The best Christmas gift

Here are the best Christmas gifts I have ever received.  Look at how nice they are wrapped.  

Thanks Santa - you're the best! 

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a mushroom?

On my birthday I mentioned that I made a fabulous Chicken Piccata dinner and I wanted to share the recipe with you.  It's always amazing when I make a meal and every single person in the family likes it and eats every bite.  That was this meal.  I will be adding it to the monthly menu rotation (not that I really have a monthly menu rotation, but it just sounded good).  

And if you're looking for a healthy dinner, then you might just need to look elsewhere or be really good at healthy substitutions - I am sure this is loaded with fat, but man-o-man is it tasty.  No wonder everyone loved it.  

Although, I learned the hard way that kids don't like capers.  They thought they were peas and Taylor commented, "These are the worst peas I've ever eaten.  They taste sour." 

Also, the recipe calls for mushrooms, but I know the boys don't particularly care for them, so I left them out.  That decision came back to haunt me in another form.  

The kids got these chocolate advent calendars from their uncle Jay.  Every day they open up a door and behind it is a small piece of chocolate with a special Christmas design on it.  Here is an example of some of the pieces.  

A Christmas tree.

A sleigh full of presents.

A Christmas ornament.

And then of all days, my birthday, the kids open door #22 and what do they find behind it?  A mushroom.  Since when do mushrooms have anything to do with Christmas?  Really?  Have I missed something?  It's because I omitted them from my Chicken Piccata recipe, isn't it?  I knew they would come back to haunt me.  Well, either way, the boys ate their "mushroom" that day.  

Here's the recipe for any of you who are interested.  Have a wonderful Christmas.  And if you're still looking for a last minute gift, I hear mushrooms are the latest tradition.

Chicken Piccata

3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp paprika

2 eggs

3 tbsp milk

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, pounded flat

6 tbsp butter

1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

3/4 cup white wine

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup cream

3 tbsp capers

DIRECTIONS:

In a shallow dish, mix together flour, salt and paprika. In a separate dish mix together egg and milk. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture, then in seasoned flour.

In a large skillet, heat butter over medium high heat. Saute chicken pieces until golden brown. Add mushrooms and saute for 3 to 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl combine the broth, wine, lemon juice and cornstarch. Mix together and pour mixture over chicken and mushrooms. Reduce heat to medium low and let chicken mixture simmer for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Add cream and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Add capers in the last 2 minutes. Serve over angel hair pasta.

The morning bounce surprise

Yesterday I told the kids I had a surprise for them and they would have to get up earlier than normal.  I wouldn't give any other clues except they had to wear socks and their Brown's jerseys (along with the rest of their clothes, of course).

If anyone listens to the local Cleveland radio station Q104 they might know what I am talking about.  They had their first annual Inflatable Christmas at Bounce City which is a place to take your kids and they can jump, slide, and play on various inflatable apparatus. 

We arrived at 8:30 am.  The station was broadcasting live from Bounce City, there was food, AND they had guest appearances by a few Cleveland Brown's football players.  I had my fingers crossed for Brady Quinn, but he didn't show up.  Darn-it!   (Did you know we live less than 6 miles away from him?)  Darnell Dinkins was there along with Josh Cribbs.  

The boys couldn't believe they got to meet real NFL football players.  We even got a picture with Josh Cribbs and he autographed the boys jerseys.  It was a fun and memorable day.  All for a $5 donation.  What a deal!  

What's in your oven?

It's time to get serious people.  

I've made my list of Christmas cookies that I want someone to bake for me uh, I mean I want to shove in my mouth ok, fine, I want to bake.  

I've pulled out the recipes.  I've purchased the ingredients. 

The only thing that's missing. . . . .  

motivation

I love to bake - but I am overwhelmed.  I have 7 different cookies that I want to make this year. Five of which I am used to making and 2 that are new but sound wonderful.  In the past I have usually only made one or two and at different times, but I feel like I am ready to take on the task of multiple migraines cookie varieties.  

Can someone smack some sense into me please?

Here is the list of what sounded good at the time:

•  wedding cake cookies
  
• buckeyes
• chocolate dipped Ritz
• peanut butter blossoms
• thumbprint cookies
• choco-marshmallow cookies
• the traditional Grandma's frosted sugar cookies

I know Santa is counting on me and I really hope I don't disappoint him and myself.  

(Note to self: purchase some Chips Ahoy as a backup plan.)

What cookies are you baking this holiday season?

December = cookies

One of the things that come to mind in the month of December is cookies.  

Between the tree trimming, hanging of lights, and home decorating, Christmas cookies rank high for me in celebrating the season.  

I have always looked forward to cookie exchanges and receiving and exchanging cookies from neighbors and friends in the past.  

This year things are different.  I have no cookie exchanges lined up and we have new neighbors and friends that I don't think I would expect to bring me cookies nor would I expect them to accept mine. 

Therefore, instead of being all Scrooge-like, I wanted to share a great way to host a cookie exchange (even though I won't be actually doing this).  

Make a batch of your all time favorite Christmas cookie.  Depending on the number of people attending will determine how many you need to bake.  

Create decorative bags of 3 to 6 cookies for each person in attendance and include a bag to use as a taste tester.  

In or on the bag you should include the cookie's name and recipe.

Make sure your cookies are baked the same day or day before the party to ensure they are fresh.  And if you are the host provide appetizers and drinks or ask each person to bring one to share.  

Happy Holidays and enjoy those cookies!

The Christmas Hoopla.

