Today is a day of confessions. I'm not sure why. Maybe because one of the recipes I'm sharing I've made several times, but today I had a not so great time getting it right and it made me crabby. Or maybe it's the New Year thing. At any rate, I'm laying out a few of my quirks. Oh there are many but I don't want this post to go quite that long. First of all, the next time I go to the grocery store and remember everything will be the first time. Ever. This makes my Honey crazy. He'll ask me to get the items he needs for a recipe he's making and he can pretty much count on me forgetting at least one item. He loves me anyway. Here he is handing over his title of Christmas Poker Champion. Yes, that's right here's a confession. We play poker on Christmas Eve day and whoever wins gets bragging rights for the year. I'm the first in our family to have the distinction of winning twice.
Anyhow, I have three things I always have to make for New Year's Eve. One of them is an incredible Warm Fudge-Filled Cheesecake, another is Spinach Artichoke Dip, the third is a pineapple cheese ball and they all are recipes from my friend Michelle. I needed to get my cooking done today and when I started the cheesecake, guess what? I discovered I had bought one less cream cheese than I needed and was out of vanilla. So off to store I went. When I came home I realized I had forgotten one of the things I wanted to get. I only needed three food items and I forgot one. So, I got a bit cranky and forgot to take pictures. But I'll post the recipe for the cheesecake and cheese ball. I'll post the dip another time, with pictures, I hope. Here's another confession. I always crave chocolate. That's not my confession, that's pretty normal. But lately I have also had a huge craving for these:
It doesn't have to be this brand. Any bread and butter pickles will do but I'll go through a jar in two to three days. That is just weird. I can't figure it out and no there are no little ones on the way. This lovely lady would give anything to have a baby brother or sister but she'll just have to settle for the cats.
Here is my final confession for this post. I am a thrower, I have no problem getting rid of things. I don't like feeling cluttered, and here comes the confession. I can't throw a good box away. Here's my attic.
It looks better on here than in person. I think it's because they're stacked since they had taken over and I couldn't get through to put Christmas things away. I tell myself I won't keep any more and then the UPS man delivers a beauty that just begs to join the others in the honor of being "a perfect box." This is why I like that gift bags are so popular. Well, except I noticed yesterday my gift bags are now entering confession worthy stage. Sending wishes for a fun, safe New Year celebration and I'll see you in 2012! Oh, and I forgot to mention, this cheesecake is amazing both warm and cold. I have yet to decide which way I like it better.
Warm Fudge-Filled Cheesecake
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla, divided
2/3 cup chopped pistachios
4 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened (remember to buy them all)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 (12 oz) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate morsels (Ha ha. I just
noticed you're suppose to use mini-morsels. I never
saw that before)
Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; add 1/3 cup sugar, beating well. Gradually add flour, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in 1 tsp. vanilla and pistachios. Press into bottom and 1 1/2 inches up sides of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Cool. Beat cream cheese at medium speed until light and fluffy, gradually add 1 1/2 cps sugar beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until yellow disappears. Stir in remaining 2 tsp. vanilla. Do not over mix. Pour half of batter into prepared crust; sprinkle with chocolate morsels to within 3/4 inch of edge. Pour in remaining bater, starting at outer edge and working toward center. Place cheesecake on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Turn off oven and let stand in over one hour.
Pineapple Cheese Ball
1 8 oz. cream cheese
1 3 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped onion
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
salt and pepper to taste
chopped nuts (I like pecan chips) and parsley flakes
Cream the cheese. Gradually add the crushed pineapple, then the onion and salt and pepper. Chill for at least one hour. Shape into a ball. Roll in nut/parsley mixture. Serve with crackers.
As pretty much everybody knows . . . Christmas is almost here!!! There is so much excitement at our house. I'm so glad to experience first hand that teenagers get as excited as small children. We've been listening to lots of Christmas music! We could listen to our Christmas music on iTunes for twenty-five hours before it would start over. But every year you just have to add more right?! One of my all time favorites is "Joy to the World." Some Christmas songs are slow and sad but that one is so, well, joyful! It truly is a joy to the world that Jesus came.
Are you ready for the big day? If you haven't gotten all your cookies baked and you need one more really good recipe, I have the one for you. I got this recipe from my friend Angel and it is so chocolaty amazing.
When you bite into them, the inside is fudge city. At first, when you combine the dough and put it in the refrigerator, you think there is no way the dough is going to harden up so you can form cookies. But it does. I baked them for 10 minutes and when I took them out they were still super doughy but I didn't want to over cook them. I remembered how the original dough firmed up in the fridge so I stuck the cookie tray in the freezer and soon they were perfect! These cookies are so quick and easy to make and seriously packed with a chocolate punch. And now I have a cute Christmas craft to share with you that I can share on here because it involves food. My friend Teresa makes these and gave me this one.
