Just sharing some Christmas things I have been been busy with the last few days….More to come! Lots more!

It’s only the first part of December and I am busy, busy. I love holiday baking. Today I spent the day with some good friends, baking shortbread. We each made different kinds, and had a blast. Cookie pans, sugar, chocolate chips, cranberries and flour everywhere. Even with our aprons on, we were a mess and we were wearing our flour very well. When we finally stopped to go have lunch, we did a “flour” check of each other, at the door of the restaurant! hahaha. Shortbread is fun to make. It’s easy, delicious and you can add so many different things to it….cranberries, chocolate chips, orange or lemon zest, nuts, toffee bits, peppermint…….SO many options! You can even dip one side in chocolate. Today, I made dried cherries and chopped chocolate. Mm-mmm-mm-m. Just melts in your mouth. In my recipe index, you will find a recipe for my basic shortbread with dried cranberries and orange zest added. Todays post is the chocolate dried cherry. Makes a nice little gift for your friends!  Merry Baking!!

Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

3 sticks of butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 cup flour
dash of salt
1/2 cup of dried cherries (chopped)
1/4 cup of semi sweet chocolate (chopped)

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together till fluffy. Add the flour and salt and beat only until combined. Stir in the chocolate and cherries. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Remove from plastic, roll into a 1/2″ thickness. Cut into desired shapes. I use a round fluted edged cookie cutter. Place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for approx. 20 minutes, depending on your oven. Mine cooks really hot so I bake for 15 minutes. Just give them a gentle touch…they should slightly indent and not be real brown. Allow to cool on the sheet. Makes about 20 -24 cookies.

Finally we got rain in the San Diego area.Sadly, it has already left us. But while it rained, I thought it was the perfect time to cook a roast beef. I love roast beef prepared in the crock pot on a rainy day. It just comes out so perfect…..tender, juicy and delicious. I threw in some fresh thyme and half of an onion and the aroma was wonderful and warm. You can throw in some veggies, or pretty much anything you want. So simple. I made mashed potatoes and some stir fried kale and it was a perfect meal. Of course leftover roast beef makes great tacos, or sandwiches too! So, get out your crock pot and start cooking! YUM

smothered in mushrooms……………

Crocked Roast Beef

2 lb chuck roast
1 small onion
sprig of fresh thyme
2 fresh garlic cloves
salt and lots of black pepper
1 lb of fresh crimini mushrooms, sliced

Put everything in the crockpot. Turn it on low for 6 hours, or high for 4 hours. You can throw in some big chunks of potatoes or carrots too. No need to add liquid, as you will get plenty of juice.

Stir fried Kale

1 bunch of fresh kale
olive oil
salt and pepper

Drizzle some oil in a frying pan. Add kale and stir fry until tender. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve.

Mashed Potatoes

oh come on now….you know how to make mashed potatoes…..right?  🙂

Well, I broke out the Christmas decorations, put up my tree and did a couple of crafty Christmas things today. I am in the holiday spirit. One of the projects I made is a candy cane vase. Super simple and adorable. All you need is a cylinder type vase or jar…..or even a can…..a couple of rubber bands and some candy canes…….oh, and ribbon. You just gotta make one. Im not sure what I am going to fill mine with yet…maybe some pinery and red carnations. Hmmmm…

Put 2 rubberbands around your vase, and start putting your candy canes under the rubberbands, against the vase.

Continue with the candy canes, all the way around, butting the candy canes close together.

Tie a wide ribbon (covering the rubberbands) around the vase. That’s it!! I need to change the bow to a red bow. Not liking the white.

You can do a search for candy cane vases, on line to get some ideas on different uses for the vase. Have fun!

I just painted the last of the Thanksgiving cookies…..turkeys and fall leaves. Tonight, I passed out some turkey cookies to a bunch of my neighbors. They are a bunch of elderly ladies that are a kick. They are often gathered outside when I get home from work, sharing the latest gossip. So cute. The way they just giggled and lit up when I gave them cookies, just touched my heart. Then I took some to the local coffee shop and you would have thought that I gave them a million bucks. One young gal came out from behind the counter and gave me a big hug! I passed some out at my favorite restaurant too and the servers were so excited. I love painting cookies and passing them out. A simple little cookie just brings out the biggest smile. I love that.
Anyway, just sharing some of the cookies I have been painting this week.