Thanksgiving Marmalade Thumbprints ! Need to fill that last spot on the table? These noms will help!

    

AAHHHH! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Need a nummy dish to be a filler for that empty spot on the table? Here is a quick and easy one that will surely keep your peeps noshing :)

Ingredients 

1 Cup Butter

2 cups white flour

2/3 cup white sugar

dash vanilla

Jam, any kind you want! I used Strawberry in half and Marmalade in the other.

Does it get any easier than that?!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and white sugar until smooth. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Mix in flour until dough comes together. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Make a small hole in the center of each ball, using your thumb and finger, and fill the hole with preserves. Any kind ya like!
3. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Let cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar, 3/4 teaspoon almond extract, and milk until smooth. Drizzle lightly over warm cookies.
5. HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NomNomNomNom Christmas Recipes ...nom. Cinnamon Sugar Caramel Corn !

I love love Caramel Corn. I love making it even more, its fun, its pretty easy, and its impressive lol.

I am making for the first time, cinnamon sugar caramel corn for Cowboy's Christmas Work Party that is just a few away. I also want to make some soon  for +April Musgrove and her fam for Christmas Time snacks. April  is a fabulous, cook, baker, and  candle stick maker, crafter , mother, decorator, wife, and sister. Yep she's ma sister!
I  am  going to stick to my regular recipe, with an experimental twist.

 LET US BEGIN!

• 6 quarts popped corn or 3 bags popped
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup butter
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
• In a dutch oven combine sugar, butter and corn syrup, bring to a slow boil over med. Once it reaches rolling, let cook for 5 min, without stiring.
• When the 5 minz is up, remove from heat, and stir in vanilla and baking soda. The baking soda will change the look a bit, it will get lighter and kind of fluffy.
• Spray some wooden spoons with some nonstick spray.
• Poor the Hot mixture over your popcorn, ( best to put it in 2 Big metal bowels.
• Stir!
• STIR!!
• STIR MORE!!!
• Now poor the coated popcorn onto 2 cookie sheets.
• ( Don't worry! your caramel corn will look lumpy and chunky and not what you were hoping, its supposed to, your doin' Great!)
• Rotate the cookie sheets  for 15 min each @ 250 degrees, till each has roasted for an hour ( thats 4 swaps) 
• Each time you take one out and stick the other in, dump it all back in the bowl and toss
• TOSS 
• TOOSSSS!
• The corn is still warm, and this makes it get all evenly coated and pretty.
• When each pan has had its time in the oven, now all you have to do is cool, wait for crunch and EAT!

NOW,for the cinnamon sugar  twist.

Follow exactly as above, but when done and corn is cooling, not hot but still sticky, sprinkle and toss with cinnamon sugar mix.

TOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

Now just wait for the compliments to come a rollin' in! :D
 Pics of the process and adorable children eating with praise on their face coming soon!

NomNomNomNom Christmas Recipes ...nom. Caramel Apple Pie!

OK!

So, i had everything ready for Thanksgiving, shopping and all.

I am planning the norm, turkey stuffing blah blah. The best part? The dessert!

Since I cant really afford to go overboard this year, i was planning on making my famous (  fa·mous  (fms)

adj.

1. Well or widely known. See Synonyms at noted.

2. First-rate; excellent: had a "famous time at the party".No where does it say the widely know can't consist of children and cats ;)

Pumpkin cheese cake. /Whisper, the secret is in  the crunchy drizzle on top, and its an easy cheat, will add that soon!)

And of cores the pumpkin pie! The pumpkin pie is law, it is key, it IS Thanksgiving.

Every  time a Thanksgiving is had and a pumpkin pie not enjoyed a baby woodland owl dies.

WHOA,WHOA whoa..

 I don't make the rules people.

Im feelin' good about my menu,  all seems right, I stand back, take a knee,have a seat, choose some other stance to take, that is both peaceful, yet reflective, and then my cow boy comes home from work. He says to me he says, "hey you know Thanksgiving?"