Isn't it cute? And I found out it is the perfect size to complete our gingerbread scene.
We're still waiting for snow. We put a pond in last summer and we want to ice skate.
We'll have to just keep watching the weather report and hoping! I believe this will be my last post before Christmas so our family sends wishes to you and to your family for the very merriest Christmas!
Chocolate Truffle Cookies
4 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup flour
2 T. baking cocoa
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Confectioners' sugar
In a microwave or double boiler, melt unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup of chocolate chips and butter, cool for 10 minutes. In a mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs for 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla and the chocolate mixture. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt and beat into chocolate mixture. Stir in remaining chocolate chips. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. With lightly floured hands, roll into 1-in balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly puffed and set - tops will have cracked slightly. Cool on pans or place pans in freezer for 3-4 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar.
As I contemplated what to share next, I realized I wanted to share something Christmasy but I don't make anything all that amazingly different at Christmas time. I love our cookies, but they're pretty much the same thing everyone else makes. Our Christmas dinner is Thanksgiving all over again. So nothing new there. This put me in a quandary. I looked that up. It is defined as a difficult situation or dilemma. That seems pretty dramatic. It's more appropriately, a small quandary that was easily solved. Growing up, my dad never used the word "drink." He always asked people if they'd like a beverage and thus the title of this post since that just somewhat stuck with me. And that is what I am sharing today - two very good Christmas beverage recipes. I love making these, especially if we're having groups of people over. Unfortunately I have no pictures of my own since I haven't made them yet this year. I did find some pictures online. I love this punch bowl.
The first beverage (or drink if you weren't raised by my dad) is Hot Cocoa Nog. If you like egg nog and if you like chocolate it is pretty much guaranteed you will love this. Granted, you would probably have to run a marathon to work off the calories from one cup but we don't talk calories during December.
The other is called Hot Christmas Drink. Yes that word is used. This is quite sweet, so I usually add a little more water than called for but this is also definitely a favorite.
Now, for the family news. My daughters and I had Christmas lunch today.
They're pretty fun to hang out with. We have the same quirky sense of humor, also from my dad. Sometimes we buy things that my husband just rolls his eyes at. Here is the ornament we fell in love with as we shopped after lunch. I bought one for each of us.
They are the funniest green sweater wearing llama/reindeers with googly legs. They make us smile. The girls also got hippo "sock monkeys." Did you know they make those? I also had to include a picture from Reindeer Cookie Day 12. Here they are!
It was a pretty creative year. I think we get less and less reindeer every year. That's okay. We love seeing what they'll come up with. And as promised in an earlier post, here is a picture of the tree my poor husband had to endure being poked and stabbed by. I love it!
It was worth every poke. But then, that's easy for me to say. And now, with the tree up, the cookies made and most of our traditions enjoyed, we're looking at the sky saying, LET IT SNOW!!! We're definitely dreaming of a white Christmas!
Hot Cocoa Nog
30 oz. EggNog
3 cups milk
1/2 cup chocolate syrup
1 T. vanilla
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Mix the ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once heated, pour into mugs and enjoy!
Hot Christmas Drink
12 oz. can frozen grape juice
6 oz. can frozen orange juice
10 cans water (or more)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. whole cloves
4 sticks cinnamon
4 T. lemon juice (from a bottle, doesn't have to be fresh)
Place all in a saucepan and boil 5 minutes, stirring often. Drain spices out. Add lemon juice.
The kids and I are in the midst of excitedly anticipating a very fun Christmas tradition. Maybe it's something you've already seen or heard of and you may even already have the recipe that is involved in this. But I had to share this today because if you haven't seen this you'll love how adorable it is!
The reindeers with the brown eyes and red noses are what I am talking about. The other random things are due to creativity not being stifled in the cookie makers. Here are the cookie makers 11 years ago.
We started this tradition appropriately named "Reindeer Cookie Day" twelve years ago! I didn't have a digital camera the first year so the picture isn't on my computer but it's hard to believe we've been doing this for so many years. Always with our very good friends. Here the kids are on the milestone 10th annual reindeer cookie day.
My friend and I always crack up because these two:
pretty much always stick to the task at hand and make reindeer. They are both very responsible, follow the rules, oldest children. And these three:
typically break off and make all kinds of non-Christmas craziness including this chihuahua and other assorted unidentifiable things in the background. And the past few years have ended with the biggest reindeer cookie of all to be shared after all their hard work.
