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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Deck The Halls Contest

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the coming days find us all focusing on decorating the house for Christmas and buying gifts for the special people in our lives.  Needless to say, the month of December is always a busy one!  Not a lot of time for sewing, but good things are happening none the less!

Traditionally, the week following Thanksgiving is when my family begins decorating our house.  This year, because of the mess we're still living with in various areas of our house due to painting and what not, we're not going to do Christmas as usual.  We're just going to deck the halls of the kitchen and family room, the rooms we live in the most, and see how it goes from there.  No doubt, you're doing the same!






When Lynne Hagmeier and I were at the Country Living Fair a few months ago, I picked up another little goodie too cute to pass up.  I bought an extra one!  So....let's have a contest! 





Please leave a comment by midnight, Wednesday, December the 1st, about anything Christmas, to enter the drawing.  That way, you'll have a little something more to deck your hall with!









Now, knowing how busy we all are, we still have to eat!  Time for another easy meal idea!  Here are two very easy recipes for one of my family's favorite meals.  One is for a Crock Pot and the other is made in the oven.  (Just wanted you to know I do cook other things besides slow cooker dishes!)



  
Good Enough For Company
Beef & Mushrooms

3 lbs stew meat, cubed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 large can mushrooms, drained
1 small can mushrooms, drained
½ cup red wine
1 envelope Good Seasons salad dressing mix
1 8 oz tub onion & chives cream cheese


Directions:

Soften cream cheese in the microwave (1 minute increments on half power) until smooth and creamy.  Combine all other ingredients in slow cooker.  Cover.  Cook 10 hours on low OR 5-6 hours on high.

Serve over noodles, rice, or pasta – optional.

Serve with Beefy Rice!  Yum


 What's Beefy Rice you say?

Well, it's about the easiest side dish in the world to make!  It tastes oh so good and needs only 4 ingredients.

Serve this with any beef dish.  It's a real crowd pleaser!  Whenever I take this anywhere, folks always ask for the recipe.







Beefy Rice

1 stick of butter
1 can Beefy Mushroom soup
1 can French Onion soup
1 cup Uncle Ben’s Converted rice, uncooked


Pre-heat the oven to 350°.

Put the butter in a 2 qt shallow Pyrex dish and melt in the oven.

Once melted, remove from the oven and add the soup; mix well.  Then, add the rice; mix well.  Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.


Let me know what you think!  Enjoy decorating.....Pam



11 comments:

  1. Christmas is coming so quickly this year. I love to see the houses all decorated with pretty lights, and we enjoy time together with family and friends. But mostly I love Christmas because it is the celebration of Christ's birth. Thanks for the recipes.

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  2. I've been busy making a few gifts for the rapidly approaching holiday. Put a few decorations up yesterday and plan to put the tree up next weekend. We have fake trees here in Arizona due to the fire hazard, but I put evergreen scented candles throughout the house to simulate a real tree! Let's see if #2 commenter ever wins ;o)

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  3. For the past few years my goal has been to make some of the Christmas gifts I give to family and friends. I never seem to get as many made as I would like. I will try again this year to make more. If I could just make them through out the year instead of waiting until December to start!

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  4. Today I started putting out my Christmas quilts. This month I did make a couple of Christmas tabletoppers that I still need to quilt. Tomorrow I hope to start displaying my Christmas decorations.

    Nancy E

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  5. I'm working on a table runner for the Christmas season using Kansas Winter fabrics from Kansas Troubles. Today, I bought a Poinsettia to kick off the decorations at our home. What an adorable little jingle joy hat! How cute! Bet that would look lovely on our tree! We love this time of year, too. For us and our family Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

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  6. I've just had the good fortune to find your blog, and I love it! :) Those recipes sound yummy, and I can't wait to try them.

    I love everything about Christmas! I've been working on mug rugs as little gifts. I always wait until December 1 to start decorating, and I still have to have a 'live' or cut tree. I play Christmas music from December 1 until sometime after the New Year. :) I've been known to leave my decorations up a bit longer than most people do. :) Oh, and making cookies...love making at one new tablerunner each Christmas...:) I just love Christmas...Church pagents and nativities...

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  7. I just love Christmas; and leave my tree up til the New Year. I fill my kitchen and dining area with snowmen that remain til spring. I figure, we work so hard to decorate for the holidays...might as well enjoy them as long as we can! Always room for something extra for holiday decorating.

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  8. I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday decorating for Christmas. I guess some would say that I am "over the top". However, I love my decorations and will enjoy them for the next 5 weeks. Although I do not "need" any new decorations, I can always find a place for something "special".. And that Santa's hat is really special.

    I have been enjoying your blog.

    Happy Holidays!
    Charlotte S.

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  9. I'm not going to decorate much this year because our kitchen is being remodeled and right now everything is being stored in the living room. I will put up a small tree though, although I don't know where I'll put it. Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love visiting my family. Diane

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  10. I've got my decorations up, have the lights on and the music playing. My whole family loves Christmas!

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  11. The first Christmas decoration I put out is the Nativity Set....and next comes the quilts! It is so fun to see them displayed after they have been stored for months. Only after the quilts are hung and/or draped over the furniture do I think about setting up the tree and bringing out the other decorations. =)

    Carol from PWSC

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