Merry Christmas from our house to yours......

Welcome to our Holiday Home

I enjoy seeing how other people decorate at Christmas and have been visiting a lot of other house tours on-line. Here is a little peek into mine.

It's been a busy and eventful year so I decided simpilicity was the way to go and decorate with what I had on hand and my goal was to spend $0.00. 

Lets start outside on the front porch........

 I've been looking for an old sled and was thrilled my mom had keep this one from my childhood. She was happy to get it out of her basement and I am even happier to give it a new home. The ice-skates were from my teen-age years. Oh the memories these two items bring back.

Stars always remind me of one of my favorite Christmas songs 'Oh Beautiful Star of Bethlehem'.

Now come on inside.

I love my little birdhouse pencil tree. I just added some burlap ribbon to give it a different look from other years.

These vases and candles were left over from the wedding. I've been wanting to do an all white mantle but didn't have enough white to work with so this was the best I could come up with.

I do love the old window frame though.

Same tree as last year with the addition of hydrangeas I had left over from the wedding.

Playing around with bokeh. My first so don't judge too harshly please:)

Christmas Tree Bokeh

I love chalkboards. My niece made this one for me.

The only thing I bought was burlap and these little birds. The burlap doesn't really count as money spent because I'll use it all year.

The birds were intended for the tree but they never made it there. I might have spent 5 or 6 dollars on them so I came close to my goal. Oh, and the epsom salt for my jars so I probably spent 10.00. Still happy with that!

I dug out some old kitchen tools and used them in my decor.

Thank You for taking time to visit our home and I want to wish

everyone a Blessed Christmas!

Linking to Jennifer Rizzo

Homemade Caramel Candy

Many years ago a lady I cleaned for gave me this recipe for the best homemade caramels I ever had. At that time it was one of those secret recipes, don't share this with anyone, it's an old family secret recipe. As far as I recall I kept my promise but that was like 30 years ago and I think recipes are meant to be shared and there probably are a million and a half recipes like this.
What's different from this recipe and all the others out there?
 I'm not sure but could it possibly be the 3 pints of real cream in this recipe? Yes......you heard right. That just might be why they are so good.

Back in the old days I could go to one of the local cheese houses for my cream but I don't think they sell it anymore with all the rules and regulations.  That was so much better than what you buy at the store.

An accurate candy thermometer is essential for making these. Read tip below on how to check your thermometer.
The cooking time required for these caramels is 2 1/2-3 hours so give yourself plenty of time.

First in a large saucepan mix your sugar, corn syrup.........

and 1 pint of whipping cream. Over medium to medium high heat, bring to a boil stirring constantly. After this starts boiling you just have to stir occasionally. The high fat content in the cream keeps this from scorching but keep a close eye on it. It will bubble up quite a bit. Boil to 238 on candy thermometer.

When your thermometer reads 238 degrees add the next pint of cream and continue to boil stirring occasionally.

The caramel is starting to darken. After it reaches 238 add the final pint of cream.

Reduce heat to medium.

See how dark it's getting. This time boil until the thermometer reads 242 degrees.

Remove from heat immediately and add 1 tsp vanilla and stir in.

Pour into a buttered sheet pan and let it cool to room temperature.

After it's completely cooled off, cut in pieces and.........

wrap in wax paper.

A little sprinkling of sea salt......SO GOOD!!!

Caramel Candy

4 1/2 cups white sugar

1 pint light karo

3 pint whipping cream divided

1 tsp vanilla

IMPORTANT TIPS: Make sure your candy thermometer is accurate. You can test it in boiling water. The temperature should read 212 degrees. If it doesn't make adjustments accordingly.

Don't let the bulb of the thermometer rest on the bottom of the pan as this can give an inaccurate reading.

Use a large heavy duty pan as it will bubble up a lot.

Directions:

Mix the first two ingredients and 1 pint whipping cream together in a large saucepan.Stir constantly until it reaches a boil.

Over medium to medium high heat boil to 238 degrees on a candy thermometer stirring occasionally. 

Add 1 pint whipping cream to mixture and again boil to 238 degrees stirring occasionally.

Add the final pint of whipping cream to mixture and reduce heat to medium and boil to 242 degrees.

This whole cooking process will take approximately 2 1/2 hours or more.

When your thermometer registers 242 take off heat and stir in 1 tsp vanilla.

Pour into a buttered sheet pan. Let it cool to room temp. When completely cooled off, cut in pieces and wrap in wax paper.

printablerecipe
Linking to:
StoneGable
Clever Chick
Foodie Friday

Party Mix

My family doesn't care if I don't get any cookies or candy made at Christmas, but when it comes to Party Mix it's a whole different story. No matter how much I make it's gone in a flash!
Word gets out there's Party Mix in the house, the kids are sneaking home when I'm at work and fill up their bags and I come home to this.

Well........that might not have been just them. I may or may not have eaten more than my share.

 I'm not saying.

Fortunately it's easy to make and you can adapt it to whatever you like in your mix. This is the combination we like best.

Sometimes I put these in instead of Cheez-its.  Once upon a time you could find them in red and green at Christmas but I couldn't find any this year. These are going into the next batch.

Put the cereal of your choice in a large roaster. I use Honeycomb because I like a little sweetness, Cheerios and Crispex. You could use corn or rice chex instead of Crispex.

Melt your butter, oil and worchestershire sauce.

Pour over cereal.

Sprinkle with Lawry's Salt.

Mix well and bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes, adding more Lawry's Salt each time.

After an hour add your pretzels, cheese crackers and nuts. Continue baking an additional 1/2 hour stirring every 15 minutes.

Optional: When completely cooled add 1 bag M+M's.

Party Mix

1 1/3 cup Canola Oil

1 stick Butter

2 Tbsp Worchestershire Sauce

Melt butter, add oil and worchestershire sauce, then pour over.....

10 cups Honeycomb

6 cups cheerios

6 cups Crispex

Mix well and sprinkle a little Lawry's Seasoned Salt over all.

Bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Each time you stir sprinkle a little more Lawry's salt on.

After 1 hour:

 Add 1/2-1 lb bag pretzel sticks

 3/4 to 1 lb mixed nuts or nuts of your choice. I like cashews the best.

 1 box cheez-it snack crackers or 1 box cheddar Goldfish crackers. More Lawry's if desired. 

 Bake 15 minutes. Stir and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Total baking time is 1 1/2 hour.

 printablerecipe

Linking to:
StoneGable

Crock-Pot Chicken Chili

I love recipes where you throw everything into the crock-pot and hours later it has turned into a delicious meal. Other than sauteing the onion and garlic and cooking the rice this recipe is super easy. I didn't even thaw my chicken. Just layered everything, stirred it occasionally till the chicken was tender.

This is a thick chili which could even be used in taco's or tortilla's, but I like it over rice with shredded cheese and sour cream.

Crock-Pot Chicken Chili

2 chicken breasts

1 can black beans rinsed

1 can corn, undrained

1 can rotel, undrained

1 package ranch dressing mix

1/2 Tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 cup diced onion

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic minced

1 8 oz package cream cheese regular or light.

Instructions: 

1. Heat oil in a skillet and cook onions for 8 minutes then add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

2. Set your crockpot to low and add chicken, cooked onions and garlic, beans, corn, rotel, all the seasonings and ranch mix.

3. Stir

4. Add cream cheese on top.

5. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours and chicken is done.

6. Before serving, shred chicken with fork.

7. Serve over rice. Top with shredded cheese and sour cream.

printablerecipe