/crickets. "Yep baby, i sure do" i reply after a silence that was leaving humorous and entering weird.

I heard about a caramel apple pie on the radio, it sounds amazing, can you make that instead of pumpkin pie?

You have to picture this coming from a 6ft man dirty from a long day of metal fab, unlacing his giant work boots and looking up at me with his big hazel  eyes and happy hopfull smile,asking, 1st thing through the door ,for pie. For pie. It's adorable. I'm only human.

"Of cores i will make you a caramel apple pie!"

But in addition, not instead of. I love woodland owls, don't be sick.

Ok so i had no idea what a caramel apple pie was, but after hours of searching pintrest, blogs, and google, i have found a recipe that looks quit promising, and i am attempting it, 

NAW!

Ingredients

2 pie crust, un baked

1

cup granulated sugar

1/4

cup all-purpose flour

1

teaspoon ground cinnamon

5

cups thinly sliced peeled apples

1/2

cup caramel apple dip

2

tablespoons milk

1

cup all-purpose flour

1/2

cup packed brown sugar

1/2

cup butter

.Steps

1Heat oven to 375°F.  In large bowl, mix granulated sugar, 1/4 cup flour and the cinnamon. Add apples; toss to coat. Spoon apple mixture into crust- lined plate. In small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons caramel apple dip and the milk; drizzle over apples.

2In medium bowl, mix 1 cup flour and the brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over filling.

3To make lattice top, cut second crust into 1/2-inch-wide strips . Place half of the strips across filling in pie plate. Weave remaining strips with first strips to form lattice. Trim ends of strips even with edge of bottom crust. Fold trimmed edge of bottom, pinch closed.

4Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Drizzle remaining caramel apple dip over pie. Cool at least 2 hours before serving.

And Enjoy!

Hhhm where to begin

Hello!

And thank you for looking at my blog today.

Hhhmm where to begin.

. I stressed my self out so much about what to post first, before i realized, i need to just jump in. Eventually i will be able to blog, my style, just bare with me as i figure out what that style is.

So real quick, a bit about me to get us started, 

I recently turned 31 years old(....blink blink... that's rough to read in black and white). I am a mother of 2 young humans, awesome  7 yr old daughter Lily, and awesome 9 year old son Connor. 

Also in my family are, my fiance,( we shall call him cowboy to protect him from all the stories i plan to tell lol)

 my Beefy man of a black cat Charlie, his Brother Lucky, Cowboy's cat Cletus who moved in when he did, and Izaboe, who moved in last May, by walking in to the back yard and never leaving, and lastly Buffy! Our new and 1st puppy, who is just 7 weeks old.

(Yes, the math reveals there are more pets than people, leave your judgment in the junk folder)

 I work full time as an office manager for a property management company ( snooze) for going on...13 years now... but i live onsite, which is both a nightmare and a blessing, allowing me to multitask during my work day.

I have a scatter of interests including-

Cooking cleaning crafting DIY faeries shoes comics wil wheaton nerdy books nerdy movies L.A.R.P.ING couponing camping cats, and my puppy Buffy. Buffy The Vampire Slayer, as well as all things Joss Whedon

comicon! Nerdy TV sleeping staying up when i should be sleeping candles good smells making something new from something old reading writing i hate arithmetic doing random things that are there to be done on  the weekends saving money playing with my kids learning new things home making painting writing the Lord sculpting baking dr who boots ( i love boots, my closet hates them) brownies thrift stores farmers markets feastivals ren fairs binge marathoning TV shows on netflix.

COMMAS ARE FOR SISSIES!!!!

(Deep breath)

Also less fun things like anxiety money trouble  man troubles crazy family troubles cornucopia of health troubles and some bad luck.

All of the above leads me to believe that we will have plenty to talk about!

Also, a big interest of mine is......

CHRISTMAS!!!

So we have met at just the right time, from now till New years Day I hope you will join me as my family and myself enjoy the holidays Mia Mama Style.

Thanks for readin'

~Mia