Reflections

I have been sitting here wondering what to write since it has been such a long time since I have really posted anything and I starting remembering the happenings of 2010.

• Fun birthday parties for the kids
• Mr. Man turned 50 and we had great fun putting together a "birthday book" for him
• My sister turned 50 and we had great fun putting together a gift of 50 things for her
• Mr. Man and I celebrated 10 years of marriage by getting away for the weekend
• My mom and sister came to visit
• Spent time with some awesome family members throughout the year
• Found out a niece on my side of the family is expecting her first child
• Found out a niece on Mr. Man's side of the family is expecting her first child
• Rejoiced in the birth of a baby to another niece and nephew
• Reconnected with great people
• Made new friends
• Hosted several events at our home
• Watched our kids growing up into amazing little people
• Staying connected with wonderful people 
• and many, many more! Too many to name here. We are truly blessed. 

I am looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings to us!

Friday Recipe - Loaded Breakfast Potato

I'm sure we've all had a loaded baked potato, with sour cream and cheese or maybe chili and cheese or even one of my favorites, broccoli cheese soup! But here is a little twist on that. It doesn't happen often in my house, but occasionally I will make too many baked potatoes for dinner leaving us with one or two stranded baked potatoes. The next morning I like to take that baked potato, warm it up in the microwave, then cut it in half and smash it a little. Top it with a little butter, one scrambled egg, some cheese, crumbled bacon bits, and a little salsa. This is so yummy!

Loaded Breakfast Potato (makes 1 serving)
INGREDIENTS:
1 baked potato
slab of butter (as much or little as you like)
1 slice of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 egg, scrambled
sprinkling of cheese
spoonful of salsa
sour cream 

Warm up baked potato in microwave. Cut it in half lengthwise. Smash out the potato a little bit. Top with a butter. Top with egg and bacon. Then add cheese and finally top it off with a little salsa and sour cream if you desire. Eat up and enjoy!

Friday Recipe - Hot cocoa

What could be better than a little cup of hot cocoa on Christmas Eve. This year, we are planning to get in our PJ's, watch a Christmas movie (my vote is for Polar Express) and sip some hot cocoa!

This recipe has become a new family favorite in my house. I found the recipe here and we love it! I also mixed some up to give as gifts this year to neighbors, teachers, co-workers, etc. **I really like how she decorated the little bags to give her cocoa as gifts. I wasn't that creative though!

Hot Cocoa
INGREDIENTS:
2 c powdered sugar
1 c Hershey's cocoa
2 1/2 c powdered milk (processed to a fine powder)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbls flour

Mix everything together and store in an air-tight container. To serve, put 1/3 of the mixture in a cup and fill with hot water. Stir and enjoy!

To give this as a gift, I measured out 1/3 measurements into a Ziploc baggie. I put enough in each bag so the receiver could make 3-4 cups from each bag. I then made up some little tags on the computer and attached it to the bag that said "To serve: Put 1/3 cup of cocoa into a cup. Fill the cup with hot water. Stir and enjoy!"

Friday Recipe - Chocolate Peanut Clusters

These are so easy and one of my favorite holiday treats. It makes quite a bit so these are good to give as gifts to neighbors, co-workers or teachers.

Chocolate Peanut Clusters
INGREDIENTS:
1 package (1 lb 8 oz) chocolate almond bark
1 package (11.5 oz) semi sweet chocolate chips
1 package (11.5 oz) milk chocolate chips
3 containers (12 oz each) Spanish peanuts

Melt chocolate almond bark in microwave according to package directions. Add in chocolate chips and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring well after each 30 seconds, until chips are fully melted. Stir in peanuts and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper. Let sit until hardened. Store in an airtight container.

Our weekend in review

Saturday we went to a Candy Cane festival at a local candy factory. We had so much fun. They had hay rides, train rides, games, caroling, food and of course after the factory tour you got to shop in the candy store! We won tons of candy canes at the games and we shopped for more candy after that. This place makes Mitchell Sweets..... a homemade melt-in-your-mouth marshmallow wrapped in caramel. MMM MMMMM MMMMM goooood! I only bought one... I should've bought ten! (My butt wouldn't appreciate that I suppose!)

After that we went home and worked on Christmas present wrapping. Then I headed out to the grocery store and some present shopping.

Spirit made them dinner since Mr. Man and I weren't hungry. He decided on chicken noodle soup (from a can) and peaches (from a can). Had I not been there he wouldn't have added the water to the soup and would've tried to microwave it in the can, but other than that he did it by himself. While he "made" dinner, Lady Bug made pink lemonade for them to drink.

After that we popped popcorn and watched some Christmas movies.Good times, good memory-making!

Sunday the kids went to an ornament exchange party after church and they also got to make gingerbread houses. They had SO much fun doing this! Lady Bug got a broken ornament and was disappointed, but handled it well. She didn't make a big stink, she just smiled and set it down. I could tell she was disappointed though. One of the mom's there gave her an ornament, she said she had an extra one so she let Lady Bug have it.

Over all a good weekend! I love our family time together!

Friday Recipe - Green Mint Bark

This recipe is from Taste of Home. It is very easy to make and very festive for this time of year!

Green Mint Bark
Original from Taste of Home - December/January 2010
1 pkg (10-12 oz) white baking chips
12 oz green candy coating disks (I actually melted down some white almond bark and added in green food coloring)
1 tsp peppermint extract
2-3 crushed candy canes

Line a 13 x 9 baking sheet with foil; set aside. In a microwave, melt chips; starting at 30 second intervals and stir after each then continue at 30 second intervals until smooth. Spread into prepared baking sheet. Set aside to harden, you can place this in the refrigerator for a few minutes until it hardens.

In a microwave, melt green candy coating disks; starting at 30 second intervals and stir after each then continue at 30 second intervals until smooth. Stir in extract. Spread over white layer; sprinkle with crushed candy canes.

Chill for 10 minutes or until firm. Break into pieces. Store in an air tight container.

New tradition

Although last year Mr. Man started his shopping earlier than normal, we still ended up (because of financial reasons) busting butt at the last minute to get everyone a gift (some of which was for our very own children!) Last year I read somewhere that a woman gives her kids four gifts each:

1. Something they want
2. Something they need
3. Something to wear
4. Something to read

I didn't read that until I was already well into shopping mode and so it didn't work out last year. This year we decided to give that a try for each kid. It will hopefully simplify the shopping and figuring out what to get each kid and trying to keep it fair (blah blah blah!).

Another "tradition" that my friend told me about was how she buys a different wrapping paper for each person in the house. She wraps presents in one kind per person and doesn't label the packages, this way the kids have no idea whose is whose under the tree until Christmas morning! I was going to try that, but that didn't pan out so maybe next year I will do that!