Stockings: Our New Family Heirlooms

For almost thirty years, I have been looking for the perfect stocking, whatever that is. My thought has always been, "I'll know it when I see it." While I have admired so many over the years, our stockings have remained simply functional. Until now.

I ran across the idea of a leather stocking less than two weeks ago in one of my favorite blogs, Chookooloonks. I immediately called my cousin Glen who owns Harness House Leathercraft. He helped me through the whole process, from purchasing the leather all the way to saddle stitching the edges. His gift of time was definitely one of my favorite gifts this year!

We first met at Tandy Leather Factory in Nashville. Whole-y Cow! I was immediately drawn to this one particular hide. I'm used to buying fabric by the yard. Not here. Instead of buying leather by the yard, I had to buy the hide "as is." Most of the hides were either half of a cow or the whole cow. Ouch. I looked all around the store for a more affordable option, but I kept going back to this one particular hide. Oh well. I reminded myself that I've waited thirty years for this. I'm not going to cut any corners. So, I bought the entire cow! No turning back now.

Unfortunately, due to both of our hectic schedules, we weren't able to meet again until Monday, the 23rd. I couldn't believe that Glen offered to give up one of his vacation days to help me through this process. (He's the best, and I can't thank him enough!) He convinced me this would be doable. The countdown began. I had essentially 24 hours to make them.

I wanted each one to be a little different, so I free-handed each of the patterns on the back of wrapping paper. Once I was happy with each style, we transferred the patterns to a heavier, thicker product. Using an awl, Glen traced around each of the patterns onto the leather, and then we both started cutting.

Once all of the cutting was complete, Glen used a tool that pierced small diamonds around the edges.

He patiently taught me how to saddle stitch. I had assumed the stitching was made on some kind of sewing machine; however, everything was hand-stitched. This was truly a labor of love. I continued stitching the tops as Glen began to work on the three loops needed for hanging.

We both worked for 8 straight hours; everything was complete except stitching around each of the stockings. I had to stop progress to wrap presents, prepare food to take to Mom and Dad's, gather packages, etc. We left Franklin for Knoxville at 6 am Christmas Eve. I worked on the stockings nonstop both to and from Knoxville. I finished just in the nick of time! (Or, St. Nick of time!)

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care with sore fingers and only a few hours to spare.

And worth every minute.

 Merry Christmas!

Red Velvet Cookies

I'm looking forward to my first cookie exchange tomorrow in our new town as I used to host these myself years ago. It's hard to choose just one cookie as your "favorite." In fact, I was initially planning on bringing Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge since it was such a favorite last year. However, when Keely learned about my plan, she exclaimed, "No! You can't do that! Fudge is not a cookie!"

Oh well. I guess I needed a Plan B. Her recommendation was Red Velvet Cookies. True, they're hard to beat, yet simple to make. The one I had in mind was a sandwich cookie filled with cream cheese icing. I actually surprised myself by going with Plan C: a red velvet cookie with white chocolate morsels, topped with powdered sugar. I only got the idea after Keely coincidentally tried one as we were having a quick dinner at Panera Bread last night. Mmmmmm. If you're looking for a great holiday cookie, you won't be disappointed.

This recipe starts with a red velvet cake mix. Is that cheating?

You could certainly add the white chocolate morsels to the batter all at once; however, we made sure each cookie had 6 morsels. Next, roll each ball in powdered sugar.

After baking, I still thought each cookie needed a little more powdered sugar on top. I mean, why not?

Hopefully, the party-goers tomorrow will enjoy these as much as I enjoyed baking them. Keely assures me that these will be the winner. Of course, this is really not a competition. (Yeah, right.) I'm just content to know that if it was a competition, I would at least have her vote!

 

Red Velvet Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box red velvet cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup white chocolate morsels
• powdered sugar

Directions:

Mix together first 3 ingredients. Stir in morsels. Form dough into balls, roll balls in powdered sugar, then drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. (I used parchment paper.) Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Once cooled, lightly sprinkle more powdered sugar on top, if desired. Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Variation: For red velvet sandwich cookies, omit white chocolate morsels and powdered sugar. Bake as directed above. Once cooled, spread cream cheese frosting on one cookie, then top with another.

Turkey Veggie Tray

As I'm thinking about what to take to Mom's for Thanksgiving next week, I smile as I remember Keely's contribution from last year. Yep. Little things like this make me happy.

