HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!

A few photos from our

Christmas.

We were blessed to spend time

with family

and friends at such a time of great joy!

May you have a New Year filled with

HOPE

JOY

and LOVE!

IT FITS

Here's Tai's little "Lumpy Bumpy Yarn" pom pom hat. It looked really cute on her and I love the texture of the yarn. It's a quickie to knit up especially on larger needles like size 15 or 17. I found this FREE pattern on Purl Soho.

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER

I wanted to make our Christmas Eve Dinner special this year. I wanted to try new recipes since we decided to scale way down on the gift giving. We picked names this year with my brother's family and then we decided to do the same within our own family.........trying to be more conscious of the real meaning of Christmas, save money and enjoy our time with each other.

I found some tempting recipes from Southern Living at the library. My first recipe is in the Dec 2010 issue: POTATO CHEESE GRATIN It turned out fabulous and everyone loved it. The gruyere cheese was a little expensive, but it was a very gormet side dish. You use store bought pie crusts and add kosher salt, freshly cut rosemary and cracked pepper on top of the crust.

Add 1/4 cup of grated Gruyere cheese.............

Add the second pie crust on top and spread both into a springform pan spreading the edges upward as high as you can.

Next add sliced Yukon gold and Sweet potatoes

pour some heavy cream and more cheese while layering the potato slices........

Bake while covered with aluminum foil

And Voila...................a beautiful Potato Cheese Gratin that is to die for! It also makes the house smell wonderful! It's easy and a great dish to make. It will definitely be on my to go to potato recipe list!

LIKE BUTTAH

My husband just returned home from a trip to Austin, TX with the MOST wonderful present....

.....a tin full of the most delicious sugar cookies made by his cousin, Marti. The name of her cookie company is LIKE BUTTAH, and they DO taste just like butter. Julia Child would be proud! Each cookie is beautifully decorated with a shimmery coating of sugar.

I had to quickly take a photo this morning before all of the cookies disappeared. Every day I seem to be missing a few more!

I hear that her chocolate chip cookies are to DIE FOR!!!

So, if you need cookies for a special occasion or just want an extra special treat, contact Marti at LIKE BUTTAH!

FINISHED HAT

A LITTLE WHIMSY

Do you think a 4 year old will appreciate a handmade gift? Maybe not, but it sure was fun to make! Here's a funky little whimsical hat for a funky little whimsical girl. I bought this yummy hand dyed yarn in Greensboro, NC at a shop called THIS & THAT and it is called "Lumpy Bumpy Yarn" by Charlene. The cake is about 150 yards and is a lot of fun to knit with it's thick and thin texture.

The pattern is knitted on size 15 double pointed needles in a simple stockinette stitch for about 4 inches and then you start decreasing. I still need to make a little pom pom for the top. I whipped it up in just a couple of hours while watching "Phantom of the Opera". I have a lot of yarn left and think I will make a matching scarf. Too cute!!

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE GOODNESS

This Sour Cream Coffee Cake is just out of the oven. Look closely and you may even be able to see the steam rising and smell the yummy goodness. This is a quick and easy recipe and is a no fail coffee cake. It looks beautiful when sliced with it's swirled filling of pecans, cinnamon and sugar. This one will be wrapped up and waiting for kids coming home for Christmas!

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan very well.

Next, I like to mix the filling first so it is ready. Mix 3/4 cup chopped pecans, 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. I pour it all into a baggie because it's so much easier to shake and mix.

Cream 2 sticks of butter (at room temperature) and 2 cups of sugar. Blend well. Add 2 eggs and cream throughly. Sift 2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add to mixture alternately with 1 cup of sour cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Pour half of the batter into your bundt pan and sprinkle half of the pecan mixture on top.

Add remaining batter and the other half of the pecan mixture on top.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan then turn onto rack to cool completely. Enjoy!!!

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

Below is my original Woolworth's Nativity Scene (what is left of it) from my childhood. I can remember my brother and myself playing with the paper mache figures, pulling the springy horns of the cow and pulling the shepard's staff. I only have one wise man but the Joseph, Mary and Jesus are in pretty good shape along with the original star. I think there was an angel but she has long vanished. I love the vintage look under the glass cake dome. I cut strips from an old magazine for the "hay".

My mother made each one of my children a beautiful needlepoint stocking when they were born. I know they took her a long time to complete, but what a TREASURE for them to have forever. (Well, I guess I have them....but they're still a treasure!) The two older kids always kid Ben because his is SO much larger than theirs. My mom forgot that the stockings had names on them when she was making his, so she had to add his name to the top.......so he gets about 3 more inches of goodies in his stocking! He IS the baby! Be sure to notice the paper circles garland my daughter made for me last year. You just cut out circles, stitch them up and presto and very clever garland.

I made this Santa about 15 years ago from a kit. You had to use your own fabric for his coat and under garments. I had some leftover brown fur from a bear Halloween costume which became Santa's coat. I trimmed the coat with an old (probably 20 yr old) rabbit fur coat that belonged to me. I was getting tired of ole Santa, but everyone kept asking where he was, so he's making an appearance again this year.

It's sleeting outside right now, so it really feels like Christmas. This view is from the kitchen looking into the family room.

The dining room with new hardwood floors this year. One of these days I'll reupholster the chairs when I find something perfect on sale. And I'm enjoying the silver reindeer.

.....and the kitchen ready to make some Christmas cookies.

HAPPY BIRDIES

The temp dropped down into the low double digits last night in Atlanta and with the wind chill, it felt like 1 degree!!! I refilled my birdfeeder outside of my kitchen window yesterday and I love watching the birds fly around and feed. We have a few cardinal couples, a few bluebird couples, blue jays, chickadees and tufted titmouse and purple finches. And a very fat squirrel who hangs upside down and feeds himself from my squirrel-proof birdfeeder!

FRENCH TOAST

This morning I made French Toast with some fresh eggs that my friend, Lisa, had given me. She has eight laying hens in her backyard and gathers about four eggs every morning, she told me. She only has to purchase eggs from the grocery store a couple of time a YEAR! We all should gather our own eggs in the morning..................forget the homeowner's association laws! Did I mention, she also makes her own bread? I used "Nature's Own" this morning. It sounds natural, but not at natural as Lisa's. Now............if only I could get her to give me some of her bread! Thanks for the eggs, Lisa. They were delicious!