Good Day "59"

The night before the op i  h eard 2 nurses talking one said this chap here has the same name as the chap who hasnt turned up for his opisnt it coincicental she said.

We had a good laugh about it after

I didn't think we changed threads until we made over 50 postings...but anyway. 

Ok, James...here's what I'm playing around with for Christmas dinner..."Flat Iron" Steaks with french fried onions rings..with an side order of slow cooker roast beef au just for those without any teeth/ or going to ARby's for Roast Beef sandwhiches maybe...namely for my sister...but they always go well the next day after also. Mashed potatoes..kiddie thing....Corn Pudding Casserole...my sister again...Green 7-Layer Salad..my thing...small veggie tray...kid thing....Pineapple/ Lime Cottage Cheese (whip cream) fruit salad...my sister in law first introduced that one to us. My Sara can't have pineapple...so not quite yet sure if I'll make it...but there's an mini-cheese cake platter in mind to make with fresh fruit on the tops of them...she could substitute that I suppose.  Dinner rolls/beverages. Then with the desert platte I'm adding Chocolate mint browines...and Christmas cookies....coffee/tea/wine/soda/bottled water. The cookies I can make a couple days ahead of time, as well as the mini-cheese cakes if need be..green salad can be made the night before...my son is doing our steaks on the BBQ for us..veggie tray I'll probably buy...lime pineapple fruit salad can be made the night before...so the day comes, I can cook the corn casserole early in the morning...All I will need to make just before serving is the mashed potatoes and heat up the dinner rolls.

So, I have this weight watchers receipe for you all, in thier magazine this year for Christmas...for "Chocolaty andy-cane triangles....1.. 15 oz can of black beans rinsed and drained, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, 3 large eggs, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp. of mint extract, 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 3 Tablespoons White chocolate chips, tsp. vegetable oil, 4 crushed peppermint candies. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8 by 8 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Place beans, sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, salt, baking power and both extracts in the bowl of a food precessor..process on high for several minutes until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl...add flour and semi-sweet chocolate chips, pulse until just combined. Spoon batter into baking pan..spread evenly and bake25/30 mins until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before adding the topping. Combine the white chocolate chips and oil in a small bowl, melt in an microwave for 1 minute stirring after 30 seconds..more if needed to completely melt...drizzle over the top of the cooled cake and sprinkle with crushed mint candies (or candy canes) Let cool and harden before cutting into 16 squares...cut each square diagonally to make triangles. Each serving of one triangle is 70 calories.

My thought was to make the mini cheese cakes topped with peach jam, frozen sliced peach and one/two blueberry...or strawberry jam with fresh strawberry...if I can't get them, rapsberry instead and small slice of fresh kiwi. My Christmas cookies will be fancy decorated ones,and these Chocolaty Candy-cane triangles. What save you the calories is substiting with the black beans for the chocolate in the receipe. I have other alternatives though, like the store bought fresh fruit tarts also...white peppermint bark candy they sell...and bought Christmas cookies if it gets down to it....calories galore going that way.  In which maybe I could go back and get some more huckleberry taffy to add with all this. Gotta go and make hubby dinner, he will be home here soon and off again. I went out to the daughter in-law's to help "tweek" up her house with decorations one last time, she's been an bit under the weather...but I think all of us are tired and need an bit of an reprieve from things right now. So talk later on....

Good Morning to all who are around.

Shirley that sounds really good--"flat iron steaks" thats a new one on me--anyway Shirley maybe you could --pull another chair to the table

You would be welcomed James..it's an simple family thing this year...and I have no problem letting you have all the calories. The Receipe is called "Candy Cane" Chocolatey triangles...didn't get the correct spelling on it.  I'm having quite the night tonight...we have been having the tail end of an pacific ocean storm coming through with hurricane force winds going up the west coast...drowning San Francisco from the looks of things, knocking over huge trees...and blowing things over. Anyway...the very last tail end of it is now coming through...I have like three different sounds going on in my ears, and "Hurt"..oh, I mean to tell you...I can't sleep if I tried. I've already taken asprin tonight. I'm so "sensitve" that I can barely stand to put my teeth together. It's just now on the edge of town coming through with an band of rain....and that's the end of the storm in general. We set records today for the warmest in Dec. for several years in December..64 degrees. Amazing. But everything is closed tonight...the Christmas Ships out on the Columbia and Williamette River..cancelled, the Zoo lights..Cancelled...most all night college classes and several schools tomarrow...last I heard some thousands without power also. No problem out here on that one, besides they are working on the lines an couple of blocks away. Big trees haven fallen though all over the place in Portland and surrounding areas. My neighbor has lights along the edge of his house...wrought Iron gate around his front yard...and near the entry way to his house...he put up swags of lights, I looke dout earlier to see them flying straight out like an flag on the fence. I looked down, to see if our little Christmas Tree had fallen down, to see the neighbors cat huddled up underneath of it on the patio table. It took off when the timer shut off all the outside lights. So I worked at re-packing so my hubby can carry in the suit case..we aren't going to be gone that long you know. We will be locking our gates also...but all the neighbors know where we are going also. Will be keeping an eye on things. My kitty cats are still here also. He's as big as an small dog as it is. And pretty protective of his domain also. I wonder if the radio could take my mind off all the noise in my head going on...enough I could sleep an bit. It's almost 2 am in the morning. I guess I go for now and see how tired I can get before I blank out asleep. Busy day tomarrow also.  Have an good weekend everyone.