Recipes

My Mom's Punkin' Muffins

What's For Supper Tonight (Tex Mex Slow Cooker Recipe)

Cake Mix Cookies

My Go To Meatloaf Recipe

Grandma Larson's Casserole

Grandma Johnson's Casserole

Valentine's Day Cookies

Christmas Cookies

Swedish Brown Beans (Instant Pot)

Mocha Sugar Cookie Latte Bite Cookies

Oh Fudge!

A Recipe & Midnight Madness

Peppermint Hot Cocoa Bites

A Recipe & Midnight Madness

In what feels like another lifetime, I worked for one year as Assistant Manager of Warehouse One, which is a Canadian clothing retailer.  The shopping mall was a destination back than and big box retailers weren't yet where we all demanded to shop and we definitely weren't choosing online shopping either.  It was the mid 2000's and at Christmas time the mall was a fun and festive place even though I'd not wish working retail at that time of year or any really on anyone.  One big event leading up to Christmas was Midnight Madness.

Midnight Madness happened on a few weekend evenings in the month of December leading up to Christmas.  Each store would stay open well passed the regular 9pm...until 1am instead and many would have special deals for that time period.  It was nowhere near as hectic as Boxing Day was but still a stressful time for anyone having to work in a store.

At the far end of the mall was a Starbucks.  Myself and a coworker were working this late night shift and we were both concerned for staying awake and alert.  For some oddball reason we both thought it would be a good idea to buy chocolate covered coffee beans.

You probably see where I'm going with this.

Starbucks used to have little boxes of these coffee beans right by the cash register along with mints and biscotti.  I don't think they have this anymore and if they do I haven't noticed.  These were obviously nice little add ons if you were purchasing a latte or cranberry bliss bar.

The chocolate covered coffee beans did indeed keep us awake and alert...not only for the Midnight Madness but for the entire night.  We both vowed to never do THAT again and told the legend to all our others coworkers.  It's a story I found myself telling a few students last week which they all found highly amusing.

Even though I will likely never have chocolate covered coffee beans again, I did love those cranberry bliss bars and still do.  Starbucks has changed the recipe so a few years ago I scoured the interweb for a copycat recipe.  What you'll find below has become a staple in my holiday baking every year.  I've tweaked it several times but decided to finally write it out instead of deciphering my cryptic notes in my home made family cookbook binder.

I'm sharing it all with you.  Feel free to click on the recipe photo and save it to your devices.  Let me know if you make it as well!

* If * you do try it make certain to not skip 2 important steps.

1) Make absolutely sure you coat the baking pan with cooking spray and coat with flour.  If you don't you wont ever get it out of the pan.

2) You most definitely will need to coat your hands with cooking spray to pat it down and stretch it into the pan.  The batter is EXTREMELY sticky so if you don't you'll be covered in it.

The original recipe was in an 11X17 baking pan but I don't have one that size and I'm pretty sure it's not a standard size either.  My recipe is 9X13 which is a size we all own.  This makes the bars a little thicker and the Starbucks version.

My oven runs hot so regardless of what I think they get removed at 20 minutes.  I'm going to caution you as well...they may not look cooked but trust that they are.  If they are over baked they become very crumbly.

Enjoy and happy baking!

Kick Off Weekend

We always made sure to decorate our home for Christmas the last weekend in November.  That weekend also just usually happened to be CFL Grey Cup weekend.  It became a tradition that we still hold fast to.

For several years in a row we'd host my husband's parents for the first weekend of December, the weekend following Grey Cup and what we eventually coined "Kick Off Weekend".  

It had nothing to do with football.

What it was, was a festive filled weekend of shopping, sight seeing and other festivities to rev us up for the month of December.  

D & D would arrive Friday evening for visiting and catching up.  Sometimes they'd arrive early as to beat the rush to the city.  I remember one time they did that exact thing and we'd decided to go to the mall downtown.  All was fine until I remembered that school was out that day for an in-service and we came to a fast realization that going to the mall was not going to be for us.  The above ground parking was filled and so was the underground parking.  Folks were driving in and turning around and driving out.  We didn't really need to go to the mall anyway...  

