Holiday Baking :: Apple Tea Cakes

I started the holiday baking today! This was in my cookie book as a pecan tea cake, but since I'm not a fan of pecans I decided to change it a bit. I used the last apple I had in the fridge to replace the nuts. Yum! They're heavenly little bites! Here's the photos and the recipe!



1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 3oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 cup all purpose flour
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter or margarine (melted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 large Gala apple, peeled and diced

For crust, in a small mixing bowl beat the 1/2 cup margarine or butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed about 30 seconds, or until softened. Stir in the flour. Cover and chill for about 1 hour or till dough is easy to handle.

Form the chilled dough into a ball. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions,roll each portion into a ball. Place each ball into an un-greased muffin cup. Press the dough evenly against the bottom and up the sides of the cup. Cover and set aside.

For filling, in a small mixing bowl stir together the beaten egg, brown sugar, cinnamon, melted margarine or butter, vanilla, lemon juice and diced apples. Fill each dough lined muffin cup with the apple mixture.

Bake at 375 for 20-24 minutes or till filing is set and crust is lightly browned. Cool slightly in pans before serving.

Holiday Decorating

We finished decorating the living room for Christmas! That handles the first round.

In the Holiday Spirit!

After 10 days of the flu - or cold - whatever it was that I had, I'm finally feeling better! Good thing too, because I've been itching to get my Christmas decor up! Today I finished the mantle over the fireplace, setup the table in the kitchen for a dessert buffet, compiled a list of addresses for friends and family to send Christmas cards, and cleared a corner in the living room for the Christmas tree.... all the while listening to some jazzy holiday music! When Jamie gets home from work in just a few minutes we're going to buy our Christmas tree and do some Christmas shopping, then home to set up the tree and start gift wrapping.

Oh - and we had our first snow today! I'm sure that helped me get into the holiday mood! I just wish we could decorate outside! Until this year we've always been in an apartment, so no need (or place) for outside decor. Now that we have a house I'm really looking forward to decorating outside for all the holidays. Guess I can hit the sales on decor after Christmas and begin stocking up for next year! :)

I'll post some pictures later of our fun night of decorating!

Thanksgiving & Jamie's Birthday

Jamie's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, so I made a birthday pumpkin pie for him. :) Happy Birthday Jamie!









Then we had the Thanksgiving/Birthday dinner, which was way too much food for us to eat by ourselves. We'll have leftovers for a week! :) But I'm traditional, so I had to have the turkey, the stuffing, the cranberries, and all the fixin's (that's Texan) that go along with it. So, we also had ham (which is my favorite holiday food), homemade macaroni & cheese, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. Plus, I made my mom's cheese dip & tortilla chips for us to snack on during the Cowboys game while we waited on the turkey to cook. Oh yeah, I made apple pie and blueberry pie, too. :)

Grand Opening of The Breakfast Club

Last weekend, Jamie and I went out to the grand opening of The Breakfast Club in Lakewood (formerly the Hi-Fi Concert Club). We saw a couple great bands including the bar's namesake band, The Breakfast Club. It turns out that Billy Morris is part owner of the club and plays in the Breakfast Club band. Billy Morris was in the band Warrant, one of my absolute favorite old school rock bands. We got to meet him, and I got a photo!

This Year's Costumes

Unfortunately we didn't get the opportunity to dress up this year. Halloween is always one of my favorite holidays, and I looove dressing up! We received a few pictures from a few who did dress up this year, so I thought I'd share those....


My brother (the zombie in front) in line at the Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, TX. They won Rob Zombie concert tickets from 97.1 The Eagle because of their costumes. He's always winning something!!!



This one is also my brother dressed as a killer clown for a halloween party. I'm jealous, he got to dress up twice!


Mike & Michelle


Poe (Mike & Michelle's dog) - An Ewok! How cute is that!?!?

No Trick-or-Treaters

I have to admit, I was excited this year about finally having a house on a busy road where we were sure to have tons of little kids in costumes parading up and down the streets. I bought huge bags of mini chocolate bars and prepared for the onslaught of Avon Lake kids. After a long hour and a half of waiting, we ended up with NO trick-or-treaters. I mean, ZERO. Maybe next year I'll have to decorate the front yard.... with lights and pumpkins and skeletons...... and have Jamie outside in costume, waving the kids in. LOL