Merpy New Chrisyear!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! What a fun fun fun Christmas we had. Our family drew names, so there were far less gifts, but much more time to eat good food. It worked out perfectly! It was wonderful having Nate and Heather home for a couple of days, and James is hanging out yet for another turkey dinner at Grandma Ann's. At least I think it's turkey, we're in charge of relish.

Here was our Christmas appetizer buffet:
1 smoked turkey, a batch of rumaki - half shrimp, half smoked oyster, pecan crusted artichoke dip, dried beef spread, bacon tomato dip, shrimp/cocktail sauce, pizza fondue, pickle wraps (a family tradition), cream cheese with jalapeno jelly, olives, a plethora of crackers and bread sticks, coconut bon bons, chocolate craisin squares, a festive red punch, egg nog with rum, an assortment of adult beverages, freshly ground coffee, and anything else that we could find to toss out there! I realized the next day that I forgot the fresh vegetables (probably to healthy) and summer sausage & cheese. Oh well, we're enjoying them now!

I think one of the favorites was the Pizza dip, so that is what I'm posting today. Hope you try it!

Pizza Fondue
1/2 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms (I did not add these)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fennel seed
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning
2 cans -15oz pizza sauce
10 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped ripe olives
1/2 cup white zinfandel wine (any kind would probably work)
plain bagels and/or ciabatta bread cut into bit size chunks

In a large skillet cook the beef, mushrooms, onion and garlic over med heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in fennel, oregano, Italian seasoning and pizza sauce. Cook for a couple of minutes and stir in wine and cheeses until melted. Last add the olives and transfer to a fondue pot or small crock pot for dips. Keep warm and serve with chunks of bread. Tortilla chips might be good as well, hm-mm. If it gets a little thick you can add more wine.

I might do this again for New Years Eve OR for the big HUSKER football game New Years Day.

WILD KINGDOM

Today was a day we've been waiting for a long time in our classroom. We had five rain forest animals visit us sponsored by Mutual of Omaha.

I have one preschool student that has a future with animals in one way shape or form. He knew the name of one of the animals that stumped everyone else in our audience. In fact the presenter said that only about one other school has had anyone that knew the name of it. The animal was a kinkachoo, you may have to google it because my picture came out dark. It's also called a honey bear. I was SOOOO proud of him. The rest of his class was saying, "Good job Logan, way to go Logan!!"

Then this little 2 year old baboon stole every ones heart, diaper and all. You should have seen him eat all this food and slam down that bottle of water. WOW!

The little miniature opossum (but cuter) pooped all over the floor. That was her first animal and it really broke the ice and got the kids interested right away!!


It was 45 minutes long, but felt like we were there only 10 minutes. We had a great presenter, she did a nice job of keeping all ages of kids interested.

I'm getting down to zero hour with days left until Christmas. The older kids took their presents home today for their parents, the 3 year olds will take their gifts home tomorrow. We have our gift exchange party's on Monday/Tuesday and then we are out of school until January 5th.

I'm getting in appetizer mode, that's what we always do on Christmas Eve. I do buy a smoked turkey from a man that we know, but we just leave it whole and pick at it along with the appetizers. I have always loved something called Rumaki, it's not for everyone, but if you are feeling adventurous you might want to give it a try.

Rumaki

12 slices bacon, halved crosswise
12 ounces chicken livers, halved
12 whole water chestnuts, halved

Marinade:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon sugar

The Rumaki Recipe begins with the marinade, of course: Combine soy sauce, ginger, sherry and sugar in a small bowl. Add the chicken livers and water chestnut pieces and marinate them in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Place 1 chicken liver piece and 1 chestnut piece in the center of each bacon-half, wrap, and secure with a toothpick. Place the Rumaki on a broiler pan or shallow baking pan and broil, about 5 or 6 inches from the heat, until the bacon is crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. Or, you can bake the appetizers in a 375° oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot. Makes 24 appetizers. I have substituted smoked oysters for the chicken livers - much easier to keep on hand, and I don't always marinade them. I think I'm going to try a shrimp with the water chestnut wrapped in bacon and see how that is. YUM-O.

