Christmas faves

Since I'm doing well to get pictures and stories on the blog about the kids, I very rarely find time to put anything about food on here, but I thought I'd share a few of our Christmas faves that have started to become traditions in our family- some new, some old.  The dip to the right is fabulous.  We had it this year at our Christmas Eve party.  I got the recipe from my mom- I"m not sure if she invented it herself (it seems like something she would come up with) or if she got it from somewhere else.   Basically it's just layers- cream cheese, rasberry jelly, chopped green onions, cashews and coconut.  Serve with any kind of party crackers. So good and it's really pretty and Christmasy.

We've always done a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas Eve and it's usually a coconut cake.  I found a new recipe this year that I wanted to try and it was SO worth it and so easy.  I"ll put the recipe at the bottom of the post.  I changed it a little by adding rasberry preserves to the icing between the layers which also gave it a little Christmas color.  (Naomi was distressed that Jesus' cake was pink and not blue because after all, He is a boy...).   Anyway I think this cake is going to turn into a family favorite.

Groudnut stew is a family fave from Jason's childhood, and for several years now it is what we have had on Christmas Eve.  The original dish is African- it's a chicken/peanut butter stew basically that you serve over rice and eat with all sorts of toppings.  The combination of flavors is beautiful and tastes amazing.  Toppings include onion, bell pepper, tomato, mango, pineapple, banana, oranges, coconut, and peanuts.

I have a few other favorites that I want to share but I don't have pictures so you'll just have to use your imagination.  The first is pumpkin dip.   I got this one from my mom too.  It is terrific, so easy, freezes well and makes a ton.  We serve it with homemade ginger snaps.  Basically you combine one can pumpkin, 16 oz cream cheese, 4 cups powdered sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp ginger.   Chill and serve with cookies of choice.  (ginger snaps are best!)

Next is one I got from my sister in law, Liz.  I changed it just slightly and I am convinced it is one of the best pies EVER.  Here's the recipe:

1 15 oz. package refrigerated pie crusts ( I can't get these here so I just make a recipe for a double crust pie but roll it into one pie crust)
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks or morsels
1/4 cup (ish) kahlua


Unroll 1 piecrust, and place on a lightly floured surface; lightly brush top crust with water.  Unroll remaining crust, and place over bottom crust; gently roll into a 10" circle.  Fit into a 9" deep- dish pie plate; fold edges under and crimp.   ** I just made one pie crust from a double crust recipe.  Also I use a 10"tart pan as this is almost too deep a pie for the 9" pan.


Stir together butter and next 5 ingredients in large bowl, stir well.  Stir in pecans and remaining ingredients. Pour filling into piecrust. 





Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until set, shielding crust after 45 minutes with aluminum foil, if necessary.  




Here is the recipe for the coconut cake:


Coconut Rasberry Cake 
1 pckg butter recipe cake mix (I couldn't find this here so I used a french vanilla cake mix)
1 16 oz sour cream
2 cups sugar
4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 Tbsp rasberry preserves (my addition)


Prepare cake mix according to directions using 2 9" round cake pans.  Slice each cake layer horizontally in half.  Combine sour cream, sugar and coconut in a bowl, stir well.  Cover and chill 1 1/2 hours.  Reserve one cup sour cream mixture.  To remaining mixture stir in 2 Tbsp rasberry preserves and spread mixture between layers.  Fold whipped topping into reserved sour cream mixture and spread on top and sides of cake.  Place in airtight container and chill at least 8 hours.   


The longer this sits in the frig, the better.  I made it on Tuesday before our Christmas Eve party on Thursday.  

Beirut by Bike

I often have to remind myself how incredibly blessed we are to live just about 100 yards away from the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.  Although it's true that Beirut is basically a concrete jungle with very little green spaces and even fewer wide open spaces for kids to run around and play, there's not much that can compare with a walk or a bike ride along the Med.  "The Corniche" as it is called in Beirut (Arabic for boardwalk) is a beautifully landscaped walkway that runs along the Mediterranean Sea for about three kilometers or so.  Beirut is kind of situated on a horn that juts out into the sea so it essentially wraps around the western part of the city.  It's a great place to walk, run, ride bikes, ride scooters etc.  Especially on weekends, it is usually teeming with Beiruti's and other tourists from around the gulf enjoying the beautiful view.  On a clear day in the winter you can see the snow capped mountain peaks and all along the Northern shore of Lebanon. 

There's a place right around the corner from us between our house and the Corniche called "Beirut by Bike".  Basically you can rent bikes of all shapes and sizes for about $3 an hour.  We finally got around to taking advantage of this during our first week of Christmas break last week.  We chose a week day afternoon when it wouldn't be too crowded, because as much as I love the Lebanese people they have zero bike etiquette and I fear for my children's safety if it is too crowded down there and they are trying to get around on wheels!   We're always looking for creative ways to get out excess energy and this was quite a hit!

