Pepper Paints

The Week Between 2010

Our Holiday was wonderful. Mostly because everyone was home and together for three whole days. That doesn’t seem to happen as much as kids get older and husbands work more!

Here are a few highlights of the weekend.

We always go to my Mom’s for Christmas eve. She cooks delicious things and makes everything pretty just for us! This year she surprised Ginger with a karaoke machine! And a Hannah Montana CD…. Oh boy! Does she LOVE it!

Molly asked “how early can we wake you up?” Joe told her 5 AM…guess what time she woke us?

We are pretty good about sticking to the kids lists. Buying them things they want and not as much stuff that I think they should have. Yet there are always a few surprises thrown in. This year I hit a home run with my surprise for Molly!!

Bento boxes for her and Ginger along with a Bento cookbook and all the little tools and treasures. The perfect gift for my little Martha in the making!

It didn’t matter that we just had a huge breakfast, she couldn’t wait to get to work making lunch!

One of our other Christmas traditions is Molly’s Christmas day cake. This year she made a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting from scratch. Look out Cake Boss!

I LOVE the week between Christmas and New Years. I feel like I can breath a sigh of relief and just enjoy. I wrote all about it last year too.

We are anxiously waiting for a friend to arrive in a few hours to stay with us for the week along with a cousin who will also be visiting. We are looking forward to some sledding today before the snow melts, a trip to the movies and the zoo to see holiday lights, sushi and chocolate fondue with friends. It will be a stay-cation around here and I am loving it!! Hope your week between is filled with more holiday joy!

Thursday’s Recipe … Overnight Coffee Cake

Years ago I followed a “large family blog”. Not that my family is all that large but she posted hints and tips and recipes. I used to half this recipe but with 2 working teen aged boys in my home these days–plus a zillion friends that seem to be here eating several days a week, a double recipe worked out just fine.

The Hoover at work!

Luckily there was still this pan full for the rest of us!

Overnight Coffee Cake

Beat the following until fluffy–

4 eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups coconut oil, 2 t vanilla  (I used 1/2 coconut oil and 1/2 butter)

Mix with a whisk–

6 cups pastry flour, 8 t baking powder, 2 t salt  ( I also added cinnamon)

Add dry alternately with 2 cups of milk or buttermilk (I used plain yogurt)

Pour into 2 oiled 9x 13 pans  (I used 1 9x 13 and 1 deep dish pie pan)

Lay fruit on top ( I used a  frozen berry mixture)

Topping– 1 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/3 c flour, 2t cinnamon, cut in enough butter to make it crumbly)

Put in fridge overnight

Bake 350 for 40 minutes

Thursday’s Recipe …. Raw Butternut Squash Rice

Isn’t this the most beautiful dish?? And it’s tasty too!

1 small butternut squash peeled and seeded and cut into 2 inch cubes

1/2 an onion

1 T cumin seeds **** see my senior moment note below

1 T corriander

1/2 cup cilantro

1 cup dry cranberries

1 cup crushed walnuts

salt

So I mixed up this wonderful mixture and ate it. And it was really good. BUT because I just copied the ingredients from the Crunchy Bits (Fall Harvest Squash Rice) post and didn’t pay attention to the fact that it called for cumin seeds –mine did taste a bit dusty! -and that she also put her squash in the food processor! As you can see-I did not. But still it was good. I did think it needed something wet with it or on it. I bet processing the squash made it more moist. Today I may add some cut up apple or an orange to my bowl full. Mmmmm (also I skipped the walnuts because we are sensitive to them)

Either way–a beautiful dish to eat!

Dried Bean Pictures

I see 15 bean soup made with the left over art supplies in our future!

Thursday’s Recipe … A Bread Wreath

The basic dough recipe makes 4 loaves

It is a sweet  and tasty dough

In a large bowl mix the following together:

2 cups luke warm water

1 1/2 T yeast

3 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup melted butter or oil

Add:

6 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

Cover loosely and let rise about 2 hrs

At this point divide dough into 4 balls—freeze (up to 1 month) or refrigerate (up to 5 days) unused portions

Cloak dough and form a ball. Poke hole in center with thumbs and stretch about an 8 inch circle in center

Place on parchment on cookie sheet, cover loosely about 25 mins.

Heat oven to 350

With scissors, cut slightly angled, horizontal cuts almost all the way through the bread. Spread pieces out. You can brush the top with an egg wash and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.

Bake about 35 minutes.

I have three more loaves I turn into tasty bread wreaths —- I might just use them to impress my family and friends with on my Thanksgiving table!!

This was yet another idea/recipe from Family Fun!

Thursday’s Recipe … Mini Stuffed Leaf Pies

You start with pie crust for these and because I don’t make pie crust I bought some from the refrigerated section of my grocery. That right there makes this recipe a little easier to tackle!

Roll out pie crust on a floured surface. You have to roll these rather thin.  Use leaf shape cutters to cut out leaf pairs.

Fill one side of your leaves with any of the following: chocolate chips, marshmallows, peanut butter, nuts, cream cheese and jam or a combination of any of these.

Brush the edges of the leaves that hold the stuffing with an egg wash (1 egg scrambled with 1 teaspoon of water). Put matching leaf cover on top and pinch the edges together–like a pie crust.

Brush the egg wash on the tops of each mini pie and sprinkle with colored sugar and regular sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes or until edges are brown.

It  is hard to tell what is hiding inside each little pie so if some little people … I am not naming names…. have an issue with some of the contents of the leaves you may want to use certain shapes for certain inards …. or risk most of the little pies either torn in half or left with bites taken out of them to see if they picked the right one! Or maybe that’s just my picky family.

Thursday’s Recipe – Pumpkin Smoothie

From Better Homes and Gardens (who gave no specific ingredient amounts in their recipe!)

Pumpkin Smoothie

In a blender mix together 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin with vanilla yogurt (I added more for sweetness), a banana (I added 1 1/2 bananas), a spoonful of peanut butter (I used a small spoonful), a handful of ice cubes and some milk to thin.