Sugar Coated Pecans

These sugar coated pecans are excellent!  Kylen couldn't stay away from them.  I found it at allrecipes.com, one of my favorite recipe sites.  I focus on those with five stars and lots of reviews.  This one has over a thousand!

Took a picture this time!

2 egg whites
1 tsp water
2 tsp vanilla
1 lb pecan halves
1 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250. Grease one baking sheet.  In a mixing bowl, whip together egg white, water, and vanilla until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon.  Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat nuts evenly. Slowly add sugar mixture, stirring after each addition.  Spread nuts out on prepared baking sheet.  Bake 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Shrimp Dip

I got this recipe from an online homeschooling friend who has company often.  Her recipes are always good!  Wish she had a blog, I'd link to it!

1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 can baby shrimp, drained and rinsed
1 jar cocktail sauce with horseradish (don't need even half, great for doubling recipe)
Shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
Green onions, sliced (optional)
Crackers such as Town House or Ritz

Spread cream cheese on a medium round serving platter or medium plate. Spread a thin layer of cocktail sauce on top.  Scatter baby shrimp, shredded cheese, and green onions. Chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving.  If you have lots of big eaters, especially people who like seafood, I recommend making two.  We took one to a crowd of 16 smaller eaters, some of whom don't care for seafood, and had just enough.

Christmas Game Night

The second event we attended at Karla's was a Christmas game night.  Everyone brought appetizers  and presents for a white elephant gift exchange.  We made shrimp dip and sugar coated pecans (recipes coming soon!).  For the gift exchange, our offerings were "duck tape" in candy cane stripes, a shoulder buddy, and mini flashlight/laser combo - all items under $5 found at Wal-mart.

 

 

After food and gifts, a couple of adults chatted, the kids headed downstairs for video games, and most played Apples to Apples . . .

Everyone had a card but me for a LOoOoONG time, so I finally let Greg take my place.  He was able to nab two, a far cry from the 10 or more some held, but better than nada!  He's wearing his "Lighting Engineer" shirt, which I gave him right before he put up our outside Christmas lights.  How do you like his full beard?  This is a new thing he's trying.  I don't much care for it, but I guess it's a great way to keep his face warm during winter!

 

We had a fine time and appreciated getting together with such a nice bunch of people.  Much thanks to Karla and her girls for all the work they put into hosting!  =)

Easy Almond Roca

This has become one of our favorite kinds of candy to make.  It's extremely easy, keeps well in the fridge, and tastes wonderful.  I've forgotten what it was originally called.  It reminded me so much of almond roca, I had to rename it!  If I ever get a picture taken, I'll come back and add one.

40   Saltines
1 c  Butter; don't use margarine (2 cubes)
1 c  LIGHT brown sugar; not dark; packed
12 oz Chocolate chips
½ - 1 c  Nuts; chopped, YOUR choice
 
Line up the saltines on a foil-lined jelly roll pan that makes a bigger rim than the pan. There should be 5 rows of 8.

Melt butter and sugar. Stir often and bring to a full rolling boil for 3 minutes.  Pour over saltines and bake in a 400 oven for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips and wait until they are almost melted, then spread over all the saltines.  Scatter the nuts evenly over the top.  Cool, cover with aluminum foil.

Refrigerate for a few hours then break into pieces.  Store in airtight container in fridge.

Christmas Baking Party

My friend Karla hosted not one, but two Christmas events within a week!!  I was blessed to be able to attend both, the first of which was a baking party for the ladies.  I arrived with ingredients for a couple of treats and left with a pan full of goodies and the pleasant feeling of time well spent.

A cookie decorating station kept the girls busy!

 

This was my paper towel, which no one was to touch.  My paper towel!  MINE!

We took a break to enjoy a tea-themed gift exchange and finger foods.  Laura doesn't really have a mustache here.

Me and Karla in our aprons.  Mine makes me look fat, but I loved wearing it anyway.

I made sugared cranberries (bottom left corner) and Easy Almond Roca (not pictured).

Meanwhile, Greg and Kylen shared quality father-son time eating at one of their favorite restaurants and picking out a guitar strap.  They also enjoyed sampling the fruits of our labors!  :)

Mudding and Taping

Smoothing the seams with "mud" and rounding the edges with metal and tape.

Sheetrock Completed

What's happening down there?

Stepping into a whole new world . . .

 

I don't think I've ever seen Greg so shocked.  He spent about 20 minutes walking around muttering, "Oh wow . . . Oh wow . . ."

 

That's our air hockey/pool table under plastic.  Kinda hard to move, so they worked around it.  The ceiling and walls were finished in probably 6 hours.

 

We got the thicker stuff, hoping it will stand up to rough play.

The dark circle is where a light will be installed in the ceiling.

Future switch plate.

Waiting for the next phase: mudding and taping.