Happy Holidays!

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. We had a nice, relaxing weekend. I made cards and custom name label stickers for the grandkids and then Christmas day we went to my grandparents' house here in town. Grandma made brisket for dinner and it was SO yummy, as always. And one of the gifts we got from my grandparents was the cutest. They always find the neatest things. 

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Johnny got each of the dogs two stuffed animals for Christmas and we wrapped them. Bozley was more interested in the wrapping paper and Nova just wanted the toys without actually doing any work to get the paper off. So she wanted us to unwrap them so she could play with the toy and Bozley was unwrapping the presents and then shredding the wrapping paper instead of playing with the toy. LOL. But one of the toys they each got was a chicken that makes recorded bird noises. It's so funny watching them play with them. Any time we press the part that starts the noise, they'll pick it up and carry it around in their mouth and then either put it in the kennel or by the backdoor. LOL. 

I made Creamy Chicken and Noodles on Christmas Eve. And then Johnny has been wanting a ham, so I made a spiral cut ham last night for dinner. I'm not a huge fan of ham, but it actually turned out pretty tasty. I was going to make it in the pressure cooker like I did for Thanksgiving in 2021, but the ham I got was too big to fit. :P But it was basically the same recipe, I just cooked it in the oven instead of the pressure cooker. Oh and Johnny likes cloves (I'm not a fan of cloves, either), so I added whole cloves stuck to the ham over the pineapple. 

I'm finally getting a new laptop! It's my Christmas present from Johnny...after Christmas so we can deduct it as an expense for next year's taxes. ;) It's basically just an upgraded version of the laptop I have now that's been trying to die several times this year. It'll be faster too...and everything should actually work! lol. I bought this laptop in June 2013...so it has lasted over 10 years. I'd definitely say I've gotten my money's worth...even though I spent extra money on it several times buying parts I had to replace. :P But luckily these laptops aren't hard to replace parts on. And I've liked my Dell laptop better than my HP laptops. Both of the HP laptops I had overheated and fried the motherboard despite always using them with an external cooling fan. Neither one of them lasted three years...one of them I had to get a warranty replacement 3 times in 2.5 years! So hopefully my new Dell laptop will last me a long time. :) 

CandiMaker is still going well! December has been my most successful month so far. I also forgot that I'd uploaded a few of my animal stickers on eBay earlier in the month and I sold 9 stickers there on Tuesday! So my next goal is to get the rest of my stickers uploaded there. I'm at 352 orders and 440 sales in my Etsy shop as of right now. Sales only count different stickers in an order and not individual quantities. The total number of items I've sold this year in my Etsy sticker shop is 574! And on my sales map...the only places I have left are New Mexico, Delaware, and Washington DC. Since there's only a few days left of December, I probably won't get them all by the end of the year. :P For my first year selling stickers, I'm pleased with my progress. I really LOVE making stickers, so it's been a lot of fun.

RECIPE: Air Fryer Parmesan Crusted Chicken

So...I had a few leftover chicken breasts from a package I used to make Chicken Milanese a couple days ago as well as leftover mashed potatoes, corn, and gravy that we had with it. I ran out of Ritz crackers so I used breadcrumbs that I had leftover from the meatloaf that I made last week. So I decided to use the breadcrumbs on the last few pieces of chicken and it came out really yummy! I forgot to take a picture though. Maybe next time I make it, I'll remember to take a picture and I'll come back and post it here. :P

I made this in the PowerXL 12-in-1 Air Fryer Grill. 

Air Fryer Parmesan-Crusted Chicken 

Ingredients:

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup real mayonnaise
1/2 tsp garlic salt 
1/2 tsp paprika
3/4 cup breadcrumbs

3 tbs parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning 

Directions:

1. Remove fat from chicken breasts and pat dry. 

2. Mix flour and pepper in shallow bowl. 

3. Mix mayonnaise, garlic salt, and paprika in a shallow bowl. 
4. Combine bread crumbs, parsley, Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt in a shallow bowl. 

5. Coat chicken completely in flour, then the mayonnaise, then the bread crumb mixture. Set each piece on the grill plate. 

6. Set to Air Fry at 385 degrees F for 10 minutes. 

7. Flip the chicken over, then set to air fry at 375 degrees F for 10-18 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breasts (until it reaches 165 degrees F). 

RECIPE: Ginger Molasses Cookies

Ever since finishing the pumpkin bread I made for Thanksgiving, I've been craving something sweet. I had some molasses left after making the pumpkin bread, so I decided I'd make some ginger molasses cookies with it. I don't think I've had molasses cookies since I was little! I kinda just threw this recipe together, but they turned out really yummy. They're solid on the outside and soft on the inside with a wonderful "fall" flavor. Aubry said she liked these cookies even better than my chocolate chip cookies. :) 

Ginger Molasses Cookies 

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup shortening 
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar + 1/3 cup for rolling
2 tsp vanilla 

1/3 cup unsulphured molasses
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon 

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
Mix eggs, butter, shortening, brown sugar, sugar, vanilla, and molasses. 
In a separate bowl, whisk together salt, flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. 
Gradually add flour mixture 1 cup at a time and mix well.

Cover and refrigerate dough for 1 hour. 

Remove dough and roll about 1 tbs of dough into a ball then roll it in the sugar and set on the baking sheet. 
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to sit on the pan to continue cooking for at least 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

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