Friday Quote Day

From what we get, we can make a living;

what we give, however, makes a life.

~ Arthur Ashe

I didn't know until I read Jen's blog (I'm still catching up on blog-reading, that's another thing I don't do when I travel) that NaBloPoMo continues all year long with a monthly theme.

(When you hear the word "theme" do you hear the teacher's voice in A Christmas Story announcing that the class assignment is to write - dramatic pause for effect - a theme. Yeah, me, too.)

For December the theme is GIFT.

I didn't even know that when I posted yesterday and gave you all the gift of the Doll Clothes Diet. Heh. And making doll clothes to give to Lucy and Little Pink fits right in with – the theme.

Clearly I'm not going to take this seriously.

Last night for dinner we had beans and rice with some chicken sausage slices thrown in and it just didn't seem like enough. Knowing I wanted to give my husband's son's family some treats when we visit them Sunday, I made some woof bark.

Bark is the easiest edible in the world to make for the holidays, especially if you have a microwave. It's also inexpensive and delicious.

I used half a 14-ounce package of starlight peppermint candies, unwrapped and crushed (I used a marble rolling pin, but a mallet would work, as well), and a one-pound package of vanilla CandiQuik, a foodlike substance which in no way resembles anything healthy. Just so you know. All you have to do is nuke the CandiQuik for one minute, then zap it a couple more times in 15-second increments until it's melted. It will burn easily in the microwave. Ask me how I know. You can also melt it in the oven or on the stove. Complete melting directions are on the package.

Mix the crushed peppermints into the vanilla stuff with a spatula and then turn it out onto a waxed-paper-lined cookie sheet. Pop it in the refrigerator until it hardens and then break it into pieces.

Two ingredients. Ten minutes hands-on time (the most time-consuming part of the whole operation is unwrapping and crushing the mints). Twenty minutes chilling time. Done.

If your husband likes it as much as mine does, you should probably have an extra pound or two hiding in the pantry so you can make more gifty treats. Not a peppermint fan? Try crushed Oreos or nuts for something different.

The recipes on the CandiQuik website are more for dipping other things – pretzels, cake balls, cookies – into it, and I've done that, too.

But the bark is just sooooo easy. And did I mention delicious?