Chocolate Vanilla-Mint Fudge

You might be surprised to know that St. Patrick's Day is my very favorite holiday!  There's no one big reason why, in fact I'm not really sure myself.  I have happy memories of the St. Patrick's Day festivities in my hometown and I love all things Celtic---maybe I just love having another excuse to make treats.  Ha!

I've been writing a series called Great Grandma's Kitchen where I feature recipes that I've found in the big box of cookbooks and recipes that once belonged to my great-grandma and great-great grandma.  They're treasures for sure!

Recently, I was looking through a recipe box, trying to find something chocolatey to show off, and I came across several versions of the same recipe.  Most everyone is familiar with "Magic Fudge"---the kind where you just mix up chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk---melt it, chill it and eat it!  Well, according to grandma's recipe box, this one has been circulating for awhile under a couple of other assumed names!

This Nestle® version from 1957 is called, Safety Fudge, and involves melting the chocolate chips over hot water (double boiler method) to make it "safe" for children to make.  The tag line invites moms to "let junior chefs make it" and suggests adding peanut butter, nuts, raisins, Nescafe®, or gumdrops.  Gumdrops?  Well...maybe.

A little later version is called 12- Minute Magic French Fudge and was put out by Eagle® Brand.  What makes this one "French" is beyond me, but maybe they were playing to a '60s fad.

Here's my version.  Maybe someday my great granddaughter will be sharing it with her friends!

Chocolate Vanilla-Mint Fudge

2 c. chocolate chips
2 c. white chocolate chips
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. peppermint extract
green food coloring

Line the bottom of a square pan with wax paper (I used an 8 inch pan) and set aside.  Place the chocolate chips and half the can of sweetened condensed milk in a bowl and microwave/stir until smooth.  Pour into the pan and spread evenly.  Place the white chocolate chips and the rest of the milk into a bowl and microwave/stir until smooth.  Add peppermint and food coloring, stir well, spread evenly over chocolate fudge.  Use a knife to swirl parts of the two fudges together for a pretty design.  Refrigerate until firm then place on counter until it reaches room temperature.  Run a knife around the edges of the pan and turn the fudge out onto a cutting board.  Remove the wax paper and cut into squares.

Linking with:

Happy Homemaker Monday

The Art of Homemaking
No Place Like Home

Inspiration Monday @ Your Homebased Mom

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Motivate Me Monday 

Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 

Living Proverbs 31

Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 

A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 

Making Your Home Sing Monday
Make It Pretty Monday
Our Home of Many Blessings

Origami Owl Giveaway

I'm happy to introduce Patricia from A Taste of Something Unimaginable, who is teaming up with Origami Owl, to bring my readers a great giveaway!

Here's what Patricia has to say about her experience with Origami Owl:

A Giveaway Event Brought to you By

A Taste of Something Unimaginable

and Owlcharmyou.origamiowl.com

Welcome to the Owl Charm You giveaway event. For a while now Origami Owl has been making amazing necklaces that are built to tell a story. Completely personalized to describe your life. I had seen pictures of these necklaces floating around on Facebook, but I did not know just how many charms there are to choose from. It took me forever to go through all the charms because I just couldn't decide on one! There were so many cute charms that could have described something about me. Once you actually receive the necklace you open the adorable box and you actually put the necklace together yourself. I was worried about this at first but it is actually really easy and fun.

The independent designer who worked with us for this giveaway event was Leslie Rhoads, and you can purchase your own living locket from her website http://owlcharmyou.origamiowl.com!

Now on to the good stuff. One lucky winner will receive a gift card to make their own Origami Owl necklace! I know you all are as excited as I am about Origami Owl. 

You can win it from the rafflecopter below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kleenex Softness Worth Sharing #SharetheSoft #CBias

According to Kleenex®, hands are "only as clean as the towel used to wash them."  Isn't that the truth?  When Lynzie and I went shopping for Kleenex® Hand Towels at Walmart today, we were on a mission to find a few items to help prevent germs in our home this flu and cold season.  You can read more about our shopping trip in my Google+ album.

Unfortunately, our store did not carry the bundle packs we were looking for, but we did find this pretty box of hand towels very easily.  While we're not going to be able to afford disposable hand towels on a regular basis for this family of 11, it's good to know we have this easy option during a time of year when illnesses spread easily.

Kleenex® Hand Towels are great for the kitchen, utility room, and bathroom, but I think we'll use ours in the bathroom most often.  We don't have anywhere to keep the box in the kitchen or utility room but it looks great on our bathroom counter!

In addition to our hand towels, Lynzie and I picked up a few more things to help fight the battle of the bacteria in our home.

One of the very best things we can do to fight germs is to use a good hand soap regularly.  We chose one for the kitchen and one for the bathroom.

Old shower curtains harbor a lot of bacteria so we bought a new pretty one for Spring.

It's also important that our cleaning tools are in good shape.  I use a new toilet brush every time I clean the toilet.  At less than $1 each, this is an expense I'm willing to deal with for the sake of keeping things less germy.

Kleenex® has been a trusted brand for me as long as I can remember.  I rely on the good quality, affordable price, and large selection of products Kleenex® provides.  I'm glad to know there's a trusted alternative to bacteria-friendly cloth towels when I'm worried about germs being spread in my home.

Connect with Kleenex®:

Kleenex® at Walmart
Kleenex® on Twitter
Kleenex® on Facebook

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Kleenex® Brand Tissues.  All opinions are honest and are my own.  #CBias #SocialFabric



#SharetheSoft