Christmas Cookie Cut-out's

Last Wednesday, we invited our neighbors, Grace and Spencer, up to decorate cut out cookies. Grace and Spencer twins also and are 5 weeks younger than we are, so we all get along really good.

Here are some pictures of the fun.
Cody decorating a gingerbread man.


Chase decorating his gingerbread man.


Chase and Cody decorating!

The finished result of very colorful decorated cookies.

I think Santa is really going to like these cookies!

Aren't they beautiful...enjoy Santa!

Mystery Spice Monday

Amy over at The A to Z Twins hosts Mystery Spice Monday's, so I thought I would join in.

This week I am featuring -- Nutmeg.

This weekend for our brunch on Mother's Day, it turned out very good.

Hash Brown Casserole
Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
1 small yellow onion, chopped
4 cups frozen shredded hash browns
1 pound bulk sausage, mild, hot or sage
2 1/4 cups whole milk
8 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
8 cups cubed French or Italian bread, crusts removed
2 cups (1/2 pound) grated Cheddar
2 cups (1/2 pound) freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a deep 13 by 9-inch casserole dish with vegetable oil cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onion and saute over medium-low heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the hash browns and break apart. Saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
In a second frying pan, saute the sausage, breaking apart large clumps. When the sausage is cooked through, remove it from pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the milk, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg and mustard, briskly to blend.

To assemble, spread the onions and hash browns evenly at the bottom of the greased dish. Place the bread cubes evenly on top of hash browns. With a slotted spoon distribute sausage as the third layer. Pour the milk and egg mixture over these layers. Add Parmesan as the next layer, while then adding the Cheddar.

*Cook's Note: Save a few tablespoons of Cheddar for the last 10 minutes of baking, where you can add a fresh topping of melted Cheddar.

Bake the casserole, uncovered for 45 to 50 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.

Sunday's Brunch Menu

Tomorrow we are hosting brunch for 3 mothers in our lives. This is our 2nd annual brunch for Mother's Day at our house. Everyone enjoys a pleasant day. Here is what I will be making for brunch:

Scrambled Eggs
Bacon
Breakfast Casserole
Hash Brown Casserole
Syrup Banana-Nut Overnight French Toast

For Dessert:

Pastel Petites Cakes
Chocolate Dip Strawberries
Mocha Raspberry Decadence Cake

I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day!

Menu Planning Monday

Last week went good. We didn't have the steak on Friday and instead ordered pizza. We did have the steak on Saturday though.

So this week:

Monday: Meatloaf and potatoes
Tuesday: Stew meat over noodles
Wednesday: We will be in the desert - and we are doing a potluck. I am bringing the carne asada.
Thursday: BBQ Chicken and Rice
Friday: Tri-Tip and Corn
Saturday: Hamburgers/Hot Dogs and Baked Beans
Sunday: Mexican

Menu Plan Monday

I thought I would join Sara at Twice is Nice and plan my food menu for this week. How simple is that - especially this week since it is a short week of cooking at what not with Christmas in there.

I have made a very easy food week.

Tonight: Campbell's Supper Bakes Herb Chicken

Tuesday: Roast in the Crockpot with Potatoes (Something we have every week or just about)

Wednesday: Having dinner at Steve's parents house for Christmas Eve.

Thursday: Again having dinner at Steve's parents house for Christmas.

Friday: Steak

Saturday: Hamburgers

Sunday: Mexican Food!!

I will let you know next week how this goes and how will I stick to the menu.

Have a great Christmas!

Making a Cake

On Friday evening, the boys and I made a cake for Grandpa Dennis' birthday on Saturday. We had fun licking the spoon and eating the cake batter.

I made a ice cream cake with ice cream sandwiches, oreo cookies, hot fudge, pudding and whip cream. It was such a good cake. The boys loved the cookies, pudding and whip cream mix as you can see from the pictures.

The Reciepe:

1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
8 OREO Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)
12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches, unwrapped

How to Make It
POUR fudge topping into medium bowl. Add 1 cup of the whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies; set aside.
ARRANGE 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half of the whipped topping mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost top and sides of dessert with remaining whipped topping. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.
FREEZE at least 4 hours before serving. Store leftover dessert in freezer.

It was so good. Great and easy receipe!

Crock Pot Cooking

I should be called the Queen of the Crock Pot!

I do a lot of dinners in my crock pot and I have even done a breakfast casserole in it, it turned out delicious too!!

Tuesday night we had a very good beef stew. I hadn't used the recipe before and so I would try something new. The recipe is out of of the Fix it and Forget it Cookbook - by Dawn Ranck

I used stew meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, can of tomato soup, a can of water, a 1/2 cup of apple vinegar, and spices. I let it cook from 11am to when we ate at 6pm. It was very good.

I t was perfect on a day that had been raining and super cold (at least cold for us here in Southern California).

I am going to start adding some of my good recipes here.

It will also give me something else to post about!!