It is such a fun time and a tradition I hope is able to continue for many more years! In fact, they'll be over next Monday for year number twelve and we are so excited. And now for another Christmas tradition that is a non food tradition. When we go away on vacation we leave our dog at the most wonderful kennel in the world. They baby him and love on him and treat him like one of their own. So he gets dressed up every year and sends his kennel owners a Christmas card. Here is his picture for this year.
Look at that beautiful smile. That is one happy shepherd. I'm sure you are in the midst of celebrating many of your own family's Christmas traditions. I send many wishes for wonderful memories as you enjoy each one.
Peanut Butter Reindeer
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
mini pretzels
m&m's
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars and egg thoroughly. Mix all dry ingredients together and blend into butter mixture. To make a reindeer roll one ball of dough approximately 1-1/4" diameter and a second ball approximately 1" diameter. Position the small ball under the large ball on a cookie sheet then lightly press down and together to form the shape of a reindeer. Press two pretzels into the top for antlers. Add m&m's for the eyes and nose. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
It's December 1st! The advent calendars kicked in today at my house. At the end of today's blog I will share with you what I think, in my humble opinion, is the best advent calendar ever. But first, the winner of the giveaway. With the assistance of my lovely assistants a name was drawn.
And the winner is . . .
Congratulations! I will come by someday soon to deliver this cute bag of goodies.
I know you will love the ornament especially. It is beautiful on the front center of the tree as a reminder of what this time of celebration we are in is truly about.
Now, as promised, back to the recipes. I've got another good one today! This recipe came to me from my friend Cheryl and it is a winner. So good, so good for you! How can you top that? You start with mostly many yummy and distinct flavored root vegetables. Notice the cup of coffee in the picture below. I added it in there because with this many veggies to wash, peel and cut, a good cup of coffee is nice to enjoy while you're doing it. The good thing, though, is that the veggies are cut very large, making it really not that bad at all. Look at those beauties.
You then take two whole chickens (I bought the whole chickens already cut up) and place them in a large pot. . .
Add some water and pile all the coarsely chopped vegetables on top, along with dill, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper.
Sometimes I get so hungry when I'm working on my blog. I could go for a bowl of this for lunch today. And, as you would guess, it does make a lot! So when you make it, you will have leftovers. After you have simmered this for 1.5 hours, you strain the broth and place it back in the pot with the chicken that you have cut or shred into nice bite sized pieces. The original recipe had you throw almost all of the vegetables away but I rebelled and cut most of them up into bite sized pieces and added them back into the soup. I don't know if rooty tasting vegetables, like rutabaga, are an acquired taste or not, but I absolutely love that taste and found adding the vegetables back in just enhanced the flavor. Even the sweet potatoes! How many soups have you had with sweet potato chunks? Yum, yum!!
Before I give you the recipe I have to share with you the advent calendar I mentioned. This calendar has a very special place in my heart because you can save money by assembling part of it yourself and it just so happens that on the evening I was assembling it, I was in labor with my beautiful second daughter who was a week overdue. You moms out there now know why this calendar has a special place in my heart.
On December 1st Mary and Joseph are placed on the first velcro dot to begin their journey to Bethlehem. Isn't that an incredible, daily reminder to your children why we're having a celebration this month?! On Christmas, when their journey is done and they have reached the Inn, you take the journeying Mary and Joseph off and replace them with this:
The company is still around and fifteen years later still sells these. Every year I plan on buying two more so each of my kids can have one for their families some day. This might be the year I actually do it. If you are interested in this, go here: funfelt.com and type "advent calendar" in the search box and you will find it from there. Now, I send you, and your family, very heartfelt wishes for a joyful, meaningful, fun time of celebrating the birth of our Savior, born a baby to live a perfect life so He could ultimately die on the cross to pay for our sins and rise from the dead bringing us new life when we come to Him acknowledging our sin and need for Him to save us. Merry Christmas!
"But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11
Chicken Soup
2 chickens (3.5-4 lb. each)
2 lb. carrots, peeled
2 lg. onions, cut in half
5 lg. ribs celery, with leaves, cut in half
2 lg. parsnips, peeled, cut in half
1 small sweet potato (about 6 oz), peeled, cut in half
1 turnip (about 6 oz) peeled, cut in half
1 rutabaga (about 6 oz) peeled, cut in half
1/2 large green and yellow pepper, seeded
1 plastic container (2/3 oz) dill, coarsely chopped
1/2 bunch curly parsley coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Place chicken in a large stockpot and add water to barely cover the chicken. Place all other ingredients in the pot and simmer for 1.5 hours. Strain the broth and place back into the pot. Shred or cut the chicken and place back into pot. Cut most of the vegetables into bite sized pieces and place back into the pot. Heat and serve.
