What Matters Most Now: Entertaining

Entertaining

12/19/2016

31 Days of December: Ideas to Make Each Day Special

31 Days of December: Ideas to Make Each Day Special

Just a few ideas of special ways to make December special and memorable...

Early in the month:

1. Create an iTunes Playlist of your favorite Christmas Carols and Holiday Music and then share a CD of the favorites with family or friends.

2. Attend the local Christmas Tree Lighting or Christmas parade.

3. Participate in an Angel Tree by giving gifts for a child in need. We not only love this tradition but also really enjoyed helping wrap presents for the local Angel Tree as a family last year.

4. Go Christmas shopping for the family with the grandparents at the Dollar Store. Our kids treasured this special shopping trip with Gram and Poppy that also includes a lunch date. The kids are given a dollar for each family recipient and then set about shopping for the perfect dollar store gift for each person. This has turned into a great tradition and as the kids get older, the gifts bring on great creativity and often times, fits of laughter.

5. Head to the hills to a favorite tree farm and hunt for then cut down your own tree. We pack up our hot cocoa and some special holiday goodies, snow picnic-style. One year we decked out the kids in all their winter coats, hats, gloves, snow boots and when we arrived up the mountain, the sun was shining and the kids melted from the heat.

31 Days: December To Do List www.whatmattersmostnow.typepad.com

31 Days: December To Do List - Our Annual Christmas Tree Hunt circa 2007

6. Conduct good deeds to accumulate straw for the manger. My favorite tradition is one my mom started when we were little. We use a Nativity set and we leave baby Jesus put away until Christmas morning. All month, we encourage good deeds by all the family members. For each good deed, another piece of straw is added to the manger. The whole family is working together to make the manger cozy with added straw for each good deed. On Christmas morning, Jesus is put into the manger overflowing with straw.

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For each good deed, a new piece of straw is added to the manger for Jesus' arrival Christmas morning.

7. Light Up Your Community with 50 Ideas to Light Up Your Community with Kindness to include sidewalk chalk greetings to treats and posters of gratitude to paying for someone’s Starbucks. Have a playdate to work on working on ways that you can spread cheer.

8. Read The 13 Day of Christmas or Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright as a family. We are currently reading the Christmas Jars and are feeling inspired to start our own jars for next year.

9. Dress up for a fancy, candlelight Christmas dinner one night (it’s okay if it’s mac and cheese…just do it). This could be a good refresher to practice manners. My kids are still trying to catch each other making "frog eyes" while drinking...a lesson from a previous manner meal. Consider having a meal with all appetizers such as these Best Christmast Appetizer Recipes for our favorite Christmas Crack: Cheesy Garlic Bread Appetizer; Blue Cheese and Hazlenut Bruschetta; Granny's Vermouth Cocktail Sausages; Olive Cheese Balls or the Best Spinach Dip Ever (it doesn't have mayo)!

10. Make a Christmas Ornament Journal to tell the history behind each ornament. Take a photo of the ornament as it is added to the collection each year and fill out a litle index card on why it was purchased, who purchased it or was gifted the ornament and the significance.

Christmas Ornaments www.whatmattersmostnow.typepad.com

Miss Bella loves decorating for the holidays!

11. Make or find an ornament each year that represents their activity of the year (soccer, basketball, ballet) or a favorite memory of that year (getting braces, a family trip) and write the date on the ornament. One year I hung Miss B's ballet slippers from her first year of ballet on the tree with the date and her name as an ornament.

12. Wrap Christmas books in butcher paper and put in a tote to unwrap and then read every day.

13. Trace the kid’s hands on the Christmas tree skirt and date it to watch the growth over the years. I started out putting their hands in gold fabric paint when they were little. It makes me cry when I pull it out. One family has traced the kids' hands on the back of their tree skirt with a Sharpie pen on the bottom of their tree skirt to keep track of the changes.

14. Draw names to make an "Angel Gift" for the person you drew. The rules are that the supplies cannot cost more than $10 and the gift has to be handmade.

