No Sugar Added Peanut Butter Coconut Bonbons

The holidays sparked a new recipe in the Hunt/Young/Milam households. It all started with my comment that it just wasn't fair for my mother's family (the Milam clan) to expect the diabetics of the family (the Young family unit) to make the peanut butter bonbons every years for Christmas. Maybe I'm wrong, but there's just something about a recipe that measures its sugar content in pounds... anyway, I decided to try to do something about that, and here's what I came up with:


No Sugar Added Peanut Butter Coconut Bonbons

2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups Splenda granulated
1/2 cup butter
1 pound almond flour
1 8-oz. package of unsweetened, finely shredded coconut
4 bags Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips
1/4 lb. Parafin wax


If you have a stand mixer, it's a great tool to use for this. If not, well, wash your hands and just dig in when things get too stiff for your mixer.

In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter & butter. Add in Splenda slowly, mixing well. Add in almond flour and coconut slowly also, making sure that everything gets mixed in well.

Roll filling into small balls (about 1 teaspoon in size), then chill in refrigerator while preparing chocolate.

Melt chocolate and approximately 1/4 pound parafin wax in a double boiler. Spread out wax paper on the counter where you will be setting the bonbons. Spear a bonbon with a toothpick or skewer and dip into chocolate, rolling slightly to make sure it is all covered. Gently set bonbon on wax paper and twist the toothpick/skewer to remove it. Lay the tip on top of the bonbon and gently roll the chocolate over the hole left by the toothpick. Repeat for the rest of the bonbons. Let sit overnight, then store in sealed containers. They store very well in the fridge.

Makes about 125 bonbons at 1 teaspoon size. I cannot guarantee that all of them will make it to the wax paper, or from there to the tins. There always seem to be a few, um, casualties along the way... At this size, each bon bon has about 80 calories and less than 4 carbs, less than 2 grams of sugar. If I'd used no sugar added peanut butter, that would go down some, too. I would not suggest using light butter - it simply does not work well, and we never let my mother forget it.

A Memorable Christmas

Hello all,

I hope everyone has had a beautiful Christmas. It's been a most memorable one for us. This is going to be a looonnngggg post.

We found out on Wednesday that one of the elderly members of our church was missing, had been since the night before. He's 81 and was stopped Tuesday night for suspected DUI. He wasn't, but he was very disoriented and couldn't remember how to get to where he was going. The kind officer pointed him in the right direction and let him go. News story

He never made it to where he was expected. It was reported Tuesday night, but there's that whole "Must wait X hours before doing anything" jazz. I really think that should be a case by cae thing - the man was 81 years old, obviously disoriented when he was stopped, and it was really crappy out Tuesday night. I would think that the officer would have called a county officer to follow Sam home to make sure he made it or something, but I digress..

A bunch of folks from the community and rescue squad went out on Wednesday looking for him. Jack and several other church members joined them. His car was found wrecked on a mountain road, about 5,000 feet in elevation. It was freezing and wet Tuesday night. No sign of him at all. It didn't look very good for his chances. Weather was really crummy and visibility almost zero Wednesday while they were searching - cold, foggy, wet, just plain crummy. The search was called off when it got dark. The hope was that he'd walked up the road when his car wrecked and somebody picked him up, took him to a hopsital somewhere, and he was a John Doe waiting to be found.

Today dawned bright and clear. The helicopters were called out to search a wider area from the air. With the leaves off the trees, there was a chance he would be seen. We really didn't have much hope for finding him alive. It had to have been a horrible day at his home.

But, there's proof that God still answers prayers - Sam was found several miles away from his car, cold and hungry, but otherwise in good shape. He was being taken to UT hospital the last that we heard, to be treated for hypothermia. Thank you God, for what must have been a very special Christmas gift for Sam's family.


In other Christmas news:

Jack and I were able to go up to my folk's house for a few days last week. It was really nice to be able to go and actually spend some time with my family instead of rush up, eat, open gifts, then rush home.

One of the days was spent with Danny and Kayla for what turned out to be Danny's first real visitation with her where he did more than just drop by her house for a little while. She is an absolute little doll! She doesn't know a stranger, and is a very happy baby as long as she has the right binky. Danny found out the hard way that not all binkies are created equal when he tried to put her down for a nap with an unfamiliar one.


