Merry Christmas Merry Christmas

The past few days feel a little blurry.  Christmas Eve morning, Cliff's Uncle Curtis had us over for breakfast!  He is a bachelor so he made us a hearty, country boy breakfast and really good coffee:) 

 Thick, stick to your ribs gravy.  Cheesy eggs (I made those), bacon, sausage, and hash browns!

I was plenty full after eating this breakfast.

During the day we kind of prepped for Christmas and got things ready for dinner.  We went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight service at their church then headed to Grammer's for Potato Soup and grilled ham and cheese.

I made the potato soup (recipe below), and the grilled ham and cheese was tasty!

 

His Uncle Jody (who is out of town), sent this awesome fruit bouquet!  I had a couple pieces of this too!

Christmas morning we woke up to stockings and presents.  His parents spoiled us this year.  I was completely surprised when I opened up a sewing machine!  I have been wanting one for a long time and now that we have room in our apartment I was considering getting one.  I couldn't believe they got me one.  They got Cliff a lot of business clothes-and he was very happy:)

 Aren't these cute little stockings!  I got some great perfume in here:)

 Sewing machine:)

Their cute Christmas tree!

Cliff's Dad made a big breakfast of pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, and banana bread!  It was so delicious.

 Can I just say I ate way to much today and have a big ol' stomach ache!  Yikes, but all the food they had was really good.

Brent's Dad made chocolate chip cookies and put peanut butter M&M's in them while they were still warm.

We went to Brent's sisters house and they had a huge spread!  I ate lots of green bean casserole, potato casserole, wheat thins, ham, and 2 huge pieces of cinnamon chocolate cake (oh my gosh this cake was so so good).  

This was the cake that took me down LOL!  I could not stop eating it!

It also snowed all day so we had a white Christmas.  We went to his Grammer's for enchilada's in the evening!  Not that we needed more food, but we ate anyway:)

Today's Cliff's Birthday!  We are headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast with friends (though I probably have eaten enough for the whole week already).  We may go to a movie but we aren't sure.  Hopefully my stomach will get better as the day goes on, but I think I have been on food overload for too many days in a row!  Hope everybody had a great Christmas:)

Potato Soup  

(Can be made in crock-pot or on stove)

6 large potatoes, cubed

1 chopped onion

3-4 stalks celery

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 T. parsley flakes

5 cups water  

Salt and pepper to taste

5 Tbsp. butter

1 regular size can evaporated milk

Saute onions and celery in butter (optional).  Put all ingredients in a slow cooker except for the evaporated milk.  Cover and cook on low 10 to 12 hours (high 3 to 4 hours).  Stir in evaporated milk during last hour.
*We like to put bacon and cheese on top and serve with tortillas or homemade rolls!

Baking Up a Storm

I had to look at my pictures to remember what all I have done this week.  It has been a really busy week and it is finally slowing down.  I am going to spare you details of my meals this week.  I have been eating on the run and finishing leftovers.  However, you are in for a treat because I have made a lot of Christmas goodies-that is why I have not had time to blog;)

 We will start with this awesome Chex PB & Chocolate Blast!

 This stuff is STUPID GOOD!  I love it.

 Chex, white chocolate, peanut butter chips, m &m's, peanuts and pretzels.  The recipe is here.

Great for goodie bags which is why I made it.  Be careful though because once you taste it you want to eat it alllllllllll!  I am eating it as I type YIKES.  I made this a couple of days ago and I hope it lasts long enough to take to Cliff's family!

Today Danielle and me went to our friend Amber's house for a cookie decorating extravaganza.  We had to fuel up before we started so naturally Amber made Toasted Coconut Waffles....Oh man they were good.  She made them with a normal box waffle mix and added toasted coconut to them.  She also said she used butter instead of oil for the batter.  I loved them.

Our spread with coffee-I overdosed on the coffee this morning.

 My waffle in sections: peanut butter, butter, and nutella.  Syrup on all of it and yes I ate the WHOLE thing:)  It was great.  Then we were ready to roll out cookies and bake up a storm.  Check it out:

 Sugar cookies!  We used pipping bags like pros.

 Amber and Danielle-they are masters!

I made gingerbread cookies from scratch (yes the recipe will be at the bottom of the post).  Yep they look good!


