A Pinterest Addiction

I have become addicted to Pinterest! Found this breakfast idea and HAD to try it! Very easy & DELICIOUS!
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Half-fry several pieces of bacon. Cut circles out of bread; I used a pint glass. Lightly spray muffin pan with vegetable oil spray. Place bread circles in bottom of tin. Place bacon around the outside edge of muffin tin (between bread & muffin tin wall). Crack open an egg; discard about 1/2 of egg white, and pour the rest of the egg into the bread/bacon basket. Put in oven and bake until bacon is completely cooked and eggs are set, about 10-20 minutes. They turned out really well, if I do say so myself!!!

Pinterest could become a serious problem!!!

Christmas Cooking & Crafting!

It's December, and that means crafts & cooking! My first craft of the season was applesauce/cinnamon Christmas ornaments. This is what I used...

The recipe is a 1:1 ratio of cinnamon to applesauce. Mix it until it forms a dough.

Flatten out the dough. It is very sticky; I tried rolling it with a rolling pin, but found that using my hands was easier. Needs to be between 1/4" & 1/2" thick.

Use your favorite shaped cookie cutters.

Don't forget to make a hole in the top for the ribbon! You can dry on a cooling rack, but any humidity will slow this process. I heated my oven to 250 degrees and baked them between 1-2 hours, until they were no longer soft. Paint & decorate if you want. They smell WONDERFUL, and will last for years!

Another favorite Christmas pass time is making Christmas goodies, like Crock Pot Candy (YUMMY & EASY)!!
Chocolate covered pretzels & Ritz Bits PB sandwich crackers...

White chocolate ones too!

Chocolate Pretzel Pecan Turtles, made with Kisses & Rolos. LOVE these, and they are such an easy candy to make! You'll need pretzels (with a good grid), Kiss/Rolo candies, & pecan halves. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (not necessary, but makes cleanup EASY!), and cover it with pretzels; cover each pretzel with a Kiss or Rolo candy. Bake for 5 minutes, until candy is super soft.
Press a pecan half into each candy and cool completely to set the candy.

Duane's Christmas favorite: Peanut Butter-Chocolate Candy Cookies. You'll need peanut butter cookie dough, and Kiss/Rolo/Reese's Mini PB Cup candies. 1 double roll of peanut butter cookie dough makes approximately 4 dozen cookies. Preheat oven t0 350 degrees.

Lightly spray mini muffin pan with vegetable oil spray. Roll cookie dough into 1 inch sized balls and place in muffin pans. Mush a candy into the dough. (Note: if you are using kisses, put them in tip-down to keep from burning the tip.)

Bake for approximately 10-14 minutes, until cookies are set and golden brown. Allow to cool slightly in muffin tins before using a knife to loosen cookie and turning them out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Santa's Wonderland!

Once again, we celebrated Christmas with Noah & The Dragers! Noah liked the gingerbread house kit, but he LOVED the Nerf gun! Priorities, people!!!

Then, Crystal, Noah, and I headed off to Santa's Wonderland. Usually, Duane & Jeremy go with us, but we gave them a reprieve this year. It was a SUPER FUN time! Noah summed it up when he saw it and said, "Oh Mom! It is so beautiful!"

A B/CS Christmas

This was our year to have the friends over for our annual Christmas party. We always have a great time celebrating the season with great friends, good food, bubbly beverages, a few gifts, and LOTS of laughter!

The Dragers were there!

Shannon seems puzzled by her gift selection, but Shayne is having fun with it!

Stephanie is all smiles, listening to Chris's story!

Hmmm...Which present to choose???

Sorry, Jeremy, you won't get to keep that one very long!

See...

What could it be???

Electric Sex in the Window!!!

Yes, Steph, you HAVE to show the crowd!

Keep digging, there is more there than just tissue paper!

Honey badger don't give a @#$%!

Crystal's turn!

Shannon, it's not THAT bad, is it?

Another try for Jeremy; maybe you'll get to keep this one!

Merry Christmas To All!!!

Oh Christmas Tree!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Kersten Casa! Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is time to drag out the Christmas decorations and decorate the tree, which is one of my favorite traditions!

Another tradition in our house is that Duane places the star on top of the tree.

Seems that I'm not the only one who enjoys the tree. Jacks grabbed a quick nap under the tree...

Oreo takes time out for a nap as well. And, this new tree skirt lasted all of 1 day. When I got home from school, it was in pieces all over the living room and the remnants were pulled halfway through the dog door. Apparently, Jacks thought the snowman was his first present of the Christmas season.

Of course, decorating the Christmas tree leads to another, less favored Christmas tradition... cleaning up the tree-decorating MESS!