Choice Morsels

Looking for a something new to add to your New Year's snack venue? Then you might like to try my friend Paula's appetizer recipe for "Taco Dip!" On the plus side: it's meatless, doesn't use cream cheese or ranch seasoning, which makes it a healthier 7-layer dip! If you're not a black olive fan, just replace those with chopped green onions or perhaps guacamole. You can also zing up the cheese by using Pepper Jack instead of Cheddar or make it  calorie smart by choosing either lite or fat free sour cream & low-fat or fat-free grated cheese! Taco Seasoning also come in hot, mild or low-salt options, too! I'll be making this for my New Year's Eve, since we're having a bunch of Air Force kids from our Bible study over to pray in the New Year! My favorite to chip choice is the Multi-Grain Tostito's! Taco Dip Ingredients: 1 can Refried Beans 1 small can Sliced Black Olives 1 small can Chopped Green Chilies 1 small

Florida winter isn't without it's color. The Cypress turns orange and oaks turn russet, dotting the evergreen landscape with autumn color.  Today's Pic:  The lavender Mexican Heather and purple Spiderwort blooming together in a front border! In afternoons, when it's warmest, I see honey bees enjoying the Mexican Heather, which is a small shrub. A hard freeze will kill it's the outer branches, which I'll then need to trim off, but until then, it's happily blooming! Spiderwort is an edible weed, which you can read about in a previous post here .  (I have yet to try using it's leaves or blossoms in anything.) That's it for today! Stop back to see what's up for Friday Finds!

This is a true story.  It just happened this month in our small town. A 91 year old woman had been saving coins in a cookie jar she kept in her kitchen for months for a trip she was planning on taking with her daughter to see her great-grandson graduate in South Florida. Her goal was $100 to help out with travel expenses.  She had accumulated $87 worth of change in that jar. On December 10, 2016, she left her house to talk with a neighbor across the road for a few minutes and left the door unlocked as anyone would.  Fifteen minutes later, she returned to her house, picked up the cookie jar to add more coins and found it unexpectedly light. Looking inside, she discovered it was empty. Some sneaky person had come into her kitchen and stolen every bit of her change in her cookie jar! She called the police. A police Sergeant arrived to investigate the crime. Unfortunately there weren't any witnesses and no fingerprints could be recovered from the jar, so he had no way to tra

The Mama Kat blog writing prompt today was "best places to see Christmas light displays where you live." I live on the Florida Panhandle where winters are mild and Christmas lights are a-plenty. The local Air Force Base is centered among a clump of various town-communities on either side, all of which set up wonderful Christmas light displays in their town centers and along roadways. However, it's Defuniak Springs that's fairly famous for it's yearly holiday light display! The Event is called, "Christmas Reflections," and the Defuniak Springs community comes together to decorate the park around Lake Defuniak in the Historic District. There many buildings edging the park, such as this one I photographed that's adjacent at the display entrance that are quite old, some dating back to the railroad boom era of the 1800's and many homes and even churches encircling the lake dating from the early 20th century. However, it's the

I saw my new young Bell Pepper plants both had an open blossom, so I did the job of bees with a paint-brush to cross-pollinate them today. It's cool-warm-sunny today, being about 58 F here in northwest Florida. It's expected to about 70 F on Christmas Day.   There are honeybees around--if it's gets warm enough. There's a neighbor within 5 miles of us with bee boxes who sells honey. Today's Garden Pic is one I just took today of these red-orange Gerber Daisies in my front bed!  Great seasonal color for December!  There's a 3rd head hidden under the leaves yet, plus a yellow and pink have heads up, preparing to open. Oddly, they flourish here during the mild temperatures of Nov & Dec----and if the cold doesn't get too cruel for too long, sometimes all the way into spring! Enjoy! Stop back to see what's up for Mama Kat tomorrow!

Looking for something to new to try for this years Christmas or New Year's Party? Then here's more of my favorite recipes for the Holidays or anytime! Coffee Dipped Dainties! A unique delicious coffee flavored cookie dipped in a mocha glaze, then, if desired, also dipped in finely ground hazelnuts! A vintage recipe from 1978! Coffee Nut Loaf! A unique & delicious coffee-flavored & pecan filled bread! Also a vintage recipe from 1978!                           Orange Dream Cake! A yummy moist orange-flavor bundt cake perfect for the Holidays!  This label recipe comes from the Paradise Candied Fruit company! M&M Blondies! Moist bars with just a hint of peanut butter flavor, this recipe is a great way to use some of those M&M's  Santa brought! ***** So what's your favorite Holiday baking treat?