Another day, Jack spent with Dad while I went shopping with my sister and mother for our annual Christmas outfits. We do this every year - go shopping with our mother and pick out an outfit each. Mom buys them, we wrap them and put them under the tree, and act surprised when we open them later. Sounds a little odd, I know, but it's what Mom wants to do, and we're guranteed to get something we like that fits. She's still tickled that we head straight to the clearance racks, says it's a sign that she taught us well...

This year, Mom fell in love with a particular sweater. My sister found some components of an outfit in the same store, and when Mom paid for Melissa's clothes, she bought the sweater, too. Later that evening, Mom & Dad went to a Christmas party after tossing the bags of clothes at my sister and me to wrap up. The sweater was in there, so we wrapped it up and tagged it to Mom from us. When Mom opened the box, she got pretty teary-eyed. "Ohhhh.... you saw how much I liked this and snuck back and got it!..." And she was dead serious. "Uh... Mom.... you bought it..." She thought she'd put it down somewhere.

And this, my friends, is what I have t look forward to, as I become more and more like my mother every day...

We also had the opportunity to visit with friends in Columbus while we were up, and made the traditional peanut butter bon-bons. Somehow, it's not quite fair for the family chock-full of diabetics to end up making something that measures it's sugar content in pounds, but we have a lot of fun anyway.

I was having fun with PhotoShop here..

Wednesday for me was spent working frantically on a quilt that needed to be gifted on Christmas day. I hadn't even started it Wednesday morning. I'll post pics later - I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

This morning, Jack and I proved that we're techno geeks to the core - I gave him an MP3 player and a USB turntable that hooks up to the converts and converts vinyl LPs and 45's (remember those?) to MP3 format. He gave me a Bamboo Fun pen pad. It works with my graphics programs and allows me to draw or handwrite directly into the project. I spent some time playing around with it tonight while jack started searching for MP3s to download.

And, since this post is becoming hideiously long and it's just after 2:00am, I'm going to hop off here. Tomorrow, er, later today will be spent baking and making goodies to take to WV on Saturday, so it may be awhile before I finish my account of the holiday.

Beware of the Dog House

Takes a while to load, almost 5 minutes of viewing time, but bwahahahahaha....


http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/

If you have RealPlayer, you should be able to download it pretty quick and see it full size, or go to http://bewareofthedoghouse.com/VideoPage.aspx and watch it there. I think JC Penney hosts it, and they have links to ways to get out of the doghouse and you can put somebody in the doghouse there. Haven't tried it yet -can't really think of who I know that needs to be in there. :o)

Next Friday, the big Date

Jack and I have a date with our newest granddaughter, Kayla, next Friday afternoon. We're going up to visit my parents on Wednesday, and not coming back until Sunday. Danny gets Kayla Friday, so that's when we get to meet her. We'll have her most of Friday, taking her back home Friday night. Danny says this will be his first excursion out with her on his own, so this should be interesting. And, he finally was able to get a decent picture of her:

She's such a cutie! Not that grandmothers are ever biased or anything...

We also get to meet the other grandparents, too, which I'm looking forward to. My theory is this - if I can get in good with the other grandparents, it won't matter if the parents are or are not speaking, I can call the other grandparents and see about visiting with Kayla when we go up. :)

In other grandbaby news, Jessica goes on the 22nd for the ultrasound that will tell her if she's carrying a boy or a girl.

Christmas is Tight This Year

I just got this from my friend, Tina. I had to share...

My Dear Friends,

This is somewhat embarrassing to admit - I'm not getting
an annual bonus and Christmas is tight this year. I will be
making bedroom slippers for you all as gifts. Please let me
know your sizes.

You'll most likely agree that it's a splendid idea, and
should you wish to do the same, I've included the
instructions below.

How to Make Bedroom Slippers
out of Maxi Pads

You need four maxi pads to make a pair.

Two of them get laid out flat, for the foot part. The other
two wrap around the toe area to form the top. Tape or
glue each side of the top pieces to the bottom of the foot
part.

Decorate the tops with whatever you desire, silk flowers
(this is most aesthetically appealing), etc.

