3rd Annual Carlsie (Dundie) Awards

We all love The Office, so Rachel decided we should have our own Dundie Award show and call it the Carlsies. Now it has become a Christmas break tradition. We make all of our favorite foods from Chilis and Rachel makes up awards for each of the family members. We have 12 trophies so everyone gets 3 awards presented by Rachel. 

We made chicken fajitas (http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2021/12/sheet-pan-chicken-fajitas.html), Texas cheese fries, sliders, chips and salsa, and skillet cookie. We also had non-alcoholic strawberry margaritas. 

This year we ended the night by putting together The Office Lego set. There were 10 bags in this set, so each of us did two bags. 

Skillet Cookie Cake

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Melt the butter in an 8-inch cast iron skillet. Remove from heat and add the sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat your egg in a bowl and then add to the pan, mixing well. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the pan. Mix well. Add the chocolate chips, being careful not to stir too much as your chips will melt. 

Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. This is really good with ice cream on top. 

This is what it looks like before going in the oven. The finished product in the top picture. 

Christmas Charcuterie Cups

Instead of doing a charcuterie board, I decided to make some cups. I got Christmas toothpicks from Amazon and did some that were just fruit (and holiday Zebra brownie). I put Christmas peanut M&Ms and pretzel sticks in the bottom as filler. Then I did 5 toothpick skewers per cup. 

Zebra brownie recipe: http://workingmomwonders.blogspot.com/2013/11/zebra-brownies.html

I just used food gel to color some of the cream cheese filling red and some green. 

The vegetable/meat/cheese cups had a little more of a variety. Every cup had a tomato/basil/mozzarella stick. They all also had a meat stick and cheese stick, and then the other sticks were a variety of vegetables/olives/pickles/mini pepperoni. In the bottom of these cups I put crackers and pretzels. 

Elf Dinner and a Movie

For this dinner and a movie party we had spaghetti (complete with all the candy toppings: candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup) We also had Coke to drink and wrote letters using our Elf stationary and had a fake snowball fight. 

It was also National Maple Syrup Day (Dec. 17th) 

 

Hot Chocolate Bar

 For National Cocoa Day on December 13th we had a hot chocolate bar. We had hot cocoa and frozen cocoa to celebrate. 

Beauty and the Beast Dinner Party

 

Beauty and the Beast is on live tonight on ABC. We decided to have a dinner party before watching the movie. 

We had beef ragout (beef ravioli), cheese soufflé (Red Lobster cheddar biscuits), pie (mini cherry pies) and pudding "en flambé"!  Try the gray stuff it's delicious! (vanilla pudding with crushed Oreos stirred in. I topped with white pearl sprinkles)

I mixed frozen pineapple chunks and orange juice for the drink and topped the cups with red sanding sugar. 

We also had some chocolate roses under glasses for decorations. 

Grinch Dinner and a Movie and Homemade Chocolate Pudding

For our Grinch dinner party we had roast beast, who hash, who pudding, green Jell-O trifles, Grinch punch, and Grinch vegetable and fruit boards. 

I used yellow peppers for the eyes on the vegetable board and pineapple on the fruit board. The mouth, nose, and eyebrows are chocolate pieces.

The Grinch punch is just lime sherbet and Sprite. I put the Jell-O in green plastic cups that I attached a red heart to. 

In the background you can see a Grinch I drew on green paper to play pin the heart on the Grinch. 

The who pudding is homemade chocolate pudding with green sanding sugar and a red heart sprinkle on top. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups milk

2 Tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla

Whisk the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, salt, and milk together in a saucepan at medium heat.  It will take about 10 minutes to boil and thicken. When it boils, let it cook for 2 minutes as it thickens more. Put the pudding in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. (Let the plastic wrap sit right on top of the pudding so it doesn't develop a thick coating.) Let the pudding cool in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight. 

Thanksgiving Charcuterie Boards

 

Snowflake Wreath

 I saw a video on Facebook that showed how to make this wreath (https://youtu.be/a6RIznyrCqo) . I decided to give it a try. 

