Winter Winter in Illinois_ sharing Ice lemon Bars-Peanut Butter Cookies

Its morning here at my house, the dogs are snoring or should I say Abbie is Sally doesn't snore..
At least I never heard her.

Might I also add its snowing lightly again, it always looks so pretty. We haven't hardly had any snow YET this winter, I'm sure we will make up for it by the time the season is over.

 As I'm typing I hear a blue jay screaming..  I put peanuts and corn out the other day under the arbor and that always attracts them. I don't know how they know but they do every time..
I managed to get a couple of photos they don't sit for long and are hard to capture you have to be 
quick.

 

How about this guy he was looking in at us, a hawk we call his Mr.T.

 

 

So much going on a few high lights the past couple of days. My youngest sister is finally a Grand Ma and  I became a Great Aunt again, my Nephew and his wife had a baby girl. We were all so excited over Baby Scarlette being born.. The absolute cutest baby, it was so exciting to see her minutes after she was born through modern technology. They shared with all of there family and friends  her photo on FB..

Look's Cold doesn't it..

Here I'm doing a test with my recipes I posted a while ago. I sent them into a group I belong to and Aletha saved them in a program she made. I copied them and pasted them into my page in my Blog to see how it would turn out.

Iced Lemon Bars

By Diane

2 cups (252 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 oz (228 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups (294 grams) granulated sugar
6 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons (31 grams) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13×9 inch metal pan with non-stick foil or parchment paper.

Combine the flour, powdered sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse until mixture is coarse and crumbly. Measure out 1 cup of crumbs and set aside.

Pour remaining crumbs into prepared pan and press them down slightly (they’ll be very dry). Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the filling. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl. Whisk in sugar, lemon juice, 4 tablespoons of flour and baking powder. Spread over top of baked crust. Sprinkle reserved cup of crumbs over top. Bake on center rack for 20 to 25 minutes.

Let cool completely. Lift from pan and set on a cutting board. Drizzle cooled bars with glazed (below). Let the glaze set then cut into 36 bars (or however many you want).

Glaze:
2 teaspoons butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Add the sugar and stir until thick and pasty. Add the lemon juice 1 teaspoon at a time and stir until smooth and a drizzling consistency. You may drizzle it onto the squares or put it in a bag, snip off the corner and pipe it on

Peanut Butter Cookies




By Diane


INGREDIENTS;

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter or margarine softened
1 egg
1 1/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 Mix sugars, peanut butter, shortening, butter and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm.
2 Heat oven to 375ºF.
3 Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with fork dipped into sugar.
4 Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Until Next Time!

Welcome to the day after the great Christmas celebrations.

 

 

Say good by to the tree for this year I will be taking it down this week.

We really enjoyed its beauty, the girls did a great job decorating it.

Right now as I type into my Blog.

I m actually taking a break from working..

 I put all the decorations I had all over the house away today except the big tree.

 I brought all the inside things in and Steve and my son in law Bill, helped by taking down the wreaths out side on Christmas Day. befor they left to go home...
This morning I brought all the rest of the out side decorations  in, and packed it all away for another year.
We had a different kind of Christmas this year they all liked it so we will probably do it again. instead of the typical sit down we had tapas of course I had to get my prime rib in there. I love it for Christmas dinner.

Here are a few of the other goodies we had.

 

Ham & Cheese on Hawaiian rolls with a special sauce not to bad but salty.

 

Italian seasoned cocktail meatballs, with my special sauce.

orange marmalade, chili sauce and grape jelly.

sounds crazy but pretty good

 

smoked sausages cut in bite size pieces sautéed

 

 

Cindy getting ready to put her bacon wrapped dates

 stuffed with cheese in the oven.

 

Then I added orange marmalade and BBQ sauce

 YUMMM good..

 

Salsa and chips, I love salsa and chips..

 

 

We had Lot's more goodies!
 I don't know who took pictures of everything but this is what I took.

