December's Menu

I have some great recipes for you this month!  And I am happy to say that after 6 hours, I have 23 meals in the freezer, ready for one of the nuttiest, busiest months of the year!

It's pretty overwhelming to do that many meals at once, I'm not gonna lie.  There were 6 of us this time and while that makes for more work, it also makes for more hands.  I don't think I would have gotten 23 meals done by myself in that time!  And I certainly would not have enjoyed myself so much!

If anyone is interested in doing freezer meals with a group and wants to know "how we did it", feel free to email me and I will send you some info. If you are local and want to join a session, that's cool too.

With freezer meals (maybe with all meals!), the key is organization.  And man, it takes a whole lot to get organized for a month of meals.  Feel free to take it small and freeze a couple things on the weekend.  Several meals made 2 bags so you can have one now and one later:

• Honey and Spice Glazed Pork Chops
• Orange Beef Stew 
• Best Ever Meatballs
• Bacon Jalapeno Stuffed Grilled Pork Tenderloin
• Monterrey Chicken
• Cilantro Shrimp

That's like a two-fer.  Just sayin'.

As always, you can bypass the freezer and just throw it in your crockpot the morning of (or mix it up the night before and turn it on the morning of).

Here is this month's menu.  The Bacon Jalapeno Stuffed Grilled Pork Tenderloin is special enough to make for Christmas Eve or Christmas day.  I have shared my Christmas Day menu with you as well. It's pretty fancy, but the rest of the meals are quick, easy and delicious!  Please share if you tried any and how you liked them!  I love feedback!

December Menu

Grocery List by Recipe

Master Grocery List - All

Take some time to get prepared this month.  It is so crazy with the parties, errands and running around.  If you take a minute to do some planning, you might avoid spending a fortune on eating out! Take it from a girl who learned her lesson (and gained extra pounds!) last year.

Now, bring us some figgy pudding!

K

What's On Your Table?

Thanksgiving.  It's one of those great holidays that is full of traditions.  I am a traditions kind of girl and Team Holmes has no shortage of them!  I love the things that make our holidays special to us but I also like to throw in one or two new things each year.

We always start our Thanksgiving by watching the Macy's Day parade.  I am usually able to mostly watch it (meaning I don't have to start cooking yet).  I try to make something for breakfast the night before so it is ready in the morning.  Besides, who wants to cook breakfast when you are going to have to make Thanksgiving dinner all day?  Not me.  Here are a few of my fav, EASY overnight breakfast ideas you can throw together Wednesday night:

Pumpkin French Toast Bake

Easy French Toast Bake

Easy Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

One thing I am thinking of adding to the docket this year is Apple Cider Mimosas.  I love the thought of having these while watching the parade.  HOWEVER....champagne is not known to be a great motivator so...not too sure about this one.  This might turn out to be an epic fail.

The Turkey
I make many of the same things for Thanksgiving every year and have for a looooong time.  You will never believe what I change up every year....the turkey!  I have been brining it (soaking in a high salt marinade) for years now and I love this method. But I keep finding recipes that sound too good not to try!  This year, I am going in with this one  Maple Cider Brined Turkey.  Did I mention the recipe comes with a Bourbon-Cider gravy? Be still my heart.

The Sweet Potato Casserole
No, the old miniature marshmallow thing is not for me.  I seriously love my yams though!  I adore this recipe and would chop my arm off before I went without it.  With nuts, coconut and amaretto...nothing can go wrong!

The Mashed Potatoes
Also one of my favs AND another recipe I change up every year!  (Don't ask about the year we decided to make gruyere mashed potatoes and my neice and I searched the town over for gruyere cheese!)  This year, I am going to try this recipe.  They had me at make-ahead.  

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

The Stuffing
Our stuffing has sausage in it because that's how we roll.  I have made this stuffing recipe for as long as I can remember.
This year, I am gonna try changing it up with one I recently got in a cookbook...dried cherry and sausage dressing.  See, I kept the sausage.  Can't change too much!

