Gingerbread Teddy Bears

I got this recipe way back in college when the Home Economics Department at my college was having a Christmas Open House. I don’t make them every year because all of that ball-rolling is a little tedious, especially if you’re doubling the recipe. But they’re fun to make and they taste great. Sometimes the kids would help: this time Mittu helped. I wasn’t a great fan of gingerbread cookies before these, but I like that these are soft and chewy rather than hard and crisp.

Gingerbread Teddy Bears

1 c. butter or margarine
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
2/3 c. dark corn syrup, light corn syrup, or molasses
4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 beaten egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
Miniature semi-sweet chocolate pieces
Decorator icing (optional)

In a saucepan combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat til butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Pour into a large mixing bowl and cool 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, soda, and cloves. Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture and mix well. Add the flour mixture and beat til well mixed. Divide the dough in half; cover and chill at least two hours or overnight.

To make each teddy bear, shape dough into about a 1-inch ball for the body, one 3/4-inch ball for the head, and six 1/2-inch balls for the arms, legs, and ears. On ungreased cookie sheet, place the 1-inch ball and flatten slightly. Place 3/4-inch ball next to (touching) the “body” for the head. then do the same for the arms and legs. Place two 1/2-inch balls above the head for ears. If desired you can pinch off just a teeny bit of dough for a nose, or use miniature chocolate chip. Use miniature chocolate chips for the eyes and either a navel on the belly or 3 “buttons”. Bake at 350^ for 8-10 minutes or until done. Carefully remove and cool.

If desired, pipe on smile, bow tie or vest or other decorations with decorator icing (1/2 c. sifted powder sugar and approximately 2 tsp. milk, blended to piping consistency, tinted with 1-2 drops food coloring). Makes 20-23.

This post will be also linked to “Works For Me Wednesday,” where you can find an abundance of helpful hints each week at We Are THAT family on Wednesdays, as well as  Women Living Well.

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Laudable Linkage

Here are interesting things I’ve seen around the Web lately: maybe some will interest you as well.

10 reasons to break the sarcastic habit, with action plan.

So Was Jesus.

Thoughts on Modesty, not from the standpoint of causing guys to stumble, though that’s a valid concern, but as a matter of our own hearts before God.

“Dora the Doormat” and other Scary Straw Women of Complementarity, HT to Challies. Deals with some of the erroneous charges some make against proponents of complementarianism, the view that God created the sexes equal but with roles that complement one another.

Confessions of a Conflicted Complementarian, showing how gospel grace applies even in this.

One taxpayer’s response to the potential government shutdown. Heh, heh, heh.

Food:

Double Chocolate Treasures. I am definitely trying these!

Cake Balls. I usually take the easy route of just throwing cake batter in a 9 x 13 pan, but these looks so good.

Resurrection Rolls for Easter breakfast. I’ve posted my version with yeast rolls before, but this one uses crescent rolls and cinnamon. I might just try this kind this year.

Crafts/decorations:

Buttons on display. Really cute card made with buttons.

How to Turn Mini-Blinds Into Roman Shades, HT to Lizzie.

What guys think about modesty:

I can’t imagine all the work behind this:

Happy Saturday!

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Friday’s Fave Five

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share our favorite things from the last week. This has been a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

1. A “snow day.” We’ve already had more snow than I am used  to — and I am ready for it to be gone — not to complain, but just sayin’ — but with three days off due to snow this week, there was only one day any of the kids got out in it and played.

Jason put together all the individual videos I took into one and added music. He even smoothed out my shakiness (I have to remember that laughing while filming is not good for later viewing…). (My husband missed all the fun because he was able to get to work, but he got one run down the hill at the end, after the credits).

Another couple of pluses — I finally figured out how to record video with my camera, and a neighbor saw the kids sledding on a cardboard box and asked if they wanted to use a sled she’d bought for her granddaughter. Jason gave her some of our baked goods when he returned the sled.

2. For my part on our snow day, besides being chief photographer and videographer, I baked Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Then yesterday I made banana bread so as to try to use a few overripe bananas. Mittu made mini blueberry muffins partly for the neighbor but partly for us as well. It’s been a week for baking!

3. A successful experiment in mixing putting together two different recipes to create Creamy Chicken with Cheesy Biscuits.

4. Mittu’s meal. One of my Christmas presents was a coupon booklet from Jason and Mittu:

And I used this one Saturday:

She made a yummy Hamburger Pie and Lemon Cake for dessert — which I thought I had pictures of but can’t find now. Maybe Jason took them on his camera. But they were good! And it was so nice knowing all day I didn’t have to cook.