While I love all of the traditional, rich side dishes, it was nice having at least one healthy option. I'm hoping this fella makes a return this year!

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Now that we're in the middle of the SEC football season, smack talk is at an all-time high at work. Love it! We even have game day snacks each Friday for the associates. Last Friday's spread included meatballs, chips and dip, Oreo truffles, and Rice Krispie treats. Not just plain 'ole Rice Krispie treats. I finally took this opportunity to reproduce the beloved (or, I should say my beloved) orange and white checkerboard pattern.

Not surprisingly, I first found this idea on Pinterest. My intent was to simply use orange food coloring to make the needed variation. But then I ran across the idea of making Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie treats. Perfect! I still used the orange food coloring, but adding a small amount of pumpkin pie spice gave it a subtle flavor perfect for this time of year.

It was a hit! Even one of my students who is a die-hard South Carolina fan couldn't resist this snack.

And it worked! UT won! Congrats to Butch Jones on his first SEC victory! I guess I will be making these for the remainder of the season. What's the commercial say? "It's only weird if it doesn't work!"

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 (10 oz) package miniature marshmallows (approximately 4 cups)
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• orange food coloring (approximately 10 drops), optional

Directions:
In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat and stir in pumpkin pie spice and orange food coloring (if using), working quickly until well combined. Add cereal. Stir until well coated.

Evenly press mixture into 9x13 casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Cool completely before cutting into 2 inch squares and serving.

Tailgating or football party tip:  Make one regular batch of treats and one batch of pumpkin spice treats. Arrange into a checkerboard pattern for your UT fans. Go Vols!

Snickers Cookies

Last night, Steve and I met such wonderful neighbors at the First Annual Eliot Road Street Party. Entertaining in an alley: that's the way to go. No hostess has to invest in postage for invitations; just slip a cute note in everyone's mailboxes. No hostess has to get stressed over cleaning the house. No hostess has to get stressed about over-the-top decorations. No hostess has to assume the burden of making all of the food. Here, the emphasis was all about meeting new friends. Gosh, I love this community!

We had hotdogs, hamburger sliders, chicken, chips, macaroni and cheese bites, and lots of different dips.

For dessert, we had a variety of cookies and pies. Mmmmmm. I brought Snickers cookies.

You basically start with a peanut butter cookie dough. (In fact, if you want to take a short cut, you could simply start with a purchased cookie dough such as Pillsbury. Cheater.) Then, wrap a small amount around a Snickers candy bar.  Now is the time of year when you can buy the Snickers Mini's. These are perfect. If you start with the Snickers Fun Size, just cut each in half.

 

 

I have been making these for a few years; however, this is the first time I refrigerated the dough before wrapping around the candy. Big difference. The dough is much easier to handle and not nearly as messy. Each batch only takes 10 minutes to bake. That's it!

If you're smart and plan ahead, these are great to make with your Halloween leftovers. If you're smarter, you can purposely plan to have these Halloween leftovers. ("Oh Honey, really, I didn't have a choice. Look at all we had left! What else could I have done with them?") Or, if you still have tricker-treaters in your household, steal from their stash. :)

I'm told that we could expect around 1000 tricker-treaters this year. No kidding. I think I'm gonna ask for a raise.

Snickers Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 bag of Snickers Mini's or approximately 14 Snickers Fun Size candy bars, cut in half

Directions:
Combine first four ingredients. Set aside. Cream together remaining ingredients (except the candy bars, of course). Stir in flour mixture until just mixed. Refrigerate dough.
Shape dough smoothly around each candy bar, making sure bar is completely covered. Place several inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. (I still use a light coating of Pam, though.) Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

 

 

 

Pumpkin Bread

One of my favorite things about moving into our new neighborhood is getting back into the swing of things with my tennis game. No pun intended. OK. Yes, pun intended. From day one, this special group of ladies made me feel so welcomed! Today was our first home match, and I learned that we provide snacks for the visiting team. What should I bring? Pressure's on! I decided to go with an oldie, but goodie, especially for this time of year: pumpkin bread. For family members, you'll notice that this recipe is already in the family cookbook.

