The Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes, Day 11: Simple Apple Crisp

I love apple crisp when the weather cools in the fall.  It makes a great comfort dessert all winter long, too, and I love to eat a warm bowl of crisp on a cold snowy day.  The smell of the apples and cinnamon make the house smell wonderful and homey.  With such an easy recipe, and all of the ingredients most likely already in your pantry, how can you not treat yourself?  Soooo good!

Day 11: Simple Apple Crisp

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C flour
1 1/2 C oatmeal
1 1/2 C sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon (or to taste)
1 tsp baking soda
1 C butter or margarine
2 cans of favorite apple pie filling

Directions:
Grease or butter sides and bottom of 9x13 pan.  Preheat oven to 350*.  In one bowl, empty cans of pie filling.  Add cinnamon and sugar to taste if desired, mix well and set aside.  In separate large bowl, melt butter.  Add flour, oatmeal, sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda, and mix until crumbly.  Pour apple filling into greased pan, and spoon crumbly mixture over top until apples are covered.  Bake at 350* for 40 mins. or until golden brown and center is bubbly.  Keep refrigerated.

Just one more day of The Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes!  Where has December gone?  

Luke 2:17-18: When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

The Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes, Day 10: Snickerdoodles

These are a great cookie all year 'round, not just at Christmas.  They are one of my husband's favorite cookies, and around Christmastime, I color granulated sugar with red and green food coloring for a festive embellishment.  This recipe can also be found at Food.com.

Day 10: Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.  Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, tablespoon of cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl.  Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.  Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.  Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl (if you want colored sugar, add a few drops of green or red food coloring to the sugar mixture and mix until the color is evenly distributed).  Scoop 1 inch balls of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture (use a cookie scoop, if you have one).  Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.  Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment, and bake 10 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheet for two minutes, then remove.

Luke 2:16: So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
 

The Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes, Day 9: Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

Howdy!  We're truckin' right along through the Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes.  Hard to believe how close Christmas is!  Won't be long before we're all counting the days until warmer weather and spring showers.  Until then, here is a recipe found on The Pioneer Woman website.  It's so simple--just throw a few ingredients together and stick it in the stove for about six hours.  Think of what you can get done in those six hours while it's cooking...gift wrapping...cleaning...more cooking...hiding from the guests with a glass of wine and your IPod...This is a great recipe for pulled pork, and really, if you need a break from Christmas turkey, this would be a great substitute to serve to your holiday guests!

Day 9: Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

1 whole large onion
1 whole pork shoulder (aka pork butt), 5-7 lbs, bone in
Salt and pepper
1 can, 11oz, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I don't like really spicy stuff, so I use a 7 oz. can)
2 cans Dr. Pepper
2 tbsp. brown sugar

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Peel the onion and cut it into wedges, and spread the wedges across the bottom of a large roasting pan or dutch oven.  Salt and pepper the pork, rubbing the seasoning into the meat with your hands.  Pour the entire can of peppers (sauce and all) over the top of the meat and into the pan.  Pour in the Dr. Peppers and stir in the brown sugar.  Place the lid on top of the pot and place in the oven.  Cook for at least six hours, turning the meat over a few times during cooking.  After six hours, remove meat from oven and test with a fork--if the meat pulls apart easily with the fork, then it's done.  If it doesn't, place the meat back in the oven and cook for another hour.  Once the meat is cooked and falling off of the bone, remove the meat from the pan and begin to pull apart with forks.  Discard juice, onions and fat pieces.  This makes a ton of pulled pork, and it tastes incredible!!

To see the original post of this recipe, click here.

Luke 2:15: When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes, Day 8: Chocolate Fudge

A common treat for us around Christmastime is chocolate fudge.  This is the Carnation fudge recipe, with a link at the end with more detailed instructions, which I found online (thank you YouTube and Alton Brown of Good Eats, whose explanation of fudgemaking changed my life).  This is a little different than regular fudge, but is still sooo tasty and very easy--with all of your ingredients measured out and ready to go, this will only take about 15 minutes to make!

