Sorry, I took the day off yesterday. Literally. I took a personal day and had a wonderful day! I picked up a piece of furniture from a consignment store, did some shopping and enjoyed the beautiful weather! In fact, yesterday afternoon I pulled out my beach chair, poured myself a glass of lemonade, grabbed my kindle and sat my happy hiney on my patio in the sunshine for a few hours. It was so relaxing and I finished a book... True Devotion by Dee Henderson. It is a really good read! Everybody needs a relaxing Monday every now and then!
And, sorry. There is no Christmas Sock of the Day for today and yesterday. It has been in the 70's here and my toes have to be free! They say the colder weather will be back by the end of the week. I can't wait to show off my precious socks that I got this past weekend!
Now!!! If you have ever been to my house, you may notice how much yarn I have. At times, I probably could appear in an episode of hoarders. :) I am not that bad. My yarn is pretty much organized by project and color in my upstairs craft closet. However, I do keep a basket downstairs by my sofa and recliner with all of my current or about to be current projects. Ahem. Recently this basket has gotten OUT OF CONTROL. And, it was an eye sore in my living room. While out shopping with the girls this past weekend, I came across the perfect solution. Since I knew I couldn't fit it in Mitzi Mazda without tying Marie or Toni to the sunroof, I decided to think about it and come back on Monday. If the basket of shelves was still there.. then it was meant to be!
And guess what it now in my living room????? To understand the hideousness.. you must see a before and after shot...
BEFORE.......ACCCCKKKKKK!!!!! My yarn has been multiplying!
AFTER........ SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!!
My living room is much happier now! And, so am I! Santa came to see me a wee bit early! :)
And, now what you have been waiting for! Girls Weekend Christmas Palooza Recipes!
Now, my two favorite recipes I used, I found on Pinterest.. and those folks have blogs who have documented each recipe. Since I was cooking for company and I was under a deadline (read, I hadn't had ANY coffee while I was cooking on Saturday) I forgot to take pictures. So instead of re-inventing the wheel on my blog, I am just going to link to the recipes. I hope you guys really enjoy them! :)
Our favorite part of breakfast on Saturday had to be the make ahead French Toast Bake. Now let me tell you... this recipe calls for Texas Toast. But there is a Texas Toast debacle. After searching several stores for Texas Toast... that I had only seen a few weeks ago, I kept coming up empty handed. Finally the deli manager at my local Food Lion took pity on me and explained what was going on. You see, most Texas Toast in our country was made by Hostess bakeries. And now they are closed. NO MORE TEXAS TOAST FOLKS!!!! So I substituted Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Hearty White Bread to make my french toast and it turned out great. You could use any hearty bread and I am sure it would be fine. But we really liked the Pepperidge Farm! I also left the crusts on my bread. I am normally not a crust eater... EXCEPT when I eat french toast. The recipe on the blog cuts off the crusts. Don't do it! :)
Here's the link to step by step directions for The French Toast Bake. Make this. Make this for Christmas morning! You won't be sorry!
The other recipe I tried was called Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups. It is a hashbrown base, baked in a muffin tin. Then you add egg, cheese and bacon. It is a great option for protein in the morning and it is easy to make!
Check out Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups here!
Alrighty, Rizzoli and Isles is on and I've got to watch it. I hope y'all have a good Wednesday! We have 10 more school days until Christmas break! :) YAY!
Tootles!
:) JKP
Next, cut the cream cheese into 20 equal cubes. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese. You will have a half moon looking biscut.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts into the bottom of your bundt pan. Place half of the biscuits with the sugar and cream cheese in the pan. Sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle on 1/2 cup of nuts.
Layer the remaining biscuits on top, sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar, pour the remaining butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of nuts. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Place a plate on top and invert. 
I served mine with hot coffee and a side of fruit. Trust me, it was a HUGE HIT! So if you want something yummy to make for Christmas morning.. this is it!!
I woke up to the yummiest breakfast! I added a little bit of brown sugar and a little bit of milk to my oatmeal. It was just delicious! The best part is that this makes about 5 servings for me so I can have some more tomorrow! You can also add dried fruit to this while it is cooking too. It is important to note that you have to use the steel cut oats for this to work. The regular oats won't work as well in the crockpot. But for one cup of oats, I got about 5 cups of oatmeal.