In the spirit

Today I was in the holiday spirit. Today I played Santa at the office, delivering gift bags to the team of engineers whom I have the extreme pleasure to work with and several co-workers who make my worklife interesting and many times fun.

Is it just me or is there any greater gift than giving?

It doesn't matter how much or how little you spend, whether its store bought or handmade.

Remember, the old addage, "It's the thought that counts." There are reasons we have such sayings. Because they are based in fact.

Letting someone know that you thought about them is a wondrous gift. It could be a text, and email, or in the case of 10 days before Christmas, a small gift bag with little items to make their day a little more sweet and enjoyable.

You can handmake a card, or in my case my mom (the crafty woman in the family) handmade Christmas candybar wrappers and I stuffed them with the chocolate bars.

Why not offer up a little warmth for those cold winter days with a mug and a jar of hot cocoa mix and a bag of mini-marshmallows. Sweeten up a day with a box of chocolates or a tin of Christmas cookies. Or offer up something simple and seasonal like a candy cane.

Whatever you do, give it from the heart and offer it with cheer, for the smile you receive will last all year.

Merry Christmas!

Tis the season to give

The holiday season is upon us and there are children that could use your help to provide for a happy one.

If you have a few dollars to spare this Christmas, please join me in helping author, Jess Haines out by sending unwrapped gifts to her to donate to underprivileged children. Let's put a smile on a child's face. It's an absolute fantastic cause for the holidays.

Please click the link below for more information. Any help you can give is appreciated. SPREAD THE CHEER and THE WORD!


http://jesshaines.com/blog/2012/11/12/helping-underprivileged-kids-again-this-christmas/


Thank you for your generosity.

On the Fourth Day of Cookie Christmas

...my true love gave to me...my favorite oatmeal cookie.

This recipe came from my mom's Better Homes and Gardens cookbooke from like 1960 something. Dad said it could be even older than that. It's older than me and she still has it. I'm so glad she does because she emailed me the recipe so I could share it with you all and with my friends at this weekend's cookie party.

I used to make these cookies for every high school event and oh, yeah, you've heard the saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Well, I used this recipe to help snatch my high school sweetheart.

Nothing but good stuff happens when you bake and eat these cookies. Hope you enjoy them as much as I know I will this weekend.

OATMEAL CRISP Cookie Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped California walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

Thoroughly cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well.
Stir together flour, salt, and soda; add to creamed mixture. Stir in rolled oats and nuts. Mix.

Form dough in rolls, 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper, aluminum foil or clear plastic. Wrap. Chill thoroughly.

With sharp knife, slice cookies about 1/4 inches thick. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in moderate oven (350 degrees) 10 minutes or till lightly browned. Makes about 5 dozen.

Christmas Cookie Exchange Day 3

We're Day three into our online Christmas cookie party. Have you gotten any new cookie recipes yet that you just have to try?

Today's recipe is one of my favorites. It's called a Monster Cookie.
Why is it called a Monster Cookie? Because it's a monster mouthful of good cookie!

Seriously, this cookie has a little bit of everything. It's like the kitchen sinck of cookies. Cookie Monster himself would love this special treat.

Monster Cookies

Ingredients:
1 C. Butter softened
2 C. White Sugar
2 C. Packed Brown Sugar
3 C. Peanut Butter
6 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp. Corn Syrup
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
4 tsp. Baking Soda
9 C. Rolled Oatmeal
1 C. Mini M&Ms
1 C. Mini Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In Large Bowl: Cream together the margarine, white sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter until smooth.
Beat in eggs (2 at a time), then stir in the corn syrup and vanilla. Mix in baking soda and oats until well blended.
Stir in M&Ms and chocolate chips.
Roll dough into 2 inch balls and place 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork.

Bake: 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on cookie sheet
a few minutes, before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Second Day - Christmas Cookie Exchange

Today's recipe came from a frind of mine named Chris. Chris and I used to do our own cookie exchange party every year at Christmas and this was the one cookie he had to make. Only he could make the cookie the right way so I just watched an ate.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me. . .

Russian Teacakes

Ingredients: 1 C. Butter softened
1/2 C. Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 1/4 C. Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
3/4 C. Finely Chopped Walnuts

Powdered Sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
In Large Bowl: Cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla.
Mix flour and salt together; blend in with cream mixture.
Mix in nuts. Chill dough.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake: 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. While still warm roll in powdered sugar. Cool and roll in powdered sugar again.

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies

To celebrate this holiday season, I’m about to kickoff a twelve days of cookies party.

Ooo! What’s that?

Well, if this were at my house, it would be a bunch of friends getting together to drink wine, listen to music, talk, and bake cookies. At the end of the night everyone takes home a plate of cookies.

Let the holiday baking and EATING begin!

Since we can’t host this party for everyone at my house (although it is this Saturday at my place) I will host an online cookie exchange.

Every day I’m going to post a recipe for a cookie. Every day, feel free to submit your own cookie recipe to share with others.

Tell us what time of year you make these cookies, why you make them, what you love about them, what others love about them. Maybe you have a story to tell about the cookie. Those are always fun.

The idea is to share in the holiday spirit and the cookies!


On the First day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Ingredients:
8oz. pkg. Mini Kisses
1/2 C. butter softened
3/4 C. Peanut Butter
1/3 C. White Sugar
1/3 C. Packed Brown Sugar
1 Egg
2 TBSP. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 C. flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt

1/4 C. White Sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In Large Bowl: Cream together the butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter until light and fluffy.
Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well.
Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in sugar and place on
an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake: 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven or until lightly browned.
Immediately press Kiss in center of cookie.
Cool on cookie sheet and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Brief 4th of July poem

Wearing my red, white, and blue
Thinking of you,
On this sunny 4th of July afternoon.

