Happy November!

Hey Y’all!

I hope everyone is doing well! I hopped on the blog to make a post this morning and I found myself doing some ol’ blog housekeeping. A little while ago I changed my twitter password, so that in turn caused the twitter widget to stop working. I have also been posting pictures to instagram on a daily basis and I wanted to link that to the blog too. Then I thought I wanted a color change, and on and on. So the blog got a wee facelift! I hope you like it!

The month of  November has turned out to be just as busy and stressful as October. But. I have had some fun! I had a birthday a few weekends ago and celebrated with friends, family and Mimosas. Of course! Here is me toasting to 41!

Earlier in the month, as a birthday gift to myself, my best friend met me in Charleston at the South Carolina Aquarium. Our treat was to tour the Sea Turtle Hospital. Y’all. We had a private tour! It was so wonderful to see these creatures being nurtured back to health. We had a great time seeing the turtles and hearing about their treatment.

Whenever I don’t feel like getting in my 3 mile walk everyday, I think of those turtles. My miles are helping me get in shape for my sea turtle beach walking with SCUTE next summer!

I am still trying to get in my steps everyday. This week has been a hard one. I haven't had the get up and go. It seems like this past time change was difficult on everyone. I still don’t feel like myself. But the walking has helped me lose 5 pounds, so I have to keep on with it!

Today I got up with the intention of getting my house decorated for Christmas. Mom will be here for Thanksgiving on Wednesday and then the weekend after that is Girls Weekend Christmas Palooza. Y’all know how I love the Christmas lights. But. I didn’t get the trees up today. I did get a great deal at Bath and Body Works on Soap ($2.50!) but that is as close as I came to adding Christmas to the house today. Maybe tomorrow!

As you can see from my instagram feed, I have a new batch of Amish Friendship Bread starter going! With my peanut and nut allergies, I can hardly eat anything that has been baked in a store now. So I thought with the starter I could get some yummy Christmas baked goods that I could keep and give away. I can bake with this starter on Wednesday. I am looking forward to some yummy bread and chocolate chip cookies.

Pitty Pat is doing well and , I think, he is looking forward to having me at home for a few days over Turkey Day! His hair was so long at the beginning of November, I had to take him to Pet Co for a shower and a shave! I hated not to take him to his regular groomer, but she only works during the week and doesn’t groom on the weekends any more. Our situation was dire… Pitty Pat had too much hair and was stinky. But the folks at Pet Co did a fabulous job and Pitty Pat did not act like a monkey. Win, Win!

Alrighty, it is time to get in the kitchen and heat up some left overs! I do have a wee bit of Christmas cheer going on in the kitchen. This is a snowman magnet that I bought the other day. He is life size! He is so cute! He came with a buddy.. Santa, but I prefer Mr. Snowman! He can stay up longer!

It is supposed to get really cold here over the next few days. I have a few knitting projects for others I need to knit up, but as soon as those are done, I need to knit myself a few hats. My ears get cold on my walks!

Tootles!

JKP

My Early Christmas Present, Girls Weekend Christmas Palooza Recipes and a Texas Toast DEBACLE!!

Hey Y'all!

Sorry, I took the day off yesterday. Literally. I took a personal day and had a wonderful day! I picked up a piece of furniture from a consignment store, did some shopping and enjoyed the beautiful weather! In fact, yesterday afternoon I pulled out my beach chair, poured myself a glass of lemonade, grabbed my kindle and sat my happy hiney on my patio in the sunshine for a few hours. It was so relaxing and I finished a book... True Devotion by Dee Henderson. It is a really good read! Everybody needs a relaxing Monday every now and then!

And, sorry. There is no Christmas Sock of the Day for today and yesterday. It has been in the 70's here and my toes have to be free! They say the colder weather will be back by the end of the week. I can't wait to show off my precious socks that I got this past weekend!

Now!!! If you have ever been to my house, you may notice how much yarn I have. At times, I probably could appear in an episode of hoarders. :) I am not that bad. My yarn is pretty much organized by project and color in my upstairs craft closet. However, I do keep a basket downstairs by my sofa and recliner with all of my current or about to be current projects. Ahem. Recently this basket has gotten OUT OF CONTROL. And, it was an eye sore in my living room. While out shopping with the girls this past weekend, I came across the perfect solution. Since I knew I couldn't fit it in Mitzi Mazda without tying Marie or Toni to the sunroof, I decided to think about it and come back on Monday. If the basket of shelves was still there.. then it was meant to be!

And guess what it now in my living room????? To understand the hideousness.. you must see a before and after shot...

BEFORE.......ACCCCKKKKKK!!!!! My yarn has been multiplying!

AFTER........ SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!!

