Happy New Years!

Happy New Year's, all!  I hope you all have had a wonderful Holiday Season.  I apologize for my lack of posting - everything has been so busy with work, holiday preparations and spending time with family and friends.  But - as evidenced by this post - you can observe (in action) my New Year's Resolution #1: catch up on stuff!  haha.  I would like to share some photos and memories from this past Holiday season!  In the next month, I will be post recipes for the following pictures:


For Halloween, I made my traditional Yummy Pork Mummy (I apologize this isn't a better picture.  We were too anxious to eat it and it was dark outside = not good photos).  The recipe takes a pork tenderloin, coats it in a yummy homemade mustard cream sauce, and covers it in strips of phyllo dough to resemble a "mummy."  It is fun and tasty. 

For Thanksgiving, we experimented by frying a turkey.  Charlie rigged a scaffold and pulley system so the project was (disappointingly to my youngest brother) very unexciting and uneventful (i.e. none of those gigantic fire geysers you see videos of on you tube). 

The results were delicious.  The turkey was flavorful, moist and had a just-slightly fried flavor.  No gravy needed!

One of the things I made was a layered cranberry salad.

And among the several pies I made, one was a lattice top mincemeat pie.  

And a Pecan Pie (Charlie's favorite).

I was able to explore outside some (on the warmer days).

And then started the Christmas cookie baking!  Rather than making a whole bunch at once, I decided to just make one batch at a time, and my plan is to spread it out even into January.


These are Charlie's favorite Christmas cookies: Pistachio Orange Cookies.
 

Of course, the traditional Peanut Butter Blossoms.

The next Christmas cookies I made were called Fudge Filled Sandies.  I think they are Charlie's very-close-to-first-favorite-Christmas-cookie recipe. 

And, I guess that is all the Christmas cookies I have made so far.  Like I said, it has been busy.

I did get a bunch of fruit cakes made.  I use my Great - Grandma Dorothy's old, old "Boiled Raisin Cake" recipe and add a bunch of candied fruit and nuts to it. 

We also got a couple of batches of lefse made.  Charlie and I love making lefse - and we enjoy eating it as well! 

I also had a lot of fun making a Kumquat Tart - my first experiment working with kumquats.  My uncle grows them and sent up a package from Alabama.

We had a little gingerbread house decorating party, which was fun.

I tye-dyed some tee shirts for my brother for Christmas.  

We also had some tasty dinners, including: Turkey Picatta...

Mexican Grande's...

Alton's Beef Palliard..... bad pictures but sooooooo easy and tasty. 

Homemade Buffalo Wings with homemade buffalo sauce, blue cheese dressing and celery.

Spaghetti, Homemade Meatballs and tomato sauce canned from the garden last fall. 

Of course, with the leftovers, we made Marinara and Meatball sandwiches, so tasty. 

I also tried making a batch of Spiced Pecans for a gift (I think they turned out ok).

And to finish off the year, a Peanut Butter Trifle to celebrate New Years Eve. 

Along with a glass of homemade eggnog (and other assorted goodies).

I hope you have had a wonderful Holiday season, and are looking forward to a wonderful 2014!