December 25, 2008

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

~ Luke 2:4-14 King James Bible

~BigSis

December 24, 2008

We both want to wish everyone a blessed Christmas!  When we stop to think over our last year, so much has happened.  It hasn’t been one of those years when you just tread water and nothing really goes on.  In our households, lots has happened. There have been wonderful things like the birth of a new baby boy, the fun of launching this blog, and moving into a new home, but there have been challenges like illness, losing a sibling, losing a furkid, and betrayal.  Life’s just like that.  No matter what happens in this life though, we have the hope and the promise of the life after this earthly existence, and we strive every day to keep our eyes focused on the Lord.

Our prayer for all of our friends and family and for all of you is that you would experience a renewed  gratitude this Christmas for the gift that we were given when the Baby Jesus was born over 2000 years ago.  We pray that all of our hearts would be filled with thankfulness, and not with stress over the gifts, the food, the family drama, the traffic, or the weather.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas.  God bless you.  And happy birthday, Jesus.  It’s all about You.

~BigSis

December 23, 2008

I’m busy tonight like all of you…baking, gift-wrapping, list-checking, and Christmas-meal-planning.  But even with all of this going on, one thing that CANNOT fall through the cracks is the Christmas pedicure, so I’m doing that tonight too!  What is it about the holidays that makes you want a new pedi color?  I don’t know; it’s kind of like going on vacation and wanting to buy new underwear and new makeup.  There’s no logic to it; you just want it!

So, my new shade of choice is Essie “Tomboy No More” (red currant truffle).  I went to Ulta to buy “Rock Star Skinny” (glamorous crimson red) but liked Tomboy even more in person.  Tomboy actually looks much deeper in person, especially with the 3 coats of color I like to use.  And Rockstar looked a touch browner and slightly more shimmery than Tomboy.

Neither of these shades are on All Lacquered Up’s list of the 21 Hottest Holiday Polishes, but there are some great (and bold) colors there.

All Lacquered Up's 21 Hottest Holiday Polishes

Choose one for your own Christmas pedi, or as a gift for one of your nail fanatic girls.  What a fun gift these would make!  You’ll see a few reds and plums, but look out.  There are lots of greens, taupes, grays, metallics, purples and browns!  These are not your mother’s dusty mauve or creamy apricot shades!  Choose a few of these fun colors and add a base coat and a top coat, and you have a complete cool gift!  And the best part, you won’t even have to go near the MALL!

~BigSis

December 22, 2008

Is everyone finished with their Christmas shopping?  If not, you might want to take advantage of this great offer from Origins. I just received an email from Origins stating that they are offering a free upgrade on overnight shipping through tomorrow, December 23rd.  Enter the offer code free1day at checkout to take advantage of this offer from Origins!

Not only do I love, love, love Origins products for myself, but I’ve given a lot of Origins gifts to friends and family over the years. You just can’t go wrong! They have such a wide price range, too. You can buy a great gift for under $30.00. Origins always has wonderful gift sets and you can even create a custom gift set.

Origins is also offering complimentary gift wrapping.  And one more thing, I received a separate email about another discount from Origins. You can receive 25% off all purchases at any Origins Retail Store (not in a dept. store) through December 24th if you just mention the email! Now, that’s a bargain!

Happy Shopping!

~LilSis

December 21, 2008

Drum roll, please!  Our goal for the SPCA Bake Sale was $3000, and our total so far is $3005!!  We have commitments for more online donations before the end of the year, so we may see that total go even higher!  Woo hoo!!!

We are SO thankful for the wonderful response of the other tenants in our office building, for the online donations from friends and family, and for the support we received from the building management staff.  Above all, we know that this tremendous success is humanly impossible.  A few girls working for a week or so cannot logically bake enough goodies and sell them in one day to make $3000.  It just doesn’t make sense.  The only answer is that God did this, and we give Him all the glory for this event!

I talked about the brownies and bars the other day, and thought you might like to see a complete list of what we had for sale.  Here’s what came out of my itty bitty kitchen:

• Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
  Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts
  Strawberry Bread with Pecans
  Chocolate Sheath Cake
  Gingerbread
  Root Beer Bundt Cakes
  Outrageous Oreo Brownies
  Outrageous Brownies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts
  Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
  Caramel Bars
  Texas Pecan Pie Bars
  RazzMaTazz Bars
  Soft Peanut Brittle
  Almond Toffee
  Fudge in Christmas tree and gingerbread man shapes

Here’s what K and her sister L did:

• Banana Bread (with and without nuts)
  Cranberry Orange Bread (with and without almonds)
  Spice Cake
  Snickerdoodles
  Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
  Rice Krispie Treats
  German Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
  Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels
  Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Crunch
  Santa’s Whiskers
  Peanut Butter Cookies
  Sugar Cookies
  Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our coworker SA did some incredible cream cheese pound cake and peppermint bark, as well as crafting our lobby signage that was so crucial in driving people up to our location.

