Starting the New Year Right!

Looking at the other side of the doorstep, this is another photo of yesterday's luminaries lighting the way to the new year today! It's good to start the new year with luminaries lining the path!

This new year you will see some marvelous changes, including some exciting ones regarding the blog that I am very excited about. The announcement is coming soon to start the new year out perfectly!

On that, check out Bing Crosby's "Let's Start the New Year Right."

A Marshmallow World

It's been snowing all day! So what goes great with a wintery little snow shower? Homemade pesto chicken pizza with a white alfredo sauce! The cool thing is the alfredo sauce makes itself--kind of like snow just falls when weather conditions are just right!

So of course, today's song has to be "A Marshmallow World" sung by Ella Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby.

PESTO CHICKEN PIZZA

½ cup warm water                                      

¾ teaspoon yeast                                       

1 teaspoon sugar, divided                        

1½ tablespoons olive oil, divided           

½ teaspoon salt                  

1½ cups all-purpose flour                       

1 cup pesto

¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup parmesan cheese

¾ cup feta cheese

2 cups fresh spinach

1 large chicken breast, cubed, cooked

½ pound mozzarella cheese, grated

¼ cup cornmeal

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Combine warm water, ½ teaspoon sugar, and ¾ teaspoon yeast in a bowl and set aside.
3. Put 1½ teaspoons olive oil, salt, ½ teaspoon sugar in a large bowl. Stir then push the mixture to the side of the bowl. Put the flour on the side opposite of the salt mixture. Pour the yeast mixture in the bowl and stir to combine all ingredients.
4. Knead the dough to make it consistent—just for a minute. Set aside covered for 15 minutes to rise.
5. Pour off the olive oil at the top of the pesto purchased in the store. Measure 1 cup of pesto and set aside.
6. Measure into separate containers the heavy cream, parmesan cheese, feta, spinach, and chicken and set them aside so they are ready to put on the pizza dough as soon as it is rolled out.
7. Grate the mozzarella cheese and set aside on a plate.
8. Put ½ tablespoon olive oil in a jelly roll pan and spread it around to the edges with your fingers. Sprinkle cornmeal over oil to coat it lightly.
9. Put pizza dough on a floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle 12 inches by 24 inches.
10. Lay rolled dough on oil and cornmeal in the jelly roll pan and press it to the edges.
11. Quickly spread ½ tablespoon olive oil over the dough with the back of a spoon.
12. Then spread the pesto with the back of a spoon all the way to the edges of the dough. 
13. Drizzle the heavy cream over the pesto, using the back of a spoon to slightly mingle the pesto with the heavy cream.
14. Sprinkle the parmesan then the feta evenly over the pesto layer on the dough. Lay the spinach over the cheeses. Put the cooked chicken pieces over the spinach to apportion it on the pizza.
15. Gently lay the mozzarella cheese over the chicken.
16. Bake for 3 minutes on the lowest shelf of the oven. Then move the pan to the middle shelf and bake for 12-14 minutes more or until done.

Looks Like Christmas

With all of the snow and decorations, it really is beginning to look like Christmas! There's just something special about Christmas decorations. No matter how cold it is, I still feel warm inside!

"It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas" sung by Bing Crosby.

Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving! Food, family, and fun! The traditional Chaston cranberry sauce is the center of our Thanksgiving plates! It is the easiest recipe. That recipe is coming soon!

So for Thanksgiving, check out "I've Got Plenty to Be Thankful For" sung by Bing Crosby.

Birthday Snickerdoodles: A Doodlin' Song

Birthdays in my family are special and this weekend is my brother's birthday so we have been celebrating for several days already!  One of his favorite cookies is snickerdoodles.  So I made them today!

In honor of this tasty cinnamon sugar coated cookie, today's song is "A Doodlin' Song" sung by Peggy Lee and Bing Crosby.  I figure "Doodlin'" and "Snickerdoodles" go together, right?


SNICKERDOODLES

Cookies:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
2 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Coating:
3 Tbl. sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl cream butter, Crisco, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

In a small bowl stir cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and flour together.  Add to butter mixture

Mix 3 tablespoons of sugar and 3 teaspoons of sugar together and put on a plate.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Bake for 8 minutes.

I'm Dreaming of a White Birthday...

I really can't believe it just keeps snowing...and snowing...and snowing!  It snowed again today!

I grew up in Iowa and got quite used to having snow on my birthday.  I loved it--except in Kindergarten.

That year, school was cancelled on my birthday and I couldn't take my class treat--cupcakes--to school.  Sure, I took the cupcakes the next day, but it just wasn't the same.  And neither were the cupcakes, for that matter.

Plus, I had to wait ALL day for my dad to get home from work so I could open my presents.  Apparently, dads go to work even when school is cancelled.  Talk about torture for a six-year-old.  Life doesn't get much harder than resisting the desire to open presents until 5:00 p.m.

Back to today's snow, it actually was rain earlier today.  I thought dressy heels would be okay in the rain in the church parking lot, but I kept slipping and sliding.  Fortunately, I never actually fell, but the slipping did cause me to re-evaluate my decision to wear the dressy heels...but risking life and limb for fashion is sometimes a necessity.

So maybe snow isn't quite a birthday tradition, but I definitely associate snow with my birthday.  Except for the three years I lived in Georgia.  It didn't snow on those birthdays.  Ever.

So here's to hoping I have a white birthday.  I do think I need a song with a color in the title...I've already highlighted "Blue Skies."

Okay, I give in.  Today's song is "White Christmas" sung by, of course, Bing Crosby.

And here's a heads-up surprise:  I'm releasing my version of "White Christmas" later this year on Jazzy Christmas to You III.