15. Display a photo in a frame for every single Christmas to be on display all month.

Family Christmas Photo www.whatmattersmostnow.typepad.com

The first year as a newly blended family, I loved the idea of color-coordinated outfits!

16. Put a nail with a ribbon on the tree. Poem: "This is the Christmas Nail. It is to be hung on a sturdy branch, a branch near the trunk, a branch that will hold such a spike without being noticed by well-wishers dropping by to admire one's tinseled tree. The nail is know only to the home that hangs it. Understood only by the heart that knows its significance. It is hung with the thought: The Christmas tree but foreshadows the Christ tree which only He could decorate for us, with nails such as this."

17. Shop for Stocking Stuffers early. Here’s a great list for teenage boys.

18. Host an Ornament Gift Exchange! For many years my mom hosted an Annual Ornament Gift Exchange similar to the goofy White Elephant gift exchange swap. Each participant brought a wrapped ornament and after drawing numbers, the ornament would be unveiled or stolen.

19. Get a family photo taken of all the grandkids for the grandparents.

20. Hide the Christmas Pickle in the tree. As teenagers, my kids still love to hunt for the Christmas Pickle hiding amongst the tree branches.

21. Buy a new Christmas Movie and hide it via a Scavenger Hunt.

22. Have a “favorite things” party with sister-in-laws/friends. Everyone brings a few of their "favorite things" and you have a gift exchange to swap everything from household cleaning supplies and make-up can't-live-withouts to favorite holiday sweets or favorite accessories.

23. Write a love note and put it under the pillow of someone in the family.

24. Do a random act of kindness for someone at school or work.

25. Plant paperwhites.

26. Make Friendship Fruitcake Starter and then share with friends.

27. Spend an evening by the light of the tree. There is something really special about having the house aglow in holiday lights during December. Turn off all the other lights, lighting candles as necessary, and spend an evening doing activities via candlelight and the glow of the tree.

28. Draw a candlelight bubble bath for your kids or yourself.

29. Make a plate of goodies, this Cherry Eggnog Bread , these Chocolate-Covered Cherry Brownie Cups or even a lasagna and homemade bread for teachers, the firemen or police.

30. Host a wine and wrapping party. Invite your girlfriends over to wrap presents together.

31. Print Christmas Jokes for lunch bags and calendars.

12 Days Prior to Christmas:

1. Surprise your spouse with the Spouse Christmas Countdown , the 12 Days of Christmas Gifts for your Husband, the 12 Dates of Christmas or check out my 12 Days of Christmas Pinterest board ideas.

2. Treat a special family or friends to a 12 Days of Christmas surprise. The Dating Divas http://www.thedatingdivas.com/lisa-m/the-12-days-of-christmas/ has a cute 12 Days of Christmas activity that costs less than $30 for gifts to go with all 12 days for a lucky family of your choosing.

3. Host our own SUV Express! After reading Polar Express or watching the movie, have the kids get ready for bed and in their jammies. While making the tuck-in rounds, present a golden ticket and whisk them off to the sounds of Christmas music for an evening adventure. First stop is at a Dariy Queen to get a Blizzard for everyone to enjoy as you make the trek to see holiday lights throughout the town! Our kids love to vote on the "best" display of the year. It would be fun to have some type of award drawn up to share with the owner of what our family has voted the "best display" for the year.

4. For the girls – have sparkling cider and give each other pedicures for a home Spa Night while watching a sappy Hallmark Christmas love story.

For the guys – have a video games, wings and soda night.

5. Visit a Living Nativity.

6. Make a "Reasons why I love you" paper chain. Make Gingerbread Pancakes with Lemon Sauce.

Simmer the scents of Christmas on your stove.

On Christmas Eve:

7. Write what you plan to do in the coming year as a thank you and birthday present for baby Jesus. We store these in a golden star box and open them to read them each year.

8. Attend a candlelight Christmas service.

9. Open an early present on Christmas Eve. Our kids always get to open their new jammies on Christmas Eve. It makes for cute photos on Christmas morning too!

