Merry Christmas 09

Merry, Merry Christmas! We have so much to be thankful for this time of year that I couldn’t even begin to list everything. We are both happy with our jobs, grateful for our friends and family, and we have each other, which is the best gift of all. We are very blessed and thank the Lord for everything that He has given us.

I absolutely love presents and had us up early this morning to get started. Here are a few of our favorite gifts.

I love jammie pants. I want to live in a world were I can wear them all day everyday.

Katie gave me this great piece that she had at her house. I honestly can't remember where it was but I am so happy to have it in my collection!

Woot! Woot! for old movies!!! I racked up this year. I asked for a bunch of Bogart movies and also one of my all time fave's "Wait Until Dark" with Audrey Hepburn.

Wonder what time it is???

Time to cook you something scrum-dittle-ee-ump-tious with my new cook books! Oh yeah! That's Pioneer Woman! And Ham Biscuits. Blue Willow Bible is in the next box!

Derrick's gifts usually revolve around basketball or music. This year he got a couple of U of L hats, bottle opener, and Turvis Tumblers.

And his main gift was...

a docking station for his iPhone. Not as exciting as my gifts but he was pretty pumped.

We usually have turkey and ham for Christmas with all of the traditional fixins, but we thought we would change it up a bit this year. Derrick voted for lobster and crab but thankfully I convinced him that he couldn’t warm up lobster tails all day long and make sandwiches out of crab legs. So we are having prime rib. I did make him some crab dip so he wouldn’t feel completely vetoed.

It’s not the exact same taste as the fabulous crab dip at Big River, but it is extremely tasty and will find a new home in my recipe box. I found a couple of recipes on the internet but I had to change them up a bit and take a little from each.

Ingredients
· 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
· 1 C onion, finely chopped
· 3 garlic cloves, minced
· 2 Tbsp flour
· 1 C chicken broth
· ½ C whole milk
· 1 brick of cream cheese
· 1 C asiago cheese, shredded
· 14oz artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
· 2 tins crabmeat, drained
· 1 tsp minced fresh dill (or ½ tsp dried)
· ½ tsp pepper
· ½ tsp salt
· ¼ tsp finely grated fresh lemon peel

Directions
· Melt butter in saucepan. Sauté onions and garlic until soft (about 5 min)
· Add flour and stir till paste forms (about 2 min)
· Slowly stir in broth and milk. Slowly bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, until it thickens (about 5 min)
· Add cream cheese and 1C of the asiago and continue to stir until there aren’t any lumps
· Carefully stir in the artichokes, crabmeat, pepper, salt, dill lemon peel
· Bake covered at 350° for ten minutes
· Sprinkle with remainder 1C of asiago. Bake or broil till top is a light golden.
· Sprinkle with pico de gallo of your choice and serve with toasted bread, crackers, or veggies.

The pico really does make it. I thought it sounded crazy at first and Katie and I almost didn’t order it at Big River Grille, but thankfully we did. I just chopped up about ½ cup of red onion, red pepper, green pepper and tomato and mixed it with about 3 Tbsp of cilantro and coated it with garlic powder and olive oil. Delicious!!! We actually have a ton of this left over because it made so much. I don’t think I will ever cut the recipe in half though because I want left overs!

Katie also told me about these green bean bundles. I had never even heard of these! I found a ton of recipes on the internet and couldn’t pick. So I mixed and matched again.

Indgredients

· 2 cans whole green beans (not cut)
· 1 stick of butter, melted
· 1 package of bacon, cut in half
· ½ C brown sugar
· ¼ tsp garlic powder
· ¼ salt
· ¼ tsp pepper
· ½ tsp soy sauce

Directions
· Drain green beans and separate into small piles (about 7 beans)
· Wrap each pile with a ½ strip of bacon, tucking the ends under the pile
· Bake at 325° for about 10 minutes
· Melt all other ingredients in a bowl in the microwave to make glaze
· Spoon over bundles (about ½ spoonful)
· Bake 325°for another 15 minutes or until bacon is crisp

And you know we had to have some mashed potatoes!!

And for dessert…

It is the chocolate cake off the December Southern Living. Not as pretty, but I never claimed to be a baker. I did omit the orange, though. I was afraid Derrick wouldn’t eat it and he would be stuck eating the rest of this hideous thing.


Sorry, I can’ get enough of that cookie. Anyway… I did have to substitute the bittersweet chocolate for semisweet chocolate because Kroger had already sold out of bittersweet. It was the BEST cake I have ever made. Scrumptious!!! When I make it again I am going to stick with the semisweet because I don’t want anything different. I don’t mean to be repetitive, but seriously the BEST cake I have ever made.

All in all, one of the best Christmas meals we’ve ever had. We are thinking that prime rib will be the new tradition for Christmas and just keep the turkey for Thanksgiving. I think we are about to warm up some leftovers and watch The Christmas Carol so in the words of Tiny Tim, “God bless us every one!”