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.

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
from: Taste of Home

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins

So my friend Kelli recommended these muffins and they are oh soo good! And very rich. You can substitute applesauce for the oil, and I will probably use less chocolate chips the next time!

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-1/3 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup (6 ounces) miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In a small bowl, combine bananas, oil and egg; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done. Yield: about 1 dozen.

Raspberry-White Chocolate Muffins

Raspberry-White Chocolate Muffins
from: Betty Crocker website

So my mother-in-law makes these a lot, and they are really good. The other day I made a double batch and Jon ate a dozen on his own! They are very good...

1	egg
2	cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3	cup milk
1/2	cup white baking chips
1/3	cup sugar
2	tablespoons vegetable oil
1	cup raspberries

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1. Heat oven to 400°F. Grease bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffin cups, or place paper baking cup in each muffin cup.
2. Beat egg slightly in medium bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients except raspberries just until moistened. Gently stir in raspberries. Divide batter evenly among cups.
3. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan.

Play Doh Cookies

Play-Doh Cookies




from : All recipes.com

There are probably a lot of different recipes like this, but this one tasted pretty good to me, and they turned out so cute. I made them to go on Mr. Lopart's candy store table for Caleb's birthday party! Hope you guys like them.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• assorted colors of paste food coloring
• 24 lollipop sticks

Directions

1. In a bowl cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms. Divide dough into fourths. Tint each with a different food color. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Working with half of each color, shape dough into 3/4 inch balls and for each cookie place 1 pink, 1 green, 1 blue and 1 orange ball together to make 1 large ball. Shape into a 12 inch long roll (like a snake), starting at one end, coil roll to make a 2 3/4 inch round cookie. Place cookies 3 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Carefully insert lollipop sticks into bottoms of cookies.
4. Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
from: Recipezaar

Seriously, these are sooo good!

Ingredients

• 1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast

• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups flour

FILLING

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/3 cup margarine, softened

ICING

• 8 tablespoons margarine
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.
2. Add sugar, margarine salt, eggs, and flour, mix well.
3. Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour.
4. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 21 inches long by 16 inches wide.
6. It should be approx 1/4 thick.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
8. To make filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened margarine over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface.
9. Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge.
10. Cut the dough into 1 3/4 inch slices, and place in a lightly greased baking pan.
11. Bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown.
12. While the rolls are baking combine the icing ingredients.
13. Beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy.
14. When the rolls are done, spread generously with icing.

Sorbet Torte

Sorbet Torte
from: Betty Crocker Calendar

Prep Time: 35 mins
Total Time: 5 hours 25 mins
Makes: 16 servings

Cake Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix (water, veg oil, and egg whites called for on box)
1 pint (2 cups) mango sorbet, softened
1 pint (2 cups) strawberry sorbet, softened

Note: Since the shower this was for was blue and green, I used lime sherbet and wildberry sorbet; I also used blue food coloring to make the sorbet more blue than purple.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp grated lime peel (I didn't put that in)
2 tbsp lime juice

Garnish, if desired:
Lime peel twists
Fresh Strawberries (I was going to use blueberries for mine...but forgot)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 F (325 for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 15x10x1 inch pan with baking spray. Line with waxed paper; spray waxed paper. (In case there's any confusion: my friend decided it meant spread wax paper all the way across, with extra room on the small ends so you can easily lift the cake out of the pan.)

2. In large bowl, make cake mix as directed on box, using water, oil, and egg whites. Pour into pan. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cooling rack; remove waxed paper. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

3. Cut cake crosswise into 2 equal sections. On long serving platter, place 1 section, rounded side down. Spread mango sorbet evenly over top. Place another cake section onto the sorbet; press down. Spread with strawberry sorbet. Top with remaining cake section; press down. Cover lightly; freeze about 2 hours or until firm. (Make sure it is FIRM before moving on to the next step.)

4. In large bowl, beat frosting ingredients with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Frost sides and top of torte. Freeze about 1 hour or until firm. Just before serving, garnish top with lime peel and strawberries. To serve, let stand at room temperature 10 minutes. Cut torte in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise 7 times to make a total of 16 slices.

Note: You can store this make-ahead dessert in your freezer, tightly covered, for up to 3 weeks.