My Sweetest Things

On October 20th I celebrated my 2nd wedding Anniversary!

We had the most wonderful wedding in my hometown San Antonio.

It has been a blessed, happy, two years!

This is just a hint of what was waiting for me on the kitchen counter when I woke up that morning.

You bakers out there know what is coming next….

This beauty! Now, when I first met my husband, I set the rule, no appliances

for Christmas, Hanukkah, Birthday or any special occasion. If it’s Tuesday then it’s fine,

but for this KickassAid, I made an exception! I was so excited and thrilled and hated to

leave it to go to work! So of course I took photos with my camera phone and left for the office

and once I got there, I viewed those photos all morning.

“I couldn’t tell fact from fiction or if my dream was true.

The only sure prediction in this whole world was you.” – Maya Angelou

Honey, I speak those words in regards to you and maybe just a tad about the mixer.

It’s all good.

~Donna

This past weekend my husband and I packed up the Rogue and headed to the mountains. I had heard about the Georgia Apple Festival and with this cool weather and fall in the air, an Apple Festival sounded like a great way to head into the season. This was the 38th year of the Apple Festival, with over 300 vendors and hand-crafted items. Sounded good to me!

With thoughts of Apple Festival in my head and beautiful, colorful, surroundings the 2 hour drive was sweet.  Once we reached Ellijay, the Apple Festival was very easy to find with Apple Festival parking signs all around. There were hundreds of people headed to the festival so parking was not so easy to come by. We ended up parking at the local high school and I talked my husband Nitsuj into riding the free transportation aka School Bus down to the festival. The bus was packed with families so looking forward to what was ahead for the day.

I had visions of Apple Orchards with bushels of apples all around, and live music playing with bluegrass bands.  Well, not so much. They charged a $5 fee to enter. Not bothered by that but more by the fact that it wasn’t all that. There was not an apple tree in site, and the apples were bagged with no taste testing. Sure they had many different types of apples represented by many of the local Georgia Orchards but samples would have been nice so that I may have the opportunity to branch out and try different varieties.

There was little in the form of adult entertainment but the local pre-teen dance troupe were having a super time on the small stage and the many proud parents cheered on! They had giant inflatables for the kids. I saw pony rides and all I could think about were the poor ponies spending their entire afternoon, chained and walking in circles with small screaming children on their backs. They had a camel , two camels, both set up for children to ride and again, I just wanted to set them free! I did not take any photos of them. It felt wrong to me.

The festival did have lots of craft booths and if you are the country crafting type it would be heaven for you! I on the other hand am not into country kitchen and after awhile you find most of the booths sell the same thing. I do appreciate all the effort the vendors put into their craft. The pottery and jewelry were beautiful.

The deer hunting community had a lot of support there. I offered to buy Nitsuj a shirt but he was not having it.

A vendor sold homemade rootbeer in these pretty bottles. It was too sweet for me.

The Georgia Apple Festival  was really not what I had envisioned but we did have many a good laugh and the best part was

spending the time alone together, walking , holding hands in the cool crisp air, enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Georgia Mountains.

The fried apple pies were simply awesome! It is one of those events where you can say you went and experienced it.

See all those people standing in line at the bottom and middle of the photo?

They are waiting for the School Bus to take them back to their cars.

We walked back.

Look at these beautiful colors! How could we not smile and feel blessed?

It’s all good.

~Donna

I simply love a chocolate covered pretzel! I make them for parties and they are a sweet simple treat. They are always gone by the end of the night! For Halloween this year I thought I would change things up. I bought candy molds, candy coloring,  chocolate and got busy! Here is how I did it. Real Simple and a fun treat!

Items you will need:

Candy Molds – I picked mine up at Jo-Ann’s Craft Store.

Candy coloring in Halloween colors – Also picked up at Jo-Ann’s

White and Dark Chocolate – I used chocolate bark available at your local grocery store where the cake supplies are.

Pretzel Rods

Small painting brush – A watercolor brush worked well for me.

I bought Sprinkles but did not end up using them for this project.

I melted the white chocolate bark and added black food coloring.

Mixed up some purple using the white chocolate bark again.

Using the mold as a guide, paint the areas where you want to add the color. When you are done, set in the

refrigerator so the chocolate will harden. This takes only a few minutes.

Take the molds out of the refrigerator and set to the side. Pour some chocolate on a paper plate and

roll the pretzel rod in the chocolate.

You might find it easier to use a bowl and roll the chocolate in the bowl and pour chocolate over the pretzel.

Place the dipped pretzel in the mold then use a small spoon to drizzle

more chocolate in the spaces left in the mold. Press down lightly to set.

You might want to take a toothpick and run it around to remove the extra chocolate on the sides. When you pull them

out of the mold the image will be cleaner. Place the molds in the refrigerator for a few minutes to set.

I did not use the toothpick trick so I ended up with extra chocolate on the sides so I used a small paring

knife to sculpt the chocolate. It worked just fine. Take a look!

Success! This was my first attempt working with candy molds and

I really enjoyed it. It is time consuming but worth it! You can make

these a few days ahead of your party. I keep mine sealed in a tupperware

container on the counter.  Enjoy!

It’s all good.

~Donna

In my search for Halloween treats, I came across the website tasteofhome. They have terrific, creative recipes! I saw this recipe for Marshmallow Witches. They are the cutest things and so fun to make! I no longer have small children running around the house but my grown sons can appreciate all the goodness in these. Peanut butter cups,  chocolate kisses, butter cream icing, coconut and marshmallow all in one bundle! Take a peak at how it’s done. So simple!

All the yummy things you need to put these together!

Adapted from tasteofhome

1/2 cup Vanilla Frosting

36 miniature semisweet chocolate chips

12 large marshmallows

black, orange and green food coloring

1/4 cup coconut

12 chocolate wafers – I used chocolate creme cookies like Oreos.

12 miniature peanut butter cups

12 milk chocolate kisses

Place coconut in plastic bag, add food coloring and squish around. You might need to add a drop of water

to help mix. I used green candy coloring and did not need to add water.

Take half the buttercream icing and add the orange food coloring. You will use this to decorate the hat.

Dab the mini chips into the frosting. Two for the eyes and one for the nose. I used a small brush for this.

Spread frosting on both sides of marshmallow, press coconut hair into the frosting.

Mix up some black frosting and you will need the cookie, peanut butter cup

and kiss for the hat. I separated the sandwich cookie and only used one half

for the hat.

Add a dab of black frosting in the middle of the cookie, place the peanut butter cup on top, then another dab

of black frosting and add the kiss. Now you have a hat!

I used a small star tip to add the decor around the hat. The frosting was on the thin side and next time

around I will make it just a tad bit thicker for a better hold.

Add a dab of icing to the top of the marshmallow and add your hat. All done! I put them in the fridge for a bit

to set. Too Cute! Enjoy!

It’s all good.

~Donna