Puppy Dog Tails
Happy Holidays!
SNOWMAN SOUP
The Soup:
1 package hot chocolate mix
3 Hershey Kisses
15 (or so) marshmallows
1 candy cane
Put the above items in colored plastic wrap.
Attach this poem, on a notecard, to the snowman soup:
Was told you've been real good this year
Always glad to hear it
With freezing weather drawing near
You'll need to warm the spirit
So here's a little Snowman Soup
Complete with stirring stick
Add hot water, sip it slow
It's sure to do the trick!
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MARION'S WHISKEY CHECKEN
What you need:
approx. 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup mushrooms chopped fine
cup mushrooms, chopped coarsely
4 chicken breasts, skinned
1 cup irish whiskey (I like to use Bushmills or Jameson's)
300 ml creme fraiche / sour cream
olive oil
2 Tablespoons black pepper (I know it's a lot)
2/3 cup chicken broth
What you do:
Heat olive oil with black pepper.
Use a meat tenderiser to pound chicken into flattish escalopes (pounding it flat is so much fun!) and sear chicken either side in the peppery oil.
It may help to add a little of the pepper to the oil in between each chicken breast, just to stop it all from sticking to the first one.
Remove chicken breasts and place in flat baking dish.
Pour whiskey over them, to marinate.
Add onions and finely chopped mushrooms to oil and sautee until mushrooms start to reduce.
Then add remaining mushrooms, sautee briefly, and add chicken broth.
Once mixture starts to simmer, pour whiskey from baking dish into the mix, and add sour cream.
Stir often until mixture begins to reduce, and pour over chicken in the baking dish.
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes (until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened).
Goes beautifully with roast potatoes.
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THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
by Clement Clarke Moore
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.
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CALENDAR OF DECEMBER'S DAYS
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