So it was truly a team effort, and we’re all just THRILLED with the response we got!  Beyond thrilled!

Here is a photo of our goodies just before the customers arrived.  There were also two other cookie areas out of camera view so this isn’t even a complete picture of the massive amount of goodies we started with.  You can see that we had a TON of stuff all packaged and labeled, and even had some backstock stashed in cabinets since it wouldn’t fit on our tables!

SPCA Bake Sale Goodies!

And here is what was left after 8 hours of sales!  That’s it!  Are you kidding me?!

This was all that was left!

So, after celebrating a great day that lasted 12 hours from set-up to clean-up, I stumbled home to face the mother of all messes in my kitchen.  These were just the items that had to be hand washed!  When, oh when, will those cats earn their keep and learn to do a dish or two during the day!  ^..^

Mother of all kitchen messes!

Before I sign off this topic for a while (and start to plan next year’s event, God willing), I wanted to share a little of what we’ve learned about bake sale success during our 2 experiences.  We aren’t experts by any means, but we’ve definitely learned some things!

• People love chocolate, especially brownies.  Have plenty!  Have more than you think you can sell!
• People love peanut butter.
• People like things that are decadent and that they wouldn’t make themselves.
• Lots of people dislike nuts so leave them out of recipes if they’re optional.
• People like BIG items – big slabs of bars, big pound cakes, big cookies.  Our smaller items sold the slowest, even though the recipes were incredible.  The small size just couldn’t compete for the attention of people up next to the hefty items, even if there were lots of them in the package.
• People love rice krispie treats!  Go figure, they aren’t an item I especially care for, but I’m in the minority.  They sell like hotcakes.
• Items in colored treat bags that can’t be seen clearly don’t move well.
• Cute packaging sells great though, even if the item can’t be seen through it.
• Putting out samples of an item lights a fire under it’s popularity.
• If you’re doing cake or bread, frosting or even a drizzle of glaze will pretty it up and help it sell better.
• Some items are just too unexciting to sell well.  For example, I thought that good traditional gingerbread would be a great seller at Christmas.  It turned out to be really slow.  It just couldn’t compete in a world full of rich brownies!
• Pray, pray, pray!

So, one last shout out to K, L and SA for their hard work.  You girls worked like crazy women, and it paid off!  Thank you to building management for your fabulous support of this project.  Thank you, of course, to our fellow tenants, friends and family for buying our goodies and contributing online!  And most of all, thank you to God for blessing this event.  We are SO thankful and humbled that You answered our prayers!

Now.  What can I bake this weekend?

~BigSis

December 20, 2008

I just LOVE these! Last year, BigSis and I got SisMama some personalized M&Ms and she loved them!

I don’t want to mislead you, though. If you do order these now; they won’t be under the tree by Christmas. (I should have posted this idea sooner.) BUT, in the past, I have printed out a photo of the gift and wrapped it for opening at Christmas. I don’t think anyone minds waiting for something that you took the time to special order! I think it just shows that you put some thought into their gift versus running into Wally Mart for a gift card at the last minute.

You can choose from 22 colors, put personalized text of up to 8 characters on two lines on each M&M, and can even upload a photo to put on the M&M!! Martha Stewart and ‘My M&Ms’ have even teamed up. Check out these ideas from Martha for some crafty gifts. You can also choose from a wide variety of creative gifts to go with the personalized M&Ms. You can find something in just about any price range. Here are just a few:

Glass Box Candy Dish

Glass Box Candy Dish for $57.99

Old Fashioned Dispenser

Old Fashioned Dispenser for $89.99

Diamond Ring Flute

This will only set you back $3849.99!

You can even put a Team Logo on them!

Don’t tell anyone; but I’m going to get the Little Guys some M&Ms for their birthdays that have their photos on them! They’ll get a kick out of eating an M&M with their little faces on them!

~LilSis

December 19, 2008

Now that we have less than a week til Christmas, we’re all sprinting to the finish line, or the check-out line!  I’m needing a few ideas to finish up my shopping, and found these guides for giving.  If you’re stumped for ideas, I hope these will help you out!

• Gift Guide for Bakers is courtesy of Baking Bites.  Most of us have a baker on our list!
• Barnes and Noble has a pretty cool Gift Guide where you can shop by recipient: Curious Kids, Music Lovers, Animal Lovers, Teens & Tweens, and so on.  Within the categories, they have DVDs, calendars, and home items, as well as books.  Even if you make up your mind too late to order online, you can always pop into one of their stores.
• Dallas News Gift Guides also give you categories to choose from: Tech, Museum Shops, Health, For Him, For Her, Snow Lovers, For Kids, VIdeo Games, Toys, Under $50, etc.
• Bass Pro Shops have a Fishing Gift Guide. We could find an idea for BDot here!
  