Happy 4th of July!

A recipe for the Firework Weekend

For this 4th of July holiday weekend, I thought I would share with you my favorite drink recipe that will add a few more sparks to all those fireworks.

This recipe is for "The Perfect Margarita". It's the smae recipe that had me winning the margarita contest last year at this time.

Hope you enjoy!


The Perfect Margarita

2 oz. Gold Tequila (I use Patron Gold)

1/2 oz. Cointreau (I use Patron Citronage - Orange Liquor)

1/2 oz Grand Marnier

1/2 oz Orange Juice (no pulp) and this is the secret to the “perfect” recipe

1 oz. Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice

4 oz. Lemate’s Sweet & Sour Mix

Put in pitcher and add some ice. This will only fill pitcher about 1/4 of the way so quadruple this recipe if you want enough to have some friends drinking with you. [GRIN]

Happy fourth of July!

What says holiday cheer more than a free book

'Tis the season for family, friends, fun, and free so let's have a little fun and give a free book to family or friend.

How to win is easy. Tell me who you want to give one of my books to and why then leave your email address with something like (drobbin AT comcast.net) so the stupid scammers don't get your mail. ;-)

If you want to give a specific book of mine to a person then mention that book in your post. Who knows, I may pull more than one name and/or book out of the random hat.

In case you haven't seen my four novels they are:













If you have a cook that is always on the look out for new recipes to try then perhaps a recipe book put together by a group of authors donating recipes might be a fun and unique idea.

Holiday Craft Open House

If you missed or skipped Black Friday (not that I blame you), but still want to get some holiday shopping done then I have a fun venue for you.

Holiday Craft Open House!

This Saturday, November 27, is the 3rd annual Holiday Craft Open House.

Join us from 10 AM to 3 PM at 5 McGrath Street in Salem, NH for Refreshments and Handmade crafts.

Handmade items available:

Soy candles
Fresh Holiday Arrangements for decorating
Purses
Blankets
Doll clothes
Jewelry
Sweets
Painted glass and gifts


Oh, yeah, and I'll be there with my books! So if you haven't gotten your copy of your favorite local author's latest, here's your chance to get a great stocking stuffer.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's to another holiday giving us the opportunity to be thankful for family and friends. Here's to a wonderful meal filled with loud conversations and laughing, fabulous home-cooked food, and your favorite pie for dessert.

Whether the dinner is at your place or someone else's, cheers to you and yours and I hope you have much to be grateful for.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

How to kill more than time on your holiday

This holiday I thought I would start the celebration by offering a unique writing prompt with party gifts as incentives.

As you entertain your family and friends this holiday season and sit down to a wonderful meal filled with love and laughter, I want you to think like a fiction writer. What am I saying? You ARE fiction writers. . . even if only in your mind. In this instance though you have to actually write something down and share it on the blog in order to be eligible for a party prize.

What are the party prizes?

• A copy of any ONE of my novels – reading for those holiday travels or an escape from the family frenzy!

• A copy of KILLER RECIPES – just in time for those holiday meals!

• A box of my homemade chocolates made by my very own Sweets by Denise hands.

How to win one or more of these fabulous participation gifts?

Pretend you are having a little get together at your home or office and you’ve invited everyone you want to celebrate with and maybe a few you don’t in the hopes of fun, food, and family and friends. Who wouldn’t want that? Or perhaps you really are having a gathering so all you have to do is observe, plot, and share.

However, we all have those relatives, friends (maybe not such good friends), and work associates that when you put them in a social venue just should be locked in a closet, chained to a chair, and gagged for the duration. In this case, you get to describe the holiday offense and tell us who should pay the price.

Share with us a family member, friend, or foe who when you gather for food and fun and hear the song “Grandma got run over by a reindeer”, somewhere in the back of your mind you are thinking that they got the wrong person.

Need some silly ideas to get you started? Gee! I might have a few. . . (none of whom are my family or friends)

You have an uncle who refuses to join the family at the dinner table because he cannot miss one minute of football. Heck, if you gave him one of those hospital bottle urinals he’d probably never leave his chair to pee. Grandma is at the dinner table stewing and upset about her ungrateful, ungracious son. What should we do with said uncle for making your wonderfully sweet grandma cry over her minced-meat pie?

Your favorite aunt makes the most disgusting “green salad” for every holiday meal. It’s not green because there is lettuce in the salad. Nope. This salad is called “green salad” because thanks to lime jell-o mix it practically glows in the dark. Add to it some chunk pineapple, cottage cheese, and cool whip, and you have the makings for a death trap. You don’t want your favorite aunt to die, but somehow you have to come up with a way to stop her from making this toxic sludge. Who must die?

Everyone has a cousin who is loud, obnoxious and a boil on the butt of your lovely family. Supposedly he hob-knobs with the so-called elite and basically believes his doo-doo doesn’t stink. Truth is, when he’s away from his claw-for-nails, overdressed wife who wears makeup as if she were a clown in the rodeo he is actually a pretty nice guy who enjoys a cold beer out of the bottle and a football game. I’m thinking save him, shoot the wife!

Oh! Wait! One more.

The monster child! You know the one. The boy or girl terrorizes all the other children, tries to strangle the family cat, and inevitably dumps food on your ancient aunt who sits quietly in the corner. All while the parents coo, “Isn’t he a joy? We just love his energy.” I’m not advocating killing off the child, cuz hello, that’s just mean, but the parents. . . now that’s a different story.