Fun Friday: Easy Rolo Treats

We were looking for something to make using what we already had, and we ended up doing a variation of the idea on the back of the Rolo's bag. It listed pretzels, Rolos and pecans. We didn't have pecans, but we had crushed walnuts.

So this is what we did:
Place pretzels on a cookie sheet. We used the square butter snap pretzels.
Put one rolo on top of each pretzel.
Bake at 350F for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from oven and push nuts down on top of soft rolo.

Answer to last week's Brain teaser: All three comments on that post are correct.
1. They are pronounced differently depending on whether they are capitalized or not.
2. They are both common and proper nouns.
3. They have two very different meanings.

Fun Friday: Making Butter Beer (and Keeping it Real!)

Whether or not you are a Harry Potter fan, you can try these two recipes for butter beer (it's not really beer!) for a fun fall drink. One is a hot drink and one is a cold drink. Try both and see which you prefer. And if you figure out how to make the topping for the cold one so it's not lumpy, let me know!



Hot Butter Beer

You need:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons hot butterscotch topping
• 1 cup cream soda (or you can substitute rootbeer if you prefer)
• large bowl
• whisk

Do this:

1. Combine milk, butter, and brown sugar in a microwaveable bowl. Use a whisk to stir them.
2. Microwave for three minutes.
3. Remove and stir.
4. Microwave again until milk is foaming. About 3-4 minutes.
5. Remove from microwave and add the butter using the whisk. Make sure all the sugar is dissolved and mixed in. 
6. Heat the butterscotch topping for 30 seconds. Add to mixture and use whip to combine.
7. Whisk in one cup of cream soda.
8. You can add sprinkles, ginger, canned whipped cream to your taste.

Even River got in on the hot butter beer

Cold Butter Beer

You Need:
48 ounces Cream Soda
1/4 cup butterscotch syrup
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted butter
Two bowls
whisk
beater

To Do:
1. Combine cream soda and butterscotch syrup using the whisk in one bowl
2. In the other bowl, use the mixer to beat the heavy cream until peaks appear
3. Fold in the sugar and vanilla.
4. Add the butter and mix.
5. Serve the butter beer with the cream mixture on top.

Just keeping it real --Our cream mixture came out lumpy, and I think we either didn't beat it long enough or it went lumpy when we added the butter. I sprinkled cinnamon on top to hide it :)

We will just  pretend it's supposed to be a lumpy mountain of goo

What is your favorite fall or winter drink? Or soup? Or something festive? Leave me a recipe to try!!

Valentine Graham Cracker Houses

On Sunday we made Valentine houses with left over candy from Christmas our 14 Days of Kindness.

We had lots of collapsed houses. But we finally got our village put together. Rick did the best with his church for our village.

I think it would be fun to make houses for Easter, but I think my kids may be tired of graham cracker houses :) They never complain about eating them afterward though!

Fourteen Days of Kindness

Sometimes life gets gloomy by February. The holidays are past. The bills are pouring in. Winter is getting long. So we kick off February with a week of kindness. Or this year, fourteen days of kindness. We make things for other people.

The first day we make taco soup for the lunch ladies at Kaleb's school and for Rick's coworkers. You can find the recipe here. 

We also made trail mix, almond bark covered pretzels and marshmallows.

The kids also made homemade cards to go with the treats.

 We didn't just make treats, the kids made some crafts too.

You can see more of what we are doing by following the above link to the other blog.

You can see the first time we did week of kindness here, here, here and here

We've been working on this for almost a month. During that time I've also been redoing my "office"/family room. I'll show what I did once my couch arrives.

River is Home!

Jessica was discharged from the hospital yesterday. She stopped by here for dinner on her way home. Here are pictures of everyone with River.

Gigi Kathy

Gigi Kathy and Papa Rick

Jasmine. She was at the hospital from 10 a.m. Tuesday until after 1:00 a.m. Wednesday while Jessica went through labor and her C section. She stayed until River was transported to NICU.

Tyler

Kaleb

Kayla

Hunter's niece, ZonaMae

 Jasmine with Hunter's mom, Lisa

 River's daddy, Hunter

 Rick

Tyler 

 It's hard work being a baby

 The kids played a game Ty got used at Game Stop

If one of your resolutions for the New Year was to read the Bible or have daily devos with your kids, check out my blog post HERE.