My living room is much happier now! And, so am I! Santa came to see me a wee bit early! :)


And, now what you have been waiting for! Girls Weekend Christmas Palooza Recipes!
Now, my two favorite recipes I used, I found on Pinterest.. and those folks have blogs who have documented each recipe. Since I was cooking for company and I was under a deadline (read, I hadn't had ANY coffee while I was cooking on Saturday) I forgot to take pictures. So instead of re-inventing the wheel on my blog, I am just going to link to the recipes. I hope you guys really enjoy them! :)

Our favorite part of breakfast on Saturday had to be the make ahead French Toast Bake. Now let me tell you... this recipe calls for Texas Toast. But there is a Texas Toast debacle. After searching several stores for Texas Toast... that I had only seen a few weeks ago, I kept coming up empty handed. Finally the deli manager at my local Food Lion took pity on me and explained what was going on. You see, most Texas Toast in our country was made by Hostess bakeries. And now they are closed. NO MORE TEXAS TOAST FOLKS!!!! So I substituted Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Hearty White Bread to make my french toast and it turned out great. You could use any hearty bread and I am sure it would be fine. But we really liked the Pepperidge Farm! I also left the crusts on my bread. I am normally not a crust eater... EXCEPT when I eat french toast. The recipe on the blog cuts off the crusts. Don't do it! :)

Here's the link to step by step directions for The French Toast Bake. Make this. Make this for Christmas morning! You won't be sorry!

The other recipe I tried was called Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups. It is a hashbrown base, baked in a muffin tin. Then you add egg, cheese and bacon. It is a great option for protein in the morning and it is easy to make!

Check out Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups here!

Alrighty, Rizzoli and Isles is on and I've got to watch it. I hope y'all have a good Wednesday! We have 10 more school days until Christmas break! :) YAY!

Tootles!
:) JKP

It's Baking Time! Peppermint Dipped Chocolate Cookies

Hey Y'all!

I bet you didn't think that I would be back soooo soon! I have a yummy recipe for some delightful cookies that I wanted to share.

This past weekend my best girlfriends helped me celebrate my 40th birthday. They kindly rented a beach house for the night so we could have a slumber party! You can see a few pics of our celebration in yesterday's post. We decided that instead of going out, we would all bring a dish to share. I spied these cookies in a Red Plum coupon circular a few weeks ago and I had been dying to try them out. This presented the perfect opportunity! The Peppermint Dipped Chocolate Cookies were a hit!

I love this time of year because you can find the best baking and cooking recipes in the most unusual places. I am a magazine hog and usually by a ton this time of year. Some of my favorite holiday and everyday dishes come from things I have found around this time of year. My big purchase last year was The Fix It and Forget It Best Recipes of 2011. Boy. That has provided plenty of yummy dishes for this year!

To make these budget friendly and yummy cookies you will need:

1 package of Pillsbury Chocolate Cookie Mix with Crushed Peppermint Candy. (I found mine at the evil empire.)
1/2 cup of butter softened
1 large egg
1 16oz container of Pillsbury Peppermint Frosting (Again, the evil empire)
*This made a batch of 32 cookies for me. I always like to know what to expect!

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Open the box of cookie mix and remove the peppermint candy pouch to use later. Combine the cookie mix, butter and egg in a bowl. Mix with a spoon until the dough is soft. Drop by rounded teaspoons on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are set. Remove from the oven and let them cool for 2 minutes. Then place the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Once the cookies have cooled completely, microwave the container of frosting for 20 seconds and stir. Make sure the lid is off. DUH. Then microwave for 10 more seconds. Dip the cooled cookies about halfway into the frosting. You can scrape the excess off if needed. Place the cookie back on the wire rack.
*(See NOTE!) Then immediately add the peppermint pieces from the candy pouch ASAP so they will stick as the frosting cools. Continue to dip until all the cookies are coated and sprinkled. I let the cookies sit out for a few hours until I knew the frosting was set.

 

*I placed some plastic wrap underneath the wire racks as I was adding the frosting and and peppermint pieces. It helps with clean up!

That's it! Very easy with pretty AND yummy results. :) So bake up a batch, turn on the Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas Movie Marathon and enjoy!

This weekend I am thinking about putting up my Christmas Tree(s). My girls and I are also going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2. Thank goodness next week is only a two day school week, I am so tired!

I hope you have baking in your plans this weekend too! I do! Look what landed in my grocery cart yesterday....

SQUEE!! More baking for me too!

Also, stay tuned. I have big cooking plans for Turkey Day.. and it involves my Crockpot!

Tootles!
:) JKP

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater's 3 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins!

Hey Y'all!

Well, this is a recipe that has swept blogland and Pinterest like wildfire. I first saw it over at the blog Monograms and Manicures a few weeks ago. I knew we had a school munchie day coming up, so I filed the EASY recipe away in my brain to use!

Seriously folks. If you need something quick to make to take to a dinner party or just to be fabulous... This is it!

All you need, I swear is....

1 box of cake mix (you can use yellow mix or the Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix. To me the spice cake mix was the best!)
1 can of pure Pumpkin. NOT pumpkin pie filling.
1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips (if you want them!)
Decorative muffin cups with a fall or Halloween theme. (This is an after thought... I didn't have these, but it would have been a nice touch! )


Combine the cake mix and pumpkin in a mixer. Mix for two minutes. With a spatula add the bag of chocolate chips. The batter is a thick one, so I used a 3/4 cup measuring cup and scooped out the batter into the muffin cups. You want to fill the cups almost to the top. This is not like a cupcake batter, these muffins will not rise much.

