Peppermint Oreos

Another quick and easy holiday cookie and with Christmas less than a week away I need all the quick and easy I can get!

My daughter made these and is going to give them to some of her friends all dressed up in some cute candy cane bags. 

  Here is all you need to make them:

1.  A box of White Oreo Fudge Covered Cookies

2.  Some white chocolate chips ( you don’t need a whole bag, we used about 1/3 of a cup

3.  A couple of fresh candy canes. 

Melt your white chocolate chips in a heat proof dish and microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir, and then microwave them again in 20 second increments being sure to stir in between each time you heat them until they are smooth and melted. 

Unwrap your candy canes and put them in a zip-loc bag sandwich bag and crush them.  We used a rolling pin.

Spoon a small amount of the melted chocolate on top of a cookie and spread it evenly around.  Then immediately sprinkle with the crushed candy canes.  Turn any of the candy cane pieces over to show the color red.  Set aside to cool.   I suggest you do one cookie at a time so that your chocolate does not harden before you have a chance to add the candy canes.    That’s it!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!

Tour of Trees

   On Friday night,  it was our turn to host part of the Tour of Trees.  Every year about 24 of our neighbors get together and do a progressive Christmas tour of 3 houses.  We started with appetizers and drinks at the first house, dinner this year was at our house, and the night ended at house number 3 for dessert and after dinner drinks.  It was a very fun night and I am glad my turn is done!  We don’t have to host again for 3 more years. :)

I served a lasagna and was biting my fingernails worrying if it was going to be enough to feed 24 people but in the end it was big enough and we even had some leftovers.   That lasagna was in the oven for two and a half hours and thankfully it was perfect when it was time to serve.  I had visions of  it being cold in the middle but it was nice and hot and I didn’t burn it!   Alongside the lasagna I served a big Caesar salad, lots of bread with olive oil for dipping or garlic butter, a big bowl of my Cranberry Pecan Orzo Salad, and a tray of Rosemary Ham with some salami and mozzarella pinwheels.  Beer, wine, and Pellegrino sparkling water and all was good.

   

I decorated three trees.  Too much!!  Anyway, the tree in the sunroom was fun to do.  I had picked up a bunch of aqua blue and silver Christmas bulbs at Good will last year and saved them not sure what to do with them.  When I saw the giant snowflakes at the dollar store the idea came to me to do the sunroom tree in aqua and silver with the icy snowflakes.  It turned out cuter than I expected and was VERY inexpensive to do. 

The next tree was in my dining room.  Not a great photo but that is my favorite tree.  It’s a skinny tree and I collect ornaments that look like food and candy and that is what I decorate that tree with.  And then we got a real tree from our friends who have a Christmas tree farm.  If you live in the Greensboro area the real trees you can get from Bruce Wagoner’s Nursery are beautiful and fresh.  They run the tree lot at The Friendly Center outside of the Sears and soon to open Whole Foods and they have a new location at the corner of Church Street and Highway 150 in the Summerfield/Brown’s Summit area across from the new Lowe’s Foods.    They sell Fraser Firs and the smell of their fresh trees will put you right  in the Christmas spirit.

Now for that tree I needed a topper.  I decided to make a snowman hat topper for it and added an old red plaid scarf.  The hat was easy to do.  For Halloween this year, I dressed as Mr. Peanut and decided to give my Mr. Peanut hat a new life as a snowman hat. If you want to make one for yourself, I found the plain black hat at Party City.   I cut out a red band out of a sparkly red felt and glued it around the base.  Then I cut out two holly leaves out of green felt and glued them on along with three bright red pom poms.  Easy and cute.

And this is one of my favorite new decorations that I did this year.  I told you I had a lot of aqua and silver bulbs compliments of the Goodwill.  I added them to my terrarium and I love it.

More silver bulbs added to a tray in the dining room.  You can’t get any easier than that. 

And finally, my very small Santa collection.  My Dad carved out four of the Santa’s and I love to put them out grouped together each year.  C’est tout!  It was a wee bit stressful getting decorated and entertaining so early in the season this year especially since I did something weird to my back and I have been trying to clean and cook and work  and not feeling all that great.  Back trouble is new to me and not much fun.  Anyway, whoa is me…it’s nice now to have it all done!

