December 18, 2008

You may have noticed from my previous post on Christmas Cupcakes and Candy, that I really like peppermint.  There's just something about the little candy canes and the red & white color of the candies that are so festive for decorating Christmas cupcakes, cookies, and candies.

I finally had a few minutes to flip through my Martha Stewart Living December 2008 issue and discovered, to my delight, the Cookie of the Month is Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies.

COOKIE OF THE MONTH

I would really like to make these for some friends, but considering the mess I made of the bark at Halloween, I'm not sure if I'm ready to work with melted chocolate again! I learned the hard way that the different brands of the chocolate discs/wafers definitely melt differently. And microwaving for longer won't make it thinner! “Nuff said”!  This calls for real white chocolate instead of the little disks, so I'm not sure if that'll make it easier or not.

BigSis, would you take a peek at the recipe and let me know if you think I'm getting in over my head!

~LilSis

December 16, 2008

Ready to bake some cupcakes, BigSis? You're not tired of baking, are you? (tee hee)

While we're anxiously awaiting the results from the Bake Sale, I thought I'd share a few really cute Christmas cupcake and candy recipes.

I love these Christmas Cupcakes from Bakerella!

These Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Icing from The Recipe Girl are really cute!

Bakerella also does these adorable Christmas Tree Cake Pops with Red Velvet Cake.

I love this Peppermint Oreo Bark from Baking Blonde.

Is Christmas really only 9 days away? I better get busy! I need a houseful of little elves to help me finish what I have to do today!

~LilSis

December 13, 2008

Whew! I'm exhausted just reading BigSis' baking itinerary! I couldn't pull that off if my life depended on it. Seriously! I'm not known as the baker in the family. I haven't given up yet, but by nature, I'm a cook. I have never liked to measure, so that part of baking is a real struggle for me. (“My brain doesn't work that way” or as my sons would say “That's not the way I roll”.)

But, appetizers, on the other hand, are right up my alley! Since earlier this week, BigSis mentioned one of our favorite appetizers, Cheesecake Crunchy, I decided that I would share another ‘all time' favorite.  These Stuffed Mushrooms Italian are another surefire hit to take to any Christmas party. And, they're easy, easy, easy to make. I've been asked for this recipe so many times!

Stuffed Mushrooms Italian

24 large mushrooms
1 pound hot Italian sausage
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 shallots, minced
1/4 c. Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs
1/2 stick plus 1 T. butter
1 c. or so seasoned dry stuffing mix (any flavor)

Wipe mushrooms clean, and remove stems. Saute very lightly (only about 30 seconds on each side) in 1/2 stick butter.

Remove sausage from casings and cook in skillet until brown. Drain. Saute shallot in 1 T. of butter until translucent. (I cheat sometimes and just saute the shallot with the sausage.)  In mixing bowl, combine cooked sausage, shallot, cream cheese, and breadcrumbs. Stuff generously into mushroom caps.

At some point after making these for years, we added this one ‘secret ingredient' that wasn't in the original recipe. After stuffed, turn the mushrooms upside down and gently press into the dry stuffing mix, just until the top is covered with a layer of stuffing mix. (The dry stuffing mix on top adds a nice crunch and wonderful texture to these mushrooms.) Put in a 13 x 9 casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees until hot. I like to keep them in a few extra minutes until the tops are browned a little. Serve immediately.

Buon Appetito!

~LilSis

December 11, 2008

I'm always in a baking mood at Christmas, but since I'm in “Bake Sale Mode” this year, I REALLY have cookies on the brain.  Lots of other folks do too:

• Recipe Girl shares her favorite Christmas Cookies and Candies
• Paula Deen's favorite Christmas Cookies are in Good Housekeeping
• Marye from Baking Delights has some favorite Christmas Cookies
• The Food Network has 12 Days of Holiday Cookies
• Martha Stewart has a Holiday Cookie feature of course
• Southern Living's Santa's Cookies are shortbread cookies 8 ways
• Gourmet Magazine's Favorite Cookies span 1941 to 2008
• Dallas News has a bunch of Holiday Cookie stories

Bake on, elves!  I'll be back on Friday with the scoop on what I've been baking this week for the SPCA Bake Sale.

