Friday Friend Recipe #266, Helen's Cream Wafers, #267, Chicken Tortilla Casserole and #268, Spinach Parmesan

Come with me as I continue to countdown my Friday Friend Cookbook!

What is it, you may ask?

In a nutshell....

About 21 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an

  e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different categories and we compiled a cookbook.

I decided to count those down!

Why?

because one night I was looking thru the cookbook and I said, "I should make every recipe in  here for my blog."

The Handyman, who thinks he knows me better than I know myself, said "you'll never EVER do that."

Well, maybe I will!  Maybe I'll show him!

Which brings me to recipes #266, #267 and #268

Barb's "Helen's Cream Wafers, Chicken Tortilla Casserole and Spinach Parmesan"

These cookies are delightful.  One of my son Luke's favorites.

We first had them when we went to spend New Year's with the Brown family, 25 or so years ago.  We played board games and ate leftover Christmas cookies all weekend long.

It was a blast.  

When I made these for the countdown, I made them for Valentine's day.

The Chicken tortilla casserole---

The Handyman liked it a lot.  It was warm and cheesy, so what's not to like?

(forgive photo--that is melted cheese on top, but picture taken the next day, after it had been in the fridge.  Don't judge--it's good.)

Spinach Parmesan.

It was good. A creamed spinach with some onion and Parmesan cheese.

Look at all those cheese 'strings' in the pictures.

I do love a good creamed spinach with a bbq steak. (grilled steak I mean)

I have to confess--I might have run out of pictures of Barb.  And stories.

I mean this is her 58th appearance in the countdown after all.  

Let me see what I can come up with...

So, I guess that I wrote "so I guess" a lot back when I had the Friday Friend forum.  LOL

(see my old forum texts/emails)

Anyway---Barb is a woman of many talents.  She can:

recite Casey at the Bat (my favorite poem ever)

tie a cherry stem into a knot in her mouth

and jump on a pogo stick without using her hands!

She is amazing. 

That's my story.  The many talents of Barb.

(she can also quilt like no one's business!)

and this is how I know she can do those things---she's never actually showed me in real life.  And we we finally DID have a reunion, we didn't have a talent show, dang it!

I'm making her do them all the next time I see her!

And these my friends are

recipes #266, 267 and 268

Only 99 left to go!

I can do it!

WOO HOO!  I am below 100 recipes now.  Yay!  Yahoo! Whoopie!

Altho.... do you remember when I counted wrong before?  I think I did it again.

I keep counting what I have left by recipe AND by person and it does not add up to 99-- it's more like 86. 

Which would make me very happy, but for now....I'll stick to the 99 until it gets closer to the end and I'll recount what I have left.

I think next week I'll introduce you to my cousin Barb. (not to be confused with Barb the  original cookbook typist.  My cousin Barb has only 1 recipe entered, Barb Brown, FF Cookbook typist/editor blah blah, has a gazillion recipes in this countdown(

Ho-Ho-Ho Read-a-Long update--Christmas Bells

The Ho-Ho-Ho Read-a-Thon is hosted by

 Jennifer @ The Book Shelfery  and  Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

I've had a fun time this past week, reading  two Holiday novels,  2 short stories and hopefully will finish a shorter novella by tomorrow! 

I told you about the Christmas Joyride earlier ( a fun light-hearted novel)  in this weekend's post, but yesterday I had the luxury of  reading the most charming holiday book!   It was  perfect day-- Blustery and rainy and cold.  I had a fire in the fireplace and something good smelling in the oven and I read all day long.

It was over 300 pages, but a finish-in-one-day kinda  book.  

From Me:

If you need to read a book to get into the holiday spirit---and I mean the true spirit--- of Christmas, this just might be the book for you.

I loved it.

Going back and forth from the Civil War era to present day, the author weaves a story of the true holiday--sometimes it's not what we imagine, but it still has the power to fill our hearts with wonder.  As it should.

I thought the character development was great--- each 'present day' chapter was told in a different point of view from different characters.

4 stars!

PS- I did not know that Longfellow wrote this poem. So there was lots of historical things I learned while reading this novel.  I have a new respect for Longfellow and want to find out more about him.

From Goodreads:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day/ Their old familiar carols play/ And wild and sweet/ The words repeat/Of peace on earth, good-will to men! 
 
