Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

I don't know about you but I love to enter these silly little contests to see if I win, someday I will, I will win big...hahahah. So here goes this one!

TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.


1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
That we could all be together.

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition?
Open all of our gifts then have breakfast.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
I would love an I pad, dont really "need" one but why not!!!

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
Help organize holiday parties. Just spend someone else's money!

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
Life, we loved to play life.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
Chirstmas Eve Clam Chowder.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip?
Hawaii or Disney World. To hop on a plain and supprise the kids in Disney for Christmas would be a dream come true.

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?
I want the new Deadliest Catch, someone is getting it so mom can play it!
I also want the classic series like Super Mario and Donkey Kong Country.

Giving Thanks.

Since I became a mother seven years ago, the question “For What Are You Most Thankful?” has never required a moment’s hesitation.

I am most thankful for my daughter.

My blessing — Maci — makes me more thankful than I could ever have imagined being.
Today on another Thanksgiving I cannot stop thanking God for my precious little girl.
I also thank god for Kyle. We completed our first year of marriage this year, and what an honor to be able to call him my husband.

I spent a quiet and profoundly simple day with them Thanksgiving day, enjoying eachothers company. We started the day at mom’s for a hearty Thanksgiving lunch and then took Maci to see her dad. Kyle and I then joined the Grider family for Thanksgiving dinner.

I am so thankful for my little family and thankful for the beautiful day we had together. I can’t wait to see what is in store for us in the next year to come. What an amazing kickoff to this joyous holiday season!

Family is one of Nature’s Masterpieces.

Yesterday afternoon and today Maci is hanging out with Grandpa Tim. Together they have kept each other’s time full of activity eating, baking, putting up Christmas trees, playing on the computer and watching a little TV. Grandpa Tim even sent me some pictures of their adventures.

Yesterday was a half day of school to kick off the Thanksgiving break. Grandpa Tim picked Maci up from school and took her to lunch. She wrestled him into her ever so favorite McDonalds before they ventured home to put up the Christmas tree.


Maci had a sleepover with Nana and Tim last night and Grandpa Tim was proficient in spoiling her one more day.

In a week to be thankful, I am thankful that we live around so much family that is so willing to help out when it is needed. Really Maci could have gone to Boys and Girls Club but hanging out with Grandpa Tim seems to have been a hit!

November

I won’t lie, November hits and I am elated for Thanksgiving, I think I drive my mother in-law crazy asking about the Thanksgiving menu. You see that is my problem, when I hear the word Thanksgiving, my mind does not mechanically turn to noble thoughts of appreciation or patriotism. Instead my mind thinks FOOD!!! It thinks of sinfully delicious juicy turkey, rolls painted with a thick sheet of butter, of gorgeously fluffy mashed potatoes, stuffing dancing with gravy, all to go along with whatever tempting side dishes I can muster up. All topped off with my ever so favorite, a slice of warm blue berry pie with a heaping scoop of ice-cream just beginning to melt. And then; a giant nap only to wake up for round 2 (you know what I’m talking about)! Rearrange your plate from the first round and you can call it the next seriously satisfying meal if it makes you feel better. Note to family, now you know why I want “Thanksgiving dinner” at lunch; so my palate of taste buds gets to be submersed in this fine meal not once but twice in one day!
Back to driving my mother in-law crazy, I have grown quite fond of preparing our Thanksgiving meal down to the crafty table settings. There is something to be said for learning to cook a meal like Thanksgiving dinner. So therefor I begin preparing our so called “menu” weeks ahead of time calling my sister in-law for her dazzling desert ideas like pumpkin pie cheese cake (but we cheat, you can’t beat Costco’s)! I’m known to take a tried and true holiday recipe and give it a twist.

This came home in Maci's backpack yesterday! This was a sign from god that I'm doing ok as a mother. Look at what I have taught her...FAMILY. Thanksgiving is about Family. This is what my princess does for Thanksgiving! That makes me so proud to know that she didnt just put eat like mama did up top! She went into detail about family and playing games, something so simple but thoes are the memories that will last forever.

Meet my favorite cookbook; The Pioneer Woman

Meet my favorite cookbook The Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond.

