Decorating cookies part 2 ......

Declan was unable to come over and decorate

cookies with us a couple of Sundays ago

because Jacquelyn had the flu.....so they were all

trying to stay away from all of us so as not to spread

those nasty germs

He finally was able to come over one day 

and here's a couple of pictures.

this was his first time decorating cookies.....he took

a bite of cookies about every 2 minutes while decorating!

haha....but he sure had fun

later......

Pot Pourri ......

Want to make your house smell good....

try this

lemons, oranges, cloves, bay leaves, and cinnamon

add water, bring to a small boil and then leave on simmer

later......

Soup recipe .....

I love eating soup

and especially during the cold winter months

 

here's a new recipe I tried......don't know

who to give credit to but thank you, it's delicious!!

 

This is an easy and fast soup to put together

my only tip......have everything ready, chopped, measured out, etc.

makes it so much easier

 

BLACK BEAN & QUINOA SOUP

 

tablespoon olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced medium

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped fresh tomato

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup quinoa

1 large carrot, cut in to 1/4 inch pieces

2 bay leaves

4 cups vegetable broth, divided

1 - 24 oz can black beans

1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus extra for garnish

 

preheat a 4 quart pot over medium. Saute onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and saute with the onions for a few seconds. Then add tomato, cumin, oregano and red pepper flakes and cook for a minute or so, just to break down the tomatoes a bit.

 

Add quinoa, carrots and bay leaves and then pour in 2 cups of the broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Let boil for 5 minutes or so. Add the remainder of the broth, the black beans with their cooking liquid and the cilantro. Cover, bring to a boil, then remove the lid, lower heat to simmer and cook for 10 more minutes.

 

 

Remove bay leaves and serve topped with crushed tortillas, avocado and cilantro.

We did not use crushed tortillas but we did top with chopped cilantro.

 

below the onions, garlic and tomatoes cooking

 

mmm.....cilantro!

 

 

 

 

this soup is wonderful.......I will be making this a lot!

 

later....



Thanksgiving part II .....

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my side

of the family on the Sunday after Thanksgiving

 

My niece Aimee and her husband Alex hosted again this year

which we are all so grateful for........they have a really nice and

large house so there's plenty of room for everyone

and of course I never, ever seem to take very many pictures

when we are all together. But in my defense, I would rather talk

and laugh and enjoy being there!

below is Alex taking a picture of the turkey!

 

Our 3 beautiful children......and my sister photo bombing the picture!!

 



our sweet son Jake

 

beautiful nieces......Alison, Abby, Mallory and Gabby

 

 

later.....

Declan spent the night ......

Jacquelyn, Bucky and Declan spent the night with

us on Thanksgiving

 

it's fun to see our little guy in the morning

kids are just so happy when they wake up, full of energy,

loud and fun

 

here is he having his breakfast.....

 

 

 

 

 

later......

Snowmen ....

I'm pretty sure I put pictures of these cute

little Target snowmen every year but they

just make me smile.....so they get a

blog post every Christmas

 

 

they sit right there where I can see them

when washing dishes.....aren't they cute!!

 

later......



Christmas goodies ....

Jacquelyn and I started working on our Christmas goodies

last Sunday. Seems we don't have many days to bake so we

worked hard all day! Our reward.....we went out for dinner :)

We made peppermint bark, buckeyes, haystacks, chocolate spoons

and peanut butter fudge.

Then our next day of baking we did the Russian Tea cookies and sugar cookies.
New this year is the Peanutty Pie Crust Clusters

this was the winning recipe in the Pillsbury bake off......the winner

is from the county where we live

 

below Jacquelyn is dipping the spoons in chocolate

then we sprinkled them with crushed peppermint

some of them we drizzled white chocolate and then the others

we sprinkled crushed Heath candy bars

these are great for stirring up your hot chocolate

below is the cut up and baked pieces of Pillsbury pie crust for
the peanutty candy clusters

 

you just melt shortening, white chocolate, and peanut butter

together. Then you mix that with salted peanuts and heath bar pieces and then

very carefully add the baked pie crust pieces.

