My mother-in-law has been interested in Amish people, factual and fictional books about Amish people, and Amish cooking for many, many years.  She even has a beautiful quilt on her bed that she bought in an Amish store.  Knowing this, a friend of my mother-in-law’s sent her this Amish recipe.  I think it sounds delicious and thought I would share it.  Someone might want to make it for a New Year’s Eve party coming up in a couple of days.  (Our son-in-law really likes peanut butter!  C, do you think he would like this?)  

Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds white chocolate
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups peanuts
• 2 cups marshmallows
• 3 cups rice krispies

Using a double boiler or the microwave, melt white chocolate.  Stir in peanut butter until well mixed.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Pour into a 9×13 pan.   Wait until it has cooled completely and then cut into squares.

Hope everyone had a really nice Christmas!  We had a wonderful time being with family several different times.   It’s such a special time remembering how much we’ve been blessed and then in turn, blessing other people.   Now, we don’t give gifts like a laptop or an industrial computer, but we try to give something special for each particular person.  (However, several years ago, we did give my mother-in-law a computer.  That was definitely an exception!)  

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.  I tried to find just the song, but the best recording I could find has a movie clip with it.  So…

Here is my Christmas card to you for 2009:  (Lyrics are below)

Here With Us Lyrics

Verse 1

It’s still a mystery to me

That the hands of God could be so small,

How tiny fingers reaching in the night

Were the very hands that measured the sky.

Chorus

Hallelujah, hallelujah

Heaven’s love reaching down to save the world.

Hallelujah, hallelujah

Son of God, Servant King

You’re here with us,

You’re here with us.

Verse 2

It’s still a mystery to me, oh,

How his infant eyes have seen the dawn of time.

How his ears have heard an angel’s symphony

But still Mary had to rock her Savior to sleep.

Chorus

Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem

A baby born to save, to save the souls of man.

Chorus (2x)

For those who like spicy hot snacks:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 pkgs of dry Ranch Dressing Mix (not dip)
• 1/2 cup Canola Oil
• 1 pound bag of pretzels

Mix together first four ingredients.  Pour over pretzels and stir well.  Bake at 200 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.  Stir every 30 minutes.

Appetizers:

• Cheese Ball

• Cheese Log
• Blackeye Pea Salsa
• Olive Garden’s Artichoke-Spinach Dip
• Mixed Nuts with Rosemary & Shallots (serve warm)
• Rolled Chicken and Asparagus
• Sausage Cheese Balls
• Sausage Rolls
• Spicy Hot Pretzels
• Southwest “Cheesecake” Dip

• Texas Stuffed Jalapenos

Beverages:

• Hershey’s Microwave Hot Chocolate (made from scratch)
• Spicy Apple Cider

Desserts, Muffins, & Breads:

• Cherry-Banana Bread (Low-fat)
• Chocolate Cake in a Mug in 5 Minutes (Microwave)
• Chocolate Chip Pie
• Chocolate Kiss – Peanut Butter Cookies
  
• Company’s Coming Cookies
• Crustless Pumpkin Pie
• Eggless Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – Cookie Dough Safe to Eat!
• Frito Candy
• Harvest Pumpkin Muffins
• Holiday Pineapple Nut Bread
• Oreo Truffles
• Pecan Pie Muffins
• Pineapple Delight
• Sopapilla Cheesecake
• Sugar Cookies – Healthier Version (with a hint of orange flavor)
• Sugar Cookies – Old Fashioned (recipe from Central Market)

Entrees:

• Cranberry Chicken Breasts
• Crunchy Chicken Crescents (made with crescent roll dough)

Pie Crusts:

• Graham Cracker Pie Crust
• “Mix in the Plate” Pie Crust

• Never Fail Pie Crust (Make ahead of time)

Salads:

• Cherry Salad
• Green Pistachio Salad
• Mother’s Holiday Fruit Salad
• Peach Pie Salad
  
• Raw Cranberry Salad

Stuffing:

• Fritos Cornbread Stuffing

• Laura Bush’s Corn Bread Dressing

Veggies:

• Easy Sweet Potato Casserole
• Holiday Sweet Potatoes

• Holiday Vegetable Casserole
• Spicy Corn Casserole

Holiday dinners are so typically loaded with fat, sugar, and lots of cholesterol.  I tried to reduce those for our Thanksgiving meal, and this is what I came up with.  I’m sure I’ll be changing and tweeking this even more as time goes on.  I would love to hear your ideas and what you do.  For now, here’s our menu and here’s what I did:

• Turkey – avoid turkey fat
  
• Stuffing – reduce the amount of butter by half  (we didn’t miss it)
• Gravy – Make gravy from the turkey broth, but refrigerate it first and then skim the fat off the top before making gravy.  Or use Heinz Home Style Roasted Turkey Gravy which has low fat and very low cholesterol.
• Holiday Sweet Potatoes – leave out the eggs to reduce cholesterol, use less butter and sugar.  Use part Kal Powdered Stevia in place of 1/2 cup of sugar – we can’t tell the difference, they’e still yummy!
  
• Green Bean Casserole – use Healthy Request Mushroom Soup.  Use less of the French Fried Onion, maybe use only 1/2 to 3/4 of a small can instead of the whole can (a small can has nearly 500 calories & over 40 grams of fat).  Skip adding the onion rings in the beans and only use them on top of the casserole which is the most important part anyway. My husband likes to add extra virgin olive oil to counter some of the negative effects of all the saturated fat in the French Fried Onions, so  I would say to add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil.
• Mashed Potatoes -  Use low-fat milk, a little butter, salt and pepper in the potatoes themselves.  Then put small pats of butter on top of the hot potatoes before serving.  I use half the butter from the regular recipe, but with butter being melted on top, it isn’t noticeable.  I think the main thing is to use flavorful potatoes.  Some are more flavorful than others.
  
• Rolls – use multi-grain rolls with fiber and no cholesterol.  (Rhodes makes frozen multi-grain roll dough that has to rise first before baking.)
  
• Dessert – well, this is a very hard category.  Considering all the fat in a holiday meal, it’s good to choose a dessert that isn’t loaded with fat or cholesterol.  Substituting half of the sugar with a good brand of Stevia works well for us.  (Some Stevia brands leave a strong aftertaste.  Kal Stevia doesn’t.)
  

Whatever it is, I think it’s always best to read up on all the symptoms and treatments, whether it’s adhd symptoms, diabetes symptoms, etc.   Then a person can have some background knowledge when they go to the doctor.

I’ve had a hard time trying to get well recently, with the flu week before last, then bronchitis setting in and also pink eye (where in the world did that come from – I think maybe from a quick trip to the grocery store) last week.  Now I have this lingering cough.  I read up on all the symptoms for each of the above, and I’m doing everything I can to get over this ASAP.  I’ve finished my prescription antibiotics, and I’m taking vitamins and supplements, drinking lots of fluids, using a steam vaporizer at night (helps so much), taking hot showers, and using a lot of cough drops with menthol.   I’m so thankful I’m a lot better now!

There are still quite a few people trying to decide what to buy someone for a Christmas present.  Maybe a tv stand for their new TV, a certain item that the person receiving the gift would like to have, or maybe just a small gift to say, “Merry Christmas.”   Whatever the present, it always has been and always will be the thought behind the gift that counts!

Hi all!   Here’s this week’s questions.

1. How do drink your hot chocolate? Marshmallows? From boxed or scratch?

Mostly boxed Swiss Miss but I do make it from scratch part of the time.  No marshmallows, but I do top it with canned whipped cream sometimes.
2. Do you prefer cider hot or cold?

Hot cider!
3. Do you like egg nog?

Yes, but just a little bit is enough for me.
4. How do you make punch?

I don’t.  (except for wedding or baby showers)