Christmas Day dips

I have a new oven to use (clad with super cute snowman towels)!  I cook dinner every night unless we go out to eat or I have a late night gym class (Wednesday Zumba).  So, that means I am cooking up a meal at least 5 nights a week, plus lunch and breakfast on the weekends.  I needed a good oven with functional burners! 

 

 

So, we started a new Christmas day tradition, of eating different kinds of dips. I didn't have a Christmas day meal tradition growing up, the focus was always Christmas Eve.  Someone at work told me about the dip tradition, and seeing as I love dips, I think it is a great idea. 

7 Layer Dip

 

 

Buffalo Chicken dip and Hot Artichoke dip.

 

A fantastic and delicious tradition.

Mrs. Field's Cookies

I was very much in the Christmas spirit this holiday, and we had some friends over on Christmas Eve.  Since there were going to be 6 adults and one cute little girl, I wanted to make some sweet treats for dessert.  I decided to make the Mrs. Fields chocolate/walnut/oatmeal cookie recipe, since we always had it growing up. 

 

 

I quartered my original recipe, since it ends up with about 4 dozen cookies if you use the whole one. 

 

The secret to my recipe?  I use both chocolate chips and chopped up chocolate in the dough.  Delicious!

 

 

This recipe is available online, and so I've included that version below.  Mine is a little different, with some grated chocolate and walnuts added in. 

 

Ingredients:

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups oatmeal

2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. soda
24 ounces. milk chocolate chips

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, oatmeal, baking powder and soda. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 10-15 minutes.

 

 

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tonight, we had a very successful crockpot chicken tortilla soup.  I've been on the prowl for a good tortilla soup recently, and living in Texas means I am picky!  We have so many great Mexican and Tex-Mex places with tortilla soup that I can compare recipes to.  I wanted a crock pot friendly recipe as well, so I gave it my own spin. 

 

 

 I wanted one without corn or beans, and right down to the home-y taste of just the chicken without the bells and whistles.  I ended up combining a few different recipes to yield this one.  Even my husband, self-proclaimed soup hater, enjoyed this and asked for more. 

 

Recipe follows:

Ingredients:

1 packet fajita seasoning

1.5 boxes chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 chopped onion

3/4 can crushed tomatoes (15 oz can)

1.5 pounds chicken

cilantro

avocado

cheddar or Monterey Jack

tortilla chips

 

Add the first 6 ingredients to the crock pot.  Cook on high 4 hours, or until chicken shreds easily.  Shred the chicken, and top with cilantro, avocado, cheese, and tortilla chips.

 

 

 

Also, to be completely honest, I didn't really measure any ingredients.  I just added approximately what I have listed in the recipe, but I could have guesstimated incorrectly.  So, just add things until it looks and tastes good to you! 



Christmas cards

We sent out two different cards this year - one to hold a photo, and one with just a greeting.  See how cute!

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Sauce

I made some ice cream fudge sauce for friends over the holidays, from my kitchen to theirs.  The recipe is simple, and delicious.  Just combine cream, chocolate, and PB to make a sweet, fudgy sauce for dipping fruit or for dressing ice cream with.  

Recipe:

3/4 cup cream
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3 Tablespoons corn syrup

I doubled it since I was making lots of sauce. 

Simply heat your cream.

Add the remaining ingredients, and heat until smooth and melty

Pour into your containers

Dress them up with a bow and a tag!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Let's celebrate with some photos of what my house looks like this year (I took these before Maria V. sent me some more of my decorations, but hers are up and looking great!)

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Wine Corks

Now that everyone has received their Christmas gifts, I can tell you about some of them!  I made some very cute wine corks using Christmas ornaments and plain wine cork stoppers.  They turned out very cute!

Gather your supplies - pliers, liquid nails, an ornament, and a wine cork stopper.

First step - remove the hanger for the ornament.

 Step #2.  Add liquid nails to the cork

 Step 3.  Add ornament to cork and leave to dry.

Step 4:  Wait til they dry

Wrap them up for a cute, handmade gift!



Green Chile Chicken

Dinner tonight was green chile chicken.  Heat your pan, cook your chicken (salt and peppered), add some monterey jack, melt it up nice, smother with green chile salsa.  While you cook, make an avocado-tomato salad as a side!  Easy peasy.

Christmas Party

My work has an annual Christmas party, where we get all glammed up and have some fun.  Each year, they contract a musical act to play for us, and we have had some fantastic bands come.  This year, we had The Band Perry, which I like.  They were on the CMA's recently, and you have probably heard their songs "If I Die Young" or "Postcard from Paris", or their new single "Dig Two", which is one of my favorites.  They sang a great set, and we enjoyed them.   We also had an illusionist, who did some great tricks and was quite humorous. 

The favorite part was the free drinks, dinner, and photo ops we had. 

A Christmas Wreath

My neighbor and I made some Christmas wreaths to go in front of the subdivision for Christmas.  All you need is some greenery, some ornaments, and some glittery fun!  Plus glue guns.

First we laid out what we wanted, then hot glued it on.