Chocolate-covered Pretzels

Ok, gotta feed my sweet tooth! I wanted to try something different and well, this one is defiantely a work in progress for me. I used milk chocolate for this recipe and it didnt melt as I thought it would. Maybe I should have left it in the back seat of my car..AHAHAHAHA! Seriously though, any bakers out there have any suggestions, please help me out! Thanks in advance!!

what i used:

square pretzels
Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses

I bought these HUGE packages from BJ's.

I set the oven at 200 degrees.

I set the timer for 4 minutes. When I pulled them out, they looked exactly the same as when I put them in. I put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Nope. So I upped the ante and increased the oven temp to 375. Now they did get a little soft but when I pressed down on them with another pretzel, they were stil a bit stiff. Some actually broke into little chunks.

What happened to my melted chocolate???

I'm guessing I can't use regular milk chocolate....So now what do I do with that huge bag of Kisses...?? I'm sure I can work that one out!!! SUH-WEET!!! :-D

Well, the two following pix is what I ended up with after my choclate would not melt for me. Still edible, still chocolatey with a bit of saltiness, still good.

Mini-Scallops with White Beans and Spinach

I'm on a spinach kick this week! LOL!! That's ok, its good for you! At least thats what Popeye has us believing! I love love love me some scallops. I found these samll bags at my local Shopper's grocery store and picked up a few. I realized that for this recipe it's best to use regular ol scallops. The mini-scallops looked too much like the white beans in size so I won't use them again here.

Ok, what you need:

1/2 red onion, chopped (I used yellow as that is all I had on hand)

1 clove garlic, minced

28oz can white beans, rinsed and drained (I used cannelini beans)

4 cups spinach

1 pound scallops

1 tbsp butter

1tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Heat a medium saucepan over low heat. Heat olive oil in pan, add garlic and onions; saute until onion is soft, about 2-3 minutes. Add white beans and spinach; simmer until beans are hot and spinach is wilted. Keep warm.

Heat a large saute pan or cast-iron skillet (what I used) over medium high heat. Salt and pepper scallops. Add butter and scallops to pan and saute, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Divide beans into bowls and top with scallops. You can add a little lemon juice if you wish before serving.

Tortellini and Spinach in Garlic Broth

This cold weather is perfect for soups! So i'm trolling through the internet and came across this recipe. Sounded tasty and healthy so I gave it a shot.

What you need:
2 TBSP olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups water
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 TSP salt
1 pound cheese tortelinni
1 pound spinach, stems removed
parmesan cheese, for topping

In large pot, heat olive oil over medium low heat. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add the water, broth and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes.

In another large pot, cook the tortelinni, about 4 minutes if fresh or 12 minutes if its frozen. Drain.

Add the spinach to the soup and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute. Stir in the tortelinni. Serve the soup inbowl and sprinkle with parmesan cheese on top.

Evidence that Santa was here!

Yes, my son still believes in Santa. Every year he writes up his list which I 'mail' every year to the North Pole. This year my son was lucky enough to receive a video message from the Jolly Ol' Man himself! Imagine his surprise when Santa really knew his age, grade and what he wanted as presents! The following link is a video template where you can create a holiday message from Santa for anyone for free!!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

I highly recommend it as my son was excited to get such an email from Santa. :)

Below I am also posting some before and after pics of Santa's milk and cookies break. He also left a skidmark in our front yard, OH MY!!

MMmmMM! Cookies and milk!

Hey! Where'd it go???

Do you see what I see??

He landed and took off from right here! SEE!!!