Dieting At Christmas .... NOT!!

There's probably not much worse for your diet than sitting on the couch sick, getting absolutely no exercise.  My exercise watch thinks I died.  Add to that my love of cooking and I'm in trouble.

Among my many lists of things to take to the next RV rally are cinnamon rolls.  My mother used to make them every Christmas.  Unfortunately I've never been able to duplicate hers (which always had the perfect amount of sugar and nuts) even when I used the same recipe.

So how do you get perfect rolls?  You find someone ELSE'S recipe .... like Paula Deen, the Queen of Butter, and throw in your own twist.  I couldn't think of a twist, so here are Paula's rolls.  I sure hope they turn out okay, which of course you never know until you serve them to a crowd, right?  These will be smothered with frosting before serving, so they can't be ALL bad.

I've been dying to try that berry pie recipe from the Cooking School.  Since the box of 50 pans arrived, I figured to give it a shot.  The crust came out better than I ever expected.  I know, because there are only THREE pies left in the freezer.  This is the flakiest pie crust I've ever made!!

Here's a hint I learned somewhere along the road ... place the big cookie sheet in the oven to heat up BEFORE putting the pies on it to cook.  That hot pan makes the bottom crust brown very nicely. 

These are made with frozen mixed berries, sugar, instant Clear Jel (for thickening) and lemon extract.    They turned out just as good as the one I made at the School.  YUM YUM!!

With the diet completely out the window and the freezer full of turkey and pie, I zoned in on Christmas decorating.  This is it ... that's all there is.  With the disastrous flocked tree I had to deal with last year, I decided to go minimal this year.

I know the stockings aren't evenly displayed.  See that one on the left?  It hangs down just a tad too low when the fireplace is on, creating a fire hazard.  That's just what I need, so I moved it way over.  

That's mine from when I was four years old.  It has held many a walnut and those terrible candy canes, along with a few oranges, a real treat for us ranch kids.  That's it ... no toys, no gift cards, no cd's.  We didn't have a fireplace like I do now.  They were taped to a cardboard table in the middle of the living room, which occasionally fell over from the weight of the oranges.

I've nothing on the schedule today other than to heal up from overeating at last night's Elks dinner.  I'll show you pictures later.  It is already nap time since I got home at 11:00, maybe got to sleep by midnight and was up again at 4:00.  

I'll be up early again tomorrow because it will be FONDUE TIME!!!!  I can't wait for THAT class!  You are probably thanking the Heavens above that you are not my neighbor, otherwise you TOO could be eating all this stuff!!