Ree is the author of The Pioneer Woman Blog that I have followed for a few years now trying to win one of her Nikon Cameras…ok and because I love nearly everything about this adorable woman, including her Tasty Kitchen with thousands of recipes. Ree blogs about making the transition from being city girl in Los Angeles, to being the moderately agoraphobic ranch wife and mother of four in Oklahoma. Besides chronicling her adventures on the ranch, and her Basset Hound named Charlie, she writes about homeschooling her kids and includes some pretty delectable recipes.

For those of you who are just now hearing about Ree, she is no ordinary blogger.

I just can’t boast enough about this woman. She recently published a BEAUTIFUL cookbook which hit #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. We’re all so proud of her. “We” meaning her fans, and her un-authorized apprentices. She has taught us how to cook, take great pictures, use Photoshop, love our hubbys, and craft a joyful home and garden. You can check out her blog here.

She is the blogger many of us other bloggers aspire to be… someday… when all of our blogging dreams come true.

And as I told you, her Cookbook… oh my…

My first venture in her cookbook after I got it in my hot little hands was this cute little Egg in a hole!

It’s full of delicious recipes, with step by step photos on every page.

She is married to a cowboy whom she lovingly refers to as the Marlboro Man. Her cookbook is filled with down-home comfort food, and fantastic country cookin’ that she learned to make while feeding a slew of hungry cowboys.

Look at this recipe for Red Velvet Cake! I can’t wait to try some cupcakes this Christmas. This one is going to get me off those darn box mixes and into the adventure of making cake from scratch.

I love to give the book as a gift, in fact I got to give it to my adorable friend this weekend for her bridal shower! Brooke, I hope you fall in love with this cookbook like I did!

a treasure from the box

My husband is certifiably obsessed with cookies. Any kind, any flavor, anytime, anyplace. It’s almost as if I can hear him in the cookie monster voice saying “me want cookie”, except in his case it would be “cookiessss” because one is never enough. If you remember in one of my past posts we played with the thought of going out for Halloween this year and Kyle would have been the cookie monster and I an adorable little chocolate chip cookie; it would have been perfect but time is of the essence and it has quickly gotten away from us.

Have sweets in the home at all times is the #1 requirement in being Kyle Grider’s wife. I can even tell you where some of the best cookies in town are…Sugar and Spice, Off Main Deli, Subway, and last but surely not least the Holiday Gas Station. Yep the gas station has some of the best mouth watering cookies. Lucky for me really anything sweet will do! A common resort to cookies is the Orange hostess cupcakes where you get a big delight in every bite.

Last night I got a “would you mind making that white chocolate snack mix?” followed by an “I will help you”!

So this is the Grider treasure box…

This is what I got out of the box…

And here is the treasure!

Taking all zucchini donations…these cookies rock!

Tis the season that Zucchini runs amuck. The zucchini situation seems to get out of control right about this time of year. Those who grow it have buckets and buckets that they can’t even give away. The friendly green summer squash has been running rampant in farmers markets and in our family gardens the last few weeks. After sautéing with onions and baking the vegetable several different ways that my father taught me, I was itching for a creative recipe to make a dent in my zucchini stash that my step dad bought over from their garden.

I love zucchini bread, and I know you will find this hard to believe but so does Kyle! If you don’t know my husband, he is not a fan of anything green, and as you take note, most veggies are green.

I have always noted how seamlessly the green veggie goes into a sweet baked good. Needing a treat to bring to a cookout, I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip zucchini cookies and modified it a little bit because we didn’t have any coco in the house, nor did we have butter flavored Crisco.

These tasty little bites were a hit: they definitely have a light cakey texture, so don't expect a particularly firm or chewy cookie. It's more like a little freeform muffin, which I like! They're also ridiculously moist. And the best part: this sweet goodie doesn't taste like zucchini at all! My little family devoured them in no time! I am eating one of the last ones as I sit here and finish this blog post.

So if you're looking for a yummy alternative to zucchini bread, or you're looking for a solution to the Attack of the Zucchini, try these cookies.

½ C Shortening
½ C sugar
½ C brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ C flour
2 hot coco packets (no mallos, we even used sugar free)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 ¾ C zucchini
1 C chocolate chips
Cream shortening and sugars; add in egg and vanilla; add in all dry goods; fold in zucchini and chocolate chips.Bake 8-10 min on 350.

On the not so healthy side I would like to make beer battered zucchini slices. Oh how heavenly they sound dipped in ranch!

Off to eat more cookies, have a great day!