German Pancakes

German Pancakes have become a Christmas morning breakfast tradition in our family. I don't even remember exactly when or from where I got the recipe. It's included with a bunch of recipes on a two-sided photocopy paper.



What I do know is that these pancakes are delicious. It's fun to watch the German Pancakes puff up while they bake in the oven. They deflate pretty fast once they're removed from the oven though. But that's okay. They're still really yummy. We serve them with sifted powdered sugar and maple syrup.

Here's the recipe. I hope you enjoy these German Pancakes as much as we do.

German Pancakes

Ingredients

5 Tbsp. butter
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

Melt the butter in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Whip remaining ingredients together (don't puree) and pour into melted butter in pan. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes. It puffs up around the edges and can be topped with syrup, peaches, pears, etc.

Serves 4 adults.

Thanks for reading!

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Spritz Cookies

Christmas was only last month, so I think it's fine to share this recipe for Spritz Cookies with you today. I usually make these during the Christmas season. But, they can be made and enjoyed throughout the year by changing the decorating sugar crystals.

These really are deliciously sweet, buttery cookies.

Here's the recipe I use. I adapted it from the Wilton Spritz Cookie recipe found on the Wilton Spritz Cookie Press box that I've had for years.

Spritz Cookies

1-1/2 cups butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp. milk

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 400°. Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour and baking powder. Gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing to make a smooth dough. Do not chill. Place dough into cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with decorating sugar crystals as desired. Bake at 400° 6 to 8 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet. Cool on rack. Enjoy!

Makes 6 dozen cookies.

Recipe adapted from Wilton's Spritz Cookie Recipe found on Wilton Spritz Cookie Press box.

If you've never used a cookie press, here's a helpful video about how to use one.

Thanks for reading!

 
© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

I Love the Book of Mormon

Photo from LDS Media Library

This morning I finished reading the Book of Mormon again. I've read it many times. In fact, I don't even know how many times I've read this precious book of scripture. I love it! I have a testimony of its truthfulness. I know that it is the word of God, and that Joseph Smith did translate it through God's power.

The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ. It is Holy Scripture, just as the Bible is Holy Scripture. In the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we read from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

If you haven't read the Book of Mormon yet, I invite you to do so. It will bless your life. I know that you can gain your own testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. How? By reading the Book of Mormon and then sincerely praying to Heavenly Father and asking Him if the Book of Mormon is true.

Moroni, an ancient prophet in the Book of Mormon, wrote the following invitation to those who read the Book of Mormon. It's found in Moroni 10:4.

"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."

I know Moroni's words are true.

If you don't have your own copy of the Book of Mormon and would like one, you can order a free copy by clicking HERE.

Tomorrow morning I will start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning again. I hope you will join me in reading the Book of Mormon too.

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

The Amazing Display at the End of Christmas Tree Lane

In a previous post I shared photos from our walk along historic Christmas Tree Lane in Fresno, California. During our walk, I recorded a short video of the amazing display near the end of the Lane. I uploaded the video to YouTube today and thought I'd share it here on my blog.

I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Our Walk Along Christmas Tree Lane

On Christmas night last month, our family went for a walk along historic Christmas Tree Lane. I say "historic" because Christmas Tree Lane celebrated its 93rd anniversary last year (2015).

Christmas Tree Lane is a well-known and popular destination in Fresno. And it even made the pages of Sunset Magazine! To read that article, click HERE.

Our family actually started walking along Christmas Tree Lane at the end of the lane. And we didn't walk the whole length of Christmas Tree Lane, which means we only saw part of it. But what we did see was really pretty.

Without further ado, here are some photos from our walk along Christmas Tree Lane.

This amazing display is what we saw first, which is actually at the end of Christmas Tree Lane.

It was so fun spending time together as a family at Christmas. And it was a treat to be together as we walked along Christmas Tree Lane on Christmas night.

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Fun Family Times ~ Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are having a wonderful new year.

Our family had a joyous Christmas and a great start to the new year.

We were able to spend two wonderful weeks with our family during the Christmas and New Year holidays. It was so fun to be together again. Our youngest son has been living with us since his return from serving a 2-year full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arizona. I've shared photos from his mission here on my blog in the past. He's working full time right now but will start attending a local junior college next week, so he'll switch to working part time.

Our four oldest children have "left the nest" and are living out of town. Two are married and we now have one grandchild. During the week of Christmas, all five of our children, our son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and grandson, were staying at our home. It was awesome!

