HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

I don't know about you but my favorite candy is Reece's Peanut Butter Cups.

I just absolutely love them!  I could just eat them all of the time.

So I found a recipe for making these at home and 

I most happily will share it with you.

 The recipe calls for using the regular size muffin pan

but I opted in using the mini muffin pan.  That way don't feel

so guilty in eating these delights!

 Line your muffin pan and put some of the melted chocolate.

 The creamy peanut butter mixture

 Place the peanut butter mixture on top of the chocolate.

Add more of the melted chocolate on top of the peanut butter mixture.

Enjoy!

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Yield: Makes 12-18 peanut butter cups (depends on how thick you make the layers)

Ingredients:

• 16 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1.75 oz confectioner's sugar (1/4 cup+2 tbsp)

Directions:

1. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
2. Melt half the chocolate either in a double boiler (the safer method) or in the microwave (the more dangerous, but easier/lazier method). 
3. Distribute the melted chocolate into the 12 muffin tins, only barely filling the bottom of each cup. If the chocolate does not lie flat, drop the pan repeatedly on the counter, and it will flatten and smooth itself out. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes.
4. In the meantime, whip the peanut butter, butter, and confectioner's sugar together with a hand mixer until mixed and light. Taste it and make sure the sweetness is to your liking. Place small tablespoons of peanut butter into each cup, then drop the pan repeatedly on the counter again, so the peanut butter layer is flattened out. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
5. Melt the last 1/2lb of chocolate, and portion small spoonfuls of chocolate into the cups, one cup at a time, immediately dropping the pan repeatedly on the counter to flatten each cup. In my experience of making these, the chill from the peanut butter (because it was just in the freezer) will harden up that top layer of chocolate very quickly, so you must flatten out the tops immediately after you pour the chocolate into each cup. Place the peanut butter cups in the freezer for 15 minutes to set the top layer of chocolate.
6. You can either refrigerate them for a peanut butter cup with more bite, or leave them at room temperature for a softer, creamier bite. Just peel the wrapper off, and enjoy!

BABY QUILT DESIGN

This past Sunday I helped a good friend of mine with her 

daughter's baby shower.  The mom-to-be is a beautiful

 young lady that I love very much.  She is a former

Spanish student of mine.  When she got married,

I made her a queen size quilt.  Now that she and 

her husband are going to have their first child,

I decided to make her a baby quilt.  Knowing

what colors and theme her nursery is going to be,

I went and did my shopping and looking for fabric.

 Choosing fabric is always an adventure that I love.

 I cut the fabric into 4 1/2" squares

 Sew the squares to make a nine patch block.

 Once your squares are all sewn into strips, 

decide how you would like the strips be set.

 Sew the strips to make a nine patch block.

 Make sure you square up your block before you cut it up.

Once it's squared, cut your block to make four equal smaller blocks.

 Now the fun begins because you can come up with

many different designs for the new block.

Here are some ideas that I came up with.

Here is the end result.

A beautiful quilt that makes the mom-to-be very happy.

BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP

With the cold and windy weather we are having here in Central Indiana,

I decided that it is the perfect time to make soup.

One of my favorite soups is broccoli cheese soup.

So I'm sharing with you my recipe for this delicious soup.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups water

2 tablespoons chicken granules

2 bunches of broccoli, chopped

1/2 onion minced

2 cups milk

1/2 cup margarine or butter (I prefer butter)

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring water and chicken bouillon granules to a boil in a pot. Add broccoli and onion; cook at a boil until tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Combine milk, margarine, flour, and cream cheese in a large pot over medium heat; cook and stir until the margarine melts and the mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir Cheddar cheese into the milk mixture; cook and stir until the Cheddar melts completely.
4. Pour the broccoli mixture into the cheese mixture in the large pot; stir well.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES CHICAGO

Last week I had the opportunity to go to Chicago with my mom.

She wanted to finish her funeral arrangements. 

No, she's not sick but she did not want to leave that burden on us.

 

 My good friend to the left is Elda.  My mom and I stayed at her home

My mom in the middle and my mother-in-law

 While at Rosehill Cemetery, I saw this very old map of Chicago.

It is dated 1886.  The gentleman that helped us finalizing

her arrangements was a walking encyclopedia of

who is buried in the cemetery and their life history.

 This beautiful family helped my mom in my dad's memorial service.  

It was really great getting together again

 Great friends

 As we said goodbye to our friends, my mom wanted

to go and see our old stomping grounds.  This park

my brother, sister and I spent a lot of time playing.

It is across the street from where we were living.

 This tree was third base when we played baseball.

It was not this big when we were playing. 

