I made a new recipe this weekend for the Murder Mystery Dinner hosted for my Mystery co-op class (see my other blog for more info: www.tiwacademy.wordpress.com ).

This recipe was pretty easy to make from scratch and it tastes amazing! I plan to make some more to take to a Mom's Christmas party tonight! It fits well with the holiday season we are in as it makes use of cranberries also!

Here are a few pictures from when I made them on Saturday. See below for the recipe and link to the original site.

Here is the first tray of scones about to go into the oven.

The finished product! They were later served with the orange butter I made.

Below is the recipe which I found here: Orange Cranberry Scones

Cranberry Orange Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
10 teaspoons sugar, divided
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup cold butter or margarine
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup orange juice or rose water
1/4 cup half-and-half cream
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

GLAZE (optional)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice

ORANGE BUTTER (optional)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 to 3 tablespoons orange marmalade


In a bowl, combine flour, 7 teaspoons sugar, orange peel, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside. In a small bowl, combine cranberries, orange juice, cream and egg. Add to flour mixture and stir until a soft dough forms.
On a floured surface, gently knead 6 - 8 times. Pat dough into an 8 inch circle. Cut into 10 wedges. Separate wedges and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with milk; sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 400° for 12 - 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Combine glaze ingredients if desired; drizzle over scones. Combine orange butter ingredients; serve with warm scones. Yield: 10 scones.

Christmas Decorating 2008!

We were actually able to get our Christmas tree put up and the house decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving this year.

We didn't put everything out this year as we are short on room and we wanted to change up some things.

Here is a slideshow of some pictures taken during decorating and afterwards. I was busy with doing the lights and then helping sort ornaments and missed out on pictures of the kids actually putting the ornaments on the tree. But everyone had fun and we watched a family movie after we were done that evening.

Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This Side Up...band leads worship this week!

My daughter is in a Praise Band put together by moms in our homeschool group, SHINE.

They have done several performances before our co-op classes on Fridays, but they had their first "public" 'performance' yesterday. They were asked to do the music for a special worship service that is held at Brooke Army Medical Center. A church brought food and the band provided the music, shared scriptures, etc.

It was a great experience for all the kids and the parents involved! The kids did great and everyone seemed to enjoy the music! They have been working on Christian Contemporary/Rock Praise and Worship songs.

I was able to video some clips of their songs using my camera. The quality isn't that great, but it will give you an idea of what the songs sounded like and how they did!

They were playing in an outside courtyard, so that was also a new situation for them to deal with...especially when the birds started coming at dusk! :)

Hope you enjoy!

Be My Escape by Reliant K




Meant to Live by Switchfoot





They also finally decided on a name which one of the Band Director explains a bit about in one of the clips. It didn't get the whole description, but gives some idea of what is behind the name. She refers to 2 Chronicles 5:11-14. It is an awesome passage about worship..and ushering in the presence of the Lord through singing praise and playing instruments!!



Hosanna




From the Inside Out




How Great is Our God





Beauty of Simplicity by Telecast



Shine by Newsboys

Harvest Honey Cake

A friend of mine has inspired me to do some baking! She has been making a new, yummy dessert each day this week!

I worked on making Banana Bread and then making a new cake called Harvest Honey Cake. The recipe is from a Pampered Chef cookbook (and one that is "from scratch"). I used mostly organic products to make it, so it was even a little "healthy" for you!

Baking is one thing that we used to do a lot of but have gotten away from doing. I want to do more cooking with my kids in the coming months so they will know how to cook a variety of items and help with meal preparations!

Here are a few pictures of my oldest daughter helping with the cake and then the finished products.

These are the apples she cut up for the bake.