~BigSis

December 9, 2008

Has anyone, other than myself, found themselves needing to buy a gift for someone and not have one single idea of what to buy? I've only just realized I can find great gift ideas like jewelry online. Until now, there seemed to be so many options out there but nothing ticked the box for me! I know a lot of people decided to go down the personalized route, and I don't blame them, it's perfect, and the best thing is, it can be for anyone, of any age, any time! My friend told me she received a personalized moon lamp (Mondlampe Personalisiert in German) from her boyfriend and it was the sweetest gift. The best thing about these gifts is they can suit any recipient, even the hardest people to buy for. However, when you are deciding on gifts, the likes and dislikes of the recipient should be kept in mind. Thus, be it personalised photo keyrings, or photo t-shirts, you must be aware of what they like. And if you're struggling to think of gift ideas, these might do the trick. For more examples there are things like aprons, blankets, socks even Photo Wall Art Prints. If you're thinking of something a little different however there is still hope for you. If you find yourself in a sticky situation this Christmas Season, you might want to pay a visit to gifts.com!

I just love how you can shop by recipient; men, women, teens, kids, babies, and pets. Then, you can narrow the search even more by shopping by personality. For example, choose women under the recipient tab, then choose to shop by personality and you find all these choices; The Super Mom, The Hipster, The Domestic Diva, The Frugalistic, The Achiever, The Trendanista, The Natural Woman, The Urban Sophisticate, The Thinker, The Adventurer, and The Country Clubber.

Here's one really cool idea that I found when searching through The Domestic Diva category. It's a Create-A-Cookbook gift certificate. It lets the recipient use their All Recipes.com favorite recipes to create their very own custom cookbook! This is just one of many great ideas!

And maybe you need to buy for a Senior Woman. There are several choices within that category also; The Country Clubber, The Domestic Diva, The Thinker, The Super Grandma, or The Active Retiree. You can choose personalities within Teen Boys, Teen Girls, Senior Men, so on and so forth.

When surfing the site a little bit this morning, I also discovered their blog, gift rap, a shopping blog of cool gift ideas brought to you by the gift gurus at gifts.com.

There are literally thousands of gifts ideas on this site and on their blog, so check it out! I hope it helps someone find a gift for that “hard to buy for” person on your Christmas List.

~LilSis

December 7, 2008

Well, BigSis, you know that I LOVE music as much as you do and don't go anywhere without my iPod! It's with me on walks and bike rides, it's with me at the gym, I take it to the beach, and it's fully integrated in my car so I just plug it in inside the glove box. I take my speaker/docking station with me everywhere; to my art studio, to the boat, to the bathroom, etc… BUT, I hate to say it…I don't have any Christmas music downloaded to my iPod.

For some reason, I've just never taken the time to import any Christmas CDs. It would be great to have all my favorite songs off of all the different CDs put into one great Christmas playlist.

Last year, we had a Christmas party, so I bought a couple of new CDs.

One was Barenaked Ladies, Barenaked for the Holidays. (Great name, right?)  It's a pretty good CD. Very nontraditional versions of some all-time favorites.

Barenaked for the Holidays

The other was a compilation CD from Starbucks called Stockings By the Fire.  It has some old favorites like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, but also some newer artists like Sarah McLachlan and John Legend.

Stockings by the Fire

I've got a good one that I bought in 2006 called The Perfect Christmas from Bath and Body Works to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The Perfect Christmas

Most of our other Christmas CDs are all compilation CDs that we've collected throughout the years.  This year, I think I'll break down and finally get the Elvis Christmas Album.

Elvis Christmas Album

I LOVE Elvis Christmas music! So, that's just a sampling of what's in our Christmas music collection. I'm glad you asked about the iPod. I can't wait til you get yours up and running. I better get busy importing some CDs.

~LilSis

December 6, 2008

What would Christmas be without great music?  I can't imagine it!  I know some people aren't huge music fanatics, but I am, and for me, music is the backdrop for the whole season.

