What Andy got for Christmas from me:
-A love journal I kept all year
-Quesadilla maker
-Dutch oven with cookbook- funny story- I ordered the dutch oven from Sears...got the package a couple days later and didn't open it. The Sunday before Christmas I decided to take out the dutch oven to wrap it only to find they sent me a roaster instead...I took the thing back to Sears- having to make two trips because I forgot the receipt the first time...and they refunded me the money for the dutch oven, but not the shipping....ended up having to go to ACE hardware to find a Dutch oven that cost the same amount for money as I got at Sears with the shipping....so frustrating...lesson: do not order from sears again unless I can make the store order it for me so that I won't be out the shipping cost
-USB drive
-New headphones
-New Xbox controller
-Harry Potter 6 DVD
-The Hangover DVD
-And a Lakers hat with 2 tickets to the Lakers Game in February
What I got from Andy for Christmas:
-A picture frame for my degree
-A new pot
-2 new workout DVD's
-A storage container for my crafts
-2 new water bottles
-Pens
-A Snuggie
-A neck massager
-A speaker system for my i-pod
-A new razor
-And gift card to Down East
What we got from Family:
-My mom gave us...some things that will not be posted....Money....new shoe inserts for Andy with socks and a scarf/gloves, hair bumpit and shampoo set for me
-Andy's parents gave us money
-My dad and step-mom gave us two food sets from Stonewall kitchen (one for spaghetti and another for pretzels and dip)
-Andy's brother gave us a water purifier
And now for the Recipes
Christmas Menu:
Breakfast
Eggnog and Boston Cream doughnuts
The eggnog doughnuts were definitely the favorite this year
Dinner
Turkey
braised in butter with garlic, sage, poultry seasoning, onions, oranges and chicken broth- baked at 325 for 4 hours in an oven bag
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Sausage and corn bread stuffed mushrooms
-take button mushrooms and de-stem them.
-place mushroom tops on back on a greased cookie sheet
-oil the surface of the mushrooms so they will come out more golden after baking
-saute sausage, chopped mushroom stems, onions, and celery with garlic and other seasoning.
-soak cornbread stuffing in enough chicken broth so that it is soggy ~1 cup stuffing to 1 cup broth
-mix soggy stuffing with sauted ingredients and add parmesan cheese
-scoop stuffing into the mushroom heads and top with more parmesan cheese
-bake at 350 for about 20 to 25 mins
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Green Bean Casserole
Buy french's fried onions and follow the directions- I added extra mushrooms
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Sausage and Pepperoni stuffing
Buy Mrs. Cubisons stuffing and follow the directions on the box. I added pepperoni, parmesan cheese, mushrooms and garlic- baked it- and then sprinkled cheddar cheese on top and baked that until it melted (~10 mins).
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Brussel Sprouts Braised in Cream
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Cranberry Applesauce
I doubled the recipe and added raw cranberry's from oceanspray as well as 1 cup of water and 1 cup of granulated sugar
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Pumpkin yeast bread
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Twofer pie
Single Crust Sweet Tart Dough
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 9 tablespoon very cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
• 1 large egg yolk
Pumpkin filling
• 1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
• ⅔ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tsp. dark rum
• ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground ginger
• ¼ tsp. salt
Pecan filling
• ½ cup light or dark corn syrup
• ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups pecan halves or pieces
For the sweet tart dough crust
Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine (or mix flour, sugar and salt in bowl if you will be using a pastry cutter).
Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in (or use a pastry cutter to get the same results). You should have some pieces the size of oatmeal fakes and others the size of peas.
Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing (or mixing with a fork) after each addition.
When the egg is in, process in long pulses- about 10 seconds each- until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change- heads up.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.
To press the dough into the pan: butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don’t be too heavy handed- press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture.
Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferable longer, before baking.
Center a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
Butter the shiny side of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, against the crust. (since you froze it, you can bake it without weights).
Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes.
Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, carefully press it down with the back of a spoon. For partially baked crust, patch the crust if necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack.
For the pumpkin filling
Pulse all ingredients together in a food processor (or blender). Leave filling in bowl.
For the pecan filling
In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients except pecans until smooth.
Preheat oven to 450°.
To assemble
Give the pumpkin filling one last quick pulse, then remove bowl, rap it on counter to debubble batter, and pour filling into crust.
Top pumpkin filling evenly with pecans, then pour over pecan filling. Poke down any pecans that float to the top and aren't covered with filling.
Bake pie for 10 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 300° and bake for another 35–40 minutes, or until it is evenly puffed and a slender knife inserted into the center comes out clean (total baking time, 45 to 50 minutes).
Transfer pie to a cooling rack and let it stand until it is just warm or until it reaches room temperature.
(I place the warm cranberry applesauce on top of the cooled pie and also added whipped cream- super tasty)
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Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1 box spice cake mix
1 cup milk chocolate chips
mix the ingredients together and bake at 350 for 20-25 mins
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Home Made Hot Apple Cider
I also added some cinnamon sticks and cloves for extra flavor
-we also had mashed potatoes and gravy....but no recipe as I figure everyone knows how to make those....my advice on the potatoes is the more fat the better...so butter and fattening milk makes mashed potatoes super yummy
1 comment:
XBOX controller? If Andy has a gamertag let me know and we can link up and play!
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