Liza

Gooseberry Patch Quick & Easy Christmas – Review & Giveaway

 Christmas, cookbook, easy recipes, Giveaways, gooseberry patch, quick recipes, Recipes, Reviews  5 Responses »
Oct 262011
 
I received my first Gooseberry Patch book from my grandmother when I was in high school.  It was about planning and decorating for Christmas, recipes and gift ideas and the style it was written in was very engaging.  Combining a number of my favorite things made it a sure-fire hit with me and from that day on I was hooked.

Gooseberry Patch was started back in 1984 by Delaware, Ohio, neighbors Vickie and Jo Ann.  They both had young kids and were looking for a way to do something they loved that allowed them to stay home with the kids and as they both shared a love of home cooking and making memories they created the idea of Gooseberry Patch.  What started as a catalog turned into their first cookbook in 1992 and they haven’t stopped  since.

One of their newest cookbooks is Quick & Easy Christmas.  It has over 220 “Christmas-y” recipes, most of which are in 30 minutes or less.  A feature of the recipes that I love is that they’re all submitted by Gooseberry Patch fans and readers so you are getting many time-tested, family-approved dishes to try.

The book also contains simple decorating and gift ideas, tips and tricks, and holiday quotes.  There is one at the bottom of nearly every page; at 218 pages that’s a lot of bonuses!  I also adore the country Christmas sketches and images that adorn most pages.  It really gets you into the Christmas spirit!  The last neat feature is a US to Canadian measurement conversion in the back of the book which I’m guessing could be quite handy!

For more information on Gooseberry Patch – and notices about fund-raising opportunities, sales, contests, free recipes and more – you can find them on Facebook, watch them on YouTube and follow them on Twitter.

You can purchase a copy of Quick & Easy Christmas for yourself on Amazon for $11.41 (or $9.99 on the Kindle) – or you can win one below!  Just enter on the Rafflecopter form with as many or as few options as you would like.  Reminder: Rafflecopter sometimes takes a moment to load; if it hasn’t loaded after a minute, please try refreshing your browser.

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I received a copy of the cookbook for purposes of facilitating the review. All opinions are 100% that of myself and my family.

Asparagus Casserole from Gooseberry Patch’s Quick & Easy Christmas

 Recipes  9 Responses »
Oct 262011
 

My husband and I love asparagus but aren’t that crazy about green beans.  That means that a holiday staple – Green Bean Casserole – is off the menu for us.   So I was excited to find Asparagus Casserole recipe in the Gooseberry Patch Quick & Easy Christmas cookbook.

We decided to give it a try tonight as a pairing with chicken cordon bleu.  Generally we make Parmesan roasted asparagus to go with it but the fresh asparagus in our area hasn’t looked too hot lately and this recipe called for frozen, so it was a good fit. Continue reading »

Baby Jar Crafts: Easy DIY Halloween Luminaries

 Crafts, Halloween  8 Responses »
Oct 222011
 

I have to say one of the things I find myself excited about as Baby C. gets older is the upcoming years of doing crafts together.  I loved crafts when I was a kid, and I love them now, but having a little one to do them with not only will add to the enjoyment but will also force me to not make excuses about “not having enough time” and just go do them.

I wanted to share this one with you sooner than Monday; since Halloween is right around the corner I thought if you were interested in making it yourself, then at least you would have this weekend to do it.

I’ve been trying to think of things to do with baby food jars since we have an unending supply around here.  So I thought that little luminary jars would be really cute – and they are! Continue reading »

Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

 Recipes  4 Responses »
Oct 192011
 

Tasty Tuesday: Peanut Butter Cookies

I was in the baking mood over the weekend and felt like baking some cookies.  I knew if I made chocolate chip cookies I’d end up eating more of them than I wanted to, so I decided to make peanut butter cookies, which are a favorite of my husband.  I like them, too, but not so much that I’d be too tempted. They also fairly fast to pull together, and I always have the ingredients on hand.  Definitely a vote in their favor.

This is my Mom’s recipe for peanut butter cookies (they’re also a favorite of my father’s so she’s baked a few dozen in her day).  Not sure where she got it from, but it’s probably a fairly standard cookie recipe.
Print
Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 5 dz
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, well beaten
  • 1 T milk
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Whisk together the flour, both sugars, salt and baking soda.
  3. Beat in the eggs, milk, peanut butter and shortening until dough pulls together.
  4. Roll into small balls then roll the balls in sugar; place on a baking sheet. Press down slightly with tines of a fork.
  5. Bake for 12-14 minutes until cookies start to brown. Cookies will continue to cook a little while cooling.

 

They’re also very yummy when you turn them into Peanut Butter Blossoms.  Just press an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss into the center of each cookie as soon as they come out of the oven (the tops will crack a little).

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