Turkey Leftovers

The weather has been unseasonably warm this past week, and I could not muster the motivation to make the usual turkey soup from my Christmas dinner leftovers. Who wants hot soup on a warm, balmy 68 degree evening after we've played outside all day without even wearing our jackets? No one. Plus, having gone slightly overboard in preparing mashed potatoes this year, I still had a large container of leftovers sitting in the fridge that I didn't want to waste. Then I remembered seeing a great-for-turkey-leftovers recipe on another blog, so I decided to give a new dish a try.

Turkey Shepherd's Pie
2 C prepared stuffing
1 C peas, warmed
1 C corn, warmed
1 C shredded carrots
2 C shredded or cubed turkey
1 C turkey gravy, warmed
2 C mashed potatoes, warmed
1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese

Grease a 2-quart baking dish. Layer the ingredients in the dish as listed in the recipe. Bake for 45 minutes on 350 degrees, covering the dish if the cheese starts to become too brown.

Super easy and super yummy! This is certainly going to become a permanent addition to my recipe box for leftover turkey. I also read one comment that said assembling the dish on Thanksgiving/Christmas Day while cleaning the kitchen saves room in the refrigerator and means that you have one less dish to prepare in the days to follow. If you have great holiday lefovers ideas, post below!

And Happy New Years Eve!

Christmas & A Babymoom

We had a splendid Christmas this year! We decorated, baked, and shopped. We drove through Richmond's Tacky Light Tour and visited the GardenFest of Lights at the botanical gardens. My mom and sister came down from Pittsburgh, and we enjoyed a candlelit Christmas Eve service and a Christmas Day filled with present opening, big meals, napping, and playing with toys. I loved watching Christmas through the eyes of two year old Little Boy. We read a children's version of the Christmas story before bed for over a week, and he insisted on also singing "Jesus songs" as part of the bed time routine! What a joy!

The Saturday after Christmas, I surprised Hubby by picking him up at work and having him follow GPS directions to a surprise location (historic Smithfield, VA) for a one-night, pre-baby getaway! As we drove, he said, "Let me guess! The trunk is full of luggage and we're off to Jamaica for the night!" I said, "Well, the trunk is full of luggage..." and he laughed and said, "Sure it is!" Little did he know I was serious! Eventually he caught on, and we had an extremely relaxing night away while Little Boy spent the time getting spoiled to death by Grammy and Aunt Missy! I doubt he even missed us.

The highlights of our babymoon:
-The peaceful drive through farm land and small towns to reach Smithfield
-Antique shopping on Main Street
-Purchasing two beautiful acrylic paintings for our living room in a quaint store called Perspectives
-Visiting the Olde World Tea Shoppe, smelling canister after canister of aromatic loose leaf teas, and bringing home a black currant tea and a strawberry green tea
-Dinner of soup and salads at the famous Smithfield Inn
-Our queen-sized, jacuzzi suite at the Church Street Inn Bed & Breakfast
-Cookies and hot chocolate by the fire in our room before bed
-Huge, fluffy homemade pancakes and fresh fruit for breakfast
-A quiet, warm, and breezy stroll on Sunday morning looking at historic houses and landmarks in Smithfield; all of the house were decked out in beautiful Christmas garland, bows, and lights
-Visiting the historic St. Luke's Church
-Driving past the Smithfield ham packaging plant; Hubby keeps telling everyone we heard the squealing of pigs in the distance, but we absolutely did not!
-The stunning view of the James River from the Civil War Fort Boykin

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

A Relaxing Hour

This holiday season I have found myself out and about, busy and running around almost every day since mid-November. Despite feeling great and even resting good most nights, I am in a constant state of tiredness. In fact, the most relaxing hour of this week so far has been the hour I sat in the dentist's chair having my teeth cleaned. How sad. Especially since I usually hate going to the dentist. Having my teeth scraped with a metal hook ranks right up there with listening to nails on a chalkboard in my opinion.

And yet I enjoyed every moment of laying down and having my feet up for an hour; of not feeling guilty because I was sitting down instead of cleaning the house, shopping, wrapping presents, baking, or paying bills; of not having to watch Little Boy like a hawk to make sure he's not yanking ornaments off the tree or unplugging the computer... in all honesty, I could easily have fallen asleep! I wonder if that would have been a first for the hygienist!

Thankfully this week will end with my having a much more relaxing hour than a visit to the dentist. I'm off to Elizabeth Arden's Red Door Spa tomorrow for a 50 minute pregnancy massage! Hallelujah! I have been looking forward to this day of my pregnancy almost as much as I looked forward to finding out the baby's gender, and I can hardly wait!