TOP SECRET elf work going on!

We have been SOOOOO busy in my classroom. The children worked their little fingers to the bone making decorations for the open house this last Wednesday. We made many things, but my favorite is our invisible snow man that you see between two snowflakes here. I love these guys.














Today we started making gifts for mom and dad.
It's a little hard to see them in their glory in this photo, but they are baby food jars that have tissue paper squares glued on and then magic snow is sprinkled on while they are still wet! Once a ribbon is tied around the neck of the jar and a little candle is plopped inside they will be a masterpiece indeed. These are really a fast project if you don't include drying time. The down side is that I don't think baby food jars come in glass any more?? Not sure.... so you'd have to score some oldies in someones dark basement somewhere.














Yesterday I made a batch of fudge that was lighting fast to make. I think it turned out pretty well, and would be a nice addition to your holiday spread.

FUDGE
2 Tbsp margarine
1-2/3 C sugar
2/3 C evaporated milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 C mini marshmallows
1-1/2 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C chopped pecans or walnuts

Combine margarine, sugar, milk & salt in a fairly big saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, cook 5 minutes stirring constantly. Start timing when bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Remove from heat; stir vigorously for 1 minute or until marshmallows melt and blend. Spread into a an 8" square buttered pan.

I used pecans in mine and left the pieces pretty big. I made this over my lunch hour yesterday and brought it back to school. It was still soft so we started eating it with spoons, but by the end of the afternoon the rest was cut into some beautiful squares. In fact this morning my husband took some along with him hunting, yes there was some left!

It appears that I am into a candy mind set with these last two posts, I'll see if I can think of something next time that doesn't have sugar as the main ingredient :-).

Have a great day!

Do you like turtles?

Next week my husband is taking treats to work to share. During the month of December they take turns every Tue/Thur bringing in some goodies...great idea! I've been thinking about what will travel well, set well, not be messy, etc.... I love going over old recipes and trying to decide which one will be just right. I think we're going with the triple treat pizza and a snack mix of some kind. It's also Mike's birthday the day he's taking treats, so we'll double up.

Have you ever heard of home made turtle candies? I don't know where I got this recipe but it's one that has been with me forever. The directions are hard to believe, but here goes.

Turtles

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (like Eagle brand)
chopped pecans or walnuts
1 package of chocolate candy melt (like almond bark)

Boil the UNOPENED can of milk for 4 hours in a pan covered with water. The water should cover the can of milk at all times so keep your tea kettle simmering with extra water to add when needed. I don't do a hard boil, just a nice low bubble. When finished, carefully remove from the pan and let it cool down - do not open it yet! Refrigerate it overnight.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and get your chopped nuts ready for the assembly line. NOW you can open the can, surprise!!!! It turned into caramel!

Take a small amount of the caramel and roll it in the chopped nuts. Next dip it into the melted chocolate and tap it on the edge of the pan to get the excess drips off. Place it on wax paper to harden. Repeat until you run out of caramel.

The original recipe called for a package of chocolate chips and 3/4 bar of paraffin wax melted together, but who wants to eat wax? That's a little old school for me. Use your favorite chocolate dipping recipe and I'm sure it will be fine.

These are soft and so delicious, you really must try to make it at least once. People can't believe that you can boil the can that long and it doesn't blow up! (knock on wood)

Ring Christmas Bells!

I'm excited about the Christmas season this year. Our family has decided to draw names which I think is a stupendous idea. No one has the extra cash to blow this year, so 10 of us have exchanged names with a $25 limit and that is that!

This Friday night a group of colleagues are having a dinner gathering at a local art gallery downtown. It's a white elephant exchange, and we have two great gifts lined up. I can't tell you what they are, because someone may read this who is attending.

My preschool children are making decorations and learning songs/finger plays for our open house next Wednesday night. We have a silent craft auction to raise money for school improvements. It's so much fun to see what people donate for it. Last year I got one of the most wonderful hot chocolate mixes (home made) I have ever tasted. Wish I had the recipe to share with you.