This week I'm featuring some Pinterest "finds" for fun & easy treats great for all those Holiday get-togethers! Brownie Christmas Trees! Just need a box of brownie mix, green food coloring, one tub white icing, round and star shaped sprinkles and peppermint sticks! (for the exact how-to, the the title is linked to the original blog post @ One Little Project at a Time!) Christmas Magic Bars! Change up this easy classic recipe with Holiday M&M's! **** The blog author uses M&M's plus chocolate chips in her recipe, but I, personally, would just replace the chocolate chips with  M&M's and not use both. I also never use butterscotch chips in my Magic Bars. (This recipe from the same blog as the Brownie Christmas Trees!) Fruit Pizza! For a slightly healthier treat, put together a fruit pizza---any fruit you like!  Crust : Buy a roll of sugar cookie dough and press onto an oil sprayed pizza pan &am

T he Mama Kat writing prompt option I've chosen today is, "Try A New Holiday Dish & Share the Recipe!" I just tried this stuffing for Thanksgiving and loved it! I think it needs a little more liquid, maybe 1 full cup of stock & white wine each, to make to stick together more. As is, it falls apart when you dish it out. It's got all your food groups: meat, grain, veggie & fruit! I found this stuffing made a delicious lunch heated up and topped with an over-easy egg! Apple Cranberry Sausage Stuffing Ingredients:  5 1/2 cups fresh European style or sourdough bread, white, sliced and cubed 2 1/2 cups wheat bread, whole grain sliced and cubed 1 lb ground pork or turkey (I used Jimmy Dean's Turkey Crumbles, which was 8 oz and that worked fine!) 1 1/2 cups carrot, shredded, minced or ground  1 1/4 cups minced celery 1 1/2 cups yellow onion ( Spanish or sweet ) 1 1/4  cups dried cranberries 1 large Granny Smith apple, chopped 1

Today is my Birthday!  Coincidentally, tonight, Dec 14, 2016, will be a "Winter Moon"---the last full of moon of the year! We'll be going to a favorite local Greek restaurant for friends to celebrate! When we arrived, I had a huge surprise waiting! Hubby and my friend, Megan, had plotted to decorate the table at the restaurant with helium birthday balloons, little tiny hair-clip birthday hats, a birthday pin for me to wear and birthday confetti down the middle of the table! Plus a decorated sheet cake! The restaurant very graciously supported all this.  It made for a marvelous birthday celebration! For today's Garden Pic I have a December photo of my container garden on the back patio of Red Salvia, Purple Petunias & young Curly Parsley. I can see it out the back door, though a Christmas tree is currently blocking the view a little. This petunia is on it's 2nd winter. It was looking a little rough after the long summer heat, but has, sin

A link list from my Good Eating Monday posts for all my Favorite Holiday Recipes! I usually try at least one new Holiday recipe every year, so here's some great ideas for you to try! Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles Sometimes called  "Black & Whites" An Old Fashioned Classic! Chocolate Clouds Made with Egg Whites, this Delicious Cookie  is Rich with Chocolate Chips! Banana Walnut Fruitcake There's nothing better then a home-made fruitcake! Bananas, Walnuts, Dates, Candied Pineapple & Cherries! Yum! Italian Cheesecake Brownies An Easy Way to Make Those Ordinary Box Brownies Really Fancy! ****** That's it for today! More of my Holiday Favorites next Monday!

With the holidays and big family meals in mind, I'm another week on easy holiday table decorating!  I've collected some photo ideas from Pinterest I think anyone could do! Just remember the centerpiece height rule:  no taller then 12 inches!  Idea #1:  Bowl of "Pomander Balls" Made from Oranges & Whole Cloves! The oranges & cloves release a spicy scent as the orange dries. Tying them with a ribbon & hanging them in a closet was an old-fashioned method of "closet freshener."  But they make a fancy looking holiday centerpiece! You just need oranges, a bottle of Whole Cloves and something to poke through the orange skin just enough so you can insert your cloves,  such as the end of a wood skewer or a nail. Just make sure it's not wider then your clover stem. If the hole is too big, the cloves will fall out.  You could use a pencil to lightly outline a general pattern, if you like. I've included a second photo example where r

