Today I made the Ninjabread Men for Damon’s office party. I also made some regular gingerbread men, but the Ninjabread Men were a bit cooler to make.

However, I will note that making Ninja shaped cookies didn’t really put me in the Christmas spirit, as it would most of the time. Instead, I couldn’t get a Barenaked Ladies song out of my head:

The Ninjas are deadly and silent
They’re also unspeakably violent
They speak Japanese, they do whatever they please
And sometimes they vacation in Ireland.

The Ninjas are deadly and silent
They’re also unspeakably violent
They speak Japanese, they do whatever they please
And if you tear off their masks, they’ll be smiling.

At least these ninjas aren’t unspeakably violent. They just taste really good.

[tags]December Photo Project, Ninjabread Men, gingerbread men, barenaked ladies[/tags]

First, I can’t believe I forgot to post this yesterday. I took the picture, uploaded it to flickr, and then got distracted.

As has been mentioned in the past, making Christmas cookies is not high on my list of fun Holiday activities. But my husband asked me to make some for his office party and since he purchased some kick-butt cookie cutters, I said “Sure!”

Since the dough requires refrigeration I made the dough yesterday. And when transferring it from bowl to plastic, I snapped my spatula. And not a cheap 50 cent spatula. It was a Pyrex, high heat spatula. And the handle just SNAPped while I was working.

Here’s hoping I can remember to post today’s picture today.

P.S. Having a blog is a great way to keep track of things you might otherwise lose or forget. For instance, I couldn’t find my copy of the gingerbread recipe (I moved, remember?) but I had it posted on the blog! Do you want my gingerbread recipe? Here it is!

I painted stripes in my new bedroom. I really thought it would lend an elegance to the room, especially since they are only on one wall, the wall I see when I wake up in the morning.

I’m not a professional designer or painter, but I like them. I like them a lot.

Our old house was a project house, a place constantly under some sort of chaos disguised as renovation. The end result was pretty awesome, but we spaced out each project in an order that put our master bedroom last on the list. So I never had a “finished” bedroom until about a month (maybe two) before we moved. And since I was picking out carpet and paint colors for our bedroom knowing it was more for the sale of the house and not really for my enjoyment, I didn’t really get into enjoying the finished product.

Now, I’m putting stripes on the wall and getting ready to buy new bedding (once we get a bigger bed). I’m going to find that elegance for our master bedroom and enjoy the finished product.

I spent a lot of time making cookies today.

Last year I ate my words and started making Christmas cookies with Fuller. Today I was making them so I could get out of the house this evening! There was a cookie exchange with women in our church and it was a lot of fun. We got to fellowship and get a wide variety of cookies to bring home to our families.

Above are some of the sugar cookies I made. Some were iced and went to the cookie exchange. Two dozen of them are going to a local school for a father/ son get together this weekend.

I also took four dozen of Chocolate Peppermint Cakemix Crinkles. They are really easy to make and taste really yummy, almost like a peppermint patty.

Here is the recipe:

1 chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
2/3 shortening
1 tsp peppermint extract

Mix together until smooth and shiny. Spoon into balls (I then use a fork to smash them down). Cook at 375 for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle powder sugar on top (do this while the cookies are still warm so the sugar sticks). Cool and enjoy!

You can use any cake mix and change the flavoring (or omit it) for variety.

Do you have favorite cookies you make at Christmas?

[tags]Decemeber Photo Project, Christmas cookies, cake mix[/tags]

Fuller made this wreath today. I had leftover stars from the Advent pocket project, so I thought a wreath of stars would look nice. Tomorrow we will hang it in Fuller’s window.

(P.S. There are no pictures of him making it because I gave him the materials then went to take a nap. I overheard some of the conversation between Damon and Fuller and apparently Fuller wasn’t really into the project. So, I think I’m glad I have the finished product but would have had some really frustrating pictures if I had stayed up to watch him make it.)

[tags]December Photo Project, wreath[/tags]

In keeping with tradition, I am participating in this year’s December Photo Project. I’m getting this picture in just under the wire, but I promise, I’ll be back to update some more tomorrow.

The picture above is a pile of Advent Pockets. I made them to hang on the mantel. They are not all done, so they didn’t actually get hung yet, but we did do the first pocket. I’m using the list at the bottom of this post about the history of Advent. I still need to gather all the trinkets, but I think it will make an impression on Fuller.

[tags]December Photo Project, Advent[/tags]

They are called cakepops and they were invited by the ultra-creative Bakerella. Please, go look at her blog and see what they should have looked like.