One of my little boys this year has funny quotes almost every day. I keep a journal of funnies, I think he will fill a book on his own. Yesterday he told me that he saw Jesus' family in a box, he was talking about a nativity scene! Today he told me that his dad played guitar with Metallica on stage!! I'm going to have to ask his dad about that one. Last week he looked under my table and was amazed that there was no gum there. :-) My days are so wonderful...except for the vomit I cleaned up yesterday morning.

Today we started our advent chains to help the children know how many days there are until Christmas. Do you know how long it takes even the most gifted 4/5 year old to put together a chain of 23 loops? Those small motor skills are under rated people, sooooo important!

We're still eating left overs, we have pie, turkey, stuffing. Tonight I had to do something different, we had kabobs with fried rice. Delish! Unfortunately the grill ran out of gas about 3 seconds after I put them on to cook, so we had to broil them. Still pretty tasty.

I'm on round 2 of my meds for my bronchitis, did I already mention that? I have a follow up appointment with my doctor on the 15th - I hope I finally have this thing kicked by then.

I'm missing my friends Nancy and Bill, we have been ships passing in the night lately. Mike and Bill have birthdays next week so we'll have to get together for some celebrating!

I don't have a recipe post today, I need to think about it more and didn't want to "not post" because of it. I do hope that your holiday season is off to a great start. Pay attention to all those boxes with Jesus family inside, after all we are celebrating his birthday!

Do you know where your wattle is?

A turkey has a pouch like area at the front of his throat which is called a wattle.

If you go to MY preschool, you know this and the fact that turkeys hide in trees. You also know that there were 102 people on the Mayflower and that about half of them died during the first winter. You know that American Indian babies are called a papoose and that the mothers hung them in trees to teach them to be quiet. We've been doing lots of bear hunting, enjoying our tee pee and and will tackle headbands on Monday/Tuesday. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Thanksgiving.

I made pumpkin bread Thursday night. There are many wonderful recipes for seasonal breads this time of the year. What makes it really special is what I like to spread on my pumpkin bread. Here is a recipe for a yummy cream cheese that take it to a whole new level - and it's so fast and EASY. This is also a winner on bagels.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Spread

1 - 8oz cream cheese (room temp or soften 20 seconds in microwave)
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
Combine all with a mixer and store in the refrigerator.

Nothing's been cookin @ Linda's

It's been a long dry spell, so sorry for those of you who check faithfully. I've got through a month of coughing, wheezing, not sleeping, going to the doctor, coughing, going to another doctor, not sleeping, going to the ER, breathing treatments, inhaler, taking new meds...and praying for relief! I guess I have bronchitis, don't like it much. I finally went to the Grand Poo-Pah of Doctors, he is a palmanologist, does that sound right? You know a doctor that can fix my lungs. My best friend Nancy (I'm calling her Nurse Nancy this week) is calling me daily to yell at me if my feet are not up. Today people at work were telling me that I didn't look great - they could lie. I'm getting more energy but I guess I need more makeup.
Enough about poor me.
I have developed a gigantic love for hot wings. I at one time was one of the biggest wuss' ever when it came to hot spicy food, but I think it must grow on you and you start to crave it. Maybe it's really an addiction food like coffee or chocolate or chocolate or chocolate.
I came up with the best way to have hot wings without all the mess, you'll like this. While I'm writing this I'm making a 1# batch for my husband and myself - you can change the amounts to suit the number of mouths you are feeding.

Buffalo Strips
1# chicken tenders or breasts cut into strips
flour
salt, pepper, garlic powder (Paula Deen's house seasoning mix)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp margarine

1/2 cup Frank's RedHot cayenne pepper sauce
2 tsp melted butter

Wash the chicken and dry with paper towels. Put your flour and seasonings into a plastic bag, shake your chicken in it. Heat the olive oil and margarine over med to med/high heat in a skillet and brown the chicken on each side until golden brown. Transfer to an oven proof baking sheet lined with foil that has been coated with non stick spray. Pop this into a 375* oven for about 20-30 minutes, it depends on how big your strips are.

Combine the sauce and butter and dip the chicken strips in it to coat. Serve with a blue cheese dressing for a dip.

So tasty, so easy to eat, it also get your nose to run if you have a stuffy head, which brings me back to the first topic. Oh brother!