Christmas Day Fare

 Christmas Day Menu

Breakfast

Egg Casserole

Bear Claws

Coffee and Juice

Lunch

Party Ham Sandwiches

Fresh fruit

Dinner

Shrimp Cocktail

Meatballs

Currywurst

Crab Dip with French Bread

Veggies with Ranch

Olives and Pickles

Crackers and Cheese

Limoncello and Wine

Dessert

Cookies and Candy

Hot Cocoa

Bear Claws

Egg Casserole

Party Ham Sandwiches

Veggies with Ranch Dip

Crab Dip (served with baguette and crackers)

Sharp Cheddar, Pickles, and Olives

Cocktail Meatballs (in my brand new crock pot!)

Currywurst

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

and MeeMaw made these cute little doughnut snowmen for the girls :)

Christmas Eve Fare

I think we start looking forward to our Christmas Eve dinner at Nana and PeePaw's on Thanksgiving day every year. The menu is always the same and it's always SO good. Steamed shrimp, ham, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, fruit salad, BBQ chips... This is a picture of my first plate.

I was balancing it along with one for each of the girls so I couldn't really load up like I wanted to. Like the one little piece of celery? Lest you think I actually put something healthy on my plate I have a confession - it was filled with cheese :) I did go back for more mac n cheese, some beans, and of course more shrimp.
Leyna ate shrimp (after I gave them a "bath" to wash off the Old Bay), lots of beans, and of course a roll with butter. Cora ate macaroni and cheese and fruit salad. She wouldn't even take a bite of anything else. Oh well, she made up for it with cookies later on...
Can't wait to have it all again next year!

Cookie Exchange

Tonight we hosted our 2nd annual Cookie Exchange with our neighbors. It was so nice to take some time out to relax and catch up with everyone during the crazy holiday season. We had 4 sets of neighbors come which turned out to be a great number. Our pantry is literally overflowing with cookies and treats now! I might even cancel a few items off my baking list for tomorrow.

A few festive drinks

Hot chocolate station

I found these cute takeout boxes to send our cookies home in

A few salty snacks. Our homemade pepper jelly with cream cheese and crackers...

...and some buffalo chex mix

Neighbor #1's cookies: Martha Stewart's Coconut Macaroons. These were to die for!

Neighbor #2's cookies: Classic Chocolate Chip

Neighbor #3's cookies: Spritz Cookies (these are Leyna's FAV)

Neighbor #4's cookies (she was really late so they never made it out of the bag): Chocolate covered Ritz peanut butter sandwiches and Oatmeal Raisin with white chocolate chips. She also brought us some homemade egg nog and some tiny loaves of quick bread for the girls.

Our cookies: Frostbite Cookies. I make these every year. Recipe below!

Frostbite Cookies
(I clipped this recipe from a coupon insert a long time ago. It looks like it's from Baker's Joy/Sunmaid Raisins)

3/4 C raisins - This year I substituted cranberries since Leyna doesn't like raisins and I liked it even better this way
3 T. orange juice
1/2 C butter or margarine, softened
3/4 C granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 t grated orange peel
1 C all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1-1/2 C old-fashioned or quick oats
1-1/4 C white chocolate baking chips (I usually just use the whole bag)
1 t vegetable oil

Heat oven to 350F. Combine raisins and juice. Cover and microwave on high 1 minute. Let stand. 

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl. Add egg and orange peel; mix well. Stir in flour and baking soda. Mix in oats and raisin-juice mixture. 

Drop small spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire rack. 

Microwave white baking chips and oil on medium power about 2 minutes. Stir until chips are melted. Dip cookies half way up into chocolate. Refrigerate on wax paper lined pan 10 to 15 minutes until chocolate is set.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Pizza Friday - Holiday Theme

Christmas Cookies

Today baked our annual Christmas cookies with Nana. They turned out so cute! You can see the other details here, but here I'll just give you our two favorite recipes.

The Low Fat Sugar Cookies recipe can be found here

And here's our yummy Gingerbread cookie recipe (which is also low fat). These come out big and soft and perfect :)
Gingerbread Cookies
from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, Bridal Edition

Ingredients
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C shortening
1 1/2 C dark molasses
2/3 C cold water
7 C all-purpose flour
2 t baking soda
2 t ground ginger
1 t ground allspice
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground cloves
1/2 t salt

Directions
In large bowl, beat brown sugar, shortening, molasses and water until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet lightly with shortening or cooking spray. On floured surface, roll dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut with floured cookie cutters. On cookie sheet, place cutouts about 2 inches apart.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.  
This makes A LOT of cookies.  I would say at least 4-5 dozen, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Afternoon Snowman Snack

What's for Lunch?

clockwise from top left: mango, Stonyfield vanilla yogurt with Cascadian Farm granola, homemade cherry vanilla smoothie, Newman's Own High Protein Pretzels, organic peanut butter with honey drizzled on top, organic carrots

Favorite foods

We all know kids get stuck on their favorite foods sometimes. It seems like they could eat the same thing for every meal, every day. We've had a slight shift in favorites around here lately. Leyna has gone from PB&J to Turkey Lettuce Wraps. She LOVES to have a piece of lettuce and a piece of turkey all rolled up and she eats it just like that. Nothing else. Today I mixed it up a bit and added a tortilla to the mix. She was one happy girl :)

And Cora is still a Mac n Cheese girl but she also has a new love: Grilled Cheese. She asks for it all the time. Cheese and carbs - she's definitely my daughter!