Our meals during the weekend would include a mixture of homemade, Starbucks coffee, Venice House pizza or Montana's for ribs but it was breakfast we enjoyed most.  We'd get up early on the Saturday and hit up the breakfast buffet at the the Flying J.  They had the best breakfast buffet.  There was anything you'd ever want, but my favourite was the strawberry stuffed French toast.  Sadly, this buffet is no longer offered and it's now a Denny's.  I still remember how special those morning meals were.

After we were adequately nourished and caffeinated, we'd go to the Sundog Craft Faire.  This was a juried craft sale on two levels of an entertainment complex.  One level would be all the wares that people made and the second level was all the food stuffs complete with many free samples.  My Father In Law loved a free sample.

Conveniently, next door, was Costco.  That was always another stop on Kick Off Weekend.  Costco always puts out the best things at Christmastime and has unique goodies in their bakery as well as gift items.  It's a huge bonus if they hand out Lindt truffles!

Sometimes we were lucky enough that The Festival of Trees landed during that same weekend and we'd get to take that in as well.  Hubby and I went last year and wandered the streets of historical Boomtown gazing at the trees and the historical memorabilia.  The Christmas trees are so different from how we decorate our own.  They all have themes.  Some would make us ooh and ahh while we'd agree others were not for us.  There were gingerbread houses on display too that had been in a contest and we'd marvel at how intricate they were.  

One thing that we always made sure to do was drive through the Enchanted Forest.  This is an event at the Forestry Farm aka Zoo.  Different sponsors decorate a meandering drive through trees and displays of everything Christmas.  Every couple of years a new attraction is added which keeps it all fresh.  Sometimes, we'd have hot cocoa from Tim Hortons as we drove and sometimes they'd hand out candy canes.  The radio would be tuned in to a special station to narrate the tour.  One memorable time was when my Father In Law decided he wanted to see more (one trip through was all they'd allow) but he swerved/drove around a barricade in determination to see it all again!

Things have changed a lot in the last few years.  The Sundog Faire was cancelled last year and isn't offered anymore.  A local greenhouse did a similar event one year but so far I haven't seen anything advertised.  My Father in Law passed last year and my Mother in Law has moved.  The kick off weekend is a thing of the past but the first weekend of December will always hold wonderful fond memories and no matter what our house will be ready for company on Grey Cup weekend.

1980 - Something

Picture it.

The Christmas mixed tape is playing on the home stereo with the same songs I enjoy to this day; Jim Reeves, Buck Owens and The Chipmunks. Dad is bringing all the decoration boxes from the basement. In the box there’d be some miscellaneous newspapers from Christmases past which always mystified me. We assemble the Christmas tree and Dad strings the full size string of lights carefully on each branch.  The sky is a rose gold in the setting sun, the snow outside is light and sparkly and there’s the faint smell of the heat from the lights touching the plastic branches.  They don’t make candles to recreate that festive smell do they.

It’s nineteen-eighty-something and completely magical.

There were some Christmases that we had two Christmas trees.  We had the artificial one in the basement and a real tree upstairs.  Dad’s brilliant trick to filling in the bare spots on the real tree was to take a branch from the bottom, drill a hole where the bare spot was and attach the branch.  It’s a trick I think he got from my Grandpa.

The decorations were a mixture of shiny baubles, felt ornaments and things we made. One decoration was always a small bell with a blue ribbon that I think had something to do with my brother (his birthday is Christmas Day) but I don’t know what.  There was silver garland and not tinsel because that was too messy.  The tree topper was a multi coloured star.  At the bottom of the tree rested a small plastic manger scene.

Some years Dad would want to hang streamers and foil stars from the ceiling. Mom would protest…”what are you doing that for?”…but often let him get his way.  There’d be a wreath that hung on the back door window that made the curtain puff out kind of funny.

My fuzzy Christmas stocking would rest on the arm of the couch. We didn’t have a fireplace or chimney. I hoped Santa had a key.  

It was probably a Sunday evening in December and when we were done we’d sit in the dark with just the retro glow of the Christmas tree and soft music playing. The next morning, getting ready to go to school, the tree would be lit up in its comforting glow in the coolness of winter. 

Everything would be ready and waiting for Mr Claus’ annual visit.

Oh Fudge!

I’ve tried to get Siri and Google to bake for me. I thought I’d try Alexa this year…

No luck. 

In an effort to get started in my festive goodies I made the recipe shared on this page. It’s a gateway recipe before the main frenzy starts. It doesn’t require baking at all and takes a short time to accomplish. Hurray! Because the one thing we all lack at this time of year is time. 

