SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

Hola! Como estas? Muy Bien, Gracias! LOL… Morning everyone! It’s Christmas Eve and everyone is a buzz waiting on Santa Claus to come to town. The house is full of pies, cakes, crepes, and cookies and soon it will be honoring the guest… some 24 pound birds and all their side childrens LOL! We are expecting 47 people for dinner on Christmas night… the ovens have been in overtime the last few days LOL! Turkeys, Hams, corn and green bean casseroles, homemade bread, mashed regular and sweet potatoes, bread cornucopias, raw veggies and dips… You name it and it will probably be on our tables! I get so excited, I can hardly contain myself when I know everyone is gonna be here! I love it!

Yesterday I had 15 kids over all baking goodies to give to their families. Some needed more guidance than others LOL, but we all had fun. They knocked out a 25 pound bag of flour and a 25 pound bag of sugar and they made more sweets today than we knew what to do with! But they had got containers (however many each person needed) so we filled them and bagged them up! They had so much fun… some were even covered head to toe in flour LOL! Hope their families realize the love these kids put into their gifts. I was so proud of all of them! Well, this is the last day you can get those gifts ready… so if you still need one, here is the last gift idea I can give you in time…



Craft Idea of the Day: Decorated Picture Frames

Take a fairly inexpensive picture frame and give it new life with a coat of paint and some decorations such as different kinds of buttons or seashells, flowers, or beads. Use your imagination and cater to the gift recipient’s likes. Add a photo and wrap it up! Memories are a gift that keeps on giving 365 days a year!

Alrighty, tonight is the last night of a normal dinner for a few days… after tomorrow (hopefully) it will be leftovers for a few days (mom needs a break LOL!). But if not, there will be more great recipes to share! I need something to fix and forget… while I finish up the last of the holiday cooking preparations. Nothing better for that than a slow cooker! How about this… RIBS… with some potatoes and steamed broccoli… oh yea that sounds yummy!



Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

Ingredients
4 pounds pork baby back ribs
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups barbecue sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 dash hot sauce
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2. Season ribs with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan. Brown in oven 15 minutes. Turn over, and brown another 15 minutes; drain fat.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the barbecue sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs, and turn to coat.

4. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 8 hours, or until ribs are tender.

Oh yum… just gimme a bib right now and let me loose on some ribbies! YUMMY!!! LOL yes me likey some ribs lol! OK, I’ve decided to surprise the DS18 with one of his favorite sweets… and I’m gonna share it with you! So here is your sweet treat for the day…



Southern Chess Squares

Ingredients

Crust:
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Topping:
1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 box confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. Mix together the cake mix, melted butter and the egg. Stir in the chopped pecans. Press mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with the confectioners' sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time until blended. Add the vanilla.

3. Pour cream cheese mixture over crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Cool in the pan, then cut into squares before serving.

Now BEWARE! These are very dense and very rich/sweet! But as we say down south… there can never be too much sugar or butter! LOL! Now just in case you don’t come on over tomorrow… I want to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas. There will be a post tomorrow… may not be as long, but I will make time for my online friends! To all a good night… until tomorrow… HUGS!

SOUPS, SOUPS, & MORE SOUPS!

Good morning kiddies! Time to rise and shine! Its almost 9am here in my 57 degree home and it's soup kitchen day! At least there is no rain today YAY! I have decided that I am not going anywhere today... no more shopping right now. I'm gonna cook, cook, cook, til I can cook no more LOL! Maybe if I cook a bunch while the kids are all gone, I can get some stock of individual portions built up in the freezer LOL! Gonna finish sewing some projects I started in between all the cooking... both for Christmas and the sale this weekend. I am also gonna wrap up some gifts while they are gone too... gifts from Santa. You see, 2 of my kids and 3 of their friends actually still believe in Santa Claus (at least they tell me they do and they are pretty convincing LOL) so I have to play for a little while longer. Hey- I'm just that good LMBO! Being I have such a big family (both immediate and extended) we go through a LOT of presents... let me show you:



See, what did I tell you?? You would think Santa bought out the Wal-Mart right? LOL... But this is just for my kids and husband and immediate family. The friends, extra "kids", extended family, etc. are in the other room under the other tree! Creepy huh? Don't have a coronary LOL, most of those are handmade. I would say about 85% actually. There are a few of the kids who get something special... especially if they talk about it and I know their "parents" (using that term VERY loosely) won't get it for them. A few times it's been something as simple as a DVD or a music CD. Sad huh?

Well yesterday, with running my mom around (which I don't mind at all... I love being with my mommy LOL), I didn't get much personal stuff done. I got my son's letterman jacket ordered (YIKES... almost $200 for just stinkin patches LOL... but he earned it so its worth it!), and some of the grocery shopping done for the house. I was gonna go out again today (cuz my Kroger has the 10 for $10 sale starting today YAY!) but I am still not feeling 100% so I think its best to stay home and cook and sew, and wrap, and cook LOL! Sew, (lol) what's on the menu today? Well, after listening to all the perverted male jokes and comments last night about my squash, I will be making the butternut squash soup recipe I gave you last night, as well as some broccoli cheese soup, chicken and white bean stew, some creamy tortellini soup, and maybe some crock posole. The squash was prepped and in the oven by 7:30am and it smells wonderful already in my house! I will be freezing the squash soup and the BC soup. The rest will be tonight's cafeteria pots for when everyone wanders through LOL. Hmmm... 5 soups... which of the 4 remaining ones do I give the recipe to? I think I'll share the other most fave one in my house... the Broccoli Cheese soup. Don't worry now... stick with me and you will be able to make your own recipe book before too long LOL! So here ya go:



Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter*
1 (16 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli*
4 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (2 pound) loaf processed cheese food, cubed
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup water

* Butter is only needed when you use fresh broccoli. When using fresh, use about 3-4 crowns chopped (or more depending on how much broccoli you like).

Directions

1. In a stockpot, if using fresh broccoli, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in broccoli, and saute in butter for about 7-10 minutes or until the florets are bright rich green. Cover with chicken broth. Simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Reduce heat, and stir in cheese cubes until melted. Mix in milk and garlic powder.

3. In a small bowl, stir cornstarch into water until dissolved. Stir into soup; cook, stirring frequently, until thick.

So there you have it... my "famous" broccoli cheese soup. I tell ya I can't keep it in the house long enough to freeze any and when I get it in the freezer, it doesn't last long! My daughter says the "ultimate shiznizzle" is when I pair this with a grilled cheese sandwich. She says its her little food heaven LOL! OK so that's where I'll leave you for the day... I'm off to get my squash out of the oven and start the soup and sewing marathon! Until next time... HUGS!