10: English Toffee

My Mom always made English Toffee at Christmas. she would make one batch and hide it in a high cupboard and each day for about a week or so we would each get to pick ONE piece! It was soooo good!


Way to create an overwhelming desire for something Mom! lol.

She never had one recipe but was always looking for the perfect one.
The one I used this year was very very good. and I sent it ALL to Ashley and Scott.( well, mostly all!!)

English Toffee

2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water

combine this in a large heavy sauce pan. bring to a boil stirring till sugar is melted and then boil till syrup reaches about 260 degrees.

add 2 cups of butter (4 sticks, cut into one inch pieces) a few pieces at a time stirring till melted and incorporated.

cook at a nice rolling boil till syrup is a rich brown--about the color of a brown paper bag--and the cold water test yields very crunchy, tender strings of candy. I can't give you an accurate temp, but it is over 300. the look and texture in water is a better test of done-ness. IMO

pour the candy out onto a buttered cookie sheet and let cool. Melt milk chocolate and spread over surface then cover with chopped nuts of choice. I like pecans the best.

I usually only do one side of the candy with chocolate and nuts. it doesn't need both sides, but you can if you want. crack the finished candy into pieces by hitting it with something heavy-ish like an Ice cream scoop or knife handle and you are done.

11 New Decorations

AT LEAST Eleven!!! I got tired of my tree theme. It"s been the same for over 20 years. gold and white with touches of mauve and purple: very elegant, very Victorian and covered with a TON of babies breath. I really liked it but it seemed time for a change, And I had a bunch of cute whimsical tree decorations that I had accumulated but never used ( cause they weren't gold or white or mauve or Victorian! LOL)

So enter the new tree theme. Santas ( mostly) with a touch of contemporary whimsy. bright lime green and red balls. It's really fun!
















I collected Santas from every Place we went in Oregon!

It became the theme of the tirp and I had to buy an extra bag to get all my new treasures home.

I have animal Santas and ship's captain Santas and naked Santas


this little guy is holding a banner that reads, "When you stop Believing in Santa--you get underwear for Christmas!"

there is still lots of room for more on the tree so I expect I'll be adding them for a few years.

12 Low carb Thanksgiving dishes

well maybe not 12 but I did manage to keep ALL of my Thanks giving low carb. It was imperative since I gained a lot of poundage while at Reni's ( i wasn't a very good girl at all when it came to sticking with my eating plan)

we had a small dinner this year as all the other family had other plans already in place. Just Seymour and I, Seth and Peter, a friend of ours. It was very very nice.

Menu: with recipes to follow
Turkey and gravy
sage and onion stuffing
Cauli Mash
broccoli and cheese casserole
tossed salad with pomogranite seeds
sugar free pumpkin pie
lower carb pecan pie

I know that I had some appetizers, but I for the life of me can't remember what!

The dressing--which is a family tradition from my great grandmother-- is generally made with fresh breadcrumbs. It's just breadcrumbs, onion, sage and butter. This year I subbed low carb bread, flax meal and almond meal for the bread. it was delicious.

Cauli mash is steamed cauliflower processed in the food processor with about 4 ounces of cream cheese to one head of Cauliflower. add a little salt and and garlic powder and it's done. This is one of our favorite dishes and we have it a couple of times a week. Its wonderful with gravy. Or without!

The broccoli casserole was a variation of the traditional green been casserole, just for a change. I added some grated cheese to the recipe--the one with the French's onions on top. This is our new tradition, we liked it so much.

the tossed salad was romaine lettuce with cucumber , jicama, Pomegranate seeds and pecan halfs roughly chopped. the dressing is 1/4 cup of walnut oil, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 3 packets splenda, a dash of tabasco and about 1/2 teaspoon salt. this is my FAVORITE salad dressing. soooooo good!


for the pumpkin pie I use the Libby's recipe ( on the can)with the following subs-- half heavy cream and half water in place of the canned milk( saves 20 carbs) 1/4 cup xylitol and18 packets of splenda for the sugar ( saves 150 carbs) and I increase the spices by half again.--(thats just my preference.) bake as per the recipe.

for the crust I use:
1 1/4 cup almond or pecan flour
2 T oat flour
1 T xylitol
1 T poly dextrose ( optional)
4 T melted butter

mix it all together and then just press it into a 9 in pie pan like you do with a graham cracker crust

bake at 350 for about 10 min ( I put foil over the edge to keep it from burning) take out and brush the crust with egg white and bake for an additional 5 min to set it. pour in the pie filling and bake as usual--this is why the foil over the edge becomes important as you are baking the crust twice. but it doesn't work if you don't! this saves about 200 carbs. each piece of pie is under 5 grams carb--a normal piece is about 50!!!!!!!

The pecan pie was very complicated, used a lot of specialty products and wasn't as low carb as I wan'ted it to be. It was for Seymour and he loved it--he doesn't care as much about lower carb as i do as he doesn't have the same metabolic issues I have! if i get it tweaked to my satisfaction I'll post the recipe.