Christmas Cooking

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

These are sooo yummy.  A lady brought them to our Sunday School Christmas Party and we were hooked.  They are brownie bites from Costco.  (I had never bought them before because I thought they would be hard and chewy.  Boy was I wrong!  They are super soft and perfectly yummy.)  Anyway, they couldn't be easier.  Just spread some chunky peanut butter on top and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Who knew something so easy would be so delicious!

Sweet Pepper Bruschetta 

So, my friend Shelia said this looked like cat food.  Gotta love friends that will tell you the truth :)  Actually, I love Publix grocery store for more than one reason.  If you've ever gone there, you know they cook and samples and recipes when you go in.  One day when we were there they were cooking this bruschetta.  It was sooo good.  So of course I got the recipe and all the ingredients.  It ended up being time consuming and expensive to make, but it was good to have something different.  Don't think I will make it again, but we all like new stuff every now and then.

Cinnamon Rolls 

These are cinnamon rolls from the pioneer woman.  I found them by accident last year and have been waiting to try them.  Oh my!!  Can you say amazing?  The best cinnamon rolls I have ever had.  Actually, her website has become one of my favs.  She has lots of really good recipes and she blogs about homeschooling, photography, etc.  Check it out when you free time and nothing to do....ha!

  It is www.thepioneerwoman.com .

Turkey 

Charles put his first turkey breast on the rotisserie on the grill.  Boy was it yummy.  I had to share because he was so proud of it and it was so good.

We are so blessed to have such abundance.  I do not take it for granted.  I am so thankful for God's blessings for our family.

Cake Pops

This is my second attempt at cake pops.  The first attempt was not what I would call successful except for the fact that I learned alot.  These are Christmas cake pops.  Some are white, some are green, some have sprinkles, some have sugar.  They are the classic Christmas cake flavor...red velvet. 

Arial view

Drying in the styrofoam

The red velvet inside....a funny story with this...as I pulled the cake out of the oven, Leah said, "Oh, no!  Look what happened."  I asked what and she said, "Look, it turned red...oh, no."  I guess she is so used to vanilla and chocolate cakes that she thought something had gone wrong with this one being red :)

All individually wrapped.  It's amazing that one cake mix makes soooo many pops!

Gift packaged for Ella and Leah's dance teachers

Another arial view of the finished product

These things taste great and are fun to eat.  They are also super easy to make but INCREDIBLY time consuming.  Definitely a labor of love.  And these are the most basic ones.  I cannot imagine making the fancy ones like Bakerella.  Have you seen those?  Check out www.bakerella.com  She's way too talented for me.  Charles said he hopes I never make them again.  It's true...me too!  He did ask why I was putting myself through this again and I had to admit it was because I refused to be beat by cake!  The last ones didn't turn out well, so I HAD to get it right!  Personality flaw???  Anyway, hope the recipients enjoy!  And I think I'll stick to regular ole cakes...except for wanting to try those Christmas cookies on the Bakerella website....but they are probably crazy time consuming too.  Oh well....speaking of time...I have two little girls who need mine :)

Dancing at the Nursing Home

Today Leah's 4 year old class from dance went to the nursing home to perform. They were so cute. There was so many kids that they had to be divided into two groups. Leah was quite nervous on the way...repeatedly asking if she was going to be able to see me, if all her friends were going to be there and dancing with her, if Miss Hannah (her teacher) was going to be there, etc...

Waiting to begin

Group photo...Leah hidden in back on left

Part of the ballet number

Still doing ballet

Waiting to begin the tap number

Tapping away

Oh, this cute pumpkin :)  I had a moment of breaking down and crying though.  I was sitting next to one of the residents who kept saying "Oh, they are so precious...Look at them, they are so sweet...Oh, how darling"  and just listening to her comments reminded me of what my Nanny and Mamaw always used to say about my girls.  It made me miss them so much.  I know they would have enjoyed this performance!

An Experiment

Charles has been wanting me to branch out with the peanut butter fudge for the last two years, but I just haven't been able to find time.  I still haven't "found" any time, but I just did it anyway.  First, I made peanut butter fudge using crunchy peanut butter.  Charles as well as mine friend Shelia said this is now their favorite. 

The second experiment was using a type of peanut butter that was also mixed with dark chocolate.  It turned out good too, except there was still a predominately peanut butter taste.  Charles said he tasted a hint of chocolate right at the end of each bite, but it was still mostly peanut butter.  At least I tried....

The Joy of Neighborhood

We woke up to quite a surprise this morning.  When we opened the front door, there was a sign taped to it that stated we had been elfed!  There was also a plate of goodies on our doorstep....ring pops, chocolate mint patties, homemade cookies, and a Christmas candle.  Thankfully, too, there was a letter of explanation.  Someone had gifted us with these Christmas goodies and now we have two days to do the same to two other neighbors.  You leave the sign on your front door until Christmas Eve so that you don't get elfed twice.  What a cute idea!  Charles and I loved it! 

I will admit that Charles and I had our reservations about living in a neighborhood.  We were worried about having neighbors but God has certainly blessed us with good ones and we are so thankful!

So, today I prepared our elf packages.  They contain homemade peanut butter fudge, candy cane Hershey kisses with a Legend of the Candy Cane tract, and an ornament.  I can't wait....a fun excuse to get to ring a doorbell and run :)



Christmas Parade

Here are a few pictures of the Prattville Christmas Parade.  The girls were on the Mann Dance float.  I had to ride too since Leah is so small.  They were so excited, but that quickly faded as the sun set and it got cold.  We were all in our thermal underwear, but it was still cold :)  Also, they ended up being disappointed by not being able to see the rest of the parade.  They agreed that next year they just want to be spectators rather than participants.  Overall, it was fun and  new experience.  Their favorite part was throwing candy to the people from the side of road.  This Thursday, Leah gets to dance for the folks at the nursing home...can't wait to share pix from that...I think it will be so precious!!

Waiting to get started

Me and my girls

The girls on the float

Aren't they so cute?

Dark and cold...but hanging in there!

First Fudge of the Season

Here is a quick snapshot of the first fudge of this years Christmas season!  My Mamaw would have already made 20 of these pans by now, but I am not the fudge maker she was.  I will say that I was a bit nervous about this batch because it is the first batch I've ever made on an electric stove.  I have always made it on my gas stove at the other house so I was not so sure about getting the right heat on this new electric one.  But, thankfully, it turned out perfect!  It tastes just like Mamaw's.  I have several other batches to go, and a few new things to try.  I am going to try one batch using crunchy peanut butter and another batch trying chocolate peanut butter.  We will see how they turn out!