Getting Back to Normal and other Musings....and a Drink!

First, I would like to thank all of you who sent get well wishes to me. I am finally starting to feel like I am human again. Whatever this was, it knocked me out. My husband waited on me...the kitty hardly ever left my side in bed. I felt...well, half-baked! You know the feeling when you cut into something that you THINK looks done and then, BAM...in the middle, it is soggy? Well, that was me. But the worst has passed and I am now able to prepare for our daughter's visit this week. Yes, my friends, timing IS everything!

Second, I hope you all had a great Halloween! The evening was not a nice one here...peppered with rain and quite chilly. But the kids and their parents were troopers and going from door to door. We saw about 250 kids. Or I should say, my husband had the honors! I watched from an upstairs window.

So now we start to prepare. Our middle daughter is paying a week-long visit with her husband and 22-month old, Morgan. Next weekend, the house will be singing...did I really say singing?...with the sounds of our other 2 coming in with their families. That means we will have 3 little ones, 6 and under running around. Our kitty is going for a visit to grammy and grampy's house as the commotion would be too much. And she deserves a little vacation too. My parents love her and she loves them so it is a match made in heaven! Our grandsons are a little older and they like the kitty, are very gentle with her and they play. But Morgan is a terror with her Yorkie, so why tempt fate with putting a cat in front of her?

This is the only time this season that we will all be together, as holiday plans are going to separate us at some point or another. We are going to make it our Thanksgiving celebration. The hubs and I are trying to plan a little something different for food other than a traditional turkey and I think we are doing a couple of turkey breasts. I have been looking through magazines for some new ideas for sides and have a few in mind. Everyone is going to pitch in to help, so it should be fun.

Now the plan is to start off the cooking with something warm and cozy. The basic recipe comes from Southern Living.

WARM CITRUS CIDER

Bring one gallon apple cider; 2 cups orange juice; 1/2 cup lemon juice; 1 orange, sliced, 1 lemon , sliced; 1-1/2 tsp. whole cloves; and 3 cinnamon sticks to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minures. Discard solids. Garnish with an apple slice, if desired, Serve hot. Makes about 4-1/2 qts. (Now my plan is to add a little Calvados (apple brandy) to the mix. I'm sure rum would work equally as well. )

This would be a terrific after ski or sledding party beverage and you can definitely keep it non-alcoholic especially where there are younger members or non-drinkers in the group. How about after a day of going to cut down the Christmas tree? This will certainly warm your insides!

For today, I am still going to kick back a little when I feel tired. I may try to make a small supper. One positive is that I lost 8 pounds being sick. I wanted to lose 5!! Not this way of course, but it is incentive!!

Lemon Shortbread Bars...Buttery Good!

I got this recipe out of my Cooking Pleasures magazine. It is a dense and very good cookie. When I decided to make these, I realized that I was out of lemons but had an orange. Well, it's citrus, so I tried it. The result was excellent. The orange flavor is just so subtle. Now if you make the recipe and put it in a 15x10-inch rimmed baking sheet sprayed with PAM, you get a thinner bar. Bake them for 25 minutes or until golden. Drizzle with melted white chocolate and let stand until set. This was a suggestion in the magazine. Since I used orange flavor, I used melted milk chocolate. You might also dip these in chocolate, at an angle on one end would be pretty. I am thinking of adding this to the Christmas cookie platter, and use colored sanding sugar for the top on some of them.

Lemon Shortbread Bars
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened, cut up
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil; spray foil with cooking spray. Whisk flour, 1 cup of the sugar, lemon peel and salt in large bowl.
2. With pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Press dough into pan; sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and top is golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
24 bars