Feels Like Christmas Pecan Mocha Fudge

This is my favorite fudge recipe (recipe follows tutorial).  I'm pretty sure I found it in Southern Living Magazine,  (when they used to have real people submitting recipes).  I like using mini loaf pans so that I can cut the fudge in slabs to give as delicious gifts.  I also prefer to use decaffeinated instant coffee.  I've tried caffeinated and it didn't taste as good.  But I'm not a coffee drinker, (just love the aroma)!

*First line 2 mini aluminum pans with foil (as shown) and butter them (or you can spray with vegetable spray).  Lining the pans as shown helps you to lift the fudge out of the pan easily. 

*This is the time you want to roast 1 cup of chopped pecans (1/2 cup if you want one loaf to be without nuts).  Roast pecans in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes.

FYI:  I have kids who refuse to eat nuts in their fudge!  (And some folks can't eat nuts).  So my first pan is filled completely with the fudge mixture before I add the toasted, chopped pecans.  Then I add the pecans to the remaining fudge mixture and pour it into the second pan which will be filled completely also.  

*Combine (5-ounce) can of evaporated milk, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup butter--cut into pieces, 2 tablespoons decaffeinated coffee granules, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 12 marshmallows in a 4-quart, heavy saucepan.
*Cook over medium heat, STIRRING CONSTANTLY, 10-15 minutes or until sugar dissolves and marshmallows melt.  (If your stove cooks a little hot, you can adjust the temperature to a little lower).
*Bring to a boil.  Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 234 degrees (soft ball stage).  If you don't have a thermometer, you can keep a glass of water nearby and drip some of the mixture into the water.  If it balls up into a soft little ball, the mixture is ready.
*Remove from heat.  Stir in 1 c. semisweet chocolate morsels until melted.  Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 c. toasted, chopped pecans, (if desired).  Spread immediately into pans.

Cool completely.

Lift fudge from pans.  Slice fudge into 1/2-inch slabs.  Yield:  1-1/3 pounds. Delicious!

Coffee-Pecan Fudge

2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, cut into pieces
2 T. instant coffee granules
1/8 t. salt
1 (5-oz.) can evaporated milk
12 large marshmallows
1 c. semisweet chocolate morsels
1 c. chopped pecans, toasted
1 t. vanilla extract
Combine first 6 ingredients in a 4-qt. heavy saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 10-15 min. or until sugar dissolves and marshmallows melt.  Bring to a boil.  Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 234 degrees (soft ball stage).  Remove from heat.
Stir in chocolate morsels until melted.  Stir in pecans and vanilla.  Spread fudge immediately into 2 aluminum foil-lined, buttered 5-3/4 x 3-1/2 inch mini loaf pans.  Cool completely.  Remove fudge from pans.  Slice fudge into 1/2 inch slabs.  Yield: 1-1/3 lbs.
Note: Lining the loaf pans with aluminum foil and buttering them makes it easy to remove uncut fudge from the pans in one piece to slice it.

Festive Fruit Basket Liners

When I was a teenager we made larger versions of this cute little basket liner for church fruit baskets we helped deliver (using Christmas material of course).  I have given many, many cookie plates and gift baskets throughout the years.  The cookie plates are something my extended family did for each other.  My favorite thing to receive on a cookie plate was Aunt Janice's divinity.

I like to fill my gift baskets with things like homemade mocha fudge, freezer cookies, banana bread, and candy, fruit, and nuts.  Baskets can be found at stores like Hobby Lobby.  The dimensions for making a pattern of a small basket are 15 x 12.5 inch rectangle, with corners cut out so that you have a long flap of 8 x 4 inches and a shorter flap that is 5 x 3.5 inches.  Happy Giving :0)

Trick or Treat Family Night Idea

Blast from the Past:  Maybe everyone knows about Tootsie Roll Ghosts, but in case you don't, they're a cute addition to Halloween goody plates.  In the 1970's my elementary school teacher showed us how to make these.  I was so excited cause, "Hello!" it's a Tootsie Roll Pop!  Delicious :O)  Take a couple of tissues and wrap around the Tootsie Roll Pop and tie off with string to make the head.  (I use candle-wicking or crochet cotton found in the crochet isle).  Then with a permanent marker make two eyes and a mouth.  Voila!

