Italians in the Making

So, for Christmas, I got Jeremy a little pasta maker on a whim.  Here is actually what I bought, and for the first time, it was a big hit!  It came with a pasta roller, flour for pasta, a spoon, and a cookbook!  And, can I tell you, this gift has benefited all of us!  Jeremy is on a roll.

We've made braciole.  

We've made rustic pizza.  

We've made fettuccine, spaghetti, meat balls, soups and sauce (every Sunday).  And it has been so.much.fun!  I've loved seeing Jeremy in the kitchen more.  I've loved trying new things, and I've loved all of us getting involved.  I'm not sure I'll love the scale, but ohhhh well.

Jeremy jokes that when our kids are out of the home and avid Italian food eaters and cookers, their friends might ask if they're Italian.  And, I'm sure they'll respond with, "No, our parents just wanted to be!"

Ha!

The Best Rice Krispie Treat

I know I've blogged about this before, but it's worth mentioning again.  We've found the perfect rice krispie treat recipe.  It has extra marshmallows, and just enough salt to make them stand out above the rest.  Really, you must try them.  

Since getting her special little bakeware, Sophie wants to bake all the time.  She'll talk to my gramma and ask if she'd like to come over for "take" (cake). She'll make mini muffin brownies and offer them to her speech teachers.  

On this day she wanted to make rice krispie treats for her brothers and dad after a long morning of checking cows.  

So we did.

And she thought that things would be much better with as many marshmallows as she could stuff into the measuring cup.

Maybe just a few more...

Isn't licking the spoon always the best part?!

They were well-received...as are most sweet things around here.  

A Baking Day

Sophie received the sweetest little baking set for Christmas to match her tea set.  So, we decided to christen it with some chocolate chip cookies.  

Everyone wanted a job, so we all took turns passing the mixing bowl around.

Yes, that's a whole lotta butter!

Whatever chocolate chips that hadn't already been eaten were thrown in.

One final stir, and the cookie dough was ready for a taste test.

Someone was extra proud of her little pan.

And, she waited right by the oven.

You can probably guess what happened next.  She touched the pan.

But, she came back around quickly, and we all decided they were the best cookies we had ever made!

Gingerbread...Houses and Cookies

What's Christmas without a gingerbread house?  Really, it's not that different, ha!  But, we decided to get a little mini village this year so each kid could build their own...and we didn't follow the instructions.  Who wants to wait three or four hours for the houses to dry before you decorate them? Not us.  

Someone (or almost everyone) kept taste-testing.

You're right, I rarely brush her hair.

In case you're wondering if it's a good idea to do this at 7:30 pm, when your kids go to be at 8 pm, the answer is probably not.

Check out that pumpkin chimney crashing to the ground!

Peter surrounded his house with pumpkin gummies saying it was Christmas time but the people still had a bunch of "weally old pumpkins awound their house that they never took to the dump!"  Ha! Maybe that happened to us once?

The next day, we thought, why not cram something else in?!  Gingerbread cookies it was!  I did something wrong here...maybe put too many marshmallows in his hot chocolate.

And, there's the newest little guy helping.

I found this recipe online, and they were very crispy, plus I tried to make my own royal icing...not the best.  Anyway, let's just say they ended up looking much better than they tasted!

All gingerbreaded out.