Naomi tuckered out pretty quickly...

AJ and Maddie could have ridden for hours...

 

...that is until they found this spot where the waves were splashing up onto the Corniche- far more entertaining

 

Running from spot to spot trying to get splashed

I'm not sure that Naomi actually knew what all the excitement was about, but she sure was happy to join in!

Say no to crack

My big question in relation to this picture is "why, why, why are the jeans they make for three year old's hip huggers that won't even cover their little booty cracks?   Jason just came back from the states with these jeans for Naomi from target.  Nothing on them indicated "stretch" or "slim fit" or anything to that affect- seemed to be very normal size 4T little girl jeans.

The classic thing about this picture that you really can't tell is that Naomi is bent over here in all of her sweet little three year old glory playing with a hammer and screw driver!

Christmas cookies

In continuation of a long standing Cox family tradition, Christmas sugar cookies are a must in December.  We got a little creative this year and went beyond simply decorating with sprinkles.  This year we also made candy cane cookies and iced some after they had baked as well.  Jason's mom sugar cookie recipe is great and always gets rave reviews.  Here are some pictures of our sugar cookie decorating afternoon.

The little chefs are ready (all wearing aprons made by Memommy)

Such concentration!

Little artists at work...

 

After we decorated with the traditional sprinkles before baking, we moved on to making candy canes.  We dyed some dough red and some green, rolled and wrapped.  These bake up really big since there is so much dough, but they were having so much fun, I just let them go at it.  We had some really big candy cane cookies this year.  Note that Abbey had lost interest by this point as we were well into hour 2 of cookie making...

 

Abbey came back when we started icing cookies, and of course the best part of the afternoon was the taste testing...

 

 

Yummy!  So worth the wait!

"L is for the way you look at me, and O ......"

I walked into the kitchen the other day and found Naomi standing on the bench singing and dancing at the top of her lungs.  We've recently watched the new version of The Little Rascals which is apparently where she got her version of this old classic. 

Dancing her heart out...

She gets her moves from her daddy...

Christmas tree skirt

I admittedly am not the most crafty person in the world- especially when it comes to coming up with my own creative ideas- typically it just doesn't happen.  For that reason I must confess that as homey as our little tree skirt may look, I am pretty proud of it.  Completely my own original idea.  When Abbey and Maddie were itty bitty and we lived in the states, I actually made use of my sewing maching a good bit. (overseas it has not come out of the closet because, well, honestly I think I've forgotten how to use it and I'm afraid I'll kill it with the wrong transformer).  Anyway, back in the day  I smocked and sewed dresses, play outfits, even curtains and other things for the house.  For Maddie's first Christmas (Abbey was 2), I wanted to come up with a fun tree skirt that we could use over the years.  I used a basic white thick durable fabric that we could paint on, sewed a border around it, and so the tradition began.

Every year since (minus a few when we have been in transent or in some weird place where I couldn't find green paint) we have put the girls handprints  along with the date and a little design.  They have so much fun looking back at their little hands from years past.  Today Maddie was showing Naomi how her hands were the same size as Maddie's when she was three.  And let's just be honest, fingerpainting is always fun...





Yes, Abbey has somewhat of a pained look- she's never been too thrilled with getting dirty- fun or not...

Maddie on the other hand couldn't be more thrilled...

And Naomi was ready to join in the fun...

Here's the finished handprints:

 

 

I'll post a final picture of the tree skirt back under the tree when I bring it back in tomorrow after the paint dries...

The Jesse Tree

A few years ago a friend sent me an advent devotional guide called, "The Advent Jesse Tree".  It's a great little book and is becoming one of our favorite Christmas traditions.  There is a devotion for each day of advent (one written for children and one for adults) and each has a corresponding symbol with directions for making it into an ornament to hang on the tree.  Basically it tells the story of God's redemptive plan for the world using symbols beginning with creation and going all the way through Christ.  At the beginning of the season, I wrap up each different ornament (some are homemade some are not) and put it under the tree with that days number on the wrapping.  We unwrap each and hang it on the tree after reading the story.  Some examples of the ornaments:  a globe representing creation, an apple with a snake representing the fall (we used a play food apple  with a playdough snake), Noah's ark, Jacob's ladder,  Joseph's coat of many colors etc.

Here's a picture of the ornaments wrapped under the tree.  Some of the homemade ones need to be updated a little bit, but you get the idea.  It's been a great way to talk through the entire story of scripture with the girls.