Merry Christmas

Between baking, shopping, and holiday dinners, I will be very busy between now and Christmas, so I want to take this time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I'll be back after Christmas with some ideas on what to do with all the leftovers.

Running out of Time

I usually don't procrastinate with my baking for Christmas, but I have done that this year. I haven't baked anything yet and I'm running out of time. Normally, I have a full day of baking Christmas cookies with my daughter, but this year we just haven't had time.

With the prediction of snow for the weekend, I spent Friday searching the Internet for some new holiday cookie recipes. I found a few good ones, especially on the Betty Crocker site, my personal favorite, and also on Christmas-Cookies.com

We did get our snow and since the roads are slick, I believe we will be staying home and baking today. After looking at all the recipes, I think we'll stick with the cookies we usually make, Old Fashion Soft Sugar Cookies and Spritz's. Of course, there's always next weekend to make more.

Old Fashion Soft Sugar Cookies

6 C. flour
3 C. confectioner's sugar
1 t. salt
2 t. baking soda
1 C. margarine
2 C. sugar
2 eggs
3 t. vanilla
1 C. sour cream

Sift flour, confectioner's sugar, soda, and salt into a bowl; set aside. Mix together sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Add the sour cream, then gradually add the flour mixture until all is mixed well. It will make a very thick dough. Roll out onto a flour surface and cut with cookie cutters. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees F. Let cool and then spread on frosting and decorate.

Spritz's

2/3 C. sugar
1 C. butter
1 egg
1/2 t. salt
2 t. vanilla
2 1/4 C. flour

Preheat over to 400 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, butter, egg, salt, and vanilla. Beat for about 2-3 minutes until mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and mix for another 2 - 3 minutes or until well mixed. Place dough into a cookie press. Place cookies about 1 inch apart on cookie sheets and bake for 6 - 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Happy baking,

Carol

Christmas Shopping

With only a few weekends left for Christmas shopping, every minute counts. If you're like me, you want to get to the sales as quickly as you can and spending time fixing breakfast in the morning can take up valuable shopping time. My solution for this is to fix breakfast the night before in your slow cooker. When you get up the next morning, the smell of a hot breakfast awaits you. What makes the morning even better if you have one of those coffee makers with a timer so hot coffee is ready at the same time.

One of the best things about cooking with slow cookers, also known as a Crock Pot, is that they retain the heat for quite awhile after being turned off. So, no matter when your family members get out of bed in the morning, a hot breakfast is waiting for them.

Below is one of my favorite slow cooker recipes for breakfast.


Sausage and Egg Casserole

1 dozen eggs
14 slices of bread
2 1/4 cups milk
2 1/2 cups grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1 lb. sausage, fried and drained
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper

Spray inside of crock with cooking spray. Layer the following inside the crock in order: bread, sausage, cheese, and ending with a cheese layer. Beat eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together and pour over the entire mixture. Cover and cook on low for 8-12 hours.


Of course, if you would rather use your slow cooker for your dinner meal, all you need to do is chose your recipe, fill the crock, and turn it on before you leave for the mall. When you get home tired from a full day of shopping, dinner is ready.

For more of my Crock Pot recipes, you can purchase "Carol's Crock Pot Classics," an e-book with 19 of my best slow cooker recipes, at
http://www.geocities.com/prepublish/pages/cookbook.html

Foodie BlogRoll

I am pleased to announce that Carol's Food Bites is now a member of the Foodie BlogRoll. If you look at the right side of the page, you will find dozens and dozens of blogs related to food. I highly recommend checking some of them out for some great recipes.

Carol

Kitchen Gifts

Christmas will be here before we know it and it's always been a tradition for me to give gifts from my kitchen each year to family and friends. My favorite things to put together are jar mixes. The idea first came to me years ago when I saw a recipe for Brownies-in-a-jar in a magazine. After that, each year I came up with a new jar mix to give. In the past, I have given soup mixes, cookie mixes, trail mix, and my favorite, home made hot chocolate mix that I have to my co-workers a few years ago. I even get asked each Christmas for more of that one.

