More things I love....

Can you believe it? A blog post, two days in a row? Shocking I know! AND I actually baked last night... after I made the double batch of chili, and we had dinner, then kid baths/showers.... I got out the ingredients to make Skor Toffee Bars - I love anything Caramel or Toffee!

I even took photo's but my SD card is giving me fits, and keeps saying it's not formatted when I put it into my card reader *argh* I'll share when I get it fixed! Anyone have a recommendation for a really GOOD SD card? I find these cheap ones are pretty flakey!

TOFFEE CRUNCH BLONDIES

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (125 mL) golden shortening
• 1 cup (250 mL) lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cup (550 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) milk
• 1 1/4 cup (300 mL) CHIPITS® SKOR® Toffee Bits, divided
• 1 cup (250 mL) CHIPITS® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease 13 x 9-inch (33 x 23 cm) baking pan.

2. In large bowl, beat shortening and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs until creamy.

3. In medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into butter mixture with milk.

4. Stir in 1 cup (250 mL) of the toffee bits and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Spread evenly in baking pan.

5. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle evenly with remaining toffee bits. Let cool. Cut into bars.

Makes 24 bars.

Speaking of delicious...It's time for CHA 2010 winter and that means lots of new DELICIOUS products to drool over. Sadly, I'm not going this time.. but I'll be in Chicago I think! Anways, so far, this releases from Cosmo Cricket is one of the best things I've seen so far.. It made me REALLY want to get my hands on some that's for sure!

Check it out.... http://www.cosmocricket.typepad.com/

And while we're talking about Scrappy things.. You really should head over the Canadian Scrapbooker website...

Have you checked out our new Hands On! Photography blog ( http://www.canadianscrapbooker.ca/blog )? Each month, we post a new tutorial, discussing photography terms and techniques – we also encourage you to submit your photographs taken, using the current tutorial for the opportunity to have your submission published on our blog and to be entered into a random draw to win a great prize!

Our January tutorial and challenge this month discusses the photography term, depth of field. You can read the tutorial here (http://blog.canadianscrapbooker.ca/2010/01/09/january-assignment-depth-of-field/ ).

We’re looking forward to seeing your work!

A few of My Favourite Things...

Wow, it's 2010... and what a busy January I've had! So much has been keeping me busy that I obviously haven't had time to BLOG!! and I'm not even going to try to "catch" up!

I've been sorting and cleaning, and organizing.. and trying to find a BALANCE in life, between work, family, scrapping and ME time.. (ha, not sure that that is).... As I began to think, and sort and think some more.. I found that there were some things that just make me HAPPY.... Scrapping things.. and not scrapping things.. so, for my first post of the year, I thought I would SHARE, just a little of Lara's FAVOURITE things (too bad I'm not Oprah or Ellen and can't give away one of each of these eh? I'll do a little each day so it doesn't get too LONG to read.

1. Barbapapa Mugs! Yep, I used to read these book when I was little, and when we went to France with the family we found a store that sold the books. My MOM got me some MUGS for Christmas, and I LOVE THEM... make me smile, everyday =)

2. A full Freezer.. okay, so call me crazy, but I LOVE having a freezer (or two) filled with good food for my family. It makes dinner time so much easier AND leaves more time for homework, playtime and well, STUFF! I ran across this fantastic site.. Once a Month Mom that planned out a huge Once a Month Cooking session that I did last weekend! It's fantastic, and I highly recommend you give it a look! http://www.onceamonthmom.com I did the January Menu (well almost all of it) and we are happily eating our way through our freezer!

1. Eggwiches - so GOOD
   
2. Buffalo Chicken Pasta
3. Unstuffed Mexican Shells
4. Chicken Taco Wraps
5. Freezer French Toast Stick

These are just a few things that we've tried so far. The month is young and I am so excited to do another cooking session!

3. My new EPSON ARTISAN 810 Printer.. Oh ya baby, this thing is amazing! It's actually so great that it got my HUSBAND to vaccuum? What you ask? Well, you see, it's a new tech toy, and it's WIFI and it does so many cool things and was so easy to get it up and running that he was in a GREAT mood! The day after he installed it, I came home to a clean house.. and a happy hubby! It's a 5 in 1, with Wi-Fi®: Print / Copy / Scan / Fax / Ultra Hi-Def Photo and I think it MIGHT cook too! Seriously though, for photo's it will do a 4x6 in 10 seconds and they are NICE and I just found out that EPSON has a scrapbooking specific paper for those who are digi scrappers too - also COOL!

The best thing, it's not ridiculously expensive.. here's the link to Epson if you want to check it out.

Okay off to finish cooking my double batch of chili.... yes, I'm stocking up on that too! and if I'm lucky I'll get the kids into bed early and I'll get to scrapbook.... lots of fun projects floating around in my head today!

Lara