Christmas Recipes

My family of four will be celebrating Christmas with my family of 36.  My five siblings, their spouses & kids, my siblings' kids' spouses and their kids makes for a big gathering.  It's crazy chaotic coziness.  If that's possibly imaginable.  For those of you with a big fam, you know what I mean.

So, I will be at my momma's cooking up the dishes I'm contributing to our CCCCC (crazy chaotic cozy Christmas celebration).  Each sub family (my sibling's families) of the bigger family (my parents's family) brings a dish or two.  Since live away and I don't want to carry cookbooks with me, I thought I would just type up the recipes here and then use this wonderful gift of the internet to pull them up there.  And, some of you just might be looking for a new fam fave this Christmas. 

Green Bean Bundles

(Thank you to my church friend, Missy, for introducing me to these!)

3 cans whole green beans

strips of bacon, cut in half

1 medium onion, sliced and separated into rings

1/3 c. brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

pepper to taste

1/4 c. butter, melted

toothpicks

Drain beans.  

Wrap a handful of bean in an onion strip; wrap with bacon strip around onion; secure with toothpick.

Place bundles side by side on a baking dish.

Sprinkle with sugar, garlic, and pepper.  I don't measure, just have fun with it.

Drizzle with butter.

Bake for 35-45 mins at 350.

Very important sidenote...don't use colored toothpicks.  It is not pretty.  Yeah.

Apple Crunch Cake

(Thank you to my good friend, Jayme, for introducing me to this just in time for Christmas!)

(2) 20 oz cans of apple pie filling

(1) 18 oz yellow cake mix

ground cinnamon

2 sticks of butter, melted

Spread pie filling into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  

Sprinkle cake mix over pie filling.  

Spread out with spoon.  It's semi-important that the cake mix is spread evenly.

Sprinkle cinnamon over cake mix.  

Pour butter over all.  

Bake at 350 for approximately 1 hr, or until brown and bubbly.

Serve warm with ice cream.  

Yum!

Only slightly important side note...my friend sprinkled chopped walnuts on hers before baking.  We all know how I feel about nuts in my food...so she left them off my part!  Good friend.  Nuts by themselves, yum!  Nuts in food, blah!  So, if you want to make blah! apple crunch cake, be my guest.  As for me and my household, we will serve the yum! version.  =)

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Attitude of Gratitude

116. rain drizzle
117. steam from my coffee
118. the way baby girl says, "cyclables" (recyclable)
119. anticipation of caroling
120. traced hands
121.smell of home-made bread
122. the look of surprise on gift recipients' faces
123. my man's wooden boxes
124. when we all sleep in
125. good doctor reports

For more on "Attitude of Gratitude," see this post:

Just Perpetually Tired