9th Annual New Year's Eve Family Party

Our 9th Annual New Year's Eve Party is ready. I write activities on a sheet of paper and then cut out each activity. The activity gets placed in a balloon and then I write a time on each balloon. The kids take turns popping the balloons through the night to reveal the next activity.   

The activities: Make a time capsule ornament, make 2022 breadsticks, make gummy bears, visit the Mimosa bar, carry empty suitcases around the house, spa party, play the resolution game, Burn the bad with a campfire, Mentos/Coke experiment, place fake parlay bets on the Michigan game, hang onions on the door and sprinkle salt outside, frozen hot chocolate bar, write thank you cards, make pretzels, sparklers, have fire ice cream, make lava lamp fireworks, one word painting, play board game, visit the concession stand, photo booth, complete New Year's questions, play the glow toss game, streamer ball gift, do an auction from the parlay bets. 

The table is set for all of our snacking and eating. 

I bought this Times Square Backdrop years ago and just reuse it every year for our photo backdrop. 

The balloon drop is a favorite at midnight. 

This is the link to last year's activities: 

http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2020/12/8th-annual-new-years-eve-family-party.html

Carlsie (Dundie) Awards

We held our second annual "Carlsie Awards" tonight. We were going to go to Chili's to do the awards, but Rachel thought that would be too embarrassing. So...we ordered pizza and I made a pan of Chili's Texas Cheese Fries and a Skillet Cookie to make it seem more authentic. Rachel has been the host both years, so she picks the categories and gives out the awards. This year she made certificates to give to each family member along with their trophy. The categories were: Snacker Award, Education Award, Best Collector Award, Little Improvement Award, Busiest Beaver Award, Binge Watcher Award, Leave Your Laundry Out Award, Neatest Award, Neatest Closet Award, Moving On Up Award, Best Decorations, and Promising Assistant Manager. 

Below are pictures from our first annual Carlsie Awards.

Snowflake Cinnamon Roll with Caramel Sauce

 After looking for Christmas pastry ideas, I came across this snowflake monkey bread: https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/snowflake-pull-apart-monkey-bread/

It was a lot easier to make than it looks and is delicious. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp yeast

1 Tbsp honey

2 eggs, beaten

4 Tbsp melted butter

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 beaten egg for brushing dough before baking

Filling: 

6 Tbsp softened butter

3/4 brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Caramel Glaze:

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

6 Tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla

Start by warming the 1 cup of milk in the microwave for about 45 seconds. Add that and the 1 Tbsp of yeast to the bowl of your stand mixer. Add in the 1 Tbsp honey and stir. Let that sit for 2-3 minutes. Add the salt, beaten eggs, and melted butter. Stir that together with a wooden spoon. Add in the 3 1/2 cups of flour. Stir again with the wooden spoon and then attach your hook attachment. Let that mix for about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let rise for about an hour, or until doubled. 

Punch the dough down and divide into four balls. Roll one of the balls into a a 10-12 inch circle. Place it on a parchment lined baking pan. (It should be a pan that has at least a small side to it.)

In a bowl, mix the filling: 6 Tbsp softened butter, 3/4 cups brown sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. This will make a paste. Divide the paste into thirds. Spread 1/3 of the paste on the first dough circle. Then roll out the next dough ball, place that on top of the paste, and then add 1/3 of the paste to the top of the second circle. Repeat with the remaining dough and paste. 

Next, I found a circle cutter that was about 2 inches in diameter. I placed that in the center of the dough. I cut the dough into fourths first. Then cut each fourth into four more triangles. You should have 16 triangles when you are done.

Take two of the triangles. Twist them away from each other for about 2 turns. Then seal the dough together at the end. Let that rise for about 20-30 minutes. Then brush with a beaten egg.

Cook at 375 for 15 minutes. Pull out the pastry, spoon and filling that is coming out of the dough back on top of the dough. Bake for another 15 minutes. 

While that is baking, make the caramel sauce. In a small saucepan, stir together the 6 Tbsp butter, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, and 1/2 cup whipping cream. Let that bowl for about 3-4 minutes. It will thicken slightly. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla. It will thicken even more after letting it rest for about 15 minutes. 

Spread the caramel sauce on top of the baked pastry and top with powdered sugar if desired. 

Virgin Mimosa Bar

 

I decided to do something festive for our Christmas breakfast. I arranged fruit around a 9 inch Styrofoam cone that was covered with plastic wrap. I added some other cups of fruit around it as well (pineapple, pomegranates, blueberries, cranberries, and the extra berries from the tree).

We had a couple of different types of sparkling juice and 7-Up to add to the orange juice and fruit. 

