Winners...

Yes, that is plural! It's Christmas, after all!

The winner of the Cottage Living subscription is Jillian Marie! And the winner of an assortment of scrapbooking goodies is Juli! Ladies, please email me your addresses!

And thanks to all who shared their traditions...I had lots of fun reading them! And I got some good ideas :)

This was fun...I will have to do it again soon!

Around our house...

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! (By the way...this is a long post...but if you make it to the end, you could be a winner!)

This is a picture of the first Christmas tree Brent and I decorated together! I love this picture even though it's a little blurry because I have such wonderful memories of our first Christmas married! That tree doesn't have as many ornaments as ours does now...but I love the way it looks against the red walls in our first home (I miss our red walls!) I love thinking about how I strung cranberries for the first time...but gave up on stringing enough for our tree and settled on making a garland along the curtain rod (which stayed there for many months!) I love remembering how many pictures I made Brent take with the self-timer and tripod...SO thankful for our first digital camera that let me know I needed to change sweaters and socks to get a good picture! :) (That might not be Brent's favorite memory!) I can still remember the taste of the Steak and Lobster Bercy Christmas meal that we made...a tradition we began that we have tweaked a little since. (We still have a special meal with "our family" before leaving to celebrate with extended families...but we haven't done lobster since our second Christmas...might have to change that next year!) Special memories!

Our house is decorated...although I have to admit that our luck with trees in Texas is not so good. While still green and twinkling, our tree is very dry, which makes me sad...I think it is the time it takes to ship fresh trees all the way here...a friend told me about a tree farm nearby (who would have guessed it?) and I think we will try there next year if we are still in Texas. Last week we received the wreath that Mom and Dad ship us every year from the mountains of North Carolina...{sigh}...it is fresh and green and smells absolutely wonderful! I love to open the door just to smell it...for a few minutes I am transported back to the Appalachian Mountains.

Today we got a bunch of Christmas cards...I love getting Christmas cards...I am so glad that even with email, people still take time to send personal cards in the mail! And for those of you expecting cards from us don't worry, I'm almost done with our Christmas cards...just waiting on the pictures to arrive!

We are spending lots of evenings driving around looking at the lights...this is Hadleigh's request every evening! Her favorites are the big inflated snowmen...and we are on a constant search for them...ready for the next one before the last is out of sight. She also likes to look for Baby Jesus when people have a nativity in their yard. She and Nathanael have had so much fun playing with the Little People Nativity we got this year...a good teaching tool as we've been reading our advent devotions!

And in the spirit of giving, I thought I would do my first blog giveaway...tell me what one of your favorite Christmas traditions is and tomorrow, I will randomly select a winner to receive a one year subscription to Cottage Living, one of my very favorite magazines! (Please leave your email in the comment and make sure to check back Tuesday night so that I can get the subscription registered before I leave for Christmas (less than a week now!)) Can't wait to read about your traditions!

A Day Late

I hope none of you were too disappointed to not find a post and recipe yesterday :) I've been trying to cross things off my to-do list...and I'm slowly (if not steadily) making progress!

I'm having fun working on making some gifts for Christmas...getting organized/decorated/menu-ready for a Christmas Coffee that I'm hosting next week...thinking about the Christmas cards I need to get started on...thinking about being with family for Christmas (and meeting my almost one-year old niece for the first time!)

Of course, I keep seeing all these great crafts that I want to make and there are pages I want to scrapbook and activities I want to do with the kiddos and SO many yummy-sounding recipes I want to try...so I have resolved that next year (I know, I know, easy to say now) I will be done shopping, card-making, etc. by the very beginning of December so that I can just enjoy these days without the crunch of time!

In honor of the 27 degree weather outside (whooo-hooo!) here is a recipe for a Hot Chocolate Mix that will last you a LONG time! My sister-in-law gave it to me and it is yummy!

Hot Chocolate Mix

one 8-quart package Carnation Dry Milk
1 1/2 lbs. Nestle Quik (dry mix)
10 oz. jar Coffeemate Creamer
1/2 lb. Powdered Sugar (I usually use the whole box!)

In a VERY large bowl, mix all ingredients together.
Store in an airtight container.

For each cup of hot chocolate, stir together 4 Tbsp. chocolate mix to 1 cup boiling water. (You may need to adjust the amount of chocolate mix and water to suit your taste.) Top with marshmallows, peppermint sticks, etc. Enjoy!

Snow Day

This was my little girl last Thursday...she was so excited about the snow! I guess this was the first time she has been old enough to actually play in the snow when we've gotten snow (and it's been hard for us to come by!)
But Thursday...what a wonderful day. I love the cold. I love the snow. We had a wonderful icy morning with a pancake breakfast with Brent before he went into work on a late schedule. And then we watched the tiny dots of snow become flurries and then big genuine snowflakes! After playing outside, Hadleigh informed me that we needed hot tea, so we sat by the window watching the snow fall and drinking our Earl Grey!
I asked Hadleigh where the snow came from and she told me, pointing to the sky "Up, up, up, then down, down, down!"
The snow stopped falling down, down, down around 5 pm and by then we had a beautiful blanket of snow...and that night, with the moon shining on the snow...just beautiful. So peaceful and quiet and still.

Comfort

The temperature dropped today from the mid 60's to 36...which means that Brent is splitting some firewood for tonight...the perfect setting for decorating our new tree and our home for Christmas! We even have a slight hope that the weather forecast will come true and bring a little bit of snow tomorrow. We are thrilled!!!

I have a pot of soup simmering on the stove and I can't wait to enjoy it on this first really cold night! So, in honor of the cold...how about a recipe for good comfort food? This is my mom's chicken pot pie...and by far my favorite! She made it for me and a good friend the night after our husbands deployed to the middle east right before the war started. And I have made it so many times since...thankfully with Brent able to enjoy it too!

