Craving Chocolate and Lazy Days
                                                           

Holiday Recipes {Camille @ The Millars}

Camille from The Millars is sharing her wonderful Apple Pie recipe with us!  She makes this every Thanksgiving.  Yum! Yum!

Apple Pie

Crust

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled shortening, diced
6 tablespoons ice water
Filling

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
Additional sugar and milk will also be needed

For crust:
Blend flour, sugar and salt.  Cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into ball; divide into 2 pieces. Flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic; chill 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let dough soften slightly before rolling out.)

For filling:
Position rack in lowest third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Mix first 6 ingredients in large bowl. Add apples and toss to blend.

Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold edge under, forming high-standing rim; crimp. Add filling. Roll out second dough disk on floured surface to 13-inch round. Cut into twelve 1-inch-wide strips. Arrange 6 strips across pie. Form lattice by arranging 6 strips diagonally across first strips. Gently press ends into crust edges. Brush lattice with milk. Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar. Bake pie 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Continue baking until juices bubble thickly and crust is deep golden, covering edges with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool on rack 1 hour. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand on rack.)

Holiday Recipes {Camille @ The Millars}

Camille from The Millars shared with me her favorite holiday recipe.  This is her traditional Christmas jello.  It has 14 layers and takes her all day Christmas Eve to make it but it lasts forever.  Look how pretty!

Rainbow Ribbon Jello

7 large packages Jello, any flavors
Boiling water: 1 cup per package of Jello, divided
Cold water: 1 cup per package of Jello
Sour Cream or evaporated milk: 1/2 cup per package of Jello

This is a layered salad. Pick 7 jello flavors that you think would go well together. You layer the flavors as you would any other layer salad as the base rule of instruction.

Each layer is made in the following manner:
1 [large] package of Jello to 1 cup hot water.
Divide in half. To first half, add 1 cup cold water. Put in 9 x 13 flat pan. While setting up, add 1/2 cup sour cream, or 1/2 cup evap milk to the other half not setting up yet. When second half starts to set up, spoon onto first half.

Repeat this procedure all day until all layers are set up.

I love the look of this!  Even though it takes awhile, I am doing it!  Thanks for sharing!

Holiday Recipes {Shauna}

Mi madre, Shauna, shared with me her favorite holiday recipe.  I love love love this one!  Christmas isn’t Christmas with out these little beauties.  Here it is:

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Hopscotch Cookies

1 package (12 oz.) butterscotch morsels
1 cup creamy peanut butter
6 oz. chow mein noodles
2 cups miniature marshmallows

- Melt 12 oz. package of butterscotch morsels over low heat, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 cup of peanut butter. Set aside.
- Mix 6 oz. chow mein noodles and two cups marshmallows in a large bowl. Pour in butterscotch mixture and mix. (DO NOT pour noodles and marshmallows into the pan of butterscotch mixture or the marshmallows will melt.)
- Add more noodles if needed.
- Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto wax-paper lined cookie sheets and chill until set. (If you have room in the fridge great…if not, cover them with wax paper and put them outside in the winter air.)
–Makes about 30 cookies–
–Best if kept chilled until serving….they tend to get soft in room temp.

Promise you can’t eat just one!

Holiday Recipes {Whitney @ The Terry Family}

Whitney from The Terry Family shared with me her favorite recipe to use during the holidays.  Here it is:

Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake from Betty Crocker

It is fantastic, and pretty easy to make (time consuming, but easy)

Crust

2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 32)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Cheesecake

4 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 300 degrees.  Grease 9″ springform pan with shortening or cooking spray.  Wrap foil around the pan to catch drips.  In small bowl, mix cookie crumbs and butter.  Press crumb mixture in bottom and 1″ up side of pan.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until set.  Cool 5 minutes.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed just until smooth and cream; do not over beat.  On low speed, gradually beat in sugar.  On low speed, beat in eggs, on at a time, just until blended.  Spoon 3 cups of the cream cheese mixture into pan; spread evenly.

Stir pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg into remaining cream cheese mixture; mix with wire whisk until smooth.  Spoon over mixture in pan.

Bake 1 hour 25 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until edges are set but center of cheesecake still jiggles slightly when moved.

Turn oven off; open oven door at least 4 inches.  Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes longer.  Remove from oven; place on cooling rack.  Without releasing side of pan, run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake.  Cool in pan on cooling rack 30 minutes.  Cover loosely; refrigerate at least 6 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

Run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake again; carefully remove side of pan.  Place cheesecake on serving plate.  Store cheesecake covered in refrigerator.

Doesn’t that look HEAVENLY!  Just make sure to make it the night before or first thing in the morning.  Thanks for sharing!

Holiday Recipes {Bonnie @ Southern Style}

Bonnie from Southern Style and Nanbon’s Corner shared with me her favorite recipe to use at the holiday season.  Here it is:

1 jar marshmallow cream
1 block cream cheese

whip together

That’s it!  Super fast and easy!
Now cut up fruit and serve it with your yummy fruit dip.  Your friends will love it!

I have actually made this before.  It IS very good!!  I used strawberry cream cream and it is delicious!!

Thanks for sharing Bonnie!

Guest Blogger: Tiepedia

Today I would like to introduce you to our guest blogger, Matt from Tiepedia.  As a male blogger he can give us the perfect tips of how to make Father’s Day (next Sunday) extra special.

imageStop by Tiepedia and get some great ideas for the special guy in your life.  Hey!  Why not pass along this blog to your man as well.  Every guy could use a man blog to follow!

Take it away Matt!!

It may surprise some of you to hear what I am about to say, but it must be said. Not all guys want a tie on Father’s Day. GASP! I know, I know, it sounds crazy… and I certainly am not one of those guys, but apparently it’s true.

Listen to what Joseph Hurtado has to say, “there are only two types of men: those who hate ties, and those who grudgingly accept them as part of the job.”

Blasphemy as far as I am concerned, but if you’re Mrs. Hurtado you may want to think twice about getting Joseph a tie for Father’s Day. How about baking him a delicious necktie cake instead? I don’t think many men could resist that. Here are some sweet examples for you to consider! (Congrats to the cake artists who created these!)

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