Choice Morsels

It's a relaxing Christmas Eve day: I'm drinking my Peppermint Bark holiday coffee in a Christmas mug. I'm making a loaf of French bread (braided) that's presently rising after being stirred together in the bread machine. It's for garlic bread Christmas Day to go with Stouffer's Lasagna for dinner. Two couples are coming for dinner and games. I clipped off all the stems of my Poinsettia plant for this centerpiece vase. (the trick is  requires sealing the white sap with a match or candle flame, so it doesn't "bleed") For dinner tonight we're having something special: the local Public's grocery has ready-to-cook entrees of various sorts at the meat counter, so we picked up pack with 2 Cordon Bleu stuffed chicken breasts we'll have with Tuscan Broccoli and cornbread. Yum! Skirt needs putting around the tree for presents and last thing will be putting the Penguin holiday Christmas tablecloth and place mats on the table before bed.

The Mama Kat prompt I chose to day is to talk about the last party I attended---which happened to be a  Christmas party. T'is the season. A couple we know hosted this party, since they have the space and love to do it, which included friends of theirs as well as Air Force kids from our Bible Studies. This couple has what you call a "sunken" floor space in front of the kitchen counter and by "sunken" I mean, it's 6 inches lower then the rest of the house. It's the largest floor space in their home. It's white ceramic tiled and has a brick fireplace. They have 3 extra tall square dining tables with chairs in this sunken entertaining space they can either put together for a dinner or separate for game play as needed. For this party they also had a long folding table set up and we brought the extra chairs for that. The over-all party plan was to have a build-your-own-tacos meal followed by one of those gift-swap gift exchanges. About the food:

For Garden Pics, I took these two pictures today: This is a new Hosta I planted in October. It's classed as a "large Hosta," light green in color, called, "Sum & Substance." I planted here, in the woodsy landscape area in the back yard. It sits blow my pot of Chocolate Elephant ears.  And Arrowhead Houseplant  That Rooted Itself Outside: This is it's second winter. It can die back in a good freeze, but comes back in spring. 

  Today, I thought I'd share pictures of our Christmas tree that we decorated last night and my birthday flowers. It's a fresh Frasier Fir, which I love because the needles are nice and soft. Years ago as a kid, the type of trees found on Indiana tree farms Scotch Pines, which were prickly to the touch, but popular because of their climate hardiness and good needle retention.  Frazier firs are popular for their natural "Christmas tree" shape, good needle retention as well and excellent shipping characteristic. You'll notice "dye-cut" Christmas card decorations on my tree. Three are official Hallmark dye-cut cards---the rest are Bev-cut. Sometimes, if a card we receive has a really nice large central design on front, I'll glue the card sides together, then cut that design out, hole-punch a hole in the top, add a loop of yarn and---voila, my own "dye-cut" ornament cards perfect for filling gaps and hiding tree imperfections! The bottom b

I went outside just now on this rainy, cold winter day to see what I could photograph for today's post. It may be December, but here in North Florida, spring comes in late February, so lots of spring flower greenery is up right now in preparation: daffodils, iris, grape hyacinths, amaryllis and even baby-self-seeded Red Saliva! There was a freeze early in Nov that wilted my new planted Red Saliva plants I'd put in several containers---but not the roots. I see green leaf buds near the bottoms of the stems popping out. The one thing I like about the Red Saliva---it's resilient here in the South. So first photo: Portuguese Squil Plants: I planted 5 this fall. They're so cute! They look like pineapple tops! They're a bulb and were popping green when I planted them. I look forward to seeing their purple blooms in spring! Behind the Squil Above: Sprawling Gaillardia! The Nov freeze didn't seem to effect it. It's still going! 

Today's recipe is "Grandma's Iron Skillet Apple Pie. I found it in Pinterest in a collection of "iron skillet recipes."  I suppose it's called "Grandma's" because using a iron skillet would be sort of a vintage method. Anyway, I tried it and it was delicious! I thought it so good, it made it into this years Christmas letter as "Recipe of the Year," that we enclose with our Christmas cards. I'm not huge on making pies, but this one was delicious! It was quite filling and a delightful breakfast with coffee. It's really easy, with the hardest part being slicing up all the apples. (I  leave my apple skins on, though some like to peel'em.)   You definitely need a 10 inch iron skillet for this recipe.  Some g ood "cooking apple" choices for this pie include: Rome Beauty, Jonathan, McIntosh, Gala, Fugi, Honey Crisp, etc .    Grandma's Iron Skillet Apple Pie Ingredients: 10 inch iron skillet 1/

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T he Mama Kat writing prompt today is to write a post inspired by the word, "purpose."      Let's face it. Everyone needs a sense of purpose, a way to feel useful.      Are you acquainted with Joni Eareckson Tada? She's been a quadraplegic since 1967 and well known for her art that she paints by holding a paint-brush in her mouth as well as her Joni & Friends ministry to others with disabilities in the Christian community.  Also an author, I read one of Joni's devotional books some years ago. It was filled with stories of insights from her life experiences and one especially memorable story I recall is one relating in particular to the idea of having "purpose."     I'm retelling it from memory, but the gist of it was this:     One day, Joni and another handicapped friend, as part of her encouraging ministry, drove out to visit another handicapped lady in her home, whom I'm going to call Mary for clarity. Mary was severely handi

I had a nice lunch out today with my Chair Yoga fitness class at a Mexican restaurant that's right in the same area, close enough to walk to from the fitness center.  My favorite lunch there is chicken grilled chicken breast with grilled pineapple slices, a baked potato and their house salad. Yum. Today's garden pic is container sweet peas: Planted on the warm, sunny South side of the house, they're coming right along. You can see the flowers.