Megan made the most amazing egg nog cup cakes

 Brittney made her famous spinage and cheese pin wheels, we also had roasted veggie dip and delicious stuffed mushrooms.
Liz brought the fudge and special peanut brittle.
Everything was outstanding.
 



No snow this year, which seemed odd but wasn't missed. actually its snowing now.. but it sure was cold and windy out there this morning  while I was gathering it all up and brought it into the garage..
I was just about finished up for the day and Megan, Steve, Liz and Julie stopped they decided to go to get lunch so it was a nice break.
We had a fun, busy, exhausting, time.. the past few days. I don't know in what order but that sounds good enough for me. Our grand daughter Brittney wasn't able to come she has been down with the flu and now our Daughter has it that's not good I just hope the rest of us don't get it.



 leading up to Christmas.  We went to church for the children's Christmas performance it was so cute we sure did enjoy it.. Besides going to the beauty shop and grocery shopping. Cooking making lots of goodies for Christmas Day. The neighbor loaded me down, like she always does they are the super best we are lucky to have such great caring neighbors.

 

Say good buy to all the pretty lights until next year

I will miss them but not the clutter.

Here are a few.

 

 

 



 

A gift from my neighbor

Last a photo of Sally and Abbie enjoying there Christmas Present from Brittney

 befor they got into battle over what one they want..

We had to take them away until today, no problem today..

Say Good Bye to the man in the Red Suit.

 

Thanks For Looking.

Diane 

 

Our Christmas Trip to Down Town & Kolachies

OK Here Goes

We all or I should say Cindy decided at the last minute to take our trip to see the decorations a week ahead of what we had planned and that was fine with me.. The weather was perfect.. Its Chicago in Winter and you just never know.. I loved seeing the decorations although I cant say I didn't even bother to look at the Kriss Kringle Market. I didn't need another ornament and it wasn't cold enough to buy a scarf, hat,  gloves or beer mug although everything looked adorable..  We did buy Hot Chocolate in the signature mug it was delicious.. We also had a brat with mustard! So good..

We drove all the way down there I thought what the heck why not.. so we parked about a block away, not bad it was worth the money to me..

That's a first sigh we are getting close Chicago at night..

Taken with my cell phone thank god I didn't drop it out the window..

We love our trips down town, all of us do.. I thought after we moved that would be it because we always took the L but here we are driving. we are crazy..

Thanks To Cindy our driver..

Chicago theater on State Street 

I actually went to that theater over 50 years ago.

We arrived isn't it beautiful, that's the famous tree in Daley Plaza.

Just one of the many trees with white lights, all decked out for the holidays.

Special buses waiting to take people out to Navy Pier.

People going for a buggy ride.

Some of the stands at the market, they were filled with goodies and people.

Yes that's it the Picasso at Daley plaza.

Chicago is just so special all the time thanks to the late Mayor Daley's

 They made this city into a super awesome place to visit.

Our  Beautiful Megan drinking Hot Chocolate in the special mug.
I couldent believe how delicious it was.

We are heading over to Macy's now to check out the decorations there.

Unfortunately that is sad part of the experience of the big city..

Our Beautiful Brittney posing in Macy's.

She met us down there, so glad she was able to be with us.

Playing Christmas music for change..

Sorry most of the photos were taken with my cell phone

The super clear ones are from Cindy's camera.

That's my beautiful Cindy taking a picture of me, taking a picture of her,

 and Megan taking a picture of Julie and Brittney..

I know we are crazy.. but we have fun..

Another shot of that awesome tree at Macy's

The decorations in Macy's were amazing, they wont let you down..

Couldn't leave with out a photo of a very important area..

Of course I had to buy Garrett's Carmel corn with pecans.

I have been buying it ever since I worked down town in the 1950s..

The girls on the way home after a fun filled night.

Thanks For Looking 

Hope you seen something you liked.

That's All Until Next Time.