Since I Tend To Talk Too Much, I Made My Title Long, But My Post Less Wordy, But With Lots of Pictures.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRIENDS!!!!!

Well, we got through the holidays once again.  Whew!  It's always a pretty busy time here, the few days leading up to Christmas Eve.  We usually have quite a gaggle of people for dinner, but this year Mama put the stops on things and insisted that only family be present for dinner this year.  Well, plus one couple that I really really like, so they don't count.  All together, only 14 for dinner.  SCORE!

As I said, we get a bit crazed in preparation for Christmas Eve.  I do all the baking and Jimmy does all the cooking, including a bazillion appetizers.

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.  He waited till the very last moment to take pictures of the girls so we could sent out Christmas cards.  But he did it and did it well.  Here are some of my favorites.

 

And the one we chose for the Christmas card.  I love this!

Strudel looks so innocent there, but the reason Mikayla's arm is up in the air was because Strudel had just been biting it!

So, as I said, Jimmy and the girls do all the cooking for our big party.  Here are some of his appetizers.

7-layer Mexican dip.  Hey Sue, look at those adorable place mats!

Crab (at first I accidentally typed crap) dip and Mikayla's ants on a log.

 

Veggie crudite

 White pizza dip and artichoke spread in the background.

There were plenty more, but it was kind of hard getting near the food when people were swarming to it like buzzards to road kill.

I was feeling silly, so took a picture of myself.

The sisters

 

The sisters being goofy.  Okay, so only one of us was being goofy.

Madison and Alexa were having a blast!

This is Gianna's "pretty" smile.  Errrr... try again, Poopy Pants.

Dinner was another success this year, with basically the same dishes as always.  Eggplant parmesan (made with my sauce, which is why it's so damn good... ahem.  And which is now entered into John and Tracy's  Super Bowl party in an eggplant parm cookoff between Jimmy and Kristen.  Jimmy asked for it by delivering trays of it to some of the neighbors and bragging that his has got to be better than Kristen's.)

Now where was I?  Oh yeah, dinner.  Spiral ham, shrimp scampi, scallops, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes a'la my mother-in-law (sooooo good!), and cornbread and a veggie casserole made by Jill.

And just when you thought you couldn't eat another bite...

We had lots of desserts too, and all homemade with sweat and cursing love by me!

Italian rainbow cookies

Sugar cookies that were so good that I caught a neighbor sneaking out of my house with them stuffed in a napkin.  I shit you not.

 

Chocolate peppermint bark

Cheesecake (although this is the only picture, and this is before it was cooked.

Italian cream cake which actually wasn't very Italian cream- cakey

 

Not pictured, there was also a fudge cake with white chocolate peppermint mousse and Italian (are you sensing a theme here?) butternut cookies.

A great time was had by all, I forgot to take pictures of the kids opening gifts, Rudolf was spotted in the sky and I went to bed much too late, Amen.

Next up?  Christmas day at my brother's house!

Pssst! If you love me, you might love my stupid sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary. Kind Of.

Okay it's true. I'm a total loser mom when it comes to Halloween. It's just not one of my favorite "holidays". True, it's fun to watch the kids have a blast, but all this race to get the perfect costume that will only be worn for a few hours then tossed aside... well, it just goes against the grain for me.

I've been by so many blogs lately that are showing off their Halloween kitchen confections and I'm just blown away by their creativity. And let's face it. I'm blown away by the fact that they want to do this stuff.

Of course, sometimes the best laid plans don't work out the way you've intended.

Francesca, over at Mayhem and Moxie set out to make these adorable spider cupcakes with her two adorable toddlers.




She even took the time to video her children decorating their cupcakes. The funny part was that while she was helping one kid, the other kid was eating all the decorations off her cupcake.

They turned out looking like this.




Mama Kat decided she'd get creative with cookie dough and make cookies in the shape of pumpkins, then layer with ice cream for a Halloweeny treat.

Her cookies came out of the oven looking something like this.



Okay, I'll admit, they weren't quite that bad and in the end the kids loved them so they're nothing to get your broom in a twist about.


Lolli, over at Better in Bulk got creative with a bundt cake and made it into a pumpkin.



Nice, right?

Yeah, that's not Lolli's cake. I don't have a picture of her cake because it was on video. It was super cute, but a little on the wet side. Kind of drippy and oozy.

Now Angie from Seven Clown Circus did something that's a bit more my speed. Mummy hot dogs. Uh huh, she took the time to wrap refrigerated dough around hot dogs and somehow made her kids think she was totally cool in the process.



So, I was supposed to be blogging about what I've done in the kitchen to make Halloween a spooktacular time in my house. I can't though because I haven't done a damn thing. When my parents and Jill and the girls come here tomorrow for the festivities? This is as good as it will get.


Hey, we're all about tradition here. Don't judge!



Pssst! If you love me, you might love my stupid sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!

Foodie Friday: Peanut Butter Cookies

Howdy blogger buddies, and welcome to Michael's Foodie Friday! Please make sure to visit her at Designs By Gollum for a great treat or two!



And speaking of treats, I was a bit dishonest in my title for this post. Because really, the "cookies" are dog treats! Hey, if I put that on the title no one would come over, would they? Can you blame me for my subterfuge? I didn't think so!

You all already know I'm a bit obsessed with my new pup, Strudel, so is it any wonder that I got a bug up my butt to make some healthy, no preservatives-added dog treats? So I took a trip to eBay and ordered some cookie cutters especially for Strudel Doo.

The sad part? I don't bake for my kids, but now I bake for my dog. Pathetic.

Our cast of characters for this recipe are:





Most of these are just approximations of the amounts, 'cause I'm crazy like that.

Tiney's All Natural Peanut Butter Puppy Treats (Say that 5 times fast!)

2 C Whole wheat flour
1 C Milk
1 C All natural chunky peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla (Yes Picket,that is real vanilla, and straight from Mexico too!)
1/4 C honey
1 tsp. baking powder

Mix all ingredients together, and don't hesitate to get your hands in there and squish it between your fingers. That's the fun part!

Roll out on lightly floured surface to about 1/4" thickness, then use any cookie cutters you desire to make your treats. Place on pan and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Your dog will love ya for this!

And look at how cute they look!

Please note that because these treats are all natural, they need to be kept refrigerated. I put most of mine in the freezer, and the rest in the fridge in a container.

Strudel loves em!


I sing for da treats 'cause my mommy loves me!




Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!