The Green Beans
Forget about french fried onions. This is another one that I would chop my arm off rather than go without.  If you want to try just one of my recipes, THIS IS IT!  This is a cold green bean salad that is absolutely amazing!

The Cranberry Sauce
I hated cranberry sauce for years.  That's because my mom bought the jellied kind in the can and sliced it.  (For the record, that is not cranberry sauce... eww)  Geez, the 70s...who knew any better?

Well, cranberry sauce is such a great compliment to turkey.  And REAL cranberry sauce is delicious!  If you have never tried it, you really should.  This homemade sauce is TO DIE FOR!  AND...it is super easy.  You could have it on other things too! (think english muffins, ice cream...etc)  If you have leftovers, by all means bake some brie and put this on top!  Yummm!  I said IF you have leftovers...

White Wine.  No recipe needed.  Add more as necessary.

The Pumpkin Dessert

Dessert has always been my maple pumpkin cheesecake.  I am pretty well known in these parts for my cheesecake,  I gotta tell you.  This recipe is fairly easy as far as cheesecakes go but if you've never made one before, this is not the time to start.  Again, I have decided to buck long-standing tradition and try a pumpkin tiramisu.  I haven't announced this yet.  Not sure how it is going to go over.  I am pretty sure my BFF is crying right now.

So there you have it.  A run down of the HolmeStead menu, the old and the new.  I hope you found some recipes you can try!  Whatever you do, don't overdo.  Enjoy your time with your family and friends and don't be stressed.  The day is not about the meal, it's about the fellowship.

After sharing our meal and cleaning up, we of course, like the rest of the nation, want to take a nap.  But we don't eat until about 3 so by the time our show is over, it's just too late for naptime.  We do get into our jammies and hit the couch though!  We really love Christmas but I just can't get down with it until Thanksgiving is over.  Well, almost.  Our last Thanksgiving tradition is our holiday season kick-off.  We sit on the couch in our jammies Thanksgiving night, all fat and full and thankful, and watch A Christmas Story.  There is no better way to start the Christmas season than learning how to NOT shoot your eye out.

I'd love to know of any favorite recipes or traditions you have for the Thanksgiving holiday!  Don't be afraid to try something new once in awhile.  Go ahead!  I triple dog dare you.

Have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving!  Gobble, Gobble!
K

Finding our Bridge

This past Sunday, hubs and I celebrated our 12th anniversary.  We had one of the most relaxing, nicest anniversaries I can remember.  Maybe it was because we were out of town.  Maybe it's because we celebrated friends getting married the day before.  Or maybe it was just because we found our bridge again.

Inn at Corolla Light

The past couple of months have not been the easiest for us.  Hubs' classes this semester are killing him, which is therefore killing me and it's not doing much for the "us" either.  We went from a season of never fighting to having arguments like we were just dating again.  We went from being "here" (as in "we're here" - mentally) to you're here, I'm there and I don't know where that bridge is that goes between us. Someone throw me a line.  Please.

These last few months, things have been hard and stressful for us and I finally had to recognize that we are in a different season now.  And that is ok.  The reason it is ok is because I am hopeful.  I know that this too shall pass.  I know that the end result will be worth this brief time of struggle.  We have a plan.  No one said that plan was going to be easy.  Most things that are worth it aren't.  I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. So many things are temporary and we just have to stay hopeful and positive in the waiting.  Which ain't easy, believe me, I know.  And this weekend, as we walked down a pier together in the morning and stared at a lighthouse, I knew, as I had all along, that everything will be ok.  We found our bridge again.

The thing is, it can happen to anyone.  You know how people say marriage is work?  I think that's the work part.  Keeping it up.  It's not that loving someone is hard.  The work is not getting caught up in routines and life and neglecting that other person.  It's making sure you take that time to nurture the relationship.  That's not easy because we are all so busy.  I made it a point this year to schedule a date night for every month on my calendar in January, when I got my calendar.  I just picked the last Sat of every month.  It might not sound romantic to schedule dates, but it's the only way I can make them happen.  And it worked.