I was so excited...I was jumping up and down and the coffee made me feel crazy!  It was a lot of fun...Thanks Amber and Danielle:)

Gingerbread Cookies

*makes about 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 egg

1 cup molasses

2 Tbsp. white vinegar

4 1/2 cup flour

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

Icing

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

5 Tbsp. milk,

1 tsp vanilla

1.  In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar.  Add the egg, molasses and vinegar; mix well.  Combine dry ingredidnts; add to creamed mixtue and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.  

2.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 in thickness and cut into desired shapes.  Make sure the dough is cold (we kept ours in the freezer in between batches).  Place 1 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets (or parchment).  Bate at 350 for 7-9 minutes or until set.  Let cool before frosting. 

3.  For frosting mix butter, powdered sugar, and milk (1 Tbsp. at a time) to desired consistency.  Add vanilla and mix well.  We died our frosting different colors

*you will need to chill this dough for about 3 hours (or overnight) and keep it cold as you roll it out

**Adapted slightly from Taste of Homes

Night at the Museum

Let's just say it was a hap hap happenin party:)  We got there a little late and the place was packed.  They had the party at the Museum of Natural Science so there were a lot of cool things to look at.  We roamed around for a while and talked with people Cliff knew.  The food was really good.  They had 4 different tables of food including:  panini and soup, mini burgers, a mashed potato and pasta buffet, and a salad and chicken skewer station!  I had a mini burger, salad, and big ol' scoop of mashed potatoes (with bacon, green onion, cheese, pico de gallo, butter, and sour cream).  Obviously my favorite was the potatoes!

 After we ate, I met more of Cliff's co-workers.  They showed us the awesome gem room.

The gem room had all sorts of awesome gems and natural rocks that were beautiful.  More importantly, the dessert was in that area.  They had tables of cupcakes, cookies, coffee, and a crepe bar.  The coffee table had all sorts of deliciousness to put in your coffee (I had a little bit of coffee with my whipped cream).  But really, every time we went by a coffee table I got more whipped cream!  We also had a plate of crepes.  The crepes were filled with chocolate and hazelnuts.  We topped them with strawberries, chocolate sauce, and WHIPPED CREAM!  They were really good.  We found a table and chatted with his co-workers;  before we knew it, it was 11pm and the party was winding down.  They gave us gourmet popcorn bags as we left.  We tried to get pictures but it was too dark.  When we got home I tried to take more pictures of my outfit.  It is kind of hard to see, but my favorite part of this outfit is my necklace!

It was a fun evening!

We need a close-up of that necklace

This picture doesn't do it justice-when it is darker, it sparkles so much....sparkly sparkly sparkly-I even love saying that word!

This morning we slept in and I made Grands biscuits (got them on sale a while back) and omeletts!  In the omlettes I put sausage, cheese, bell pepper, and green chile!  They were good.

 Served with OJ and French Vanilla coffee.

 I almost forgot to take a picture with butter and black cherry jelly on my biscuit!

I'm off to get some Christmas stuff together.  I am also making some home-made dinner rolls because tonight we are going to my Aunt Brenda's for stew!  Have a great Saturday:)

Blackberry Breakfast

It was pretty cold last night so I decided against the morning run.  I woke up feeling really stiff anyways so pilates was the better option for me.  For breakfast I made Kodiak Cakes with walnuts with a side of blackberries!

 I sampled these blackberries at Kroger yesterday but the ones I bought were not as sweet.  That is Dunkin' Donuts Pumpkin Spice coffee with sugar!  The coffee was extra delicious this morning.

 Warm toasty walnuts were delicious in these fluffy pancakes.  I love Kodiak Cakes-all you do is add water and they are whole wheat!

I put butter and pure maple syrup on mine:)

This was a nice yummy breakfast before I got ready for church.  I had a hard time getting ready this morning...lol I tried on so many outfits (usually I get ready really fast).  Church was great.  We came home and I made the EXACT same thing we had last night...even a cluster after.  It was delicious.  This afternoon we are relaxing and putting up Christmas lights!  We live in an apartment so we don't have many to put up...but we still decorate our entryway.  

 Cliff did an awesome job putting the lights up.

We had to run an extension cord from our side window out to the walkway!

Christmas lights make me really excited if you can't tell. 

Finished product!  It will look even better at night:)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.  I am making a yummy dinner tonight using more leftovers!  I love finding new recipes to use up ingredients I have on hand.