Today is a little different on here. I am in the Christmas mood! Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving and ate more than any human should.
Today we went and got our tree. We searched until we found the one proclaimed by all five of us to be "the perfect tree."
It really is a beauty. More pictures on that to come later. You may not know this but I like to give my Honey a hard time. All in good fun but the girls and I kind of egg each other on.
But really, the poor guy. That tree was prickly. Mercilessly prickly. He had my son pushing it so he could get in there better and I had no idea how painful this was until I volunteered to help. This picture is pre-helping.
Then the poor guy lugged that thing around and loaded it on the sled with no help. I was taking pictures, my son was nursing his flesh wounds and the girls were standing around looking good.
We got it home and that's when the real work began. I mean, anyone who has put up a tree knows the painful part really isn't the prickly branches. It's putting on the lights. But we managed to get them on and get everything decorated and the dog even got in the Christmas mood. He's not crazy about his santa outfit. But he wears it every year for about ten minutes.
By now you are probably wondering where's the recipe? Where's the giveaway? Today, and only today unless there is another giveaway sometime, I am breaking with tradition and there is no recipe. But there is a giveaway. I'm so excited! I have always thought it is so cool when blogs have giveaways so I thought I'd have one here on my little corner of the world. I appreciate my readers and I want you to know that. So, without further ado here is what I am giving away.
Okay, I couldn't resist. I think I'm a little punchy this evening. I am not giving away a llama finger puppet on the head of a toy. Here's the real deal.
That's much better! As you can see, this includes a pack of pretty recipe cards that feature the Bible verse that I like to think of as my blog verse; three yummy tea samples (one white tea, one red tea, one black tea) and a beautiful ornament. I will hold a drawing on Thursday, December 1st wherein one of my lovely or handsome assistants will draw the name of the winner out of a hat. Here's what you need to do to get your name in that hat. Leave a comment below telling me what your favorite Christmas CD is and who it is by ~ a certain singer, group, orchestra . . . I'd love to hear who you like listening to at Christmas. Oh, and since this question may come up you can only enter once. Okay, I think that's it. It's so fun to celebrate Christmas and all the lovely things that come with it!
Today's the big cooking day! While the girls and I were cooking, I commented on how cool it was to think of so many people doing the same thing that we were doing today. All those sweet potatoes cooking, cranberries mashing, green beans stirring into mushroom soup. You get the picture because you were probably doing the same thing. Our extended family lives in another state so we have a long standing tradition of getting together with our good friends whose families are also out of state. They have Thanksgiving and Fourth of July at their house and Easter is at our house. They ended up with two of the holidays because they live closer to the fireworks. But enough July, back to Thanksgiving. I told you I would post a dish that you just may want to add to your table every year and today is the day for that recipe. This was one of those dishes that I got the recipe for and didn't try for awhile. I mean, the name just doesn't beg for everyone in the world to say, "Mmmmmm that sounds so good." But once I tried it, I have made it every year for Thanksgiving and it is a required dish by my daughters. Ready for the name? Carrot Souffle. So easy, so yummy, so sweet and not really carroty. You begin by peeling, cutting, boiling and pureeing one pound of carrots.
You then stir in eggs, sugar, butter, flour, baking powder and vanilla. The picture below is before it's all added and I never took a picture of it all in the bowl waiting to be stirred. Sometimes I don't know what I was thinking.
And here it is all done and ready to go into the oven tomorrow morning.
Don't judge this by the name. Give it a try at least once - remember the parental "one no thank you bite"? I think you will like it! And now, something from my childhood.
I made these when I was 13. Except for the pilgrim boy's creepy eyes, I think I did a pretty good job. I just can't believe that Friday they will be put away with all the other fall decorations so we can put up the tree and the Christmas finery. But before then, it is still the day before Thanksgiving, so I send you and your family wishes for a wonderful day of thankfulness that spills over to a lifetime of thankfulness.
