Kate Collins's Blog, page 135

A Savannah Christmas from a dog’s point of view…

Bruce Willis here…the other Bruce Willis from the Consignment Shop mysteries…and I’m here to take you on a stroll around Savannah, Georgia, at Christmas time.







It’s such a fine city that back in the Christmas of 1864 when Sherman saw fit to park his unwelcome butt in our fair city he sent Lincoln a telegram saying I beg to present you as a Christmas Gift, the City of Savannah.  
Everyone in Savannah decorates their houses Southern style…
even the boats on the Savannah River  go all out. Nothing escapes red bows, twinkling lights and evergreens. We may not have snow but we sure have everything else.

Saint John’s church celebrates
And then there’s the shopping…and the food! 
Every house in Savannah smells amazing for weeks! I even get my own cookie.
My favorite part of a Savannah Christmas is the tree at Auntie KiKi’s. I’m sure there’s a bone for me under there somewhere.
What is your favorite Christmas decoration in your town?
Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and 2015.

Wassail, Wassail, All Over the Town

by Maggie Sefton



I don't know about you folks, but I'm still running around, shopping for gifts, making
Gingersnap cookies, and tonight I made my final batch----2 pans---of Maggie's Chocolate Mint Fudge.  This fudge I'm taking with me to daughter Serena and son-in-law Jeff's home in Houston, Texas to share with relatives and in-laws.    Daughter Maria will be joining us as we celebrate Christmas in a warmer clime.  No snow in Houston, but that's okay with me.  We've had a very nice 6-8" of snow last week in Northern Colorado which is still covering the lawns.  So, I've been enjoying a White Christmas season for over a week now.  :)  

I thought I'd give you all another old favorite recipe of mine for the holidays.  I call it Burt's Wassail, which is a hot mulled spiced red wine.  Give it a try.  And----I wish you all a Happy and Joyous Holiday Season.


 For many years, our family held an Open House in our home every December during the Christmas Holiday Season.  Hot Mulled Wine was always a favorite.  Here's the recipe for the Wassail Bowl which I included in the sixth Kelly Flynn Knitting Mystery, FLEECE NAVIDAD.  In the book I let Burt take ownership.  J   
   
BURT’S  WASSAIL  (Hot Mulled Wine)
6 cups of Burgundy or Claret1 cup dry sherryPeel of two oranges and two lemons6 inches stick cinnamon (broken into one-inch pieces)2 whole nutmegs, crushed10 whole cloves2 Tablespoons white sugar

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan or pot and simmer gently from 5 to 10 minutes.  Do not boil.  Strain to remove the spices and serve hot in a punchbowl or serving bowl with ladle. 
Enjoy---and make sure you have a “designated driver” for the evening.

MAKE A SHELTER PET HAPPY FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

By Mary Kennedy
                                                          
I know we all give treats and special goodies to our own pets over the holidays, but would you like to do something special for the thousands of "shelter pets" all over the country?  They're waiting for their "forever home" and in the meantime, they have to be cared for. And fed! Here are two easy (and fun!) ways you can donate food, for free, to organizations that help shelter pets. One is free kibble, a site that my pal, Lynda Turpin told me about. Just sign up for daily e-mail reminders. It's rewarding to know that each time you click, free food is delivered to a shelter pet.  Here's the link. http://www.freekibble.com And there's a fun trivia game you can play that equals more food!                                                           Another site I visit daily (thanks to daily e-mail reminders) is The Animal Rescue site.  You can help animals every day, just by clicking, and there are heart-warming stories of rescued animals finding happy homes. I signed up for the daily reminder and I really enjoy taking a moment to click on the site. http://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/ars/home?1                                                         Hope you'll consider enjoying the holiday merriment with shelter pets everywhere who long for a new home. I wish I could adopt them all, but in the meantime, I feel good knowing I can help a little.  Happy Holidays! Mary Kennedy

Busy Time So Be Happy!

By Leann



We are all busy and stressed for all sort of reasons, both good stress and bad stress. Here's hoping the week ahead brings all of you, dear friends, a joyous week filled with all good things. For me, it will be seeing my daughter and son-in-law, celebrating with friends and of course reading every day. Take care!

