are we getting ready

to transform one room into a christmas paradise. i'll start with a few pictures. soon, every space will be filled with cookies or chocolate or some kind of food.

this is debbie's italian meat pie that she makes every year. and lasts about an hour after she puts it out.

the table is almost ready. i may have mentioned it but in case i didn't the reason why we are getting ready so early is because my sone and his girlfried from philly cannot make christmas eve dinner because she is working the eve and day. she's a nurse in a transplant center. this is a dinner for them along with my other son and his girlfriend.

will post more as things begin to fill up. hope you all will post some pictures as you transform your rooms, especially if you have yhoung children. love to see all the gifts around the tree.

all is pretty but looking out your window-where is the snow? Your in NY and it looks like FLA out your window with flowers still blooming and green grass=sup with dat?

No worry, the snow is on its way....we are getting hit off of the lake right now. One front off Lake Ontario....meeting another from Lake Erie! Ugh!

The rooms are so pretty! Very nice.

hopefully the snow will hold uptill mid summer. LOL when i was a youngster i couldn't wait for it to snow but now that i have to drive to work in it i rather it just be a light dusting for chrismas and thats it for the winter. according to government forecasters they feel there is a 30 percent chance that this winter will be milder than last.

will be posting more pictures as the room fills up with goodies.

edited cause i had to.


This message was edited Dec 7, 2006 6:39 PM

Oh heavens, I need to go eat dinner. That meat pie (wow) is making my mouth literally water. My dinner ain't gonna look any way as appetizing but I'll muddle through. :)

heres a few more pictures. note how my dw decorated the through the wall a/c

this is one of the center pieces my wife makes. everytime my boys go out with a new girlfriend and its christmas time debbie would make one for her. she has made to many of them, if you know what i mean. LOL

and it wouldn't be christmas without the stockings hanging

and the last one. i know i'm not the only one getting ready for christmas. hows about we see some of your pictures.

Thanks for letting us into your holi-daze. I haven't decorated in years, but I used to have it covered with things much like the picture showing the lovely table and the tree in the corner and the shelves with the collections. yeah, I did that. It was fun when the kids were little and I got to play at Santa's elven helper with villages and numerous trees of various sizes one of these days I'll scan the old pictures into this fancy machine and share them with y'all.

Hope more people will share their decor. it brightens the day. ~Blooms

Awg ... I wish I was one of the girlfriends and could have one of those center pieces! LOL Wouldn't mind one of those meat pies either. LOL :-)

Where's the recipe for that great looking meat pie? really nice decorations!

Frank,

Please ask you DW if she will allow you to post her recipe for the Italian meat pies. Just the words make my mouth water.

Judy

All of your decorations are so warm and beautiful.

We'll be putting up our tree today. I love it when it's up and decorated, but hate the process of hauling it from the top shelf of the garage. Our tree is 7 ft. tall, comes in three parts and seems to weigh more each year!

I think I would prefer the three parts, compared to trying to read the tiny little letters on the branches...and getting them in the proper hole....I think have over a 100 of them in the tree! UGH. Ours is 7 ft. also. I need DH's eyes or one of the kids to read the little letters.

I feel your pain, but I know your tree will be so pretty when put together.

DebbiesDaisy -- Storage was a lot more accessible before my DH decided to restore his sports car as a hobby. Our garage slowly began transforming into an auto repair shop and overall Tool Man's Delight. The big tree box originally had a spot on the floor in a corner of the garage, but lost out to an air compressor and a work bench!

Oh does that sound familiar! Not my DH but my father, who is 76 got the idea to restore a 1950s car....so much for a garage. Only he hasn't touched it since he bought it! I won't tell you what Mom said!

I'll never understand men and cars. DH loves working on it, but it only gets driven once a week in summer when he gets together with other car buffs at a local park to show off their cars. The engine compartment is clean and shiny as a laboratory, the exterior is flawless with not even a fingerprint on it. This from a man who "doesn't understand" how the dishwasher works! He works hard at his job, and it's his time and money so I try not to fuss (except when he drags his feet about things like getting the Christmas tree down or cleaning up the ankle deep leaves in the yard). Seven years down the road when retirement approaches I'm sure he'll still be working on that car and at least will have something to do other than watch tv.

the other day i asked if anyone had my receipe for the meat pie and someone did hypererliink it but i do not now on which forum it was. if anyone has it please put it up here.
thanks


This message was edited Dec 10, 2006 3:20 AM

i will get the recipe for the meat pie. i remember the first time i posted it there were a lot of people who did not know what some of the ingredients were. will get it as soon as i can. been pretty busy last few days.

Frank, you posted on the recipe forum last year, but I can't find it.