Lots of memories flooded as my mom and I

remember playing with our friends in this park.

 This apartment building was the first placed we lived

in when my family and I moved to the United States.

We lived on the top floor.  It was nice to see

that it has not changed.

 This was the second apartment building that we moved to

after a few years.  It was right next door to the 

first apartment we lived in.  In this building,

I met a girl my age who became my first friend

in the United States.  Her name was Barbara

and she was Polish.  Her family were wonderful.

I remember her father being a great cook.  

We were introduced to Polish cooking through him.

 Lots of roller skating was done on this sidewalk.

 Charles Darwin Elementary School.  This was the

first school I went to.  I did not know any English and

my teacher did not know any Spanish.  My teacher, Miss Wolski,

was great!  My mom tells me that I learned how to read,

write and speak English in one month because I was

determined to learn it.  There was no bilingual program at that time.

I'm so grateful for that.  I learned English through the Dick and Jane books.

 Humboldt Park United Methodist Church is where my

father was a pastor.  We were there for seventeen years until

he was transferred to another church.  This is where I met

 my husband and where he asked my father permission to marry me.

 This was the parsonage of Bethany United Methodist Church.

The house is the only thing left standing since the church

was demolished several years ago.  This is a beautiful home

which has now been converted to offices for the hospital

right next door.  Both my mom and I were sad to see the changes.

I guess we were hoping things would have stayed the

way we remembered.

On our way home to Indiana on Lake Shore Drive.

Thank you Chicago for the wonderful life

and memories.

MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES - GROUSELAND MANSION

Sorry that it has taken me a while to finish writing about our coming

home from our last motorcycle adventure.  On the last day of our journey,

we traveled to Princeton, Indiana to visit the parents of really good friends.

What was supposed to have been a thirty minute visit turned out to

be an hour and a half.  We could not leave because she had made

a delicious coffeecake and coffee.  We just had to try some.

 Our dear friends, Marjorie and J.D.

 Their very happy dog named Louie.

After leaving our friends, we started on our trek towards

Vincennes.  We both wanted to go and check out the

historical places there.  Our first stop was the Grouseland Masion

built William Henry Harrison.  Our tour guide was 

absolutely awesome!  The sad part was that

photographs were not allowed inside.  So 

I've linked the mansion's website for you to see the inside.

Grouseland Mansion.

 George Rogers Clark Memorial

 An old house that is a radio station. 

I'm so glad it was not torn down.

Another beautiful old home in Vincennes.

Our trip was wonderful and we really enjoyed it.

We are most definitely heading back to Vincennes.

MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE SUNDAY - HEADING SOUTH

We started our day with something we did not expect - a dead battery.

As I was getting our keys turned in I get a phone call from

Jorge asking me to find out if anyone on staff has jumper cables.

Thankfully one of the caretakers did and he was our knight in shining armor.

Once it was the battery was charged, we head on down to Nashville.

We stopped at several shops that I wanted to see.  I exercised

a lot of self-control.  Considering that we are riding a motorcycle,

space is limited as to what I can buy and take home.

 Bruce helps Jorge recharge the battery

 A candy store in Nashville.  So much to choose from.

 

 We are back in Story, Indiana for lunch.  

We found this place last year by accident.

 Great musicians during our lunch.

 The Ohio River

 Since there are many barges going down the Ohio River,

we saw these locks at Cannelton, Indiana.

Perry County Historical Musuem.

As the day went on, it got cooler.  We stopped at Wal-Mart

and bought the cheaper version of Under Armor to keep us warmer

so that we wouldn't have to wear our fleece jackets under

our motorcycle jackets.  Needless to say, I was colder

without my fleece.  By the time we got to Evansville,

I was very cold.  Tomorrow I'll be using my fleece again.

MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES SATURDAY - HEADING SOUTH

Jorge and I wanted to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary

doing a motorcycle trip.  Our anniversary was in August

but neither one of us had any desire to go on a trip during August.

We decided that we wanted to wait and wait we did until the weather was right.

We decided to head south towards the Ohio River.

Our first day's right started Saturday afternoon.

The weather was cool and sunny.

We start heading south and come to Nashville, Indiana.

Our first night was spent at the Abe Martin Lodge in one of their cabins.

 The lodge beautifully decorated for the fall season.

 Our little cabin,

 One interesting pumpkin

 We found out this gentleman comes to the Little Gem Restaurant every Saturday

and sings without getting paid.  He accepts tips.  We really

enjoyed him.  Jorge made the comment that the singer/musician

did not sing a sour note at all. 

 This old radio still works.

 Beautiful carving of three eagles.

A unique Grandfather clock.