Holiday Tree and Wreath Appetizer

 I covered a 12 inch Styrofoam cone with plastic wrap. Then I gathered some meat and cheese and placed it around the cone. It worked best to take a piece of the meat and fold four ends to the middle of the meat and then pierce the ends together with a toothpick that got placed in the Styrofoam. I added a mozzarella pearl in the middle of some of the pieces of meat. I also added some olives for more color.  

The wreath is just tomatoes, mozzarella pearls, and basil on toothpicks. I drizzled reduced balsamic vinegar over the whole thing. 

Grinch Dinner and a Movie

 We usually have a Grinch movie night around Christmas. This year we had a pretty good feast. 

For some added decorations, I purchased the Grinch Magna Tiles and a Grinch advent calendar. I made my sugar cookie bars and put a red heart on each square. We had some green Jell-O trifles, roast beast and who hash, and of course, Grinch punch (Sprite and lime sherbet.)

Easy Breadsticks

Ingredients: 

1 cup warm water

1 Tbsp yeast

3 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup oil

2 1/2 cups flour

2 Tbsp butter, melted

garlic salt and parmesan cheese

In a stand mixer bowl, stir the water, yeast, brown sugar, and salt. Let sit for a couple of minutes. Add the oil and flour. Stir with a wooden spoon and then attach the hook attachment and knead for about 5 minutes. 

Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 10x13. Cut 1 inch strips. Twist each strip once or twice and then place on a greased baking pan. Cover with a towel and let rise for about 30 minutes. 

Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. Brush with the melted butter (I sprinkled garlic salt and parmesan cheese in my melted butter before brushing on the breadsticks.) 

Clifford Dinner and Movie Party

We decided to stream Clifford the Movie from Paramount. We had a little dinner party to go with it. We had "Pup"peroni Pizza, bone breadsticks, crackers and bone-shaped cheese, Kibbles n' bits (Puff cereal), red velvet sugar cookies in the shape of a dog, Scooby graham cracker snacks, toilet water (blue PowerAde), chew ropes (licorice), and fetch sticks (pretzels). I put some of the snacks in dog bowls I found at the dollar store. We got out all of our Clifford books and did a multiplication color sheet of Clifford. It was a great movie!  

Annie the Musical Dinner

 Annie the Musical was performed live on tv last week. We threw a little dinner party to celebrate. 

I made New England Clam Chowder (minus the clams), Idaho baked potatoes, Ms. Hannigan's mush (oatmeal), and ice cream soda (vanilla ice cream, pop, and whipped cream). I also added some cheese cut into the shape of suns, Hard Knock Life Candy, Pecan "Sandy" cookies, red velvet Annie cupcakes, and Daddy Warbucks chocolate money and coins. 

I made some mops out of yarn and dowel rods and used little buckets to hold some of the food. 

I found some sun and dog sun catchers to paint for a craft before the musical. 

A Birthday for Cow Book and a Cake

We have been celebrating Cow's birthday for quite a few years. Jan Thomas was one of Rachel's favorite authors when she was a toddler. We noticed that Cow's birthday was marked for Oct. 17th in the book "Happy Birthday, Cow", so we always celebrate on that day. This year I did some turnip cake pops to decorate the cake and cupcakes. 

 

The Santa Clause Dinner and a Movie

 

We do quite a few dinner and a movie nights. One of our holiday ones was centered around The Santa Clause. We made homemade hot cocoa and cookies. For dinner, I made all of the components of Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast: pancakes, sausage links, bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast. 

Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients: 

2 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp salt  

1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast cut into strips

3 colored peppers cut into strips

1 onion cut into strips

2 cloves of garlic

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp lime juice

Shells and other toppings like cheese and sour cream. 

Put all of the seasonings in a bowl and stir. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Put the chicken, peppers and onions on the baking sheet. Put garlic and seasoning mix on top. Drizzle olive oil all over the top. Stir to coat everything and arrange in a single layer on the pan. 

Bake for about 20 minutes, turning the mixture about halfway through. Drizzle lime juice over the top when finished and put in tortilla shells to eat. 

Disney World 50th Anniversary Party

 For Disney World's 50th Anniversary on Oct. 1st, we hosted a dinner party to celebrate.  For dinner we had some Disney World favorites: Mickey-shaped pretzel, corndogs and fries, Nutella waffles, Dole Whip, and rice krispie Mickey shapes. In addition to the food, we had a Bippity  Boppity Boutique set up for nails, hair, and accessories, we had coloring sheets, did some roller coaster rides in the clothesbasket, and took some pictures by the castle (from YouTube)