Okay Frank ... this is what I was able to find. :-)

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/593995/

Hope this helps!

here is the recipe for the meat pie. i have posted this a few times on the recipe forum.

the ingredients amounts for both the filling and dough are for a 11 x 16 inch baking pan.

dw says that a black metal pan (see picture above) works best. aluminum foil pans and glassware tend to leave the bottom crust under cooked.

you can find the prosciutto in your local supermaket but the suppersaad and the basket cheese may only be found in a good italian deli.

filling
1 pound prosciutto, sliced very thin
1 pound suppasaad, sliced very thin (if you can't find it you can use dried italian sausage)
1 pound basket cheese, drained overnight in fridge.
1 pound shredded whole milk mozzerella or whole mozzerella sliced thin.
2 pounds whole milk ricotta mixed with two raw eggs.
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced thin

dough
4 cups all purpose flower
2 cups crisco, melted and cooled slightly
4 eggs
8 tablespoons sugar
water, if needed

mix all dough ingrediets together except for the water. if the dough feels "loose" add some more flour. if it feels "dry" add some water. this dough is very sticky so put it in the fridge for about a half hour.

don't even try to roll this dough out, rather, just take pieces and put them in the pan and flatten them with your fingers. do this until you have the bottom and sides covered with the dough. save the extra dough for the topping

begin filling the pan starting with the prosciutto and keep layering until you have used all the ingredients.

using the remaining dough, make strips and criss cross over the top of the filling, then mix 1 tablespoon water with 1 scrambled egg yolk and brush over the top.

place pan in preheated 350 degree oven until nice and brown, about 45 minutes.

enjoy

note -- in the picture i posted above my wife did it a little differently this time. instead of covering the top with the extra dough she simply cut out little squares in the top and placed the pieces of the suppersaad in the cut outs.

thats it.



This message was edited Dec 12, 2006 2:25 AM

Frank,

I think IO1 beat you to it digging up the recipe from earlier this year.....I copied it out.
Please post the correct spelling of the "suppersaad" so people will know what you are talking about. It is in the above Hyperlink.

Gita

i forgot to mention that this meat pie is best eaten cold or room temperature. when it comes right out of the oven its a little to "sloppy" to eat meanting that the layerstend to seperate.

Thanks for the recipe Herbie 43. I doubt if I can get some of the ingredients up here will see what I can do with substitutes. It might not be quite the same but if it turns out good! Wow!

heres a few more pictures. these are rainbow cookies and creampuffs. i entered the rainbow cookies in the christmas cookie contest on the recipe forum

more of the room getting decorated

Gee, I wish we were invited to your party! LOL Not nice to make us all drool!

Looks like a lot of fun! And delish, too!

Oh Frank.. thank you so much for all the pics and descriptions of good food. Going to try the meat pie, it is very similiar to the one my first MIL made. She was a Marquis John so her cooking was spicy but not hot and one of the best cooks I have every had the privilege of knowing. The hardest thing I ever had to do when I left her son was know that she would never talk to me again. *Sigh*
Still make her Shortbread cookies every year even though I am the only one who eats them - too bad eh?
Waiting for more pics.
Hugs and smiles across the miles
Dianne

donna - will be posting more as my wife gets closer to christmas

dianne - this may be confusing but this is the original recipe which i posted a few years ago
for the filling you will need--
1 lb. of prosciutto (italian ham) sliced thin
2 sticks dry round italian sausage sliced thin
1 basket of wet cheese (also known as basket cheese,
drained overnight and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 lb mozzuella
2 lbs ricotta mixed with 2 raw eggs
4 hardboiled eggs sliced

for the dough (this will make enough for the top and bottom of the pie
4 cups flour
2 cups crisco
4 eggs
8 tbls sugar
10 - 12 tbls water

mix all the dough ingredients together and mix well by hand until it sticks together and forms a ball then remove and cut it half. this dough is hard to roll out so just take one half of the dough and press it into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
now, take the filling ingredients and starting with the prosciutto, begin layering them onto the dough in the baking dish.
roll out the remaining dough as best you can and make strips and criss cross over the top of the filling. now make an egg wash using 1 egg yolk and 1 tbl water and brush it over the dough. put it into a preheated 350 deg. over and bake about 45 minutes.
it helps if you have a good italian deli in your area, especially for the italian ham, sausage and mozzerella.
(fortunately, i do and i make my own mozzerella). if you dont then just use the supermarkets stuff.
you can eat this pie either warm or cold. i think its best cold. hope you enjoy this dish

heres a few more as the house is starting to shape up

one more

this is not part of our regular christmas meal but it is one of ourt all time favorites . crab sauce. this year we added king crab legs to the regular maryland blue claw crabs.

Frank,

What do you do with the "Crab Sauce".......Gita

Oh Frank and Debbie I want to come to your house for a Christmas meal............. man oh man you make eating a wonderful affair.