Bake-Off

It almost didn't happen since I have been so busy these past few weeks but as you can see below, I managed to get it done! The 2011 Annual Bake Day was a success!

I started baking around 8am & the very last sugar cookie was frosted at 3:30pm. I put on my apron, turned up the holiday music on my iPod & me & the kitchen become one. Shane pretty much knows to stay away until I am all done & then I will have him sample everything I made to make sure it is worthy of being shared with others. He tends to like my sugar cookies the best so I always make sure to bake extra ;)
This year I tried a couple of new recipes which are definitely "keepers" for next year. Here is what I baked up today:

- Peanut Butter Balls
- Oreo Truffles
- Salty Pecan Chocolate Bark
- Cherry Almond Blossoms
- Macaroons
- Iced Sugar Cookies
- Choc Toffee Caramel Bites

I SO enjoy doing this bake-day & look forward to it every year. I just love trying new recipes, making old, tried & true recipes & packaging them all up into cute little boxes & delivering them to our wonderful neighbors. I know they thoroughly enjoy them & that makes all my hard efforts absolutely worth it.

If you are interested in any of the recipes above, please let me know! I would be happy to share the recipe with you!

And now I'm going to go grab a glass of milk, a sugar cookie...or two & go put my feet up ;)

CHRISTmas

For this is truly what the meaning of Christmas is all about - Happy Birthday Jesus!

Our Christmas morning began by following tradition of sleeping in late, opening our gifts with the furries & then I make a huge breakfast.

Here are a few pics of our morning:

Millie opening up her new Nylabone. I think she likes it!

Bubba opening up his new "stuffie"

I had to help Neo open his gifts....& so did the bullies :)

Shane LOVED his new bulldog flannel jammie pants - from the furries of course :)

It was funny how the bulldogs were attentive to every single present we opened while Neo could have cared less. Not sure why, but those bullies go crazy when we open presents around them. And as usual, here is a pic of Millie hoarding all the toys:

Santa ended up being very good to me so I guess I was a "good" girl this year!? Shane didn't do so bad himself & of course the furries were spoiled rotten :)

Hoping you all were able to enjoy the Christmas weekend with your loved ones!

Merry Christmas :)

Christmas breakfast

While we were opening our gifts this morning, I had a yummy dish baking in the oven for our Christmas breakfast. It was a Baked French Toast Casserole with a Praline topping & maple syrup. I had watched Paula Deen make this on one of her shows a couple of months ago & it looked SO good so thought I would give it a try.

The recipe says to make this dish the night before so on Christmas Eve I had prepared the casserole to let it sit in the frig overnight. I ended up cutting the recipe in half since it is just the two of us & I arranged the french loaf bread (about 20 - 1/2 inch slices) in an 8x8 baking dish.

Next I mixed the egg & cream mixture:
And poured it over the bread:
I wrapped it in foil & put it in the frig until the next morning. Once morning came, I pulled it out of the frig, made the praline mixture, spread it all over the bread & baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
This is what it looked like after it was all bubbly & done baking:
And the words from my hubby after tasting it?

S: "This is f'n awesome" :)

I must agree, it was very yummy & definitely a dish I will be making again!

You can find the recipe here for anyone who wants to copy this dee-lish dish!

Hustle Bustle

My days & nights in December have been filled with chaotic craziness. December is always a busy month for most but for some reason it seems to be more busy than usual for us?!

In the last few weeks, I have spent many late nights at work, taken a lot of additional call, spent my spare time X-mas shopping, decorating the house in it's annual holiday decor, attending holiday dinners, parties & gatherings with girlfriends, hosting parties, wrapping gifts, baking holiday goodies, spending time with Shane's side of the family & just living life.

Honestly, I hate being this busy but when I think about it, I realize how blessed I am by all this "busy-ness". It means I am employed at a great job, I can make extra money when I want to, I am lucky to have a car & money so I can shop, buy presents for others & groceries so we can eat. We are blessed to be surrounded by wonderful things & a roof over our heads. All these dinners, parties & gatherings mean I am blessed with wonderful friendships. The ability to bake holiday goods means my neighbors will receive a "goody-tray" from the Taylor's again this year & knowing they look forward to & love this little yearly tradition warms my heart! Spending time with family is what gathering for the holiday's is all about & I am blessed to have a wonderful family on my side as well as Shane's side that we are able to spend time with.

