Merry Christmas from Marley

Marley wanted to say hello and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

He also wanted to show off his new pj's that his grandmaw gave him for Christmas. They say "Dog Tired."

Marley has had a busy holiday and is exhausted. He also ate too much human food courtesy of his grandmaw.

Gingerbread Martini

While home for the holidays, my mother whipped me up a delicious holiday cocktail. Apparently they serve these at Outback and she secretly stole the recipe...

Dip martini glass into club soda or sprite or something of that nature. Then dip in finely crushed up gingerbread cookies (we used Pepperidge Farm Gingerman cookies)
1 shot of vodka
1 shot of Baileys
1 shot of Kahlua
1 shot of milk
Mix together in a shaker with ice then pour into a martini glass (my mother would like me to note that she doesn't have martini glasses but wants to make sure ya'll know to serve in martini glasses instead of margarita glasses. PS I bought her martini glasses for Christmas!)
Feel free to add whipped cream and gingerbread cookie to float on top. Delicious!

I feel like that recipe didn't make sense...I think I'm have too many gingerbread martinis :)
Happy Holidays Ya'll!

Don't Quit Your Day Job

After taking my first Fondant class its safe to say I won't be quitting my day job to work as a cake decorator. Truth be told I usually don't like cakes with fondant on them. Sure they look more polished but buttercream is my best friend and why hide it with tasteless fondant. So to my surprise the fondant that we used in the class was actually pretty good.

Here's Margaret muscling her fondant. Notice the lovely marble blue color. We learned how to create that in class.
Here is Margaret applying the crumb coat. They gave use a big dish of buttercream frosting and I'm pretty sure I ate more than I managed to get on the cake. I had quite the belly ache that day.

Proof that I took the class although my name is not Leann Polliver. I've seen alot of misspellings but this one takes the cake....no pun intended.

And here my friends is the final product. The goal was for the cake to look like a Christmas present but mine looks more like a scary crazy lady hat or something.

Margaret's cake looks pretty good huh. Maybe she can quit her day job.

Happy 3rd Birthday Marley!

What an exciting day at the McKinney house. Mr. Marley turned 3 and in human years thats 21. Thats right, Marley is finally legal to drink. Marley got a new leash and collar and lots of new toys.

His best buddy, Tennyson, came over to play
They enjoyed some FrostyPaws

They ate it too fast and had brain freeze.

Marley loves his new toy from his grandmaw.

I can't believe our little guy is 3. They grow up too fast.

Breaking News!

So yesterday I mentioned to my hubby how I needed something on my blog that easily allows readers to find my recipes. I don't know about you but I hate scrolling though pages and pages just to find one recipe. Okay fast forward to today...I get a text from hubby saying did you add something to your blog to let readers find your recipes. Me.."No, why?" Hubby "well if you look on the right hand side of your blog there is a banner that says Eat, Cook, Share. If you click on recipes it will bring up a list of my recipes. How cool is that!? Just thought you would like to know. Its been there the whole time and I never knew it. Maybe you did...maybe I'm just slow. Anyways, check it out.

Also, this wedding photo has nothing to do with this blog post. I just really like it and wanted to share. :)

Cranberry Wreath

I needed a new delicious dish to take to a Christmas Party last weekend so of course I called my mother for a recipe. She makes this dish every Christmas and I love it. Its easy and a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients
- 2 8oz cans of refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
- 2 cups of chopped cooked turkey or chicken (you can use canned chicken)
- 1 1/4 cups shredded Swiss Cheese
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup of mayo
- 2 tablespoons of honey Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
- 1 egg lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375. Start by mixing mayo, mustard, chicken/turkey, pepper, celery, cheese, nuts, and cranberries together in a large bowl. Unroll the crescent rolls and separate into 16 triangles. On a large cookie sheet or round pizza stone place 8 triangles in a circle with the points facing out. Arrange the other 8 triangles in a circle with the wide ends overlapping and the points facing inward. I know it sounds confusing but take a good look at the picture above. Scoop the chicken/turkey mixture on top of the crescent rolls like in the pic above. Bring the triangle points up and over the mixture alternating from the ones facing outwards then inwards. Overlapping like a wreath. Brush the top of the rolls with egg whites.
Bake 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Broccoli Casserole

When is the last time you had Cheez Whiz? Did you even know that they still make it? Well they do and it makes a delicious broccoli casserole.

Broccoli Casserole

- 2 packages of frozen chopped broccoli (thawed)
- 1 large jar of Cheez Whiz
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup
- 1 cup of white Minute Rice

Mix all of the above ingredients and pour into a 9X13 baking dish.
Bake for 1 hour at 350.
Really simple huh.