Happy Monday after Christmas! Are you as ready as I am to eat “normal” again?  Well, if you happen to have an extra can of Cranberry sauce leftover from your festivities, you must pour it over chicken or pork and make this dish!  I did it in the crock pot for Sunday dinner and it was great!  Not too caloric or fattening, but plenty heavy on flavor ~ you’ll love it!

Cranberry Chicken
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 can whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
I also added about 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the crock pot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place chicken in greased 13  9 x 2 inch baking dish.  Bake for 20 minutes.  While chicken is cooking, combine remaining ingredients.  Spoon cranberry mixture over chicken.  Return to oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.

Do you have any clever uses for holiday food items?

With love from my country kitchen,

I love so much about this time of year ~ the joy of the Story of Christ’s birth and God’s promise fulfilled in His Son, time with family, lights, music, traditions, parties, good food and special treats…it’s all so special.

This week has been brimming with all those things.  Let me give you a little peek…

Click on pictures to enlarge

1.  Bible club – We had a Birthday Party for Jesus yesterday.  We had Christmas tree cakes and hot chocolate after rehearsing the Christmas story with flannel graph and singing the new song they’d learned.  What a joy this is to my heart each week!

2.  After Bible club we headed to Pigeon Forge for the afternoon.  We’re blessed to  be less than two hours from the fun of this mountain vacation spot.  This picture was in the Old Mill area ~ a favorite spot of ours.

3.  This picture was taken on a little dinner date we had earlier this week.

4.  We spent a short time at Dollywood yesterday ~ before the rains came!  Then it was too cool and wet to enjoy the park, so we opted for the lights in town in a nice, dry car!  This was the tree at the main fountain.

5.  We had dinner with Alli and Andrew at Apple Barn before our Dollywood adventure.  That was a  fun time with a delicious meal and great company!

6.  This adorable mouse (or is it a bear?) was outside the Apple Barn.  Too cute!  The large picture was in the same area.

7.  Love the red berries and the bird house outside the Apple Barn.

There was beauty everywhere we went.  What a fun week this has been!  And today’s Christmas Eve!  It’s also my dad’s birthday ~ another special reason to celebrate!  I’m praying you enjoy this special day and the one to follow tomorrow.  God bless you, my blog readers as you rejoice in our Savior’s birth!

Merry Christmas!

From my country porch,

Soooo, how’s your holiday preparation coming?  As I admitted last week, I’ve felt quite behind after being away, but I had the blessing of help in the kitchen yesterday!  Alli offered to come over and help me so I could be free to enjoy this week.

We had so much fun in the kitchen together!  It reminded me of all the years in the past baking with my girls; sprinkles and flour flying faster than glitter in a snow globe!  Baking with someone else just makes it so much more fun!

It make take you longer, and it may make a bigger mess for you if you let your little children help you, but those cookies decorated with their little hands will taste the best!  The dough they roll out will be the prettiest because they will have created a memory snapshot in their heart and in yours!

As you finish up your preparations this week, be sure not to let the stress of all you have to do rob you of time to create special moments with your children.  When they’re grown like mine are, you’ll welcome them back into the kitchen where you’ll laugh at the funny things that happened when they were small.  The warmth in your kitchen will be from something far more special than the 350 degree oven; it will come from what you shared together during their childhood.

Make time to create memories this week!

With love and a sprinkling of colored sugars,

Last winter my husband and I loved sitting by the fireplace to eat our dinner on cold nights.  We would pull the table over close and enjoy the ambiance and the warmth it provided.  This year we’ve decided to go ahead and pull the table over and leave it there for a bit.  Since our living room and kitchen are all one big open space, we can simply move the furniture back to make room for the table right in front of the flames.  Love it!

Last week we rearranged the furniture in time to have our neighbors over for a soup supper.  It was no fancy meal – just soup, salad, biscuits and pie, but it was made a lot more special sitting in front of the fire, lights dimmed and Christmas music playing.

The whole invitation and meal was a little spur of the moment kind of thing.  I had most everything on hand, and decided this would be a good day to invite friends to join us.  We made the call to invite them over and then set out to make it an enjoyable, relaxing evening.

This Spinach Salad is a great change from a normal tossed salad.  The Water Chestnuts give it a nice crunch and the dressing is sweet and tangy.  

 Fresh Spinach
1 Can Water Chestnuts, drained
Bacon pieces
2 Boiled Eggs

Dressing:
1/2 Cup oil
2 Tbl. vinegar
2 Tbl + 2 tsp Ketchup
6 Tbl. Sugar
1 Tbl. Worcestershire Sauce
Dash salt

Combine and shake well in ar.  May pour or pour over salad and toss just before serving.

For dessert, I made a pie my mom had brought to Thanksgiving.  It was the best dessert we had!  Wow!  Super yummy!

Laura Bush’s Buttermilk Coconut Pie

1 unbaked nine-inch pie shell
½ stick melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sweetened, shredded coconut, plus ½ cup of toasted coconut for garnish
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups whipped cream

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, coconut and buttermilk, and pour into pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

In a dry frying pan set at low heat, toast the coconut until it is golden brown.

Garnish pie with whipped cream, and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

I love having guests –  and when you don’t fuss and plan forever, it’s not stressful!  Have you had guests in spur–of-the-moment recently? 

With love from my country kitchen,

To Freshen up your Friday and your holidays, I’d like to share a few ideas with you today of ways you can keep Christ at the center of your Christmas celebration this year.

1. Make baby Jesus in the Manger cookies.  These are the haystack cookies, one bag of butterscotch chips and 1/2 C peanut butter melted in the microwave and then poured over 5 oz. can Chow Mein Noodles.  Place in mounds on baking sheet, lined with waxed paper.   Place a small gingerbread man, sugar cookie man (or Teddy Graham, as I had to do!) on top, to represent Jesus sleeping on the hay, then place in fridge to harden.  Talk to your children about how Jesus was born in a barn, and laid in a manger. 
   

   I didn’t have time to bake little gingerbread men for Baby Jesus, but that would be a great addition to this yummy snack.

2. Read a little of the Christmas story each night.  Have your children act out that part of the story.  You might even come up with some props and costumes using sheets, a cane for a staff, etc.
3. Focus on giving to others, remembering that God gave to us at Christmas the best Gift when He gave us His Son to be born.  Find a family you can be a blessing to – either with gifts or acts of service.  
4. Go caroling to your neighbors.  Be sure to sing some of the songs of Jesus birth, and finish with “We wish you a Merry Christmas!”
5. Look for people you could invite over for Christmas Day.  Is there someone who would be alone unless you invite them?  Welcome them into your home as Christ welcomes us to Him!
6. Add touches of the Christmas Story in your decor.  Manger scenes, stars, Shepherds, etc.
7. Teach your children a new Christmas Carol and sing it at supper each night.
8. Make crafts about Christ’s birth.  Something like this…

There are plenty of other craft ideas on the Internet.  Use the craft time to talk about Christ’s birth.
9.  Read a Christmas plan from You Version.  
10.  Spend time reading God’s Word,singing and praying before opening gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

I’m going to end with a song that is so fitting for the theme of longing to keep Christ at the center of your Christmas.  Lord, I want your presence for Christmas.  Enjoy…

Stay refreshed,