Thanksgiving!

A good time was had by all! We had a great Thanksgiving hosting 16 for dinner! It's always tradition as we gather and hold hands to say dinner prayer that everyone breaks into "Yahooo Doree" from The Grinch t.v. special where they all gather and hold hands and sing! haha We think we are pretty funny!! We had lots of good food, many things to go around the table and be thankful for......many gave thanks to the Lord for how good he has been to them! We had a ball having our cousins spend 4 days with us, minus a bathroom flood and an emergency call for the plumber to come! haha We are truly blessed to have such a close family to spend the holidays with! Notice all the yummy food......nothing like that first bite on Thanksgiving day!! My dad made mention after dinner he wished he had worn his "big stretchy pants!" ha I hope you all had as wonderful of a time as we did!

I couldn't WAIT to start officially playing Christmas music today (as if I haven't been for a month now, but at least no one can say I'm crazy anymore!) I hope you all enjoy these next few weeks decorating and gathering close!!!

Operation Christmas Child

Thought I would update our Operation Christmas child shoe boxes numbers. Sunday we delivered just over 300 shoe boxes to the drop off place to be taken to the sorting center. We are so excited we had such a great turn out. Knowing here are 300 kids who will have their own little "treasure" box from our community is so great!

God really laid it on people's hearts to give. We had some families this yr. give up to 6 boxes and many paid shipping for all of those and even more! Thanks go everyone who helped load, and to all those who took time to make such a small gift so important!! Please pray for all these children that will receive these boxes that they would see Jesus' love for them!

Chicken!

Easy Chicken Parmesan

3 large chicken breast, (place in a freezer Ziploc bag and pound thin with a mallet or a soup can)

Mix 1 C. Bread crumbs with 1/4 cup Olive Oil and stir together with a fork, it will get very moist, add 1/2 ts. garlic or 1 clove fresh diced garlic, 1/2 ts. salt, dash pepper, 1 ts. oregano or Italian seasoning and stir together with fork (double if you use more chicken pcs.)

Place 2 T. of olive oil in non stick skillet and heat to med., I use an electric skillet usually.

Dredge chicken in bread crumb mixture, coating generously and place in hot skillet. Cook until golden on one side and flip. Cook until golden brown about 10 mins. total or 160*.

Top chicken in skillet with a few Tbs. of Spaghetti sauce and sprinkle that with mozzarella cheese, cover skillet for about 2-3 min. until cheese is melted. Serve with Linguine, sauce and fresh veggies! This serves our family of 5 with some leftovers believe it or not!

You can also do all these steps and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15-20 mins.(maybe a bit longer, the thinner you pound the chicken the faster it cooks, but if you do more than 3 pcs. it may take 1/2 hr. or more) and then turn it to broil to melt cheese but keep an eye on it so you don't burn it!

Mashed potatoes!

I came across a recipe for make ahead mashed potatoes that you make one day and bake the next and they "should" turn out to taste like fabulous creamy fresh made mashed potatoes! Well they did, even better I thought! ha An easy idea for the day BEFORE Thanksgiving!

5 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled (or any potato you like, but these are really yummy and pretty!)

Boil your potatoes in salted water as usual for mashed potatoes.

Mash your potatoes with 1/2 stick butter, 1/4 C. milk (or cream) and 1/2 an 8 oz. bar of cream cheese (I use 1/3 less fat cream cheese, hee) and salt and pepper. Pour into a sprayed casserole dish (around a 9 x 13 size) top with 2 T. butter cut up into thin slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate.

Let the dish sit out on the counter for about 15 mins. and then bake about 45 mins. (I did an hr. because I ran errands) Remove foil and give it a stir, delish I think!! I was thinking how 1/4 C. of ranch dressing could be a substitute for the milk for a different taste as well as adding shredded cheddar to the mix before you put it in the dish with sliced green onions for a twice baked mashed potato. Enjoy!

Just ducky!

About 1/2 mile down from our house at the boat docks sit these cute little duckies and some Canadian geese! We were surprised the ducks haven't begun to fly South. The geese stay year round! It's always a fun treat to ride down and see who's hanging out. In Spring we see all the little baby ducks waddlin after their mama's!! So cute!!

Giving!

Our family helps collect and deliver Operation Christmas child shoe boxes for our church! I encourage you and your family to do one or two boxes. They will go off to another country where a child will be "delighted" by what we would call simple but they would call their treasure! Our kids are doing their own box this year and they are really into it! Ours are due and delivered on Nov. 23rd. so get them in and if you aren't sure if your church does it you can go on Samaritan's Purse website to find a place close to you collecting them!!

Mmm warm cookies and tea!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 1/4 C. packed brown sugar

1 C. butter or margarine, softened(2 sticks)

1/2 C. granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 T. milk

2 ts. vanilla

1 3/4 C. flour

1 ts. baking soda

1/2 ts. salt, opt'l

2 1/2 C. uncooked quick oats or old fashioned rolled oats

1 pkg. chocolate chips

3/4 C. raisins

1/2 C. chopped walnuts

1/2 C. chopped pecans

1/2 C. coconut (Opt'l) I don't use it

Heat oven to 375*. In large mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, butter and granulated sugar. Beat at Med. speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla. Beat at Med. until well blended. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Stir in by hand, choc. chips, raisins and nuts.

(M & M's are good in this as well).

Drop by heaping teaspoons 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Bake 9-10 mins. for a chewy cookie or 12-13 mins. for a crisp one.

Cool before storing.

I make this up and freeze half the dough in a freezer container and then pop it out, let it sit about an hr. in the fridge and voila you can bake fresh cookies for "next time!"

Makes about 5 doz. small or 3 1/2 larger cookies!

Paintings

I'm amazed often at God's handiwork! You can tell that He really likes color and knew that we would to! I was playing around taking some pictures in my yard! Our Holly bushes didn't get berries last yr. so this year we were delighted to see some, and the red leaves are our favorites!

VOTE!!

GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY.....YOU NEVER KNOW IT COULD BE YOUR STATE THAT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!! SEE THE CROSS WITHIN THE FLAG....BE IN PRAYER AS WELL!!!