I just want to tell you about an amazing man; a man that I’m lucky enough to call my husband.  He has seen my crazy and still loves me for it, he is devoted to his sons and his family and his faith.  He likes to tell me that I saved him, but really, folks, he saved me.

Today is Joel’s birthday!  Happy Birthday, Babe!!

To celebrate, I’m going to take you on a short trip down memory lane with me and share some flashback photos of my super hunk.

Going waaaaaaaay back, to one of our first dates.  Believe it or not, he took me fishing.  My hero loves to fish.  He might secretly have been testing out how tough, rugged and outdoorsy I could be.  Come on!  Who is he kidding; I have two brothers and a father who fished for survival.  This girl can hang with the mountain-est of men.  Huckleberry Fin has nothing on this:

After passing my fishing test, it was his turn to meet my buddies.  This was in no way a test for him; he did pass with flying colors on our actual first date when I invited him to see a movie with me…and my brothers.  Any other guy would have told me to take a hike!  Joel won over the brothers and made it to round two: the guy friends:

Joel sandwich?  Yep – passed.

My siblings have always been wonderful to Joel.  Throughout the years we’ve done camping trips, concerts, backpacking trips (of which I passed out on the summit thinking it was altitude sickness…nope, turns out it was morning sickness!).

They never threatened to beat him up if he didn’t take care of me or anything like that.  I think they just knew he was a good guy and that he would treat me like a queen (excerpt from Margo’s Maid of Honor speach: Joel treats her like a Queen!).

Oh!  Did I mention he loves to fish?  Stream fish, lake fish, fly fish.  There is nothing hotter than neoprene waders and duct taped galoshes.

Wait, yes there is.  A man in a suit.  Classically handsome, this one gets me every time.

That grin and those babies?

I LOVE

LOVE

LOVE

THIS MAN!

Flash forward to our world with kids.  These precious little angels.  The most amazing gifts we’ll ever be able to give each other.

Yep.  Even after all of these years, he can still make my heart skip a beat (or two).

My Dear Joel,

I knew you were the one when, on our first date, I glanced at you out of the corner of my eye and had a vision of us, elderly.  When you turned to smile at me, I saw our future in your eyes, the salt & pepper in your hair and the laugh lines on your face.  My future life flashed before my eyes and all I could see was you.

Happy Birthday, Babe.  I love you!

~pw

English toffee is one of my all-time favorite Christmas treats to make and share.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, a dear family friend shared her recipe with me…back when I thought I could remember everything FOREVER…so I abbreviated here and there.  Back when thought that awesome memory of mine would never forget where I put the recipe card…

Well, I forgot.

Every year I try to make it from memory and even though it’s always slightly different, it turns out GREAT!  But every year, I’m not any closer to remembering the true, real, Selby recipe so here is this year’s version that I’m in love with enough to call my own!

You don’t need a candy thermometer, but you do need a wooden spoon and a large, heavy bottom sauté or frying pan.  Copper bottom if you can, but NOT non-stick.  I repeat: NOT non-stick.

You’ll also need:

Butter…lots of glorious butter.

Sugar…lots of sweet, delicious sugar.

A pinch of salt, some water and light corn syrup.

Melt these down into a pool of luscious, golden, velvety syrup.

Almonds…toasted then crushed.  Set aside ¼ cup for the topping, but keep the 1.5 cups close at hand.

The candy will start to bubble up and grow as if it’s trying to escape the pan.

Stir slowly until it turns a light brown sugar color.

Tip: The longer it cooks, the darker it will become = the harder or more brittle the candy will be.

Throw in 1 cup of almonds and continue to stir.  Add vanilla, if you’re in the mood for it.  Move fast so it doesn’t burn!

Pour into a greased 15×10 or 17×11 sheet pan (with edges!) and spread the candy to the edges.  Be careful!  The mixture is extremely hot!

Top with chocolate chips and patiently wait for the chips to soften.  Using a spatula or the same wooden spoon, smear the chocolate chips into each other and let the hot candy melt the chips across the entire pan.

Sprinkle with remaining almonds and move to a cool place for the candy to set.

Break into pieces and share with strangers to make new friends, or the ones you love to keep them coming back for more.

Merry English Toffee Christmas Presents!

~pw

English Toffee Recipe

 

Print

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

40 mins

 

Easy English Toffee (also called butter toffee) Recipe ~ great for holiday gatherings or homemade gifts for neighbors, friends and family!

: Phanneth Wood | www.fireflytales.net

: Dessert

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

• 1 lb butter (2 cups)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 TBSP water
• 2 TBSP corn syrup
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
• 1.5 + ¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted (reserve the ¼ cup for topping)
• 6-8 large chocolate candy bars, unwrapped or 1 bag chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet or dark)

Instructions

1. Toast the almonds on a sheet of foil for 5-8 minutes in 350 degree oven until lightly browned. Stir occasionally; when you can smell the almonds cooking, they’re about ready to take out. Cool slightly and use your hands or a rolling pin to crush.
2. Grease a 15x10 or 17x11 sheet pan or cookie sheet (with edges!) with cooking spray or butter, set aside.
3. Heat a large, heavy bottom sauté pan over medium heat and start to melt the butter. Add sugar, salt, water & corn syrup and stir slowly (with a wooden spoon) to combine and continue to melt the butter. Let the mixture warm up and start to bubble.
4. Depending on the thickness of your pan and heat distribution (I sound like a nerd) this can take anywhere from 5, 10-15 minutes. Don’t walk away. Once it starts to turn a light brown sugar color, add the almonds (and vanilla, if using) and remove from the heat. Pour immediately into cookie sheet and spread it out as thin as you can.
5. Top with chocolate and let the candy’s heat soften the chips or bars and then spread out with a spatula or same wooden spoon. Top with reserved crushed almonds and move to a cool place to set. Once set, break apart with your hands into odd shapes and sizes and serve with just about anything any old time of day.

