July 23rd

 

One area that I need to up my game in is appetizers. I always serve the same old boring appetizers at family events. I searched Pinterest to find some inspiration for this Christmas. The site I found is here. Below are photos of some of the appetizers I think I can make that my family would enjoy:

Candy Cane Caprese Board

Rudolph Cheese Ball

Snowman Cheese Ball

Christmas Tree Pull-apart Bread

Christmas Tree Skewers

Christmas Tree Veggie Platter

Christmas Wreath Veggie Platter

July 18th

 

I have a hankering for cake today. I'm ususally not much on sweets. I don't eat any kind of pie. They're just too sweet for me. But I do like a good cake once in a while. I'm not sharing recipes today, just photos of cakes that make my mouth water.

Yule log

I've never tasted one, but they look so good

I wonder if the decor is edible?

This cake just looks so cute!

I don't like peppermint, but I'd be willing to try this one

Cute!

Christmas in July 7.22.2021

 

It's time to think about Christmas baking. Last year I actually worked up the courage to try a few new recipes. Some worked, some didn't. I'm pretty sure the ones that didn't were because of my lack of skills rather than the recipe. I love to bake. But I'm not very confident in trying new recipes.

If I had no fear, this is what I'd be making for this year's Holiday Season:

This one I think I could do with the Grands

I'm definitely trying this one...

...and this one!

Christmas is Here! December Thirteenth

The annual cookie exchange today was a huge success!! 

I wanted to try to make special packaging for my cookies. I found some holiday cellophane I had bought from Current, Inc years ago and used it to make a tower of goodies. I found the mailbox at the top at Dollar Tree in September and used it to hold candy. The mail flag is up with each family's name written on it for easy handout.

The granddaughters made ornaments using glass balls and paint. The ladies each received a unique candle. We shared food and then divided up the goodies.

A good time was had by all!

Christmas is Here! December Twelfth

 The women in our family have (try to have) an annual Cookie Exchange. We started out by bringing all of our ingredients to one house and baking together. Then we divided everything up and had goodies to last the rest of the season.

Last year we changed things up. We included the grandgirls and did our baking ahead of time. We brought our baked goods to exchange, the little girls did a craft and it was awesome.

We're following that model this year. Tomorrow is our Cookie Exchange. I've been baking all week and am so excited! I have an idea for packaging my baked goods, which I will share with you tomorrow after the event.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with an idea of what I'm taking:

Mini M&M cookies

Peanut Clusters, Caramel Clusters, Cashew Clusters

Peanut Butter Fudge

Peanut Butter Balls

Chocolate Crinkles

Sugar Cookies

Grinch Cookies

Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups (pictured below)

Christmas Time's a'Comin'

 Oh boy! Only two months to go until Christmas Day! 

Have you been working toward a stress-free Christmas? I have. If ever we needed less stress this is the year. I've finished shopping for several people in my family. I have prepared my Family Christmas menu and my Christmas Day menu. I've wrapped all the gifts I've purchased to this point. And I'm finished with stocking stuffers for half the family.

This year has been chaotic at my house. My daughter and her two kids moved in on February 1st. She's having a house built and should get the keys on November 10th. We knew they would be living here for several months, but we had no idea that the virus was coming.

The kids school closed down March 13th and we began the awful, horrible, ridiculous, stressful, inadequate process of distance learning. It was really a joke for the rest of that school year. We survived Grammy's Summer Camp with virtually no activities. Thank goodness we have a swimming pool. Then began distance learning for the new school year. It is somewhat improved, but still incredibly stressful. My daughter works for a company that contracts with DCS, and is responsible for 150+ kids living in 18 group homes. She was working 12+ hour days for several months so the kids schooling fell to me. I felt (and feel) so inadequate.

Plus our house is stuffed to the brim with our stuff, their stuff, the stuff she's buying for the new house. I joke that I live in a warehouse.

Now Christmas is coming. The photo above shows my storage option this year for purchased/wrapped gifts. It's not great, but it works! 

I wish I could start decorating on November 1st, but with so much stuff in the house, there's no way. She will start moving on November 13th and I hope to start decorating with a vengeance that weekend!

I have managed to make and freeze 18 dozen Peanut clusters, 10 dozen Cashew clusters, and two Pistachio Bread loaves, so I feel good about that.

Hope you're making progress on having a stress-free Holiday Season!

Christmas in July Day Thirteen

I have always wanted to bake ahead and freeze for the holiday season, but have been reluctant to do so. The reason? I didn't have confidence that my baked goods would retain their quality. 

