Sweetopia Sugar Cookies

A great sugar cookie recipe from Sweetopia. Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups butter (at room temperature) 2 cups sugar 2 large eggs seeds from 1 vanilla bean (or 3 tsp vanilla) 5 cups flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt Instructions: Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on…

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Payday Bars

This is a recipe from my husband’s aunt Susan.  She makes them at Christmas every year. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1 cup peanut butter 1 1/2 cups dry roasted peanuts 1 cup light Karo syrup 6 cups Rice Chex 1 tsp. vanilla Instructions: Put sugar and syrup in medium bowl and microwave on high for…

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Homemade Jellies

I hope everyone out there had a great Christmas!  I certainly did.  I got tons of awesome things, but it’s not fair to get gifts and not give some in return.  My favorite gifts to give is home canned goods. There are a couple of reasons I like to do this.  First, I feel like…

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Canning Squash

I canned squash again this year.  Well… I canned a squash.  A 12 pound squash. It was too heavy to weigh on my kitchen scale, and too light to weigh on the bathroom scale.  That meant that I had to weigh myself and then weigh myself again with the squash.  It works, but you don’t…

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Say Cheese!

Just the other day, I had a friend ask me to help her set up a forum website.  Awesome!  I can totally do that…. or can I?  I figured that the best way to find out if I could was to create on myself.  And I have done just that.  Give a big welcome to…

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The Hotel St. Francis Cookbook

I found a great old cookbook today, while we were working on cleaning things out at my grama’s house, The Hotel St. Francis Cookbook.  It appears to be a first addition, as there is only one copyright date.  Although, because it was published by THE HOTEL MONTHLY PRESS, it is also likely the only edition of…

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Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

In case you haven’t had a chance to see it, I have posted a recipe for chicken and gnocchi soup over in my recipe collection.  I made myself a batch today, and it was amazing! I did have to buy a few things, I don’t often keep fresh veggies in the house, because I don’t…

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French Nougat

Just the other day, I told you about my totally awesome thrift find, of a candymaking book.  As I mentioned in that post I was really excited to try the recipe for French Nougat.  I actually learned a few interesting things while preparing to make this recipe. You can spell syrup with an “i” -> sirup (It’s…

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Thrift Find!

I love stopping by the local thrift stores, antique malls, and flea markets.  I really enjoy the prospect of going into a place and finding that one thing (or 12) that I didn’t know I needed.  Yesterday, I stopped by the “Vendor’s Village.”  It’s in the old 3D, on West Broadway in Princeton, and advertises…

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