5. Jesse’s teacher. Those of you who have read here for a while know that one of our biggest concerns in moving was Jesse’s adjustment to a new school, church, youth group, etc. All of that has gone fairly well. He has especially mentioned really (really, really) liking one particular teacher, and the other night he excitedly shared how his teaching was really opening up the Bible for him in his Bible class at school. That was a blessing to my own heart on many levels. It’s not that he didn’t have good teaching or teachers or didn’t appreciate any of them before, but there is something about this one in particular that is just clicking with him. I have to believe that might be at least one of the reasons the Lord led us here.

So overall it has been a great week even if we were a little housebound due to the weather. Only 65 days until spring…..

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A successful experiment

In planning for Sunday dinner after church, I was craving something creamy, with chicken, biscuits, and a bit of cheese. I didn’t have anything quite like that in my repertoire. But slowly an idea formed. I took this recipe:

And used chicken instead of ham. Instead of the “parsley pinwheels”

…which I didn’t usually make anyway (I usually used canned biscuits — the flaky kind is best — without parsley), I used the biscuit topping from this recipe:

It was perfect. It was exactly like I imagined it.

The only flaw was that it sat in the oven for 10-15 minutes before I realized the oven hadn’t been turned on. So the biscuit topping sank into the casserole a little more than it would have otherwise. And it took a little too long for a Sunday meal — we get out of church later than we’re used to and we have a 20 minute drive home. But otherwise it’s great for a cozy winter dinner.

Now, what to call it? Creamy Chicken with Cheesy Biscuits is a bit bulky. Chicken-Cheese-Biscuit Casserole is a bit stark. But whatever it’s called — I’m glad it turned out so well and hit the spot.

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Friday’s Fave Five

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts Friday’s Fave Five so we can share our favorite things from the last week. This has been a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God gives. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

Here are some of my favorites from this week:

1. Making a dent in cleaning out our shed and finding some treasures while doing so.

2. Finding some baby birds in the hanging plants on the patio. I can see the parents flying in and out from my kitchen window.

I don’t know what kind of birds they are, but even the full grown parents aren’t very big.

3. This sausage, pasta, and veggies dish:

I adapted it from this recipe: I use turkey sausage (from Hillshire Farms — really good flavor, and no, this isn’t a paid ad. ); I do not use tomatoes or green pepper; I do use yellow summer squash as well as zucchini; and I use elbow macaroni instead of penne pasta — I love most pasta but have never liked penne for some reason. This is a hearty, filling meal, but it is not heavy — it has a light summery feel.

4. My very own breakfast bowl, which I was making long before they became popular at fast food places.

I adapted it to a single serving from this recipe for Country-Style Eggs.

5. I don’t think I have ever before mentioned food as three of my five faves — but, hey, why not. Every now and then I enjoy those Nestle’s Toll House “break-apart and bake” cookie dough packages. I know recipe purists who frown on those, but sometimes I just get a hankering for nearly homemade cookies when I really don’t have time to make them, and those fit the bill today.

Hope you have a great weekend and a happy Fourth of July! Today is Grandma’s 82nd birthday, so we’re having her over for pizza and birthday cake this evening.

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Friday’s Fave Five

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts Friday’s Fave Five so we can share our favorite things from the last week. This has been a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God gives. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

1. Good results from the doctor. I mentioned last week taking a family member in for a procedure. We got the results back this week, and praise the Lord, it is not the big scary thing we most feared. There are still symptoms that we and the doctors need wisdom in dealing with, but we’re relieved and thankful that it is not as bad as it could have been.

2. A better week than last week, mentally at least. It hasn’t been as productive as I had originally planned, and I was under the weather a couple of days, but the “funk” I was in last week seems to have lifted. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!

3. Google. Though it seems, I don’t know, maybe a little silly to list it, it has been a major help to me in getting ready for the upcoming ladies’ luncheon. I can’t wait to show and tell you more about it, but I want to wait til afterward so as to keep everything as much of a surprise as possible to those attending. But I was thrilled this week when I had a general idea for favors for the younger girls (thank you, Lord!), and searching online yielded just the perfect resources needed to implement it.

4. Just the right temperatures and rain. I have to admit I am not a big fan of rainy days, though I know we need them for food and plants to grow, etc. But I appreciate them more this time of year when they wash the pollen out of the air and off everything outside.

5. My husband’s helpfulness. I’ve mentioned this last week that I can chafe sometimes when interrupted or asked to help with something when I had other things planned, though once I actually get started my attitude changes. But my husband has always very willingly and cheerfully pitched in anywhere needed. Since he works way more than 40 hours a week plus keeps up with yard work and general repairs around the house, I try not to ask for his help unless company is coming and I am in a time crunch. But when I do ask him to do something, he never acts irritated or put out. I can’t remember what I made a mess of in the kitchen last week, but he just pitched in taking care of the problem. And whenever the kids need assistance, as well, he makes his time and expertise  available to talk or fix something or help with a decision, etc. Of course, sometimes he is in the middle of something and has to ask us to wait, but his general attitude is one of willing and cheerful helpfulness and availability to his loved ones, which is both an example and a rebuke to me.

