Friday Follies: A little Figgy Pudding

It's Friday. And you know what that means? It's the last day of school until the new year. It's the launch of the weekend. And it's the last day to enter to win my huge Disney prize pack. Oh...and it's time for our Friday Follies!


Today's guest inquisitor is Shannon from Welcome to the Nuthouse. I met Shannon IRL way back in October. (Am I the only one that feels like I have known you guys for forever? When really...it hasn't been that long.) When we took this infamous photo. And now Shannon is ready to ask all the questions for today's Follies...

I've decided to go with a theme that is near and dear to my heart... FOOD! So here are a few questions pertaining to traditional holiday fare:

Do you make a gingerbread house? From scratch or do you use a pre-made kit?

How do you like your hot chocolate: with or without mini marshmallows?

What kind of cookies do you leave out for Santa? Do you leave anything for the reindeer?

Do you know what wassail is?

Will you be dreaming of sugarplums on Christmas Eve?

Do you like fruitcake? Have you ever given or received a fruitcake as a gift?

Have you ever had mincemeat pie? What IS mincemeat???

Do you drink your eggnog spiked?

Turkey or ham? Stuffing or dressing?

What is your favorite holiday food? What is your least favorite?

Theme song: The Wassail song AND Josh Groban - The Christmas Song

A little something for me; a little Eggnog bread for you

I signed up with Kori to be in her Secret Santa Shindig. And I am so excited to report that my package arrived. I took off the paper. And guess what was under it? Look at that box. Oh, that so brings back memories. I long for the days of Gymboree. And matching outfits. And words absent from my girls' boo-tays.

And when I open the box - it almost looks like there are Gymboree outfits in there. Do you think that Gymboree ever contemplated making clothes for adults? And I find, not clothes but this incredibly cute pot holder, towel, and matching aprons.And you see what Madalyn is shaking? Those are sprinkles. Because they are apparently now used as musical instruments.

And look at everything that was under the aprons:

I got a cute birdie ornament. That will lovingly be packed away. Because I don't have a Christmas tree this year.

And look! A smutty book. But one that is true. I cannot wait to delve into this. And "Love Story." Can you not just hear Ali McGraw telling Ryan O'Neal that "love means never having to say you are sorry?" Right before she dies? Sigh.

There's more, too. A bookmark. A cookie cookbook. Cookie cutter. Sprinkles. That my children decided was much better used as maracas. Many, many thanks to Amy at Papertrails by a Paper for such a Merry Christmas gift!

And since my girls are dressed in their apron finest. Let's put them to work. And show you how to make something yummy - Eggnog Bread. This is our standard gift for the neighbors. And I usually give this with a gift card for all the other people in the girls' life. For their choir director. Sunday school teacher. Piano teacher. Tennis instructor. Who am I forgetting?

Here are our ingredients:

Mix the eggnog, oil, and egg. (Ummm...can you tell I forgot to take pictures when I made the first batch?)

Combine all the dry ingredients.

And then gradually mix in to just blended.

Add pecans if you like.I put it in those disposable loaf pans. They are kinda small. So a double batch will fill three of these. If you are making a loaf for you. With a regular loaf pan - it will fill just fine with a single batch.

Then bake. And these are better the next day rather than hot out of the oven. Yum! A perfect gift. And EASY to make!

Here is my easy recipe:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 egg

1 3/4 cup eggnog

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup pecans (opt)

Combine egg, eggnog, and oil.

Add dry ingredients until just combined.

Stir in nuts.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350º for 60-70 minutes. Enjoy!

So...what about you? Have you been someone's Secret Santa? Do you do something at Christmas for your neighbors? For your kids' teachers? What?

And...have you entered to win the Disney prize pack yet? You can think of that as a little something for you!

Theme song: Goo Goo Dolls - Give a Little Bit. Yippee - playlist is back up. And Godzilla doesn't have to be the theme song for this post.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

I love Christmas. I love the season of giving. I love getting out our Christmas tree. Putting on the ornaments. Reminiscing about where they came from. Setting out my mom's huge collection of Santas. Opening the pockets of the advent calendars with my girls. Driving around neighborhoods to look at lights.

But this year. Everything has been on hold. Everything has remained in the attic. Because a certain species. In some circles known as feline destructicus. Has invaded my house. And after the intestinal blockage incident. I am rather leary of setting out all of my Christmas items. Because the hooligans might attack the hanging advent calendars. Steal the baby Jesus from the creche. Eat the ornaments. Or maybe even the tree.

So rather than putting everything up the day after Thanksgiving. We waited until December 14th. And we set up our Tree. Watched. And waited. We didn't have to wait too long before the invading hordes arrived to have their curiosity assauged. Here they are. Whispering plots and plans to each other.They quickly decided to put on their game faces. And pretend ingnorance. And innocence.But when the tree came out of the bag. They could not contain their excitement at having something new to investigate destroy. There was a little bit of chewing. But after few squirts of water. And they seemed to leave it alone.Seemed being the operative word. And the reason why my beautiful pre-lit tree is back in the bag. And back in the attic. Because apparently my kitties are still confused. And think themselves to be ornaments. Or perhaps tinsel. Or that elusive partridge.

