AmyI hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I cooked, I ate, I napped. Repeat. Holiday well spent! I chose mixed drinks in case anyone here is planning a New Year's shindig and you needed a dry run on which drinks to serve. You're welcome. I'm not much of a drinker myself and besides I'll be working on New Year's Eve. App they frown on employees being intoxicated whilst on the job. Keeping that in mind I threw together a virgin drink that can easily be switched to, what, a whore drink? When I drink too much that's usually the end result. My sex life aside, this is actually a pretty tasty drink. It's like... Christmas in my mouth! So, here goes: Amy's Winter Solstice Wine (kinda) Half a glass of sparkling grape juice or wine, any wine of your choosing, red or white 1/2 of a glass of Winter/Christmas blend tea of choice (I used a brand of loose leaf herbal tea made by Fusion Teas called Winter Solstice) A handful of fresh cranberries Segment of one or two clementines (you can choose your citrus of choice) Brew the tea according to directions. Allow it to steep and become completely cool. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Make sure to chill the wine/ sparkling grape juice. When you're ready to make it just use equal amounts of tea and wine. Do it by the glass, in a pitcher or punch bowls. Toss in cranberries and peeled, segmented citrus. And there you go. Happy New Year!! Angie M & Annika I decided to make Irish cream liquor coffee for my drink this week. My mom got me a French press which I have been wanting for quite a little while. And I got some Irish cream from Costco. I used a milk glass mug that said Irish cream on it, which I recently acquired from a relative. I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and I wish you all a very happy new year! Blessings to you, Angie & Annika in CA. Patty Colombian coffee, 1/2 shot of EJ Brandy,whipped cream. Voila NikitaThe.Best.Martini. (at home) I did have a cocktail once that tasted like a fuzzy peach which is still the best drink I've ever had. It had basalmic vinegar in it. Anyways, back to my chocolate martini. It has half & half, chocolate syrup, and peppermint schnapps. Shaken - not stirred. While 2016 had some big speed bumps in it, I look back at all we accomplished this year, and I'm proud! Yeah sure, we bought a house that flooded and became a construction zone for months, but now it is beautiful and exactly how we want it. Sure, I said goodbye to my 20s this year, but I celebrated the beginning of my thirties Vegas-style with the people I love most. Oh and yes, Matt's job was eliminated, but he got a 2-month paid vacation and was immediately picked up by a company that he loves. And to top it all off, we made our international vacation a reality and enjoyed it with our son for the first time. It took a lot of courage & grit to tackle the problems that came up and still wake up the next morning ready to celebrate the day. Cheers to grit! Bring it on, 2017! GeorgiaI know for most 2016 was not the best year.. 2015 was my blah year.. But this year.. It was not so bad.. We were blessed to spend a lot of time with friends and family.. I got to see my sister and my niece twice this year. I got to see Angie M, Anni and auntie in May.. And Angie C's youngest daughter in November.. So that's pretty badass.. We got to see and experience some pretty amazing places.. Met some pretty cool people.. Yeah.. All in all it's been a pretty decent year. And most importantly.. God is still in control.. So my goal when I heard New Years drink.. I instantly thought "I really need to do something with all this whisky Randy gets as a gift every year". And so I did.. Pomegranate Whiskey Sour Ingredients Simple Syrup:
Instructions
Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one. Happy New Year!!
