Striped Delight

I made this dessert up for the Relief Society Christmas Party that Susie planned. I put the crushed candy cane on it before I put it in the refrigerator. The condensation that occurs when a wrapped dessert is in the fridge with candy cane on top is not a good mix. It was fine for the dinner but it got really gooey the next day. So when I made it for Christmas, I left the candy cane in a dish for those who wanted it and they could spoon it on their own dessert square. I quite enjoyed mine without the peppermint flavor the second time I made it.

Striped Delight
C. Smart

35 OREO chocolate sandwich cookies, finely crushed (about 3 cups)
6 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA cream cheese, softened
1/4 C. sugar
2 Tbsp. cold milk
1 tub (12 oz.) COOL WHIP whipped topping, thawed, divided
3-1/4 Cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O chocolate Flavor instant pudding & pie filling

Mix crushed cookes and butter in medium bowl. Press firmly onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish. Refrigerate 10 min. Beat cream cheese, sugar and 2 Tbsp. milk in medium bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Gently stir in 1-1/4 Cups of the whipped topping. Spread over crust. Pour 3-1/4 cups milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whish 2 min. or until well blended. Pour over cream cheese layer. Let stand 5 min. or until thickened. Drop remaining whipped topping by spoonfuls over pudding layer; spread to evenly cover pudding. Refrigerate at least 4 hours. Cut into 24 squares. Sore leftover dessert in refrigerator. Crush 2-3 candy canes to serve on top.

Sweet Salad Dressing

This recipe came from the hubs. He had to halve it so that it didn't make a quart at a time. I've been making salad with chopped romaine, sweet candies pecans, sliced scallions and feta crumbles and putting this on top and it's so good. Would be good with blue cheese crumbles instead of feta. I've been told that this tastes just like the Brianna's brand red wine vinegar salad dressing but it is much more cost effective. The hubs bought a gallon of the the red wine vinegar at a restaurant warehouse store, most probably Smart & Final. He probably spent less on the gallong of vinegar than one bottle of Brianna's would be. So try it, it's really good.

Sweet Salad Dressing

1 1/2 C. sugar
1 C. red wine vinegar
1 C. vegetable oil
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. garlic powder or to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Other herbs if desired or use 1/2 tsp. of garlic herb seasoning and omit garlic powder, salt and pepper and herbs.

Put sugar and vinegar in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake until the sugar is dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake them together until emulsified. If it's cold from the fridge it stays mixed together longer.

Christmas

Susie gave me the link to a blog and I just checked it out. http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/ This woman sounds perfect. I have to admit that I may have growled when I read about her perfect Christmas. We decorated our tree on the 23rd. We got it on the 12th. It was the Monday night it poured rain and it took a few days for it to dry out. I never got the little village out. I wrapped presents, mostly stuffing things into bags at 11p.m. on Christmas Eve. I lost the Gift Cards for our gifts and found them Christmas day while cleaning out my purse and waiting for Matt to call. I snagged the very last bag of hash browns for cheesy potatoes at Bashas on Friday evening for our Christmas dinner. There was a terrible juice mishap that soggied up some of our appetizers before Christmas dinner. I forgot to chill the "Princess" water until Christmas morning (our daughter only drinks bottled water, so therefore, we now call it "Princess" water). Our Christmas was not as well executed as yourhomebasedmom's, but it was great none the less. We got to talk to our son in Honduras for 70 glorious minutes. Here is how it worked. He called after what seemed like an eternity after the planned noon phone call. It was maybe closer to 1p.m. They had gone to lunch and walked the 15 minute walk home. He said that he could talk for five minutes and then he would have to hang up and call again. He could talk for five more minutes and then would have to hang up and then he could talk for an hour. An hour and ten minutes has never gone by so fast for me before. He sounds great and seems happy. He is outside San Pedro Sula in a town called Jerusalen. By Planeta, which is by LaLima. La Lima is the only one of those other than San Pedro Sula that I can find on a map. He has a companion from Costa Rica now who is 28 yrs. old (big age span....a 19 yr. old greenie and a 28 yr. old with one month left) and whose total English consists of "What's up dude?" Then Matt gave us his 19 yr. old cook's name and my daughter is now friends with her on Facebook. Still unbelievable to me the connections that Facebook can render. We will only be able to communicate with her using Google translate. So my none bean loving son in the U.S. loves beans in Honduras. He loves Baleadas, which are like a taco on a flour tortilla, with scrambled eggs and beans and a crema or soft cheese or sour cream like thing on it. He told me that name but I have forgotten it. I will have to google lest I guess and say something embarrassing. We also learned that he ate two pounds of M&M's that I sent him in about two hours. The celebration for Christmas in their town or in Honduras was on the 24th. He said that the 25th was like an ordinary day. On the 24th there were fireworks and tamales fed to them at every appointment that they went to. We had a great visit with him and the blessings of his serving a mission are apparent every day.

So this season I have discovered some amazing new recipes which I will share with you tomorrow and I plan on checking the new grocery ads tomorrow and hope to make a budget menu out of them. Hope that you all had a Merry Christmas.