HFG Fun...

It has become somewhat of a tradition for our Home Fellowship Group

 to go out together for a February Dinner.

This year we went out to a Chinese Buffet in Newaygo.

Here is the mens table...(notice Joe's hand over his eye)

the girls table... 

After eating, we headed back to Daren & Kelly's home for what we thought was dessert.  

To our surprise, we were having a Dancing With The Stars competition!  

We knew something was up when all the furniture was pushed back...hmmmm!

check out Joe's eye (you might have to zoom in on it!)  

The reason you don't snowmobile with out a helmet on!!!

They invited Arnie & Shar to be our dance instructors.  

The dance they showed us was the Waltz.

Remember, they are showing a bunch of left footed Baptists! 

Aren't they sweet....Awwww!!! 

Awww....here is Arnie giving some personal instructions to Jerry & Julie.  Isn't that sweet! 

This is what we saw when we walked in from dinner, the scariest part of the night, THE JUDGES!

Pastor Chris, Mark Rawson & Jack Hall ( yes, that is a man) 

don't zoom in on Jack's nails!!! 

After some practice time, we had to perform our best Waltz for the Judges...

Scott & Leslie 

Josh & Amanda 

Jerry & Julie 

Jerry & Jill 

Steve & Joanne 

Joe & Kathy 

Joe & Kathy ending their Waltz with a little Swing Dancing

Daren & Kelly 

Announcing the Winners...Joe & Kathy...they have obviously danced a lot together!!!!! 

Steve schmoozing with the judges!!  That is just so wrong!!! 

We had a great time together and lots of fun....many memories were made.  We will be talking about this for years to come!!!  Everyone willing participated even us that knew we couldn't dance well!  We heckled each other and bribed the judges with quarters!  Thanks Daren & Kelly for going the extra mile to make your HFG fun!!! We so appreciate your enthusiasm!

Not an Edible Recipe

I promised you another recipe..

this is one I have wanted to do for awhile and never got around to it!

well I got around to it...

I thought this would be fitting heading into Spring~

Window Cleaner

This is what you will need...

Empty gallon jug (free)

1 pint of rubbing alcohol (1.69) 

1/2 c Ammonia (free-my friend gave me her unused portion)

squirt of dish soap (free-on hand)

squirt blue food coloring (free-on hand) 

Mix all above in jug and fill the remaining with water to equal a gallon. label!

The blue food coloring doesn't do anything...we just all know window cleaner should be blue!

some recipes don't call for dish soap.. some do..that is optional also.  Note..Next time I make some up, I will add the soap after I fill jug with water as the soap makes it bubble up and hard to fill.

I'm kind of excited to see how it works this Spring.  I did clean my porch window and it seemed like it did a great job.  The true test will be at the neighbor I clean for..I always have an awful time getting his not to streak!

I didn't get my recipe here but they had some others listed so I thought I would make a link (and some other fun things to look at....

http://tipnut.com/more-homemade-window-cleaner-recipes-to-try/

Recipe of a different kind....

No, I haven't started drinking

No, I don't have a recipe for a mixed drink....

It's a recipe for Homemade Vanilla! 

This is what you need to get started...

a 1/5 of Vodka,  Vanilla Beans and a jar of some sort

Pour the Vodka in the jar.  The hardest part (which is not hard at all!!) of making the vanilla is cutting the beans/pod open.  You slice the pod open and scrape the inside with a sharp knife and wipe seeds on the edge of the jar.  Now, this is the part you have to decide..how strong do you want it to be.  I made some last summer with Renee and I  used 2 beans in a 1/2 of a 1/5 (we shared the bottle)..I didn't think it was strong enough. (but probably much stronger than any store!!!) So this time I put in 9 beans in a whole 1/5th.  Basically, there is no exact recipe, it's a personal taste.

I get my beans from Penzeys Spices on Alpine by Toys R Us....in my opinion, we are LUCKY to have them so close.  I love all their stuff..you have to check it out.  If you do go in, sign up for the mailing list..they send you a new catalog with recipes and usually a coupon for a FREE product..bonus!  Each tube has three beans and is $7.25  or they have 15 beans for $29...if you have a friend to share with you. 

The rest of the pod I cut in three pieces and put in jar...the reason...it still has beans and flavor...obviously you would not want these in a smaller bottle you might keep in your cupboard....so strain them out when you transfer to a smaller jar.

The end product looks kind of like swamp water.  This process takes at least 1 month..or more!!

Every couple of days you should give the jar a good shake.  You can use anytime after 1 month but the longer it 'brews' the better!   

This is about the easiest think I can think of to make..honestly it took like 15 minutes.  

I was thinking it would be a great teacher gift, mother-in-law or any baker in your life!  Just think, you can make Christmas Presents in March and it will be ready to put in cute jars in December!!!!

stay tuned for my next recipe....it is like no other recipe I have posted!!!

Blogmercial

This is a shameless Blogmercial.

I have to give due credit to my neighbor Shannon..she was the first to show me this.

Steve had plowed their driveway..so for that deed, she brought Steve a sweet treat.

I was fascinated by the cute little brownie she delivered.

I couldn't resist getting one of those cute pans for myself....

Here is my cute little brownies

Here is the cute little pan..... 

I got mine at Kohl's, I believe it was 19.00 so it is a little pricey..but with a % discount day and 

a sale price you will be in business!  

If you have a Birthday coming up or if you have a gift card you need to use..here is your item!!

The brand  is Calphalon.http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/kitchendining/brandsforkitchen/cookingwithcalphalon/bakeware/PRD~303752/Cooking+with+Calphalon+12Square+Bar+Pan.jsp

You can also make personal cheesecakes or mini cookies.  One 8x8 brownie mix makes 12 personal brownies.  They make such a cute treat to give away.  My brownies always looked like I cut them with a chainsaw...not very nice to give away!

Get to Kohl's this weekend & pick yours up and bake away!

Yummy Days of Winter

 All the days of winter I dream of the wonderful things I could bake.  

My taste buds crave things like 

bread pudding, rice pudding, soft oatmeal raisin cookies and apple crisp.

 My families buds crave things like chocolate chip cookies and I don't know what?

I'm not their taste buds!

So today, I fed the inner buds!

BREAD PUDDING..yes!!!

 Oh so yummy!  The smell of it brought everyone running to the kitchen!  Some were disappointed to see the raisins and some were disappointed by the gluten laden bread before them!  But some of us were in heaven..I'm sure this will be there on the Heavenly Buffet.  I know it will, I see it on every buffet!!

This recipe from, you know it, allrecipes.com didn't let me down!  I wanted to share it...just in case there were other Bread Pudding lovers out there!

 In case you were wondering what I was going to do with the other half the pan (which I kind of wanted to eat!) I'm sharing it with Mr. Brott...he wasn't sure he has ever had it and he is 86.  I don't want him to go down never having eaten bread pudding!

BREAD PUDDING

• 6 slices day-old bread
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F 
2. Break bread (I cut mine up) into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4. Bake 45 min. or until it is 'set-up' (I baked mine about 1 hr)

All I can end with is ENJOY!