The Mama Kat blog writing prompt is to post something inspired by the word, "Pushy." Miss Piggy Mouse Pad by Disney  We used to know this Air Force girl who was a living version of Miss Piggy.   It was back in the early 90's when this girl came to our base after a posting in Korea and she'd been stationed someplace else before that. She was in her late twenties and unmarried, so she  participated off and on in our singles ministry, whenever it suited her, which is how we knew her. She really did have all social exuberance and abrasive personality of Miss Piggy. She also was something of a fashionista, when she wasn't in uniform. She definitely was a "my way or the highway," kind of person and, since I don't want to use real names, we'll just be calling her, "Miss Pushy."  Because she was.  There was an exceptionally colorful experience we had one time with Miss Pushy when we and a number of our singles ministry members dec

I wrote a reminder on my computer "sticky note," to cover my containers for possible freezing temperatures Thursday & Friday night! Even so, there's usually a variation of temps with such predictions in our area depending one's distance or nearness to the Gulf. Twenty miles north or more might experience a hard freeze that turns bird baths to ice, while where we live, which is moderated by the sea air a bit more, might stay slightly above freezing at 34 or 35.  So it's hard to tell, but best to be prepared. If the jet stream swings low enough, it can push all the Gulf air out to sea and then Jack Frost will do more then nip our noses--he'll bite our faces off. I'm going to cover my Bell Peppers with clear plastic yard bags today, which will serve as a greenhouse. I just need to throw a towel over the potted flowers overnight. Everything else can handle it. For today I have a nice picture of the table arrangement I made with fresh Christmas

Now this some wicked good dressing!  I tried it for Thanksgiving this year and everyone loved it! I've been looking for just the right dressing and I may have finally found it!  It's also healthy with a tasty combo of fruit, veggies and a mix of white & whole wheat bakery breads. It will fill a  fill a 9 x 13 pan.  You can use fresh or dried herbs. I've included the measurements for both. Just remember dried seasoning is more concentrated in flavor because it is dried, so you need less of it then fresh herbs. I have fresh Parsley growing outside and this was a great use for it! I found leftover over stuffing wonderful heated up and topped with a over-easy egg for lunch!  Apple Cranberry Sausage Stuffing Ingredients:  5 1/2 cups fresh European style or sourdough bread, white, sliced and cubed 2 1/2 cups wheat bread, whole grain sliced and cubed 1 lb ground pork or turkey ( I used Jimmy Dean's Turkey Crumbles, which was 8 oz and that worked great! ) 1 1/2

For Friday Finds this month, I'll be sharing a series easy Pinterest ideas for table decorating or holiday treats! Today: Easy Holiday Table Decor! You're having guests and you want an easy pretty holiday table center decorations? First, let me tell you the rule-of-thumb regarding table centerpieces:  Never taller then 12 inches.  You don't want your guests having to figure out how to lean around stuff on the table to talk to guests sitting across from them! Save the taller decorations for the buffet! (The candelabra shown in this photo is too tall, by the way.) Decorating Idea #1: Fresh Flowers  *  Set a few fresh flowers in short glasses or vases and arrange them down the center of your table. I'd choose easy-to-manage, long-lasting flowers like carnations or daisies available in holiday colors inexpensively at Walmart or a grocery store. Fill your glass container with warm tap water & snip flowers so heads will be just above the rim of your vase or

The Mama Kat writing topic today is to write a post inspired by the word, "Puddle." In Florida it rains. It rains a lot. Sometimes, that rain leaves broad puddles of standing water. Sometimes those puddles are on the road. On this particular day where our story begins, Hubby and I were in our Kia SUV driving west through our small town toward the Air Force Base. The road was mostly dry from an earlier downpour, but there were still some spots of standing water.  We stopped at a red light at a busy intersection along with other cars and one motorcycle. We were in the right hand lane. There was a car ahead of us and one beside us. The car beside us had a guy on a motorcycle directly behind him and the motorcycle guy was boxed in by more cars beside and behind him.  He was a young man on a medium street bike just wearing a shirt, jeans and a helmet. No rain gear.  I suppose he expected to arrive where he was going before it rained again and not get wet. This was