Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas.
Dale Evans Rogers
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| Don't you love this turquoise wreath? |
I cannot believe Christmas is this weekend!!! Last week I got the stomach flu and was sick for a whole week! This made for absolutely no cooking during the week. (I think the husband was a little tired of canned chicken noodle soup for me and "fend for yourself" for him) However, my best friend is leaving to go to NYC and I had her Christmas party at my house on Friday night which meant I had to cook. I had decided to do "Caitlin's Favorite Things" for the menu and they turned out really well so I wanted to share... enjoy!
Caitlin loves coffee, good coffee, black
But she also loves good spiced coffee
Last week when I was laid up with the flu I watched a lot of food network and I saw someone mention that in order to make flavored coffee just add the flavoring to the coffee grounds! Sounds too easy right? But I decided to experiment and see what I came up with and it was fantastic, super simple and so much cheaper than buying a bag of regular and a bag of flavored. Perfect for these cold days!
Christmas Spice CoffeeIngredients:
For a 12 cup pot
11 Tablespoons of your favorite coffee (or 6 tablespoons of espresso powder)
2 TBSP cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
4 cloves
1 tsp allspice
mix all ingredients together and place in coffee holder of your maker
Add 12 cups of water and brew as usual (12 cups)
*this is a rather strong coffee so if you like weaker coffee reduce the coffee ground contents
Another item Caitlin specifically requested was mini quiches
Now I've never made quiche before in my life. My mom is an excellent cook but she never had any desire to make homemade quiches for the Christmas party, my mom just bought the box at Sam's and heated them up. However due to cost and because I'm an overachiever I wanted to make my own. So I scourged the internet for recipes and found this one that was surprisingly good.
Crescent Roll Mini Quiches
Ingredients:
2 cans (8 oz. each) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls (8 rolls each)
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1 box (9 oz.) frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed to drain
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz.)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 16 (2 3/4 x 1 1/4-inch) muffin cups with cooking spray.
Separate each can of crescent dough into 8 triangles. Press 1 triangle on bottom and up side of each muffin
In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in onion, spinach, salt and pepper until well mixed. Fold in cheese. Fill each cup to the top with egg mixture (do not overfill).
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean and edges of rolls are golden brown.
Remove from pan. Serve warm. cup.
2 cans (8 oz. each) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls (8 rolls each)
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)
1 box (9 oz.) frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed to drain
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz.)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 16 (2 3/4 x 1 1/4-inch) muffin cups with cooking spray.
Separate each can of crescent dough into 8 triangles. Press 1 triangle on bottom and up side of each muffin
In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in onion, spinach, salt and pepper until well mixed. Fold in cheese. Fill each cup to the top with egg mixture (do not overfill).
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean and edges of rolls are golden brown.
Remove from pan. Serve warm. cup.
Recipe Courtesy of Pillsbury and found here
The one dessert that Caitlin requested was a chocolate cake that I make but I didn't have any time to make that (it requires to sit out a day before serving) so I made these german chocolate cake truffles (don't worry they're super simple) instead. Everyone loved these and they were so easy!!!!
German Chocolate Cake Truffles
Ingredients:
1 box of German Chocolate Cake Mix
(ingredients for this cake - usually 1 egg, oil, water, but check your box)
1 container of coconut pecan frosting
1 bag of shredded coconut
2 bags of semi sweet chocolates
a little shorteningcook cake mix according to instructions in large pyrex pan
allow to cool (I allowed it to sit a couple hours while I was doing errands)In large bowl crumble cooked cake
heat frosting in microwave for 30 seconds
pour frosting into bowl with crumbled cake
mix together until the mixture resembles cookie dough (see picture to right)
scoop out and form into small balls
place in freezer and allow to harden for a few hours if possibles
in double boiler melt chocolate and a little bit of shortening
remove cake balls from freezer and dip in chocolate
sprinkle with coconut
serve! Or you can cover and store in refrigerator for a few days if you can resist!
Also in case you didn't already know I also have another blog (it is focused more on my passion for orphans) at www.challengeyourpath.blogspot.com
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