Presentation is important. I like putting together gifts baskets with the jar mix being the focal point of the basket. One year, I have a basket with M&M Cookie Mix in a jar, an oven mitt, and a box of herbal tea with a cup. I also always cut a circle from holiday fabric with pinking shears to put under the ring of the jar to make it a little more colorful.

Most mixes work best in a quart size canning jar, but depending on the mix, smaller jars might work better. For instance, this year I will be making a flavored coffee creamer for someone and I will put that in a small bottle that I found at the Dollar Tree store. I stored the hot chocolate mix in a small canister type jar I found at Big Lots. I made a card on the computer with mixing instructions and attached it to the jar with a pretty ribbon.

In addition to the coffee creamer, I am mixing up something new for Christmas this year. What is it? Well, that's going to have to wait because I don't want my family and friends reading about their gift on here ahead of time.

Below is the recipe for my hot chocolate mix that everyone loved. It makes a very large batch to divide into several jars. Attach a bag of mini marshmallows and it makes a great gift. Happy Holidays.

Hot Chocolate Mix

8-quart box of powdered milk
1 15 oz. can chocolate milk mix
1 6 oz. jar plain coffee creamer
2 cups powdered sugar
1 bag mini marshmallows

Mix the first four ingredients together in a large bowl and store in individual jars. Attach a small bag of mini marshmallows and a card with the following instructions: Add 4 1/2 tablespoons of mix to a mug of hot water and enjoy.

"A Kitchen Affair"

Below is an excerpt from the novel that I am working on. It's a contemporary romance about a culinary student who becomes a personal chef to a local millionaire. Well, you can imagine all the things that get "cooked up" in the kitchen. At the bottom, I have put my recipe for the cheesecake mention in the dialogue.

     Derek looked over the list of food ideas and immediately made a comment. "I don't need the pies. I bought them today, remember?"
     "Okay, I'll mark off the pies." Jenny wrote that down on a pad of paper.
     He continued to study the menu. She liked the way he concentrated on it, taking an interest in what would be served.
     "I like the rest of it. It's a traditional Thanksgiving dinner."
     "May I make one suggestion?" she asked.
     "Of course."
     "I think you need another dessert in addition to the pumpkin pies."
     "Why do you think that?"
     "It gives your guests an option, especially if they don't like pie."
     "And, I suppose you have something else in mind?" he asked.
     "I make a wonderful Toffee Cheesecake and have never had any complaints on it."
     She saw his eyes light up. "That does sound good. Okay, add that to the menu."
     "Great. Now, how many guests will be coming?"
     "It will be my executive staff and their wives or girlfriends. Nineteen will be coming?"
     "Nineteen? Is someone not bringing date?"
     After a brief hesitation, Derek answered her question. "That would be me."
     "Oh." She felt her face flush with embarrassment and changed the subject. "Did your cook purchase the turkeys before she left?"

Toffee Cheesecake

Crust
1 3/4 C. graham cracker crumbs
1/3 C. melted butter
1/4 C. sugar

Mix together and press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

Filling
3 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, soften to room temperature
1 3-oz. pkg. cream cheese, soften to room temperature
1 1/4 C. sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
6 eggs
3 Heath Candy Bars, chopped into small pieces

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well and pour over crust. Drop the candy bar pieces over the top of the mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes.

Hot Apple Cider

November is a very busy month for me. My day job is always non-stop during this month, there are a lot of holidays to deal with, and NaNoWriMo is this month. That's National Novel Writing Month and I always participate in order to kick off a new manuscipt. This year's NaNo novel will be related to food. I'm writing a romance story about a Personal Chef who meets the man of her dreams. Of course, the manuscript will be full of food and as soon as I can come up with the menus that my chef will be cooking up, I'll post some recipes and maybe even some excerpts.

For now, how about my favorite hot cider recipe? I will definitely be using this one in the book.

Hot Apple Cider

1/2 gallon apple cider
1 C. orange joice
1 C. cranberry juice
12 oz. apricot nectar
1 C. sugar
cinnamin sticks

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a crock pot. Heat to desired temperature and serve.