From Santa!

Mr. H. and I weren't supposed to exchange 
Christmas gifts this year.

So when these showed up on Christmas Eve
the only thing I could figure out 
was that they must have come from...

SANTA CLAUS! :-)

It doesn't get any simpler!

~mason jar, greenery, cranberries, water, tea light~

simple Christmas table centerpiece 

 done! :-)

Idea from Better Homes and Gardens.

Hohoho!

It's pretty busy around here at

Heritage Schoolhouse Christmas present...

So I thought I'd share a few links to 

Heritage Schoolhouse Christmas past! :-)

Merry Christmas to you and yours -

hoping your holiday is holly, jolly, merry and bright!

Simple Christmas Joys

Day 1 Countdown Calendar

Day 2 Mocha Hot Cocoa

Day 3 Feathered Friend Christmas Tree

Day 4 Peppermint Biscotti

Day 5 Pinecones

Day 6 Daisy under the Christmas Tree

Day 7 Kitchen Christmas Tree

Day 8 Easy Christmas Candy

Day 9 Our Favorite Christmas Candy

Day 10 Snow Luminaires

Day 11 Wrapping Presents

Day 12 Christmas Coffee

Day 13 Decorating with Framed Letters

Day 14 Christmas Knitting

Day 15 Candy Canes

Day 16 Christmas Reading

Day 17 School's Out

Day 18 Clementines

Day 19 Poinsettias

Day 20 Mistletoe

Day 21 Christmas Flowers

Day 22 Christmas Cards

Day 23 Gingerbread Houses

Day 24 Milk and Cookies for Santa

Some favorite Christmastime Recipes

Holiday Breakfast Casserole

Cheesy Bacon Bites

Christmastime Cranberry Crumb Muffins

Gingerbread Scones

Gingerbread Men

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

A Keeper!

When you serve soup for supper at my house,

a soup that is full of vegetables no less,

and, the family ALL loves it!!

Then that soup is a keeper. :-)

The recipe for Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

came from Lulu the Baker,

and, of course, was found on Pinterest. :-)

Pin It

~Gifts from the kitchen - Peppermint Cocoa~

I've been spotting Peppermint Cocoa recipes 

all over the internet via Pinterest!

I whipped up a few batches last night,

and we tried some out this morning with breakfast.

Yummy!

For each 1/2 pint jar layer -

1/4 cup powdered milk

1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 cup chocolate chips

1/8 cup crushed candy canes

1/8 cup peppermint flavored marshmallows

Add a tag with the directions on the back.

Share with friends and family and enjoy!

Idea from -
Mom's Crazy Cooking
My Recipes

Pin It

Cranberry Crumb Muffins

Christmastime Cranberry Crumb Muffins

1 dozen

for muffins

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1 egg

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries

for crumb topping

1/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch salt

1 1/4 tablespoons butter, softened

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Combine sour cream, egg, and butter.

Blend dry ingredients with wet ingredients.

Fold in cranberries.

Spoon batter in to muffin tin lined with paper liners.

Combine flour, sugars, baking powder and salt.

Cut in butter until crumbly.

Sprinkle crumb topping over muffins.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Pin It

Sing a Song of Christmas

Sing a song of Christmas,

Of starlight on the snow,

Of scarlet flames of Yuletide logs

And candles' golden glow.

Sing a song of Christmas,

Of mistletoe and pine,

Of holly wreaths and balsam trees

Whose lights and tinsel shine.

Sing a song of Christmas,

Of bells which gaily ring,

And carols on the frosty air

The strolling minstrels sing.

Sing a song of Christmas,

Of happiness and cheer,

And love which lights the earth with joy

To bless the coming ear.

by Gail Brook Burket

From Christmas IDEALS 1964

:::Crazy Cooking Challenge:::

I'm excited to be participating in another

Crazy Cooking Challenge!

The last one I participated in was all about 

Mac and Cheese!

This month the challenge is to find

the very best fudge recipe in blogland.

Now, I already know the very best fudge recipe...

it's the Fantasy Fudge that my mom always made and that I make now.

It's our favorite.

But, for the challenge, I needed to find a new recipe.

I searched and searched and decided that I just had to try -

~Easiest Ever Fudge~

at Cats and Casseroles blog.

I wanted to see if it really was the easiest ever.

Well, the title is absolutely correct!

It is the easiest ever fudge...

four ingredients,

about 5 minutes of prep

2 hours to chill 

and you are done!

It's rich.  It's chocolatey.  It's smooth.

It's a wonderfully tasty fudge and it IS

the easiest ever fudge.  I hope you try it.

Easiest Ever Fudge

from Cats and Casseroles Blog

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 dash of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Line an 8X8 inch pan with aluminum foil.  Combine chips, milk, and salt in a small saucepan.  Heat over low until chocolate melts, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Spread fudge into prepared pan.  Allow fudge to cool in refrigerator for two hours.  To cut, lift foil out of pan and then peel off foil.  Cut fudge into small squares.  Keep refrigerated in an air tight container.

