Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A recipe for marshmallow squares

Homemade Marshmallow Squares

Ingredients:

1 cup cold water, divided

3 - 1/4 ounce envelopes unflavored gelatin

2 cups sugar

1 cup corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

A dash of vanilla extract, or any other extracts you'd like to try!

Mix 1/2 cup cold water and the gelatin packets in an electric mixer until blended. Let stand while you make the syrup.

Pour 1/2 c cold water, 1 c corn syrup, and 2 cups sugar into a pan. Bring to a boil, but do not stir! Boil the syrup until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, or until it is to "medium pull" consistency (when you make a ball out of a little of the syrup in ice water, and it is firm to push, but not stiff).

Turn on your electric mixer with the gelatin. Gradually pour the hot syrup into the bowl. Whip the syrup and the gelatin until it is the consistency of marshmallow creme.

Stir in the flavoring(s) you have chosen. You can also add food coloring if you would like.

Pour into a greased 9X13 pan, or into two square cake pans (8X8). Refrigerate until firm. When you cut them into squares, dip the knife in cold water first so the marshmallows don't stick.

You can roll the marshmallow squares in chocolate sprinkles, chopped nuts, toasted coconut, or any other toppings you can think of. I haven't tried them in S'mores, but I'm sure they'd be delicious!

Monday, January 19, 2009

A trip home!

We spent the weekend in Oregon with my family. It was really nice to see them. The pictures below are of my little sister, Anna. Yesterday, we made homemade marshmallows. Anna is the sugar queen. We ate half the pan yesterday, and we have about 1/4 left today. They sure tasted good!



Anna showing off her sticky hands and face.



Licking the bowl.



Tuesday, January 13, 2009

DISHWASHER!


Today, we got a dishwasher. We found it on Craigslist used, and it was only $125. And it's full-sized, so I can put anything in it. According to the previous owners, it works great. I was sooooo so excited when I came home and Peter had set it all up. Washing dishes by hand is my very least favorite chore. And Peter never has time, so usually I do them or we have a huge pile next to the sink. Now washing the dishes will be easy! We have yet to try it out, so maybe I won't like it anymore, if it leaks all over the floor or something. But for now, I am THRILLED!

Monday, January 12, 2009

An update

Well everybody I have seen this past week has asked me how Peter's scholarship thing turned out. It just got mostly resolved today. Peter's scholarships came back online, and tuition is taken care of, and he will submit an appeal for the grant. If it doesn't come back, life will go on. At least the scholarships came back.

I don't remember if I posted this or not, but they also took away his grant from last semester and posted on his account that he had to repay it. Thankfully, that was just the result of a computer error and is or will soon no longer say that we owe it back.

We are very blessed!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

An advertisement

This recently appeared on the side of my facebook:

Info on Your Husband.
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Is that not the weirdest advertisement ever? I sure hope that I know my husband's real age, address, and at least some of his relatives. I would especially hope I knew them BEFORE I got married. Crazy. I can't believe they thought that would be an effective headline.

Although, if any of you people are wondering if you've been lied to all these years (or months, as the case may be), I found your website.

Monday, January 5, 2009

First day of school

Today was, unfortunately, our first day back at school. We both could have used another month or so of break, but no such luck. We had lots of fun spending time with family and friends, and wished we could have done more!

Last night, Peter discovered that his scholarship and grant money had all been taken away from his account, and he had a notice saying he no longer qualified, and he had a hold on his registration so he couldn't switch into the classes he wanted to take. Plus, when you are late to pay tuition (as he now was, because when we checked it a week ago the scholarships had paid it all) they report you to the credit agency. It made for a very stressful night and morning.

Turns out Peter can appeal to get his money back. He had taken too many credits, but because he is a double major the chances of a successful appeal are pretty good (we hope!)

My day was fine. My classes today were really easy and I think they will be fun. I had orchestra again for the first time in a year and a half. I have missed playing my viola, so it will be really fun to have a reason to play regularly again.

Hopefully the rest of the semester goes smoothly!