Best Ever Monster Cookies

I make these cookies for many different holidays so this week they're for Valentine's Day!

Monster Cookies are not new and the recipes for making them are endless. Probably 95% of my cookies are homemade, but sometimes you just need a quick and easy recipe. 

I decided to come up with my own version of Monster Cookies which are easy and great to throw together when we have unexpected visitors or to serve at club meetings or any other last-minute function.

Fran's Holiday Cheese Ball

We've purchased or made from scratch and tried many different types of cheese balls.  A cheese ball is nothing more than a mixture of cheeses, maybe with chopped veggies and a few spices rolled into a ball and served as a dip with crackers.

It's an appetizer that's been in and out of popularity many times but still seems to hang in there.  

Even though a cheese ball may be considered sort of retro by some, it's one appetizer you can be sure of.  And there's an entire book devoted to it.  The book, Great Balls of Cheese by Michelle Buffardi has more than 50 savory and sweet cheese ball recipes!

Cookie Cutter Christmas Ornaments

I make Christmas ornaments every year for my kids and a few family members. It all started as making ornaments only for my kids, but then I started making two or three extra to give as gifts, and that has now grown into a yearly family Christmas Ornament Exchange!

It usually takes me lots of thought and planning to settle on just the right ornament to make. 

A few I've made in the past are Vintage Paper Ornaments,   Beach Ornaments with sand and shells from St. Augustine, Florida, a Flag of Ohio ornament, and Felt Snowman ornaments.

State Flag Christmas Ornament

Besides our large Christmas tree full of homemade and travel ornaments, every year I put up a smaller tree in my dining room. This tree has evolved and changed themes and decorations somewhat over the years. It started out as a nature tree. Then I started mixing in cardinals (our state bird), which then led me to make the tree a Nature Ohio tree.

I have added buckeyes, cardinals, morel mushrooms, pine cones, bird nests, and various other things that can be found in and around our state.

We started a Crafting Circle and have an ornament exchange with family and friends every year, so I decided to make an Ohio flag as a Christmas ornament. 

 

Felt Snowman Ornament

This is a cute little felt Christmas ornament I made for our ornament exchange one year.

We have a really large family so instead of having a gift exchange, we started an ornament exchange. It's not mandatory so not everyone participates. 

It's so wonderful to receive the little gift boxes in the mail containing each homemade ornament. And many of us add other small gifts like specialty coffee or tea, candy, fudge, cookies, jams, bookmarks, or other goodies.

Many family members live out of state but for the ones close to me and who want to make crafts for Christmas we started a Crafting Group. It's a great way to stay in contact with friends and family while enjoying time set aside just for a hobby we love.

Grand Champion Pumpkin Cake

It's November already (yikes! how did that happen!?) and I just finished packing away all my Halloween decorations.
I've been busy making a list for our Thanksgiving dinner and corresponding grocery list. I usually try out a new dish or dessert every year at Thanksgiving so have been scanning through a few cookbooks for ideas.

I found this recipe in a Pumpkin Cookbook I purchased way back in 1992. The cookbook was put together by The Crusader Sunday School Class at Calvary United Methodist Church for a fundraiser. 

 

Thanksgiving Paper Craft

I got my idea for a Fall Decorated Christmas Tree a few years ago after seeing my sister Kathy's tree while visiting her in New Jersey.  
My fall tree is just 4 foot tall and in my kitchen bay window. 

I decorate this little tree for fall with autumn leaves, acorns, pumpkins, etc., and then add Halloween ornaments towards the end of October.  In November I use a Fall/Thanksgiving theme.

Since my Christmas Vintage Paper Ornaments turned out so well last year, IMO, I decided to make Thanksgiving ornaments too!

 

Start a Crafting Group

I usually make Christmas ornaments every year and give them out as gifts to a select few friends and family. 

And now some of my sisters and I and other family and friends also have an ornament exchange.

To me, it's wonderful to see all the talent and hard work put into each home-crafted ornament and I cherish them as keepsakes throughout the years.

My daughter Alexis and I, my son's girlfriend Jennica and a couple of our friends decided to start a Crafting Group meet-up.

Halloween Apothecary Bottles

It's October and Halloween is almost here! 

Every year we host a Fall Party, put up lots of decorations, bake everything pumpkin and even dress up in costumes. 

The first week of September we had an Under the Sea Baby Shower and I used small glass bottles to make favors for that party and had about a dozen little bottles left over.

I decided to use the extra bottles to make these apothecary bottles for a Halloween display. 

 

More Halloween Costume Ideas

My son Daniel as a ninja, early 1990s

It's nearly Autumn and October. Yeah!!

The weather has been cooler here during the day and chilly at night which to me is just wonderful. And we're already seeing the edges of leaves beginning to change color. I am in the mood for everything pumpkin and even found a pumpkin salsa! 

We have an annual Fall Party and dress up in costumes every year which is always lots of fun, I think this year is our 11^th or 12^th consecutive annual party! 

Aunt Janey's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

My daughter Jami met her husband Donnie, fell in love and got married a few years back.  (Seems like yesterday!)  

We are really pleased with her choice for our son-in-law, just a great guy.  We also have had the pleasure of meeting many of his family members, which, happily we love too!

Donnie's mother Julie and grandmother Mary are wonderful cooks and I'm still trying to get their Apple Pie recipe (best I've ever tasted) and homemade Chicken and Dumplings recipe. 

Donnie's Aunt Janey and Uncle Eddie live in southern Ohio in a beautiful hilltop home.  Aunt Janey shared this recipe with me after bringing it to one of our fall parties. She told me she originally found the recipe in a magazine years and years ago.
It is absolutely delicious!

