Christmas Bash!

Hello friends! Please forgive my blogging silence. As I discussed with my best friend, Whit (check out her blog), I think it's just that time of year I want to cozy up and enjoy the quiet (rare for me)!

BUT, last weekend Tyler and I threw a Christmas party at our little home. It was really fun to get everything ready together and did we ever bake up a storm. We served lots of great desserts to munch on including chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate cinnamon fudge, peanut butter fudge, pumpkin bread and peppermint bark. It was all delicious!

I also made a diy party favor which was a lot of fun. I created a CD with all of our favorite Christmas tunes along with homemade CD covers out of scrapbook paper and yarn. Such a simple little idea!

How To

What you need:

CD

Scrapbook paper (16" x16")

Paper cutter or scissors

Hole punch

Fluffy Yarn

Hot Glue Gun

Pom Poms

Just burn the CD. Cut the scrapbook paper in half and fold. On 2 consecutive sides of the square (excluding the folded side), punch holes evenly spaced. Then string the yarn through the holes and leave a little excess to tie knots on either end. With the hot glue gun, glue the pom poms on the excess yarn in the top corner and wa-la! A precious little gift.

We really enjoyed hosting together, time with close friends and ringing in the season in style!

A Great Fall Find!

This dish is absolutely incredible! The perfect cozy comfort food for fall. Try it and let me know your thoughts!

Pork and Sweet Potato Stew

(1) 2 1/2-3 lb pork loin, cut into 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch cubes
3 to 4 T all-purpose flour
3 T olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 to 3 stalks celery, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
(1) 14 oz can chicken broth
(1) 10 oz bottle apple-cranberry juice (or we used apple juice and fresh cranberries!)
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/4 inch cubes
1 to 2 T snipped fresh sage (we used dry)

1. Sprinkle pork with 1/2 t salt an 1/4 t pepper. Place flour in a large bowl; add pork and toss to coat. In a 5-6 qt Dutch oven heat 1 T of the oil over medium-high heat. Add half the pork; brown on all sides. Remove. Repeat with another 1 T oil and remaining pork. Remove pork from pan.
2. Add remaining oil to pan along with onion and celery; cook 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Stir in garlic. Sprinkle with any remaining flour; stir to coat. Slowly stir in broth, juice, and 1 cup water. Return pork to pan; add sweet potatoes and sage. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook 20 to 25 minutes more until potatoes and pork are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. To serve, top with fresh sage leaves. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Yum! Enjoy!

It's that time of year!

We've been busy decking the halls! Here are a few photos of our home for the holidays. It was exciting to decorate for our first Christmas in our home! We picked out a real tree and it smells wonderful. It was fun filling it with twinkling lights and meaningful ornaments. I just love this time of year and how warm and cheerful our home feels!

Apple-Cranberry Pie

I'm so grateful to have some time at home to relax and bake! We just made this totally homemade apple-cranberry pie from Better Homes and Gardens and my-oh-my, is it delicious!

Ingredients:
2 homemade pie pastries or rolled refrigerated piecrusts
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup cranberries
2 T lemon juice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground allspice
1/8 t salt
1 recipe Pastry Cream, below
1 egg, beaten
1 T whipping cream

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out pastry on a floured work surface to a circle about 14 inches in diameter. Transfer to a 9-inch deep dish pie tin or plate without stretching. Trim pastry even with rim of tin.
2. In a large bowl combine apples, cranberries, and lemon juice. In a small bowl combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, allspice and salt.
3. Spread bottom of crust with Pastry Cream. Toss apple mixture with dry ingredients; pile over pastry cream in pie tin. Roll remaining pastry portion to 12-inch circle; place over apples. Trim to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie tin. Fold top pastry under bottom pastry. Crimp edges as desired. Cut 4 small slits in top crust to allow steam to escape. Combine egg and cream; brush on pastry. Place on a foil-lines baking sheet.
4. Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes. If necessary, cover edges of pie with foil to prevent overbrowning. Cool on wire rack. Makes 10 servings.

Pastry Cream: In a small saucepan combine 1 cup milk and 1/4 cup sugar; cook over medium heat until bubbly on edges. Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl beat 2 egg yolks, 3 T sugar, 3 T cornstarch, and 1/4 t salt until combined. Gradually beat in 1/3 cup hot milk mixture; quickly beat in remaining milk mixture. Return to saucepan; cook and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in 2 T butter and 1/2 t vanilla. Transfer to bowl; cover surface with plastic wrap. Cool. Store in the refrigerator up to 3 days.

Serve and enjoy :)!

1 Year Strong!

Last weekend we celebrated our 1 year anniversary! We enjoyed a great steak dinner, tried our year old wedding cake (which was pretty good!), and curled up with our wedding video. We loved reliving that special day spent with our loved ones, and enjoyed talking married life. It's truly hard to believe how quickly the time went by. A year ago, I was walking down the aisle towards my future, and now I'm living it every day!

I'm so blessed by our marriage and by Tyler's love and kindness. He is so patient, understanding, and still manages to crack me up. It was a fun year, filled with new challenges and changes. It's exciting to know we only continue to learn more and grow more with time. I'm grateful for the day-to-day and the special memories we share from this 1st year and can't wait to see what's to come!

Yoga Love

Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm still not used to the Daylight Savings time change. It is absolutely pitch black when I leave work, leaving little time to do anything active with my evening! So, I recently purchased Jillian Michaels' yoga workout and it's been kicking my butt ever since. I highly recommend it for a great, 30 minute, indoor work out! Namaste :)

Real World

So, let me set the scene for you! I am currently sitting in my sweet sitting room (which Tyler just painted and surprised me with), with Christmas music playing, a book, my Bible, fresh coffee and one of my favorite candles. This time is precious!

I must admit I've felt a little out of touch with myself lately. I can never quite put my finger on it, but sometimes I think I just get lost in the hustle and bustle of the real world. Hopefully others can relate. So, this got me thinking about the real world in general and how to also retain and nurture all the things that make me, well, me! First of all, I'd like to say I'm pretty sure no one is adequately prepared for the real world. It's such a shift from the days of growing up and college and the transition is something people in general don't seem to address. I have a few small tips (and things I need to remind myself of) in the midst of it all, so here goes:

1. Always look to try new things. Even in very small ways. Switch up your lunch break for instance. Eat fast and go browse through an antique store. Mixing it up makes you feel like you're experiencing things rather than just eating for an hour.

2. Plan fun things for week nights! This one is huge for me. We all live for the weekends (if we're honest with ourselves), but why not mix in some fun during the week?

3. Try new projects. This is one I really need to work on. Sometimes I'm just so tired and spent at the end of the work day, but taking a few minutes to do something creative is energizing!

4. Talk with friends throughout the week! This has always been important to me. I also think it's important in the hustle of everything to keep in touch with people you care about and expand your view! It's nice to hear what's going on in other lives in other parts of the world.

5. Enjoy the little things! Sometimes that's all there is during the week, and that's ok :)

So, that's it! I'm going to try to take my own advice now (never easy!)