RUM AND EGGNOG LATTE

By Mary Kennedy                                 
                                                                 
         Indulgent, you betcha! But hey, it's the holidays. This will wow your guests and it's so easy.  Directions: Brew one cup of strong coffee (or espresso). Add 3/4 cup eggnog that you've heated (carefully) in the microwave. Combine the eggnog and coffee. Add 2 ounces of rum. Stir and top with whipped cream. You can add a sprinkle of cinnamon for a nice touch. And now comes the fun part--enjoy!  Happy Holidays, Mary Kennedy  

If you're hungry ....

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

While we've had an incredibly warm fall (and early winter), we've had a few days when it was frosty and I had a hankering for some good English comfort food.  I read a bunch of recipes for Shepherd's Pie and Cottage Pie and US recipes just weren't going to cut it, so I went to the BBC to find 3 different recipes--and all were quite different. I picked one and had to make some adaptations.  (Example:  Finding ground lamb around here was going to be a BIG problem, so I decided to go for Cottage Pie, which uses mince ... er, I mean hamburger.)

Over the summer I found a really cool, OLD casserole dish that I knew would be perfect for this dish.

Here're the ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery
1 cup frozen peas
1 pound hamburger
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons tomato puree or sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
16 fluid ounces of or beef stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the mashed potatoes
1½ pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into halves or quarters
¼ cup milk
2-3 tablespoons butter
1 egg yolk

 

In a large frying pan, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and fry the hamburger, stirring, until browned all over. While the meat is frying, break up any lumps with the back of the spoon.  Add the flour and stir. Mix well and add the thyme, Worcestershire sauce and stir. Set aside.

Boil the potatoes.





Deglaze the hamburger pan with a little stock. and saute the onions, carrots, celery, and stock. Cook until the onions and carrots are soft.  (About ten minutes).  Add the peas and the tomato sauce.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.



Add the cooked hamburger to the veggies and bring to a high simmer, adding a pinch of salt and pepper, stirring regularly.  Once it's all heated through, put it in the casserole dish.




For the mashed potatoes, boil the potatoes until tender (about 10 minutes). Drain, add the milk, butter and egg yolk, then mash until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.



Spread the mashed potatoes on top, smooth over and drag a fork over the top for decoration.



Put the dish into the oven and cook until the surface is golden-brown. (About 40 minutes.)


And here's a picture of my dinner.





Serves 4 good sized portions.  Yum!  Enjoy!

What's your idea of comfort food on a COLD day???

White or Green Christmas? Let's duke it out!

By MARY JANE MAFFINI AKA VICTORIA ABBOTT






We here in Ontario (aka the frozen north) have been having a long and mild fall.  The weather has been warm(ish) and the grass is still green.  Trips with to the dog park with short-legged dogs are still possible. There’s a sense of freedom from slipping on ice and shovelling, cleaning white stuff off the car and bundling up in parkas.  The last two winters were brutal--although beautiful--and some of us are not ready for another one.




But last night at our annual book club extravaganza, the discussion raged: White Christmas or Green?   As far as I can tell, we were split down the middle: those who couldn’t get in the mood without snow and those who glad of the green. One of my friends was quite despondent about the prospect of grass instead of snow. One of my daughters feels the same way. Others feel liberated from the demands of snow.  In fact, one of ‘the greens’ grumbled: “There was no snow in Bethlehem! “  Hard to argue with that!


Although I realize it doesn’t matter which side I’m on—the weather will be what it is—I’m happy with enough with the green.  
I’m not alone: two little doggies are very happy to be able to keep an eye out for Cat Next Door (just to chat, you know) without needing their parkas.  Of course, Cat Next Door is bigger than they are with even more attitude so let's hope he never shows up for that chat.
Here kitty kitty! Come and 'chat'l

They kind of wish they were the type of animal that hibernates. Green gets their vote for sure.  I’ll enjoy stepping out with a winter sweater and not a down coat. Victoria loves traipsing through the woods with Peachy the Pug. Hard to do in the  snow!

I also feel that much of what I like about the season is green and alive: the flash of bright amaryllis to brighten a gloomy after noon and evergreen branches and berries making decorations, plus pine cones not buried in snow.  
Of course, I won’t be heartbroken if we do get a lovely white blanket around Christmas, but I won’t miss the freezing rain and slippery roads or bad visibility. So call me “Grinch”.  I imagine our southern and west coast readers might get a chuckle out of the choice. 
Whatever the weather brings next week, we’re fortunate to have family and friends, furry pets, a roof over our heads and good things to eat.    

And we’re lucky to count our wonderful readers as part of the good things in life.
Please weigh in with your views on the proper weather for Christmas and whether that weather matters to you.  We love to hear what you think and we hope you are having fun.

