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Archive for December, 2011

Christmas Crepes

Posted in Breakfast, Christmas, Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holiday Recipes, Holidays, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on December 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

On special occasions or the rare days when Captain Cavedweller and I can enjoy a leisurely breakfast, I like to make crepes. Our favorite filling is fresh fruit with whipped  cream. Captain Cavedweller loves bananas while I tend to favor berries.

I’ve had this recipe for crepes since I was in the seventh grade. Our teacher decided to give us all some culture and let each of us a select a country to study up on and do a presentation complete with props. While I got stuck with India (when you are next to the last to get to choose, there aren’t a lot of countries left!), one of the girls choose France. Her mother brought in a hot plate and helped her make crepes for the class. They were delightfully wonderful and so different from anything I’d eaten. When she passed out copies of the recipe, I immediately went home and  begged my mom to let me make them. She did and I’ve been making them sense. Although my dad always called these flat pancakes, Captain Cavedweller does enjoy them!

These are light and delicious – just right for a morning brunch before a big holiday meal!

 

Ingredients

 

Mix the ingredients until it is smooth and there are no visible lumps.

 

Cook in a hot pan, lightly oiled. It just takes a minute or so for each side.

 

You want each side to be a nice golden brown.

 

Fill with berries and whipped cream.

 

Cook in a hot pan, lightly oiled. It just takes a minute or so for each side.

Enjoy!

Crepes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon  sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs until broken down. Add milk and vanilla extract and beat well. Beat in flour mixture until mixed then add in melted butter.

Lightly oil a hot griddle, frying pan or (if you have one) a crepe pan. Pour about two tablespoons of batter in the pan and thin it out by swirling the pan around. Tip and rotate until the batter is as thin as possible. Cook until each side is a light, golden brown.

Fill with fruit and whipped cream and roll. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar and enjoy!

Serves about 12.

She Who Loves Crepes!

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Counting My Blessings

Posted in Christmas, tagged , , , on December 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

“When I’m worried and I can’t sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings…”

Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin wrote this song for the movie White Christmas. I loved it the first time I heard it and I love it still.  It reminds me not to worry, and to be thankful.

At some point during the hustle and hurry of the holiday season, I like to take a quiet moment to think about how very blessed I am. Due to something tragic that happened to a friend yesterday, I am truly counting my abundant blessings this morning.

So often we get caught up in the craziness of our every day lives that we forget how very blessed, how truly fortunate we are for all that we have. I am often guilty of looking at things with a “grass is greener over there” eye. But today, especially today, I am grateful for every single nutty, crazy, challenging, wonderful, warm, loving person and thing in my life.

I’m thankful to all of you, as well. Your encouragement and continued support of my ramblings is a blessing to me.

Count Your Blessings and take some time just to enjoy those you love today.

She Who is Thankful

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Holiday Dresses

Posted in Christmas, Holidays, Musings, tagged , , , on December 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

As a little girl who absolutely loved pretty dresses, I looked forward to the Christmas season with great anticipation. I always got a brand new dress for the Christmas program at school. Sometimes new shoes were needed as well, but always, always there was a new dress involved.

Sometimes my mom made my dresses and other times they were purchased, but I could hardly wait for the Christmas program to roll around. Not because Santa would be there handing out sacks of treats, but because I would get a pretty new dress.

I remember the dress I got for the first grade program was an icy blue affair with a double ruffle down the front from shoulders to waist and little embroidered flowers across the front. I played a bunny in the Christmas play and wore a little white rabbit hat along with my dress. Hopping across the stage was a bit of  a challenge in a dress, but that didn’t stop me from proudly wearing it.

One year I had a bright red dress with white lace on the front, another the dress was brown. Although, at that time, I thought the color brown was hideous, the dress was quite lovely in a soft, floral pattern, thick with cream lace.

My favorite dress of all time, though, looked like it came straight out of some Victorian holiday movie. It was cream with tiny pink roses all over it. A pink satin sash tied at the waist while froths of airy lace circled the neck and sleeves. I felt like a princess wearing that dress and was loathe to pass it on to my niece when I outgrew it.

Because of my great fondness for fancy holiday dresses, my two grand-nieces had dresses complete with crinolines, white stockings, and shiny Mary Janes  every year for Christmas up until just a couple years ago. The thirteen-year-old has outgrown such silliness and the nine-year-old tomboy much prefers her jeans and holiday sweaters to fancy dresses. My heart is still recovering from the agony of not getting to shop for fancy dresses during the holiday season, but I think I’ll survive.

Maybe I’ll shop for big-girl dresses instead.

I have a few favorite websites where I like to drool over the lovely gowns offered:

Mod Cloth

Coldwater Creek

Dillards

She Who Needs a Reason for a New Dress

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Pasta Ribbon Salad

Posted in Christmas, Easy Recipes, Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, Recipes, Salads, Sides, tagged , , , , , on December 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 

If you are looking for a colorful side dish to serve this holiday season, try this easy Pasta Ribbon Salad.

 

Ingredients

Cook pasta according to package directions.

 

Slice Olives

 

Toss everything together.

 

I finished the salad off with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan and a sprig of dill.

Pasta Ribbon Salad

1 package Ribbon Pasta

1 can sliced olives

1/4 cup sliced Mazanilla Olives

1/4 cup sliced Kalamata Olives

1 cup Feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup Italian Salad Dressing

Cook pasta according to package directions. Cool completly. Add in olives and cheese. Toss with dressing. Chill and serve!

She Who Loves Pasta Salad

 

 

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