Christmas Photos

I didn't take many photos at Christmas, but I did manage to snap a few good ones.

I got a couple of good ones of John and his mom in her backyard.  We were lucky that the weather in Pennsylvania wasn't unbearably cold for us California types.

John spends time with his family by sitting in the same room as them and playing on his phone.  How sweet.

We had quite a few people gathered together for the holiday, as shown by all the stockings.  My stocking had some scratch-off lotto tickets, and I won $10, which John forced me to invest in more lotto tickets (even though I knew this was idiotic).  Sigh.

Nephew Liam had a wonderful time opening presents - as any kid should!

He got some good loot too - including lots of plastic guns and cars!

Sleepy Patrick closes out my Christmas photos.  Sleep tight, buddy.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Harper et al.  

Really, who cares about the rest of us when Harper is this cute?

Christmas Treeing

It must really be Christmas if we're out shopping for Christmas trees.  

We didn't make it to our favorite Christmas tree farm this year, but we visited our favorite local lot which supports the Sea Scouts.  (Boy Scouts of the sea apparently.)

The boys and dads put in a lot of work, but I'm sure they end up making plenty of money off this fundraiser.

At $98/tree, how could they not?  (Ours was not $98.)

Here is John posing with our lucky lady.  I went in hoping for a three foot tree, and somehow we left with a six footer.  Oh well, it is a beautiful tree nonetheless.

I'm a sucker for a pine-scented winter home.

The Sea Scouts have a helpful netting contraption to net your tree before you take it home.

As you can see, our tree baaaaarely fit in the car with us.  I forgot to take a picture of it all decked out, but I promise you that it's lighting up the room I'm blogging from.  Merry Christmas, everybody!

Foodiebia Holiday Gift Guide

It's time for another holiday gift guide!  Hope you enjoy these picks!

Williams Sonoma, $19.95

How adorable is this set of three wooden ornaments?

Rancho Gordo, $38.95 

This gift isn't for everyone - but any avid cook would love a gift pack of heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo.  Rancho Gordo has all kinds of gift packs, including a sweet sampler with vanilla and sugar.

Amazon, $13.14

My favorite cookbook - perhaps of all time, and definitely of this year - would make a great gift for any home cook.

MoMA, $42

The name alone makes this a great gift:  Fruit Loop Bowl.

Crate and Barrel, $18.95

This set of cookie cutters are great at the holidays or year-round!

Fishs Eddy, $46.95
This acacia serving tray would be perfect for someone who loves entertaining.  

Crate and Barrel, $12.95

If you know someone that likes to bake cookies, they need a cookie scoop pronto.

Fishs Eddy, $11.95
I fell in love with all the tea towels like this I saw all over France in restaurants.  Classic and cute.

Etsy, $40
This Etsy shop sells cutting boards for all 50 states and is perfect for anyone who loves California or Virginia or Illinois or Michigan...

MoMA, $28
Not exactly Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, but it will do!

Amazon, $20.58
This is a great book for any avid and adventurous baker in your life.  The crack pie recipe alone is worth it!

If He's a Good Boy

While John got me one big present for Christmas, I got him lots of smaller gifts, like this one.  Of all his gifts, I think this was his favorite.  How could it not be?  An adorable ornament that's the spitting image of Maddie girl.

If you would like to surprise a pet lover in your life, order an ornament next year from Clay Greys on etsy.  I sent the artist a few pictures of Maddie and she created this gem.

Looks just like her!  Next year if he's a good boy John might get a Harper ornament.  Santa will be watching.  

Candy Cane Ice Cream

Because Christmas is all about memories and traditions, I will share another one of my family's favorite Christmas traditions: candy cane ice cream.  It's after Christmas, but if you've got leftover candy laying around like me, this ice cream might come in handy.

Perhaps lots of families do this, but if you've never experienced candy cane ice cream, I wanted to share this "recipe" with you.  

I say "recipe" because it requires two steps:   Step one: Crush up a bunch of candy canes in a Ziploc bag.  Step two: Mix those candy canes into some slightly softened vanilla ice cream.

I had a pint of ice cream and used three candy canes, but you can use whatever ratio you want.  I recommend buying good vanilla ice cream for the recipe (Three Twins if you're in the Bay Area - it's the best ice cream I've ever bought), but you can buy whatever dumpy candy canes you want.  If you're feeling really fancy you can make the vanilla ice cream yourself.  Since I had eight people in my house at the time, needless to say, I did not make the vanilla ice cream.

David got me some cool games for Christmas, so after some candy cane ice cream we hunkered down to build railroads across America.  Well, John did at least.  The stinker won every game.  At least I had some candy cane ice cream to comfort me.

Christmas Morning Casserole

Every year for as long as I can remember, my dad has been in charge of making the Christmas morning casserole.  This breakfast bake involves cubes of bread, milk, cheese, and ham and is placed in oven in the morning when the late-rising child (ahem, me) finally crawls out of bed and comes down for presents.  While the presents under the tree are ransacked, the casserole bakes for about an hour, usually finishing as soon as we are done untying the last ribbon and are surveying our hoards of presents.  We eat the piping hot casserole and eagerly await the stockings sitting in the next room.  Once we have finished breakfast, the stockings are emptied faster than Santa filled them.  

