Sugar Cookies

Easy and fun!

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter. Beat in sugars and eggs, then stir in milk and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients, then blend in to make a soft dough. Chill. Roll to 1/8 inch on floured surface, cut with assorted colors. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired and bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Applesauce Spice cookies

I was looking for a cinnamon apple cookie recipe I could use with my new apple-shaped cookie cutter, for my school's upcoming Apple Day carnival. This one fit the bill. I used red and green sprinkles to decorate.

• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves

Cream sugar, butter, applesauce and egg. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices, mix until soft dough forms. Chill at least 1 hour. Roll out on floured cloth to 1/8 inch thickness; cut into desired shapes. Bake on greased cookie sheets at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

Cranberry Champagne Punch

This was enjoyed at a recent departmental party

• 1-2 sliced oranges
  
• 1-2 sliced lemons
  
• 1-2 cups brandy
  
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
  
• 2 cans frozen cranberry juice concentrate
  
• 2 bottles chilled dry champagne
  

Several days before your event, slice lemons and oranges, put in jar with corn syrup and brandy. Soak for several days in refrigerator, shaking occasionally.  Strain and pour into punch bowl along with thawed cranberry juice. Slowly pour in champagne and stir.  I used an ice ring made with cran-raspberry juice, with raspberries and orange slices to garnish.

Ugly Salad

This is one of my mom's favorites.  A good salad to serve for a crowd and the leftovers get better tasting over the next couple of days.

• 1 head lettuce (or two bags)
  
• 1 small onion or 5 green onions
  
• 1 can tiny green peas
  
• 8 slices deli-style Swiss cheese
  
• mayonnaise
  
• sugar
  
• salt 
  
• pepper
  

Tear lettuce into bits, place one layer in bottom of serving bowl. Slice onion thin and separate into rings, place 1/3 on top of lettuce layer. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons peas over onion.  Slice cheese into thin strips and put on top of peas.  Put 4-5 spoonful-sized dollops of mayo on top of cheese layer, sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon sugar and a dash of salt and pepper on each dollop. Do not stir. Repeat lettuce, onion, pea, cheese and mayo layers twice more.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Toss just before serving.

World's Easiest fudge recipe

My Girl Scouts did this recipe at our last meeting:  It's a breeze.

• 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
  
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  
• dash salt
  

Line 8" by 8" pan with foil.  Melt all ingredients together over low heat. Spread in pan.  Chill 2 hours until firm.

More crafts from David and Saul

One thing about going through the whole book of 2 Samuel with school aged children, there are a lot of violent stories.  The week when Saul killed himself was especially challenging. But, weapons-based craft projects are pretty appealing. Here I cut out a sword pattern on posterboard and let them cover the blade with aluminum foil. I think adding the plastic jewels on the handles helped it be more appealing to the girls, but even the boys enjoyed decorating them. The memory verse from Proverbs: "Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" helped tone down the violent tendencies.

For the story of David bringing the ark back to Jerusalem (and Uzzah's unfortunate demise we made Ark of the Covenants, adapted from this version on Danielle's place. I changed it by pre-hotgluing small gold jump rings to one popsicle stick, then having the kids thread a gold-pained coffee stirrer-sized stick through that for the carrying pole. Thankfully, they sell gold tempera paint at Michael's, so you don't have to deal with spray paint, or use yellow and brush with gold glitter.

Nathan's Lamb Parable Craft

Tomorrow in Sunday School we are making our own version of this lamb craft, because, well, let's face it, there isn't much else from the story of David and Bathsheba schoolchildren can safely immortalize in cardboard, Magic marker and white glue. Only, instead of the scissors, the lamb is holding a scroll with the week's memory verse: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Psalm 51: 10-11.