• For women of any age, check out Beauty Addict’s Gift Guides.  She has BUNCHES of them posted: covering stocking stuffers, teens, party girls, jet setters, fragrance, bath & body, super luxe, and hair, skin & tools.

I’m off to make my list and check it twice.  Happy shopping!  And remember the reason for the season; it isn’t all about the gifts so try not to stress yourself out too much over it!

~BigSis

December 18, 2008

LilSis, you know that I always accuse you of being too hard on yourself when it comes to baking.  You’re a better baker than you give yourself credit for. HOWEVER, having said that, I do know you pretty well and I have to caution you against this cookie.  I think it’s a recipe for a stress attack!  I’ll tell you why:

1. This is a roll-out cookie so it’s fussier than a drop cookie or bar.  That means it’ll take more time, and it may stick to your work surface.  I’m not saying it’s rocket science; it just takes more time and attention.  Do you even have a rolling pin?
2. Once the cookies are done, they have to be dipped in the white chocolate.  Again, not a difficult process, but a time-consuming and messy one.

All in all, I can’t recommend that you make this cookie.  I agree that it looks beautiful, and I love the combo of peppermint and chocolate.  How about this recipe for Peppermint Chocolate Sandwich Cookies from Giada De Laurentis instead?

Peppermint Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

I haven’t tried them – I’m on a baking holiday for a couple of days – but they look cute, the flavors sound yummy, they’re easy (they use refrigerated sugar cookie dough) and I think you could bake these without needing cocktails.  The directions say to roll out the dough and cut it out with a cutter, but I don’t see why you couldn’t cut slices from the log, as usual.  What do you think?

~BigSis

December 18, 2008

You may have noticed from my previous post on Christmas Cupcakes and Candy, that I really like peppermint.  There’s just something about the little candy canes and the red & white color of the candies that are so festive for decorating Christmas cupcakes, cookies, and candies.

I finally had a few minutes to flip through my Martha Stewart Living December 2008 issue and discovered, to my delight, the Cookie of the Month is Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies.

COOKIE OF THE MONTH

I would really like to make these for some friends, but considering the mess I made of the bark at Halloween, I’m not sure if I’m ready to work with melted chocolate again! I learned the hard way that the different brands of the chocolate discs/wafers definitely melt differently. And microwaving for longer won’t make it thinner! “Nuff said”!  This calls for real white chocolate instead of the little disks, so I’m not sure if that’ll make it easier or not.

BigSis, would you take a peek at the recipe and let me know if you think I’m getting in over my head!

~LilSis

December 17, 2008

Did you ever meet anyone who didn’t love brownies?  I haven’t.  I think most people love them, like I do, even though I’m not even a sweets eater.  Monday’s SPCA Bake Sale would certainly make that point.  We sold all of our brownies and bars, and we started out with quite a few of them, cut into big generous slabs!   Here’s what we had:

• Barefoot Contessa’s Outrageous Oreo Brownies from Culinary in the Country.  These are as big and fat and thick and rich as they look!  Crackly on the top, moist and fudgy inside.  They make me happy. 😀

Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Oreo Brownie

Check out that Christmas Oreo red filling!

• Barefoot Contessa’s Outrageous Brownies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts from Food Network. These actually sold out before the Oreo version, which surprised me.

Outrageous Brownie with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

• Caramel Bars from my recipe file.  They’re full of caramel, oats, walnuts and chocolate chips. I need to post the recipe; they’re so good and easy!

Caramel Bar

• Pecan Pie Bars from “The Pastry Queen” by Rebecca Rather.  Oh. So. Yummy.  That’s all I can say.

• RazzMaTazz Bars ( I used cranberry jam instead of rapberry, so I guess these would be CranMaTazz Bars instead) from CookieMadness.net.  In addition to the jam, they have white chocolate and almonds. Very rich, delicious and pretty too!

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars from the back of the chocolate chip package, or RecipeZaar.  These are a classic, and everyone loves them. Especially BDot!  I like them full of pecans, but not everyone is a nut-lover, so I left them out for the Bake Sale.

All of these beauties were sold, and I know we could have sold many more brownies.  Several people walked in the door asking, “Do you have any brownies?”  Alas, we had to break the hearts of these folks who came in after the last outrageous crumb went out the door.  Next time…even MORE brownies!

Do inquiring minds want to know how many bowls it takes to make a batch of outrageous brownies?  Check it out:

Outrageous mess for outrageous brownies!

I think it took 3 bowls (maybe 4) for these brownies, and let me tell you, they were worth it!  This is my new favorite brownie recipe.  Thanks, Ina!  As soon as I recover from this baking extravaganza, I’ll be back with more details on how the SPCA Bake Sale turned out.  Meanwhile, make some friends…make some brownies!

~BigSis