Pinterest has provided me with so many great new recipes! Here’s one I’ve made a couple times, Mexican Casserole (original link here). This recipe is great because you can modify it to suit your family’s taste. It’s very forgiving! My only caution is that it doesn’t reheat very well – so just go ahead and eat it all in one sitting. I know you’ll want to. =)

Mexican Casserole

Enjoy!

Whitney

So you’ve had the big turkey dinner, turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and turkey goulash and now you don’t care if you ever eat turkey again, right?  How about a total change this weekend and fix a good ol’ hot dog for lunch today or tomorrow? 

Now, don’t just throw a hot dog in the microwave and then slap it into a cold bun!  First, put the hot dog in a skillet and let it get a little browned (unless you have a bonfire roaring in your backyard – that would be even better!).

Flip it over for just a few seconds, then place the browned hot dog inside the bun.  Now you can top it with chili and coleslaw (our favorite!) or some mustard and ketchup.
                                                  
                                                  

Maybe you already toast the bun like this, but I’ve learned that a yummy toasted bun takes a hot dog (or a hamburger) to the next level!  Plus it’s a nice, long cry from a turkey sandwich!

So go ahead and Freshen up your lunch with a hot dog fixed to perfection!

Be refreshed,

“We were going  to do this”, and “We planned to do that, but it just never happened!” 

Have you found yourself saying that about things you had thought you might do this December?  I opened my Bible to Proverbs 27 and the first verse I read this morning was,

Whitney reading to her Gramma the Christmas Eve devotional from, Jesus Calling.

Liza wondering if she’ll get a new box to sleep in on Christmas Eve.

Traditional Christmas Eve foods – Senate Bean soup, cheese ball  and crackers and Peppermint Punch.



Her wish came true!

I hope your wishes came true, too! 

From the parsonage windows,

It’s Christmas Eve!  I’ll bet there are all kinds of yummy smells coming from many homes today!  I made my traditional Senate Bean Soup on Saturday; we’ll enjoy that tonight. 

Picture from Kraft Foods

We’ll also have this Cheese Ball. I make it every year.  This recipe came from my Kraft Cookbook years ago.  It’s very simple to put together and is so good.  I can’t think of trying another recipe!

For Sunday dinner yesterday I made a recipe of my mom’s that is a showstopper, in my opinion.  It’s called Herbed Chicken Breasts.  If you can look closely at the picture above, you’ll see this fantastic herb cream cheese filling oozing out of the chicken.  This makes the chicken breasts moist and packed with flavor.

Here’s how it’s done:

Cut a pocket in 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. 

Create the cheese filling:
1/2 tsp (I use more) parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme
1 Tbl lime juice (I only had lemon today and it was great)
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
Mix well.
Put cheese mixture into each pocket of chicken breasts. 

Mix:
1 egg
1 Tbl milk
Dip each piece of breast in egg wash, then roll in soft bread crumbs (I used Panko)

Melt 3, 4 Tbl margarine and 2,3 Tbl of olive oil over medium heat.  Brown each breast in skillet until nicely browned on each side. 

Transfer to baking sheet and bake 40 – 45 minutes in moderate oven, 350 degrees.  To bake this while I was at church, I covered the baking sheet with foil and baked it at 250 degrees for 2 hours.

You may not need this recipe today, but you’ll want it for a New year’s dinner party, or sometime you want to make something really special.  I served this with baked sweet potatoes and green beans.  Yummo…wish there was leftovers.  Ha!  There was NONE left! One taste and you’ll know why!

What traditional foods will you make today or tomorrow?  That creates such special memories for your family.  Enjoy the day as you celebrate the birth of our Savior – Immanuel, God with us.  What a blessing!

Merry Christmas!