Psalm 67
"God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us - that Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the people praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth. Let the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him."
Carrot Souffle
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into pieces
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 T. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Boil the carrots until very tender. Drain. Process carrots in food processor until smooth. If you don't have a processor, I'm sure you could just mash them because they're pretty soft at this point. But you do want them to end up quite smooth. Stir together carrot puree with remaining ingredients. Spoon into lightly greased casserole. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until set.
It's time to post another recipe and this had to be the one. The reason being, when I made the squash that was my previous post, I served it with this chicken and they went really well together. It was a victorious meal for me. Remember from my past post that my Honey is a real cook. This has not always gone so well for us. He had to learn, the hard way, not to look over my shoulder while I'm cooking giving me advice on how I'm not doing things correctly. Then he had to learn to not inform me at each dinner how I could have made it better. I know. I should appreciate his help since he truly is a real cook but I'm kind of stubborn and it bugged me. I wanted to produce a meal, on my own, that he actually liked. This meal scored me one of the happiest victories of my life. He kept eating, and eating and "mmmmmmm-ing." Oh happy day. Here is a picture of what makes this dinner special.
These are diced.
They are combined with garlic, white wine, paprika and ground red pepper and poured over chicken.
It is baked until the chicken is done.
At this point you can thicken the sauce if you'd like or just serve it as it is, which is what I did. The picture isn't very pretty, but the taste won over my toughest customer. And in the family news . . . we had a surprise party last Saturday. My son planned the whole thing, but then it was for his "daughter" as we call her.
Sathura, or Sassy as we call her turned five. He was pretty excited. When we got her the pet store told us if she made it past a month we were doing good. We're five years into this thing, we must be doing something right. Here is the big surprise moment.
A little blurry but you can still see the excitement. Notice also the cleaning supplies on the bottom left. Lizards don't always have very good bladder control. And here, they are singing happy birthday.
She loves her present. See the smile on her face?
And the party ended with a round of the green machine. Who knew a reptile that never drinks water could hold so much liquid. Thus the reason she is only allowed in my son's bedroom.
We're pretty excited for Thanksgiving less than a week away! I've rolled out the recipes, done the big shopping trip and am waiting with anticipation for the big cooking day. After I do my Thanksgiving cooking I'll have a recipe to post that you may want to add to your Thanksgiving table. Yum yum.
Chicken Breasts With Artichoke-Pepper Sauce
1 (6 oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 cup roasted red bell peppers
4-5 chicken breasts
salt
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
Place the chicken in a casserole and salt to taste. Drain the artichoke hearts, reserving the liquid. Dice the artichoke and peppers then add the remaining ingredients as well as the reserved artichoke liquid. Pour over the chicken. Bake 350 degrees until the chicken is done.
When I was doing the original recipe organizing that got me started on this blog, I found this recipe and thought I'd attach it to a recipe card and give it a try sometime. Last week was that time and wow am I glad I didn't just toss this recipe. My family, except my son whom I cannot get to like squash no matter what, loved it! I think when he matures a little more it will be this recipe that will win him over to the love of squash. At the top of the recipe it appropriately says, "Fresh sage and grated Gruyere make this classic fall dish special." Oh yes it is! So as you have probably guessed, you begin this dish with squash - two acorn squash, halved and seeded, salted and peppered.
Fresh sage is halved and garlic is sliced.
The sage and garlic are combined with cream in a saucepan and simmered.
This smells heavenly. The recipe doesn't say how long to simmer it for so I let it simmer for about five minutes to make sure the flavors combined nicely. It is then poured evenly into the squash halves.
The squash is baked and when tender, grated Gruyere is added to each and they are put back into the oven until the cheese melts. When I went to buy cheese I almost fainted when I was reminded how much Gruyere costs. I opted to use a good quality Swiss instead and since it was cheaper, I added a little more cheese to make it even cheesier.