10. Read the Christmas story from Luke on Christmas Eve.

11. Sing a song outside at night to a shining star and remember loved ones who are no longer here to celebrate with us.

12. Prepare an elaborate plate of holiday goodies and savory snacks for Santa to include a special beverage to quench his thirst. Veggies for the reindeer are always a good snack that we often find bits outside the next day as evidence of the reindeer visit.

On Christmas Day:

Serve the traditional Christmas Breakfast: Sausage Rolls, Sausage Egg Casserole, Cinnamon Rolls, Fruit Cocktail, Fuzzy Navels and Sparkling Cider.

Sing Christmas carols around the piano in memory of our Granny.

Give a new Family Game each year to play on Christmas night and a new puzzle the kids can work for the rest of the break from school.

Play Family Christmas Minute to Win It - a game night with extended family members. Plan Minute to Win It Christmas party games or this family's fun Minute-to-Win-It competition.

Take turns swinging at a Pinata stuffed with special lottery tickets and holiday candies. My parents started this tradition years ago and we all fight over the See's candy, lottery tickets and the cash!

After Christmas:

Host a Post-Christmas Potluck party the week after Christmas when families are winding down and have more free-time to fellowship.

Write thank you notes on the back of photos of the kids with their gifts, either playing with them or posing in the clothes they received. Or Use the Postagram service to send thank you notes with your child wearing or playing with the gift given to them.

Christmas www.whatmattersmostnow.typepad.com

Don't forget to have the kids write thank you notes!

Take a photo of everyone in their Santa hats, the goofier, the better.

After Christmas, reuse the leftover wrapping paper to wrap your holiday books for next year's daily unveiling of a holiday book.

Have a picnic by the Christmas Tree with only the Christmas tree lights on in the house.

Hold a Christmas Photo Scavenger Hunt in which the kids and friends have to pose in photos next to traditional Christmas or holiday items.

12/19/2016 | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/29/2015

Weeknight Focaccia - Perfect for the Freezer

I am coming clean that I have a brand-new favorite Focaccia.

It's just so much faster than my original recipe.

AND it's freezer friendly!

I can barely keep a stash in the freezer as the teens devour this bread, round after round.

Just between you and I, I make three rounds at a time and put two out for immediate consumption and freeze/hide a back-up for those helter-skelter nights that we seem to keep having now that soccer season is in full gear every night.

This bread, hot out of the oven, just melts in your mouth. It's great plain or with a little grapeseed or olive oil dipping oil mixed with herbs and spices (and a little balsamic vinegar too if you like that kind of combo).

If you have a bread machine, this will come together even faster although I can't imagine that it will take that long as it is a low-maintenance style bread in terms of kneading, etc.

Weeknight Focaccia

Recipe adapted slightly from Not Your Mother's Make-Ahead & Freeze Cookbook by Jessica Fisher

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (or you can substitute 1 cup whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the white flour)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon oregano

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Coarse salt

Instructions:

Combine water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, flour, the 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, garlic powder, oregano and yeast in a bread machine and program it for the dough setting. If making without a bread machine, mix the ingredients and then knead dough on a lightly floured surface, allowing the dough to rise in a warm place for an hour to an hour and a half, with plastic wrap covering the dough.
Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, generously, with olive oil.
When the dough is done, remove dough to greased surface and divide into three portions. Press each third into a prepared cake pan.
Ensure that both sides are covered in olive oil by flipping the dough rounds over. Spread and press dough to the edges of the pan.
Cover the pans with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for at least 30 minutes, or longer, until doubled in bulk.
About 30 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Remove the plastic wrap and drizzle the remaining olive oil over the bread rounds. Sprinkle the tops with coarse salt and bake for 15 minutes.
The key next is to cool the rounds completely (without anyone helping themselves). Remove from the pans, wrap securely in plastic wrap and place each round into a freezer bag. Thaw the bread at room temperature in their wrappings and to warm the bread, heat in a 350 degree F. oven for about 5 minutes prior to serving.