Be sure to visit the other bloggers that are participating in the Fudge Edition of the Crazy Cooking Challenge Blog Hop!  And, don't forget to vote for your favorite.  They are listed below. :-)

It's Christmas Cookie Time!

I've been pinning lots and lots of Christmastime ideas

on my Pinterest boards.

From my ~Christmastime Cookies~ board,

I decided to try 

Chocolate Candy Cane Blossoms

first.  

Recipe from

Cafe Zupas.

Meet Willie and Waylon :-)

Willie

Waylon

They are my daughter's show pigs that she is raising this winter and spring.

They are about 40 pounds each right now.

And should be around 240 to 260 pounds

at show weight.

That's a lot of eating!

And a lot of barn chores.

But that's a good thing. :-)

Ok Willie and Waylon, it's time to eat, eat, eat

and grow, grow, grow!

"12"

At 2:42 AM on November 18, 1999, the partially completed Aggie Bonfire, on the Texas A&M University campus, standing 40 feet tall and consisting of about 5000 logs, collapsed during construction. Of the 58 students and former students working on the stack, 12 were killed and 27 others were injured...

Those that lost their lives will never be forgotten.

What's that wonderful smell coming from the oven?? It's...

Autumn Spice Cake with Carmel Frosting
12 servings*


2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups warm water
2/3 cup oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
for frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk
4 cups powdered sugar

Combine flour, cornstarch, spices, and brown sugar; set aside.  Combine water, oil, and vinegar.  Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until thoroughly combined.  Pour into greased cake pans.  Bake 25-30 minutes at 325.  Let cool in pans 5 minutes.  Remove cakes from pans and cool completely.  Meanwhile, melt butter in small saucepan.  Add brown sugar and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add vanilla an continue to stir.  Add milk slowly and bring to a boil.  Set aside and let cool.  Beat powdered sugar into carmel until desired frosting consistency is reached.  When cakes are completely cool, spread with frosting and enjoy!


*This cake is really like 24 servings - the frosting is so rich and sweet that just a few bites are almost all you can eat. :-)

Love at first read...

I am not much of a cookbook "cooker". 

Don't get me wrong, I do love cookbooks and have lots of them.

But when it comes to cooking tried and true,

I usually turn to one of just a few sources -

Taste of Home, Gooseberry Patch, 

cooking blogs, and good 'ol hand me down recipes.

I love to thumb through fancy, glossy library cookbooks,

and do so often for inspiration and ideas.

But I've found that lots of the fancy cookbook recipes

just seem to fall short of tried and true down home favorites.

At least for me and my family, and the way we eat. :-)

That is until I brought THIS cookbook home from the library.

I couldn't believe it as a flipped the pages...

there were recipes in this book that had been in my family for years!

Right down to each ingredient.  

And any recipe that wasn't familiar, 

I wanted to try -

right that very minute! :-)

The author was born and raised in Alabama,

but I have found out after reading this cookbook

that southern Alabama cooking is very similar to Texas cooking.

From the day I brought it home, my son kept begging me to make the

 meal pictured in the bottom right hand corner of the cover.

One evening I did.

The fried chicken tenders and come back sauce??

HUGE hit.

The chicken recipe was so easy you wouldn't believe it.

Other than the chicken, it has two ingredients!!

I'm not telling what the ingredients are -

you'll have to get the cookbook to find out. :-)

I also have tried the corn chowder.

I think the author loves corn as much as I do. ;-)

And, this??

This is a chocolate cobbler.

I promise the ingredients are always in your pantry.

I plan to cook my way through this entire book. 

Stayed tuned.  :-)

Weekend at the Lease

As you probably know, Mr. H. is a hunter.  It's what he does. :-)

In years past I've always stayed home with babies when he heads off

on hunting trips or for weekends at the deer lease.

But, these days...the babies go, too!

So, I decided to tag along to the lease with the rest of the family 

for the first weekend of deer season this year!

Mr. H. is on a lease by himself this year out in west Texas.

The property has a little, hundred year old farm house on it.

Mr. H., my daughter, and my son all hunt.

But not me. :-)

I joke that I spend my days tending and nurturing animals

and they stalk them! ;-)

The lease has a lovely pecan grove on it.

Mr. H. has put several feeders and deer blinds on the lease.

Some close friends of ours are on the adjoining lease.

Bubba and Daisy came along for the ride 

and kept me company when the family was off hunting.

I enjoyed walking around the yard of the house 

during the early mornings and evenings when everyone was gone.

Just thinking about who might have lived out here long ago.

Who might have used the well, the old root cellar, and the corrals.

I might, or might not, have pretended I was a pioneer woman. ;-)