Cranberry Cashew Clusters

 

Tis the season for all things cranberry.  These might be the ticket if you are looking for something quick, sweet, easy, crunchy, and chewy.  And they were very easy to make.

Cranberry Cashew Clusters

12 oz. bag of white chocolate chips or vanilla-flavor candy coating, chopped.

3/4 cup dry-roasted cashews

3/4 cup dried cranberries

You can either melt your chips or candy coating in a double boiler or in the microwave like I did.   I placed 1 bag of white chocolate chip in a heat proof bowl and micro-waved them in 30 second intervals being sure to stir them in between each interval until they melted.  Then mix in your chopped cranberries and cashews.  You can either chop your cashews or leave them in big pieces.  I left mine in big pieces.  And I also saved a few chopped cranberries to add to the top for more color while the clusters were still wet.  Drop them on a cookie sheet lined with either wax paper or I used a silcone non-stick mat.  Let them cool.  Store at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze up to 3 months.

These are very sweet and great to make ahead of time.  If you freeze them, pull them out about 30 minutes before you want to serve them. 

Quick and Easy Snowflake Pillow

This Christmas Snowflake Pillow was a happy accident. Yesterday, I posted my Père Noël Pillow so I must have Christmas pillows on the brain but anyway, I was shopping in Pier One Imports today, (and wow did they have a lot of cute things for the holidays!) and I came across this felt snowflake cutout placemat. Pier One is selling them for $2.95 each. I was looking at it and I thought that I might take it home and try to use it as a stencil. My plan was to take some red spray paint and lay it on a pillow cover and then paint it. Well, of course, I could still do that but after I got it home and I placed it on my pillow, I thought it looked beautiful just the way it was and thought why not just glue it on???????

A little bit of fabric glue is all it took and WOW! I think it looks great. YOU can do this! You can either make your own cover for a pillow out of Painter’s Cloth like I did or simply add it to any other decorative pillow you might have. I like the simplicity of the red on the plain canvas background. And the red felt placemat already had the sparkly rhinestone embellishments on them. This could not have been any easier!!

I am linking this post up to Funky Junk Interiors. Lot's to see over there!!

Père Noël Stenciled Pillow

 

I have started decorating for Christmas and I almost forgot to put this pillow out.  I made it this past summer and it’s been sitting on the top shelf of my closet ever since and almost missed it’s début.    I made it from a stencil that I ordered from my favorite stencil source, Maison de Stencils.  I made a quick cover for an old pillow that I had out of some painter’s cloth.  You can check out one of my past posts called Stenciled French Pillow to see how I did it.   Then it was just a matter of stenciling the image on to the pillow cover.  I am really happy with it!

  

And earlier today I found a great tree skirt at TJ Maxx for the snowflake tree I am working on in the sunroom.   You’ve got to love the dollar store for those giant snowflakes.  I am almost done with that tree.  I am working on three trees this year.   Yes, three and it’s about to kill me!   And it’s only because I am hosting part of the progressive dinner for the annual “Tour of Trees” party.  I have until December 9th to get them done.   Otherwise, I would have left half of the decorations boxes in the attic!  I’ll be back soon with more  Christmas tree photos as I get them done.  Have you started decorating yet???

Cranberry Pecan Orzo Salad with Chives

 

This is my new winter salad.  It’s just the thing to make this time of year.  It’s easy, delicious and pretty to look at especially for the holidays.  The deep red cranberries and the green chives make it perfect to serve at a party this time of year and that’s exactly what I am planning to do.

We are hosting the dinner part of a 3 part holiday progressive dinner party.  The idea of the party is a great one.  Especially since may of us in our neighborhood are not from here and most do not have family around to share the holidays with.  I think the idea originally started so that we could all take turns stopping by each other’s house and see the Christmas decorations and Christmas trees.  The dinner is called the Tree Parade and everybody gets to host one part of the dinner every three years.  I can’t believe it’s our turn again

We will start out at someone else’s house for appetizer’s and drinks.  Then proceed to our house for the main course.  Then we will finish the night up at a third house for desserts and after dinner drinks.   I have decided that for our part, I am going to serve lasagna, a couple of salads, and an assortment of breads and rolls. 

