My brother is in town for the weekend. (Robert is out of town,sadly.) Mac did his thing at the BMES conference and I worked during the day. Then we hit up the market and made some crab Mac and cheese!!
I used my first power tool…a brush cutter! It’s basically a fancy weed whacker with a saw blade on the end of it. Don’t I look cute?
Oh, and I didn’t operate the steam roller, but it’s still pretty cool!
The problem with power tools is that I can’t start them. So, this week I am telling my gym instructor that my “physical fitness goal” is to start a gas powered chain saw!
Happy foresting!
K
OK friends, I heard you loud and clear, I am supposed to post recipes when I post pictures of food. So I’m posting all the recipes I used for NYE 2012 (click the link for pictures).
Butter Cookies with Eggnog Icing
I really don’t like eggnog, but I love things flavored with eggnog! Eggnog Ice Cream was my favorite last year and this year I tried these little cookies. I had to add a little more sugar to the icing to thicken it a bit, otherwise I just the instructions.
Cheddar Cheese Bites
This is a recipe that’s been in my family for a while. My grandmother uses this recipe as “cheese straws” and they are really good. My mom turned them into “cheese stars”, which are basically bite size cheese straws. I decided to go for cheese crackers and forget the piping part…my way is MUCH easier.
3/4 lb sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 stick butter
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 t salt
1/4 t cayenne pepper
Cream the cheese (yes, like creaming butter. Be patient!) in a mixer. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt and pepper. Add the butter to the cheese and continue mixing until thoroughly incorporated. Add the flour mixture slowly and mix until smooth.
Form the dough into a block about 1 inch tall, you don’t need to be super precise. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (minimum 60ish minutes). Once firm, remove from fridge and slice into 1 inch squares (~ 1/4 inch thick).
Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Don’t let them brown too far.
NOTES:
Shredded Cheese: Don’t use store bought shredded cheese, they put cornstarch on it to keep it from sticking so it doesn’t cream properly. Buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself (or make your husband shred it!)
Cayenne Pepper: Use more or little depending on your tolerance for heat.
Spiced Pecans
These are totally addictive!! The recipe calls for all sorts of kinds of nuts but I use the pecans from my great-grandmother’s pecan trees in Dothan Alabama. Thanks Papa Don & Gigi for sending them every year!
I love these on their own and they also make fantastic salad toppings. Spinach, these pecans, blue cheese crumbles, and dried cranberries. Best salad ever!
Stuffed Dates
These are easy. Buy dates from the store, pit them if they aren’t already pitted and stuff them with goat cheese and herbs. If you don’t have any herbs on hand you can use dried herbs. You can also sub Gorgonzola or blue cheese instead of goat cheese.
Prosciutto Bean Spread
I mixed the prosciutto and onions into the spread so it was easier to assemble at a party.
Enjoy!
K
I’ve been singing with this awesome group of women since October. This is the 10th anniversary concert and I’m so excited to be part of it. I’m all ready to go for my first concert tonight and then we’ll be at Benaroya Hall next weekend (that’s the Seattle Symphony Hall!!!) I seriously can’t wait! It’s been a long time since I’ve performed on stage like this and it’s great to be back at it!
Here’s a link to the flyer.
Happy New Year! This year we had our annual New Year’s Eve party to ring in the new year and celebrate our anniversary. It’s hard to believe it’s been 7 years since we got married. Here are some BAD pictures of the goodies I made for the party. Sorry the photos are so poor, I only had the iPhone.
Thanksgiving has always been like a gateway drug for me. I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME! It’s my very favorite time of year. The music is a huge part of Christmas for me and I require myself to get through Thanksgiving before Christmas music is allowed to be played. If I didn’t have a firm boundary I would just play it all year long. I only allow myself Christmas music between Thanksgiving and New Years.
Anyway, my Seattle friends have been teaching me why Thanksgiving is the best day of the year. There are many reasons to agree with them, though I still think Christmas trumps–sorry! Either way, this is the first year that I FORGOT about Christmas music starting because I was so excited about Thanksgiving. So, my dear Seattle friends, you rock! You have converted me to be a Thanksgiving lover–and not just because it means Christmas is right around the corner!
Hope your bellies are full and your hearts even more full!
Kelly
I was in charge of snacks for one of our recent backpacking trips with friends. So I decided to make “Chewy Trail Mix Cookies”. They turned out AMAZING! I think I was supposed to use raisins and opted for Reese’s pieces instead (oops!)
My general rule when we go back packing is that if I can’t carry in the wine, I’m not going. This time I decided to carry in the bubbly for mimosas (not sure why! All I can figure is that I went with the biscuits and gravy!) You can’t deny it was a beautiful setting and that you would have wanted a mimosa too!
I LOVE biscuits and sausage gravy!!! And Robert loves our dehydrator (Thanks Mac and Molly!) So we decided to try out dehydrated sausage gravy and biscuits on the trail this summer. The biscuits made it just fine, no dehydration required. The gravy on the other hand was interesting. It was kind of like eating Velveeta cheese that tasted like gravy (nothing wrong with that!)
Biscuits and gravy on the trail!
My grandma, Mackie, turned 86 today! I hope I am enjoying life and looking this good at 86! She had a wonderful marriage, fantastic kids (one is my mom and the other is my god mother), and amazing grand-kids (if I say so myself!) Such a testament to her life and how she raised her daughters. She was the love of Popeye’s live (my granddad) and is the inspiration of our lives!
Love you Mackie!!!
