Merry Christmas!

     Before life gets too crazy the next couple of days, I want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!  I have been busy preparing for the holiday myself.  It will be a wonderful day.  I will have my husband, both military sons and my grandchildren here!  

     I am so blessed to be able to spend the holidays with them all.   I hope you get to spend the holidays with friends and family also!  That's what I love most about Christmas...

     The menu will be deer roast, turkey, rice dressing, green bean casserole, and dinner rolls.  For dessert, we'll have zucchini brownies, cupcakes, candy turtles, and finger cookies.  Most of those recipes are on this blog if you'd like to check them out.

     There will be more posts coming after the holidays.  Until then.....



Merry Christmas!!!

   



   

Christmas Promise

I recently returned from my trip to visit my son and his family.  Now, it's been a mad dash to get everything ready for Christmas! I hadn't put up the tree or any decorations before I left.

We did celebrate Christmas with the grandchildren while I was there, so I don't have as many presents under the tree this year.

Last year, I made a promise that I wouldn't go overboard with gifts for the grandchildren.  I am happy to report that I stuck to my promise!  I bought them each two gifts and didn't spend a fortune on each gift.  I set a limit and stuck to it.  The kids were happy with what they got - they were things they had asked for.

When all is said and done, most children don't care how much you spend.  They are just happy to open presents.  I challenge you to do the same!  We are all bombarded with commercials, etc. to buy more and more stuff....  Think really hard about what they want, and only buy those things.  Less is more!!! 

Sometimes we get upset when they open a present and then just toss it aside to open the next one....does this sound familiar? The fewer gifts they have, the more they will appreciate the gifts they did receive. (Just make sure it is something they really like and want.)

Have you tried this? I 'd love to hear from you!


We should be enjoying this time of year, don't stress yourself out.  Do what you can to make it easier on yourself so you can enjoy spending time with your family!  

Recovering Soldier Christmas Cards

  I recently found about about this program and thought I'd share it with you...There are many recovering soldiers in hospitals that need to be reminded that they haven't been forgotten.  It's such a small thing, but will have a huge impact on a soldier this Christmas!

Send a Christmas Card (or more than 1) to:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue
NW Washington, DC 20307-5001

Please send what you can.  I have already sent some. Our military have made a huge sacrifice for our freedom.  Even one card would brighten their day!

As a military mom, I thank you!

Thanksgiving Dinner and No Shopping

  I am sure many of you are preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.  We celebrated ours this past weekend at the camp, because I will be visiting my son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren for a couple of weeks. (I will not be posting again until mid December.)  We had the usual turkey, yams, homemade bread, rice dressing, and of course, pumpkin pie!

I wanted to show you how easy thanksgiving can be if you are hosting the dinner.  There are many ways and shortcuts to get dinner ready!  I did most of it the day before.  I cooked the turkey the day before we went to the camp. I only have a toaster oven there, so needless to say, a turkey wouldn't fit!  I also baked the loaf of bread and the pumpkin pie.

Sunday, I cooked the yams, and the rice dressing.   Then it was just a matter of microwaving the turkey and slicing the bread!

 The turkey looks a little funny, but it was very good! Seasoned, baked at 350 degrees for 3-4 hours.

 I love sweet potatoes! Drained juice, added a little brown sugar and butter, heated, then mashed.

Made this loaf of bread from frozen bread dough! Easy...



I found this really easy pumpkin pie recipe.  It was delicious!

Pumpkin Pie

1 can pumpkin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 beaten eggs
pinch salt
1 pie shell
cool whip topping

Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs and salt.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Let cool.  Top with cool whip.

Don't be intimidated by cooking for the holidays. Do what you can, make it easy on yourself.  It's all about spending time with family anyway!!!


On a more personal note....

I understand people have traditions such as Black Friday shopping.  Now the stores have started earlier- Thanksgiving Day. I will not be shopping on Thanksgiving! I think all people should be able to spend that day with family. Stores have practically 364 other days of the year to make money.

 We should be able to devote at least 1 day a year to be thankful for family and what we already have!  


Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Tony Chachere's Seasoning

This is my all time favorite seasoning!   I use it on almost everything.  It's inexpensive and easy to use.  So, just in case you've seen it in some of my recipes, and didn't know what it was or where to get it,  I thought I'd show you the link to their website!

You can order your own and have it delivered to your front door.  There are also a few recipes on the website for you to try.  Add some spice to your life and get yours today!


http://www.tonychachere.com/

Catfish Balls

     Recently my husband and son went fishing and they caught a couple of  catfish.  One of them was pretty big and fatty.  I fried the first batch, but the catfish was so fatty that we didn't really like it.  I don't care how much ketchup we used!   So, this time, I decided to try a garfish ball recipe.  I just substituted the catfish instead.  Tasted much better!

     Catfish Balls


1 lb. catfish - cut into chunks
1 chopped onion
1  clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-2 slices bread - broken into chunks (or use 1/2 c bread crumbs)

Put catfish chunks into food processor.  Pulse until chopped into smaller pieces.  Add rest of ingredients and mix until blended.  Heat up about 1/2-1 " oil in frying pan.  Using ice cream scoop, make small round balls.  Drop into 350 degree hot oil.  Cook approximately 4 minutes on each side.  I served it with roasted potatoes and a side salad.  Serves 2.

To make roasted potatoes, I just chopped two potatoes into cubes.  Pour a little olive oil in skillet, brown and cook on low until soft.


We liked the fatty fish much better this way.  They would be great for appetizers or finger foods too!  You may want to try your favorite fish for this recipe...

Enjoy!

Old VHS Tapes - A Priceless Gift?

     

     Last year, I was cleaning out closets and came across a bunch of old VHS tapes of my kids.  I wanted to put them on DVDs, but the cost of bringing them somewhere was too much.  I had about 40 tapes! I think the cost was about $25 dollars each...not going to happen!  So, I went online and found a program for $50 called Honestech VHS to DVD 5.0 Deluxe.

     After I received it a few days later, I set it all up. It was really simple to do!  Don't be intimidated.  You do need a VCR or your video recorder.

     Then the stroll down memory lane began!  I documented 30 years of our families life.  There was a lot of laughing and crying involved..... How long did it take, you ask?  About two months! When it was all said and done, we each had about 24 DVDs.  (You can make several copies at a time before moving on to the next tape. You can't go back once you've burned the DVDs, so make as many copies that you need at that time.)

     It's not hard to copy to DVD.   Basically, you just turn on the VHS tape, press record on the Honestech program and let the tape run.  Press stop when finished.  Make copies to DVD.  Done!

     Part of the reason there were so many DVDs is because of all the extracurricular activities the boys were in.  Mostly baseball and band.  Add in all the videos of normal everyday life and you end up with a lot.  Even if you don't have that many, do it anyway!  You would be preserving family history.

    This is my stack.  On the back of the envelope, I wrote the year and what was on it.  For our children, I put their DVDs in a case.

     It was part of our children's Christmas presents last year. I wanted them to have copies so that if anything happened to our house, ( we do live near the Gulf of Mexico - hurricanes!) all would not be lost.  Now, they each have a record of their lives.

     What a priceless gift you can give to your family!