Christmas Spirit!

Hi all!

Hope you are ready for Christmas!  The store (Der Kuchen Laden) has been very busy, which has kept me from sending out recipes and messages.  Today is my day off and I am playing Heinz 57 here at the house.  Going to have lunch with my walking buddy, Rose, and run around town to get things done!

We had our Christmas with the kids this past Saturday nite and it went really well!  Everyone had a big time!  Food was fried catfish, pinto beans, cole slaw, cucumber salad and potato salad from Der Linden Baum(the good German restaurant here in Fredericksburg!), chocolate chip cookies, rice crispy ornament balls, and chocolate layered dessert…too much food but it was all so good!

This Sunday, Larry & I will be going to my parents house for dinner and what a dinner it will be!  Mom’s roast beef with brown gravy, mashed potatoes and I will be doing some veggies on the side along with salad!  That is one of my favorite meals that I chose for my birthday meal when growing up!  Yum! Yum!

Ok..here are some pics of the Christmas bash last Saturday nite!

The Tree!

This is the tree with the two cats giving their approval!  The deer heads have bows tied to them for decorations! (red neck decos??)

 

Yaya and Robbie opening his presents!

Robbie & I opened his gifts.  He was more interested in just tearing the paper off slowly and giving it to me until he opened his computer, then he did not want to open any more!  He wanted to play!

Everyone involved!

 

Robbie was helping Makenna open her box while Koen was watching and unwrapping his own things!  Barret & Christine helping Makenna too!

Tooter-in-a-box.

Tooter had to be in the middle of it all but protected in a box!  Where was JR?????  He was under the couch out from under feet….

Heather opening present for baby girl Koch while Kyle looked and Koen watching Makenna!

Heather is due around the first of April with a baby girl, so we got baby girl something too!  Koen needs a baby sister to take care of!

Katie, my adopted daugher, friend of Alex.

Katie flew in from Arizona to be in Meagen’s wedding on Monday and she stayed with us until yesterday, Tuesday.

Alex & Koen.

 

Alex was helping Koen with his box while Robbie was playing with his phone…Larry was taking pics, so I don’t have one of him involved with anyone.

Robbie.

Makenna.

Koen.

 

The grand kids!  Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  God Bless!  Vicky

 

 

 

 

 

Taco meat salad for lunch this week!

Hi!

My salad this week is taco meat salad!  Go to the link of saladinajar and read her blog about keeping Romain lettuce in glass jars!  REALLY neat!  This will be my second week of doing salad in a jar, YES IT WORKS!!!!.  Last week was Tuscany tuna salad and this week is taco meat salad.  This is my way of keeping my weight under control during this winter cold stuff that is keeping me from doing my morning walks with my friend Rose.  I am a fair-weather-walker, so, needless to say, when it is either raining or the temp is below 40 degrees, I don’t go walking early in the mornings….(I hate cold weather…)

This weekend we are having Christmas here at the house  with all the kids!  If I had an unlimited budget/money source, I could really decorate the house in a rather large way….give me some time and I will accumulate what I want!  I bought a little arrangement at Hobby Lobby that I will set on the bar and put a candle in the center, the cats will just love it and probably chew on it and get sick…cats do that, you know. Came close to buying a wreath to put outside or somewhere in the house but decided my cart was full enuff…there is always next year….Alex, Robbie and hopefully Michael will get to come with them this weekend.  Katie Harvey will be staying with us this weekend also and that will be great!  I will be posting pics from the celebration Saturday nite!  Meal will be fried catfish, fries, hush puppies, cole slaw, pinto beans, veggies and who knows what else!  The non-traditional Christmas meal!  We love it and everyone else does too!

Hope y’all have a good week and stay warm!  Hugs!  Vicky D

Chicken Muffin Cups

Hey y’all!

I am back!  I have been busy at work plus trying to crochet pot holders to be sold at Der Kuchen Laden!  But I DID manage to take pictures of a dish I fixed last nite for supper!  I saw a recipe from Cooking.com/eatingwell.com called Muffin-Tin Crab Cakes.  I had baked up about two whole chickens and knew I needed to do something with the meat I had in the fridge.  So, when I saw this recipe, it gave me the idea of making chicken muffin cups based on this recipe but making my changes to meet my taste buds!  Crab meat is expensive, if you did not know that, and by using the chicken and other ingredients I used, I was able to give it a “seafood” flair!  So, here we go!

Two chopped chicken breast meat

Set your oven to 450 degrees before you start.  I took two cooked chicken breasts, pulled the meat off and chopped it into small pieces, about the size of lump crab meat and put it in a large mixing bowl. For measuring purposes, 3 cups of chopped chicken meat of your choice would be fine.

Onion, pepper & garlic

Here is 1/2 green pepper, chopped fairly fine, about 1/2 cup chopped onion and a small clove of garlic minced fine sitting in a non-stick pan with about 1 TBSP of EVOO.  Saute this until onion is starting to be clear. Set aside to cool a bit while you pull the other things together.

Toasted bread crumbs.

I put two pieces of whole wheat bread in the toaster and crumbled them in my 4-cup Cuisinart mini processor.

Mayo, Old Bay, and eggs.

There is two eggs and one egg white in the bowl.  Beat those well together.  Add about 1/4 cup of mayo to the eggs along with 1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning and 1/2 tsp sea salt.  When mixed, add to the chicken along with the bread crumbs and sauteed veggies.  Chop 1 TBSP of fresh parsley to the bowl, sorry, I don’t have a pic of that, last minute addition to get that perfect taste I was looking for!  Fold ingredients  and put in sprayed non-stick muffin pans. Top with Whole Wheat panko crumbs. Bake in pre-heated 450 degree oven for 25 minutes.  Serve while hot!  I took a slender high-heat spatula and ran it around each cup to help get them out of the pans.

Chicken cups ready for oven!

This is a pic of the chicken muffins that I had in a regular tin 6-cup muffin pan.  I had three in a non-stick pan, also.  The ones in the non-stick pan browned better on the outside and came out of the pan easy while the ones in the tin pan, stuck and did not brown on the sides.  That’s just an FYI for you when you make them!

Plated and ready for eating!

Now doesn’t that look just yummy!  I made mac & cheese using a scratch cheese sauce/roux base white sauce with sharp cheddar cheese, I put some of the sauce on the chicken cups after I took the pic!  Fresh carrots, radishes and Serrano peppers were my sides.  I wanted to make some squash from the freezer, but I did not remember to do it until after I had nearly cleaned my plate……go figure…..

They really tasted great and Larry said I could make these again anytime!  So, in the event you have quite a bit of left-over chicken in some form or fashion, here is a good and tasty way of using some of it up!  If you don’t want to go to the trouble of cooking/baking chicken, you can use rotisserie chicken from your favorite store!

Hope you try this, because it is good and easy to fix, plus it is GOOD FOR YOU TOO!!!!!!!  Shhhhhh don’t tell the kids that……Hugs!  Vicky D