Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

The festivities never stop at our household ~ we go from Christmas straight into birthdays!!  Today is my father's birthday, he's turning the big 6-0!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

~Elizabeth

Merry Christmas from Southern Color

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Here's a family favorite that we hope you're family will enjoy too!

Oyster Cracker Nibblets:

1 cup vegetable oil
2 T dill weed
1/2 t garlic powder
1 pkg dry ranch dressing
24ox oyster crackers
  

 Step 1: Mix all but the oyster crackers thoroughly.

Step 2: Add crackers and fold over and over until all of the oil is absorbed.

 Step 3: Cover with a dish towel until crackers are dry.

Step 4: Eat! 

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~ Julia and Elizabeth

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Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is quickly approaching!  This week has been packed full with happy hours, book club, date night and trying to finish up last minute cookie baking.  I am definitely ready for a long relaxing weekend!  I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my Christmas decorations.

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This isn't my house but I think it's too fun not to share!  This house is a few neighborhoods over from me and they literally have every inch of their yard covered in inflatable Christmas decorations :-)

Back to my decorations!

I'm off to celebrate Christmas with my Grandparents! 

Have a wonderful day :-)

~Elizabeth

Gingerbread Cookies

Christmas is a time for baking cookies and eating way too many sweets!!  Growing up, my sister and I were always in the kitchen during the holidays making tons of cookies.  I remember one year my Dad came home with a new mixer for us ~ I was so excited!  And I still use that mixer today, even though it's like 15 years old :-)

 

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I asked the BF what his favorite Christmas tradition was and he told me it was making gingerbread men with his Mammy.  So while we were visiting his family for Thanksgiving, I made sure to get the recipe!

Gingerbread Cookies:

3/4 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

3 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp. ginger

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. of each: allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt

In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter until well blended.

Add eggs and molasses.  Stir in remaining ingredients.

Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour or overnight.

Roll dough on a well-floured board until 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into shapes.

Place on greased baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool on rack.

While the cookies are cooling, mix up your frosting. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine, softened

1 lb. powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

~ 1/3 cup milk (add until you have the right consistency)

We used neon green & blue to dye some of the frosting.  We also left about 1/2 plain white and then decorated with Christmas sprinkles. 

Here's the BF's gingerbread man.  He did a cute bow tie and socks - which is very fitting for him!

I am currently recovering from a sugar high since I have no self control and insist on licking my fingers as I decorate each cookie!

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

 

Burlap Christmas Pillow

This time of year has my creative juices flowing!  I feel like I will continue to decorate and craft stuff until Christmas eve ~ You can never have too many decorations!

I had some leftover fabric from my Burlap Tree Skirt, so I decided to make decorative Christmas pillows!  When I say decorative, that means these pillows serve no other purpose than to look cute!

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To start:  I went into Microsoft Word and typed up the phrase I wanted to stencil onto my pillows.  I used the "Stencil" font in a size 120.  I printed it out onto Letter sized paper.  Then I covered the entire page in packing tape to make it more sturdy.

Using an Exacto knife, I cut out each letter.  This was incredibly time consuming!  So turn on a Christmas movie because you'll be here for awhile!

Once the stencil was ready to go, I began on the burlap.  I cut the red burlap into 11 x 13 inch rectangles.  I then folded over all the edges (about 1/2 inch).

(sorry for the bad pictures ~ but we have zero over head lighting in our living room)

Once the rectangles were cut out, I stenciled on my Christmas phrase.

I used a black fabric paint from Michael's.

Then I set aside the burlap to dry while I worked on the other pieces of the project.   To make the ruffles on either side of the pillow, I cut 4 inch wide strips that were 20 inches long.  Fold the strip in half so that it is 2 x 20 inches.  Run a thread loosely through the bottom.  Then pull the thread to create a ruffle.  Pin the ruffles inside the front & back of the pillow.  Sew all but 1 side of the pillow, then stuff.  Because the stuffing will come through the burlap, I made simple pillow inserts using leftover fabric from another project.

I used a cream burlap ruffle for one of the pillows and a lime green ruffle for the others.  I love how they turned out!

Merry Christmas Y'all!

~Elizabeth 

Christmas Cocktail

Countdown to Christmas = 9 days!

Happy Friday!  A few weeks ago I went to the White Provisions Holiday Pop-up shops event.  They had live music and vendors with very unique gifts.  This development is really cool: there are condos, retail shops, and restaurants including JCT Kitchen, Ormsby's, Abattoir, Bacchanalia and more - you've got to stop by!

They also had an open bar at the event with a signature cocktail ~ a Peppermint Julep.  Juleps are very popular in the South and are most commonly thought of with the Kentucky Derby.  This Peppermint Julep puts a fun holiday twist on the traditional cocktail.

Peppermint Julep

1 oz. Bourbon

1 oz.  Peppermint Schnapps

1 oz. Cinnamon Schnapps

Topped off with Half & Half

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You might need something to snack on while enjoying your julep, so here's an easy Chex Mix recipe!  We make this every year in our household!

~Elizabeth

Football Food

Several weeks ago UGA played LSU for the SEC championship so what better way to enjoy a football game than with some food!  I tried out two new recipes and both of them were delicious!

Pizza Sticks:

These are so easy to make!  All you need are some wonton wrappers, string cheese, pepperoni and marinara/pizza sauce.  Cut the string cheese in half.  Place on wonton wrapper with two pepperonis and roll.  Fry in vegetable oil and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Buffalo Chicken Rolls:

This recipe came from another blog, "Can you Stay for Dinner?"  I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfectly.   Although they were time consuming to make I would definitely make this recipe again!

Even though UGA lost the game we still had a great time with our friends eating some yummy food!

What's you're favorite football dish? 

~Julia

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