a few recipes

This holiday season I have been oober proud of myself! I have actually went to the grocery store ON MY OWN, baked and cooked!
For me going to the grocery store was huge.....anxiety and panic. I used- to hate to have anything with the shopping & preparation of food and only consume until now. Does this mean I have on my big girl thong....?!!! I believe I do! I actually like trying new recipes ( okay.... 5 ingredients or less), going to the grocery store and cooking. Maybe because consuming isn't that important to me these days and I am becoming a bit of a health nut....

I am jotting down some of my favorite recipes I have made this Thanksgiving & Christmas:

Eggless Sweet Potato Casserole

I had to double the recipe for my family

*marshmallows are excellent on top of the crust topping too :)



6 sweet potato—cooked peeled & mashed (3-15oz cans)

¼ cup evaporated milk

¼ cup orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup white sugar

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon



1/3 cup butter, melted

¾ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup all purpose flour

¾ cup chopped pecans



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one 2 Quart casserole dish and set aside

2. Blend together the sweet potatoes, evaporated milk, orange juice, vanilla, sugar, salt, 3 tablespoons butter, nutmeg and cinnamon. Pour into prepared dish

3. Prepare the topping my mixing together the 1/3 cup butter, brown sugar, flour and pecans. Sprinkle over casserole and bake for 45 minutes or until hot


MAGIC COOKIE BARS

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 vanilla wafers
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
small bag of white chocolate chips
3 1/2 ounces coconut flakes


Preheat oven to 350 F. (325 F. for glass dish.) In 13x9-inch baking pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle crumbs over butter; pour condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top evenly with remaining ingredients; press down firmly. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool thoroughly before cutting. Store loosely covered at room temperature.
Makes 24 bars.

Serving Size: 12.

it's beginning to look a lot like....

This has started off to be a wonderful Holiday season! I have almost all of my shopping complete and it's the second week of December! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with such yummy food topped with the best family in the world. Maci was too busy playing to enjoy all the yummies; but I sure did splurge way beyond what my tummy can handle.

The weekend before T-giving we went with Patrick's Mom and sister to eat on the seawall and then to Moody Gardens. We had a great time looking at the aquarium and the festival of lights ( which was very disappointing....). Glad we go to spend time with them, It was much needed!

The next weekend, Patrick and I took Mace to Santa's Wonderland along with Tiff and Chris and the grannies ( LOL- lolli and Nana, Aunt Stpeh) This place is AH-mazing & well worth the drive! The hay ride and lights are such a sight for kids of ALL ages and the little town has so much to choose from; including snow, marshmellow roasting, specialty foods & hot drinks. This will def. be a yearly tradition for our little family!

We attended our first Christmas party this past Saturday which is all of my mom's side of the family. Cousins of all ages gather! We have great food & play the stealing white elephant game. Maci has tons of cousin's her age to play with so of course she play 90-to- nothing and is crashed by the time I put her in the car to go home. It's great to get to see some of my cousins I don' t see on a monthly basis.

I was thinking how blessed we are to have such a wonderful family. A few people I work with have no one. That must be so sad at this time of year. I love being with our family, God has truly blessed us with health and happiness.

I will have lots more to post because we have lots more parties and events to attend all month.....I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!