Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to wish everyone a very Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

Chocolate Cookie Bark

Ingredients 20 creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (about half of an 18-ounce package) 2 2/3 cups white chocolate chips or 2 2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (use with semisweet chips only) Directions Line a 9-inch-square baking pan with waxed paper. Coat the paper with nonstick spray; set it aside. Pour the cookies into a large bowl and break them into small pieces by hand or with the back of a wooden spoon, a job kids will love. Melt the white chocolate chips -- or the semisweet chips -- in a large microwave-safe bowl according to the package directions (add the extract after the chips have melted). Remove from the microwave and quickly fold in the cookie pieces with a spatula. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and spread to about a 1/2-inch thickness. Refrigerate until solid, about 1 hour. Remove the bark from the pan and carefully peel off the waxed paper. Set the bark on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut the bark into 12 bars for wrapping or 24 triangles for boxing as shown above. Store in an airtight container.

Hot Chocolate Cones A perennial winter favorite, hot cocoa with all the trimmings (mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and a cherry-red gumdrop) sports an even sweeter look packaged as a cone. This makes a great gift for babysitters, teachers, and neighbors. Be sure to add a tag letting your recipients know the cone contains enough for four servings. What you'll need 3/4 cup cocoa mix 2 (6- by 12-inch) cone-shaped cellophane bags (available at party stores) 2 clear rubber bands (we used ponytail holders) Scissors 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips 3/4 cup mini marshmallows 1 large red gumdrop How to make it Pour the cocoa mix into one of the bags. Close the bag with a clear rubber band, then trim the end of the bag 1 inch above the band. Place the cocoa-filled bag into the second bag and flatten its top so the end doesn't stick up. Layer the chocolate chips and the marshmallows, then top with the gumdrop. Secure the bag with the other rubber band.

FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO...

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln November 19, 1863

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

Brenda over at The Rusty Thimble is having a Christmas Giveaway. Head on over to http://therustythimble.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-rusty-thimble-christmas-giveaway.html

Traditional Christmas Cake from the UK

When I was growing up in Ireland every Christmas my Mom along with millions of other Women would make their Traditional "Christmas Cake". For years I have looked for such a recipe and well thanks to a fellow blogger from the UK, I finally have found it! Hat Tip http://frugalityuk.blogspot.com 1 kg mixed dried fruit (cheapest of the cheap own supermarket brand in my case) 100g glacé cherries 100g chopped walnuts 400ml liquor (anything you want, brandy is traditional, but I didn't have any, so used some rum) 300g butter 180g dark brown sugar 4 eggs 2 tablespoons black treacle 300g plain flour 150g ground almonds 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon of ginger 23cm cake tin Method 1) put all the fruit and cherries in a bowl and pour over the liquor of your choice. Cover with cling film for as long as you can, up to a week, but certainly not less that 24 hours. You want the liquor to be absorbed. 2) preheat oven to 150 degrees C and prepare the cake tin, you want it greased and lined with greaseproof paper (double thickness) and have it coming up the sides at least twice as high as the cake tin. 3) Cream together the butter and the sugar, then add the eggs one at a time and mix them in then beat in the treacle. 4) Sift the dry ingredients together then mix the soaked fruit alternatively with the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, mixing thoroughly. 5) Fold in the walnuts. 6) Put the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for between 2 and three quarters and 3 and a quarter hours. put in a skewer to check it is cooked - it should come out clean (ish) 7) When the cake comes out, sprinkle on a couple of teaspoons of some liquor and wrap it up, in it's tin, in a clean tea towel - this helps keep the top moist. 8) When it is completely cold you can remove it from the tin and peel off the greaseproof paper. Double wrap in foil and store in an airtight tin or tupperware for at least 3 weeks before you do the next stage. I will not do the next stage on mine until December. Feeding the cake. Sprinkle a tablespoon of liquor on the cake once a week, turning it each time so you are alternately sprinkling both sides. After it has 'matured' you want to wrap it in marzipan, using a jam glue and then ice it with Royal icing and decorate.

FrugalVille Website Forum now Open!

FrugalVille is all about living better for less. Now why should someone want to live Frugally you may ask? Well, when you spend less than you earn, and use the difference to pay off debt, save or invest then the less you spend, the less you need to earn. And that means you can choose to work less, or work more but retire early. Or take mini retirements. You have more options with a frugal lifestyle. With today's current Economic Climate we ALL need to $pend LESS and $ave more, so I have Officially opened my FrugalVille Forum Board where we can all help each other with advice on how to achieve the goal of living the Frugal Life! Go to: http://frugalville.freeforums.net I hope to see you all there!

Poor Man's Meal

Yummmmm, I just made this for dinner! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OPQqH3YlHA