This year, since I was hosting my family for Christmas, I decided I wanted to carry on the Christmas Morning Casserole tradition, but put my own spin on it.  I'm not much of a ham-kind-of-gal, so I went with sausage instead.  Perhaps next time I'll use sausage and bacon to make it a real gut-buster.  Plenty of sharp cheddar cheese, loads of whole milk, almost a dozen eggs, and cubes of Italian bread fill up the rest of this breakfast treat.  While Christmas is long gone, I still wanted to share this recipe with you in case you are ever in charge of feeding a family on Christmas morning or perhaps have a brunch to serve.  It's easy to make, and best of all, sits in the fridge overnight so that all you have to do is pop it in the oven on the day you want to eat it.

Not a person (or puppy) went hungry on Christmas morning because of this sausage casserole.  (Don't worry, we didn't give Harper any.)

Sausage Breakfast Casserole
From Simply Recipes

1 pound Italian pork sausage (I used sweet, not spicy)
4 1/2 cups day-old Italian bread, cubed (I used one large loaf)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
10 eggs, slightly beaten
4 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon dried mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Slice links open and discard casings.  Break into small pieces and cook until browned on all sides.  Do not overcrowd or the sausage will not brown.  When fully cooked, place on paper towels to drain (and crumble into smaller pieces if necessary).

Butter a 9x13 pan and place cubes of bread inside.  On top of bread, spread out 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.  Combine 10 eggs (lightly beaten), 4 cups whole milk, 1 teaspoon dried mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, and freshly ground black pepper in a very large mixing bowl.  Pour mixture over bread and cheese.  Sprinkle cooked sausage on top and cover and chill overnight.  The next morning preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Bake (uncovered) at 325 degrees for about an hour. When the top is browned, it should be done.  Serves 6-8 people.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through our house
The puppy was stirring and wanted to go out.
The stockings were hung just out of reach,
So the puppy wouldn't have a stocking stuffer feast.

Kathi and David were nestled all snug in their air bed
While visions of real mattresses danced in their head.
With John in his kerchief and I in my cap
The dogs woke us up from our long winter's nap.

Out on the lawn the dogs rose such a clatter
The neighbors sprung from their beds to see what was the matter.
What to their wondering eyes should they see
But a brown spotted dog and a brown lil' puppy.

While walking on Christmas night for a bit
We looked in the sky and saw big St. Nick.
We heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,
"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Cranberry Pie-Cobbler-Thing

Not to brag, but there are very few things you can't get at a farmers market in California.  Bananas.  Limes (baffling, considering lemons are abundant).  Chocolate milk (so it appears).  And cranberries.  Apparently there are no cranberry bogs in California, which means I'm stuck ravaging the supermarket shelves just like you guys.  

Cranberries are one of the few things that are actually treated seasonally across the country.  Along with pumpkins and corn (for the most part), people respect it's actual freshest season and you can only find it during that time.  Well, folks, Christmas is probably your last bet to get fresh cranberries, and I wouldn't let it slip you by.

I've never had fresh cranberries in a dessert before, and their tartness lends to a perfect sweet-sour combo. The recipe called this a cranberry pie, but I made it in a disposable square dish, which made is seem decidedly cobbler-like.  Depending on how sweet you like you desserts you can cut back on the sugar as much as you like.  This version is quite sweet, but I've got a sweet tooth to rival a toddler, so I like it this way.

This is the perfect dessert for after Christmas dinner.  Extremely easy and somewhat unexpected while remaining true to holiday flavors.  What could be better?

Cranberry Pie
From The Pioneer Woman

2 heaping cups of fresh cranberries
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a pie, cake, or brownie pan.  Add 2 heaping cups of cranberries to the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle 3/4 cup chopped pecans on top and then add a layer of 2/3 cup sugar.  In a large mixing bowl mix together 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 stick melted butter, 1 teaspoon almond extract (optional) and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Pour the batter over the cranberries evenly and spread if necessary with a spatula.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, sprinkling  it with one tablespoon of sugar 5 minutes before removing from the oven.  Serve with ice cream, whipped cream, or plain.

Oh and for those of you who only read this blog for the puppy, here's our gal:

The Gift

I got so excited about Harper that I never got a chance to tell the story about how she came into my life.

It all started about two months ago when John informed me he had come up with the perfect present for me.  He said it was a big one, and if he could pull it off it would be my only gift.  He spent hours and hours researching this gift, so I told him I had figured out what the present was: a trip!  No other present could take some much work.  I told him my guess and he reluctantly agreed that I was right.

Last weekend he warned me he would be gone all day on Saturday doing something for my present.  The only thing I could think of was a travel fair.  This seemed a little weird, but I went with it.  Natalie and Mitch asked me if I wanted to go shopping, so I decided it was the perfect time to pick up gifts for John.  We went out shopping all afternoon and when we returned, John's car was in the garage, despite the fact he wasn't supposed to be back for hours.  Apparently Natalie and Mitch were in on it

I walked in the door and there was John sitting on the floor with brown ball of fur in a box.  And my life will never be the same.