with them.  We used a LOT of basil, at least, compared to any other year of our gardening life.

The tomato harvest came in, too.  Or at least, I harvested our tomato crop to save it from further difficulties.  Sadly, one of the tomatoes had fallen on the deck.  I did not see it. I stepped on it.  That was the end of that one...

So...this is the entire tomato harvest.  I do not know if this gem will ripen in the house, but I hope so.

There is a big gardening summit online somewhere for the next few days.  I am hoping to watch some of the presentations to see if they can help us for next year. I just have to remember that here in South Carolina February is a great time to start gardening for the year.

Munchie Monday: Apple Cider Oatmeal!

We seem to have two half-gallons of apple cider in the refrigerator.  Before the cider turns hard I decided to use up some of it.

This was an easy cooked oatmeal which we had for breakfast yesterday.  Dear One really loved it! That made me happy.

In a three-quart sauce pan, place 2 cups apple cider, 1 cup uncooked old-fashioned oatmeal, 1/2 cup golden raisins, 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Stir over medium heat until the cereal is cooked as much as you like. I cooked it almost five minutes.

Serve in bowls with a few chopped walnuts on top.

Dear One asked if I could duplicate the recipe.  Well, yes. I can.  I just wrote it down so I could do that!  And thought I would share with family and friends here on the blog.  I hope you like it, too.

Food Friday: Easy Instant Pot Soy Yogurt

When we were in the mission, I made some "cold start" yogurt in the Instant Pot.  I thought I would try again with soy milk.  This is not because I like soy yogurt. I have not developed a taste for soy milk, however, when you make a smoothie or overnight oats, you need some kind of wettening ingredient.  There are so many other tasty ingredients that you don't notice the flavor of the soy.

To make this yogurt, I put 64 ounces of West Soy unsweetened Soy Milk in the blender and added 7 probiotic capsules  (Solgar Advanced 40 Plus Acidophilus 120 Vegetable Capsules)
which I opened and drizzled in while the blender was on the lowest speed.

After the milk and capsules were mixed, I pour the milk into five 1-pint jars and set them into the inner bowl of the Instant Pot directly on the liner.  NO WATER ADDED AND NO TRIVET USED.  Set on the Yogurt mode for 8 hours.  After 8 hours I took the jars out, found that the yogurt was nice and thick. Immediately I put the jars in the refrigerator to set up further overnight.

The next day I mixed one pint yogurt with 1 cup old fashioned oats, 1/2 cup blueberries, 2 Tablespoons flax meal, 1/4 cup golden raisins, 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, 1 Tablespoon of Monte and Cheryl's wonderful honey, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.   (You can probably deduce from these ingredients that I was using up leftover, rather elderly ingredients that have been staring me down for a while every time I come into the kitchen.)

After mixing these together, I put them in the refrigerator and went for a walk.  Only a mile-plus so it was not long.  Well, for a real walker, it would have been long (took me 32 minutes that trip).  A really healthy strong walker could do that distance in 15 minutes.  Not I...maybe some day.

Anyway, this breakfast oatmeal was a very big hit with me, and a smaller hit with Dear One.  When serving it, I broke on a few walnut meats for a little crunch, everything else being rather soft.  I like a variety of textures in my mouth...

Next time I make this Instant Pot yogurt, I will try almond milk...also unsweetened.

NOTE:  I used the 8-quart Instant Pot. I think other people make yogurt in the 6-quart Instant Pot but use 12-ounce canning jars which are a little skinnier than the 1-pint ones.  I forgot to mention that once I put the milk mixture into the jars, I put on the canning jar lids and rings, tightened the rings, then loosened them up again slightly.  ALSO, I only put milk in up to the shoulders of the jars, just in case.  Well, just in case what, I don't know, but it seems like a good idea not to have the jars entirely full.  It is not like we are really "canning" something but...habit, you know!

Swan Lake and Iris Gardens

Another thing we did with our most recent family visitors was to go to the Swan Lake and Iris Gardens.  There were probably several hundred swans of at least eight different kinds.  There were an amazing number of black swans, white swans, white swans with black necks, and others of a variety of sizes.

As we were in the first part of the lake, the more primitive, out-there swampy part, Dear One pointed up at two swans who had just picked up off the water and started flying away.  He raised the question about how "they" were able to keep the swans in the lake area.  A little later we ran into a park ranger who told us that there were only two swans who could actually fly.  We had already seen them and did not know it was an unusual thing to see flying swans at this park!

We saw signs like this one that I thought were rather entertaining...

This reminded me of a time when I was a little girl on the farm in South Royalton.  We had many different animals on the farm.  At one time we had at least one goose.  We could have benefited from a sign similar to the one above!