One of Keely’s favorite foods is Panera Bread’s pumpkin muffins. So, I was determined to find a recipe that would duplicate them. Everything I tried wasn’t nearly as moist. This recipe, however, is as close as it gets. I’m not surprised, though, since it calls for 1-1/2 cups of oil!  It’s so worth it. The chocolate chips are technically optional, but who would want to skip those?

In addition to having a variety of salty and sweet treats, I was told that we also provide drinks for the opposing team. Oh, and not just water. With a team name of Over Served, I wasn't surprised! :) I was hoping to share the recipe for Milk Punch. (Don't let the kid-friendly-sounding-name fool ya.) All of my new tennis buddies kept saying how wonderful it is. Apparently, it's an "Ole Miss thing." Unfortunately, our team captain who is known for this concoction was out of town. Darn!

We had a beautiful spread nonetheless:

If only I had selected a coordinating platter! This time of year, most people know my blood runneth orange. You think I'll ever get used to this red and black stuff? :)

 Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 4 eggs 
• 2 cups sugar 
• 2 cups canned pumpkin 
• 1-1/2 cups canola oil 
• 1-1/2 cups (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips (optional).

Pour into two greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Tips: For mini bread loaves, bake for 50 minutes.
For extra large muffins, bake for 25 minutes.
For regular size muffins, bake for 20 minutes.
For mini muffins, bake for 10 minutes.

Superhero Saturday

Yesterday, my niece Amber (and Tim!) hosted the cutest Superhero party for their two adorable kids, Caleb (4) and Kelly Ann (2). Since their birthdays are separated by only a week, we celebrated both together. What a perfect theme! It was Keely's idea to wear a Superhero t-shirt:

My present to the kids (or maybe Amber?) was the French vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing. I found these wrappers on Amazon. Pow! Bam! Zap! I didn't think about this at the time, but the kids creatively began wearing them as Superhero bracelets once they finished their treat. I always love a 2-for-1!

All of the snacks fit perfectly with the Superhero theme: Energy Cakes! Wonder Dogs! Hero Sandwiches! Super Vision Sticks! Power Dip!

 

For drinks, you could have Kryptonite punch! or Hero H2O! 

Without a doubt, though, the best part of the party was seeing all of the little ones enjoy their own Superhero cape. It was the perfect party favor! Honestly, I couldn't get them still enough to take pictures. I would have loved a group shot, but I knew it would be a futile attempt. 

Kelly Ann's pink cape combined with a pink Superman t-shirt and pink tu-tu: it doesn't get any cuter than that! It wasn't hard at all to picture Keely running around in that outfit at two. (Oh wait, didn't she wear a tu-tu to the Taylor Swift concert last week? Do you ever grow out of wearing tu-tus?)

Happy birthday, sweet Caleb and Kelly Ann! :D

Alfresco Dining at the Carnton Plantation

Although Steve and I have only lived in Franklin for a short four weeks, we are already in love with this town. Live music while dining is everywhere! Our newest experience came last night. We enjoyed alfresco dining at the beautiful Carnton Plantation, sight of one of the monumental conflicts of the Civil War, the Battle of Franklin. A five course meal was served on vintage china next to the beautiful garden and live oak surrounding the historic home.

The night began with cocktails and appetizers. One appetizer consisted of biscuits topped with apple butter and goat cheese. I would have never thought of that combination, but it was wonderful. Now I'm thinking this is another way to enjoy Mom's homemade apple butter. There's no sense in saving it for breakfast anymore!

The other appetizer was a wonderful twist to traditional barbecue. It was served on sweet potato cornbread cakes, topped with pickles. Yum!

A charming espresso and coffee bar was also available:

Now for the rest of the menu:

First course:  Fire roasted tomato sweet corn bisque with country ham dust

Second course: A salad of baby spinach greens, beets, red onions and cranberries with a maple mustard vinaigrette, spiced pumpkin seeds and crumbled feta

Third course: Barbecue spiced gulf shrimp with white cheddar Anson Mills grits (my favorite!)

Fourth course: Smoked beef brisket, braised collards, turnips puree and pickled root vegetables. (The vegetables were so bad that I had to contain my giggles!)

Fifth course: Jack Daniel's pecan pie, whiskey creme fraiche, Olive & Sinclair chocolate (Steve's favorite course. Not even close.)

Open air. Full moon. Live music. Diverse crowd. Good food. Great conversation. Magnificent landscape. Rich history. What a fun experience!