I see that I've been tagged for a Christmas Hoopla by Crooked Eyebrow where I have to list 12 things about myself that are related to Christmas. That seems like a lot! So here I go on my first attempt at a "meme" or should I say hoopla.

1) I do not particularly enjoy decorating my house for Christmas. Now before you get all "Bah-Hum-Bug" on me let me explain. I pretty much suck at decorating. Period. I don't have good ideas as to what looks good together and I like to keep things simple. I hate clutter. Nuff said.

2) It just wouldn't be Christmas without watching my favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story at least once if not more during the month of December. The movie Elf has become my 2nd favorite Christmas movie. Will Ferrell is hilarious and makes me laugh every time I watch him.

3) My birthday falls 3 days before Christmas, which yes, does stink quite a bit, but my family has always been so good about making me feel special on my day and not wrapping my birthday presents in Christmas wrapping paper.

4) I love the old traditional Christmas songs sung by Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Roger Williams, etc.

5) When I was a young tot my brothers and I had some very cool Christmas records that we loved to listed to. Such as Star Wars Christmas and Christmas Disco. Can you tell I was born in the 70's?

6) OMG! I am not even half way done yet and I am starting to struggle! UGH! Okay, how about this. One of my favorite Christmas drinks is spiced eggnog. I even have a homemade recipe that is from middle school home economics class. I just recently found a new recipe that I am looking forward to trying out called City Tavern Eggnog. I copied it from the Southwest airlines magazine when I flew out to Cleveland a few weekends ago. It calls for egg yolks, granulated sugar, heavy whipping cream and whole milk. It's not fattening or anything!

7) I enjoy sending out Christmas cards. This year we sent out ones with a family picture. They turned out good considering everyone smiled at the same time. Amazing! I have found the best way to display the cards we receive is to tape them around the 12 foot door frame opening between the kitchen and family room. See. Just picture them completely down the other side and the purple tree on the right is our backup card display which we have just begun to fill.

8) I was a firm believer in Santa until about the age of 10. My brother and I were being snoops. All of it was totally his idea of course. And we found wall calendars hidden in my parents closet. Mine was Alf and his was sports cars. When we opened them up on Christmas day the tags said they were from Santa. What a way to spoil it. But that reminds me of the time I found out the truth about the tooth fairy. As a small girl stumbling upon a box of little teeth I was scarred for life. I felt betrayed. My parents were impostors! I've since forgiven them and am now following in their footsteps.

9) One of the most memorable presents I received as a child was a 4 foot Barbie townhouse. Let me tell you, it was sweet! And it was complete with a pink elevator that would take Barbie and her friends from the ground floor up to level 3. I played with that for many years and wish I still had it to this day. But, I do still have my Pretty Ponies, or were they called My Little Ponies? Either way, they are in my closet and when my friends bring their daughters over, I bring out the box of ponies for them to play with. Brings back good memories!

10) Growing up, my family would always get a real tree to decorate for Christmas. The first few years I was out of the house with my own family, we did the real tree thing, but then decided to get a fake one. Less mess and less pain from being stabbed by dry dead needles. I do miss the fresh pine scent of a real tree, but Febreze makes a killer pine tree spray called Fresh Evergreen and Snow. You must try it! Plus it's a limited edition so don't wait too long.

11) Okay, this seems like it is going on forever. Bless you if you are still reading this and are still awake. What else can I bore you with? So, I am a fan of colored lights. I really do not care for white. They're pretty, but I like me some color - makes it more festive. This is the first year that I can remember that we actually did not put up any lights outside. I am very sad about this. It seems the weather snuck up on us and who wants to put up lights in an ice storm? Our neighborhood makes up for our lack of outdoor decorations. There are some fanatics around here and I will leave it at that.

12) Drum roll please! My last required entry. And what the heck is there left to say? I love to play in the snow with my boys. I have so much fun building snow forts and snowmen and snow angels and snow hills. Gosh, I could go on and on. I enjoy ice skating and sledding, but I do not enjoy downhill skiing. I have only attempted it once in my life back in high school and didn't really get the hang of it. Maybe I should give it another try.

Whew! I guess that wasn't too bad. Who can I tag next? How about Say Anything? Are you up for it?

The directions:

1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas.
2. Please refer to it as a hoopla not the dreaded “m” word.
3. You have to specifically tag someone when you’re done, no leaving it open.
4. Do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over soon…

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out Kid!

My all time favorite Christmas movie is A Christmas Story. It is such a classic. The setting of the movie is actually 30 minutes from where I live, but the house where is was filmed at is located in Cleveland, Ohio.

Well, this past weekend on Friday I flew to Cleveland to meet my hubby and attend his company's Christmas party. On Saturday afternoon we had some time to spare so we decided to go tour the house from the movie. It was almost surreal. I felt as if I had gone back in time and was part of the film. I could picture the different scenes of the movie with each room we entered.

Across the street they have a museum and a gift shop where you can purchase your very own full size leg lamp. Although we didn't come home with a leg lamp, we have great memories and pictures of our adventure. Enjoy!

The front of the house.

In the back looking towards the front.

The backyard with the shed where Ralphie shot Black Bart.

The infamous leg lamp. It's a major award!

In the corner sat the Red Ryder BB gun just how it was in the movie.

Here is the kitchen with the Christmas turkey cooking apparently before the turkey thief hounds came around to devour it.

The bathroom and LifeBuoy soap that poor Ralphie had to endure.

The actual car restored to it's former glory.