Truffles. The chocolate kind.

Today, I attempted to make truffles.  The attempt was successful, and the results, well, see for yourself:

They are so richgooeychocolateydelicious!  So, I'm going to share the recipe.  I looked at a few, but didn't really like any of them, so I made my own.

Chocolate Amaretto Truffles

• 10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate* (I used the baking chocolate that is broken up into 1 oz. pieces.  Otherwise, break or cut it into pieces.)
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 5 tbsp. butter, cut up
• 5-6 tbsp. amaretto liqueur (I used DeKuyper's)
• Unsweetened cocoa powder in a bowl

 In a saucepan, heat chocolate, butter, and cream over medium heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate and butter are melted.  Remove from heat and add amaretto.  Stir with a whisk until mixture is smooth and creamy.  Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for about 2-2 1/2 hours, until mixture is stiff enough to mold into balls.  Scoop out mixture 1 tbsp. at a time (I have a 1 tbsp ice cream-type scoop) and  form into a ball.  Put it in the bowl of cocoa powder, and roll it until the whole thing is coated.  Place on parchment paper or in mini cupcake paper.  Repeat for all the rest.  Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.  (They're better after being refrigerated for an hour or so.)  Commence with the face-stuffage.  xD  Peace out!

*These are very rich and dark-chocolaty.  If you prefer sweeter, you can use 7 oz. semi-sweet and 3 oz. milk chocolate.

Little artist

So, I know I may be a little bit biased, but I'm pretty sure my kid is an artistic genius.  Okay, maybe not, but I still think that she's not bad, for a 4 year old.  Here's some of her recent artwork.

    This first one, she tells me, before she starts painting, "I'm gonna paint a summer scene.  With a palm tree and the ocean and the sky and the sun.  It's gonna be the beach."  The result:

    Next up, we have beadwork.  She got into my bead box, and made me a pair of earrings.  Very, um, freeform.

    Finally, she moved on to pen and ink drawing.  She knows that my favorite animals are penguins (followed closely by the duck-billed platypus).  She's drawing away, and finally says, "Here, Mommy.  I drawed this for you, 'cause it's your favorite!"

    Remember, she's only four.  I figure that's not too bad.  xD  Peace out!

Another Recipe Break!

I'm feeling blah today, and there's not much new to report, so here's another of my favorite recipes.

Modified Cottage Pie

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 can baby carrots / 1/2 bag frozen carrots*
• 1 can young peas / 1/2 bag frozen peas*
• Approx. 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• Approx. 2-2 1/2 tbsp. ketchup
• 1 package instant mashed potatoes

 *You can substitute a whole bag of frozen carrots and peas.

Brown ground beef in large skillet (a sauté pan works wonderfully).  Drain.  Add carrots and peas.  If using canned, drain half of the liquid.  If using frozen, add about 1/2 cup of water.  Stir in Worcestershire sauce and ketchup, and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Pour into 2 qt. deep-dish casserole.  Make instant mashed potatoes, according to package instructions.  Spoon potatoes over top of meat mixture, and use a fork to make peaks in the potatoes.  Add a few pats of butter to the top of the potatoes.  Bake at 375° for 30 minutes, of until potato peaks are golden brown.

Macaroni or lasagne?

So there's this dish I love to make.  It's got macaroni noodles and lots of cheese, but it's also got ricotta cheese, and I like to put marinara sauce on it.  So, here's the recipe (sort of.  No measurements, just approximations.)

• Macaroni noodles
• Ricotta cheese
• Mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Ground beef (optional)
• Marinara sauce (optional)

Brown the ground beef, if you're using it.  Cook the macaroni noodles and drain.  Put noodles in a deep casserole dish.  Add parmesan and ricotta cheese and mix well.  Add ground beef, if desired, and mix again.  Put a layer of mozzarella cheese on top.  Cook about 35-40 minutes at 350° F.  Top with marinara sauce, if desired. 

It's yummy.  Trust me.  Peace out!

Poor little sickie...UPDATED

So Tori's sick, again.  I'm pretty sure it's just sinus issues, but I still feel bad for the poor kid.  She's coughing all night, and her poor little nose is just dripping.  Of course, she sleeps right through all the coughing; doesn't even wake up.  Me, on the other hand, I'm awake every time she makes the tiniest noise.  Ugh.  But, hopefully, she'll be better and back to school soon.

In other news, I really don't like it when it's this cold.  I mean, seriously, I live in Florida for a reason.  Even inside, with the heat on, I'm freezing.  Tori, on the other hand... I swear, I don't think she ever gets cold.  She'd run around half-naked all the time, if I let her!  And forget trying to get her to wear socks.  Not gonna happen.  Anyway, time to go pour more medicine down her throat. 

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UPDATE:  Well, I took Tori to the doctor this morning.  Turns out, she's got bronchitis.  Poor kid.  So the doctor prescribed azithromycin, and said to make sure she gets lots of rest and drinks plenty of fluids.  Hopefully she'll start getting better soon.  I really hate hearing her cough like that. 

ACK! What a couple of weeks!

Wow.  No time for blogging the past couple of weeks.  Tori's school closed, and we were very bummed about that.  But!  She's starting her new school tomorrow, and it seems like a pretty good one!  Okay, y'all.  I have a lot of cute to make up for.  So now, in no particular order, Tori:  Winter vacation edition.

We had a great Christmas, but nothing too exciting happened, other than pretty much everyone getting a cold.  Tori got some 'Zoobles', and let me just say, these are sooooo adorable.  They're little plastic animal thingys, that lock into the shape of a ball.  Then, when you put them on something metal, they pop open!  So cool.  So, Tori's outside with Jimmy, and she sticks the Zooble on the car.  Well, the car being metal, it pops open.  She yells, "Wow!  It even pops on the CAR!  Oh, I gotta put this on Facebook."  Yeah.  No lie, guys.  She's...yeah.

The little things lined up on the hood are the Zoobles.

Also, she likes looking through the scope.  xD

So, then yesterday, she's coloring with gel pens, and she gets done with a really pretty picture.  She goes, first to Jimmy, then to me, "There.  I'm done!  Log online and get your own picture to color!"  Yeah, we've really gotta cut down on her TV time.  *facepalm*  Peace out!