Happy Anniversary To Me

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday with lots of family, friends and good food. Ours was perfect and now we are celebrating our wedding anniversary. We are planning a nice evening with dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. My husband is a steak lover and I am crazy about the New Orleans style barbecue shrimp that they serve so it is easy for us to agree on it as a destination.

This time I plan to pay particular attention to the shrimp and see if I can copy the recipe. I have tried some of the copy cat recipes I have seen for it online but they were not right. I'll let you know when I come up with my version.

Fudge for the Holidays

As far as I'm concerned, it's not Christmas without fudge. Christmas is the only time of year that I allow myself to make it. Mainly because I love it and if it is in the house I will eat it until it is gone. I especially like it frozen. I'm not usually a fan of cold or frozen chocolate but frozen fudge really rocks my boat. LOL Here's my recipe. It's pretty much a never fail recipe.

Fudge

• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup small marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts are good
• 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spray an 8 inch square pan with oil or butter it. Place the milk and sugar in a large saucepan. Heat the fudge mixture to boiling and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Begin timing when the mixture begins to bubble around the edges. Being precise with the timing of this is important. Remove the pan from the heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir until the marshmallows and chocolate have melted. Pour into the square pan and allow to cool. Cut into squares.

Making Cookie Gift Baskets!

The holiday baking is in full swing here at my house. I've decided since we are trying to cut back a little on Christmas expenses to make some cookie gift baskets to give as gifts. They will probably be as well received and the expensive gifts we often buy. I know a few of the husband in particular will be thrilled to have homemade cookies to eat!

I'm good at the cookie baking part but I wasn't exactly sure how to put together a gift basket. I went looking online for help and came up with a great article. It is called How to Arrange Cookie Gift Baskets and it has step by step instructions. It looks pretty easy!

Energy For the Holidays

I used to drink protein shakes on a regular basis to help with my energy levels. It was very effective and I noticed a positive change in my energy. But flake that I am I have gradually let it fall by the wayside and I don't remember the last time I had one. And my energy levels are sagging.

I am going to get back to drinking them on a regular basis starting today. I prefer whey protein concentrate to other forms of protein powder. Not only does it taste the best in my opinion but much of the information I have seen says it is easily used by the body. I don't know much about the science aspect of it, I just know that whey isolate protein made a big difference in my energy levels.

Holiday Baking

I am starting to plan out my holiday baking for this year. There are a couple of standbys that I always make. If I didn't there would probably be an uprising in the family! The Graham Cracker Goodies I shared with you in my previous post are one of the must haves. Beyond those I like to rotate some other favorites and experiment with something different each year. The experimentation is how most of my old favorites joined the ranks of favorites to begin with. It's time to pull out the cookbooks and magazines and see what I can find!

Here's an Easy Holiday Cookie

This cookie is simple to make but not simple in appeal. I never fail to get raves from it. It is rich and buttery with a sort of toffee flavor. Nobody will guess how easy they were to make. I've been making them for years.

Graham Cracker Goodies

preheat oven to 350

1 sleeve of graham crackers (not cinnamon or any other flavored variety)

Break up the crackers and line them up closely on a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with sides. Set aside.

Bring the following to a boil and cook 2 minutes:

1 stick margarine (important to be margarine)
1 stick butter (important to be real butter)
1/2 cup sugar

Remove from heat and add:

1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped pecans or other nuts

Pour over crackers distributing nuts. Bake at 350 for approximately 10 minutes, they should be lightly browned. Remove to wax paper to cool.

Crock Pot Brisket

On days when I know I will not have time to cook, I like to throw something in the crock pot. It is so wonderful to walk into the kitchen and smell dinner already cooking.

My husband loves brisket. I found this recipe and it has become one of his favorites. It is very easy with only 4 ingredients in the basic recipe. While it is not part of the original, you can throw some carrots and potatoes in with the brisket and have a complete meal. I usually do that, fix a salad and we are ready for dinner.

Easy Crock Pot Brisket

2 to 3 pound brisket
12 oz. of Coke (regular, not diet)
1 bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce (sold near the Ketchup in the condiments section)
1 envelope of onion soup mix

Place everything in the crock pot. Add vegetables if you wish. Cook on high for 1 hour and then reduce to low if your cooker does this automatically for you. If not, you'll be fine on low as long as you are cooking it all day.