North or South…what’s on your table?

Duffy Brown here and taking food. Heck, it’s Christmas and that’s some of the best food of the year, right. And Southern food is the best of the best. Nothing better than Southern eating.

Everyone has special Christmas dishes but there are some dishes that are uniquely the South. For example, cornbread is Southern especially at Christmas time. No Southern Christmas table is complete without it. It can be cornbread by itself or more than likely in the dressing!
And what about ambrosia? This is such a southern dish. When it started out it was basically fresh fruit with cocoanut and a little sugar. Somewhere along the line pineapple, cherries and marshmallow fluff got added into the mix. If you are in the North I doubt if Ambrosia will be on your table, if you are in the South I bet it will be there for sure.
And what about sweet potato pie? Up North its pumpkin pie and maybe chocolate cake? In the South its cocoanut cake!
Shrimp and grits will be on a lot of Southern tables for Christmas as will a Jello molded salad and maybe pimento cheese spread before to get things going.

So what about your table? Northern or Southern table? A little of each? And what is your favorite thing on that table? For me it’s pass the pie...pecan pie. Yummm.

Treats for the Holidays

by Maggie Sefton                                                                                              




Apologies to all of the Cozy Chicks Blog readers and fans for the late hour of this post.  My mistake.  I erroneously assumed that Dru would post her regular monthly mystery book reviews today, December 15th.  But her schedule has gotten even more hectic, and she's had to make some changes.  I would have discovered it earlier today, but I got busy with my "Fudge Pot" this morning.   Making Maggie's Chocolate Mint Fudge for family and close friends.

I have posted my fudge recipe here on the Blog in years past, and it's available in our Cozy Chicks Kitchen cookbook.  Have I mentioned what a wonderful holiday gift idea our cookbook is?   :)   Forgive me.  I can't help bragging about our cookbook AND  our new Tea Time with the Cozy Chicks which is filled with new recipes as well as memories, anecdotes, and family stories.

So---today I thought I'd share another holiday recipe----Chocolate Pecan Rum Balls.   These are great family favorites and they ship beautifully.  And----they're better if you make them ahead.  That way the flavors will develop even more.  They will be deadly by next week.

    CHOCOLATE PECAN RUM BALLS
2 cups crushed vanilla wafers2 cups confectioners’ sugar3 cups chopped pecans4 Tablespoons cocoa4 Tablespoons light corn syrup½ cup dark rum½ cup fine granulated sugar

Combine fine crumbs and confectioners’ sugar, then add chopped pecans and cocoa.  Mix well.  Add corn syrup then rum and mix well.  Shape into 1-inch balls.  Roll in granulated sugar.  Then place in covered container and store in refrigerator until ready to serve---or mail as  presents..  Makes approximately 4 dozen.  (Storing in airtight container allows the flavors to become stronger and even more delicious).   Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS CARDS. RECYCLE OR REPURPOSE?

by Mary Kennedy                         
                                                          

My pal, Duffy Brown, wrote a terrific Cozy Chicks post on Christmas cards. If you missed it, here's the link http://www.cozychicksblog.com/2015/12/christmas-cardsin-or-out.html The big question, of course is, do we really need to send cards every year?  But another issue is: what do we do with the cards after Christmas? Do we save them or toss them?  Here's a great idea a friend shared with me.

She saves all the Christmas cards that feature animals. (and since she belongs to a lot of animal charities, and has a lot of "animal-loving friends," she gets quite a lot of them.)  She discovered from her days as a kindergarten teacher that children love to cut out cute pictures and make "books" from them.
                                                      
 So every year, she cuts the front page off the Christmas cards she receives, the ones with cute cats, dogs, horses, etc. They she buys a dozen or so "child-proof" scissors at the Dollar Store, along with a dozen scrapbooks, a couple of bottles of Elmer's glue and heads for the nearest women's shelter. (We have a women's shelter here that accepts children.) The entire cost is less than $30.00 and her visit is always a big hit with the kiddies.  The children love to make little books and present them to their mothers and it provides a fun, inexpensive way to bring a little Christmas joy into their lives. She also adds Christmas "stickers" that come in sheets.                                                                                                       So before you toss those cute cards the day after Christmas, think about a fun way to "repurpose" them, as my friend does. You'll bring a lot of cheer to some very grateful children.  Have a happy holiday, everyone!  Mary Kennedy