Add to your shopping list the following:

• 1 tub vanilla creamy frosting (I used Betty Crocker)
• 1 package peanut butter flavoured chips (I used Chipits)
• 1 package mini Reese’s pieces (I used Chipits)

The equipment you’ll need:

• A small saucepan
• A spoon
• A spatula
• 9x9 cake pan
• Tin foil

Warning! ⛔️ If you’re allergic to peanuts then obviously this recipe won’t be for you or anyone you know with nut allergies. 

Method:

• Combine Peanut Butter Chips and the container of frosting in a saucepan over low heat until smooth and combined. 
• Cool slightly then mix in half of the bag of mini Reese’s. 
• Spread into lined baking pan
• Top with remaining Reese’s
• Refrigerate until firm 
• Cut into 32 bars but can also be cut smaller as they are very rich!

These fudge squares are super easy to adapt with different flavours of chips or frosting. 

They keep very well in the fridge or freezer. 

Advent Adventures 2023

Every company seems to have an Advent Christmas Countdown Calendar of some kind these days. I really enjoy finding out what little present lies behind each window leading up to the big day. So what calendars did I purchase for this years holidays? Read on!

The first calendar I purchased was from The Body Shop. I had gotten one last year and it helped me to relearn how to relax and take care of myself. As with everything the prices have gone up and this year I purchased the smaller version. It’s called The Advent of Change and comes in lovely blue packaging. The display isn’t as stunning as the larger version but the smaller rings in at $95 CAD. I purchased it back at the end of September and used my birthday rewards coupon for it. It says it’s a value of $181 so we will see when I get to start opening on December 1st. 

The second countdown calendar I got was from Bird and Blend. I TOTALLY splurged on this and for those reasons I’m not going to include all the extra fees I paid. As well I had ordered the Halloween countdown at the same time so charges were a bit more. I LOVED this one from a few years ago. The packaging is 100% recyclable and very festive. The main Tea Advent Calendar is priced at $49 USD. However, the one I purchased was specially curated for the tea lover and Bird and Blend customer. It’s called the Ultimate Tea Lover’s Advent Calendar and lucky comes in at the same price of $49 USD. They also have a Matcha calendar!

That was going to be it, but just this afternoon I found a coffee 12 Days of Christmas. I purchased the Grove Place Market keurig cup coffee countdown at Peavey Mart for $18.99 CAD. It does not appear on the Peavey Mart website but similar boxes seem to be available elsewhere. The cashier said they were also waiting on a hot chocolate one. 

Okay, but what about your husband? You can’t forget your husband! 

Right you are. I have found 2 calendars for him this year. The first is the Walkers Shortbread calendar which is a 24 day countdown. I originally ordered from Tea At The White House but they sold out twice. Since I’ve been informed it can be found at London Drugs and a few other retailers. I spent $40 but apparently they can range in price. 

The other countdown I got for my husband I stumbled upon. I bought it at Canadian Tire for $24.99 CAD.  It’s the National Lampoons 12 Days of Jelly Advent Calendar.  We had the Bonne Maman calendar last year and really enjoyed it. This quirky calendar has repeats, comes with a knife and I’d say the packaging is a real “beaut”. 

There you have it. My countdown extravaganza. 

Only 6 days to go!

Who...Who Am I?

HI!  * waves *

The 2023 Holiday season is here and I thought it would be nice to reacquaint myself with my blog page and you!

I started blogging in another lifetime when the internet was fun and no one was afraid of making new friends.  I did it for fun and to have a bit of an online journal.  It was never meant as a money making scheme nor is my intent to influence you into buying or purchasing anything.

As my life changed, I moved into blogging about my favourite CFL football team and created ABC Football.  That was fun for a long time too.  During this time, sharing on social media changed and I found the pandemic changed not only the people who read what I wrote but I myself changed.  

Last autumn and into winter, I found myself wanting to just share again.  I brought Life, Donuts & The Crazy Music Lady back to life.

I hope to continue what I started last holiday season.  I plan to share the places we go, how we celebrate, and maybe some fun recipes and food experiments too.  You can also bet you'll find me sharing the current Advent/Countdown Calendars and Reviews!

So whether we follow each other here, Facebook, Xitter or Instagram, let's celebrate this fun time of year together.