It's really hard to narrow down my favorite Christmas CDs to only 5, but I can do it! These are my favorites at the moment:

• Nat King Cole “Christmas Favorites” – “The Christmas Song” is on this CD, but there are other songs on it that I love even more, like “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and “The First Noel”.  Nat's smooth voice on these classics just makes them warm and cozy favorites all over again.  This is the CD you want in the background when you're gathered around the tree with your family opening gifts.

• Avalon “Joy” – There are so many incredible songs on this CD! How about “Jesus Born on This Day” and “We Are the Reason” for starters? Then throw in “Don't Save it All for Christmas Day” and you've got a winner!  It was released in 2000 and half of the group's members have changed, but it's still a great recording.  If you love Jody McBrayer's voice as I do, also check out his solo CD “This is Who I Am” (2002).  It includes one of my favorite all-time songs “To Ever Live Without Me”.  You may recognize it by Jody's incredible lyrics: “It was all about a man, it was all about a cross, it was all about the blood that was shed so I would not be lost.  It was all about the love that was bigger than a life.  It was all about a freedom that was given through your sacrifice. ‘Cause you would rather die than to ever live without me.”  Thinking about that makes me teary; let's move on.

• Amy Grant “A Christmas Album” – This CD came out in 1983, I can hardly believe it. 25 years later, it's still one of my favorites. I don't know what it is about “Tennessee Christmas” but I love love love it. “Emmanuel” and “Heirlooms” are also songs I play over and over again at Christmas.  This is a fun but really warm and sentimental CD.

• Martina McBride “White Christmas” – Martina's voice says Christmas to me, and it just seems like her heart is in all these songs. I adore “What Child is This”, “Do You Hear What I Hear”, and all of the other classics on this CD.  Martina can't sing a bad song, and she does an amazing job on all of these selections.

• Rob Johnson “O Holy Night” – Rob's version of “Mary, Did You Know” is stunning!  The title track, “Welcome to Our World”, “Who Would Imagine a King” and “You are the Light” are also standouts on this CD that came out last Christmas.  Rob was the worship leader at my former church, and is now with another church in Keller that a friend and I visited for a while before I moved farther away.  We did visit again for last year's Christmas service, and grabbed up this CD afterwards. When Rob was leading worship for us, one of the things that we always loved about him was his JOY, and this CD reflects that completely.  It's joyful from beginning to end.  Who doesn't want more of that?

Oh, fudge!  I forgot Selah's “Rose of Bethlehem”. And Elvis' “Blue Christmas”!  And The Chipmunks!  And “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”!  There's so much music for such a short season!  Hey LilSis, what Christmas tunes are playing on your iPod right now?

~BigSis

December 5, 2008

I wonder if she had to address, stamp, and mail all the Christmas cards, do all the gift shopping, the wrapping, the shipping, the meal planning and grocery shopping, the tree decorating, the baking, the party planning, and the cleaning? If so, I'd like to know her secret…

But seriously, let's talk about stress and ways to try to avoid it this holiday season. If I'm not careful and don't make a conscious effort to stay calm during the holiday season, stress can take a serious toll on my body. I end up with stomachaches, headaches, a back full of knots, and sleepless nights. Even though this holiday season has snuck up on me more than ever before, I'm working hard not to let stress get to me this year. One of my friends actually suggested that I look into some of the products that Delta 8 THC has on offer. Apparently, their products promote stress-relief. This would allow me to relax properly, which is what people should be doing over the festive period. Now, I understand a little on cannabis, that there is a difference between THC and CBD and the effects they have on you. I've been told that you need a considerable amount of THC for it to give you that ‘high' feeling that so many people are worried about. However, I've never really experimented with either. So, perhaps before trying the THC products, I should try CBD products to see how I get on with them. In fact, I might very well head on over to somewhere like Thecbdinsider.com or a similar site to find more information on CBD (Cannabidiol) to see if that can have any benefit to my stress levels currently. Perhaps these are both things to look at.

