Fudgy Button recipe

Mari asked for my Fudgy Button recipe. I found it in Quick Cooking Premiere Issue many years ago and it's the perfect recipe if you have a strong chocolate craving. It throws together in just a few minutes, uses basic ingredients, and only makes a little bit so you don't tend to overeat!

FUDGY BUTTONS

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 1/2 tsp. baking cocoa
1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. milk
2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

In a small saucepan, melt the butter; remove from heat. Add cocoa and mix well. Stir in sugar. Add milk and stir until smooth. Add peanut butter and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Flatten tops and shape into 1" patties.

I put mine in the freezer to harden faster - probably because I'm so impatient to have one! I store them in a small container in the freezer and grab one out for a treat once in a while.

But the recipe does not make much, as you can imagine from the quantities. It says it makes 1 1/2 dozen, but that depends on the size of your buttons/patties.

Yesterday I just smoothed out the fudge while soft onto waxed paper and put it into the freezer. When it had hardened I cut out Christmas shapes with mini cutters and put them in these cute boxes I found at the Dollar Tree Store. Ryan says they look like a professional did them!


If you give plates of Christmas cookies as gifts, these would be nice to add to the cookie plate.

I won a 5Min4Mom GiveAway!

You see that button to the right of my blog? The one that says "Christmas Giveaway"?

They contacted me the other day and said that I won the Celebrity Gifts contest! I won a spa robe and a $30 gift card to Edible Gifts Plus!!!! If you want to check out what I won just follow this link.

So, next year click on that button to the right and enter some contests!

I love winning! (I'm trying for a years worth of groceries on another GiveAway and $25,000 cash on another. This are the biggies I'm hoping for, so I can pay off some medical bills!)

Day of REST??????

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but it never seems to be for me. I usually end up doing laundry and meals for Jim to take in the truck.

Today after church I made lunch.

As soon as I was done cleaning up afterward I made a batch of Caramel Corn.

Once I got that in the oven I made my Fudgy Button recipe and tripled it because it doesn't make much. Instead of shaping it into buttons I spread it on waxed paper, put it in the freezer and then cut shapes with tiny Christmas cutters.

I did dishes, cleaned up, then MADE ORANGE ALMOND BISCOTTI.

Then I had a little problem. When I put a cookie sheet into the oven with the biscotti, I didn't realize the hot pad had stuck to the bottom of it. I didn't realize it until I went to pull the sheet out of the oven and it was stuck fast. It actually melted down and was dripping from the rack to the bottom of the oven. So I had THAT mess to clean up!

After that I filled bags of goodies. What my husband and son hadn't swiped, anyhow. Jim wanted some for giving to people on his route and I wanted some for my oxygen delivery guy and for the CF clinic (I go this Wednesday.) - that's why I was making it. Well, Jim thinks I have absolutely NOTHING to do or something because he starts asking for more. "I really ought to give this person something" "I really ought to give that person something." HELLO!!!! I said it's easy for him to want to hand this out to everyone when I do all of the work. I ended up spending 4 1/2 hours straight in the kitchen and from what he's telling me, he'll take everything I just made and I'll have to make stuff all over again for my people! I don't THINK so! I gave him 3 bags of caramel corn and 2 of biscotti.

I made them fend for themselves for supper, since I made a hot meal for after church, and then I got together 4 meals for on the road this week, plus made 3 pitchers of iced tea to fill 11 bottles for him to take with him.

Then did dishes AGAIN.

That was my day of REST!

(Sorry there are no pictures. I could have taken one of the caramel corn, or the biscotti, or the shaped fudge, or the dirty dishes or the melted hot pad...but I was just too tired to stop and get my camera.)

Candlelight Tour

I love our little historic town! It has such a close-knit feel to it and they do so many things.

This weekend they had "Christmas in the Streets." The town was decorated so pretty and roped off. The shops had specials and refreshments and they had carolers and instrumentalists lined up to perform in the streets all day. Stands were set up to sell things and there was a parade. I took Ryan down and dropped him off. I thot he'd be there an hour or two, but he hooked up with some friends from Youth Group and ended up having so much fun he stayed for 6 hours. He helped a vendor tear his booth down, he held someone's music for them who didn't have a music stand. He rode on our church float as a shepherd when someone didn't show up.

In the evening they started a Candlelight Tour of our historical mansion. It was built in the 1800's and was a headquarters and then hospital during the Civil War. Our church was in charge of the tour this year and decorated it for Christmas in keeping with the period of the house. They had choir members on a 2nd floor terrace singing Christmas carols and someone in the "warming kitchen" serving hot cider and cookies at the end.

My parents, husband, son and I went on the tour. It was very cold out, especially for Georgia, and it was difficult walking from the car to the mansion. Even wearing my oxygen I felt like I was almost at a standstill when we were halfway. But the tour was so pretty and interesting.

We couldn't take pictures, but I found these two pictures online.


These pictures just DO NOT do it justice, but it gives you a little idea of what it looks like.



The last two pictures were ones I took Fall 2008. The last one is of the slave quarters just to the rear of the mansion.

Update on Alan Henley

I've often posted about Alan Henley. Alan is a former stunt pilot who suffered an accident in their back yard in June of 2008, leaving him paralyzed.


Last night Alan was taken by ambulance to the ER. He had autonomic dysreflexia, which they have corrected. He has fluid in his lungs and they found that he has had a mild heart attack at some point. He was transferred to UAB hospital today and is in the ICU there.

Jen pulled some muscles in her back this past weekend when lifting Alan. She is in a lot of pain and has been under terrible stress with the full responsibility of caring for him and their two small children.

Please be in prayer for Alan and Jill. You can follow their updates and leaving encouraging messages on their Caring Bridge site.

Christmas Tree and Santa's

I've been practicing getting pictures of our tree with the sparkle and have some better shots.




I like being able to see the reflection of our tree in the mirror over the fireplace.


My mom painted all of the Santa's that are on the mantel. Look at the detail on some of them.





Her eyes don't allow her to do them anymore and she finished her last one last year. They are very special to us because of all of the time and effort she put in to them.

Christmas Tree & Santa’s