What I Make Wednesday

So, leading up to Christmas, I was in the mood for soup. I had a new recipe that I wanted to try. At first, it smelled bad--just not that good aroma that certain dishes make when they cook. I was a little worried. The smell ended up dissipating. The soup ended up being delicious!! And so, so easy! That's a win for me! Anything easy.

Crock Pot Ham and Potato Soup*

6 cups chicken broth (I just used 2 of the 32 oz. containers, so that was 8 cups)

2-8 oz. packages of cream cheese

1-32 oz. frozen hash browns (I used the shredded type, but cubed would be good too)

1 1/2 cups diced ham

1/2 t. minced onion flakes

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 t. pepper (I added a lot more--maybe 2 t.)

Combine all ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

 

*Since I loaned Mitchell my crockpot almost a year ago, I just cooked it on top of the stove, slowly for about an hour and a half. Basically the cream cheese needs to melt and flavors blend.

That's it! Couldn't be easier. In fact, it took longer to make the cornbread that I served with it!

Did you try anything new over the holidays?

What I'm Cooking

I narrowed down the cookies I made this year to just two family favorites. Then I decided to add one new one. 

They were very good. But, they are a soft cookie. Personally, I prefer a crisp cookie. Still the flavor is very good. I will probably make them again, but I think I'll just bake them a bit longer to see if they won't crisp up some.

Also, there were several steps in the making. Have you ever tried to chop fresh cranberries? Those little suckers roll all over the place. I had a mess going on, so gave up. They are not really chopped, but more like halved. Then I also had to chop the pecans since I buy them in bulk at Sam's. That's not too hard. I put them in a ziplock and whack them with my meat tenderizer. Just another step. Anyway, here they are:

Oh, I forgot to mention that they also have white chocolate chips. In the picture that came with the recipe, they were flatter and looked crisper. So that's why I'm going to try cooking them a little longer next time. Still so good.

Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies 

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1  1/2 cups flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

3 cups uncooked oats

1 cup fresh cranberries (chopped in to small pieces--or halved like I did)

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until creamy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add flour  to butter mixture and blend well. Stir in oatmeal then gently stir in cranberries, pecans and white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Place on rack to cool.

Did you make any new recipes this holiday season?

What I Make Wednesday

Every year, the girls want some sort of craft. Since this year was a weird one, I hadn't put much thought in to it---knowing we wouldn't be together to do it anyway. But, around mid-November, Connie's daughter, Malinda texted me. She sent a picture of a craft she had planned for their family over Thanksgiving. It was so darn cute that I couldn't resist! She got the labels for me and I set about making it. 

Making those little rolls of toilet paper were such a pain and so darn time consuming. I found out what Malinda and her sister, Amanda did and tried it. Then I figured out another shortcut and I was off. Anyway, after finishing it, I wrote detailed instructions and put together kits for the girls. I mailed Sandy's as a surprise for her to do with her girls. Then I gave Stephanie and Mindy theirs together. They'll do theirs when Jordan is in town and Morgan is off work. Anyway, I thought it turned out so darn cute!! Thanks Malinda!!

Then I put together a little surprise for my AYM group of scrapbookers. I made some "12 Days of Christmas" bags with a little tag explaining to open one little bag a day. Each bag is something different with bits and baubles, tags and flowers--just odds and ends for scrapbooking. When I finished with that, my scrapbook table looked like this:

What a mess! I had crap all over the place and on the floor. I took the time to do a little re-organizing--8 hours worth over two days!! When it came right down to it, I'm ashamed to say that I had never re-organized since our weekend crop at the Memory Make Inn! And, I'm ashamed to say, I'm not finished yet! Another 4 hours should do it! I have about 40 layouts to put in albums.

As I was cleaning, I put aside leftover bits and pieces. As a treat for all my hard work, I took some time to make some gift card holders--even though I've already wrapped all the gift cards this year! 

Oh well, at least I'm all set for next year. 
 

I made cookies too. Not as many as I usually do, but just a couple. 

I stuck with two family favorites that it wouldn't be Christmas without. These and my chocolate chip cookies. I plan to make one more batch of a new recipe today--Cranberry Oatmeal Pecan. They sound really good, so we'll see. If they are, I'll share the recipe.

Last but not least, I made a charcuterie last Friday for happy hour. Stephanie, Nicky and Mindy (Justin was working) came over for the first time since Thanksgiving. We masked and social distanced.

I thought it looked pretty festive. Butch reminded me that you aren't supposed to put anything on a plate (or board) that isn't edible. I'm like, "whatever!" Really, I don't think the girls would be stupid enough to try to take a bite out of an ornament! Steph said that with the cookies and the poinsettia drinks (champagne with a splash of cranberry juice), it felt like Christmas! At least it's somethin'!

I have another project that I've been putting off. It requires Butch's help. We desperately need to clean between the glass on our oven doors. It requires taking the oven door off. That should be fun!