It's now time to dig in and makes for yet another recipe absolutely perfect for this time of year! Speaking of this time of year. This is always when I get really jealous of my feline friends. There are some cold, rainy fall days I wish I could curl up in a warm little ball of laziness for the whole day.
Gratineed Baked Squash Halves
2 acorn squash, halved crosswise, seeds removed
salt and pepper
1/2 c. heavy cream
8 fresh sage leaves, torn in half
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese (about 2 oz) I used about 1 cup of a good quality Swiss
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place squash halves on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Pour about 1/2 cup to 1 cup water onto baking sheet around squash. Combine cream with sage and garlic in small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and simmer about 5 minutes. Pour evenly into squash halves. Bake until squash are tender when pierced with a fork or knife, approximately 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven; sprinkle evenly with cheese. Continue baking until cheese is melted and golden.
Today it's time to get back to comfort foods. With winter fast on our heels it's time to stock up on those perfect recipes for cold evenings. I got this recipe from a friend many, many years ago. It came to me without measurements. I tried, the last time I made it, to figure out some measurements here and there but in some parts you'll just have to trust your instincts and wing it. I know you'll have no problem since I haven't had any measurements, and remember, I'm just a wannabe cook. To begin this recipe you add flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder to a large ziploc bag. This is one of those trust your instincts parts. Add the chicken thighs and shake to coat. I don't have a picture of this but I do have a picture of chicken thighs and vegetables. Oh, and I accidentally bought boneless thighs. I had no idea they even sold those. I wouldn't do that again. I think the thighs with bones turn out better.
The chicken is added to oil in a pan and browned. Not fully cooked chicken just doesn't make for a pretty picture.
While the chicken is browning, the vegetables are cut into bite size pieces and sauteed (That's spelled correctly. I looked it up.) in oil.
Once the vegetables are tender-crisp, broth is added along with some extra broth mixed with flour for thickening. At this point you also add baby carrots and seasonings. I did attempt to find a measurement for these seasonings. Give my measurements a try and then adjust for your taste. I like the gravy to be very aromatic and well seasoned. Once you have a nice gravy, the chicken is added and the mixture is cooked for 10 minutes.
The final step is adding the dumplings and letting it cook until they are done. This is making me hungry just looking at this. I think I will be making it again real soon.
This past weekend I took our oldest daughter to look at her first college. See the cute little girl on the right in the picture below?
She doesn't own any more Tigger sweatshirts. She has makeup and curling irons. Boy did time fly! She has some big decisions to make. Maybe you also have some big decisions to make in your life. I shared a couple verses with her last month and I'll share them here, for you too.
Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me."
Psalm 142:3 "When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path"
Hope those bring encouragement to you if you needed to hear them today. Enjoy this beautiful day!
Chicken & Dumplings
1 green pepper
3-4 stalks celery
2 large onions
chicken thighs (approximately 10)
baby carrots
3 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
2 c. Bisquick or preferred baking mix
2/3 c. milk
oil
garlic powder
basil
oregano
flour, salt, pepper
Mix flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder in a ziploc bag. Add the thighs and shake to coat. Add to oil in a pan and cook both sides until just browned.
Cut green pepper, celery and onions into bite sized pieces. Saute in oil in dutch oven until tender-crisp. Add 3 cans chicken broth to vegetables. Mix 2-3 Tbsp. flour with some broth for thickening and add to broth. Add 2 t. basil, 2 t. oregano, 1.5 t. garlic powder and baby carrots to broth. Cook until a nice gravy consistency. Adding more flour if necessary. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes on medium heat, making sure mixture is bubbling. Stir occasionally to prevent chicken from sticking to bottom of pan.
Make the dumplings by mixing 2 c. Bisquick with garlic powder and basil to taste, adding 2/3 c. milk and stirring until a soft dough is formed. Drop dough balls on top of veggie/chicken mix and cook 10 minutes uncovered, then 10 minutes covered.
