BRRRRRRRR!

When I got up this morning it was -16 degrees--actual temperature!!! The weather guy said -31 with the windchill. It was very sparse in church this morning, at least for the first service. We've spent the day staying warm and inside.

We made a couple of loafs of rye bread in the breadmakers. Yes, I have an "s" on the that. Mr. got really into bread making a few years ago and I picked up a second breadmaker in the single-digits (dirt cheap) and whenever he makes bread, we usually have two going at the same time.

Somehow, I ended up doing most of the measuring and dumping this time-even though I was in the midst of making my own delicious masterpieces. He put the bread makers on the floor in the dining room, because last time, one flipped off the counter when it was kneading the dough. It survived, but he didn't want to take that chance again.

Our little girl was scared out of her mind of the breadmakers. She didn't know what to think at first, but once they got going (and they were loud!), she was trying to squeeze herself between my leg and the couch!

While that was baking, I spent some time flipping through some online auctions. I threw out a couple of minimum bids on a couple of things-we'll see if it amounts to anything. I think it was mostly out of boredom, and not that I really need/want the things I bid on.

I also tried a new recipe. I LOVE recipes from Taste of Home! I have only had one recipe in the past ten or so years from them that I didn't like, and that was my own personal preference. It had Worcestershire sauce (something I can't stand) in it. I was talked into making it from a friend, who convinced me I'd never taste it...I did...it was awful...never doing that again!

Today I made the dough of this recipe . I had a couple of cans of pie filling in the pantry, so I skipped the homemade apple pie filling. I used blueberry. They are sooo good! The crust is light and flaky, and the cream cheese gives it just a little kick of flavor-YUM!!

My mixer gave up the ghost while I was mixing the dough together. It wasn't really the dough that did it in, it was creaming the butter and cream cheese that did it. It got really hot, really fast, and a puff of smoke came out of the motor compartment and that was it. It's amazing how one little puff of smoke could smell so bad, for so long! If it was warmer outside, I'd have had a couple of windows open.

The first few pies didn't look as nice as the last, I was trying to cram too much filling into the tiny little pies. After a while though, I got the hang of it and they turned our pretty nice looking. My guys ate them right out of the oven on top of a giant bowl of vanilla ice cream. I waited a few minutes and ate mine by itself when it was still a little warm.

If you like to try new recipes, and have some time to make this, do it! You won't regret it. Your family will love it!! I only made up one of the two disks (half of the recipe) that I chilled in the fridge. The other one is waiting for a couple of days and will become little cherry pies.

The bread came out steamy and delicious smelling, the pies were flaky and delicious...and it was a great day to stay inside! It's made it up to 3 degrees, so while I really felt like getting out and hunting for treasures, the bitter cold kept me inside.

I tried out my printer with edible ink and rice paper on Thursday and made some fun vintage Valentine cookies. I took some to Bible study that night, and everyone loved them. My family won't eat them. They think it's weird to eat the paper (even though I've explained it's edible rice paper), the other thing I've heard is "it's creepy to eat them with faces".

In my mind, they were going to be so much cuter than how they turned out. I was expecting more vivid colors, but even on the photo setting it just didn't get very bright. I've already begun searching for vintage St. Patrick's images, and vintage Easter images for more vintage baking adventures. This time, I'll have to make some without faces!

Hope you are staying warm!!!

 These were the first batch on Thursday...I didn't have any icing to go around the edges, and tried a little tube of gel-it looked more like blood than icing.

This was the second batch. My guys found the creepy girl and thought it would be funny to have her on a cookie.

 My cute little Valentine's date. Mr had a volleyball game.

 This was the second pan.

Still too much filling-they split when the baked,

They don't look very appetizing, but they were awesome!!

Two loaves of rye.

Now it's time to make some dinner, and get things straightened around for work tomorrow. I hope you're staying warm and safe!!

Have a great week!!!