Once all of the batter was in the cups, I took the back of a spoon and smoothed out the tops.  I did this before I placed them in the oven to make them look nice. :) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. When you take the muffins out of the oven let them cool in the muffin tins. Some folks drizzle cream cheese frosting over these or sprinkle on some powdered sugar. To me, these were great by themselves. And if you are a Weight Watcher.. without the chocolate chips.. these are only two points each. :)

So, brew up a cup of hot tea and enjoy!

Tootles!
:) JKP

The One Where I Wax on About Baking!!!

Hey Y'all!

Well, I am four days away from FREEDOM! We have four days of school left this week! I have one more work day next Monday and then I am FREE for the SUMMER!!!! Pitty Pat and I are over the moon! AND, could I have used any more exclamation points in those last few sentences?

This weekend was a long weekend for us, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I spent everyday on the beach with several great books. I took a break from beaching' it today.. I am starting to resemble a coffee bean. And since my best friend is coming next Monday, I will have plenty of time to hit the beach again soon. Today I spent the day hanging with Mr. P, catching up on The Young and the Restless, straightening the house, and organizing my craft room with my projects that I want to work on this summer. Busy day, right? Oh, and I still have to cut the grass tonight when it cools down. Hello!

The other thing that I have been doing a lot of is baking. If you have been hanging around this blog for awhile, y'all know that I love to cook and bake. And trust me, I just might have to rename the blog, justjuliaknits and cooks because, once school is out, I have a ton of recipes that I can't wait to try! I don't know why it is easier for me to cook when school is out, I think I just enjoy it more and I have alot more time.

Anyhoo, onto my recent baking. A few blog posts back, I posted about a book I read, Friendship Bread. So over spring break, I made my own Amish Friendship Bread Starter, and the rest they say is history. I have baked loaves of bread for friends. But, what everyone seems to be clamoring for these days are my cookies! Y'all. They. Are. So. Yummy!!!

This is where all of the goodness starts. With your Amish Friendship Bread Starter! I have had mine going for about a month and a half now. I have given lots away and frozen some of it too. It comes in handy when it is frozen, you can bake on demand! Now my starter has a new home, a nice glass jar. It is very happy!

This is the acutal Amish Friendship Bread baking. The recipe makes two loaves.

Here is my Snickerdoodle batter. It is kind of sticky, but if you put it in the fridge over night, and then bake on parchment paper or a Silpat, you will have out of this world Snickerdoodles!

Here are the Snickerdoodles ready to go in the oven. Oh my!!!

GOT MILK? 

Here are my other cookies, and in my humble opinion, I prefer these over the Snickerdoodles. These are slap a pig, kick a horse GOOD! They are of course, Chocolate Chip. And they are perfection. Crispy on the outside, chewy and gummy in the middle.

 Paddington says, "Woman, you better bake me some Amish Friendship Bread Bones! I know where you sleep at night!"

I have tried many other recipes with my starter, all thanks to The Friendship Bread Kitchen. Another big hit that I have baked is the Triple Chocolate Amish Friendship Bread. That lasted all of 5 minutes! Luckily I have neighbors and friends at school who are happy recipients of my baking! :)

So that is what I have been up to! Check back tomorrow when I update my Read's From the Beachchair... I have read 4 great books this weekend!

See ya later!

:) JKP

Got Milk?

Hey Y'all,

Well, as promised, I BAKED.

Here's the total of the spread I made! I started last night, I had a few of the doughs that had to be refrigerated overnight. I started baking at 8 this morning and just finished. As you can see, I don't have my sugar cookies cut out for now, but I decided it was time for me to back away from the flour!!

Today, I made....

Top Secret Chocolate Cookies

Raspberry Shortbread with White Chocolate Drizzle (They are about to go in the oven here...)

Cranberry Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

My personal favorite of all time... BLONDIES!

Paddington says, "When is the fat guy in the red suit going to come? I have been a good boy!"

:) JKP

Monkey Business

Hey Y'all,

Yesterday I mentioned in my post that I made some yummy Monkey Bread for my friends Toni and Marie who visited last weekend. This was a fantastic way to start our day long marathon of shopping. The best part is, refrigerate these when you are done and they are even better the next day! Here's the recipe with pics!

To make Paula Deen's Monkey/Gorilla Bread you will need:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
2 (12-ounce) cans refrigerated biscuts (10 count) (I use Pilsbury's Buttermilk ones)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Spray your bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Then mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a seperate bowl. In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar over low heat, stir this well!

Next, cut the cream cheese into 20 equal cubes. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese. You will have a half moon looking biscut.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts into the bottom of your bundt pan. Place half of the biscuits with the sugar and cream cheese in the pan. Sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle on 1/2 cup of nuts.

Layer the remaining biscuits on top, sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar, pour the remaining butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of nuts. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Place a plate on top and invert.

I served mine with hot coffee and a side of fruit. Trust me, it was a HUGE HIT! So if you want something yummy to make for Christmas morning.. this is it!!
Enjoy!!
:) JKP