Organizing the Storage Area

Every year, my storage area gets out of control. After school starts, you have 3 major holidays one after the other. We are always digging something out of there and nothing ever gets put back in the right spot. So, we took the time this weekend to put it back together. My before pictures didn't turn out but here are the afters:

This is our short term storage.

And this is Christmas and long term storage.

Holy Snow Drift Batman!

It's time for another Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom or Wordful Wednesday on SevEn cLoWn CirCus:-)

It was as high as our fence!!!

Merry Christmas Everybody:-)

Susie's Oh My Gosh Ganache Chocolate Cheesecake

Here my next entry in my Christmas Menu : Susie's Oh My Gosh Ganache Chocolate Cheesecake.

I have been making this cheesecake for Christmas for over 10 years and it is always a hit. That's the "Oh My Gosh" part.


The ganache part is the glaze and the truffles on top.



And the chocolate cheesecake is the cake inside:-)

Ingredients:

For Cake:

1-1/4 cups chocolate wafers, crushed

1/4 cup butter, melted

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

3-8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tbls vanilla

1-1/2 cups sour cream

For Ganache:

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tbls unsalted butter

For Whipping Cream for Assembly of the Cake:

1/4 cup whipping cream

2 tbls powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine chocolate wafer crumbs and butter and stir well. Press crumb mixture into bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Chill.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, melted chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Fold in sour cream. Pour mixture into crumb crust.

3. Wrap bottom and sides of the springform pan in foil and put it in a roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water until it is half-way up the springform pan. Bake the cheesecake in the water bath for 1 hour and 10 minutes at 325. Turn off the oven and let cheesecake stand in the oven for 30 minutes with the oven door ajar. Remove and cool on wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 8 hours.

4. For the ganache, place chocolate in a medium heat-safe mixing bowl. Heat cream and butter over medium heat then, bring to boil. Immediately pour cream over chocolate and mix until the chocolate is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes.

5. Place the fully chilled cake on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Using a cake spatula, cover the sides and the top of the cake with about 4 tablespoons of the ganache to create a crumb coat. Chill. To cover cake, pour the remaining ganache into the center of the cake. Working quickly, spread with a spatula over the sides of the cake to create an even coating of ganache.

6. To make the truffles, strain the left over ganache. Then, spread it out in a line layer on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Chill 30 minutes. Scrap off balls of the layer with a melon baller to form 14 truffles. Chill for 30 minutes to set the balls. Dip each ball in powered sugar.

7. To assemble, make the whipping cream. Chill a small bowl and your beaters. Put the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla in the bowl and whip until stiff. Fill a pastry bag with a star tip and pipe 14 stars on top of the ganache frosted cake. Place one truffle on top of each star. Chill for 5 minutes to set. Serve and enjoy:-)

Serves 14

Friday's Foto Fun with a Christmas Concert

It's time for Carrie's Friday Foto Fun:-)

This little girl had her first Christmas concert on Wednesday night. I am glad that I took these pictures because the ones in the church didn't turn out:-(

Gardening Thursday

Update: I have decided that this is my Glamorous post of the month:-) Don't know what I am talking about? Check out the party going on here:

I haven't written about my indoor garden in a while. That's because I have neglected my little project and everyone down there is mad at me. This weekend, I hoped to remedy my oversight. I transplanted them and here is what they look like now:

The basil is really mad at me:

The lettuce looks a little bit better:

The Meusclin will survive:

But the parsley and I are not even on speaking terms:

Wish me luck on our road to recovery:-)

First Manicure Ever!

Not bad:-)

I Wasn't Going to Try

But, my husband decided to buy these for me. So, I am going to attempt too not kill these this year! Wish me luck:-)

Santa's Bag Cupcakes

This week was Iron Cupcake: Milwaukee's Christmas Challenge . We were to create cupcakes that look, taste or are inspired by the holiday season. This is my entry: Santa's Bag Cupcakes.

Santa's Bag is a cherry red velvet cupcake with

white peppermint "fringe",

a cherry licorice tie and

white chocolate gifts.

Friday's Foto Fun with First Snow

It's time for Carrie's Friday Foto Fun:-)

She was fine until the neighbor boy hit her in the face with a shovel. (Don't worry, she is fine)

Winter Plants

As the Christmas decorations go up inside, the winter plants get switched out for the fall plants outside. This is an experiment this year. We will see how many survive our Wisconsin winter.

I thought the silver plants would look good sparkling with snow.

And the mini evergreens just speak winter to me:

I even got little trees:

Wish me luck:-)

Christmas Decorations

Here is the before:

During:

After:

And my favorite:


This was the first present my oldest daughter ever made me. It is always front and center and always the first to go on the tree.