One day I was walking in the dooryard and that big old goose came out of nowhere and bit me rather sharply on the big soft behinder part of my body!  My father happened to be near by and, with a loud voice and waving arms, shouted, "Hee-yar!!"  The goose must have read the handwriting on the wall because he ran/flew off down the road.  The last time I saw him, he was flying low over the Cross Lots Pasture!

No, I don't remember ever seeing him again.  I also don't remember if we had a large roast "chicken" some time later...

The Sea Lion

While we were at the zoo, I snapped this picture....Dear One, nose to nose with a sea lion.

It was kind of funny watching them watching each other!

Some Zoo Animals!

When G and D were here last week we went to the Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden in Columbia.

Here are some of the sights we saw!

This cute little guy is a sleeping koala!

There were many many of these tortoises at the zoo.  These kids felt that they needed to get really close to their lunch!  So cute.

Munchie Monday: Very Quick Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sort Of...

When we make chocolate chip cookies, our favorites, the recipe makes more cookies than we can reasonably eat.  SO...I use a cookie scoop and put the cookies on a tray very close to each other then freeze them.  When they are frozen, maybe a couple of hours, I remove them from the freezer and put in an airtight container and return them to the freezer.

In this case, since we had company, I cooked a half sheet pan full of cookies...

THEN...when Dear One is agitating for some cookies I just pull out the box (which I have hidden behind the frozen kale or other objectionable (to him!) food, take out 6 cookies and put them on the quarter sheet pan that I have. 

At this point I place them, frozen, in a cold oven.  Turn on the oven to 350 or 375 degree F. oven and let them cook.  At 350 degrees F. it took about 20 minutes to cook.  In the 375 degree F. oven, I think it only takes 13 minutes, but stay there in the kitchen to watch them. It would be too bad to burn them.

Our daughter is the one who gave me this idea.  It works like a charm.  We had family here recently who missed the warm chocolate chip cookies at the motel so this was the next best thing.  PLUS they could have as many as they wanted without feeling piggish!

Food Friday: Tasty Fat-Free French Fries

Last week I saw a post by Chuck Underwood on Brand New Vegan about fat-free french fries.  Dear One is a French fry addict so I am always trying to find a healthier version of them.  This might be it!

This is what I did:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Prepare a rimmed sheet with Silpat or parchment paper unless you like to scrub baked on stuff.

Scrub 4 medium Russett potatoes and cut into planks around 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.

In a bowl mix together 1 Tablespoon flour, 1 teaspoon granulated garlic, 1 teaspoon granulated onion, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, and about 1/2 teaspoon salt.  I forgot the pepper.  Stir well.

In a large microwave safe bowl place the potatoes and microwave for 5 minutes.  They will not be completely cooked. You don't want them completely cooked.

Add the seasoning mixture to the bowl and stir well, but gently.

Spread potatoes on the baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes.

Add more seasoning when they come out of the oven if you want.

Next time I will not use the flour and see if they still work.

Tasty Brunch Today

This morning I awoke at 5:00 AM after an amazing full night of sleep.  I leaped out of bed and began my morning routine.  As part of that today I did a great deal of reading besides my Spanish Book of Mormon reading:  Genesis 39; The Book of Esther; Job 2:3; Job 27:3-6; Daniel 3 and Daniel 6; Acts 26; 3 Nephi 11:10-11; Doctrine and Covenants 124:15; and Joseph Smith History 1: 21-25.  This was a lot of reading but so good to read as research for the virtue of integrity.  It made me realize that I can do better.  I am kind of gutless sometimes...

Anyway, after that scripture immersion I made birthday cards for seven of our young single adults and, later in the day after the power came back on so I could open the garage door, I took them to the post office.  That felt so good.

Finally I got downstairs around 11 AM and tossed out the idea of breakfast.  Instead I made brunch.

This was one Dr. Praeger veggie burger of some kind.  I don't remember what it was and some time ago tossed the box in the recycling so we could have more room in the freezer.  Also we had some Brussels sprouts that were getting on towards elderly so I put them in the Instant Pot and cooked them on HIGH for 20 minutes to break the tar out of the cell membranes and make them possibly soft and more pleasant to eat.  One Roma tomato, not very big, and a big pile of Kalamata olives.  This was such a delicious meal.  Unfortunately, I ate the whole batch and spent the next hour regretting this.

PS:  Dear One did NOT eat the same brunch I did, but it was hours ago and I don't remember what it was.  I did not take a picture of his food.  Rest assured, it really was good, just not as good as mine which he would not touch with a ten-foot pole.