Georgie is a favorite "Ghost" book of mine!

Below are two versions of cute poems to leave treats anonymously and help others catch the spirit of "treating."  (Leave poem with a ghost door hanger and your gift of treats)  You've Been Boo'ed PDF

source unknown

The air is cool the season fall Soon Halloween will come to all 
The spooks are after things to do In fact, a spook brought this to you 
"Boo" is a shield from witching hour Just hang it up and watch its power

On your front door is where it works It wards off spooks and scary jerks 
The treats that came with crypted note Are yours to keep, enjoy them both 
The power comes when friends like you Will copy this and make it TWO

Then others here among our friends Will give warm fuzzies that do not end 
We'll all have smiles upon our faces No one will know who "BOO"ed whose places 
Just one short day to work your spell Or a big ZAP will strike your tail

And don't forget a nifty treat, Like something cute or something sweet 
Please join fun, let's really hear it And spread some"Boo"s and Halloween spirit.

2nd Example

The Phantom has been here with a treat just for you,

He crept to your door in a fog misty blue.

This isn't a trick, this treat isn't for free,

Now it's your turn and the Phantom you'll be!

The Phantom loves treats and also loves rhymes.

Take you this paper and copy TWO times.

So he won't strike again, hang this on your window or door.

Take this and a treat and deliver TWO more

To a neighbor or friend in the black of the night.  

Pound on their door, and give 'em a fright.

Then by Halloween night, there surely should be

Phantoms on all the doors that we see.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Measuring Up...Service and Empathy Quotes

Service

Are we not sometimes like Naaman, looking for big or important things to do and bypassing simple things which we could do?  ~Elder Rex D. Pinegar, (Ensign, Nov. 1994, 80)

We don't need a bishop's assignment to be kind.  We don't need to sign up to be thoughtful.  ~Chieko N. Okazaki

Now, do not get me wrong.  I am not here to say that if you pay an honest tithing you will realize your dream of a fine house, a Rolls Royce, and a condominium in Hawaii.  The Lord will open the windows of heaven according to our need, and not according to our greed.  If we are paying tithing to get rich, we are doing it for the wrong reason.  The basic purpose for tithing is to provide the Church with the means needed to carry on His work.  ~President Gordon B. Hinkley, (Ensign, May 1982, 40)


Shame on you if your house is dusted, and a neighbor needs help.

Empathy

If I make errors [in judging people,] I want them to be on the side of mercy.  ~Hugh B. Brown

In my relationships with others who sometimes annoy or offend me, I will abide by the advice of a carpenter friend who says, "it's always wise to measure twice before sawing once."  


If I had known what trouble you were bearing;
What griefs were in the silence of your face;
I would have been more gentle, and more caring,
And tried to give you gladness for a space. ~Mary Carolyn Davies



Measuring Up: Integrity Quotes
Measuring Up: Improvement Quotes
Measuring Up: Time and Preparation
Measuring Up: Testimony Quotes
Measuring Up: Sabbath Quotes

Measuring Up...Time and Preparation

Time

To everything there is a season...Yes, a season to be young and doing the inimitable things of youth and a time to be relishing in the richness and understanding that maturity brings.  But some people's timing is off.  They marry when they're supposed to be having fun and have "fun" when they're supposed to be married...They learn to cook after they're married and study the scriptures when they arrive in the mission field...or learn to behave properly after they've been embarrassed in a social situation...or value gospel principles after they've suffered the pangs of repentance.  Personal timing should be clocked because there is a time to every purpose under the heaven.  ~Elaine Cannon


Material objectives consume too much of our attention.  The struggle for what we need or for more than we need exhausts our time and energy.  We pursue pleasure or entertainment, or become overinvolved in associations or civic matters.  Of course, people need recreation, need to be achieving, need to contribute; but if these come at the cost of friendship with Christ, the price is much too high.