Easy Christmas Treats

Every year we like to give our neighbors a plateful of treats, but I'm not usually up to baking 10 different kinds of cookies and packing up heavy laden plates to give away. So my sister-in-law gave me this fantastic idea last year:

M&M PRETZEL CANDIES
What you'll need:
Bag of square pretzels
Bag of Hershey's kisses
Bag of Christmas colored M&Ms

What to do:
Place square pretzels on a cookie sheet. Top each pretzel with one Hershey's kiss. Bake at 200 degrees (no higher) for 2-3 minutes until Hershey's kiss is slightly melted. Pull from the oven and immediately top with one M&M, pushing down slightly. Cool until chocolate is hardened again.

This year I'm making the following for the neighbors using an easy recipe courtesy of my friend Rachelle:

TOFFEE PRALINE BARS
1/2 box of graham crackers
1 C butter
1/2 C brown sugar
1 to 1-1/2 C chocolate chips
1/3 C chopped or sliced almonds, toasted if desired

Line a cookie sheet with foil. Spray with cooking spray. Layer the graham crackers on the bottom of the sheet. In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together. Boil for 3 minutes on medium heat. Pour evenly over graham crackers. Bake for 8 minutes. Pull from the oven and immediately top with chocolate chips. Once chocolate chips are soft and melted, spread evenly over the toffee layer. Top with almonds. Cut in to bars while still warm (important!) Refrigerate for 2-3 hours until firm. Break in to pieces.

And speaking of Rachelle and recipes (since she has the best of anyone I know), here is an amazing recipe for cucumber sandwiches that are absolutely a holiday party staple:

CUCUMBER SANDWICHES
8oz cream cheese
1/2 C mayonnaise
1 pkg dry Italian dressing mix (.7oz)
2 loaves french bread
2 cucumbers
Dill (optional)

Blend cream cheese, mayonnaise, and Italian dressing together. Refrigerate 2-4 hours, though overnight is best. Slice the bread and cucumbers. (The Pillsbury bread loaves you bake are the best.) Spread each slice of bread generously with cream cheese mixture. Top with one cucumber slice. Sprinkle with dill if desired. Refrigerate until serving.

If you have a super easy, super yummy holiday recipe, share below! I'm especially glad that I have no need to watch my weight or waistline this holiday season! Bring on the goodies!

Toy Packaging

While in Michigan during the Thanksgiving holidays, we exchanged gifts with Hubby's side of the family. Little Boy certainly received several awesome toys. The only trouble seemed to be the amount of time it took his parents to extricate the toy from its packaging. While Little Boy danced in front of us screaming "Vacuum! Vacuum! Vacuum!" Mommy and Daddy wrestled with wires, screws, and tape to free the said toy. We both ended up with scratches and paper cuts all over our hands. Hubby's brother laughed at us until he later had a toy purse that he had to disentangle from monstrous packaging for his daughter.

I am still pondering the necessity of tying a toy in to its box so tightly. Is the packaging supposed to prevent children from playing with the toy in the store, stealing small parts, or returning a toy after opening it? Who knows.

As I sat working at my computer tonight and listening to the new Sara Groves Christmas CD that I won over at Tired Supergirl (woo hoo!) I noticed the lyrics of a certain catchy song.

Oh, yes. Sara Grove wrote a song about toy packaging! Now I like her even more!

Toy Packaging
by Sara Groves

Nothing makes me lose my cool like
Toy packaging
Ask the kids to leave the room for
Toy packaging
I have no choice the money's spent
I've worked for hours to make a dent
I guess it's anger management
Toy packaging

Nothing makes me lose my cool like
Toy packaging
Ask the kids please leave the room it's time for
Toy packaging
I'm drawing up a battle plan
to extricate this robot man
My self-esteem is in the can
Toy packaging

In the old days you could hold a box and shake it
And hear the pieces rattling around
My eyes tear up with these grommets, tape and twisty ties
Remembering their beautiful sound

Toy Packaging
I love Toy Packaging
(Mom! Honey!)

Nothing makes me lose my cool like toy packaging
Kids you really need to leave the room, mom's opening toy packaging
I'm sorry you have to see this sight
You must be brave, no please don't cry
I promise it will be alright
I hope to have it by tonight
Nevermind this dynamite
Toy packaging

Early Birthday Present

Yesterday Hubby SURPRISED me with the BEST birthday present EVER...

A KitchenAid Classic Plus! Angels everywhere are singing!

I have wanted one of these since we got married, and I am so excited that I now own one! I can barely stand it! I'm just dying to use it! In fact, I'm surprised that every inch of my counter space is not yet covered in baked goods! Apparently I do have some self control.

And though this purchase exceeded the budget that we set for each other's birthdays, Hubby had been saving his Starbucks tip money to add to the gift. What a sweetie! (Especially since I know he wanted to save that money for a new yard shed!) Honestly I don't think any other hubby could compare!

To the BEST HUBBY EVER, thank you, thank you, thank you!!