Holiday This And That

Hoping everyone's holiday celebrations are going well! Here are a few highlights of our Christmas:

*Santa was really good to Mason, wondering how much longer Santa is coming to our house, if you catch my drift....
*Jason got an awesome pair of jammies with Mario on them to go with his new 50 inch flat screen TV!
*I discovered the best recipe EVER (will share later)
*Mason got a harmonica (wow, thanks, Santa!!)
*We had plenty (too much) of snow to make driving hazardous!
*We gave a Snuggie
*We had the ugliest tree ever.
*The cats never bothered the tree once!

Christmas morning I had to wake Mason up at 8ish and he was thrilled to see all the presents under the tree. He really made out with video games, movies, books and all sorts of goodies! I made french toast for breakfast and we all just sat around and enjoyed the day off. Then we went over to my Mom and Dad's for some good food and to spend some quality time. I got a lot of new pans to cook in (because I do love to cook!), the old ones were, well, just getting too old. I did buy myself a cast iron skillet and wonder how on Earth I ever cooked without it. I just love it!

The recipe that is so delicious is called "Mushroom and Wild Rice Hotdish", if you like mushrooms you will love this recipe and if you love mushrooms, you will wonder how you've lived without this recipe! I fall somewhere in between. I scanned the recipe, so if you want to try it, just click on the picture and it will make it bigger. I was just too lazy to actually type it, since I can type about 7 words a minute! Here are some changes that I made:

*I didn't use lemon zest, because I don't like lemon zest, I did use the lemon juice, though.
*I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil.
*I used 1/2lb. sliced white button mushrooms and 1/2lb. sliced baby bellas (they are soooo good!)
*I strongly suggest using an organic or vegetarian cream of mushroom soup because Campbell's is just really gross! I used Amy's semi-condensed mushroom soup and it was delicious.
*I used regular sour cream.
*Panko breadcrumbs are good!
*You could use regular chicken if you are not a veggie, but the Quorn naked chicken breasts are really good and meat-free!
*I added a sprinkle (before baking) of Parmesan cheese and it really added a lot of flavor.
*I increased the rice to 1 cup.

I just put it all into my cast iron pan and let it get all warm and bubbly, served with some really good crusty garlic toast and was a wonderful meal! Can't wait to make it again. Let me know if you try it, it is really worth the time it takes to make.




Here's the recipe:


This and that:

While I was Christmas shopping at Target I found a red ceramic loaf pan on clearance for $2! I had to have it and I made a terrific banana-pecan loaf that goes great with tea! Yum.


Here is our Christmas tree before we brought the monster home:

Looks good there, but let me tell you, it didn't look good in our living room!! When you wait until 4 days before Christmas, that is the selection you get to choose from!

Trails falling asleep sitting up:


The harmonica:




Have a happy and safe New Year's!