Tonight I was smarter about quantities:  I made a sweet potato which I opened up and put on about 1/4 cup of black beans which had cumin, garlic granules, onion granules, and a small amount of salt on then. I stirred them up, heated them up and enjoyed them.  I gave Dear One a bowl of the same seasoned black beans along with green salad and his favorite salad dressing.  When I asked him if the beans were as good as I had said they were he said, "If we were walking across the plains...."  Funny guy, isn't he?!!  I love his sense of humor.  Almost always...

 I consider the beans a success and will make them again for sure!

Quick and Easy and DELICIOUS Vegan Hot Chocolate!

Yesterday Krocks in the Kitchen put up a video on YouTube about 3-Ingredient Vegan Hot Chocolate.  I had the three ingredients so I went down to the kitchen and immediately made some.

BINGO!!!  It is EXACTLY the way I like hot chocolate to taste.  And it is plant-based.

Vegan Hot Chocolate ready to sip.  So good. Also in a new-ish toy!  Love this Yeti mug.  Did NOT love the price.

I made some of this hot chocolate in the VitaMix just the way Jessica said. IT IS SO GOOD!!   You do not need to use a high-speed blender.  If you don't use a high-speed blender just blend for about 90 seconds which should pulverize the dates enough.  Once blended, heat up in the microwave or a small saucepan on the stove.

 I did not have medjool dates. I used deglet noor dates that I weighed in at 40 grams and covered with 1/4 cup boiling water that sat on the counter five minutes, 1 1/4 cup Almond Breeze almond milk and 1 Heaping Tablespoon Hershey's cocoa.

Today I made a double batch so Dear One could have more of a sample than he got last night.  The cocoa was 40 grams in weight so for one serving I will use 20 grams cocoa when I made it again. (A kitchen scale is so handy...)

 Put all these things into the high-speed blender and blend for 3 and 1/2 minutes.  It will come out the perfect temperature to drink.  Steaming hot.  So delicious!!

New Kitchen Toy: Electric Hot Water Pot

Always working on nutrition, I have more or less become interested in herb teas.  Having spilled a pot of hot water when pouring it into a mug, I finally purchased a hot water pot.

This is the pot I found on Amazon.

It works really well.  It was a totally different thing to me.  The little black disk at the bottom is the piece that heats up the pot.  It heats up quite rapidly.  PLUS the water pours directly into a mug and does not spill!  So nice. 

Even Dear One likes it.

Munchie Monday: Pumpkin Pie Spiced Snowballs

When we have company coming I like to make 1. something I have not made before and 2. a nice sweet for dessert.  In this case the same recipe fills both categories.

Monica at The Yummy Life comes up with so many delicious-sounding recipes.  This is one of them. 

Snowball Cookies with Pumpkin Pie Spice

Cookie Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup pecans, chopped


Powdered topping
1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare a cookie sheet with either parchment paper or a Silpat mat and set aside.

In a large bowl add butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, and flour.  Mix very well.  Add chopped pecans and mix again.  The mixture might be crumbly. 

Use a small cookie scoop to make walnut-sized cookies and place on prepared cookie sheet. 

Raw cookies, i.e. ready to put into the oven

Bake 15-20 minutes until the cookies are very lightly browned, at least around the bottom.  Remove from oven then let cool on pan for 10 minutes. 

Cookies just out of the oven

In a bowl, mix the powdered topping ingredients.  Gently drop the still-warm cookies and shake to cover.  Let cool completely on a wire rack.  Dredge in the powdered topping a second time after the cookies are completely cool.

Snowballs after two times being dredged.  They need at least one more dredging.

Apparently they can be frozen for a while. I may try that when they are totally cooled.  I do not want them to be very available...

Things I did differently:  made my own pumpkin pie spice from a recipe I found online but which has since eluded me.  Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves.  As far as the butter, I put that in the microwave on the defrost mode for about 30 seconds.  The butter was then about half melted rather than just softened.  Because of this the "batter" may be less crumbly than the original recipe mentions.

Food Friday: Pink Salsa

We had two partially used bottled of salsa.  One was mild; the other was medium.  The medium was on the spicier side of medium. I thought if I added some cream cheese to it that the bite would be a little less significant.  So I did it.

Using 2 8-ounce blocks of regular cream cheese which had been set on the counter to soften for a couple of hours, and 2 partial jars of salsa, place them in a blender or food processor.  Blend or process for 10-20 seconds.  Turn out into a nice clean bowl.  Cover and place in refrigerator until you want to use it.



We call this Pink Salsa because, well, it is pink after blending.  I took it to a "carry-in" party at the YMCA.  My sister suggested that I put up a tent card identifying what it was. I did do that.  It was a good idea.  No one had ever had any of this before.  They kept going back!  That made me happy. 

We used both corn chips as well as vegetables sticks for dipping.  So good.

Try it.  You might like it.  There is nothing easier to make for a carry-in party!