Christmas Goodies - White Chocolate Surprise Fudge

Caramel Apple Cranberry Pie

On Tuesday of this week, my mom came over and we had a ball making some Christmas goodies. Of course we started out with a huge list of things to make, and my mom had gone to the store and just picked up a bunch of "baking" stuff (cream cheese, butter, chocolate, etc...) without really having a plan. After another trip to the store in the middle of the madness, we ended up making these things:

Clockwise from Left: Trios, Red Velvet Balls, Cranberry Pecan Pretzel Bark

Red Velvet Balls

• Red Velvet Cake Balls - The finished product turned out okay - the cake seemed a bit gooey.
• Cranberry Pecan Pretzel Bark
• Puppy Chow
• Trio Thumbprint Cookies - These are great - just don't use too much jam because it will overflow!
• Caramel Apple Cranberry Pie - This is the BEST Apple Pie ever! I made two of these, and will make two more tomorrow...
• White Chocolate Surprise Fudge

Things I still want to make, but probably won't get to until after Christmas:

• Chex Mix
• Holiday Jewel Bark
• Peppermint Bark

For the White Chocolate Surprise Fudge, I actually took a couple of recipes that I found online, combined them, and made my own. This is not a "traditional" fudge recipe, but boy is it yummy! Enjoy!

White Chocolate Surprise Fudge

3 cups white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows (or chopped up big marshmallows!)
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2 t. orange zest (the surprise!)
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
1 T butter
6 oz. flaked coconut
1 t. coconut flavoring (optional - I didn't use, but if you want it more coconut-y, go ahead)

Melt chips, marshmallows, milk, and butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 10-11 minutes or until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in zest and vanilla until combined. Stir in nuts and coconut. Pour into 9x9 pan lined with greased foil. Chill until firm. Eat, and eat, and eat, and eat until all gone.

Birthday Weekend!

My birthday was lat Friday, and my hubby decided to take me on an overnighter to Greenville, SC. Not very far from home, but hey, when you have a one year old you take any opportunity you can get to have time to yourself! We had been planning on going to this place called Hollywild with Nick's mom, brother, his wife, and two little girls.  Hollywild is near Greenville, so that's how the Greenville thing came about.

Started off the night at Perkins at Woodruff Rd. Perkins is pretty much the northern/sneaking south rendition of an IHOP. Thought we'd get a quick bite to eat and then go see the lights and animals. BUT I don't think anything can ever be quick with this fam...or this particular restaurant, turns out. But all kinks aside, we had a good (and entertaining) meal. And good pie. All I can say is this- THANK GOD for private dining rooms!

After we finally wrapped things up at Perkins we headed for the animal park. Hollywild is somewhat of a petting zoo/animal safari mix during most of the year. During Christmas, however, they put together quite an impressive drive through light display. Charlie LOVED it. I don't think he knew quite what was going on, but he was having fun trying to figure it out! After riding through the lights for awhile, you come upon this open field/pasture thing. This is where the fun begins, lol... Pretty much this turns into a 'free-for-all chase the herd of deer to try to feed them and don't run over the zebras while trying to keep the giant cow from crushing your car' kinda thing. Like a demolition derby animal safari. I guess that's good old fashioned Carolina fun for ya! Anyway, after we were done with the animal chasing, we headed to this little petting zoo area and got some hot chocolate. After awhile of that, we headed out into an empty parking lot. Once again, in true style, we closed the place down, lol...

"Blurry Whale"

Andre the Giant Cow

Our friend the tranquilized zebra.

Finally, at around 1:00 a.m., we made it to the hotel, took a Tylenol p.m., and promptly slept until 11:15 the next morning, missing the breakfast we had already paid for and the pool we wanted to swim in. But that's okay! We headed to downtown Greenville and got some lunch a this great little cafe called Trio's. I had the BBQ Chicken Pizza, which was yummmmmy! Next we went shopping - Mast's General Store, where we got lots of candy and cool stuff. Next we hit up O.P. Taylor's Toy Store and the Greenville Gem Mine...Then we took a break at a not very good chain coffee shop who I believe had Howard Stern working the intercom. We stumbled upon a little artsy shop where we got my birthday gift - a gold necklace with a pendant shaped like the tree of life. We wrapped it up with coffee and checkers at Brew & Ewe. Spent the rest of the day on Woodruff Road, hitting up some of the seemingly millions of stores they have there, then Anderson, where we ate dinner/breakfast at a real IHOP. Then we headed home!

My birthday "Mama" necklace

The outcome of the funnest checker game ever.

We had a wonderful much needed weekend away. My hubby is so sweet to whisk me away like that...

Pattern - Quick One-Skein Scarf

Looking for a scarf pattern? Look no further.

The Sky-High Scarf I found at Showing Bones has become my new go-to scarf pattern. This scarf, made with bulky weight yarn, works up super quick (I finished mine in 2 nap-times, lol...) and it looks great. Better yet, this only requires one skein of yarn - can you say super cheap Christmas present? I love the mesh - plain crochet scarfs, especially ones with chunkier yarn, seem to always turn out too bulky for me.

If you're new to crochet, I think this would make an easy beginner project to learn on.

Sky-High Scarf

Materials

Bulky Weight Yarn - I used one skein (6oz.) of Lion Brand Homespun in Painted Desert

N (9.0mm) Hook


Instructions

Ch. 17
Row 1: DC in 2nd chain from hook. DC in each stitch to end of row.

Row 2: Ch 3, turn. Skip 1st stitch, DC in next. *Ch 1, skip stitch, DC in next*. Repeat from * to end of row.

Row 3: Ch 2, turn. DC in each Ch 1 space and in top of each DC to end of row.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until scarf reaches desired length, bind off, weave in ends. I made mine about 6 feet long.

I haven't tried this, but you can use a lighter weight yarn if you like. You just need to use the correct hook size for that yarn, and chain as many as you need to get the correct width. Make sure to start with an odd number of chains. I think it would make a nice lightweight scarf for spring.

I think I might try to make a throw or a shawl with this same pattern, maybe with some fringe...