Hillshire Farms: GO MEAT!

I remembered to take a picture AFTER I had already put it on our plates.  :-)

I had some leftover Hillshire Farm Sausages links and wanted to use them up without eating them on a bun (again).  I found this recipe on Allrecipes and with the advice of the other viewers I modified it slightly and it turned out awesome!  My husband LOVED it.  An extra bonus was that I used a lot of leftover items and didn't have to go to the store. 

Yummy Kielbasa and Potato Bake

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup (I used chicken because I don't like mushrooms)

1 cup milk

Sour cream (I used what I had left, but you can add as much or less that you want). 

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 small onion, diced

1 red pepper, sliced

6-8 Hillshire Farm Sausage Links, sliced thin

4 large russet potatoes, sliced thin (like scalloped potatoes)

Parmesean Cheese (or shredded cheese of your choice)

Directions

1)  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2)  In a large mixing bowl, mix together soup, milk, sour cream, and pepper.
3)  In a pan, sauté onion, pepper, garlic, and sausage links and add to the soup mixture.
4)  Sauté potatoes for a few minutes.
5)  Stir potatoes into soup mixture.
6)  Pour mixture into casserole dish and bake for 30-40 mins, checking the potatoes to see if they are cooked.  The thickness of the potatoes will determine the cook time. 
7)  Add the cheese to the top and bake 5 mins or until cheese is melted.

Out with Thanksgiving, in with Christmas!

(This really isn't a great picture but it's the only one I took, next time I'm at my mom's and raiding the cookie jar I'll take a better picture.)

We make our Christmas Cookies every year like clockwork.  Christmas isn't complete without them.  We usually do them Thanksgiving weekend, since we are all together.  So here goes another year of fun and decorating!

My sister is in Florida this year, so the task was left up to my mom, other sister Cyndi, and yours truly...

even Jakob got in on the fun!

The table went from a dining room table, to craft table (for the cards the night before), and finally the cookie decorating table. 

To everyone's surprise, my dad started decorating!  Of all the years of doing this (and we've done it as far back as I can remember) I have never seen him decorate a single cookie.  And he did a really good job too!

John and I finished the night hanging out with friends for game night.  What a great group of people!

Thanksgiving Fun

I know this is a little late--but my life has been consumed with The New Super Mario Bros for Wii.  :-)

First off, let me say that I love Thanksgiving!  It allows us to really think about what we are thankful for and allows us to celebrate together.  Above all the rest, I love spending time with my family.  We always get together at my mom's house and chip in to help with the cooking.  This year's Thanksgiving certainly didn't lack things to do. 

I'd be lying if I said the food wasn't important on Turkey Day.  I love the...

turkey...

  

mashed potatoes, gravy, fruit salad, cranberry relish,squash, rolls, etc...

and of course the apple and pumpkin pie!  :-) 

The whole gang getting stuffed! 

After dinner, we started to tackle making the handmade cards we are going to send to the Holiday Mail for Heroes (also from a previous post).  We had a lot of fun and tapped into our creative sides.  We made a total of 29 cards to mail.

Here are the cards John and I made (okay I made the majority).  :-)

Here are the cards my ultra creative sister and my nephews made. 

And last but not least, even my in-laws got in on the action and did a pretty good job too!

To round out the day, we made our christmas cookie dough so it could sit overnight ready for us to cut, bake, and decorate the cookies the next day.  None of us can resist eating the raw cookie dough (yeah yeah it's bad for you, but that doesn't stop us)!  My little nephew, Jakob, was the lucky recipient of the bowl this year and he enjoyed every drop.