Notes

If you have a smaller sheet pan/cookie sheet (smaller than 15x10 or 17x11) cut the recipe in half.

3.2.2802

You can call this Chili Mac recipe anything you want.  It has many aliases: chili mac, cowboy macaroni, homemade Hamburger Helper, Beefy Mac Daddy…it’s heard ’em all.

Whatever you chose to call it, it surely will reside in your comfort food category.  This hearty supper will warm up any cold day and these ingredients are staples in my house, so you probably already have most of these items in your pantry and fridge!

Start with a pound of lean ground beef (turkey or chicken works well too) and brown it in a large skillet.  This looks like an overly large sized skillet, but trust me, the macaroni needs the room to grow!

Add the chopped onion and cook until the beef is almost cooked through.

Disclosure: you should know that Joel has an aversion to real onions, so in any recipe that I can’t hide them, I have to use onion flakes.  That explains the absence of onion in these pictures…

Add the garlic and cook out the raw flavor – about 2-3 minutes, which is enough time to allow the meat to cook the rest of the way through.

Tip: adding the onion & garlic while the meat is raw(er) helps infuse the onion/garlic flavor into the beef as it cooks.

Stir in the spices, salt and pepper and cook another 1-2 minutes.

Pour in 2 cups of broth, tomato sauce, Worcestershire or A1 sauce and macaroni.  Stir to combine and bring to a boil.

Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until macaroni is tender.

If the macaroni is too firm, it needs more time and liquid; add the last cup of broth, stir and cook another 2-3 minutes.  I like my mac saucy, so I use the 3 cups of broth from the get-go.

Serve hot, topped with grated cheddar cheese, which will melt into ooooey-gooooey goodness, and hot sauce to spice things up (if your kiddos made you make this dish mild).

You can also add a can of corn, black beans or diced tomatoes to push this dish further into an identity crisis and stretch your macaroni into more servings.

Chili Mac Recipe

• 1 lb lean ground beef, turkey OR chicken
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings (or just dried oregano)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2-3 cups beef broth
• 1 – 14.5 oz can tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire or A1 sauce
• 2 cups (8oz) uncooked elbow macaroni
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Optional: 1 can of corn, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of diced tomatoes: each, all or nothing.  Totally up to you!

In a large skillet, brown the meat & onions over medium-high heat.  Using a wooden spoon, break up the meat as you stir it around.  Add the garlic when just barely pink and cook for 2-3 minutes to cook out the raw flavor of the garlic, but be sure not to burn the garlic as it will turn bitter.

Add the spices and cook another 1-2 minutes to release the oils.  Pour in 2 cups of broth, the tomato sauce, Worcestershire or A1 sauce and dried macaroni (can of corn, beans or diced tomatoes would be added at this point too).  Stir to combine and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until macaroni is tender.  If the macaroni is too firm, add the last cup of broth (starting with 1/2 cup at a time), stir and cook another 2-3 minutes.

Serve warm, topped with shredded cheddar cheese and hot sauce.

Cook time: 20-30 minutes

Makes: 4-6 servings

So we took Aiden and our niece, Callie, to the Toy Story on Ice show at the Pepsi Center.  They LOVED it.

They just weren’t sure what to expect at first.  Callie, who is the older cousin, kept asking why the people didn’t just walk on their feet (instead of skate on the ice).  Aiden kept asking me if we could get popcorn at the movie theatre for the show (he’d never been to the Pepsi Center before).

Once we got to our seats, they couldn’t stop jumping up and down and hugging each other and of course, looking for the characters and the popcorn.

Aiden told Joel: Daddy, I can be in the show.  I have a cowboy shirt!

It was really more entertaining and fulfilling watching how mesmerized they were by the show.  They would clap wildly after each scene, grin and then look at us as if to say, “did you see that?!”  We even had to remind them to blink their eyes.

Near the end of the show, they couldn’t keep their bums in their seats, so we let them stand at the front of the box to get as close as possible to Buzz & Woody.

This was probably good so they would stop autopilot feeding themselves handfuls of popcorn (eating without paying attention.  I do this all the time; see those adorable chipmunk cheeks I’m rocking?  Might be getting ready to hibernate for the winter with those).

I’m so glad we were able to get these tickets for the kids!  I’m so glad Aunt Kristina trusted me with her little nugget for the afternoon.  These two kids, these little peas in a pod, had a blast!  I’m so glad we got to share this event with her.

To Infinity & Beyond!

xoxo

~pw