This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support. One tradition that we have for Christmas Eve is to keep our meal simple. We generally have a couple of kinds of soup. I shared a post about this here. Soup is such a warm hug type of food, or comfort food in other words. Recently we had a women's Christmas Dinner and Program at our church. I am on the planning committee for these activities and our committee decided to have a buffet of soups for the dinner. If you haven't ever been to a soup buffet, I also wrote a post about that on this post. We had about 9 different kinds of delicious soup and the night was wonderful! My contribution to the buffer that night was two kinds of soup. One was the ever popular Taco Soup, with toppings of tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese. The other was this Salmon Shrimp Bisque that I came up with as an alternative to the much more expensive Lobster Bisque. Whenever I come up with a new recipe and try it on people, I am always a nervous wreck. What a relief when I discovered that this soup was practically all gone by the end of the night! Whew! I actually made this soup in my Instant Pot. I was able to sauté the veggies in it and then after everything was mixed together, I used the Instant Pot as a Crock Pot to simmer the soup in until it was time to serve it! One pot equals less mess and I love that. Not only that, with the lid on the Instant Pot, transporting the soup was an easy task. No spills! If you don't have an Instant Pot, you can always use your Crock Pot and simply start the vegetables in a skillet on the stove. I haven't decided if I'm going to make the switch from clam chowder this year and go with this bisque or stick with tradition. My son is also doing a duck for Christmas Eve this year, so things are going to be a bit different than the norm. That's okay though, as long as we keep the reason for the season in mind and spend it with as many loved ones as we can, I know that it will be a great Christmas. So, if you want to try this Salmon Shrimp Bisque for the holidays, or anytime, here is the recipe! Click on it for the PDF.
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This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support. Mixes in a jar are great gifts during the holidays and I've shared a number of recipes for them lately, which I will list below. I got to thinking about all of the recipes and realized that my SIL, who eats gluten-free, wouldn't be able to enjoy any of those recipes. So, I decided to come up with a way to put his favorite gluten-free treat into a jar so that he and people like him can enjoy a special edible gift just like everyone else!
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support. Chances are that if you spend much time on social media, you have seen these pinecone cake pops that are all the rage lately. My almost daughter-in-law, Rachel, brought the ingredients for them to a holiday party at our house over Thanksgiving week and she made them with some of my grandchildren. I was astonished at how beautiful they look! Of course, they taste great as well. I realized then that these pinecones aren't exclusively a Thanksgiving thing. They are totally appropriate for Christmas as well. One of my first thoughts about them is that one or two of them on a cookie plate that you deliver to friends or neighbors would look wonderful! Or, how about an edible pinecone wreath? Or, just make a cookie wreath and use a couple of these to decorate with. I definitely wanted Rachel to share them on the blog here...and she said that I could. LOL So, I am! Rachel told me where on Amazon to find the right cereal that she used to make these adorable pinecones. She said that when she bought it, she paid around $5.......Guess what, the price has jumped! These are the cheapest I could find. This offer has 4 boxes in it. The power of Social Media! For me, that price was out of the question! We started searching for what else would work and give the same effect. Here is what I settled on. Two weeks ago, when I was looking, this cereal was about $6 or $7. But, once again, since social media spread the word that this cereal is the next best thing after Chocapic, the price has jumped. I actually bought it in my grocery store for about $7. Making the Cake Pops: You can use whatever method of cake pop making you would like. You can also make whatever flavor you would like. When Rachel made them, she used a chocolate cake. I used yellow. I think a spice cake would be great for the holidays as well. I did the crumble the cake version, where I baked a cake, put it in the food processor and crumbled it up. Then I added enough frosting to make a dough-like consistency that I could form into elongated balls. I set them on a parchment lined cookie sheet that I sprinkled with powdered sugar. Next, it was time to decorate! Decorating the Cake Pops:
Now, here is a side by side of the two different cake pops made with different cereal: Can you tell which is which? Maybe, but I think that they both look pretty good! Tell me which you think is the Chocapic and which you think is the Protein cereal in the comments. I'll answer in the comments later! You may also like:
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Possibly one of my favorite posts to research is this one, where I find awesome Nativities for those of you who love to collect them and add them to your Christmas display. I can't possible compete with some of the people I know who have literally thousands of beautiful, cute and memorable nativities. I have a few and I know that it is impractical for me to get many more and have to store them somewhere. But, I sure do love to look at them and admire the beauty of the way the beautiful story of the birth of the Savior is depicted by many artists.
Let's start with this beautiful one from Peru. It is so simple, sweet and humble. This one reminds me of one that I have, gifted to me by my daughter and SIL from Ecuador. I love it!
Since my son was a missionary in Africa, I found a couple of Nativities from that continent. I didn't find a set specifically from the Ivory Coast where he served, but the styles I'm seeing in these still remind me of the things he brought home from there.
This first one is from Uganda. I love the brightly colored fabrics!
This next one is from Machakos, East Africa and is made from banana fiber. If you look closely, you will see how intricate the work is on it.
Finding a Nativity carved from olive wood isn't very unusual, but this set is particularly beautiful. I love the natural element of the cave, which will be different for each piece, making each set unique. But, be aware that each piece of the set is priced individually!
Finally, besides Nativities, I also love Advent calendars. I posted about those this year already! So, If I have a chance to combine an Advent Calendar with a Nativity, that is real Christmas Joy! That is why I fell in love with this Nativity Advent set when I saw it!
Those are my 2023 favorites this year! I hope you see one that speaks to you.
I'm super excited about our upcoming women's group activity at church in December! We are having everyone bring their favorite Nativity so that we can have a display of them for everyone to see and admire. I think I've decided which one I will bring, or maybe two, and I can't wait to see what everyone one else shares!
Past Nativity Posts:
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
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Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
June 2024
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