December 1, 2009

• Catchin up…

  I swear, I don’t know where the time is going to for me. I have been wanting to do a post over here for the last several days, & have barely even made it over here to check up on you guys.
  I even had 3 days of no husband…you would think that I could have found the time to blog then, but no….I started on Christmas decorating & shopped long & hard with daughter. Of course, I had to fit a football game or 2 in there as well along with watching some “girly” movies with daughter while we had hubby away.
  Now I have a mess in the house with Christmas stuff pulled out. Presents that need to be boxed up &  shipped out. Lists going on in several rooms. And a Christmas party coming up on Friday night. I am going to head out soon to get a haircut, which means that I will be in town & may as well pick up a few things there. Ugh…how did I do all of this and hold a full time job at one time?

  We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving. By the way, that Appleton Farms ham from Aldi was great!  Hubby hunted that morning, got home at 12:45 , we ate at 1:00. I had been in the kitchen since 9:00 that morning & in about 20 minutes, we were done & had tons of leftovers! That’s the way it is though. Next year, I swear we will either just go out & eat or make a pizza!
  Hubby of course was totally wiped out from being up super early to hunt, so he immediately went to the recliner after we ate & stayed there until it was time to shower & head back out for his long weekend! *note to self….next year, maybe he should just stay out & hunt that day too….that way I have no reason to have to cook, or overeat.  Which speaking of overeating, I did just fine at the main meal. But I made a Pecan Pie Cookie Bar (new recipe) and hubby didn’t take it with him to the lodge, which meant that it was here with me…it was absolutely delicious….by the time he got home Sunday night I had eaten almost half the pan! oh yeah…they were excellent with my coffee for breakfast….great as a snack…just plain delicious! yeah I am very, very bad!  lol…

  here is the recipe:

  Pecan Pie Cookie Bars

  2 cups flour
  1 cup dark brown sugar, divided
  1 cup butter or margarine, melted
  1 large egg, beaten
  1 (14 oz) can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 cup chopped pecans
  
  Heat oven to 350.   Spray bottom of 13×9 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  In a large bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar and butter.
  Spread on bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes.
  In medium bowl, beat together egg, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and remaining brown sugar. Stir in pecans.  Pour on top of baked cookie layer.
  Bake 25 minutes. Cool. Cut into bars.
  Store leftovers covered at room temperature.

  yep…delicious & very fattening….

  Another new recipe that I tried this year was an Apple Butternut Squash Casserole. I figured that it would go good with the ham. It did. I loved it & daughter liked it. Hubby ate a little bit but just because it had “squash” in it…he was a butthead about it! lol….
  the only thing that I suggest is to sprinkle brown sugar on top as it wasn’t as sweet as I thought it would be. I don’t know if it had anything to do with the apple filling that I used or not, but I did like it better after putting some brown sugar on it.
  
  Apple Butternut Squash Casserole

  2 lbs. fresh butternut squash, peeled and cubed
  20 oz. can apple pie filling
  1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice seasoning
  1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  3/4 teaspoon salt
  1 tablespoon butter or margarine
  
  Peel squash & cut into 2″ cubes and place in a greased casserole.
  Top with apple pie filling. Sprinkle with seasonings and dot with butter.
  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.
  
  serves 6

  Believe it or not, I did not take any pictures of my pretty table setting, or the food or my little family. Yeah, what’s up with that?
  I did snap this one of hubby relaxing with one of our fur babies later on though….
  

  
  Possy stayed in his lap like that for I don’t know how many hours that afternoon! lol.
  I guess she had missed him & knew that he would be heading out again.
  
  Daughter had to be to work at 3:30 on Friday. The store didn’t actually open until 5:00, but she was to “work” the line getting out credit card apps & then getting them approved.
  She was lucky that it wasn’t as cold or wet out as it was last year. It was still cold though at 24 degrees, but at least it was dry.  Plus she got to spend some of that time inside while she was running the applications. She got off at 2:00, came home & ate & laid on her bed & was asleep by 5:00 that evening. She didn’t get back out of that bed until around 10:30 the next morning! 17 hours of sleep! lol…  We decorated the tree that I had put up on Friday. Played our Christmas music & then wrapped some presents.
  I do have a few pics of this to share with you

  
  I still have all of the rest of the house to decorat
  
  Here is a close up of a few new or special ornaments.
  

  
  this was the one that I gave to daughter this year.

  
  
  
  this was one that I picked up at a thrift store sometime during the year.

   

  
  this one we bought when we went on that artist tour a while back.
  The lady that made this writes & illustrated childrens books & this was from one of her books.
  

  
  not a new one, but one of daughters. a pretty elephant.

  
  
  
  
  an oldie & my favorite handed down from my mom from my childhood.
  the wooden one behind the elf is one that hubby made for us to commemorate our 3 lives joined together as a family….awwwww
  
  
  
  
  just a shot of several ornaments…

  
  

  
  and now with presents under the tree.

  

   

  That’s all that I have time for right now….
  gotta get out for my haircut & errands.
  I promise to get caught up with all of you in the next couple of day.

   

   

  • 11:41 am
  • 8 Comments