Livin' The Life..... Of a Couch Potato

Hey Y'all!

I hope the post finds you enjoying the ends of the holiday season! Our Christmas here at Chez Barks and Squeaks alot, was very bright! On Christmas Eve Eve, I got the word that Uncle Richard was coming home for Christmas! Uncle Richard and Aunt Brenda have been spending time in their mountain home and it was easier on Uncle Richard's flight schedule if they stayed at the mountain house. Well, the last ice storm changed their minds, and yippee, I ended up having Christmas Eve lunch and Christmas day lunch with him! Hooray for snow and ice storms. No, not really, but Uncle Richard came home!

It was my responsibility to make macaroni and cheese and a desert for Christmas Day lunch. Luckily, on Christmas Eve Eve Eve, Paula Deen had a crock pot special on the Food Network. So for my mac and cheese dish, I chose to follow her recipe for Mac and Cheese in the crock pot.

I followed the recipe, but did change a few things. First of all, I HATE eggs in macaroni, so I left those out. Also I did not add the mustard seed. Before I added the macaroni to the crock pot, I only cooked it for half of the time listed on the box. I hate when noodles are soggy, so I let the crock pot finish the work! The result was creamy and yummy. Although, I think next time I will bake it in the oven. I missed the crispy crust on top!

My next responsibility for Christmas lunch was a desert. I found a recipe in a magazine for bread pudding made with egg nog and a panettone. Panettone is that wonderful bread looking thing that you only see in the stores around Christmas.

Y'all know me, I started the whole thing off with rum. :)

This is what I topped mine with. Now for the recipe....

4 large eggs

1 quart of canned or refrigerated Egg Nog (I used the Vanilla Spice kind)

8 cups of cubed panettone

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 2 quart shallow baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Whisk eggs in a large bowl until blended. Whisk in the egg nog. Place the pantettone cubes in the baking dish. Pour egg nog and egg mixture over the cubes. Add cranberries and raisins soaked in rum on top. :) Bake uncovered for 50 to 55 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. It serves 8.

This is mine, right before it went in the oven. The result was very yummy. The nice thing about this bread pudding is that is wasn't sugary and was the perfect way to end a heavy meal.

As you can see, my family enjoyed our feast!

Anywhoo, that's some of the things that I have been up too. Back to the life of a couch potato!!

:) JKP