I saw them on her website, poured over her archives, and just knew I had to make them. Except my kitchen is currently in an awkward stage of renovation (awkward because it isn’t really the kitchen being renovated, but it is the most inconvenienced during the project). And even though I shouldn’t have bothered, I went ahead and bought the ingredients. And even though it is incredibly hot in the house when I turn on the oven, I went ahead and make the cakes (one lemon and one milk chocolate, if you care).

I wanted to take them to the local school our Moms group supports during a time of painting by other school supporters. So, I had a deadline to get them done. And while I was plowing through the steps (skipping one important one), I was insisting to myself I was going to finish the pops and get them out of my house because 1) I had no room for them and 2) I would be the one to eat them all if they stayed.

So, even though they weren’t smooth and perfect like Bakerella’s, I still think they were ok. I learned next time just buy the colored chocolate because adding orange icing paste to the chocolate will make it pretty much unmeltable. I learned I should have not skipped the step where you put the balls back into the freezer after sticking in the lollipop sticks. And I learned I should have started well before 2 p.m. since I had to factor in the stop time for nursing Tebow.

But I finished them and sent them off to the school with praise from some friends for how cute and yummy they were.

Then there was the sewing bug. I made some nursing drapes before Christmas (one for me and two for other pregnant gals) and when I was using mine recently, Esther asked if I could make her one. And could I make it before she left on Sunday? I said sure and then started to take it back because there is no place for me to sew (renovation projects take over the house- ask me where my dining room chairs are right now). She said I could go to her house to sew, using her machine.

This was perfect. Fuller got to play with friends and I was able to do a tiny bit of sewing. Not only did Esther get a nursing drape, but I was able to make another one for my friend Brynne.

Esther really got into helping me make them, so it wasn’t quite a lonely project. It was fun to show her the steps and talk about our new babies at the same time. Again, while taking breaks to nurse the babies when necessary.

It was really unfortunate of me to get these baking and sewing bugs when my house is such a wreck, but I’m glad I was able to deal with them and move on. Of course, now that I’ve had a taste of them both, I’m just waiting until I can do them again.

[tags]baking, Bakerella, cake pops, nursing drape, sewing[/tags]

I have to admit, I’m not a coffee snob. This is why it was perfectly natural for me to head to Wal-Mart and found the Folger’s Coffee Singles. I even found creamer in single packets. I knew I could boil water on Damon’s camp stove, so I was set. Or so I thought.

In the stress fun of packing for the one night in the great outdoors, I neglected to pack a coffee cup for myself. In fact, I didn’t pack any cups for us to drink from. Fuller and I had our Camelbak’s and Damon had his Coke Zero. But I just forgot about the coffee cup.

So, the next morning, I used the smallest pot from Damon’s cook kit and had a Grande coffee.

Next time, I’ll make sure to pack a mug. And maybe some cups, just in case.

The official title of these muffins are “Bill’s Bran Muffins.” I have a vague idea who Bill is, but the recipe passed from my mom and I really, really like them. I haven’t made them myself before, I usually let my mom make them. But I figured I should have something easy to grab in the mornings, especially once family starts arriving for the birth of Baby Two.

Here is the recipe:

4 eggs
1 quart buttermilk
5 cups flour
3 cups sugar
5 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup oil
1 15 or 20 ounce box raisin bran
nuts, if you want. I don’t.

Mix the eggs and buttermilk. Add the flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Mix in the oil. Add the cereal and nuts.

Allow mixture to sit in the refrigerator overnight. Spoon mixture into muffin cups and bake for 12- 15 minutes at 400 degrees. The batter can stay in the refrigerator for a week or longer and be spooned out when you want hot muffins. Or, make them all and freeze.

On Saturday I made a list of meals and foods I would make this week. Some of them were one night only meals, and others were bulk items to be enjoyed everyday. Or almost everyday.

Since we have taught Fuller how to toast his own waffles in the morning, I decided we needed to make our own instead of buying the pre-made kind. I used to do this all the time but I just got lazy. This morning Fuller and I used this Cinnamon Belgian Waffle recipe to make enough waffles to last him every day for two weeks. I thought the waffles would be more cinnamon-y, but they just taste like plain waffles to me.

I hope to put together some bran muffin mix tonight to make and freeze tomorrow. We will see how much energy I have. If I complete the task, I’ll share that recipe with the internet. I think it is really, really good.

As for the picture above, it is a straight out of the camera shot, a challenge Tracey put forth on Shutter Sisters today. I really wanted to mess with it, but in the end decided this was just fine and worth of my photo a day.