Yummy Christmas Treats

This year we had one new and one traditional yummy yummy treat!!

The first...monkey bread for breakfast on Christmas morning.  I have been eating monkey bread for breakfast on Christmas morning for as long as I can remember.  A tradition that my mom started...and I plan on keeping and passing down to my own children.  It is soooooooo good, and soooooo  unhealthy.  The just of it is pillsbury biscuits coated with cinnamon and sugar.  Then you mix brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, etc. to form a carmel sauce.  Pour over biscuits and bake.  I can not even tell you how good this smells much less how good it tastes.  One of my favorite Christmas traditions.

side view

top view (monkey bread)

The second...I made a cake for Christmas day dessert.  For some reason I feel that the cookies, breads and candy are just not enough.  Plus our Isaac thinks that at every function we need to have cake...his favorite food.  This cake was a little tricky to make, severall little steps, cooling and mixing things in the right order.  It was a pumpkin gingerbread cake with carmel topping and toffee crunch pieces sprinkled on top of that.  YUMMY!!!  Pumpkin in anything is my all time favorite so when I saw pumpkin gingerbread I was like, "yep, making that."

top view (pumpkin gingerbread cake)

side view

Sesame chicken stir-fry

A perfect first post, because this is the perfect example of a meal that all 4 ENJOYED!

Ingredients:  fetuccine noodles, cooked and drained before added to the stir-fry mixture
                 Red peppers, carrots, bok choy ( you could use any kind of vegetables you have in the fridge)
                marinated chicken breast in sesame ginger sauce and grilled before adding to stir-fried vegetables
                Toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on top before serving
               sauce is a combination of teriyaki and sesame ginger with some added garlic

This was a fast and easy meal that had something for everyone and was easy enough for our spicy person to add a little heat too, but I don't even think he did it was so flavorful.  Three of us ate everything in the pan and our most pickiest eater, Isaac ate the chicken and the noodles and asked for more of both.  Yay!!  easy, quick, and healthy!!

Inspiration

With the start of a new year ahead of us, I have decided to expand the family blog and link it to a food blog.  As I scroll through facebook during the day I see lots of pics from people and the food they are cooking for dinner or what they are eating out in restaurants.  It usually all looks amazing!
It wasn't until a dinner at my in-laws...not a special dinner just a family dinner where I realized that I really do love food.  The conversation went something like this.  Eli,(brother-in law)"I love food."  Me," I really do love food too." Yep, this is the in depth conversations we have.  Then it hit me I don't have to eat lots of food, and usually don't.  I want to eat really really good food, and in just the right amounts.  Quality over quantity.  In brainstorming ideas for a new blog I realized the cooking adventures at my house are always three fold.  My family presents me with challenges at every meal.  There is the picky...the kids...The spicy...the husband who thinks hot sauce should be a part of every recipe and then me the sweet.  I rather eat cake for dinner than actual dinner.

How do I combine all three into one blog...pretty simple.  Things shared will fall into one of these three categories.  But you will also notice that I have a lot of GREAT ideas for making one meal that all my categories will eat...and then lots of desserts for your sweet tooth.   I love to take recipes and adapt them to our tastes and most importantly to create a meal that all 4 will eat some part of.

I hope to receive more comments on this blog...please feel free to share recipes, comments or ask questions.  I am not a chef...just a mom who LOVES food and wants to feed her family of 4 healthy and delicious foods that we all enjoy.
Enjoy the new blog!!  and Happy New Year everybody!!