Quick and Easy Strawberry Cake

This is an easy sheet cake or layer cake that's ready in no time using a pre-packaged cake mix and frozen strawberries. 

We pick our strawberries at a nearby farm every year around the first week of June to make our own natural Homemade Strawberry Jam.  And I always buy extra strawberries to chop and freeze to use with desserts, on ice cream, or in salads.  

There is nothing like the taste of summer fresh strawberries!  

Well It's January and June is quickly approaching so I decided to use up some of last summer's strawberries to bake a cake for my husband Bill’s birthday.

This cake is also perfect if you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day dessert.  Or bookmark or Pin this recipe for summer and use fresh garden strawberries.  Great to serve at outdoor barbecues and summer dinner parties too!

New Year Wishes and Resolutions

Happy New Year!
Here are a few quotes and sayings I like for the New Year.

Photo from Pinterest

HAVE  hope
TRY new things
BE active
SEE the good
SAY I love you more
CHALLENGE yourself
CHOOSE to be happy
EAT better
ENJOY today
FORGIVE more readily
READ more often
BECOME your best you

"The greatest need of this nation is strong, healthy, intact families. 
The greatest thing you can do as a mother is to strengthen your own family. 
Build your family life. 
Don't get involved in too many things outside your home. 

You will become flustered, frazzled, and the family will become fragmented. 
Instead, think of ideas to gather the family together. 
Think of things to do that will strengthen your family.  
Daily gather around your family meal table for your meals. 
As you strengthen and build up your family, also seek to 
encourage and bless other families around you. "

Beach Vacation Ornament

Beach or Vacation Ornament

Here's a cute idea for a last minute ornament or one to commemorate a vacation.

Recently we took a trip to Orlando and St. Augustine, Florida and spent a few days on the beach.

While shopping around St. Augustine's historical downtown I saw similar ornaments like these going for $10.00 to $15.00 a piece!

Mine cost approximately $1.00 a piece for the clear bulb. The sand and shells are free to collect on the beach.

Beach Ornament

What You'll Need:

• Clean sand from the beach
• Small shells or other interesting beach items
• Ribbon or twine
• Funnel
• Wire

Coconut Macaroons

Here's another of our favorite Christmas cookies: Coconut Macaroons.

These are easy cookies to make, have just a few ingredients, but pack a big punch of flavor.

Adding a little almond extract gives the cookie just enough extra flavor, but not enough to over shadow the coconut.  
If almond is the flavor you wish to dominate add a little more extract.

These store well in a sealed air tight container.

These can be made Gluten Free, just use GF flour.

Lemon Bars

I usually bake cookies to give out as gifts during the Holidays.  Some years I have made as many as 50 to 60 dozen cookies!
Each year I get the most requests for this cookie recipe.  And I have to say it is one of my favorite cookies too.

Many Lemon Bar or Lemon Cookie recipes call for lemon zest or grated lemon rind added to the cookie.  I have found that the zest or rind added makes the cookie slightly tarter.  Without it, the cookie is a perfect delicate lemon flavor with a delicious crust.

These cookies are best kept in the refrigerator but after tasting them they may not last long enough to worry about it.  If giving as gifts, I suggest you wrap each individual cookie bar in Sarah Wrap so they store better, do not stick together and do not absorb the odor or flavors from other cookies.

Vintage Paper Ornaments

Vintage Christmas Ornaments

I have been making homemade Christmas ornaments and decorations for years, going back to my childhood.  My sisters and I would make paper chains to hang on our family Christmas tree and I still have wooden Charlie Brown ornaments I painted when in my early teens, and a beaded boot ornament from my late teens.

Many years I made ornaments for each of my children, and then as they got older, married and had families, I sometimes made an ornament for each of the grand-kids.

Recently a few of my sisters, my daughters and a couple friends and I have been doing ornament exchanges.

Fall Leaf Place Cards

Fall or Thanksgiving Place Cards made with leaves.

I use the few days leading up to Thanksgiving to pre-bake desserts, dry the bread crumbs for stuffing, set the table and multiple other tasks to cut down on the work load on Thanksgiving Day.  

One of the things I made ahead is place cards.  I started using place cards a few years ago more for fun than actual assigned seating.

Along with these leaf place cards another of my favorites for fall is my Scrapbooking Place Cards.

These leaf place cards take only a few supplies are easy-peay to make and look beautiful on the table.

Supplies Needed:

Thanksgiving Place Cards

Place Cards Using Scrapbooking Paper

First, for those of you who have never used them before, you may be wondering what exactly is a place card?  

A place card is a card or something similar bearing a person's name and used to mark their place at a dining or meeting table.

It’s really anything you wish to use with a name tag on it, placed on the table for assigned seating. 

The placing of the place cards are usually never set in stone at my house. As guests arrive they like to rearrange where they and others are sitting.  Some guests wish to sit next to other guests (or far away from them), so they just move their place card. 

My kids like to keep their personalized place cards as a keepsake each year and we have fun making them. 

Some years I purchase place cards and just embellish them, but most years I make them myself.

Fall Decorated Christmas Tree

Decorating a tree for Autumn or Halloween

I got the idea for this tree a few years ago after seeing one in a home I was visiting.  I loved it!

I took the idea home with me, changed it a little and made it my own.

I have a bay window in my kitchen and since purchasing our farm, have had a Christmas tree in that window decorated for Christmas to match my kitchen.

I started out with the 3 foot tree for an autumn themed tree for October and have since purchased a 4 foot tree to hold all the wonderful fall and Halloween decorations I have found.