'For my people have committed two evils,' said the Lord to Israel; 'they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.' (Jer. 2:13)

The substitutions we fashion to take the place of God in our lives truly hold no water.  To the measure we thus refuse the 'living water,' we miss the joy we could have.  ~Elder Marion D. Hanks, (Ensign, July 1972, 105). 


These are essential things which must be done before nonessential things.  These are simple, indispensable practices that almost seem mundane.  ...No one can do these things for us--these are personal practices and habits that set us apart as strong and immovable for that which is correct.  ~Julie B. Beck Relief Society general president, ("What Latter-day Saint Women Do Best:  Stand Strong and Immovable," Ensign, 11/07)

Preparation

Some of the brethren...approached [President Wilford Woodruff] and ... inquired of him as to when he felt the end would be--when would be the coming of the Master?  These, I think, are not his exact words, but they convey the spirit of his reported reply:  'I would live as if it were to be tomorrow--but I am still planting cherry trees!'  I think we may well take this as a page for our own book and live as if the end might be tomorrow--and still plant cherry trees!  In worrying about things that are beyond our reach, we should not overlook our opportunities with our own families and friends; in worrying about possible eventualities we should not neglect the things that need to be done here and now, and that are within our reach.  ~Elder Richard L. Evans, (Conference Report, Apr. 1950, 105-6)



Measuring Up: Integrity Quotes
Measuring Up: Improvement Quotes
Measuring Up: Testimony Quotes
Measuring Up: Service and Empathy Quotes
Measuring Up: Sabbath Quotes

Young Women Favorite Things

Even though a lot of Personal Progress requirements can be accomplished as a group in Young Women's, some have to be done at home.  It's always nice when family members help and share with these experiences.  A favorite YW site to begin with is Christy's Young Women Pages, (also known as Christy's Clipart).

The schedule to this YW camp can be found at my post:  Camping, part 1.  The girls camped at one of our family's favorite Georgia State Parks:   F.D. Roosevelt.  They visited the nearby attraction, Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

I wish more of these were kept short and sweet!  With lots of food!!!

I was so disappointed when I went to my first YW camp.  I finally skipped the third year (and had to make it up later), because I expected to really do some camping!!!  Like hikes that were in picturesque locations and fun instead of drudgery.  I wanted to cook real food over an open fire--not just make s'mores.  Most years it was down-right boring--no camp songs, no wide games, no time to make friends.  That's why, even though I was never a Girl Scout, I became a Girl Scout leader where I learned all of the things I always felt were lacking from YW Camp (not the YW Relief Societyish Retreat that they have now become)!  At least my daughters got to do the things (and me too) that I had always wanted to do in Young Women's.  At my post, Camping, part 1, you'll find recipes, etc. for YW or Girl Scouts.

See my post, Camping, part 1, for YW craft ideas.  They never did these at our YW camps so we had fun doing these crafts over the summer at home.

See my post for beautiful knitted hangers that the young women might enjoy learning to make:  Active Meditation.  The shown hangers were store-bought and presented to the young women at a Stake New Beginnings.  There was a poem about wearing a white dress at the girls' temple marriages.

10 Things I Learned from My Mom

Mom holding my younger sister.

1. Mom always supported our church leaders as I was growing up.  She always said good things about them and was never derogatory.
2. Mom cooked dinner most nights, even though she worked full-time as a secretary.
3. Mom made sure that we kids saw every landmark in Alabama and a few in other states as well.
4. Mom always offered to give rides for church events, did her share of carpooling to early morning seminary, and paid $5/week for gas when we carpooled with others.
5. Mom made sure our Primary Talks were prepared and well-rehearsed for Sunday.
6. Mom took us to nice restaurants and taught us how to behave properly. We tried exotic things such as hot China tea and egg drop soup.
7. Mom made sure we spent a lot of time with our Grandma (her mom).  We went to every family event and stayed the entire time.
8. Mom tried to get us to learn to play the piano.  She encouraged me with drawing and painting.
9. Mom made sure we were exposed to great literature and movies.
10. Mom made sure we were active in church, even when she didn't come regularly.