Christmas Day 2010 (part 1)

We had a great Christmas Day...this is part 1...before we ran out of room on the camera and had to take a break!
Here are a few pictures of the favorite presents...the family helicopter...purchased by Santa last night after deciding it would be worth it! It has already provided a lot of entertainment.
Secret Santas gave Caleb the fire truck, which has all kinds of noises and lights!
Secret Santa's Chuck for Skyler...very cool toy! The boys played with these forever, and it was near impossible to get them to open the rest of their presents!
These are stained glass from Jon's dad, Mickey for Skyler, Lightning for Caleb, and stocking for us! He does a great job at that!
Jon loves the Patriots, so the boys gave him this potato head!
Fun desk sets...complete with markers, crayons, stencils, paper...etc...
By this time they had opened all the presents from us, except their bikes, which are in the next one. They had a blast, but it was a busy morning. All Skyler wanted to do was play with the truck, and breakfast was sure a chore! I made individual monkey bread on muffin cups, thinking that would be easier since they don't like getting sticky, but man it was still rough! And I was grateful presents were finally over...

Christmas Eve 2010

Every year growing up, we always opened a present on Christmas Eve, and it was usually PJs, slippers, etc... So starting this year, and from now on, we're doing jammies on Christmas Eve. By next year, maybe I'll be able to make matching ones! :)

But here they are opening their presents...they were so excited and couldn't wait for Christmas Eve to come!
Caleb showing off his jammies...Caleb got Phineas and Ferb, and Skyler got Thomas! Perfect for them!
Here are the boys putting out cookies and milk for Santa. Caleb wanted to make sure Santa got 6 cookies and an entire glass of milk. He made sure Jon filled it up all the way!
We finally got them in bed, and started getting everything ready. They didn't go to sleep until about 830, but since they're so small, Santa was able to get all the presents put out without them even noticing! :) What a simple blessing of having little children.

Christmas Recipes 2010

So this year we did very simple food on Christmas...just finger foods and snacks all day!

But here are a few things I tried, and we loved!

Cocktail Meatballs from Allrecipes.com

Hidden Valley Cheese Ball

...and this is what I made the cheese ball look like! Christmas Package Cheese Snack


The meatballs are very good and the sauce is incredible and so easy. Just chili sauce and grape jelly! And the cheese ball, according to my mom and hubby, was very good. I don't like cheese balls in general, but I wanted to make the package!

Baked Pear Crisps

Baked Pear Crisps
from: Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade magazine, October 2010

I loved this recipe! Not too difficult and oh so good!

Makes 6 servings
Prep: 20 mins
Bake: 1 h 10 mins

Ingredients

1/3 C walnuts, chopped
1/3 C golden raisins
1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 C rolled oats
1/4 C cold butter, cut into small cubes
6 medium, firm pears
1 1/2 C apple cider

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a small bowl, combine walnuts, raisins, sugar, cinnamon, and oats. Add butter cubes and toss to combine.

Cut 1/3 off stem end of each pear. Using a melon baller or small spoon (I used a knife and spoon), scoop out core and pulp, leaving 1/2 " thick shell. Place pears and tops in a 2 quart baking dish.

Using a small spoon or your fingers, evenly stuff pears with walnut mixture, mounding extra filling on top. Pour cider into pan. Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake 40-45 minutes. Remove foil and bake, basting every 10 mins, for 20-25 mins longer or until pears are easily pierced with a sharp knife. Serve pears with tops, and drizzle with remaining cider, if desired.

Note: I did not use walnuts, and used black raisins instead. We still loved them!

Sweet and Sour Chicken / Pork

Sweet and Sour Chicken (or Pork)
from: Brenda Ottesen (actually one of her books)

This dish is great! It's not that difficult and very tasty! Tonight my mom and Kendra said it would beat Panda, so I figure that's a compliment! I prepare mine with red and green bell pepper and pineapple!

Ingredients

1 lb chicken or pork cut up into chunks
1 t salt (I actually never use it though)
3 C oil for deep frying 375 F

Batter:
1/2 C flour
1/4 C cornstarch
1 t baking soda
3/4 C cold water

Sauce (double if necessary)*:
3/4 C water
2 T cornstarch
2 T rice vinegar
3 T ketchup
2/3 C granulated sugar

Garnish (optional):
1 tomato, wedged
1 small green pepper, wedged
1/2 C pineapple chunks
1 t toasted sesame seeds

Bone chicken (pork) and cut into 1/2" thick slices or chunks.

Heat oil in wok to 375F. (I just use a skillet and it works great!) Rub salt into meat pieces (remember I don't use salt). Dip into batter and fry until golden brown. Make sure meat is fully cooked before eating. I do it at least 5-7 minutes and then I still check one from each batch to make sure it's done. Place on plate with paper towel to absorb grease.

Combine sauce ingredients in saucepan over the stove. Bring sauce to a full boil stirring constantly. Arrange garnishes on top of fried meat. Pour sauce over and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

*Note: I find I need to double the sauce recipe if I use more than just 1 lb of meat.

Banana Pancakes

Whole Wheat, Oatmeal, and Banana Pancakes
from: Allrecipes.com

Once again, Kelli recommended this recipe! Skyler loves bananas and the entire time he ate them he just said "nana" "nana" as he shoveled the pancakes into his mouth! They have a lot of flavor, are healthy, and so good. Jon said they were "edible" but I'm pretty sure he was understating the flavor!

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons dry milk powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 banana, mashed

Directions

1. Place the rolled oats into the jar of a blender and blend until the texture resembles coarse flour. Whisk together the blended oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, dry milk powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.
2. Whisk together the egg, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Stir in the mashed banana. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Let the batter stand for 5 minutes.
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle over medium-high heat. Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto the griddle, and cook until bubbles form and the edges are dry, about 2 minutes. Flip, and cook until browned on the other side. Repeat with remaining batter.

Peach Crisp

Peach Crisp

So I had never made peach anything before, but decided to surprise Jon and make a peach cobbler for him. However, I couldn't find any good cobbler recipes, so I stuck to the basic peach crisp recipe from eHow.com, which will be my go to recipe for this from now on. I have made this 2 times in a week...very good!

How to peel the peaches: Boil water; add peaches and let sit for about 30 seconds in the water. Remove peaches and add to ice cold water. Skin should peel right off!

Ingredients

• 6 cups of fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
• 2 tsps. of ground cinnamon, divided
• 1 1/2 Cups of all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/4 tsp. of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar, firmly packed and divided
• 1/2 cup of softened butter
• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for topping

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Put your prepared peaches into a mixing bowl.
3. Stir up in a mixture of 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1 tsp. of cinnamon.
4. Add the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon mixture to the prepared peaches and mix them well.

5. Lightly butter a 9-by-13 inch baking dish.
6. Place the peach mixture into the bottom of the baking dish and put it to the side.
7. Mix the rest of the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. Add butter with a pastry blender until the mixture becomes coarse.
8. Drop this mixture over the peaches. Make sure it is spread evenly over the peaches.

9.Bake mixture until it is golden brown or for approximately 45 minutes.
10. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.