People often tell us that they envy our relationship.  This always makes me smile.  Not because that statement makes me feel good, but because I know the truth behind our relationship.  Hubs and I are very close but we have gone through a lot.  And I am okay with that.  I wonder if people would be envious if they knew all the tough times that we went through?  Maybe not.  But no one said that marriage was going to be easy.  Most things that are worth it aren't.

Take time for each other on a regular!
K

I Like Coffee with My Cream !!

The only thing I love more than coffee is creamer.  I used to be completely obsessed with Coffeemate Vanilla creamer.  We went through a large 32 ounce container in 2 weeks or less.  I mean really, I could have been their poster girl.

I really felt like creamer was way too expensive and had often thought of making my own.  Then, one day, it happened.  Like any other thing in my life. Someone who was trying to lose weight was trying to cut out creamer and I laughed to myself at what a little thing that was to cut out.  Is it really that many calories?  Then I did it.  I turned my bottle around.  I don't remember how many calories or grams of fat it had, but I saw the list of ingredients.  Eww...what?  What is sodium stearoyl lactylate and do I really want to drink it?  I'm going to guess no.  Um, my beloved creamer was pretty gross if you got down to it.  So...just like other things I have started making, once I get grossed out, there is no going back for me.  And thus I began the hunt for the perfect homemade creamer.

I found a lot of websites that had quite a few creamers.  Some pretty simple, some more complex.  I have tried quite a few flavors and have pretty much liked all of them. I have to admit, my first cup of coffee without my store-bought creamer did not make me happy.  But I very quickly got used it and now, if I used store-bought creamer, that does not make me happy.

I always start with a half and half base.  I have seen all kinds of bases out there, many of them combos (1/2 c sweetened condensed milk to 1 1/2 cups half and half).  It looks like you can use any type of milk, half and half, whipping cream, or combination thereof that you prefer.
One of the reasons I wanted to make my own creamer was that creamer was really expensive.  (At least the way I was tearing through it!)  The reason I did not like the sweetened condensed milk option was for the expense.  From what I have read, it adds a creaminess and I felt like I could live without it.

It's funny, but before, I liked vanilla and peppermint mocha flavor and that was it.  I thought the other flavors I tried tasted too fake and rarely liked any of them. Now, I have a different flavor each week!

I guess the trickiest part for me has been the spices.  I have tried straining these suckers out every way you can imagine.  I have gotten the finest strainer I can find (think tea ball infuser), I have strained multiple times.  I have tried straining thorugh a coffee filter (epic fail).  And I have tried just shaking it up and living with the spices.  If you go this route, might I recommend that you never take the last sip of coffee in your mug.  Just trust me on this.  I am currently in search of some cheese cloth and will let ya'll know if I ever solve my straining dilemnas.

Some have sweeteners added and some do not.  I generally am ok with just adding my own sweetener.  Another thing I learned through this journey..brown sugar is much better in my coffee than white sugar.

Here are my favorite flavors I have tried, with links to their websites:

Caramel Coconut Creamer

Pecan Pie (a little more labor intensive!)
Pumpkin Spice
Cinnamon Strudel
all found on:  Homemade Healthy Coffee Creamers


Chocolate Almond
Cappucino
Cinnamon Bun (one of my VERY favs!)
Pumpkin Spice
all found on:  Bacon in my Pocket

And, I even invented my own!

Butter-nut Maple Creamer
2 c base
1 t vanilla butternut extract
1 t maple extract

There are some on my radar to go to next:

Vanilla Caramel
Almond Joy
Salted Caramel
Eggnog
Peppermint Patty
Mrs. Happy Homemaker

Hoping yours is good to the last drop!
K