Friday, December 17, 2010

Christmas Cheer at the Neals

I want to thank everyone who came to my home last week for a little Christmas Cheer; I was truly touched that you would take the time, the miles AND frustration of finding my place to come.


{Audrey, Cindy & Becky entertaining each other!}

It was so great to see everyone there in a non-classroom setting. The best part for me, was to see how quickly you all connected, despite never having met before. Nobody has the generous heart like a card-maker!





 



{Some of my South Jordan Gals: Judy, Charm and Julie and that's Cari Lyn from West Jordan regaling them all!}
D
Dana (Centerville) brough her daughters and the cutest grandsons EVER.  Their cuteness only partially matched by Dana's handmade hats!






















Everyone got to meet my cat, Booger.  Even though he looks oblivious deep down inside he was thrilled with the company.

Some of you (towards the end) got to meet my chickens too!  Thanks for seeming even slightly interested!





Some of my American Fork 'local' gals, Cheryl, Becky and Kim!

{Janis and her friend, Kathy from Sandy}

Because some of you have requested recipes, here is a few:

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
1 Chocolate cake mix
1 small (3.9 oz. ) pkg. instant chocolate pudding
½ cup sugar
3/4 cup veg. oil
¾ cup water
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine 1st 3 ingredients, stir with a wire whisk to remove large lumps. Add next 3 ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir in chips. Pour into well greased (I like to use the spray with the flour added) bundt pan. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour or until cake is baked through. Cool 10 minutes in pan, remove onto wire rack, cool completely and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Mini Brownie Cheesecake bites
This is hard because I didn't really use a recipe, I just made it up. 
Mix up a brownie mix.  Pour a mini cupcake pan about 2/3rd full with brownie mix.
Mix 2 8 oz. pkg of soft cream cheese, 2 eggs and 1 cup sugar.  Fill the rest of the pan with this mixture, over the brownie mixture.  bake for approx. 20 minutes or until cheese cake on top is set.  It won't be brown though.
The trick it seems is to really grease the cupcake pan.  I made them again a few days ago and had a bear of time getting them out properly.
The best part is decorated the top of these little sweeties with a whirl of piped whipped cream.  For the party I put on a fresh raspberry, but the other night I did chopped candy cane and added mint extract to the brownie mix.  It was also good.

Stuffed Mushrooms
This is pretty funny; I put these glorious little bites into the over around 6:40pm.  The doorbell rang a few minutes later and I completely forgot about them until about an hour later.  Little burnt yucky bundles, but some of my guests (who are either very kind or don't have taste buds) liked them.  LOL  They really great though, when cooked properly.  Again, didn't use a recipe, so this is general.

30 - 40 mushroom caps (I used Cremini, but white button works)
1/2 cup onions, chopped
4 cloved garlic
4 Tbsp Butter
1/2 bread crumbs
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 cup crab
1/2 cup parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated or shredded

Clean off mushroom with paper towel or a mushroom brush.  Pull the stems out and set aside. Place mushroom caps on cooking sheet.  Make filling.

Saute onions, chopped mushroom stems in butter for approx 5 minutes until they are soft.  Add garlic and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.  Add rest of ingredients and mix carefully and cook until heated through.  Fill mushroom caps until they are mounded.  Cook at 375 for 20 minutes approx, or until tops are bubbly and golden.  I also shredded some additional cheese on top.  ENJOY!

1 comments:

Rob'n'Mon said...

Oh Sue! I DO wish I could have come, but my hubby wouldn't let me venture that far this close to baby time. I'm glad it went well. Merry Christmas to my favorite crafty lady!!!

Q's Creative Card Classes's Fan Box

Contact Me

Favorite Quote

"The art of being
HAPPY lies in the
POWER of extracting
happiness from
COMMON things."
~Henry Ward Beecher

Subjects

 

Q's Creative Card Making Kits | Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial License | Dandy Dandilion Designed by Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates

01 09 10