Here are a few things I've found that might help us all create a more stress-free holiday:

• First and most importantly, make time, and even block out time on your planner, to eat right (not fast food on the run), exercise (even if you can only squeeze in 15 or 20 minutes), and get a good night's sleep (I'm know, we've heard it all before!)

• Create or purchase a holiday planner. BigSis has already given us some great resources for Christmas planners.

• Make sure that your planner has a place to keep your Christmas card list. It sure makes the Christmas card giving a lot easier if you keep a list of who you sent cards to and who you received cards from each year. My planner has a section for this and it has really helped me these past three years. (And yes, I think it's okay to omit some from your list if you are cutting back.) We can't send cards to everyone we know! It's just not possible, so don't stress over it.

• I love this 9 Steps to Stress-Free Holiday Giving article from iVillage. Get a pencil and paper out for this one and take just a few minutes to go through these 9 steps. It's some really good advice from a professional organizer. She really simplifies the entire gift buying process.

• The 10 Tips to a Stress-Free Holiday from 1stHolistic has more great advice. Beth Tebak starts off this article with the most important tip of all, RELAX!

• Whole Living has some GREAT articles on stress relief, all in one place!

Being organized and prioritizing all your errands is obviously a major part of not getting stressed out during the holiday season! This time of the year should be for celebrating the true meaning of the season and for enjoying friends and family. So, relax!

~LilSis

December 4, 2008

Is it just me, or are the Christmas specials airing earlier and earlier each year?  On Monday, we had the Shrek Christmas special followed by the Grinch.  On Tuesday, we had Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and on Wednesday we had Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  At this rate, we'll be out of Christmas shows to watch by the weekend!

Rudolph and Herbie

Rudolph

I know that retailers put Christmas merchandise in the stores as soon as possible in order to get every possible sale.  That makes sense to me.  But I don't get why these TV shows come on so early.  Are the networks afraid that the ratings will be lower if the shows come on later in the month, thinking that we'll all be at parties instead of gathered around the tube?  It doesn't bother me, it just baffles me.  I've missed my favorite (Rudolph) several times because it came on while I was still doing Thanksgiving dishes! Well, not really, but almost!  Next year, will we be watching the Grinch before we go out to watch the Fourth of July fireworks?  Just wondering.  What do you think?

~BigSis

December 3, 2008

If you're like me, you've already received loads of catalogs in the mail with terrific offers for free shipping.  I usually don't even take the time to glance at all the catalogs I receive, but since I need to do some Christmas shopping online, I've been browsing through them when I have a few minutes. Here's my top five list:

• My favorite is the new December 08 bliss “wrap up your shopping in a new york minute catalog.” This catalog is jam packed with so many great gift ideas! It is worth your time to browse through it! This ‘Best of Bliss' Set for $55.00 is one of my favorites. (Order $75.00 or more by December 18 and get FREE standard shipping to anywhere in the U.S.)
  

  Best of Bliss Set

• Another favorite of mine is L'Occitane. I absolutely love the Almond Supple Skin Oil and the Amber Eau De Toilette; just to name a few. BigSis has recently been turned on to their Shea Butter Hand Cream , which is a best seller, and she loves it! At $25.00 a tube for over 5 ounces, it would make a great gift. (They are offering free standard shipping on ALL orders over $25.00)

• Origins products always make great gifts! I could go on and on, and on if I start listing my favorite Origins products. They also have some great gift sets! If you have a “hard to buy for” friend or relative, you just cannot go wrong with this Ginger Fest Gift Set for $35.00! (Receive free standard shipping on ANY order through December 16)
  

  Origins Ginger Fest

• The Crate and Barrel 2008 Gift Guide is full of wonderful holiday items to either keep for yourself or give as gifts. (Free shipping on orders over $100)

• I've used Franklin Covey planners for years! I love their selection! They have some great holiday savings that I want to take advantage of since it's time to order the 2009 planners. (They are offering free shipping on orders over $60.00)

So, for now, those are my top five favorites!  I'll be keeping my ‘eyes open' for more free shipping offers and holiday savings!

~LilSis