Stylist. Photographer. Artist. Graphic Designer. Foodie. Fancy Pants.
The final present in my "12 Days of Christmas" series is one of our family's favorite Christmas traditions. Every year for Christmas dinner we make a Peppermint Cheesecake. How does this correspond with "12 drummers drumming" you ask? Well, this year, I not only made our traditional cheesecake but also made frozen Peppermint Cheesecake Drumsticks—which is the perfect special treat for the kids (and the kids at heart) in your family after Christmas dinner!
On the eleventh day of the "12 Days of Christmas," I envision "11 pipers piping" French macaroons. What else would they be piping!?
For the tenth day of the "12 Days of Christmas" my true love gave to me "10 lords a leaping." Why were they leaping? Because of all those beautiful gifts!
One of the best parts of Christmas (besides all the sweets of course) is the Christmas music! From old Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby classics to new favorites by Michael Buble and Diana Krall, Christmas music can get even the biggest scrooge into the holiday spirit.
On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me "8 maids a milking." What goes better with milk than chocolate?!
These chocolate eclairs are one of our family's absolute favorite desserts. My mom taught me how to make them (like a lot of the recipes on this blog) and I have to tell you, they take a little practice to make sure they come out perfect. The key? The more you make them, the more you get the hang of the correct consistency of the 3 different batters (dough for the choux pastry, the custard filling and the chocolate icing).
Breakfast on Christmas morning is such a fun tradition. Last year I loved getting up and eating sausage pinwheels and hot chocolate while opening gifts. My in-laws made waffles and I took sausage cheese balls. This year, in honor of the 12 Days of Christmas line "6 geese a-laying," I'm making an egg frittata (with chicken eggs, naturally).
All that glitters IS GOLD! And the holidays are the perfect time to add a little glitter to your life.
Upon doing my research for my "12 Days of Christmas" blog feature, I quickly found out that a colly bird from the line "4 colly birds" is just a common black bird. Who wants a common black bird for Christmas!? Good thing my true love gives me five golden rings in the next line …
The holidays are all about getting together with the ones you love. I love entertaining and having people over but sometimes a big dinner party is overwhelming for not only you but your guests too (who might have several different parties to attend in one weekend). That's why I love having a small intimate cocktail hour where friends can just stop in and then head to their next affair.
Nothing screams the holidays more than iced sugar cookies. We've been making this recipe since I was a kid and decorating them all kinds of ways. Last year I made giant snowflakes and delivered them to our neighbors, Christmas trees for the guys at the Christmas tree lot and ornaments with guests' names piped on them for a holiday party.
Over the next twelve days I am going to take the Christmas carol "The 12 Days of Christmas" to inspire some magical holiday entertaining. From food to fashion, decor to design, it's going to be twelve days of creative ideas of how to brighten your holiday or throw your very own "12 Days of Christmas" themed party.
3 weeks of planning, 30 minutes of eating, 2 hours of washing dishes, a fridge full of left overs and Thanksgiving is officially over.
I'm in full-on Thanksgiving mode! I've completed my grocery shopping, picked up our turkey and ham, am making pies and setting the table today and cooking ALL day tomorrow. I can't hardy wait for Thursday! I've been so thrilled to have gotten such a great response from my Thanksgiving Preparations: The Complete Week Before Checklist and Thanksgiving Week Cooking Schedule blog posts. Several of you have asked for my Mom's Yeast Rolls recipe.
I'm not biased when it comes to pie. I've never met a pie I didn't like. That's why when I decided to throw a PIE PARTY with my good friends at StyleBlueprint.com, I wanted it to be all kinds of rustic chic. And, boy was it! Just think—a farm table in the middle of the woods covered in all different kinds of pies, wine and cider, and rustic winter decor surrounded by your favorite friends. Are you are starting to picture the wonderfulness a Pie Party can bring? Stroll over to StyleBlueprint.com today and check out all the beautiful photos and how-to's.
Now that you have your Thanksgiving Week Before Checklist completed, it's time for the short week leading up to the big day! In order to have everything prepared for Thursday, I have made a to-do list broken down by the day for the week leading up to Thursday and broken down by the minute on Thanksgiving Day to make sure that I get everything cooked properly.
Thanksgiving is just over one week away! I am especially excited (and nervous) this year because I am hosting for the very first time. I have always helped my mom cook Thanksgiving dinner but this is the very first year that I will be hosting the in-laws at my house.
With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, preparations have begun. If you read this blog often, you know I'm a sucker for sweets. So why not start off my Thanksgiving preparations with dessert?
We recently celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday and since I always volunteer to bake everyone's birthday cake—I made her favorite: Caramel Cake. Well, actually a Butter Yellow Cake with Caramel Buttercream.
We put up our Christmas tree on November 1st this year—a little later than usual … I think Jacobs would have it up year round if I let him. It made my beautiful fall table (check it out here), which I was planning on having up for Thanksgiving, feel totally out of place. Pumpkins and a Christmas tree? Not so much.
