While I love Thanksgiving and will take time to savor and enjoy the holiday, I can’t deny that I look forward to the day after Thanksgiving for two reasons. First is Black Friday, that fast and furious day of shopping where the deals are plentiful (and where common courtesy and patience often are not). The second reason is because we finally get to decorate for Christmas.

Decorating is one of my favorite parts of the season and I’m lucky that my hubby cheerfully offers to put the tree up as early as I want. He offered to put it up for me this weekend but Baby C. is in to everything right now and I knew it only meant two extra weeks of chasing her amazingly fast little self down and keeping her from trying to climb the thing.

So we’ll do it Thanksgiving evening or the day after. But just because I’m not decorating yet doesn’t mean I’m not crafting (and buying) ornaments!

Button ornaments have been around for ages, so this may not be all that new for you. But they’re inexpensive to make and get put together very quickly so they’re easy to do as a family craft, at an ornament exchange with friends or just to mass-produce on your own to decorate the tree or give as gifts. Continue reading »

2011 Holiday Gift Guide – Gifts For Him

One gift idea that fits almost anyone – especially those hard-to-shop-for guys on your list – is a gift basket. And you really can’t go wrong with a basket of snacks and other edible goodies.

Ballreich’s can provide you with a variety of gift baskets for men full of tasty snacks for a number of different occasions. They are a family-owned company that was founded in Tiffin, OH, in 1920 by Fred Ballreich and his wife Ethel. They called their chips “Marcelled”, which means wavy, after the popular ladies’ wavy hairstyle of the time.

Gift Baskets for Men: Ballreich Chips Gift Baskets

I couldn’t wait any longer so today I am officially kicking off my 2011 Holiday Gift Guide! For the next month or so I will be bringing you a number of reviews and giveaways to help you complete your shopping lists.

As sponsors are confirmed I will be adding them to the 2011 Holiday Gift Guide page. Here you’ll be able to get a sneak peak at the products coming; you’ll also find links to each sponsor’s website in case you’d like more information. And as each item’s review and giveaway goes live, you’ll also be able to click the image and go directly to the giveaway.

I’m also bringing you two special additions. The first will be the “For Your Holiday Table” supplement. Towards the end of the month I will have reviews and giveaways that focus on tasty treats to serve at your parties plus decorating items for entertaining. These will all happen over the same weekend as opposed to spread throughout the month (meaning that there will be tons of great giveaway prizes for you to win that weekend, especially!).

The second special treat is an ongoing giveaway that starts today and ends on 12/16. The giveaway is for a Christmas Stocking full of gifts, treats and gift cards. Each day after you enter the new Gift Guide giveaways you can come back to this post and fill out the Rafflecopter form below. For each Gift Guide giveaway you enter you’ll get an entry into the Christmas Stocking giveaway. There will also be an extra “Bonus Entry” each day that you can complete.

ENTER HERE:

November is the month, more than any other, when people often take time to reflect on what they’re thankful for. Though I try every day to remember all the things I have to be thankful for the onset of Thanksgiving is a special reminder.

Visuals can also help us remember to be thankful and that’s why I love DaySpring’s Ever Grateful line of products. The Ever Grateful Reversible Table Runner that I received has “Let There Be Thankfulness to God” printed on both ends. So when the family sits down to dinner you can’t help but be reminded to give thanks.

Both sides of the runner are in beautiful earth tones and would be lovely on your table during Thanksgiving or any day of the year. It measures 72″L x 14″W and is 100% cotton. I love how it hangs over the edge of our table just a bit when set for day-to-day dining and it will look perfect coming a few inches short of the edges when our table leaves are in for entertaining.

This year our family has a number of things to be grateful for. We have a new member (Baby C.) in our immediate family to share the holidays with; we have a new member (my sis-in-law) of our extended family after a lovely wedding a few weeks ago; my new sister-in-law’s father is slowly recovering after a tragic accident; A1 is having a successful second year in college; and A2 is having a fun and successful sophomore year of high school. I am very aware of how blessed we are.

If you are willing to share, I would love to hear the things you and your family are thankful for this year and will be celebrating at Thanksgiving! It’s nice to be able to celebrate with others.

I received a runner in order to facilitate my review. I received no other compensation; all opinions are 100% mine.

The weather is turning a little colder so we’re starting to make some heartier meals like soups/stews, chili, casseroles and crock pot meals. And now that Baby C. can be partially entertained in her high chair for a few minutes if I pull her close to me in the kitchen, it’s giving me some extra time to try new things. So tonight we tried an enchilada casserole recipe that a friend gave me a bit ago.

My friend found the recipe in an issue of Taste of Home magazine and said that it had been voted #1 Casserole of 2010. I did make a few minor changes to suit our tastes; you can definitely do the same. And while I am sharing a photo of the final result, I will be honest: this is not a pretty, photos-well kind of dish. It’s bubbly and gooey and cheesy, so please forgive the quality of the image.

Enchilada Casserole

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Mexican

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
½ tsp onion powder
1 jar (16oz) salsa
1 can (15oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 sm. can corn, drained
¼ C Italian dressing
½ C sour cream
2 T taco seasoning
½ tsp. cumin
4 8-inch flour tortillas
2-4 C shredded Mexican cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400.
In a large skillet cook ground beef with the onion powder until no longer pink; drain.
Stir in the salsa, black beans, dressing, taco seasoning, corn, sour cream and cumin.
Spread ¼ of the meat mixture in the bottom of an 8×8 casserole dish. Sprinkle with ½ to 1 cup of cheese. Cover the cheese with 1 tortilla.
Continue layering meat mixture, cheese and tortillas until you've used all the meat mixture. The last layer should be a heavy covering of cheese (so no tortilla on the top of the last layer of cheese).
Spray aluminum foil with cooking spray and cover the casserole. Bake for 25 minutes or until it starts to get bubbly.
Serve with extra shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, crushed Doritos, tortilla chips or other sides.

Enchilada Casserole Recipe

Mine turned out a bit more runny than I had expected. Next time I will probably use a “chunky” salsa to reduce some of the liquid. Also, I only used 2 tortillas because that’s what was listed in the recipe. But I suggested 4 in my above ingredient list. Hubby suggested that it could use more tortilla layers and also I think additional tortillas would give it extra stability and soak up a little extra liquid.

Views From the Ville

Liza

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What is your favorite casserole recipe?