Strawberry Ice Recipe

Strawberries are the angels of the earth,
innocent and sweet

with green leafy wings reaching heavenward.

Terri Guillemets

My strawberry season is coming to an end.  We have made strawberry jam and strawberry ice.  The season is ending too soon, and there is definitely not enough strawberry ice.  I have become addicted to this delicious, easy-to-make delicacy.  I call it a delicacy because I'm not sure if store bought strawberries will produce the same delightful taste.

Since I have several friends and family members who didn't see the Strawberry Ice recipe in my last post (okay be nice), I am reposting it.  I have told me that this is probably the best recipe I have come upon in a long time.

Strawberry Ice

1 cup hot water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 cups sliced strawberries, plus additional berries for garnish

Mix hot water, sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until sugar dissolves. Blend 3 cups strawberries in processor or blender until smooth. Add sugar syrup and blend until combined. Pour mixture into 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Freeze for about 25 minutes or until icy around edges. Using fork, pull icy portions into middle of pan. Repeat this step every 20 minutes until all the liquid is frozen into flaky, loose crystals. Cover and freeze. When ready to serve, use fork again to scrape crystals into bowls and garnish with berries. Serves about 6.

Money Making Tip

If you are crafty and/or artistic, how about making some money from your hobby without leaving the comfort of your home?  Etsy.com is a wonderful website.  I have suggested this website to many talented friends in the past.  I just listed beautiful log cabin birdhouse that my husband has sold for years.  Click on the link below to find details of this unique handcrafted birdhouse.  I do think we need to come up with a better "shop" name.

The Best Gift - Family

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:
the presence of a happy family
all wrapped up in each other.

Burton Hillis

I'm so excited - my younger sister is going to celebrate Christmas Eve with our family. That is the best Christmas present ever!

Money Savings

Last year, I gave my nieces homemade bath salts for Christmas.  I experimented mixing different scented oils together, and came up with a couple they really liked.  Scented oils can be found at health food stores, or in the aromatherapy section at your drug store.  Here's the recipe:

1 cup sea or kosher salt
1/2 cup Epson salt
12 drops of scented oil
1/4 cup baking soda
food coloring (optional)

Blend both salts and oil in bowl; add baking soda and mix well.  Pour in bottle or jar, add a homemade label. 

Different fragrances and fragrance combinations I have tried:

Grapefruit and Peppermint - Refreshing and Stimulating
Tangerine and Peppermint - Refreshing and Calming
Grapefruit and Tangerine - Refreshing and Relaxing
Lavender - Calming and Soothing

Recipe

Chocolate Shortbread

4 oz. (4 squares) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsps. vanilla
2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped - if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease two large baking sheets.

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring frequently.  Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.  In large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Beat in the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly.  Sift the flour with the baking powder.  Using a pastry blender, work the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is thoroughly blended.  Mix the chopped walnuts into the dough by hand.

On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch.  Cut out the cookies into desired shapes using biscuit or cookie cutters.  Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cookies are light brown.  Remove the cookies from the baking sheet after 2 to 3 minutes, when they are still warm to touch, and cool on wire racks.

Christmas Magic

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

Norman Vincent Peale

It was the one of those Decembers when you don't feel like celebrating.  Life was not going according to plan.  I couldn't get myself to decorate.

One day, I walked in the house to Christmas decorations everywhere.  Every room was decorated, and there were no Christmas storage boxes anywhere.  The tree was aglow, my precious decorations hanging from the branches.  Who did this?

It was magic.  The Christmas spirit came in the form of my nieces, and decorated my house.  I wept, knowing that my nieces loved me so much that they wanted to share the joy of Christmas with me in a way that touched deep inside my heart.  (They even took the boxes back to storage - so my house was nice and neat.)

If you are close to someone who isn't in the holiday spirit, bring some of the spirit to them.  You can decorate a miniature tree, bring them a wreath or a small nativity, ...  I know that when this was done for me, it was one of the kindest presents I ever received.  I love you, girls!

Recipe

This is one of my all time favorite cookies!
Toffee Bars

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup flour
6 (1.05 oz. each) milk chocolate bars
2/3 cup crushed nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and egg yolk. Add flour gradually, stirring until well blended. Spread dough in slightly greased 15.5" x 10.5" x 1" jelly roll pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until medium brown. After removing from oven, lay chocolate bars on top. Spread when melted. Sprinkle with nuts. Cool, and cut into bars.

