Happy Chanukah

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with many sweet memories that will last a lifetime.

My family and I had an unforgettable Christmas this year and I could not have asked for more. Christmas is a very important remembrance of the wonderful birth of Jesus and I love to read the story of Christmas to my children and see there faces light up. This year my four year old was very interested in the manger scene and I was so touched that he wanted to know all about the birth of sweet, baby Jesus.

 

My family and I also observe all the Jewish holidays and this time of year we remember another miracle through the Chanukah story. If you have never read this story I encourage you to take a moment and read another miracle of Emmanuel.

 

 

Our Chanukah is filled with family fun

dancing

 and of course food!

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I always make latkes and applesauce and would love to share the recipes I use.

Click on each link for the full recipe.

Easy Slow Cooker Applesauce

Stove Top Homemade Applesauce

Latke Recipe

 

Blueberry Muffins Topped with Crumble

Adapted From: To Die For Blueberry Muffins 

Christmas is almost here and company is on the way. Yikes! What is for breakfast?
How about blueberry muffins topped with crumble?!
You will win your family's heart with this wonderful breakfast.

              

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Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup + 3 TBS white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

 

Crumble:

5 TBS white sugar or brown sugar

2 TBS all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1-2 TBS cold butter, cubed

 

Directions:

           

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup + 3 TBS sugar, salt, and baking powder.
In a small bowl whisk vegetable oil, egg, vanilla and milk; then mix with flour mixture.
Fold in blueberries.
Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

 

To Make Crumb Topping:

 

    In a mixing bowl add sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon.
Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender until you reach a crumble texture. If your butter is clumping just keep cutting in and you may need to add a bit more butter until you reach a crumble texture. Sprinkle over muffins before baking.  

  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.               

Enjoy :)

 

 

Snow Dust Brownies

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Looking for a great brownie recipe? This is the one you are looking for!

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsweetened coca powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup boiling water

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

chopped pecans (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 and grease and flour an 8in square pan. If you double the recipe use a 9x13 pan.

2. In a large bowl stir cocoa and baking soda. Add 1/3 cup of vegetable oil and boiling water. Mix until will blended and thickened. Stir in the sugar, eggs, and remaining oil. Finally add the flour, vanilla, and salt. Mix well until all of the flour is absorbed. Spread evenly into the pan.

(I added chopped pecans on half)

3. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, but always check at 30 min. Allow to cool before cutting. Once cool cut into squares and dust with powder sugar.

Cranberry & Brie Tartlets

Looking for something unique and presentable to bring to a Christmas party. Well look no further! These cranberry & brie tartlets are simple, festive, and perfect for any winter gathering. 

             
What you need:

12oz bag of fresh cranberries (washed and separated)

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

10 sheets of thawed fillo dough or
pre-made mini fillo shells

(Do not leave fillo dough sitting out.
Keep covered until ready for use to prevent drying out.)

cooking spray

brie cheese

Directions

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set to the side and allow to cool.

Spray each sheet of fillo dough with cooking spray. Then separate five sheets and cut into six even square. Then cut six squares out of the other remaining five sheets.

Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray and place the fillo squares in the muffin pan. Slice brie and place in the fillo filled muffin pan. Brie is a very rich cheese so do not use too much. I roughly used 1 TBS of cheese in each tartlet, but use to your liking.

 Next, spoon cranberry sauce over the brie cheese and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. I did not leave the kitchen and walk away from the oven. Mine took about 10 minutes. Check often to prevent burning.

Enjoy :)

 

Hamburger Veggie Soup

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Today I am sharing my very own recipe for hamburger vegetable soup.

Serve this soup with a nice slice of hot cornbread topped with cinnamon sugar butter and you will be praised for the rest of the night.

I hope you enjoy this soup at the family dinner table soon!

What you need:

1lb hamburger meat

1/2 purple onion finely chopped

2- 32oz chicken broth (low sodium)

5 small potatoes cut into chunks

1/2 lbs baby carrots

1/2 lb fresh French green beans (cut into 3 sections)

2 celery stalks (cut  crosswise into 3 sections)

1- 8oz tomato sauce

1- 6oz tomato paste
12 oz package frozen corn

1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (or to taste)

2 tsp garlic and herb seasoning

1/4 tsp or a few sprinkles of chili powder

creole seasoning (to taste)

Directions:

In a sauté pan add hamburger meat and finely chopped onions. Cook hamburger meat until no longer pink. Drain grease from meat if needed and then set aside.
Then, in a large stock pot combine chicken broth, diced potatoes, baby carrots, green beans, celery, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and all seasonings. Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

When vegetables are tender, add frozen corn and hamburger meat with onions. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.