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Nikita In this house, my boys demand Gingerbread Cookies. It's not my favorite, but I oblige to see their happy faces light up. This year, we made the dough from scratch using a recipe from ye olde pintrest. I was intrigued because this particular recipe said the cookies would hold their cut-out shape. Well sure 'nuff, they came out looking as clean and crisp like they did going into the oven. Matt likes a more rustic look to the frosting. Click below for recipe Gingerbread cookies AmyTalk about a plan coming together! Little did I know a week ago that this week's challenge would be cookies. I found out that Loretta Lynn has a nifty advent calendar offering up music,stories, giveaways and recipes. One of which is a recipe for her Christmas day cookies. Her website is Christmaswithloretta.com And if the rest of her recipes are as delightful as this one is, my holidays will be great. Happy Holidays everyone! Angie & Anni I used the Better Homes & Gardens sugar cookie recipe. And the frosting was one of my moms concoctions that she always makes that's totally delicious. It is cream cheese butter vanilla and lemon juice and then two boxes of powdered sugar. And then I just dip them after I frosted them into all kinds of stuff... crushed candycane's and other sprinkley things.... OK I'm totally sugared out for the year though....😜😜😜 Merry Chrishmish!!!!! Love, Angie and Annika in CA!!!! Patty Made gingerbread men...I am not artistic as you can see. But everyone says they taste great. Click below for recipe Gingerbread Men GeorgiaThis is one of my favorite winterish cookie recipes. Nutmeg mealtaways.. I orignially found this recipe in Guideposts magazine. These are so delicious.. And meltaway they do.. Click below for recipe Nutmeg Meltaways Wishing you the Merriest of Christmas' from
Nikita, Amy, Angie, Anni, Auntie and gigi GeorgiaFriday December 16th was national chocolate covered anything day.. So this week we honored that.. I made chocolate covered Christmas tree rice krispie treats. Another super easy recipe. Just make your rice krispie treats as you normally would. Add green food coloring (pretty sure it's good for you) Mix together until well blended. Pour into a pan or just pour out onto wax paper. I smooth mine out a little. Let it set up for a few minutes. Now I used a Christmas Tree cookie cutter, but you can make any shape you want. Melted a bag of dark chocolate chips. drizzled over Christmas trees and then added sprinkles for the lights. Randy likes any kind of treats made out of cereal. Rice Krispie treats being his favorite. Note the full plate above and Randy holding the last one. He ate these 3 at a time. NikitaThis week, I was prepared to dip everything in chocolate including my finger. 😉 I had an incredible helper this week because winter break has officially begun. We made Oreo Truffle Balls, and Christopher did all of the dipping. After he finished, we both noticed the enormous amount of chocolate left in the bowl, so we scoured the pantry for goodies to dip. Leftover Vanilla Wafers! I have to say I was impressed with his chocolate-dipping technique. He even taught me a trick or two to make it easier and cleaner that he came up with on the spot. Let the Christmas vacation begin! (Well I still have to work.) #adulthood Click below for recipe Oreo Truffle Balls PattySo I made Italian Butter Cookies..some dipped in Chocolate and some made with homemade Strawberry/blackberry jam. Click below for rccipe Italian Butter Cookies 1952 Angie C I know its not really chocolate but white chocolate is a favorite of Annas. How could I deny that child anything???? White Chocolate Rice Krispy Treats Melt 5 1/3 tbsp butter over med high heat. Add 1 bag marshmallows stir until melted. Take off heat add 1-2 tsp of vanilla mix well. Add 5-6 cups of Rice Krispy cereal. Mix some more. Dump into a buttered 9 x 13 baking dish. Allow to cool completely. Cut into squares. Melt in microwave white chocolate pieces with a little veg oil or butter. Spread over treat squares and decorate with sprinkles. AmySo this is late...my bad. Lately Tremain has been devouring popcorn. So I decided to cover said popcorn in chocolate. A win-win! And with the freezing temps the process actually went faster. I'll explain later. Here's what you'll need: 1 Tbsp. oil 1 cup popcorn kernels 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter 12 oz. chocolate chips of your choice. I used 6oz. Bittersweet and 6 oz. Semisweet baking chocolate bars A splash of milk or half-and-half 2 Tbsp. sea salt or to taste. I used much less but it's your popcorn do what you want. Also, I used Trader Joe's sea salt with flower petals Put the oil in a heavy bottomed pan with a tight fitting lid. Pour in popcorn kernels and make sure they are all on the bottom of the pan. Cover the lid and place over medium heat. Once it begins popping hold the lid and grab a handle and move the pan around to keep the kernels from burning. You may need a pot holder. Once the popcorn stops popping, remove from heat. In a double boiler or glass bowl held above boiling water, place butter, chocolate chips, and milk. Stir, stir, stir til mixed and smooth. Pour popcorn in a large mixing bowl, add salt, then drizzle chocolate over and stir to combine. Spread popcorn mixture on a baking sheet and place in a cool area so the chocolate will harden properly. I put the baking sheet in the cold ass foyer and it took maybe an hour. Pour into a bowl or airtight container. And enjoy! Recipe inspired by acozykitchen.com P.S. Notice Tremain's hand...he devoured it. Chocolate is The ANSWER Who cares what The Question is Look for Amy's chocolate covered anything tomorrow. Blessings, Georgia, Nikita, Patty, Angie M, Amy and Angie C PattyGeorgia