P.S. If you enjoy preparing meals ahead, cooking in bulk or freezer meal preparation, then Jessica Fischer's cookbook, Not Your Mother's Make-Ahead & Freeze Cookbook is a gem and a lifesaver. She not only provides over 200 freezer-friendly recipes but also gives you cooking plans for power meal preparation days. I am working my way through the cookbook and finding her hints, tips, and anecdotes extremely helpful and her recipes have all been family favorites. I highly encourage you to check this book out in some capacity as it can revolutionalize the way you prepare healthy, yet delicious meals.

11/29/2015 | Permalink | Comments (0)

08/27/2015

Fall Harvest Grape Salad with Creamy Caramel Topping and Brown Sugar Pecans

Grape season is upon us as the fall grape harvest begins and this Fall Harvest Grape Salad with Creamy Caramel Topping maximizes the deliciousness of green and purple grapes when swirled with a creamy caramel flavored topping. The original recipe includes mixing pecans with the fruit and topping. I tried caramelizing pecans and loved the extra crunch (when sprinkled on just before serving) although they can be omitted or just added as plain nuts as well.

This recipe was shared at a recipe swap at a small group gathering offshoot of a Mom's Club, years ago when my teens were babies. I loved getting together with the other women in our area and in this particular group, we would all bring our favorite recipes to an informal potluck style gathering to taste test the creations. We would have a theme each month and women would bring their favorite recipes in that category. So many of my favorite recipes today, came as a result of that group.

grape salad whatmattersmostnow.typepad.com

Grapes ready for the fluffy, caramel topping.

This portable fruit salad works well for potlucks and picnics. Be sure to allow time for refrigeration prior to transporting.

Recipe ingredients.

By the way, have you tried the new sour cream packaging that delivers sour cream in a squeezable pouch instead of the carton? I am a huge fan as it works so well for measuring or getting just the amount needed vs. dirtying a spoon or spatula.

Fall Harvest Grape Salad with Creamy Caramel Topping and Brown Sugar Pecans

Adapted from a recipe from Tara DeBoer

Ingredients:

4 pounds green grapes

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

8 ounces sour cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Brown Sugar Pecans:

2 tablespoons brown sugar

4 ounces pecans

Instructions:

1. Cut grapes in half (or not, if you are in a rush and want to save time).

2. Mix cream cheese, 1/2 cup brown sugar, sour cream and vanilla.

3. To make the brown sugar pecans, in a skillet over medium heat, stir constantly, coating pecans with the brown sugar to caramelize and toast the pecans.

4. Mix creamy mixture with grapes and top with the pecans.

5. Refrigerate and allow time for the flavors to meld together.

This tastes best the next day!

Sidenote: My photos do not show the Brown Sugar Pecans as my girl, Bella, has tree nut allergies and she loves this recipe, so I refrained from even making them this day for photos. Thanks for understanding.

08/27/2015 | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/28/2015

Grilled Pizza - Perfect for Camping

We just returned from a camping getaway with all four teens and the pooch. In an effort to prepare food ahead of time to streamline the camping cooking experience a bit, while still pleasing the teen palate, I researched recipes that would meet everyone's needs. We settled on a new camping menu that proved to be pretty easy but delicious!

This Grilled Pizza recipe was concocted by using a pizza dough recipe that I mixed up just prior to our departure. We only had a two-hour drive, which was perfect for the dough to rise without having to be refrigerated in between, however, it could have stayed in the cooler, if needed and then brought back to "room" temperature later.

grilled-pizza whatmattersmostnow.typepad.com

Grilled pizza station prep while camping!

We have a camping stove that has a griddle on one side and a burner on the other. Using a flat frying pan would have worked just as well.

Pizza cooking on our grill/griddle.

This dough has a slightly sweet hint to it which I loved. I used my hands to shape the dough and I didn't have anything other than a paper plate to flatten the pizza crusts with as we improvise while camping!

grilled-pizza-dough whatmattersmostnow.typepad.com

The pizza dough cooked quickly on the grill.

