The Last of Christmas Paintings!

Without a doubt in my mind I can say I am burned out on Christmas paintings.  This is not to say that I will never paint similar things again, because I know I will, but perhaps with some colors other than red and green (I'm thinking pink would be a good start).  To finish out the painting season, here are the last few that I did:

Yes, I know this one is not Christmas related, but I couldn't resist!

 

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season as much as I am!  This weekend I'm making tons of cookies, so be on the look out next week!

Monkey Bread!

I am new to monkey bread, although I don't know how I could have missed it my entire life, but I somehow did! 

Here's everything you need:
1 bag of dinner rolls (not buttermilk)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon
1/2 lb butter
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar

I let the dinner rolls thaw since I got them from the freezer section (I placed them in the oven on 100 degrees and let them rise a little, too). This made them easier to pull apart and also fluffier.

Pull the rolls in half. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cinnamon in a medium sized bowl. Roll the dough pieces in this mix. Melt butter and stir in 2 tablespoons of cinnamon (I probably used about 4 tbsp - oops!) and 1/4 cup sugar.  Grease a bundt pan. Place half of the rolls in the bottom and pour half of the butter mixture over it. Place the other half of the rolls on top and pour the rest of the mixture.  If you like your monkey bread to be extra buttery/cinnamon-y, then add a little more butter, sugar, and cinnamon than it calls for. Bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees.

If I were making this bread for, say, Christmas morning (and we all know how hectic Christmas morning is), I would make the bread the night before and place it in the refrigerator and wait to bake it in the morning.  The bread really tastes best when it's right out of the oven.  Unfortunately, microwaving it is just not the same.

*This recipe is adapted from the one found here.

Christmas Pretzel Treats

At this time of year, (btw, Christmas is only 15 days away!) I find myself in the mood to bake...A LOT!  And while this treat is not something I necessarily had to bake (it did not require going in the oven), it's still adorable, easy, and a great Christmas snack to give to friends and neighbors!

I bought a large container of small pretzel rods (you can use large pretzel rods, too), chocolate bark, and Christmas sprinkles.  Follow the instructions to heat the chocolate. Then it's an easy three step process: 1) dip the pretzels, 2) sprinkle a little dots, and 3)let them dry on wax paper.

Well after I finished all of the pretzel rods, I still had melted chocolate that needed to be used and I am a firm believer in not wasting chocolate.  So what did I do?  I opened a bag of mini pretzels and started dipping!  They are kind of messy looking, but still taste good!

I'm in a group called the Jingle Belles and we are having our annual holiday party to raise money for the Centers for Youth and Families in Little Rock. Check out the website and come to the party if you're in the area!

Catering a Party

Oh my goodness gracious, Ben has officially catered his first party and he's going to be so mad that I'm about to brag about him so much!  However, I'm going to have to start off by saying I have ZERO pictures of the food (boo, I know), but whenever you're cooking/baking it's hard to remember to stop and take pictures (I will try to get better, I promise!). The only picture I have is one of the chocolate chip cookies I made (those will come in a later post).  This post is to give some ideas about what appetizers work well together, because I know during this time of year (Christmas!) there are lots of parties!

Ben was asked to prepare food for about 50 people that were going to a fundraiser.  He did so well!  With a little over a week to get everything together, he started the planning.  Here's a list of foods he made:

• Seafood Dip
• Sausage Balls
• Stuffed Mushrooms
• Veggie Bars
• Cheese and Fruit Platter (fruit - grapes, cherries, strawberries; cheese - cheddar, swiss, and pepper jack)
  
• Spinach Dip
• Bacon Wrapped Crackers
• Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
• Marinated Shrimp (locating recipe)
  

In case you weren't counting, that's NINE items!  Whew!  Just listing them makes me hungry!

I was in charge of dessert so I made homemade chocolate cookies with chocolate drizzles and pecan tassies (my new favorite)!

For each item made, I have put a link to a recipe that is similar to the ones Ben used.  This was no easy task and he did a great job!!!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree!

This post should have gone up last weekend whenever I finished decorating my family's Christmas tree,  so sorry for the delay!  I love it, though!  We started the silver and blue theme last year and while we're using the same ornaments this year, it still looks different!  The one thing that is different about the tree this year is the silver mesh-like ribbon that goes all the way down the tree.  I love this stuff.

Lights on!

Lights off!

We have the same thing in green on the mantle, around the banister and outside around the front door.  I'll try to remember to take pictures.  The ribbon is called mesh Sinamay and it can be found at Tipton-Hurst Florist if you're in Central Arkansas or at other online retailers.

Pecan Tassies

These treats are so good and perfect for holiday parties!

They are called pecan tassies and I found the recipe on Southern Living's website where they are featuring 22 different pecan desserts. And believe me, this was not the only one I want to try!

The recipe is relatively easy - make the dough, make the filling, put them together, then bake. I would suggest making the holes in the dough as large as possible so it can fit the most amount of filling because that's the real treat! Also, after making the first batch I realized I needed to try to make sure that the filling does not flow over the edges too much because it will burn when baking. Next, I found that using a teaspoon to spoon the filling in is the perfect amount. Lastly, depending on your oven, I would recommend baking them for 2-3 less than what the recipe says.

Oh and I added just a touch of almond extract to the filling. I couldn't resist!

Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

When I was making the polka dot birthday cake I knew I would end up with extra icing because would rather make too much than not enough. Luckily I needed to make cupcakes for a meeting I was going to early in the week, so the icing was put to good use! Not only the icing, but I was also able to use the smaller fondant polka dots, too!

The cake was double chocolate - yummy!

I've learned you cannot go wrong with buttercream frosting! Here's recipe:

1 lbs powdered sugar (10x sifted)
1 tablespoons Wilton Meringue powder
1 dashes salt
1 cups white crisco
1 teaspoons Wilton no-color butter flavor
1 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons water

Cream shortening, add butter flavor and vanilla and mix well. Add Meringue powder, sugar, and salt and gradually add water.