Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Good day, lovelies! This is just a quick update, as I've still got quite a few things to finish today. I'm doing laundry while Chris and I watch Cowboys & Aliens. He rented it last night, and I wanted to see it before he brought it back. I have to pack for our trip once the movie is done, and then we've got a family gathering on Chris' dad's side of the family. I've barely spent any time with them since we've been together, so it's kind of intimidating for me. Nevertheless, I'm still looking forward to it. Finally, when we get back from the gathering, Chris and I are exchanging our gifts. I'm soooo excited about that because I can't wait to see his reaction to what I got him. Tomorrow we're spending the day with my family, and Sunday we're leaving for Edmonton! I'm so excited to see little nephew - he's getting so big! And I get to see the place where my honey grew up, which is also very cool.

This afternoon I also baked some cookies. They're jam-filled thumbprint cookies, and they are much simpler than other recipes I've been seeing for them online. I'd like to share the recipe with you because I can't stop eating them!!

2 c. butter or margarine
2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
6 c. flour

Cream butter and brown sugar, add wet ingredients, then flour. Mix well after each addition. Make small balls of dough, about teaspoon-sized, and place about a 1/2 inch apart. Using your thumb or index finger, make small indents in the middle of each ball. Fill the holes with your choice of jam (my preference is raspberry). Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Yum yum!

I wish all of you a merry Christmas, and I hope you have a blessed time with family and friends. And maybe take a moment to remember all that Jesus did for us, all the things we have to be thankful for.

xoxo Fe

I love long weekends.

Yesterday was Canada Day, and it was nice to just spend a day relaxing. Chris and I cleaned our house, which always makes me feel better. I love having a clean space around me. I'm a bit of a clean freak. I think I balance the chaos in my mind by having an organized physical space around me.

I also gave myself a manicure yesterday after seeing a super cute one on several blogs the other day. (Here's a link to one.)  I think it's one of my new favorite things.

Being Canada Day yesterday, Chris and I went to see the fireworks with a couple of my friends. I flipping adore fireworks, but I'll tell you this - Steinbach does not have the best fireworks in the world, considering how big the town is and compared to the fireworks that smaller towns in the area put on. Nontheless, they were still beautiful and I got some good pictures.

In the evening I had the random urge to make brownies. They. Were. Flipping. Amazing. So I am sharing the recipe with you lovely people. I hope you make them and enjoy :D

Easy Fudge Brownies (courtesy of Pampered Chef)

Note: This recipe came with their small bar pan, so it's a tiny recipe. I am giving it to you tripled from the original, but I have no idea what size pan you'll need. I think you're smart enough to figure it out, though ;)


Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3/8 tsp salt
• 2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, divided

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Combing sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla in mixing bowl; mix well.

2. Combine flour, cocoa powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add to batter bowl; whisk until smooth. Stir a third each of the chocolate morsels and walnuts into batter. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake 18-20 minutes or until brownie is set in center. Remove from oven to cooling rack.

3. Immediately sprinkle remaining chocolate morsels over hot brownie. Let chocolate stand until softened; spread evenly. Sprinkle with remaining nuts. Cool before cutting.

More notes: I pretty much hate nuts in baked goods, so I skipped that.

I found peanut butter chips in my cupboard, so when mixing the batter I split it half peanut butter chips and half regular chocolate chips. So. Yummy.

The baking time might be off, because again this recipe was really small and meant for a clay baking pan. So if you try it and find that it needs a different time, please let me know!


Enjoy your long weekend, my dears!