Der Rheinlander Swiss Cheese Fondue

Ever since I can remember my family has eaten cheese fondue on Christmas Eve.  My Grandmother made it when we all went to her house.  Then when the Christmas Eve festivities moved to my Mom's house, she made it.  Now that Christmas Eve is at my house... well... I can't break tradition.  It brings back so many great memories for me.

I'm not sure where my Grandmother originally got this recipe.  It might have come from the Oregonian (the Oregon paper) years ago when Horst Mager, the master chef and founder of The Rheinlander Restaurant in Portland, Oregon published it one year.  However she got it, I'm so glad.  It really is amazing!

I'm surprised by how easy is it to make.

Ingredients:
* 1/2 cup white wine
* 3/4 cup water
* 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
* 2 Tbsp. butter
* pinch of nutmeg
* 2 packages (24 ounces total) of processed Swiss Cheese.  DO NOT use Swiss Cheese that you buy at the deli counter, it won't work!  It has to be processed Swiss cheese.  (Trust me on this one.)

I had my son (who loves, loves, loves this) help out.  I have such great helpers!

In a medium saucepan, add all of the ingredients except the cheese.  Unwrap the cheese slices and tear them into pieces, adding a couple at a time.  Stir until melted and then add some more.  It looks pretty weird at first with so much liquid and not very much cheese, but it will soon look wonderful and the smells will make your mouth water!  I promise!

Stir until well blended.

Cut up fresh French bread and start dipping!!!   You can also dip vegetables (raw or steamed).  Amazing! 

If you don't have a fondu pot (gasp!) you can either use a small crockpot and put it on the lowest setting, or just keep it in the sauce pan.  it will thicken a lot as it cools so you'll need to put it back on the stove often to keep it warm. 

My son absolutely loves it.  He's asking that this now be a New Year's Eve tradition as well.  (I think he threw in a "and my birthday too" in there.)  =o) 

I hope you try this recipe out.  I promise you won't be disappointed!

Enjoy!



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Borax Crystals

 

I think this was one of the coolest things we've done in awhile. I'm still fascinated by how this worked. (And a little frightened by the wonders of Borax.)

This is so easy to do and it's so much fun to see the look on everyone's faces as the crystals grow.

Here's what you'll need:

* Pipe Cleaners

* Tap Water

* Borax Soap (found in the laundry detergent aisle)

* Pencils

* String

* Mason Jars or some kind of containers

Bend your pipe cleaners into any shapes.

Measure how much string you will need by hanging the pipe cleaner at the top of the container and have it hang so it doesn't touch the bottom of the container. Tie it to the pencil.

Fill your container up with very warm tap water (enough to cover the pipe cleaner.)  You can use boiling water but I wanted my kids to be able to do the mixing, so I didn't want it that hot.

Slowly add the Borax.  Stir and add more.  You want to add enough so that you can visibly see the Borax (and not have it all dissolve.)

Now hang your pencil on the container and, here's the hard part... let it sit.  My kids had a hard time just letting them sit.  They had to check them... often.

This was after about two hours...

You can let them sit overnight if you do it in the evening.  Or wait a couple of hours and voila!  Borax crystals.

Just make sure that if you use a mason jar or something with a smaller opening that your crystal doesn't get so big you can't get it out of the opening =o)

What do you think?  My kids LOVED them!!!  

Thank you Homemade Mamas for posting this fun craft for us to enjoy!!!

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Meet Zachary - Our Elf on the Shelf

 

Santa sent us an Elf.  His name is Zachary.  Meet Zachary. 

I can not begin to tell you how much fun it has been to have Zachary.  The looks on my kid's faces in the morning when they search for him and then find him - priceless.  Truly priceless.

He's a funny little Elf.  He plays the Wii when we're not looking.

He loves to practice his math facts.

He had lunch with Barbie one day.

Apparently he likes to fish for Goldfish.  

One day he got into the Band Aides...

Somedays  he just needs to talk football with Santa.

He's a tad bit confused by all these electronics these days.

Somedays he's tired and needs to rest.  It's tough being Santa's helper.

He loves to read.

He loves treats!

He loves to tell my kids that he's thinking of them too.

We're so happy to have Zachary come and stay with us!  My kids look forward to it every year.  (He first came to visit us in 2009.)  

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Fun & Simple Christmas Gift

Do I even need to explain why I wanted to make these for co-workers? I mean really, they are so stinkin' cute.

We gave them to the secretaries in the front office and the administrators. (I work in a middle school.) Cute right? And so simple! The idea came from One of a Kind Gifts but the "ding dongs" were the neighbors next door. Awesome right? We just adapted it to the counseling office.

I'm going to keep this idea for next year too.  Maybe figure out how to adapt it for teachers =o)

We "Whisk" You A Merry "Kiss" mas

I had every intention of making my kid's teachers Christmas candy bar wrappers as a little Christmas gift. I just love candy bar wrappers. But then I saw a version of this so cute idea over on Today's Fabulous Finds and knew this was what I wanted to make.  I thought they were so cute!