One of the salads I am going to serve is this Cranberry Pecan Orzo Salad with Chives.    I made a batch as a trial run and got the thumb’s up from everyone including my daughter who I will be send a large portion back with her when she heads back to finish up the semester at school. 

Here’s the recipe:

Cranberry Pecan Orzo Salad with Chives

1 16 oz. package of orzo pasta.

1/2 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 cup of dried cranberries, chopped into small pieces

1/2 cup of toasted pecans, chopped into small pieces

1 bunch of chives.

t tsp.Salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Prepare the orzo according to the directions on the package.  I added some salt to the water to help add some extra flavor.  While the orzo is cooking, chop up the dried cranberries and pecans.  I toasted my pecans in the oven at 350 on a foil lined cookie sheet for about 12 minutes for extra crunch and flavor.  Be careful not too burn them.

Drain your orzo pasta and move to a large mixing bowl.  Add the cranberries and pecans.  Add the olive oil and mix well.  Then add the Balsamic Vinegar and mix well.  Take your chives and with a pair of kitchen shears, snip the chives into small pieces and add to the salad.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust the salt and pepper if needed. 

And serve with,                         or without Feta cheese.  Delicious. 

Simply Truffles, A new Cookbook by Patricia Wells and a Class Luncheon at Southern Seasons

I took another class at Southern Season’s in Chapel Hill the day after Thanksgiving.  Talk about a food filled weekend!    The lunch classes at Southern Seasons are great.  Not only do you get to watch the dishes being prepared, you get a copy of the recipes and best of all you get to enjoy eating them as your lunch.  This time I was excited to hear Patricia Wells talk about her new cookbook called Simply Truffles and have a wonderfully prepared lunch paired with two new wines to try.  Our lunch started with a Watercress, Endive and Beet Salad and was then followed up by a Creamy Polenta with Truffles and a Poached Egg.  So delicious!  It’s one of the recipes in Patricia Well’s new cookbook called Simply Truffles.  See the two generous slices of a black truffle sitting on top the poached egg?  Adding the black pepper was my idea.  :)  We finished with La Maison Du Chocolat’s Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse from Patricia’s book called The Paris Cookbook.  Rich and extremely chocolaty.

Patricia’s new cookbook Simply Truffles is full of beautiful photos, delicious recipes, and interesting facts and wonderful stories about truffles. 

Watercress, Endive, and Beet Salad from the cookbook Salad As A Meal by Patricia Wells.

This salad was very good.  Unexpectedly so.  I really don’t eat a lot of beets although with color like that I am sure they must be loaded with antioxidants and be good for you.  The dressing was Creamy Lemon-Mustard Dressing and it was light and the lemon was subtle and not overwhelming.  I really liked it. 

      

The white truffles are highly prized with a price tag to match.  The more affordable black truffles are what we were able to taste and they have an aromatic quality and of course are delicious. 

My favorite tip that Patricia gave when she was speaking was that she like to place her truffles in a glass jar with 6 fresh in the shell raw eggs and store them in the refrigerator for a few days.  The egg shells are porous and absorb the aroma of the truffles and flavors the eggs.  Then she prepares the eggs anyway she wants as a meal and has truffle flavored eggs.  Great idea for helping to justify the price of splurging on truffles!

I had to take a photo of the container holding two golf ball sized white truffles.  Yes, that price tag does say $349.75.  Unbelievable!!  I knew truffles were expensive but I had no idea!  The black truffles however, are a lot less.

Someday, I hope to attend one of her week long classes in either Paris or Provence.  I love her books and truly enjoyed listening to her talk about truffles and her life in France.  Visit Patricia Well’s website and you can take a peek at her other books and get more information about here cooking schools.  Who would want to go to Paris and take a cooking class?!