Last year I was reading Mrs. T's blog and she talked about freezing cookies, breads, candies. I decided to take advantage of her expertise and asked her to give me "Freezing for Dummies" advice. 

She did! So for the first time ever, I baked cookies and froze them. They were just as fresh when thawed as the day they were baked. This year I plan to freeze even more.

Today's tip is even more daring (in my opinion). I may try this just to see if it works. 

How about you? Do you bake and freeze? Or make the dough and then freeze it?

And while we're at it, what's your favorite cookie?

Christmas in July Day Nine

Today we're continuing in the gift giving theme. Now I know from reading your blogs that many of you already use this tip each year.

I give jars of homemade Peanut Clusters as gifts each year, but that's about it. Oh, and the women in the family have a cookie exchange each year. We get together and bake cookies and then exchange them. Last year we baked ahead of time and just had the exchange. That way we had more time for visiting with each other. It was awesome. 

The other day I saw a post on Lana's blog about buying new paint cans and using them as gift wrap for gifts from the kitchen. I love this idea and plan to do that this year. I've also seen pins/posts over the last few year about decorating the boxes that aluminum foil, parchment paper, plastic wrap, etc. come in and then loading them up with cookies. Another great idea.

Gee, as I type this I'm getting pretty excited over giving gifts from my kitchen this year!

Christmas in July: Day 19

Today I'm sharing Christmas goodies I found on Pinterest that I'd like to make this year:

The Grands would love this one!

A festive twist on an old favorite

My daughter is the Deviled Egg maker in our family. She colors the eggs with pastel colors for our family Easter - don't know why I haven't thought to ask her to color them for Christmas!

CIJ: The ABCs of Christmas ~ Goodies

Instead of sharing the same recipes I've shared each year since the blog was born, I decided to share photos/recipes of goodies I'd like to make. Or goodies that are just too beautiful to eat. 

I like to bake, but... it's cliche but true, it's hard to find the time. Plus, at any given time half of my family is in a no sugar phase, so my goodies go to waste. Frustrating! 

Hmm, I wonder though, if I made some of these gorgeous sweets, would they want to eat them no matter what? Haha!

Oreo Cheesecake Fudge

http://www.centercutcook.com/oreo-cheesecake-fudge/

https://omgchocolatedesserts.com/christmas-lasagna/

Snowy Chocolate Pinecones

https://www.handmadecharlotte.com/recipe-snowy-pinecone-snacks/

https://www.familyholiday.net/awesome-christmas-cake-decorating-ideas/

http://alisoncoldridge.tumblr.com/post/133928322451/27-christmas-cakes-decorated-in-the-most

https://www.averiecooks.com/softbatch-cream-cheese-chocolate-chip-cookies/

CIJ: The ABCs of Christmas ~ Eggnog

 As I was thinking about the ABCs of Christmas this year I thought of using Eggnog for the letter "E".

So, first of all I have to admit that I do not like Eggnog. I never have. It's way too sweet for me.

But I know lots of people do like it and so I went on a search for Eggnog recipes. All of these recipes are from Pinterest unless otherwise attributed. I have no idea if they are any good or not, but they're sure pretty!

https://thedomesticrebel.com/2016/11/28/no-bake-eggnog-cream-pie/

http://kneadtocook.com/eggnog-bread/

https://www.creationsbykara.com/2015/12/eggnog-bundt-cake.html/

http://nourishingjoy.com/old-fashioned-eggnog/

https://lmld.org/eggnog-fudge/

If any of you eggnog lovers out there try these recipes, let me know how they turned out!

December Third - Fun With Grandkids

Of course, I found this idea on Pinterest. It is a sled made out of candy! The grandkids were thrilled and wanted to make them for their parents.

The day before Thanksgiving we gathered our supplies and set to work. They did a great job! I used glue dots instead of the hot glue gun that is called for in most of the instructions I found (how can you use hot glue with chocolate?!) They were able to handle the dots by themselves. I found the chocolate Santa at IKEA and he looked very cute "driving" the sled.

This was a fun activity that I will definitely keep in mind for future holidays.

Thunder 

Skye

Sunny 

(My son, JD is making pies in the background)

December Second - Let the Baking Begin!

Sunny and Thunder had a half day yesterday so we decided it was the perfect time to bake cookies...

Thunder is going through some sort of an odd smile phase... 

... and they wanted a silly photo!

We made delicious Christmas M&M cookies - yummy!