Christmas Recipes

Oh my goodness.  The last several weeks have been such a blur of kitchen goodness and I haven't been able to get here to share with you!  I've wanted to, gotten so close to the keyboard a couple of times and have been dragged away as I'm screaming out But. I. Must. Blog. About. This!

Now I have some serious making up to do.

I have been cooking and baking and baking and cooking and now I just want to wallow around in all of the leftovers, making everyone else eat all the fudge and cookies so that I can still fit into my pants.

Here are some of the recipes we tried in the month of December:

Baking

Almost a Candy Bar
Chocolate Raspberry Bars
Double Chocolate Biscotti
Cranberry Orange Scones

Cooking

Vegetable Lasagna - Christmas dinner
Sausage and Peppers Lasagna - Christmas dinner
Pasta e Fagioli soup - Christmas Eve dinner

I'll share these recipes later, but if you don't want to wait, just click on the link and they'll take you right to where you need to go.  Most of them are Taste of Home Recipes (again, one of my favorite recipe sources), so they're almost guaranteed to be awesomely delicious.

But my absolute, hands-down favorite thing we made for Christmas dinner was the Caprese Skewers that I found on Pinterest.  Oh. My. Stinkin'. Gosh.  Seriously, the easiest thing I've ever made and they were perfect Christmas colors.

You must try these.  You must.  No seriously, do it.  You don't even need a freakin' recipe!!

I will be back in a while and fill you in on the rest of the recipes if you don't want to click on the links up there.

Enjoy the rest of your day and don't forget to smooch in the kitchen!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

We love Italian food.  (If only you knew how much of an understatement that is...)  It ranks up there with Jesus, each other, our children and chocolate.  Do not underestimate the love of Italian food in this house. Give us pasta, garlic, olive oil and just about any kind of sauce and we are happy people.  We have garlic breath, but we're happy.  At least it's only Paco and Jamie smoochin' each other in the kitchen.  No one else would want to!

When we were first married and I was learning more about cooking, I knew I wanted to find a good homemade spaghetti sauce recipe.  I found one pretty early on and have made it about a million times over the years.  Okay, maybe not a million, but a ton anyways.  This recipe will make enough sauce for two meals, although I have a feeling with three boys growing up here, it won't stay that way for much longer.

Here we go...

Ingredients:

1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground beef
2 green peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 t. dried oregano
1 1/2 t. dried thyme
1 1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1 1/2 t. dried basil
1 1/2 t. pepper
2 t. salt
1 T. sugar
6 oz. can tomato paste
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
1/2 c. water
1 T. olive oil

Directions:

Brown beef in a skillet, drain and transfer into large pot.  Combine peppers, onions, celery in pot.  In separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients; add to beef mixture.  Simmer over low heat for 3 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally (swatting hubby with the wooden spoon for sampling before it's ready and then kiss him, hoping that will hold him over).  Remove bay leaves.  Serve over cooked pasta.  Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Notes:  You can always add mushrooms if you'd like.  Paco is a major fan of fungus, Jamie is (for some strange reason) not.  Also, be sure to remove the bay leaves!  The bay leaves absorb all the acid produced in the sauce and if they're eaten, they could produce major upset stomach yuckiness.  And nobody wants that.  The garlic breath is enough to contend with.

Set the table in romantic kind of way for seven, complete with plastic plates and sippy cups.  Look at each other lovingly as five children are happily slurping up spaghetti a la Lady and the Tramp.  Wait.  Maybe that's just our house.  Okay, technically only four kids are eating spaghetti.  Baby Jack will be joining them in no time, though.  Better start doubling this batch.

As always, if you try this let us know what you think! 

PS This freezes beautifully in Ziploc gallon bags.  When you freeze it, make sure you lay it flat in the freezer so it doesn't freeze into sharp angles, causing the bag to get holes.  As it's defrosting, I always put it in a bowl in the sink to catch any drips.

Easy-Peasy Sugar Cookies

I love baking.  I think I may have said this before... once or twice.  I especially love holiday baking.  Except sugar cookies.  And wouldn't you know, my kids beg for sugar cookies every year.  Every year.  I love to eat sugar cookies.  I just despise making them.  It's messy, it requires patience and tons of cleaning up and when I let my kids decorate them, well, let's just say I'm not interested in eating cookies that have been dropped on the floor and then frosted the finger-painting method. 

Call me a bad mama if you want, I won't care.

However, a fragile compromise was reached tonight.  We found a recipe that required no refrigerator time for the dough, no rolling out, and definitely no finger-painting of frosting.  In fact,  no frosting at all!  Can I get an "Amen, sis-tah?"

And let me tell you, I can promise that these are terribly fun to do with kids and they're wicked tasty.  Definitely win-win.  Look at that smile.  Doesn't he look like he's having fun?

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 t. vanilla
3/4 cup white sugar
2 cups flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

Yup, that's it.  Seriously easy.

Directions:

Beat together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar; add flour, baking powder, and salt.  Mix well.

Drop by heaping teaaspoon (approx. 3" apart) on ungreased cookie sheet.

Flatten with bottom of glass moistened with water and dipped in sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 6-10 minutes or just until lightly golden.

Eat while watching White Christmas and dream of beautiful Edith Head dresses.

Stop eating when you realize you really, really don't want your kids to ask how many cookies you've eaten. 

Not that I would know about that or anything.

The End.



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