Sunday, December 14, 2008

Holiday Baking, FINALLY!!!

Finally, I am baking for the holidays...making some of our favorite goodies. I am re-posting the link at the bottom of this one for a great list of holiday recipes that I posted before Thanksgiving and since the Christmas holidays are upon us now.

Today, I am making a huge batch of party mix-our style. We like more of some things and less of others...here is our recipe

7 cups of Crispex - we don't like all the wheat, corn and rice ones
2 cups of mixed nuts - or whatever you like
4 cups of pecans - I know they are expensive but my mom has pecan trees & she gives them to me
1/2 bag of pretzels - I love finding the holiday shaped ones - found at Sam's this year

Seasoning:
1 1/2 sticks of butter
5 Tbsp. of Worchestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. of seasoned salt
1/2 tsp. of garlic salt

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (makes a lot), melt your butter and add all remaining seasoning ingredients in and stir. Pour this mixture over your dry ingredients and blend thoroughly. I have 2 large plastic bowls...I put all the ingredients in one, set the other one on top, "duck" tape the bowls together and "toss" or flip...over and over.

This lets the liquid seasoning thoroughly coats your dry ingredients.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour...turning every 15 minutes. Pour out onto paper towels to cool.

Brandon's favorite is Cream Cheese Ball.

3 - 8 oz. boxes - Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/2 bunches - green onions
2 jars - Armor dried beef
1 Tbsp. - Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp. - Accent

In a large bowl, put all 3 boxes of cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, Accent and chopped green onions. Chop 1 jar of dried beef in a food processor and put into bowl with other ingredients. Blend together well and shape into a ball. Chop 2nd jar of dried beef keeping it separate.
Lay your "ball" on wax paper, cover the ball with 2nd jar of dried beef...you can roll the ball in the beef chips or pat it onto the ball. I flatten the top and bottom on my cheese ball but you can make it into any shape you want.

It is ready to eat or you can refrigerate it first. Serve with Ritz crackers and it is wonderful.

Tyler's favorite is the party mix and almond bark pretzels.

I buy the pretzel rods, white (vanilla flavored) almond bark and sprinkles. I melt the almond bark in the double boiler, dip the pretzel rods, lay out of wax paper and cover them with sprinkles. Let them cool and you have the best of both...salty and sweet.

Now, I have to make Roger a pecan pie...one of his favorites.

For lots of chocolate goodies and more...click here for Holiday Recipes.

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

8 comments:

  1. Jennifer,

    The cheese ball sounds like something my guys would just love!

    Blessings to you!

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  2. All of those recipes sound yummy! Thanks for sharing!

    Take care my friend!
    I hope you have a great week!

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  3. Yum, I am coming to your house! Or you can just ship me some. LOL Sounds great. My grandma is the cheese ball queen. The guys eat way too much before the food is served.

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  4. Let me know when the tray of goodies is set out and I'll "pop" over! ha ha.

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  5. All of those goodies sound delicious, but the one that most caught my eye was the cheese ball. I think I'll make one of those for the get together my kids and I have after CHRISTmas Eve service.

    How far ahead of time can you make this?

    Beth

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  6. I'm SO glad Ashlyn is doing better. That's a huge praise.

    I LOVE snack mixes and cheese balls. I'm definitely more of a salty gal than a sweet one. So, it's those savory kind of things that keep me coming back for more.

    That said, though, my daughter and I are kicking the oven into high gear today. That's actually a good thing, because it's about 20 degrees and VERY windy. So the warmth of the oven will make the house nice and toasty. We're baking about 8 different kinds of cookies and making peanut butter fudge (a recipe from Homespun Simplicity---check it out) and peanut clusters. We have appointments on Wednesday, so we want to deliver the goodies to the recipients then. I LOVE doing all this baking.

    Your snack mix sounds delish!! Alot like traditional Chex mix, but with alot more nuts. Can you ever have too many nuts? I think not.

    Have a lovely day,
    Patti

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  7. And it's still on the ground too! It's pretty cold outside right now. Love the comment about my scarf and I staying dry....lol!

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Thank you for stopping by today and sharing your heart felt thoughts with me. As we ride "Through the Storms of Life" together, chances are...your situation is different than mine. However, we serve the same awesome God, King of Kings who is in complete control and it all belongs to Him anyway...He wants to give you the very best. Be encouraged my friend, God loves you!

Thank you again for taking the time to visit me at "Through the Storms of Life".

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