So as we gather with loved ones this Christmas & welcome a new year, we wish for you & your family many blessings, good health & much happiness.

Merry Christmas from the Taylor's :)

Millie ♥'s Christmas

Millie is obsessed with wrapped presents. It doesn't matter what is inside - she just KNOWS there are treats in that pretty wrapped box or maybe even some bullie toys or stuffies in there & tries her best to get inside the box. I have a hard time keeping gifts under the tree because Millie will have to check them all out, one by one, sniffing them, pawing at them, moving them out from under the tree & trying to get them open. Lil' stinker!

If she isn't messing with the presents, she is laying UNDER the tree. She loves to sleep under there, gather all her toys & hide them under there, lay under the tree chewing on her ball & play "hide & go seek" from her Momma under the tree.

I thought I would be sneaky & put all the furries wrapped gifts on the kitchen table in a bag until Christmas morning but I failed to forget dog's have amazing noses & can sniff out anything - especially when they are new Cuz balls, treats, stuffies & Nylabones :)

This is what we have had to put up with during the days leading up to Christmas...
(video will take a couple of minutes to load)

She is truly like a little kid when it comes to gifts & loving Christmas.

TSO

Shane & I had tickets to go see Trans-Siberian Orchestra today & I have been SO looking forward to going. Unfortunately, someone drank a little too much last night & wasn't feeling up to it so I called my girlfriend Jill who was MORE than happy to go with me as my date.

Jill & I got settled in our seats & were impressed with our view. Of course we had to take a self-portrait (notice the couple kissing in the upper left hand corner? I think they did that on purpose :)

From the opening song, I immediately got goosebumps. The show was narrated by a guy with an awesome low, bass voice & the music was phenomenal with all the displays of lights, lasers, pyrotechnics, spotlights among many other visual effects. There was a cast of 2 dozen musicians, singers & dancers & they rocked that place.


Towards the end of the show TSO played music other than Christmas music & it ended up being more of a rock show than a holiday show. There were dancers on the catwalk above the crowd doing their thing & lots of head-banging & hair-whipping going on:

They ended the show with a fireworks display, a shower of twinkly lights & a Merry Christmas message for all. It was a GREAT show & so glad Jill was able to come with as I would have been really disappointed to have missed it.

Annual Progressive Dinner

Last night we gathered with the cul-de-sac neigbhors for our Annual Progressive Dinner. We all look forward to this event every year & enjoy the time spent with these wonderful people. Our ex-neighbors Julie & Brian even came down from Pittsburg to join us for the festivities. They may live 100+ miles away but they will always be considered "neighbors"!

First stop of the night was Barb & Jim's house where we enjoyed frozen margaritas, finger sandwiches & different kinds of chips with dips. They are our "adopted" neighbors & live a mile away in another sub-division. We came to know these wonderful people as they are the best friends of our next door neighbors Dave & Gael.

Speaking of which, Dave & Gael were the 2nd stop of the night. When we walked in we were presented with this on the kitchen island:

They had literally brought their entire bar up from the basement for our enjoyment. The cocktail that Gael made for me was called a "Poinsettia" which consisted of vodka, cranberry juice, champagne & orange zest. It was dee-lish! Shane headed over to our house to make his first drink of the night which was his usual scotch. When we weren't busy mixing cocktails, we snacked on yummy chicken wings & crock pot meatballs.

The third stop was Mike & Linda's house where we enjoyed Slip-n-Slide martini's (which were SOOO good), Shane enjoyed scotch #2 & brought it back over just in time for all the guys to enjoy cigars out on the deck while the ladies all snacked on a cheese/meat/crackers tray, & fried cheese squares. After cigars, Shane headed back over to the house to make scotch #3 & joined us once again. (there is a point to counting Shane's drinks :)

The fourth stop was at the Taylor house & this is where things got wild. In keeping with tradition, the last stop of the night is always a fun, crazy time as everyone is a little tipsy :) It is also where we do our White Elephant gift exchange which always provides some good laughs. Since we were the last house, Julie & Brian joined me in hosting dessert. I had gotten a Stetson Cheesecake in Strawberry for everyone to enjoy along with a cookie & candy tray.

Shane filled up scotch #4 while I made these yummy martini's for everyone:























Above is a Chocolate Mint Martini with chocolate & crushed peppermint candies on the rim & on the right is a Peppermint Martini with red/white sugar on the rim. Both were SO yummy & a hit with everyone.