These slippers are:
* Soft and Hygienic
* Non-slip grip strips on the soles
* Built in deodorant feature keeps feet smelling fresh
* No more bending over to mop up spills
* Disposable and biodegradable
* Environmentally safe
* Three convenient sizes: (1.) Regular, (2.) Light and
(3.) Get out the Sand Bags.

I've attached a photo of the first pair I made so that you
can see these nifty slippers for yourself....




When I read this to my husband, he pointed out that if you just use them sticky side against your feet, you wouldn't need the toe strap and you could go skating on the linoleum at the same time.

Gotta' love the holidays!

Really, I do! Last night, our church choir sang in the middle of Town Square. Today, we had our church fellowship dinner, and the choir sang again for the church itself. Life is good, eh? Nothing like singing carols to get you in the Christmas spirit. :o)

Okay, break time's over... I have GOT to get this quilt done tonight so I can move on to the next one...

The Branches of Monroe County

I talked to Denise, the woman who asked me to work with the developing domestic violence shelter. It will be called The Branches of Monroe County, after the Bible verse in which Jesus says "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John, 15:5).

I'm going to serve on the board of directors. Our first meeting will be this Saturday, where I expect that I'll be voted in as the secretary/treasurer because that's one of my strengths. I've also volunteered to develop a website for the organization and have researched available urls. We'll probably vote on that Saturday, too, along with starting to develop the official mission statement and all of the fun things needed to qualify as a non-profit organization. I'm getting into uncharted territory for me here, so this will be an adventure.

Gettin' ready for the holidays...

So Jack and I have decided that a few, well chosen gifts are the way to go this year. Not necessarily the most expensive, but thoughtful and really in tune with the intended recipients. I broached the subject of perhaps not getting each other any gifts since we usually just go get what we want anyway, but he's already got one for me picked out. Well, rats... now I have to find something he'd like that he hasn't already bought. Hmm....

I spent much of Friday on the computer, doing my Black Friday shopping. The people that get out there at 5:00am can have it. Every time I've attempted to get those "deals", the one I went after sells out right before my turn in line gets there, and the stuff that I do find and buy, I find cheaper 2 weeks later.

I'm making some of our Christmas gifts this year, mostly quilts for the little ones on the gift list. Jenna is a Backyardigans nut, and I came into a piece of Backyardigans character fleece that will make a very nice backer for a flannel top. I'm thinking some large patches, ragged together on the top, and tied instead of quilted. The fleece will limit how big it can be, but it will be the perfect size for a 2-1/2 year old to drag around where ever she wants to.

For Kayla, I have pink flannel with white kittens on it (of course I'm going to do kitties for the new baby! Mawmaw *is* a cat-nut after all!) along with some purple and white flannels. I'm thinking about rag quilting this one, too. Flannel makes such a pretty rag quilt, and it's quick.

I also drew one of our nieces' new baby in the family drawing. Kennedy is 5 weeks old now, abosolutely adorable, and her room has been decorated in, get this - Pink John Deere Camo. Some strange looking stuff, to say the least... I got the last of it that the fabric store had.

I need to finish the quilt I'm working on for the couple at church, too, before I can start any of the others. I should have the bulk of it finished tomorrow, just need to do the binding. It's a neat design that I thought up after seeing an afghan done similarly. I quilted 6" wide strips, 7 of one fabric, 7 in white, then wove them together. The "quilting" is consisting of stitching the strips together to keep baby from getting caught inside them, and some colorful buttons at the intersections.

So yeah, I'm gonna' be busy...

Jack thought of a great gift for our son-in-law. He is the head baseball coach and an assistant football coach for the local high school, along with some little league referee tossed in there in his free time. We ordered an engraved whistle for him, in a nice wooden box that will be engraved with his name, the high school name, and the mascot's paw prints (bear).

For Jack's mom, I took a picture of her with all of her kids that we took this summer and put it in a scrapbooking layout. Part of the layout included all of their names in a Scrabble letter layout. Then I sent it off and had it made into a puzzle. She loves Scrabble, and she likes puzzles.

I have gifts for my mother and Jessica, but sometimes they read my blog, so I'm going to keep mum on it.

Now to figure out what to make/get for my father, Jack's father, my sister & her boyfriend...