Family Alive

My poor blog didn’t even remember me when I tried to log-in… that’s a bad sign isn’t it?

Well, I’m going to try to resurrect things here.  A few sweet friends have inspired me, and there are so many sweet/funny/delicious/memorable things I could be sharing… as much for our looking-back pleasure as for others to enjoy.  So here goes…

I’ll start with notable recipes, because there have a been a few lately.

• This Rueben Braid was AMAZING.  My apologies to everyone who’s heard me rave about it in person, on Twitter or on Facebook.  But I cannot believe how easy it was, how impressive it looked, and how everyone in the family ate it.  Surely I’ll be making it often. (notes: I filled mine with turkey & swiss and a little Thousand Island dressing. Don’t skimp on the cheese.  Roll it out directly on your parchment or heavily flour your mat.  Otherwise, you’ll have a hard time transferring it. And it won’t rise much, but it will rise in the oven.)
• I made these sweet Chocolate Strawberry Donuts for Valentine’s Day.  Delicious. This morning I used the same recipe with a French Vanilla Cake mix & mini chips (this morning’s treat) with a chocolate glaze… so yummy.  When you need a chocolate donut, though, this recipe cannot be beat. I think the coffee makes the flavor stand out more. YUM.  If you don’t have a donut pan and you like breakfast treats, it’s so worth having. And I was over-the-moon excited to find a cute heart-shaped donut pan at Target for $5.  WOOHOO!
• Thin Mints… you might have seen on Facebook that January/February was super busy with Girl Scout cookies.  My sweet little Brownie sold 203 boxes initially (which “won” her a fleece roll-up blanket thingy – wooho! and yes, a tiny bit of sarcasm there…), and in the continued orders/booth sales, she boosted her total to 324 boxes.  Whew!  That is ALOT of boxes of cookies to deliver, to say nothing of the money-tracking for Mom. Oddly enough, I didn’t end up with quite as many boxes for myself as I did last year. And I’m down to only 2 boxes of Thin Mints already. Sadness.  But this week, I used two boxes in recipes that were really worthy of those precious cookies.  I made these melt-in-your-mouth Thin Mint Truffles as a little Spring Break treat for the teachers.  I made them last year for a MOPS mom who had just had a baby, and she loved them so much, she could hardly wait for Girl Scout cookie season to arrive so she could make them (note… I think, as a last resort, you could probably use Keebler Grasshopper cookies. But that wouldn’t be quite as special).  I also made these Thin Mint Ice Cream Cups (from the same awesome blog!) for our weekly Life Group. They were, of course, well-received.
• I just wondered about the delicious Girl Scout Samoas cookies and how they’d work in a truffle… Lo and behold, the same amazing blogger made them here.  I’ll have to try them soon!

That’s enough for now… I promise I’ll be back with more little news and recipes soon.