Pizza Rolls

We didn't get to do Pizza Friday last night so I made up for it tonight. I made pepperoni pizza rolls for the grown ups and plain cheese ones for the kiddos. These were a huge hit. The girls ate them better than they usually eat their pizza! I'll be making these again soon!

To make these I whipped up our usual whole wheat pizza dough and divided it into four balls. I flattened each ball into a circle and topped it with sauce, pepperoni, and cheese and then rolled it up, sealing the edges and tucking the ends under. I baked them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping them halfway through. Some of the cheese did explode out of the sides and leak so maybe next time I'll try poking holes in the top to see if that helps by releasing the steam. I served them with marinara sauce for dipping and we had mixed veggies on the side (I would have preferred a salad with them but I was feeling too lazy to make one!).

Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

I absolutely can't believe I haven't already posted this recipe! It's one of our very favorite soups and we make it fairly often. I've even made it for guests at least 3 times that I can remember (it makes a lot and can really feed a crowd). It's that good. In fact, Leyna ate 2 1/2 bowls of it tonight so you know it's good! Cora even ate her dinner for once! Definitely a keeper recipe and so full of veggies and good for you :)

Minestrone Soup for the Slow Cooker
(I found the recipe on www.50plusfriends.com)

Ingredients
1 C diced ham
1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 C minced onion (I usually substitute with dried minced onions because I get lazy)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 C diced carrots
1/2 C diced celery
1 box frozen chopped spinach (you can just throw the whole frozen block in the pot!)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained or undrained if you want more broth
1 medium potato, diced
2 T parsley
1 qt chicken broth
1/2 C small pasta, elbow macaroni or ditalini work really well
grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions
Combine all ingredients except pasta and cheese in slow cooker. Cook on high 1 hour, then switch to low for 6-8 hours. If you don't have time just cook on low for 9-10 hours.
30 minutes before serving add the pasta and stir. Serve generously sprinkled with cheese!

Green Smoothies!

I've found a few really good smoothie recipes online lately so I'm going to make a few of them this week. These green "detox" smoothies are supposed to be so good for you and make you feel like a million bucks. I have to say I agree! We all drank them for breakfast this morning and loved them. I am so in love with the fact that we all had spinach for breakfast!

Green Detox Smoothie
from theglitterguide.com

1 cup baby spinach
1 pear, diced
1 ½ C of orange juice
1 frozen banana

Blend and enjoy!

Slow Cooker Honey Dijon Pork Tenderloin

Just when you think you have them all figured out, kids always surprise you. I decided to make the subject recipe for dinner tonight because we had a pork tenderloin in the freezer and it sounded good. Never in a million years did I expect the girls to even consider a taste but guess what? They LIKED it. And I'm still in shock. Now, granted, I had to pretend the little pieces of pork were puppy treats and call Cora "Rudy" so she would eat them but hey, whatever works! She ate multiple "puppy treats" and I was just thrilled. I served this with jasmine rice and edamame and the whole dinner was a massive success. SCORE!

Honey Dijon Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients
2-3 lb pork tenderloin
salt
pepper
1/2 C balsamic vinegar
3 T honey
1 T dijon mustard
dash or so of garlic powder 

Directions
Sprinkle pork tenderloin with salt and pepper and place on slow cooker.
Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over pork, turning to coat. Cook on low for 7-8 hrs or on high for 3.5-4 hours.
This made a lot of pork. You could mix the leftover with barbeque sauce and do pulled pork sandwiches. Or you could make Cuban Midnight sandwiches, or anything else you can think of to do with pork!

Thanksgiving Fare

Breakfast - Turkey Pancake

The feast - Leyna ate 2 rolls, a few bites of turkey, and 1 lima bean

Cora had at least 2 helpings of lima beans and half a roll. And she liked the cranberry relish if it was Nana's and Nana fed it to her.

My first plate :)

Great Grandpa's pumpkin pie!

Cora refused to even taste the pie but thoroughly enjoyed her pear slices with whipped cream!

Early Thanksgiving Feast

Today we had an early Thanksgiving meal and I just want to show off the spread. It was a little different than the usual fare and everything went together so well. I forgot to take a picture of the Autumn Sangria we drank and the Greek salad that Teresa made so just try to picture them in your head :)

Marinated Olives made by me

Devilled Eggs by Uncle Matt

Cranberry Fruit Conserve by me

Baked Sweet Onion Dip by Uncle Doug and Teresa.

Sliced turkey breast for sandwiches

Brie and Baby Swiss for the sandwiches

The whole sandwich spread. I made my turkey sandwich with Brie and Cranberry Conserve and it was awesome!

Crab Soup by Chooch

Homemade bread for sandwiches by Uncle Steve. SO GOOD.

"Autumn Brittle" by me

Pumpkin Pie courtesy of Uncle Todd & Aunt Chrissy