I do not serve the celery sticks. I leave those in the soup for flavor.

This soup is even better the next day, as most soups are!

Serve warm, salt & pepper or use creole seasoning to taste & enjoy!

Cinnamon & Sugar Butter

I love flavored butters; they bring pizazz to any dish!

This is my recipe for cinnamon & sugar butter.

It’s so easy you will be amazed :0)

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What you need:

1 stick of butter at room temp.

1 ½ tsp McCormick Cinnamon Sugar

Directions:

In a small bowl combine butter and cinnamon sugar. Blend well!

This delicious butter will pump up the flavor of cornbread, waffles, pancakes, and toast.

Refrigerate leftovers!

Snowman Pretzel Sticks

Christmas time is underway and the cooking has begun!

These snowmen pretzel are so much fun for the kids to make. The smaller ones will love to sprinkle red and green sugar crystals and the older ones will fun have dipping pretzels in the chocolate and decorating! This is a winter treat sure to please anyone from 1 to 99 :)

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First I prepared all the candy on a sheet of wax paper for easy access.

Accessories for Pretzel Snowmen

Hats- gum drops and black jellybeans with a Twizzler rim

Eyes- mini chocolate chips

Nose- orange decorating icing

Mouth- black decorating icing

Scarf- pull a part Twizzlers

Buttons- round decorating confetti

You can easily change any of the candy accessories to fit your snowmen.

You will also need:

1 package of pretzel rods

white chocolate for dipping

This is a closer look at the jelly bean top hats with a Twizzler rim.

Melt white chocolate according to the package directions.

I used a spoon to smooth chocolate on the pretzel rods because they were too large to actually dip. Then place them on waxed paper and let the pretzels cool for a few minutes. Afterward, I allowed my little one to sprinkle sugar crystals and my older children were able to place the eyes and buttons.

Place the snowmen in the fridge for about 15 minutes to allow the chocolate to set.

Use white chocolate as glue to place the hats on top of the pretzel stick.

Dip the gum drop and jelly bean hats in chocolate and then place the hats on top of the pretzel stick. Hold for a minute or until the hat is in place. Once the hats have harden in place, wrap Twizzler scarfs around the neck of the snowmen. Add the nose with orange icing and a smile with black icing.

You now have a wonderful treat that everyone will enjoy!

Chicken & Cornbread Dressing

I love family dinners, so when Thanksgiving and Christmas arrive I am soo happy to cook for everyone. Nothing says comfort food more than homemade chicken and cornbread dressing around the holidays.
This recipe has been in my family for years and I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does :)

            
This year we spent our very first Thanksgiving with my husband's family. We live in Texas and they live in Mississippi, so we usually swap Christmas or summer visits with them. My father-in-law fries turkey every year for Thanksgiving and I was very excited to experience fried turkey. I have never tried it before! Well, needless to say he did a wonderful job.

I was in charge of all the sides, so I decided to bring some of my family's Thanksgiving traditions to the table. One of my sides had to be the one and only, fabulous Chicken & Cornbread Dressing. I must say it was a big hit and I would love to share this recipe with you and your family!

Ingredients

6 slices of day old bread

1 pan of cornbread
A bunch of shallots or 1 large onion finely chopped
( I used 1 purple onion in this batch)

2 stalks of celery finely chopped

1/2 -1 red pepper finely chopped

1/2 cup of butter (or you can replaced the butter with olive oil)

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
(of course you can use a whole boiled chicken and debone it if you like)

  2 to 3 cups of chicken broth (low sodium)

Additional 4 cups of chicken broth for boiling the chicken

3 boiled eggs

3 raw eggs

3/4 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp sage

1 TBS parsley

salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions

Boil chicken and reserve broth.

Prepare cornbread according to the package.

Sauté vegetables in butter or olive oil.

Shred chicken in to small pieces

Toast bread, remove crust, and crumble.

Boil eggs, remove shells, and smash with a fork until fluffy.

In a small bowl slightly beat 3 eggs.

In a large bowl combine bread and corn bread crumbles, sautéed vegetables, shredded chicken, boiled eggs, sage, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, and raw eggs. Use both hands to combine all ingredients.

Transfer the mixture in to a 9x13 casserole dish or a foil pan. Then evenly and slowly pour 2 1/2 to 3 cups of chicken broth into the mixture. Trust your instincts, you want the chicken broth to cover about 1/2 the mixture. Your bread will soak up the chicken broth as it cooks. Cover and bake at 325 for 45min. Uncover and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes for browning.

Enjoy!