Chicken Pot Pie

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/3 cup butter
1 large can Veg-all
1/2 cup flour
1 cup half and half
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
pepper
2 pie crusts (I use Pillsbury)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Saute vegetables in butter, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, half and half, broth, salt, and pepper until slightly thickened. Stir in chicken.
2. Place pie crust in deep dish pie plate. Pour in chicken mixture. Cover with remaining pie crust and seal edge.
3. Bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sour Cream Apple Pie

I found this delicious pie recipe on the Simply Recipes blog. Brent is a huge apple pie fan...so I am always game to try one for him! This is a little different than most...it has a creamy filling (hence the sour cream) and has a streusel topping instead of a pie crust...I was a little worried about that, but I think I may actually prefer this one to the typical all-American apple pie! I made this pie twice in one week...it's that good! (And by the way, I like to serve mine with vanilla ice cream, preferably Blue Bell!) And so, I am serving it for Thanksgiving tomorrow, along with a few other treats! (see previous post!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Tell me what you are thankful for this year...or what your favorite Thanksgiving food is!

Sour Cream Apple Pie

Filling
1 cup sour cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3 cups peeled, sliced tart apples (about 1 1/4 pounds of slices)
1 9" unbaked pie shell, frozen or chilled in the freezer for at least 30 minutes

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Beat together sour cream, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla and egg (can beat by hand). Add apples, mixing carefully to coat well.

3. Put filling into a pie shell and bake at 400 degrees initially for 25 min.

4. Mix together all topping ingredients until the mixture resembes coarse crumbs.

5. Remove from oven and sprinkle with Cinnamon Crumb Topping. Bake for 20 more minutes.

Let cool for an hour before serving. Serves 8.

Getting ready

I just finished putting groceries away after making my big shopping trip to get ready for Thanksgiving. Whew. Not too crowded...and they had everything I needed which I am thankful for! Brent's parents and grandparents arrive on Wednesday evening, so I have lots of cleaning and cooking to do in the next two days!

Here's the menu I have planned...I'd be happy to share recipes if anything interests you...and on Wednesday, I will share one of the dessert recipes...yummy!

Mom's Brown Bag Turkey with Stuffing
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Beans with cranberries, blue cheese, and walnuts
Cranberry Orange Sauce
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Sour Cream Apple Pie
Pumpkin Roll

Off to get some rest...

Last night

We got to see Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood in concert!

So much fun...we had a great time! I think my favorite thing about it (besides the great music, of course) was seeing Brad's paisley guitars...very cool! I don't play guitar but I might learn if I had such colorful guitars!!! And the funniest thing to see was little lights all over the place...all the cell phones people were using to snap pictures!

Off to go with a friend to a Christmas craft show and then to Piece of Picasso...a paint your own ceramics place!

Have a great weekend!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Scones

This is one of my favorite recipes...perfect for breakfast, great for afternoon "tea"...delicious anytime! It's the easiest scone recipe I've made and by far my favorite scones...if I do say so myself! (The picture above has the scones on the plates!) The source of the recipe is The Joy of Cooking, a cookbook that I refer to over and over again...although I've changed the process a little bit. (They call this recipe Cream Scones, if you want to reference it in your own cookbook.)

Chocolate Chip Pecan Scones

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup heavy cream (regular whipping cream can do in a pinch, but heavy is best.)
1/3 cup each of miniature chocolate chips and chopped pecans (or substitute your favorite item, such as raisins, dried cranberries, walnuts, etc.)
cinnamon sugar to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients together. Add optional items, adjusting amount to suit your taste. Mix. Add cream. Mix until dry ingredients are moistened.
3. Gather dough into a ball and knead it gently against the bowl 5-10 time until all dough is together. Transfer to a lightly floured surface *** and pat dough into an 8-inch round about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 8 or 12 wedges. Place scones 1/2 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. (I line mine with parchment paper.)
4. Brush tops of scones with additional heavy cream and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
5. Bake until golden, 12-15 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

*** To create more scones, at this point in the recipe, sometimes I cut the ball of dough in half, patting each into a round and cutting each round into 12 wedges, yielding 24 slightly smaller scones from each recipe. You can also use a cookie cutter to create shaped scones after pressing out the dough.

I hope you enjoy these...let me know what you think!!!

Cooking Time

I love to cook. I especially love to bake. But I really enjoy cooking...and I am notorious for trying out new recipes on dinner guests. Thankfully, the results are usually happy tummies!

I love collecting recipes...and I thought you might too, so I decided that Wednesdays will be recipe-share days! For today:

Chichen Enchilada Soup

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup chicken base
3 cups diced yellow onions
1 can mild green chiles, diced
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups Masa Harina (corn flour)
4 quarts water
2 cups crushed tomatoes
1/2 pound Velveeta cheese (cubed)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 10 oz. can mild enchilada sauce
5 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed or pulled apart

1. In a large pot (I use my large stockpot), place oil, chicken base, onion, chiles, and spices. Saute until onions are soft and clear, about 5 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, combine Masa Harina with 1 quart water. Stir until all lumps dissolve. Add this to sauteed onions; bring to a boil. Once mixture starts to bubble, continue cooking 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Add remaining 3 quarts water to pot.
3. Add tomatoes and enchilada sauce; let mixture return to boiling, stirring constantly.
4. Add cheeses to soup, stirring occasionally until cheese melts. Add chicken and heat through.

Serve hot and garnish with any or all of:
sour cream
cilantro
corn tortillas, sliced thinly and baked until crisp at 400 degrees
green onions, chopped
diced roma tomatoes

This recipe makes A LOT of soup! Have containers for freezing available...we got three dinners and a couple lunches out of one pot!