Does this scone look lonely to you? Well it should.. Randy ate all the others.. before I could even finish them.. The recipe is below. It calls for a glaze.. You'll notice my sad lonely little scone does not have any on it.. Because Randy ate them.. I'm not really complaining.. I'm glad that even without the glaze tthey got rave reviews.. By the biggest food critic in our home.. Click below for the recipe Cranberry Orange Scones Recipe NikitaThis week I made candied orange slices. Nothing like taking a healthy fruit and Americanizing it a little. We are hosting an Ugly Sweaters and Board Games party Saturday night, and I plan to dress up these babies with chocolate and sprinkled sea salt. However, they are delicious on their own. The candy shell was too easy to make. I had no idea that it is just sugar and water. Enjoy! Click below of recipe Candied Orange Slices AmyLadies, this challenge was something else. Four attempts in three days. My first attempt was an Orange Almond cake and orange infused hot chocolate. A nice tea time treat. Not really. I took a photo but in truth, utter failure. So I walked away for a day. I grabbed a book from the shelf and scanned it thinking that I may find some decent orange recipes. Good news everyone! One of my go to food writers didn't let me down. This recipe is too simple. That's the beauty of it. From Elizabeth David's Christmas Orange Salad Peel a few oranges and cut them in large pieces (I went with Mandarin oranges, just segment them), taking out the pips, adding a few spoonfuls of orange-flower water, stir, then sprinkle lightly with powdered cinnamon. Is very soothing. I thought that was too easy, so here's a bonus recipe. Do the same thing with the oranges as above. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with vanilla infused sugar. Allow to sit for several minutes. Make your favorite French toast recipe (or even baked cinnamon toast) and rather than top with syrup, top with the oranges. Too yummy. I definitely met my quota of vitamin C this week. Angie M So it's Friday night... and we have the orange persimmon challenge this week and I obviously was not prepared. So, I happen to have this orange tree in my backyard that I've been watering all summer long and it finally has some oranges that are ripe enough to start eating... or in this case drinking... I figure with the cold and flu season upon us and everybody needing extra vitamin C this is a great way for me to get that extra vitamin C.... and a little vitamin V... 🤓 I squeezed about five fresh oranges into my designated cup I added a little ice and I put in some sky vodka. It was extremely tart and sour so I threw in some sugar to taste... Aaaaahhh... A great way to start the beginning of a week long vacation... Walla a homemade screwdriver.... Peace and love be upon you in this time of rejoicing. God bless & good health! Angie M. In CA. Angie C I have played around with this in different variations for a few years now. My favorite sweet combo is orange and chocolate. Its the easiest thing to make. Preheat the oven to 375. Open a can of crescent rolls. Separate and lay flat on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Sprinkle orange zest onto each triangle place chocolate chips on widest part. Roll up like you would a crescent roll tucking the sides in so the chocolate doesn't escape. Cook for about 10 min. Take out of,oven and while still warm drizzle a glaze of powdered sugar and fresh orange juice over them. I have done these with cranberry sauce inside and orange glaze over the top as well. Bless us O Lord and these, thy gifts Happy Saturday from, Auntie, Georgia, Nikita, Amy, Angie M and Angie C Angie C There is no recipe this week for me. Just us having fun stringing popcorn for the tree Patty Ok...I made marshmallow snowman with raisins, cordial cherry , gummy worm and candy cane. GeorgiaSo the theme this week was edible ornaments.. So I made these cutie. Very easy. Find your metal cookie cutters add your favorite hard candy and place in a 350 oven until melted. Usually a couple of minutes. If you want to add a string to hang make sure you make your hole before it hardens. Because once they harden these babies can crack some teeth. Cute, fun and very easy to make NikitaWell peeps - I failed. I perused Pintrest for many minutes trying to find the best edible ornaments, but my muse was gone this week. Matt had to travel to Jax for business which left me as an 830am-630pm full time Credit Union employee and 630pm-730am Mom. It was exhausting between soccer practice and dinners and work. I admit that I cooked a frozen chicken enchilada meal one night and an overcooked pork loin in the crockpot. (It was as hard as particle board.) 😭 We ate leftovers that night. Matt was due back Friday evening, and I wanted to surprise him with his favorite cookie, Snickerdoodles. Technically, you could rest the cookies on tree limbs and call them ornaments. 😉 Overall, Matt loved them and is happy to be home. My muse is back! Amy Edible ornaments sound like a fun project to be sure. I thought I'd go all out and try my hand at a ginger bread house. I looked for one of those kits. Alas, that mission was a total failure. And I was running out of time. And I may have been hexed with minor inconveniences. It was a week....anyhoo, I found these lovely ginger bread people in the bakery and got them. Turns out they are hard as rocks so it is possible to drill holes in them and hang them on a Christmas tree. There. It's all fun and games til Santa checks the naugty list Blessings, Patty, Georgia, Nikita and Amy What we do isn't about failing or succeeding. It's about connecing and being a part of each others lives. So no Nikita Maria you did not fail.. |
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