By this time of the evening, everyone was feeling the effects of all the cocktails drank throughout the night (especially Shane) & someone busted out the camera which wasn't me! Seems that my hubby is quite the photographer - all of these pics were taken by him:

Linda & Gael

Julie & me

Shane with the ladies

Once everyone enjoyed a cocktail, some dessert & picture-taking we headed down into the family room where we did our gift exchange.

Julie got cigars

Brian & Dave modeling their new boxers

And the backside :)

Gael got Christmas flamingos that light up which she LOVED!

Mr. Goofball Shane got Crayola sidewalk chalk

Shane was quite tipsy in this picture. There is always one in this bunch who tends to have a little too much alcohol & ends up being the life of the party. The first year it was Tom, the 2nd year it was me & this year it was Shane. Come to find out, Shane didn't have anything to eat while we were hopping from house to house so he was drinking scotch on an empty stomach. He says he wasn't hungry from eating a late lunch of BBQ earlier so it eventually caught up to him.

As the night was winding down & the neighbors were getting ready to leave Shane was nowhere to be found. We were all gathered in our family room & our bedroom is located right above us. All of a sudden we all here "thump.........thump" - the sound of Shane's boots hitting the floor.

Mr. Taylor was done.

After mostly everyone left, Brian, Julie & myself went upstairs to find Shane & this is what we saw:

He was OUT & had called it a night :) Oh silly Shane - he is not going to feel well in the morning!!!

As usual, it was another successful progressive dinner gathering with the neighbors & as always, we look forward to seeing what fun the next one brings us!!

Pressies for Bullies

We participated in the Secret Bully Gift Exchange again this year on Facebook. It is becoming an event that I look so very forward to & enjoy buying gifts for other bulldogs & sending them in fun, wrapped packages with a letter written by Bubba & Millie letting their "secret" bully know who they are.

Secret Bullie was established in 2010 through the Carolina Pet Pantry - an English Bulldog rescue organization. Through their website, you can buy all kinds of treats, toys, collars, leashes, supplements, dog food & SO much more. I find the prices are cheaper (even with shipping) than buying toys or treats at stores like Petsmart & the best part is that everything purchased from their store benefits their English Bulldog Rescue called Bullies 2 the Rescue by donating a percentage of the proceeds from your purchase.

Secret Bullie is the World's Largest English Bulldog gift exchange with almost 400 bulldogs & their owners participating this year. We sent pressies to bullies Moogie in Fort Wayne, IN & Sophie in Kannapolis, NC this year. These pictures are of our bulldogs opening their gifts from their "secret bullies" :)

Millie checking out the "goods"

"Iz dis for me???"

Bubba checks out his package from his Secret Bully

"Iz got a new bone & it iz all mine!!"

Millie is wore out from chewing on her new Kong toy!

They each received a new toy & some treats called Coconut Crunchers which smell good enough for humans to eat:
Millie LOVES getting & opening presents. In fact, I have a hard time keeping presents under the tree because she is always sniffing them, pawing at them & trying to open them. (post about this coming soon).

She is quite the little stinker ;) Here is a funny video of her opening her Secret Bully pressie! Never mind my stupid "dog voice" - lol!

FYI: the video takes a little bit of time to load :(

Gathering

Tonight I was on my home from work when I got a phone call from my girlfriend Heather (HK). Her & our friend Deb (pictured above) were meeting at Mi Ranchito for an impromptu dinner & wanted to know if I could swing by & join them.

Good friends + margaritas + mexican food = YES! How could I turn down that invitation? I turned the car around & headed to the restaurant for a quick catching up with girlfriends I haven't seen in awhile & some good food!

I just love unplanned gatherings with girlfriends :)

Yard House

My girlfriend Desiree & her daughter Miss Sofia were in town this past week visiting family & I got the pleasure of meeting them both for dinner tonight before they headed back home to Dallas. I made my way up to the Legends after work & met these lovely ladies at Yard House. I had never been there before so I was looking forward to trying out a new place.

Once inside, I spotted the girls right away. Miss Sofia was looking adorable & quite fashionable in her little holiday dress with matching hat & Desiree looked gorgeous - as always! We spent a couple of hours getting all caught up with each other over beverages, cheeseburgers & sweet potato fries. I think even Miss Sofia enjoyed the girl-time!