Drop by spoonful onto wax paper

We always have fun baking our Christmas goodies
Jacquelyn gives these as gifts to her co-workers
I give them to neighbors and friends as gifts
and try to keep enough around for us to enjoy too!!

later.........

Decorating cookies ......

We decorated cookies with the boys on Sunday

I baked 5 dozen sugar cookies for them to decorate
Jacquelyn came down sick with the flu so they were unable to come over
I saved a bunch of cookies so that Declan could decorate on another day
But Maddox and Gabe sure had fun.......

and of course I forgot to take pictures of the finished cookies
but the boys did a great job

And afterward decorating cookies we ate a
delicious spaghetti dinner!!

 

later......

Cinnamon Buns ....

I started making Pioneer Woman's cinnamon buns a few years back

I made them for my parents and siblings and gave them

on Thanksgiving weekend. They were already frozen so they just

saved them for Christmas morning.

Then I would make another batch closer to Christmas for our

Christmas morning and to give to a few close friends

I will warn you on this.....once you start making them for

people, you really have to stay with it!! haha.......everyone loves them

and though it takes a little effort and time, they are fun to make.

Today one of my dearest friends Janace came over and we made

a batch......8 tins of buns!

Now tonight I made another batch and was able to get

10 tins of buns. All a matter of how you roll them out and

roll them up.....it can vary

I follow Ree's recipe to a T! I even measure out my dough

once I roll it out......10 inches wide, 30 inches long

and here are my only tips.......

have everything ready to go, makes it so much easier

when you pour the butter on the dough, just use your hands

to spread it out...and cover every inch of the dough

notice I already have my tins all lined up and buttered so when I start

slicing the dough, they are all there ready to go

next you sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon and just make

sure you get every bit covered.....at this point it's really too messy

to try and use your hands so just sprinkle it all over

then comes time to roll it up.......and you'll have the butter, sugar

and cinnamon oozing out but that's fine, just smear it on there as you

roll it. It is easier if you have 2 people doing it but tonight it was

just me and it rolled up fine.

after you slice  them up, just cover with kitchen towels and let rise

for about 20 minutes. Look at them there.......all comfy in

pretty red Christmas towels :)

and once they come out, put the icing on right away.....and smother them

good in the icing. I only bake 2 tins at a time so sometimes your icing

can start to harden a little....if that happens just add a few drops of

milk and whisk it up some more.

These are by far the best cinnamon buns I have ever had.

a little warning though......they are very addictive!!

later.......



Elf on a shelf ...

Elf on a Shelf is all the craze.......everyone's doing it!

But what I'm wondering is when and who started all of this

because over 50 years ago.......yes, it's painful to type that

my Momma had some little Elves that she would put throughout the house.

She told us those Elves were watching us and they would report back

to Santa if we were good or bad

They had little outfits that were red and white stripes

and a tiny bit of tinsel around their neck

to be honest, they used to creep me out a little

until I got old enough to understand that really, they were

just little plastic head elves

a few years back, Momma gave each of us one of those Elves

and I bring him out every year.

He sits on my book shelves in the den and he is

the "Original Elf on a Shelf"

and here's my December chalk board.....idea from Pinterest

later.........



Thanksgiving 2014 ....

We sure did enjoy our Thanksgiving

except that we missed Momma terribly

 

I dreamed about her on Wed night

I dreamed that it was Thanksgiving, I was standing at the kitchen

sink washing up some dishes and I saw her walking up on the deck

I went to the door and said....."Momma, I thought you were gone"

she answered...."Well, I'm back!"

and that was it.....I don't remember anything else

sweet to see her in my dream

 

We had 12 for dinner

and as always, we ate about 5:30, half time of the Dallas game

Despite an awful showing of the Cowboys, we really enjoyed dinner

 

and here's just a few pictures from dinner......I didn't take to many

 

This is me modeling my apron that Momma gave me last year

it has a inside pocket for your cell phone!

 

 

These dogs just know that they will be getting

turkey dinner later on.....so spoiled

 

 

out newest grandson John Thomas

 

3 brothers

 

Declan has become quite obsessed with trains.....it's cute

 

later.....