Homemade Pizza Dough for Pizza Crust for the Grill

1 cup flat beer or water (the beer gives it a great flavor and I think helps with the rising too)

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoons salt

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (You can use bread flour for a chewier crust.)

1 package active dry yeast (2-1/4 teaspoon)

Instructions:

1. To make by hand, dissolve yeast in warm beer (105º to 115º). I open a can of beer in the morning and let it sit out for a few hours to make it "flat". Add butter, sugar, salt, and flour. Mix until dough forms a ball and cleans sides of bowl. Turn onto floured surface and knead for 2 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down dough.

(To use the bread machine, add ingredients to pan in order listed. Use dough setting.)

2. For cooking while camping, divide the dough into 8 equal dough balls. Shape or form dough to the size of a paper plate. I used my paper plate as a preparation surface and molded the dough according to the size. I thought that the pizza dough would cook more evenly if the dough was pre-baked a bit prior to putting the toppings on, so we added each shaped pizza circle to the griddle and let each side cook about two minutes each.

3. I then set up a station and had each person come through spreading their pizza dough surface with prepared spaghetti sauce/pizza sauce, a generous sprinkling of grated cheeses (while camping it's perfectly fine to use the store-bought pre-grated cheese blend such as Italian Four Cheese. Who wants to grate cheese, let alone wash the cheese grater while camping?!?). I had salami, pepperoni and Canadian bacon as my topping options and each kid picked out what they wanted and how much.

4. The hubs had the griddle all warmed up for the pizzas and we cooked each pizza individually on the griddle. He experimented and decided that the cheese melted much faster with the lid on the griddle. Each grilled pizza took no more than 3-5 minutes with the pre-cooked crust. No one complained and our fellow camping friends were a tad bit jealous of the concoction our kids were filling up on (although we did offer some to share).

Alternative cooking option: For cooking in a home kitchen, the instructions are to turn dough out on floured surface. Roll or press into a prepared pie pan, forming a collar around the edge. Brush lightly with olive oil. Cover dough; let stand 15 minutes. Proceed with your favorite pizza recipe.

summer recipe, camping recipe, grilled pizza, grilling recipe, bbq pizza, camping pizza, pizza dough, roughing it recipes, griddle pizza

07/28/2015 | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/26/2015

Hawaiian Hibachi Huli Chicken Recipe from Sam Choy

Nothing speaks summer like this Hawaiian Hibachi Huli Chicken recipe from Sam Choy.

As far as ingredients go, the only slightly unusual ingredient is "Shoyu Sauce". Shoyu is a type of natural Japanese soy sauce that is said to have a lower salt content, that tastes slightly sweeter and is a bit thicker than soy sauce. If you don't have access to Shoyu, you can substitute soy sauce or teriyaki in a pinch.

hibachi-chicken whatmattersmostnow.typepad.com

Hibachi Huli Chicken Dinner

Hawaiian Hibachi Huli Chicken

Recipe from Sam Choy

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts

Marinade:

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 1/2 cups shoyu

2 cloves garlic, chopped (or pre-chopped garlic)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup ginger, minced

2 tablespoons green onions, chopped

1 tablespoons Chinese parsley, cilantro, minced

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Instructions:

1. If using a hibachi, prepare and light coals or prepare your grill. Mix marinade ingredients.

2. Marinate chicken breasts for at least 30 minutes.

3. Grill breasts for a total cooking time of 8 to 10 minutes depending upon the thickness. You can also pan fry or cook your breasts in the oven.

This recipe goes great with steamed rice and stir-fried vegetables. We enjoy them with potstickers and fresh fruit too.

Sam Choy loved this as a potluck dish that you leave marinating in a cooler and pack a hibachi to prepare fresh grilled chicken in 45 minutes upon arrival at a potluck or picnic.

Marinating chicken

This recipe can also be frozen. When the chicken marinade is done, put the chicken breasts and marinade together in a ziploc freezer bag. Mix the two together. Freeze. When you are ready to grill, let defrost for at least an hour to let the marinade soak in. Proceed as normal.