And hey, I didn’t even mention food this week! Though I did make Congo Bars last night…

1/2 cup margarine
2 3/4 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups flour
1 to 2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt margarine and combine with brown sugar.Add eggs and beat well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Spread mixture into a greased 11 x 15″ pan. Sprinkle choclate chips on top. Bake for 20-25minutes. Makes 2 dozen, depending on how you cut them. Chopped nuts can be added if desired.

I don’t know why they’re called that, and in trying to find a recipe to link to, I found all kinds of variations! But this one is pretty simple plus makes more than the usual 9 x 13 pan. Great for when you need to take cookies somewhere but want to leave some home for the family as well. Though I am not taking these anywhere….

Have a great weekend!

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Friday’s Fave Five

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites or to join in.

1. A ladies’conference that a sister church invited our ladies to last weekend with the theme “Christ My Light.”

2. A relatively quiet week after several busy ones.

3. The Private Diary of Bella Swan, HT to Carrie. I haven’t read the Twilight books and only saw the film because my son and his girlfriend wanted to, so I’m not a fan, but I thought this was funny.

4. This video:

5. Not one but TWO food items! Both chocolate.

I’m on a quest to find a chocolate chess pie recipe that tastes similar to the one at Golden Corral. The first one I tried was The Angus Barn Chocolate Chess Pie. It was good – but not like Golden Corral’s. So the experimentation will continue.

And I’ve been craving these Choco Peanut Butter Dreams for days and finally made them last night.

Happy Friday!

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Snippets

• Whew! Busy day. I feel like I’ve been “going” all day — and I am definitely not the Energizer Bunny! It’s nice to sit down for a while.

• Jason got his first full-time pay check a few days ago and remarked, “Now I know why people gripe about taxes so much!” Welcome to adulthood, m’boy.

• The boys went to a fellowship at church last week that I missed due to not feeling well, and when they got home I asked them what kinds of things were served. In naming some of the things, Jeremy said something that sounded like “foreos.” I said, “What….?” He replied, “Fake Oreos. Faux Oreos. Fauxreos.” I thought that was pretty clever.

• Had a quick and easy dinner tonight. We had some leftover sausage from Jeremy’s pizza last week and a partial package of pepperoni, so I stopped at the store for some crescent roll dough (love that stuff! What did we do before someone invented it?) and provolone cheese and made pizza rolls. Then I borrowed an idea from Jason’s fiancee that she had made once while she was here and made a few with chocolate chips and a glaze made of powdered sugar, milk, and  a bit of vanilla for dessert. Good stuff.

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Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: Chipped

PhotoHunt

Theme: Chipped | Become a Photo Hunter

I know I just posted this picture a week or so ago, but it fits the theme, and I figured you’d rather see this than my chipped dishes:

This is a Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, like a peanut butter kiss cookie in bar form, filled with mini chocolate chips and topped with as Hershey’s kiss. I found the recipe on a Land O’ Lakes margarine box.

Visit TN Chick, the creator and hostess of the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, to see more variations on the chipped theme or to join in the fun.

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Turkey Bone Soup

A couple of commenters on my Thanksgiving Meme post yesterday asked about Turkey Bone Soup. I don’t have a recipe per se — it’s one of those “toss in whatever you like” dishes. But here is what I do.

After Thanksgiving dinner wrap the turkey carcass in plastic wrap until you are ready to make soup. If you are going to make it in a couple of days, you can store it in the refrigerator: if it will be longer than that put it in the freezer.

When ready put the turkey carcass in a Dutch oven or large soup pan, cover with water, and simmer about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove the bones and pour the contents of the pan through a strainer into another pan or bowl. Then add rice or noodles, vegetables, and small bits of turkey to the broth and simmer til rice or noodles are done and all is heated through. I usually add rice, a can of Veg-all or frozen mixed vegetables, salt, pepper, minced onion, and garlic powder (and sometimes, if the stock isn’t flavored as much as I’d like, a bit of instant chicken bullion). Sometimes I’ll also add other leftover vegetables. You can use fresh vegetables, of course — just allow more time for them to cook and hold off adding the rice or noodles for a little while so they don’t get too soggy.

I just did a quick search for Turkey Bone Soup and found several that were very similar using anything from cabbage to carrots and potatoes, and one advocated adding a bay leaf.

Sorry not to be more exact! I’ve gotten used to my pan and about how much to add in.

This is one of my all-time favorite soups and one of my favorite ways to use leftover turkey. I wish I had a nice picture: maybe I’ll take one this year.

I am linking this to Kelli’s Week of Giving Thanks at There’s No Place Like Home — a festival of Thanksgiving posts — poems, quotes, decorations, crafts, recipes, etc.

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