Butterfly cookies. This is a simple cookie recipe you probably can make today without going shopping for additional ingredients. My cousin gave me cookie cutters for Christmas and these cookie cutters  came with cookie recipes on cute little cards tied to each cutter.
My niece thought making cookies was a good idea and being a cookie chef was an even better one! though she calls them crackers, I'm not sure why . Anyway She said she'd help me with the dishes too so we had a deal! We washed our hands and got started.

 I mixed  the butter and sugar. and she asked if it was "I-keem". It's always worth an ask.

She rolled out her ball of dough.

 Sometimes we eat a little raw cookie dough while we're working.

She carefully picked off the tiny little bits of dough from the rolling pin...

 then she had a better idea! Just like corn on the cob.
That's all for now we have cookies to eat and dishes to do.

 Thanks Crobi! We had good time.

Butterfly Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cup flour

mix all ingredients
chill dough for at least an hour before rolling
preheat the oven to 350.
roll out to 1/4" thick and cut.
bake about 8-10 minutes or until barely colored. remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks

 Snow. We have snow in Tennessee.
I was out with my neighbors Em and her sister when Leigh stopped to tell us that Shaddon Valley Estates was having a Y’All Come sliding party with everything; a fire to warm up by, sleds and even a car hood to slide on! I had to go, just had to check this out! All those winters in Vermont and I never experienced car hood sliding.
 Riding over in the back of her truck I said something about hitchhiking and getting a ride.
 Em, dead seriously asks me if I do this a lot.
 Slide on car hoods? hitchhiking?! This isn’t hitchhiking, she offered us a ride and she’s our neighbor. To hitchhike you have to stick your thumb out like this.
 Em thought about it for a minute, then as we pulled into the sliding party she smiles her movie star smile and says “This is the day of my life.”
1993 was the last time it really snowed. Em pointed out to me that
“That was a Looong time ago; it was before I was even born!”

I rode the car hood and when we started spinning backwards at full speed all I could think was
 Never mind my hair, how's my camera.

The best part of the day was to see so many adults so excited about playing in the snow. They should do that more often, get excited and enjoy little things.

Uncles are the best!

AAHHH!!!.



 Give us a push Guru!

 And we're off.

 She took a few very successful rides backwards

 But...

This one just wasn't one of those.

She got right up and went back for more.


            Until it next time
                    it snows again.

Brussel sprouts with garlic, herb salt and a little olive oil.
I was reading about Brussel sprouts and their nutritional benefits I don't know if it's true or not but they say it is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Riboflavin, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Folate, Potassium and Manganese.
 Sautee garlic in olive oil (I call it "Oy-uhl" not "Ohl") cook brussel sprouts then mix together and serve.


I tried following this Tutorial on making a Realistic Film Strip with a Reflection on the Floor by the guys at photoshopstar.com. So here it is. perhaps if I read the instructions more carefully it might look a little more like theirs. But I have Brussel sprouts to eat right now so I'll save that for another day.

It was a beautiful day to go snowshoeing. I figured I'd step on my snowshoes and trip myself at least once, but I managed to go skiing for the first time in 6 years and not fall so I was optimistic about snowshoeing.

The trail was well marked and the day couldn't have been nicer.
Then we had one of those "hold my beer" moments. I handed my camera to my friend, I wanted a picture next to those trees just off the trail.

Oops, my foot is stuck

I think it's an avalanche. Oh I just knocked all that snow on my back and down my own neck.

You get a picture of it? I don't know if that's good or bad.

I didn't fall completely. With a little more practice I might get the hang of off trail snowshoeing.

Happy new year!

I made gingerbread men


well gingerbread bears actually.


I got so busy decorating them that I made black bears with the first batch. All of a sudden it smelled like burn! So I ran to the oven and there they were Black bottomed Bears.

Very disappointing,

I heard that Little J, 2 years old had decapitated ALL of the gingerbread men that his mother had spent the whole day making and decorating with the intention of giving for gifts.
I think it would be better to have unburnt topless gingerbread men than black bottomed gingerbread bears.
I scraped the black off their bottoms with a knife and I got out some leftover maple frosting from another project . My decorating skills didn’t go so well maybe it was because I was using a fork.


I just smeared it all over them. Now they were more like White or light brown bears. They still tasted a little like burn.

They were eaten.

Overheard: “Look, a paraplegic Bear, he doesn’t have any arms or legs”
“Paraplegic? Where’s his head? Isn’t he dead?”
“His head’s right here, I just bit off his ears so now he has a pointy head”



Here's the recipe worked off of
Gingerbread Men:

• 3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) unsulphured molasses

beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and beat until well combined. add the flour, baking soda, spices and salt .
Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight or put in the freezer for 20 min or so.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C)
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Use a gingerbread cutter to cut out the cookies. With an offset spatula lift the cut out cookies onto the baking sheet.
Bake for about 8 - 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Small ones will take about 8 minutes, larger cookies will take about 12 minutes. They are done when they are firm and the edges are just beginning to brown.
Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for about 1 minutes. When they are firm enough to move, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
If desired, you can press raisins, currants, or candies into the dough for eyes and buttons while the cookies are still warm. Otherwise, confectioners frosting can be used to decorate the cookies. You can also use the icing as a glue to attach candies, raisins, and sprinkles.

Oh, let me tell you about my gingerbread bear cutter.


I, being the spoiled child that I am and having the doting mother who gets me whatever I want; I had said I wanted to make gingerbread men but I didn’t have a man. I mean a man cutter. No, I meant a gingerbread man cutter.
She went right out to the high end cooking store, she buys only the best, money is no issue, and her little girl has got to have what she wants.
No, she did not get it at the dollar store, nope she found this bear cookie cutter for 70% off of it's 49 cents price and she paid about 12 and a half cents for it.

Aren’t I special?

Something to remember today:
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Matthew 6:27