Merry Christmas from sunny Florida!
The week of Christmas has been a fun and busy one! We started the week going to a movie, which we rarely do, seeing the movie "The Book Thief". It was an excellent movie and a cried my fool head off! I couldn't help but think of my parents and all the terrifying things they experienced and witness in Hungary during WWII and again during the Hungarian Revolution. I can't even imagine.
Jason had to work today, (Christmas day), so he came to visit earlier in the week. It was great to see him, and he asked for one of his favorite home cooked meals - my version (well, actually a spin on Rhonda Turpin's version - thanks Rhonda!) of shepherds pie.
Recipe:
1 lb of ground beef
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 can of corn
1 package of sliced mushrooms
6 potatoes made into mashed potatoes (with as much butter/milk as you want)
1 jar of mushroom gravy
Brown the beef with the onions and garlic and mushrooms until meat is browned.
Put the beef mixture on the bottom of a casserole dish
Add the can of corn, layered evenly over meat mixture
Top that with the mashed potatoes, spreading evenly.
Poke a few holes in the mashed potatoes and pour the gravy over it all, spreading evenly
Cook at 350 for 40 minutes. Simple and yummy!
You can see the boys were a big help while I cooked....
One afternoon we headed over to a small artsy, fishing village on Pine Island called Matlacha. We browsed the funky art shops and had dinner, then watched another beautiful sunset! You know I love me a fine sunset!! LOL
Going...
While I was taking pictures of the sunset, my super sheller in training, Noel, found a cool horseshoe crab shell, (they molt them off like a cicada), and a great true tulip shell which should clean up nicely!
We found a local church to attend a candle light Christmas Eve service. It was a beautiful service and a good reminder of the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Yesterday I prepped all the dishes I'm taking to the campground's Christmas dinner. I'm taking my favorite strawberry pretzel dessert dish, bourbon balls (you know I love me some bourbon balls!), and deviled eggs. The hardest part was finagling enough room in our tiny RV refrigerator!
Bourbon Balls:
1 box of vanilla wafers
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 cup ground pecans
2 or 3 tablespoons of light Karo syrup
2/3 cup bourbon or rum
Mix the above, roll into balls and roll into powdered sugar.
The mixture is quite sticky, so finger licking is encouraged!
Later Christmas day....
So now we've had our Christmas dinner, and boy, can these old grandmas cook! Everything I tried was delicious, and the bourbon balls were a big hit! There were door prizes, one of which I WON!! The funny thing is that all the door prizes either related to coffee or booze! I'm liking this lifestyle more and more! The prize I won are liquor filled chocolates (it was like they KNEW me!)
Here are a few pics:
They had a fake fire burning on the big screen tv!
Merry Christmas everyone! May 2014 be blessed with happiness, health and good fortune!
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