It was SO wonderful to get to see them both & I look forward to seeing them again when they are back in town for Miss Sofia's 1st birthday in April!

Gobble Gobble

Today couldn't be a more beautiful day to give thanks. The sun is shining, it is a warm 65 degrees out, the windows in the house are open & the house is filled with smells of pumpkin spice candles burning & thanksgiving dinner cooking in the oven - mmmm, heavenly. Shane made a comment to me earlier this morning that makes the trouble of cooking T-giving dinner all worth it. He said he wishes someone could bottle up the smell in our house at this very moment & make it into a candle :) See? totally worth it!

I ended up making the full thanksgiving meal again this year but instead of hosting for my entire family, it was just me, the hubby & his brother James at the dinner table. Quite the difference from previous gatherings but just as nice!

I awoke early this morning, put my apron on & T-giving 2011 was underway. On the menu for today was:
-Turkey
-stuffing
-mashed potatoes/gravy
-candied yams
-green bean casserole
-corn casserole
-crescent rolls w/honey butter

After 4+ hours of preparation, we sat down to eat around 1pm & in less than 20 minutes we had stuffed our bellies full & we were done. It was all so very good - if I do say so myself! Ugh - & after any fine meal comes the clean-up! Shane helped put the leftovers away while I did the dishes - teamwork, baby! Then we all headed down to the family room to watch some football. After being sick all week, it sure felt good to be lazy, hang out with the boys & snuggle with the furries.

This is what was for dessert:

Strawberry cheesecake made by guess who? It was dee-lish - as usual. Best part about the Thanksgiving meal??? LEFTOVERS - YAY :)

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with whomever you are spending it with! May we all wear pants that adjust in size today, be thankful for much, bless the hands that prepared our food, & enjoy celebrating with family & friends!

Productive sick day

So today I am at home sick :( Seems like the "crud" everyone at work has been sharing this past month has finally got me :( I have been fighting it for 3 days now & this morning I finally surrendered. I woke up feeling awful & after lots of hot tea with lemon, ibuprofen & some cough syrup I'm not feeling too bad. So since I am at home by myself with nothing to do I decided to turn the Christmas music up loud & do some cooking & baking.

A co-worker of mine is battling lymphoma & her 4th round of chemo is coming up & she is starting to not feel all that great. So a group of us at work formed "Linda's Helping Hands" & are going to be making meals for her & her kids to eat while she is not feeling well. It is my turn this week so since I am home today, I thought I would make her meals. Here is what I am making & freezing for her:

1) Chicken Potpie
2) Chicken Noodle Soup
3) Cheddar Garlic Biscuits
4) Chocolate Chip cookies
5) Cupcakes (for my work peeps tomorrow :)

I have shared with you all the potpie recipe which I hope you have tried because it is some good comfort-food! My chicken noodle soup recipe is from the Food Network & can be found here. I kind of cheat though. Instead of making my own chicken stock I just buy a rotisserie chicken, cut it up & use good ol' Swanson's chicken broth. I've made it both ways & like the "short-cut" route better - for taste & time. I also put extra carrots, celery & chicken in it since Shane & I both like a "chunkier" soup.

Now for the biscuits - oh my!

Walk - no, RUN to your nearest grocery store & buy the ingredients for these bad boys NOW! You like the Red Lobster biscuits? Well now you will have the recipe to make these delicious, buttery morsels any time you want. You can thank me later :)

Red Lobster Biscuits

Biscuits:
2 1/2 cups Bisquick
4 T cold butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Butter Glaze:
3 T butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease or line one cookie sheet with parchment paper (which is what HT prefers when baking on a cookie sheet); set aside.

Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter (or just use a fork). Don't worry about mixing too thoroughly; there will be small chunks of butter in the mix about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, & garlic powder. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix. Use a spatula to get excess dough off your hand.

Drop 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes in preheated oven until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown. Halfway through baking make sure to turn cookie sheet around - gives more of an even baking.

While biscuits are baking, melt butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in garlic powder & dried parsley flakes. Once the biscuits are done baking, use a brush to spread the garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Sprinkle a little salt on the freshly coated biscuits. Makes one dozen.

* Don't have any Bisquick in the house? You can make a "homemade" version found here.

You are welcome :)