Wassail and Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours...so much to be grateful for and the many blessings that have and continue to bestowed upon us.

We started our morning with a "turkey trot" and a glorious sunny walk with the dogs.  When we came back home, I had a nice hot batch of Wassail waiting for us, complete with my homemade Juicy Apple Popovers.

My husband has been fighting a terrible cold all week and I knew a batch of his favorite Wassail would do the trick to help him feel better.

We hope this holiday finds you, your friends and families well and full of blessings!

Hot Wassail

1 gallon apple cider
4 cups orange juice
5 cinnamon sticks
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbl. whole cloves
1 orange, sliced into rounds
1 lemon, sliced into rounds

Bourbon (optional)

Place all ingredients in slow cooker (except Bourbon) and mix well.

Turn the slow cooker on high heat and cook for 3-4 hours (or on low for 6-8 hours).

Ladle in a mug and serve hot.  (Optional to add a wee taste of Bourbon to your mug of wassail, should you choose).

One Year Ago:  Apple Pie Martini
Two Years Ago: Juicy Apple Popovers

Classic Roast Prime Rib, Pictures and Farewell To A Friend

Another Christmas is over and it is very sad.  We always get the post holiday blues.  This year's seems especially difficult since the holiday was in the middle of the week and we were back to work in the thick of it again today.

Napping with her three favorite new gifts.

The kids were exhausted and napped most of yesterday.  All the excitement, even at 15 years old and 40's/50's "something" can conquer the best of us.

Exhausted and mad we took over
 his living room all morning.

There has been a growing trend in our family, when it comes to the presents I receive every Christmas....who can make mom cry first with their gift.  I tend to get very sentimental and emotional during Christmas morning.  Perhaps it's the lack of sleep in the weeks prior to the holiday, the crash from too much sugar testing during my marathon baking nights or it's simply the fact that I am so thankful to be incredibly blessed with our family and the gifts given to us each and every day.

...and the winner is...

Hands down, husband won the cry award this year.  I opened his gift and completely lost it...choked up, couldn't speak and tears streaming down.  He made a collage of our family for me.  He and my daughter picked the frame and matting out together and he got the girls to help him select and print the photos.  He knows how much family and cherished memories of photos mean to me and I know how much time, effort and love went into his gift.  Yep, he won!!

In the spirit of pictures, he also bought me an entirely new camera set up, complete with bag, tri-pod, different lenses, remote control for the timer photos.  I am going to need college classes to learn all the amazing things my new toys can do.  

My tired and old little Kodak has been through a lot.  I have had it close to ten years and it has seen many scrapbooks, school projects, vacations, first days of school and birthdays.  It has been forever faithful and good to me.  It has had a difficult final year...the girls broke the flash during their photography class last year and during one of my cooking blog photos, it slipped out of my hands and I broke the lens protector...a rough year indeed.  It has been looking very sad and tired these days.

Good-Bye My Friend

In celebration of this memorable holiday and all our traditions, we continued with making our annual Classic Roast Prime Rib.  My husband goes to great lengths to make this for us every year and it is always a very special treat for the family.  We have tried close to a dozen different recipes and have now melded several into one.

Classic Roast Prime Rib

Courtesy of Husband and Many Memories

(1) Standing Beef Rib Roast (4 to 7 ribs, 9 to 18 pounds)

olive oil

(1) medium yellow onion

Seasoning is proportionate as follows:

1/2 Weber's Chicago Steak Rub

1/4 sweet paprika

1/8 Mediterranean sea salt

1/8 pepper

Remove the prime rib from the refrigerator and place in pan.  Rub the entire surface of the cold roast with olive oil and coat evenly with the steak rub, paprika, salt and pepper.  Cut onions into thin rings and cover roast.

Leave the prime rib out at room temperature for 2 hours.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  When the oven is hot, put the roast in and cook for 20 minutes to sear the outside of the roast.  After 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 325 degrees and roast until the desired internal temperature is reached.  For medium-rare this will take approximately 15 minutes per pound.

Transfer to a large platter, and let the prime rib rest, loosely covered with foil for 30 minutes before serving, to let the juices redistribute. Serve with your favorite au jus.

Tonight we toasted our blessings and family with "Take Two" French Red Wine Blend.  Look closely and you can even see the camera on the label - how cute is that?

Cheers and Blessings To Everyone

Nutella Cookies and Neighbors

I think it certainly goes without saying, when life gives you floods, bake cookies!!

I have figured out in my wise old years, when I am happy, I bake and when I am sad, I bake.  Needless to say, this past weekend provided so many emotions, including both happiness and sadness.  I feel so blessed that our family and home were spared by the floods thanks to our guardian angels and just the right height real estate.

At the same time, I have been overwhelmed with sadness, witnessing all the devastation around us and throughout Northern Colorado.  There have been so many people displaced and I just pray that they will be able to get back to their businesses and homes in the not too distant future.

So, there I found myself Sunday morning with a whole lot of butter, flour and sugar that needed to be shown some love.  Then there was of course, trying to decide which flavor cookie to bake.  It was definitely time to clear out the pantry and refrigerator with the various odds and ends ingredients that I had collected for the fair.

The decision was made...I couldn't just make one type of cookie, or even two, so I filled out my afternoon by making three different types of cookies.

Chocolate Chip with Peanut Butter Chip

Our friend and backyard neighbor Toni in Alaska brought a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies to us the day we moved in.  I wish that I could bake a plate of cookies for each of our neighbors that have been affected by the floods.  For now though, my family, husband's office and my coworkers will have to deal with the sugar fix this week.

White Chocolate, Oatmeal and Craisins

Toni also taught me that Nutella is the cure for all ailments and I think she may actually be right.  The star of the weekend was the simplest recipe for Peanut Butter and Nutella cookies.  These are really great to have on hand or plate up for your next door neighbor.

Peanut Butter & Nutella Swirl Cookies
Adapted from Sweetest Kitchen

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
3/4 Cup Smooth or Chunky Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1-3/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.  Mix until well blended.

Add flour, baking soda and salt.  Drizzle Nutella on top of the dough then swirl it through the dough with a butter knife.

Chill dough 15 minutes in the refrigerator.  Roll into balls by hand.  Place on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Using a fork, press down the balls to flatten slightly.  Bake until edges are very lightly browns (about 7 to 10 minutes).

Allow to rest 2 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.