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Rice Pillow

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At our house the rice pillow is the cozy remedy for sore joints, headaches, tummy trouble, or cold feet. Luckily, they are so easy to make. I made these two out of a couple of T-shirts that I was finished with.

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Cut two strips of fabric–the striped one is about 15″x 4.” The flower one is about 15″x 5.” The size depends on what you’ll be doing with it. A nice square is great for keeping your feet warm and a longer strip makes a good back of the neck wrap. The exact measurements aren’t that big of a deal.

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Double zigzag the edges leaving one short side open.

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Fill with rice, or wheat. We chose wheat because this is Utah…and we are all about wheat.  :]

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You can sew the end shut or tie it into a huge knot–that works well with cotton knit.

It is a good idea to sew a pillow case for your rice pillow that you can remove and throw in the washer every week or so.

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Milk Chocolate Fudge

Dec 22, 2008 003

Warning…If you are a dark chocolate lover, or even a semi-sweet fiend, then I must tell you…keep moving on. This is not the recipe for you. However–if you love milk chocolate, soft, smooth delicate fudge…you have arrived. Clap if you’d like.

Now you may think to yourself, “Heyyy…this recipe looks a lot like Fantasy Fudge.” And you would be a little bit right. But you would also be a whole lot wrong. Many of the ingredients are the same, but a couple of things are different…vitally different. And for the milk chocolate lovers out there it makes all the difference. You must trust me on this…

Note: Don’t substitute any of the ingredients for something…not as good, unless of course, you want something…not as good.

In that case, any fudge recipe will do.

Milk Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter (NOT margarine)

2/3 cup evaporated milk

13 oz. Symphony bar milk chocolate

7 oz Kraft Marshmallow creme

1 Tbsp vanilla

Combine sugar and milk in a 2-1/2 quart non-stick saucepan. Add butter and heat to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling for exactly 5 minutes.

While the mixture is boiling, combine marshmallow cream and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix on low for 30 seconds.

Remove sugar mixture from heat and add broken chocolate pieces one or two at a time–stirring until completely melted. Add to marshmallow and mix on medium for 2 minutes scraping the side and bottom as needed.

Pour into lightly buttered 9 x 13 pan. Keep tightly covered with foil.

Milk Chocolate Fudge
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups sugar
  • ¾ cup butter (NOT margarine)
  • ⅔ cup evaporated milk
  • 13 oz. Symphony bar milk chocolate
  • 7 oz Kraft Marshmallow creme
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. Combine sugar and milk in a 2-1/2 quart non-stick saucepan.
  2. Add butter and heat to a rolling boil.
  3. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling for exactly 5 minutes.
  4. While the mixture is boiling, combine marshmallow cream and vanilla in a mixing bowl.
  5. Mix on low for 30 seconds.
  6. Remove sugar mixture from heat and add broken chocolate pieces one or two at a time--stirring until completely melted.
  7. Add to marshmallow and mix on medium for 2 minutes scraping the side and bottom as needed.
  8. Pour into lightly buttered 9 x 13 pan.
  9. Keep tightly covered with foil.

If fudge starts to get dry around the edges in a few days–gather it into a large ziploc bag. It will moisten back up. It is also nice to store in the refrigerator. Tastes like a whole new treat when it’s cold.

 

 

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The Keepsakes…

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It comes every year and will go on forever. And along with Christmas belong the keepsakes and the customs. Those humble, everyday things a mother clings to, and ponders, like Mary in the secret spaces of her heart.”

~ Marjorie Holmes, American writer.

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Scrooge For Christmas

At our house, one of the family favorite movies in all creation is the Muppet Christmas Carol.

We love the frogs and the mice and the singing vegetables…and that kid Scrooge hits with a holly wreath. I laugh my head off and then feel guilty for laughing.

Plus, you’d be surprised at how moving a sobbing rat can be.

And there’s just something about Michael Caine crying in his nightgown over that one girl.

I bawl like a baby. Of course the wonderful Dickens-y goodness of the story comes through as well or it wouldn’t count.

Now, this is not to say that I don’t enjoy the other versions. I do. Honestly,

George C. Scott is a mighty scary piece of Scroogy meaness. Maybe it’s his gravely voice…I don’t know.

It helps too that Jacob Marley does a pretty darn convincing guy with his jaw falling off. Ewww.

And in the even more ancient Alastair Sim version, old Marley gets sucked right out the window with the other spooks. Scares the heck out of me.

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When I was a kid we also had a record–yes, I’m that old–of Lionel Barrymore in the role of Scrooge. Laurie and I had the silly thing memorized..still do, I’m afraid. I think we could have worked parties. We were weird kids…needed more sunlight…or something.

Our family book club is now reading “A Christmas Carol” the real version. No singing pigs or crippled frogs–but the original, as Dickens meant it to be. It’s only about 80 pages but the language is so classic, 1840’s English that it takes a bit longer to suck it all in. So it’s a slower read for some of us. We chose it because it’s President Monson’s favorite book and because it felt important to be able to say, “Of course I’ve read A Christmas Carol. Duh…” in that snobby voice that’s meant to impress people–but rarely does.

I realize that the Muppet story and the vintage book are worlds apart in presentation, but I think it’s ok. I think Mr. Dickens would be very pleased with how many ways his little short story has been presented. Likely, he would be more pleased with the impact that his words–classic or muppetized–still have on people.

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

And I personally believe he’d even get a kick out of the screaming lettuce.