Day 8: Carnation Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C white sugar
2 TBSP Butter
2/3 C evaporated milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 C mini marshmallows
Walnuts or pecans (optional)

Bring first 4 ingredients to a simmer over medium heat.  Simmer for 5 minutes (set a timer) and stir occasionally.  Turn off heat and remove from burner after 5 minutes.  Stir vanilla into hot mixture and combine.  Add marshmallows and chocolate chips, and stir until smooth.  Pour into an 8x8 or 9x9 pan lined with foil.  Tap against counter to settle and pop air bubbles.  Allow to sit on counter until chocolate stops steaming, then place plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.  When ready to cut, use foil to lift chocolate out of pan and flip onto a cutting board.  Cut with a long sharp knife, and wipe blade with a wet towel between each cut.



To see the original post with step-by-step instructions and photos, click this link: Monday, August 20, 2012

Luke 2:13-14: Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes, Day 7: An Ornament Pattern!

I thought I'd do something a little different today for the TDoCR.  I like to do little crafty things, and I created some patterns for cloth Christmas ornaments.  Here are a few patterns for you to make!

Day 7: Primitive Ornament Patterns

Materials needed:
1/2 yard osnaburg fabric or burlap fabric
Embroidery thread, colors of your choice
Needle
Straight pins
Poly-fil fiber fill, or similar
10" length of coordinating narrow ribbon

What to do:

Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to link the picture to the PDF file, so just right click on the picture and save it, and print it at your leisure!  To get the scale I used, the gray area should take up the whole 8 1/2" x 11" paper.  Sorry about that; I had good intentions!  There are times that I wish I knew someone who could help me with HTML code.  I have to try and figure it out on my own when I want to do something.  But I digress.  

The tree is cut on a fold, and you will need to cut two of them.  You will also need two of the bird.

I'll walk you through the steps for the bird.  First, sew a face and wing on the front of the bird.  Do what you like, make him as fancy or primitive as you like!  Then sew your length of ribbon on the back piece.  I recommend completely hand-sewing the pieces to give them more of a homespun look.

Next, pin the front and back pieces together, right sides out.  Sew a running stitch around the entire bird, leaving 1"-2" open to stuff the bird lightly with fiberfil.  Then go ahead and sew him closed.  That's it!

Do the same with the tree.  You can embellish it as little or as much as you like; it all depends on your taste.

I think that these would be simple ornaments to make with your child if you are trying to teach them to sew.  You can use embroidery or regular sewing techniques to create them!

I do ask that you please only use these patterns for your home.  Please do not use these patterns for resale.  Thank you!

This is a great project to do while watching Christmas shows.  You'll see that my stuffed Rudolph was watching "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" while I wrote this post.  He likes to call it his autobiography. 

Luke 2:12: This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”



 

Twelve Days of Christmas, Day 6: Homemade Beef Stew

We love comfort food in the winter.  I found a recipe from Paula Deen online a while ago, and adapted that recipe for our tastes.  This recipe works for venison, too, which is a rare but welcome treat in our house. So, without further ado, I give you...
Day 6: Homemade Beef Stew
Ingredients:

We used venison in this pot

2 pounds cubed trimmed sirloin (or venison)

2 TBSP olive oil

2 C water

3 TBSP beef base (bouillon cubes can be subbed)

1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

Garlic powder

Crushed dried bay leaves

Onion powder

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Dash of ground allspice or ground cloves

3 large carrots, sliced

3 ribs chopped celery

3 medium red potatoes, cubed

2 TBSP cornstarch

Directions:

Heat olive oil in stock pot.  Add meat, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (all to taste) and mix together.  Brown meat.  While meat is cooking, mix water and bouillon powder together well.  Add water mix to browned beef, and add Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, onion powder, paprika, and allspice to mix (again, to taste).  Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1-1/2 hours.  Add more water as necessary.  Add veggies, simmer another 45 minutes or until veggies are tender and potatoes can be pierced with a fork.  In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup of cold water with 2 TBSP cornstarch until dissolved.  Scoop a small amount of hot liquid from the pot and stir it into the cornstarch, then add mixture to the stew.  Allow to simmer until desired thickness. 

Luke 2:10-11: But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.