I was able to find everything, including the ribbon at the Dollar Tree. 

You will need 6 mini Christmas trees, wire, hot glue, one roll of ribbon, decorative pieces to hot glue on the top, white paint, and a sponge brush. 

Put two trees together at the bottom with hot glue and wire. Then put each set on top of one another to make the snowflake shape. Hot glue and wire that together in the center as well. 

Fluff out the trees so they fill in the gaps. Use a sponge brush to add some white paint to the branches if you want a flocked look.  

Make a bow and hot glue that and the decorative pieces to the wreath. For more details, click on the video link above to see how to make the bow and the wreath. 

Rocky Road Fudge

 This fudge recipe is very easy and tastes delicious. 

Ingredients: 
1 bag chocolate chips (semi-sweet works best)

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cup mini marshmallows

3/4 cup peanuts

Line a bread pan with parchment paper. Spread 1/2 cup of the marshmallows on the bottom of the pan. Put the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a microwavable bowl. Heat in 30 second intervals until smooth. Stir after each time. Add the rest of the marshmallows and peanuts and stir. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan. Let it chill in the fridge. Cut when set. You can also double the recipe to fit an 8x8 inch pan. 

A Christmas Story Christmas Dinner Party

For the opening of A Christmas Story Christmas, we decided to have a themed dinner party. 

We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and Ovaltine. I also made leg lamp and "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" cookies and chocolate "soap" bars that say "Oh Fudge". 

For the past 24 days, we have been opening one of the characters from the Christmas Story Advent calendar. 

I used my stocking cookie cutter to make the leg lamps. I just straightened out the bottoms a little before baking. 

I also made this photo board out of a large cardboard box. 

I bought a pair of reading glasses from the Dollar Tree and popped out the lens for use with the photo board. 

I used a Reese's peanut butter cup for the top of the cookie. 

The Santa Clause Movie Dinner Party

 We decided to have a theme dinner party for the new Santa Clause series on Disney Plus. 

We had breakfast for dinner to go with the Denny's scene in The Santa Clause original movie. I also made some Santa Claus clause cookies. We finished the evening with a hot cocoa bar. 

Farm Birthday Cake

 

Taco Lasagna

Ingredients: 

6-10 soft shell tortillas

1 lb ground beef or turkey

taco seasoning

1 can black beans

1 small jar of green chilis

1 can enchilada sauce

shredded cheddar cheese

1 can of corn (optional)

Start by browning your hamburger or turkey burger. Add taco seasoning and water and let simmer for a couple of minutes. 

Meanwhile, put a layer tortillas on the bottom of a glass pan. Cover with enchilada sauce. 

I then added a layer of the taco meat, black beans, and green chilis. If you want corn, add that too here. Top with a layer of shredded cheddar cheese. 

Repeat until you have three layers. 

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. 

 

A Birthday for Cow Cake

 One of Rachel's favorite authors from her toddler years is Jan Thomas. "A Birthday for Cow" was a very popular book. We noticed that Cow's birthday was Oct. 17th in the book, so we have been celebrating Cow's birthday every year for the past five or six years. This was our cake this year. 

"Fall" Back Dinner/Tea Party and Meatloaf Recipe

As we prepare to turn our clocks back an hour tonight, we thought have a fall tea party would be fitting. We had mini meatloaf, mac and cheese, and pumpkin donuts (it's also National Donut Day). I added some fall wafer rolls, apple cider cookies, candy corn marshmallows, and a meat and cheese board. 

I tried a new meatloaf recipe for this party and have found my new meatloaf recipe! 

Ingredients: 

2 lb hamburger

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup milk

1/2 onion, chopped

1 egg

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/3 cup ketchup (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 muffin tins with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix everything (except the ketchup) until well combined. 

Fill each muffin tin with the meat mixture. If you want ketchup on top, spread a layer on top of each of the mini meatloaf. Bake for 35 minutes. 

This could also be baked in a bread pan for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.