In 1860, the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow family celebrated Christmas at Craigie House, their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The publication of Longfellow’s classic Revolutionary War poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” was less than a month hence, and the country’s grave political unrest weighed heavily on his mind. Yet with his beloved wife, Fanny, and their five adored children at his side, the delights of the season prevailed.

In present-day Boston, a dedicated teacher in the Watertown public school system is stunned by somber holiday tidings. Sophia’s music program has been sacrificed to budget cuts, and she worries not only about her impending unemployment but also about the consequences to her underprivileged students. At the church where she volunteers as music director, Sophia tries to forget her cares as she leads the children’s choir in rehearsal for a Christmas Eve concert. Inspired to honor a local artist, Sophia has chosen a carol set to a poem by Longfellow, moved by the glorious words he penned one Christmas Day long ago, even as he suffered great loss.

Christmas Bells chronicles the events of 1863, when the peace and contentment of Longfellow’s family circle was suddenly, tragically broken, cutting even deeper than the privations of wartime. Through the pain of profound loss and hardship, Longfellow’s patriotism never failed, nor did the power of his language. “Christmas Bells,” the poem he wrote that holiday, lives on, spoken as verse and sung as a hymn. 

Jennifer Chiaverini’s resonant and heartfelt novel for the season reminds us why we must continue to hear glad tidings, even as we are tested by strife. Reading Christmas Bells evokes the resplendent joy of a chorus of voices raised in reverent song

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

and wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."

HO-HO-HO update-- The Christmas Joyride

I'm having a good time this week, trying to get some holiday reading in--in between 3 book clubs that happen this week  and some non-fiction (because, of course it's nonfiction November also)  I do have to say that when I sit down with a Christmas book,  I feel a lot more relaxed than when I'm trying to get the book club books in.

 

So having said that....what have I read that is Merry and Bright?

 

A fun, lighthearted book about spreading Christmas cheer.  With a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure!

And even tho it didn't go into this much, it was the setting for the story-- they were joyriding on Route 66. I love that old historic Highway, so I was happy to be along for the ride.

 

Goodreads says:

 

Miranda did not put adventure on her Christmas list, but thanks to her eighty-five-year-old neighbor Joy, that's exactly what she's getting this year. When Joy tells Miranda that she plans to drive an old RV decked out in Christmas decorations from their Chicago neighborhood to her new retirement digs in Phoenix--in the dead of winter, no less--the much younger Miranda insists that Joy cannot make such a trip by herself. Besides, a crazy trip with Joy would be more interesting than another Christmas home alone. Unemployed and facing foreclosure, Miranda feels she has nothing to lose by packing a bag and heading off to Route 66. But Joy has a hidden agenda for their Christmas joyride--and a hidden problem that could derail the whole venture.

No one captures the heartwarming fun of the Christmas season quite like Melody Carlson. Fasten your seat belt, because it's going to be an exciting ride!

 

 

Yesterday, while having my coffee at 6am I read these two:

Short, but sweet (48 or 50 pages each), but Mitford has a special place in my heart, and these were both lovely little reads.  If you are familiar with Mitford and it's quirky characters, I suggest reading these --- they'll help you get in the Christmas spirit!

 

 

 

 

Goodreads says of Esther's Gift:

In Esther's Gift, Esther Bolick is filled with the holiday spirit as she prepares to bake the annual batch of her famous-and utterly scrumptious-orange marmalade cakes. Right after Christmas Eve service at Lord's Chapel, she and Gene will deliver a two-layer marmalade to each of seven friends and neighbors, all of them favorite Mitford characters. Then Gene calculates what it costs to bake this legendary cake, and Esther is stunned. Is it worth it to spend so much money on people who haven't always measured up to her expectations? The answer is clear. She'll cut her list back-way back.

This decision makes perfect sense until the lyrics of a Christmas carol steal into her heart, and help remind her what a gift really means.

 

 

Goodreads says of the Mitford Snowmen:

It's Christmastime in Mitford, and everyone's favorite characters are filled with holiday spirit. In The Mitford Snowmen, a swirling snowfall brings them to Main Street for a snowman-building contest complete with doughnuts, hot chocolate, and contagious good cheer. A charming small trim size and enchanting four-color illustrations make this the perfect way to visit Mitford—and gather a heart full of Christmas joy.

 

 

Today I have NOTHING to do, so plan on settling down with a good book or two,  I have 2 more Christmas novel that I'd like to get done by Tuesday. 

Why does work always get in my way???