New Year

What are you doing for New Year's Eve or day?? We will be traveling Lord willing to our son and daughter-in-law's home for Christmas! I will be taking the main part of the meal, ham and some sort of potato dish! We are pretty excited to celebrate with them and have a day of fun with them! Erika and Trevor will join us also! The weather is not suppose to be good tomorrow, but hopefully by Saturday things will have cleared up! Blessings! See you next year!

Christmas

Isn't it interesting that we fuss over Christmas and have all these ideas on how to make it the best day ever, only to remember that it's Christ birthday and that's why we celebrate the day! We had a wonderful day, maybe too quiet with no little kids around, but it was great! The next day is Gordon's birthday and we had a brunch for our group of "breakfast crowd" here in his honor! We ate way too much and talked alot! Hope your weekend was great and not too hectic! Blessings!

Cookies

My pal, Jordan Lombard died on Friday and his visitation is tomorrow! He had Downs and many medical problems, so Jesus said "hey, Jordan, it's time for you to come to my house"! So, I was asked to make cookies for the visitation and I came up with 2 platters for the family and friends who gather! So, I found at the store some new M&M's that are cherry cordial flavored, so I bought a Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and added some chocolate syrup and the M&M's! YUM!!!! So here's what the cookie platters look like! Blessings!

candy jar

My good friend Ellen and her husband Bob are deserving of this jar! You see, Ellen LOVES candy! When I think of them I think of all sorts of candy, so this year, I found this beautiful glass jar and thought of them! Enjoy! Blessings! P.S. Please excuse the mess on the counter behind the jar!

Christmas

Christmas time is upon us in full force! Many years ago in a very small town came joy in the form of a baby! His name is Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Almighty God, Savior, and Messiah! Jesus is what we call Him. He gives us victory over sin and death! Do you call upon Him only in times of trials and trouble?? Please call on Him in the mundane times of life, not just the crisis' that seem to plague us! He is the Joy to this world and the next! Blessings!

3 bean casserole

We really love 3 Bean casserole! I make it from time to time and tonight was the time! I serve it with corn muffins, YUM!!! Recipe follows: 1 onion chopped, 1 pound of ground beef( I used venison), 1 can of butter beans, 1 can of Bush's beans, 1 can of kidney beans, 1/2 cup of ketchup, 1/4 molasses, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. There are many recipes out there, but this the one I use! I brown the meat and onion together, add the beans( I drain the kidney beans), and ketchup/molasses/brown sugar mixture! I did add 1/2 bag of shredded carrots for some more texture! Blessings!

Snowed in

The snow fell and then it fell and then it fell some more! Our son called last night(they live in Minneapolis area and he works for a snow removal company) and told me he had been working since midnight Friday night till 7a.m. Sunday morning! WOW!!!! He's younger than me and they can do that, maybe not too often, but he survived it! Pray for his safety and others that he works with, they work hard!!! Well, I made banana bread for our pastors and more cookies! Blessings!

snow

Well, the snow has been falling since,I'm not quite sure when it started last night, but it looks like alot has already fallen! It seems to be about 6" already, but I could be on the high side, but it hasn't stopped since I got up at 6:30a.m. So, I'm home today and thinking about baking some banana bread, finishing up the small tree I put up, addressing some cards and just generally hanging out here in the warmth! I pray everyone is safe and can snuggle in! Blessings!

Russian Tea Cookies

Sorry I didn't get this up earlier! So, here's the other cookie recipe I promised! It is the only thing my mother-in-law could bake that wasn't a total disaster!! This is the recipe: 1 cup of softened butter, 2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Mix together and form small 1" balls. Place on cookie sheet, make sure your oven is preheated to 400. Cookies bake for 10 minutes, remove and roll into powdered sugar while warm(not hot), then roll again! Very simple recipe! Blessings!

cookie exchange

The finished and bagged cookies!
The pan of not over baked cookies!
The dough looking so pretty!


I'm pretty excited to be going to a cookie exchange tomorrow night! I have never been and that makes it so special for me! So with that in mind, I took pictures of the creations I made! So enjoy the photo gallery! I did cheat a little with some help from a bag on one kind of cookies, but they are so................good!! I used the Betty Crocker's bag of Sugar Cookie mix, 1 stick of butter( softened) and one egg. Mix in mixer, add green food coloring about 4 drops, mix that well and then add 1 cup of Nestle's semi sweet chocolate chips that are half mint and dark chocolate! It's a pretty green and festive looking! Tomorrow I will share the other recipe! Blessings!

Bratwurst

Last night Gordon asked me to help him make brats, so I did! Kurt showed me a long time ago how to soak the hog casing and run water through them to make sure there isn't any leaks and it helps to open up the casings! It is time consuming, but hey we have the time! We got 35 pounds of bratwurst made and cased!!!YUM! The spices I bought for the bratwurst I got from Penzey's Spices company. Go to the website and look at all they have to offer, it's truly amazing! Blessings!