Food, Glorious Food!

We had an Amazing Christmas this year!  There was so much good food, laughter, family times, relaxation, giving, visiting, singing, and in general, enjoying God's blessings! 

We spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day with Stephen's family, and had a total hoot!

I got to help make a lot of the food over the weekend, which was so much fun for me!  I really love cooking for "big" groups, especially appreciate, hungry ones!  I love really making food look beautiful, as well as tasting good!

My mother-in-law and I put together this feast for Christmas Eve!   

Chocolate Fondue!

Spinach Dip! (A Christmas tradition for me!)

Deviled Eggs

Veggies! 

 Cheese Fondue!

Yes, good food was enjoyed by all.  I love how a meal like this brings people together in a way that "normal food" doesn't.  There's so much more interaction and fun, it seems!  

This is one of my favorite types of meals.  I love appetizers and finger foods during the holidays!  It's so much fun planning it out, making sure you have a beautiful variety of each type of food.

Spinach Dip

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1 package Knorr vegetable soup mix

1 (8 oz) package chopped, frozen spinach

***

1 (round) loaf sourdough bread

Mix mayo and sour cream together.  Add the soup mix.  Add the spinach (thawed and drained) and mix thoroughly.

Cut out the centre of the sourdough loaf and place the dip inside.  Cut the centre of the loaf into bite sized pieces to eat with the dip.

You can also serve this with crackers, and with vegetables.

Enjoy!

My New Favorite Recipe

I'm not doing a ton of Christmas baking this year.  Which is kind of sad, because I love Christmas baking!  But it's just not practical to fill my kitchen with tons of goodies and sweets when there are only two of us who really eat sugar, and I don't want to totally overload our systems. :P
However, I did make these cookies the other day, and have completely fallen in love with a new twist on an old family recipe.


Chocolate dipped shortbread = hello, yumminess! :)


The original recipe: (stolen, very recently from my sister's blog.)


Melting Moments Shortbread

1/2 c cornstarch            1 c. flour
1/2 c icing sugar           3/4 c butter
Mix together, form into balls, flatten if desired.  Bake at 350 for 10 minute or until just golden brown.  


The Twist:
Melt about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate (I used Bernard Callebaut dark chocolate chunks) along with about 1/3 cup of milk.  Stir until smooth.  Dip cooled shortbread cookies into the chocolate and place on wax paper.  Let cool in the fridge until the chocolate is hardened.  


Warning: These are very addictive, proceed with caution. :P

Photo Memories....

A few weeks ago, our whole family met in Canmore for a weekend get-away together.  It was such a fun time of relaxing, having fun, and just being together all as a family!  Our first day together, we went for a hike in some of the nearby trails, so much fun!

Ian did so well, he really loves being outdoors!

Everything was just beginning to thaw out, so I got to drink from a mountain stream while hiking ...... so good! :)

Okay, this was seriously the best caramel apple I've ever had!  And not just because it was covered in amazing chewy caramel and m&m's either!  The apple was pretty good too. :)

Merry Christmas!

I love Christmas! I love all of our special Christmas traditions, and how they've changed and grown in number over the years! I love how Christmas is still Christmas, in spite of the huge changes that have taken place in our family over the past few years. It's all still special, and traditions have even more meaning now than they did ten years ago.
I still got that thrill of coming up the stairs to the Christmas tree, all decked out with lights and ornaments, surrounded by piles of presents, gift bags on the stairs, 15 to be exact. (to be used in place of stockings, until we get those!) I love eating our Christmas oranges, drinking hot chocolate, while Dad reads the Christmas story.
It was so special to be home for Christmas, and to be with Stephen, and to have Ian! I think he quite enjoyed his first Christmas, in spite of sleeping through the last half of opening presents. (one of the perks of being his mom is that I get to open twice as many gifts! :P)
We had the most amazing breakfast, and have been spending the day so far relaxing, playing games, reading, sleeping, talking, laughing, listening to music....I love Christmas day!
I was incredibly blessed this year by so many fantastic gifts! I had so much fun watching people open the gifts I had picked out as well, there's such a thrill in knowing that you've gotten someone something that you know they'll love!
It's been so special to have this week with my family to truly relax and enjoy time with them. Our life has been so busy lately with some big changes coming up - more on those later - so it's been extra special to have this time!