Money Savings

Do you have a color printer?  An inexpensive and easy gift is to make note cards.  If you have a publishing or greeting card software, it's super easy to make note cards.  If you have word processing software, it's a little more difficult - the software's help will guide you.  Just search for greeting cards.  If you can't find it under help, Google the name of your software and then "greeting cards" in quotes.  Someone out there would have created a greeting card using your software.

You can choose one design, or you can print out several different kinds with similar designs.  For example, I'll print four of three different kinds of wild flowers note cards.  If the card will only be folded once, I use cardstock so that the colors don't bleed through.  if folded twice, I will use regular paper.  I usually print 10-12 cards and I include envelopes that are the same size as the card.  You can find the all you need at an office store.  Check out OfficeMax's Holiday Deals!  To make the gift more personalized, create return address labels with a small graphic that matches the graphic on your note card.

Then, take the cards and envelopes, wrap them together with raffia or ribbon, place them in a box or bag, and I'm sure they will be a much appreciated gift, because you made it from your heart!

Here is an example of a note card I made using Microsoft Publisher.  The graphic came from Microsoft ClipArt (savory).

The Gift of Love

If there is no joyous way to give a festive gift,
give love away.

Unknown

God gave us His Son on the first Christmas - His love wrapped up in swaddling clothes.  Jesus was not born with riches, but instead born in a stable, born for those in poverty to lift them up, us up. 

"Christ found no room in the Holy of Holies that shone with gold, precious stones, pure silk and silver. He is not born in the midst of gold and riches, but in the midst of dung, in a stable where our sins were filthier than the dung. He is born on a dunghill in order to lift up those who come from it: 'From the dunghill he lifts up the poor' (Ps 113:7)" (Jerome, On the Nativity of the Lord, ACCSNT 3:39).

With so many unemployed, with too many financial obligations, this Christmas will be meager for many.  Just today, I heard from three women whose husbands' had lost their job.  I was thinking that I will not have another Christmas again, feeling sorry for myself until I heard their stories.  Two have young children.  Their social ranking does not encourage gift "donations", and their pride probably wouldn't accept it.  Yet, they are in need.

My sister recently shared her motherly advice with me.  I cannot quote her verbatim, but the idea is "It is better to give then receive, for in giving, you feel more contentment, more peace."  It doesn't have to be new or tangible gifts.  Gifts from the heart - helping someone with a project, making homemade gifts, sharing time with someone who is lonely, ... - are the most loved gifts.  For those that have, look around you, see who needs, and be Santa.  No one sees him, but he comes.  The children would just think that the door was locked, the chimney had a bird's nest, or a fire was burning in the fireplace, but Santa didn't forget them.  He just had to leave the gifts at the door.  And for the parents, they will not have to be humbled, but will rejoice that God does really care.  He sends angels!

Money Savings Tip

In the next couple weeks, I will give ideas to save money at Christmas, and give ideas for homemade gifts.

Christmas wrapping is an added expense to Christmas.  One way to save money is to make gift tags out of Christmas cards.  When I was young, my mom would sit with us, and make tags.  We would cut pretty pictures from the cards, in different shapes, ovals, circles, or around the edges.  Then we would cut construction paper to match the cards we just cut, put a punch in both, and tie a bow around them to hold them together.  It was fun, and it saved money.  Every year I save my Christmas cards with the hope of making tags for the following year.

Another idea is to use paper bags.  You can decorate them with glitter and cut-outs made from cookie cutters or traced from a book, or put a fancy bow on them.  You can cut them so you can wrap the gift, or just use it as a gift bag. Use your imagination and create.  If it's pretty, they may even save it to put a gift in next Christmas.

Recipe

I thought it would be fun to give a cookie recipe in each of my posts before Christmas.  Some of the recipes I have posted before, but many will be new.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

1 egg

1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
Chocolate Kisses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat above ingredients until well blended. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and immediately put on chocolate Kiss in center of each cookie. Makes about 18 cookies.
 
Enjoy!
Aunt Janet