They started arriving on Friday and were all here by Saturday evening. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold or something on Saturday. So, I stayed upstairs a lot to avoid getting family members sick too. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and was prescribed antibiotics and I started to feel so much better. I tend to get sinus infections sometimes when I get colds. Anyway, I was able to spend time with the family after that. Thankfully, no one else caught my illness. 

We took family pictures on Monday, December 21st. It was our first professional family pictures since December 2011. Our photos were taken by Heather Taylor owner of Heather Taylor Photography. She did an amazing job and it was so fun working with her.

On Saturday, the day after Christmas, our son and daughter-in-law left to go spend a week with her family. And our son-in-law left for home on Sunday so he could go back to work on Monday. Our daughter, grandson and two of our sons who live out-of-town stayed with us for the full two weeks. On New Year's Eve our son-in-law joined us again. Our third youngest son has a girlfriend and she flew in to join us for a few days. It was great getting to spend time with her and getting to know her better.

It was so awesome spending time together as a family during those two weeks. We spent time playing games, eating yummy food, making gingerbread houses, watching home movies, walking along Christmas Tree Lane, visiting the zoo, laughing together and generally having fun. What could be better?

Here are a few photos from our fun family times together ~

Making gingerbread houses.

Our visit to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

Walking along Christmas Tree Lane in Fresno.

I'm so thankful we were able to spend time together as a family over the holidays. It sure was fun! I love my family so much!

I'll share more pictures from our visits to the zoo and Christmas Tree Lane in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2016 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

See's Fudge

One of our family's favorite treats is See's Fudge. I've been making this fudge for years and years. I couldn't even tell you how many pounds of fudge I've made since I started making and sharing this fudge with our family and friends at Christmas.

The recipe was given to my mom when I was a child. I don't know if it's really a recipe from See's or not. It has a smooth creamy texture and is delicious and quite popular with my family and friends. 

Here's what you need to make this delicious See's Fudge recipe. You can also include chopped nuts if you'd like. An important note: make sure to measure out your ingredients BEFORE you begin cooking the fudge on the stove.

After measuring the ingredients, butter the stock pot and 13 x 9 inch pan.

Before turning on the burner, add the evaporated milk and sugar.

 Stir to combine.

Turn the burner on to medium heat. Stir the mixture constantly. I also scrape the sides of the stock pot as I stir. 

As soon as you start to see bubbles forming (see the little bubbles in the pot below?), set the timer to 8 minutes. It's important to set the timer as soon as you start to see bubbles forming and not wait until the mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Continue to stir constantly. 

Look  at all of those bubbles! That's what you want. Keep stirring constantly.

When the 8 minutes is complete, remove stock pot from burner. Add the butter and marshmallows first.

Stir until they are mostly melted.

Add chocolate chips. 

Stir to combine.

Add vanilla and stir again.

Immediately pour into prepared 13 x 9 inch pan. 

You'll need to work fast because the fudge will start to set up quickly. Spread in the pan and place in the refrigerator.

Let the fudge set up in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. When ready to serve, remove the foil insert from the pan and cut into squares. Enjoy!

See's Fudge

**Butter pan (13 x 9-1/2) and sides and bottom of heavy large stock pot (I use an eight quart stock pot)

Ingredients

1 lg. (12 oz.) can Carnation Evaporated Milk
4 cups sugar
2-1/4 more or less cups Kraft miniature marshmallows
1-1/3 cubes butter (1/2 cup + 1/3 cube butter)
12 oz. (2 cups) Nestle Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 plus or minus cups walnuts, finely chopped (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Pour evaporated milk into buttered stock pot. Add sugar and stir together. Turn burner on to medium setting. Stirring constantly over medium heat, bring sugar and evaporated milk to boil. As soon as the mixture begins to boil, set timer for 8 minutes. Do not wait for a rapid boil before setting the timer. Set the timer as soon as bubbles begin to form. Boil for 8 minutes while stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add butter and marshmallows. Stir together until mostly melted, then add the chocolate chips and walnuts. Stir well and add 1 tsp. vanilla. Immediately pour in pan and refrigerate.

Makes about 3 lbs.

Note: For easier cutting of fudge, I line the 13 x 9 pan with heavy duty foil and then butter the foil at the same time I butter the stock pot. Simply pour the fudge into the foil-lined pan and refrigerate until firm. Once you're ready to serve, remove the fudge block out of the pan and cut into pieces. Wrap any remaining fudge in foil and place back in the refrigerator.

Thanks for stopping by!

 
© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved