Woohoo!!!!!!

I am sooooooooooooooooooooo excited! and I just can’t hide it!

I know I sound like such a cornball, but when it comes to food and especially Thanksgiving I get so excited!

So, I wanted to give you all a little glimpse into what i have in store for Thursday’s Thanksgiving Feast, here’s the rundown:

Appetizers:

• Baked Artichoke Dip
• Jamaican Beef Patties
• Pumpkin Soup

• Roasted Turkey (of course) filled with ginger, garlic, oranges, onions, thyme, rosemary and brown sugar… Yummy!
• Homemade Stuffing (if confused between making dressing or stuffing read post)
• Honey Baked Ham
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Roasted Special Potatoes (family specialty)
• Over-the-Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese
• Corn Casserole
• Chinese Green Beans
• Buttered Rosemary Rolls
• Roasted Carrots with olive oil and thyme
• Caesar Salad

And for Dessert, drumroll please……………………….

• Rum Cake
• Sweet Potato Pie
• Chocolate Surprise

What’s on your menu this Thanksgiving???

From My Family to Yours… Wishing you all

a Happy Blessed New Year!

Christmas has come… and Christmas has gone…. already!

Can you believe that…

That the year 2009 is practically over in just a few short days.  (Sigh)  Wow!  That’s pretty amazing if you ask me.  No more purchasing of the gifts, wrapping of the gifts, and last but not least opening of the gifts.  I am not sure sure how you celebrate Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day in your house but in mine we usually have a huge dinner the night before Christmas and then Christmas morning we go to brunch as a family later on in the day.

This year we did something a little different.  This year I cooked Christmas Eve dinner for my family and Christmas Eve breakfast, and let me tell you all being in the kitchen from 10am to 5pm, in one day is no joke.  Seriously… it was quite a day, but the result was simply AMAZING!

The menu consisted of, wait hold on….

First you have to promise me that you will not attempt to claw at your screen the minute you see the upcoming photos I am about to display for you… it wouldn’t be fair to your poor screen, hehehe.

Here are a few things I made that night:

Rib-Eye Steaks marinated with fennel and rosemary.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese.

Twice-Baked Potatoes.

Mediterranean Salmon Pasta Bowl.

Are you drooling yet?  (Click recipe name below for all individual recipes… Enjoy!)

What did you eat on Christmas Eve? Would love to hear below…

Hanukkah begins this weekend and what is a better way then to ring in this special holiday with some delicious homemade doughnuts or should I say Soofganiot.  Traditionally, fried food and dairy food are eaten during Hanukkah.  Fried food is a Jewish tradition that reminds those of the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days when the Maccabees purified and re-dedicated the holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Here are a few wonderful delicious recipes from Martha Stewart, Enjoy!

• Hanukkah Sufganiyot (Jelly Doughnuts):  These are the prefect fried ending for celebrating a memorable holiday.

• Cake Doughnuts:  These incredible tasting doughnuts are sprinkled heavily with powdered sugar after frying.

• “Glittered” Sufganiyot:  These delicious sufganiyot can be given as party favors when packaged in cuocake liners and cellophane wrappers.

• Fried Apple Fritters:  Who can say no to thinly sliced apples covered in dough and then fried, not me.

To all that are celebrating Hanukkah this Friday… Happy Hanukkah!

(Images by Martha Stewart)

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a twitter discussion that was held by Share Our Strength (#sosfood), an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America, with some really remarkable food bloggers, that were all agreeing on doing more for the holidays and for those who cannot afford to do for themselves.  We all knew that we wanted to contribute to something meaningful and special.  That’s when a fellow food blogger, Jennifer Perillo of “In Jennie’s Kitchen” decided to host a “12 Days Of Sharing” benefiting Share Our Strength’s Organization.

I am so proud to say that when I saw this I knew I had to participate and share some delicious yummy Christmas baking goodies. These creamy crunchy Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookie Cups hit the spot perfectly.  I hope you enjoy my contribiution for the “12 Days of Sharing,” as much my loved ones did.

*If you would like to donate to Share Our Strength, just click on the badge beside.  By donating you will be entered in a giveaway of to win some yummy prizes!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookie Cups with Crushed Candy Canes

{Click here for Step-by-Step Photos for this recipe}

2 sticks of butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

INGREDIENTS FOR CHEESECAKE TOP LAYER

2 packages (8 ounces) of cream cheese

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

mini chocolate chips

candy cane sticks, crushed

INGREDIENTS FOR WHIPPED CREAM

2 cups of heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

ADDITIONAL ITEMS

crushed candy canes

mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

First make the chocolate chip cookie batter.  Beat 2 1/2 sticks of butter, 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar, and 3/4 cup of granulated sugar until fluffy.  Then beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 large eggs.  Whisk 2 1/2 cups of flour, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt.  Stir into a butter mixture.  Add 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and chill for 30 minutes or freeze.  I used a loaf I had in the freezer a few days ago.

Preheat Oven to 325 degrees F. Paper-line 24 muffin cups.  Chop the cookie dough and place in each muffin cup.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookie has spread to the edge of the muffin cup.

In a medium-sized bowl beat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth.  Spoon 3 tablespoons of cream cheese mixture over each cookie in cup.

Bake for additional 15 minutes or until cream cheese sets.  Cool completely on wired rack and then place in the fridge to cool for at least an hour.

While the cheesecake cups cool make the whipped cream.  Whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form.  Add confectioners sugar and whisk until combined.  Cover tightly and refrigerate.

Once the cheesecake cups are cooled, place a dollop of whipped cream on top and sprinkle mini chocolate chips.  Add crushed candy cane on top as well.

Now your ready for the holidays!

Enjoy!!!

(Image: bookgrl/Flickr)

Did you know that these delicious, sweet minty sticks of pure sugar began as a simple little white stick candy for children to enjoy. It wasn’t until the mid- 17th century that candy canes spread all throughout Europe, which at the time were used to decorate Yule trees and other food items.

In North America, the the first documented example of the use of candy canes to celebrate Christmas occurred in 1847, when August Imgard, a German-Swedish immigrant, hung the candy canes on the branches of a christmas tree.  From that point on the use of candy canes hanging from christmas trees just became tradition.

Candy canes are traditionally red and white striped peppermint flavored candies that are shaped with a hanging hook.  They are also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with different colored stripes and thickness.

When I think of Christmas the first thing that comes to mind are candy canes….

How about you…

Do you like candy canes?

Thanksgiving is next week and there are so many things that are still needed to be done to get ready for the big feast.  Thanksgiving is one of the few times where placecards are a treat to see at the table assigning seats to all the many family members that are gracing at the table.

Although Thanksgiving will be at my house this year, and with the 20 of us that will be making an appearance at my dinner table, I thought these would be a lovely  little treat to see on the tables. These were my favorite!

• Autumn Leaves Thanksgiving Placecards: Each is created from ivory and honeycomb cardstocks and features a pile of hand punched fall leaves with a tiny hand cut acorn, $5.95 for 4 at Soft Day Studios.

• Pumpkin Place Cards: Hand crafted paper pumpkins are made of cream colored card stock embellished with cappuccino tan colored dots, custom handwriting can be added, $37.50 for 25. Just Beautiful!

• Thanksgiving Pumpkin Placecards: Tented pumpkin placards brings vintage feel to the table with multi-dimensional pumpkins, $5.25 for 4 at Soft Day Studios.  These are so cute.

• Thankful Harvest Vintage-looking Customized Placecards: These beautiful distressed placescards bring such a warm feeling to a table, $5 for 6 at Pink Cherry Mama.