We made them for their teachers (and the helpers in the class) as well as the secretaries.  We didn't want to forget about them!

What do you think?

Malted Chocolate Tart

A couple of months ago for the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned the blog Betcha Can't Eat Just One. Oh man. Katie has so many good recipes! I just had to make this Malted Chocolate Tart too.  And I'm so happy I did.  It was amazing!!!

But I have to admit that if I actually read a recipe from start to finish before I started cooking and really paid attention while I was reading, it would make my life so much easier.  Because I read tart pan and in my brain I saw torte pan.  Because seriously, there's a difference?  Well, apparently there is.  A torte pan is one that you flip the cookie/cake/torte out of and the "well" is then on the top of the dessert.  With a tart pan apparently you just remove the outer part of the pan and leave the bottom on the dessert and serve it that way.  Huh.

For this dessert you need a tart pan.  I had a torte pan so it was a little bit of a challenge after I realized this.  But no worries.  We made it work (whew!)  And good thing because seriously, this is one of the best desserts I've had in a long time.  It's that good!

Here's what you'll need:

1 1.2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup malted milk powder (Seriously!  I couldn't find this anywhere in this darn town I live in.  So I crushed up malt balls and they worked fine.)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1" cubes

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup malt balls, chopped

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If you have a food processor (I don't have a big one, so I just used my mixer) add the flour, malt balls or powder, sugar, salt and butter and pulse until blended.  Add vanilla and pulse briefly.

Turn the dough into a large tart pan (not torte) and press the dough on the bottom and sides of the pan.  I cut a circle out of parchament paper to put on the bottom since I had a torte pan and not a tart pan.  What the heck!

 

 

Bake for 25 minutes or until a light golden brown.

While the cookie is baking, heat the heavy cream in a pot until it is hot but not boiling.  Pour over chocolate chips and let sit for about 30 seconds.  Whip until it's blended and glossy.

Roughly chop the malt balls.  You don't want them dust!  Of course I had a helper with this part.

 

When the cookie crust is done, remove from oven and pour the hot ganache over the cookie.  Top with malt balls.  Let cool.

 

What do you think?  I say pure heaven!

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{Secret Recipe Club} Cinnamon Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

I just love participating in the Secret Recipe Club each month. It gives me the opportunity to read new blogs and find amazing recipes and learn new techniques and cooking styles.  Our amazing host Tina from Mom's Crazy Cooking does a great job coordinating it all and helping Amanda from Amanda's Cooking out.

My blog assignment this month was {Sweetly}Serendipity.  Taryn doesn't have much about herself on her blog but I can tell from her recipes that she loves to bake.  And her recipes are fantastic!  Such a great variety.  From her Sopapilla Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars to her Raspberry Chocolate White Chocolate Whole Wheat Waffles and her Honey Dijon Chicken Tenders.  I'm in love with everything!  But when I clicked on the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecakes Bars I knew that was the recipe I was making.  It's all my favorite things in one!  (And I've never made the cookie dough you can eat raw before.)

One thing I changed was I switched the chocolate chips with Hershey's Cinnamon Chips.  I fell in love with them when I made my Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies and I've been searching for something to make with them.  This sounded perfect.  And I was totally NOT disappointed.  It was amazing!!!  I will be making this again for sure.

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham crackers, crushed (we used cinnamon graham crackers)
5 Tbsp. butter, melted

For the cookie dough:
5 Tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup cinnamon chips (or chocolate chips)

For the cheesecake:
10 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Spray an 8x8 pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper.  Spray parchment paper with non-stick cooking spray.

In a food processor, crush graham crackers.  Add the melted butter and mix until blended.  Press into the bottom of your prepared pan.  Bake for 6 minutes or until lightly browned.

To make the cookie dough, mix the butter and sugar until smooth.  Stir in flour and vanilla and mix well.  Add cinnamon chips.  Refrigerate until firm (about 30 minutes).  Roll dough into 1 inch balls (or smaller) and place on a plate.  Place back in the fridge while you are making the cheesecake filling.

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Remove the cookie dough balls from the refrigerator and toss with flour.  Add to cheesecake filling and mix carefully.  Pour over crust, making sure the filling covers the crust evenly.

(Next time I will probably put the cookie balls on the crust and then pour the cheesecake filling over them  That way there won't be lots of cookie dough balls in one spot and none in another.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the cheesecake is set and doesn't jiggle.  Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

The butter kind of pooled while it was cooking so I'm thinking the next time we make this I'll add less butter to the cookie dough mixture.

Using the parchment paper as handles, remove bars from the bar.  Cut into squares.

If you have any leftovers (ha!) store in the refrigerator.

Come take a look at all the amazing recipes from this months reveal.

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