Hello friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Our family enjoyed the winter break we got to spend with our daughter out of school. We had family here and also family from out of town visiting. It was so much fun to spend time together. The kids are still young and I really enjoy seeing their faces light up on Christmas morning. For Dinner, David made his famous bacon wrapped turkey courtesy of Gordon Ramsey. It turned out so amazing. I made mashed potatoes with deviled eggs, Mimi made cornbread casserole with Mac and cheese, and Grandma made creamed peas with cranberry sauce. We were all so stuffed. Our favorite Christmas movie is National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, so we had to watch that afterwards. It was a wonderful Christmas!
Every year, we get together with the girls of the family on my husband's side to bake Christmas cookies. I believe this was my 14th year baking with them! This year I decided to make S'mores cookies, and sugar cookies with white chocolate chips and sprinkles. I think my favorite was the sugar cookies. I ran out of time and just bought Pillsbury sugar cookie mix and added the white chocolate chips and sprinkles, but wow they were really good. It was easy and delicious! The kids really liked rolling the cookie dough in the sprinkles and we found white chocolate red and green Christmas trees/ stockings which made it even more fun.
This year, I decided to made fudge. I searched for a really recipe that didn't use a candy thermometer, and it turned out nicely. This recipe included marshmallows, evaporated milk, chocolate chips, and vanilla. I decided to make with nuts and without nuts for those that have allergies. Both were delightful.
One thing I really enjoyed over the holiday was trying out my new air fryer. Have you ever tried one or seen one before? I had heard of them, but really didn't know exactly how they worked. I thought it really fried the food somehow but definitely was curious to see how it did it with air. The air fryer is like a broiler, but instead of only getting the top of the food crisp and then needing to flip it, it circulates air all around the food to crisp every side. Its really neat and does it in a short amount of time. My new favorite recipe is a sandwich crisp wrap. It has turkey, salami, mayonnaise, banana peppers, spinach, mozzarella cheese on a tortilla and then gets crisped in the air fryer. SO GOOD!
My next favorite is my instantpot. I've had this for a couple of years now and I absolutely love it and can't live without it now. If you are a mom, its a LIFESAVER! It has helped me to prepare meals in about 15 min or even shorter. It's amazing and I feel like the food turns out even better cooked in the instantpot verses the slow cooker. If you do have one and haven't tried it yet, you should bring it out! Find a soup recipe and just try it. You'll be glad you did. The only thing I wish is that mine was bigger, but I could always upgrade one day. I have several recipes to share with you! Stay tuned!
What are some of your favorite kitchen gadgets? What do you feel like you can't live without?
I have two favorite kitchen gadgets that I gifted to my husband David this year. One was a lunch box that he can take with him to work and it will actually heat up his food for him in the car! It comes with a plug made for your vehicle and also a regular plug if he is working inside a house for handyman projects. I can pack him leftovers and he can plug it in when he's ready to eat it and it will warm it up a little bit like a small slow cooker. So neat! He's trying it out today, so I'll let you know what he thinks. You can check it out on Amazon on the right side of my page. This is the exact one I bought for him.
**Update- David tried out this portable heated lunch box and loved it. He said he plugged it in and went about his work and came back to a hot lunch. It was a little too hot, but he left it in for about 35 min and the instructions say ready in 20, so next time he will set a timer and then unplug. He thought it was awesome and is excited that he can heat his lunch up on the go- He messaged me today 1/5 and said "I really love this lunch warmer, it's better than the microwave. Tastes just as good as last night!"
The next gadget was a guacamole keeper. David makes a lot of guacamole and it always turns brown quickly before we are able to eat it all. I found a guacamole keeper that gets all of the air out and keeps it green.
No comments:
Post a Comment