Christmas is Almost Here!

Can you believe Christmas is almost here!? Its like it was just Christmas and now its here again. Its a great feeling though. I love the bright lights, beautiful Christmas decor, the whole spirit of Christmas!!! As you begin decorating, hanging your lights, buying the perfect gift for family & friends may you not forget the "real" reason we celebrate this beautiful season. The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Take some time and focus on the blessings of this past year and how wonderful the Lord has been to you. Celebrate "His" Birthday!!!

Last weekend I began decorating our home for Christmas. And as you can see....yes that's a Pink Christmas tree. Happy Christmas decorating!!!! Its Christmas Time!!!! Until later.....

What to do with all that Turkey?

Turkey Noodle Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of Olive oil
3 cups of turkey (shredded works well)
1 Onion
2 cloves Garlic
4 Stalks of Celery
5 Carrots cut
8 cups Chicken Broth
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Thyme- optional
Parsley- optional
Oregano- optional
1 can of Green beans
1 can of Corn
Bag of Noodles (Type and Amount-your choice)

Let’s start Cookin’

1. Chop onions, carrots and celery ahead of time. Also press or chop your garlic.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven heat Olive Oil.
3. Add garlic and onions, stir carefully for about 2 minutes.
4. Add your carrots and celery. Cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Make sure they do not burn.
5. Add turkey and stir well. Cook for 5 minutes.
6. Pour Chicken broth and stir, add your salt and pepper. Let it come to a boil.
7. Add any necessary water to your soup if you like. Add any favorite seasonings or more salt & pepper to taste. I like thyme, parsley, and oregano.
8. Add noodles and cook for 10 minutes or until noodles are done.
9. Add green beans and corn. They shouldn’t take very long to cook. They just need to be “warmed”.
10. Turn stove down on low and allow the soup to finish cooking about 5 minutes.
11. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!

A No Parent Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with the Pentecosts again.....but this time no parents in sight!?! Where ever can they be? Is Mama P hiding under the table? Is Daddy P hiding in the closet? No sight of those crazy people? Just the "Pentecost Kids".

We had our Thanksgiving lunch at our house this year. We woke up to the smell of a delicious turkey baking in the oven. (I woke up a few hours before we got up and stuck the bird in the oven to cook). Everything was pretty much cooked or cooking, so Mark and I took Shanaynay & Bubble out for a walk. The weather was so beautiful....for a moment I forgot I was in Florida. As we walked, there were quite a few gusts of winds that blew the leaves off the trees. Oh so beautiful.

Everyone arrived around 12ish....in came Andrea, a friend of ours, then Jon & Sarah and let us not forget Snoop their Pug, and then in came David & Michele with Chilly their Maltese. The "kids" ahem...dogs played and greeted each other. At times they did things to each other none of us approved of.

After cooking the final dishes we all sat down to give thanks for the bountiful food and each other. The meal was great. Everyone brought something and it tasted delish!

We played a game while we were eating called "Thanksgiving Bingo". You had to fill your card up with the markers (candy) just like in regular bingo, but heres the kicker the phrases on the page had to be said by someone else and that someone else couldn't get credit for it. See picture below.
It was either Jon or Andrea that won the game. It was quite funny!!!

And here we are stuffed!!So....after the delicious Thanksgiving meal, we decided to take a little walk outside and feed carrots to Banner and Texas our horses. Not sure what Snoop and Shanaynay are investigating.
Chilly thought it was his job to put Banner in his place. Chilly began barking and running back and forth standing up to Banner. It was quite hilarious! After a while he calmed down.

A carrot fell and Bubble decided to make a meal of it.

Ahhh...Thanksgiving is over. We wait so long for it to come...it comes then its over. We shop for the perfect food deals and decide what we are serving. We make lists and times on when to cook what....we get up early and put the bird in the oven....and then before you know it, its over. Time to get the extra turkey meat off the bird. Whatever will we do with it? Well David and Michele had dinner leftovers with us and then yesterday Mark and I had leftovers. I think I will freeze some of it. Perhaps turkey soup....turkey casserole. I love to cook so I'm sure to think of something. So you've heard of the "Chicken Dance", but have you heard of the "Turkey Dance"? Courtesy of my crazy husband Mark.......Great job Mark. I'm glad your doing that! Mark.....I saw that!!!!!!!!!!!! And I'm sure Bubble is enjoying every drop!
Well this concludes our Thanksgiving Day. We still never found Mama P or Daddy P. But wherever they are....I'm sure they are enjoying themselves and being a blessing to many!! We miss ya'll!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! I hope your Thanksgiving was wondermous!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these delicious cookies for the Cookie Exchange
Party I hosted 2 weeks ago. I thought I'd share this
yummy recipe with you!!!!


Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies




INGREDIENTS
3 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons finely ground espresso beans
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
In the top of a double boiler, melt together the unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup of the chocolate chips and the butter. This can also be done in a microwave oven on low setting. Stir occasionally until melted. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and light, about 3 minutes. Stir in the espresso. Add the chocolate mixture, mix well. Sift together the flour and baking powder, fold into the egg mixture. Carefully fold in the chopped nuts and remaining chocolate chips.
Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies will have a crackled appearance when done. Cool on baking sheets.

Cookie Time

Today I hosted a Cookie Exchange Party for the Lady's Group at my church. As you can see there were many delicious and tasty cookies!

Pumpkin Cookies, Espresso Chocoate Chip, White Chip Chocolate Cookies, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Pudding Bars, Cream Cheese Pinwheels, Sugar Cookies, and Chocolate No Bake Cookies!!!

We played a fun game called "Guess Who", where you had to guess the name of the person on your back who you "were". But here's the clicker......the only answers that could be given were "yes or no". Esther was our 1st place winner and Michele was our 2nd place winner.
Took Gina a while to figure out who she was....... "Barbie"Everybody eating lunch.
Gina gets creative............ how nice!
Whats that in your mouth Gina?


Time for sampling cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now....time for exchanging..........

I believe a fun time was had by all. And now that we've got new recipes from today's cookie exchange.....I wish you ladies Happy Baking this holiday season!!!! Love ya!

For more info and all the happenings from my church, check out www.youmanschurch.org