Christmas Treats

One tradition I love is making a gingerbread house at Christmas. This year, Tyson and I decided to make one with a ‘twist’. Instead of the same old gingerbread house, we decided to make a gingerbread BARN! I painted the barn with red paint and Tyson made a cute picket fence with popsicle sticks. The gingerbread man is a farmer, and the animals are having a great time in the green pasture. Farmer MacDonald had some problems with his roof this year though. There must have been too much snow because it kept caving in!

Here's a new treat for the holidays....VitaSoy makes a very tasty Christmas drink! It’s a smooth chocolate soy milk with a great peppermint twist. I heated mine up and added a candy cane for some extra sugah!
I also made some Peanut Butter Balls for Christmas. Anything with chocolate and peanut butter is a winner in my book, so I love these tasty treats. After they were dipped in chocolate I just laid them on parchment paper, which gave them a flat bottom. I haven’t mastered the perfect look yet—but they taste good, so that’s all that matters! Peanut Butter Balls
2 cups of peanut butter (smooth)
¼ cup butter
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla
2-2 ½ cups icing sugar
2 cups Rice Crispies (optional)

255 g chocolate chips
2 tbl shortening

Cream peanut butter, butter and salt together then microwave for 1 minute. Check and stir every 20 seconds.
Stir in vanilla and icing sugar (add more if needed).
Roll in 1” balls and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Melt chocolate and shortening in double boiler. Dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate and refrigerate until hardened.

Mom also made some scrumptious Fresh Cranberry Quick Bread for the holidays. It’s sweet, but not too sugary. It goes great with some tea or coffee.
Fresh Cranberry Quick Bread
2 cups of flour
¾ cups sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup chopped fresh cranberries
¾ cup of walnuts
1/3 cup raisins
2/3 cup orange juice
1 egg replacer
2 tbl vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9x5” loaf pan with non-stick spray.
In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt. Add cranberries, walnuts and raisins. Stir to coat.
In a small bowl whisk together orange juice, egg replacer and oil. Pour into flour mixture and stir until blended. Spoon into pan.
Bake 55-60 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Enjoy your holiday treats!