So...what about you? Is your tree up and decorated? Do you have a favorite decoration for the holidays? Do you have to worry about feline destruticus? Canine destruticus? Homo sapiens toddler-zila?

(Did you enter the contest to win the HUGE pack of Disney scrapbook supplies? What are you waiting for? Only 2 more days to get your name in the pot.)

Theme song: Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla. Which sparked a conversation about who Godzilla is with the girls. So, I found the hilarious video to this song. And then we got sucked in by You Tube. And watched Godzilla vs. Megalon. And Godzilla vs. Mothra. And laughed ourselves silly.

Cookie Swap: Peanut Butter Cup cookies

A few weeks ago, Monogram Chick decided to host a cookie swap. I was matched with three other bloggers and we got our names right before Thanksgiving. My partners were quite on the ball. I got peanut butter cookies. With a fabulous recipe that I passed on to my friend whose daughter has to be gluten free. And then I got this wonderful tin of Andes candies chocolate cookies. Madalyn declared those hers. And then. Again. More cookies arrived. Pretty much a traditional toll house recipe - but with a box of instant vanilla pudding added. And. Oh wow. They were awesome. And finally. Last week. I finally decided to get my act together and make some cookies.

But what to make?

My favorite kind of cookie is chocolate chip. And I love to make toll house cookies. Without the chocolate chips. Scandalous. But delicious. Perhaps only to me. So, not that one. The kids and I always make these chocolate pretzel cookies. But part of the rules of the cookie swap was no kid fingers in the dough. I guess not that one if I am going to follow the rules. But wait - does it count if there is no dough? So. I decided to go with a tried and true favorite. Peanut butter cup cookies. Because who can go wrong with the combination of peanut butter. And chocolate.

Here is our cast of characters.

The recipe that I have says it will make 36 cookies. But it really doesn't. Maybe I make my cookies bigger than the recipe writer. I love big cookies. A doubled recipe - here at casa Sunshine and Lemonade - makes about 4 and a half dozen cookies. Your mileage may vary.

First thing to do - measure out the butter, peanut butter, and both kinds of sugar.

Cream them all together.

Please ignore all the spatters on my mixer. I keep trying to win one of those fancy Kitchen Aid mixers from Pioneer Woman. They come in all sorts of colors. Like pink. Or lime green. I want a red one. But out of the ten thousand or so entries, mine name has never been picked. I keep hoping that my contest giveaway mojo will rub off on my ability to win something one day. Have you entered my contest? Your odds are much better with me than with PW. Except that I am not giving away a Kitchen Aid mixer.

Where were we??

Oh. Yes. Beat in your eggs and vanilla.

This is the whole reason we are told to not lick the spoon. The beater. The bowl. All because of these eggs. Do you live life on the edge and lick anyway?

Add your flour. Gradually. Or else the mixer will send it all over your kitchen. Not that I know this from experience or anything.After all the flour is combined. Cover and put in the fridge. It will be easier to handle when it's a cold. Let it sit in there for about an hour. In the meantime. It's time to take the wrappers off of your peanut butter cups. I would like to suggest that you get extra packages of peanut butter cups. Because this process is sort of like going to a pick your own strawberry patch. Without the bugs. Heat. And bending over. You know. One for the bowl. One for you. And you keep doing this because no one is going to weigh you when you are done. And you just hope that no one notices the red dribbles going down your shirt from the berries. Or the smears of chocolate. Or is that peanut butter across your forehead? Not that I would ever do that. Or speak from experience.

Where were we?

Oh...okay. We are going to work with our hands here. Get some dough and roll it into a ball. Maybe 1 1/4 inches in diameter. I don't know. I don't cook with a ruler.Then press a peanut butter cup into the middle.

And roll into a ball again.

And bake. And when you pull these out of the oven. They are gorgeous.

Look at them. With their secret cache of peanut butter cup. Right in the middle.

Let them cool completely. And then you can make the drizzle.

Get your ingredients out. Put them in a bowl. Stick it in the microwave to melt. And stir. Then I scraped all the melted goodness into a baggie. Cut a small corner off. And drizzled the chocolate and peanut butter over the cookies.So pretty.But not too pretty to eat.Absolutely sinful.

Here is the recipe (I always double it. Except for the drizzle. You can keep those proportions the same):

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

13oz package of minature peanut butter cups

Drizzle:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 Tbsp creamy peanut butter

1 tsp shortening

Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars.

Beat in egg and vanilla

Combine flour and baking soda - gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.

Cover and refrigerate for about an hour

Roll into 1 1/4 inch balls. Press a peanut butter cup into each and reshape into a ball.

Place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 350º for 12-15 minutes or browned.

For drizzle, combine the chocolate, peanutbutter and shortening and melt in the microwave.

Stir until smooth

Drizzle over cooled cookies.

So...what about you? Do you have a signature cookie? Ever done a cookie swap? Do you lick the cookie dough from the spoon? What color Kitchen aid mixer would you want?

Theme song: Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar