T Stands for Tuesday & More Baking and Cooking

    T Stands for Tuesday is where we share a drink related post-You are most welcome to join us, hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth-the link is in my right hand column. 
    This is really a wonderful group to visit with each week. Hugs and Merry Christmas to all of you.

  Since my retirement back in the fall of 2003 I have gotten into lots of fun with the luxury of more free time which gives me more opportunities for crafting, baking and grilling etc 
     I always loved to bake but didn't always have the extra time especially around the holidays as I was always working it seems on the weekends and holidays especially-working for that overtime money.
    At Christmas time there are just soooo many kinds of cookies and candies to make-which do I choose lol.  Over the years I have found some good gluten free recipes too, and I like to try new recipes.
   It has always been just the two of us-hubs and I-and now that he needs to watch his sugars I substituted for that as well-he gets sweets and treats and so do I. 
   These past couple of weeks so far I have made a soft molasses, peanut butter, raisin-oatmeal, tollhouse chocolate chips with mint chips, and my two favorite roll out cookies. No new ones this year and mostly regular cookie favorites, although I did make a kolochky cookie that I have not made in years-mostly because it is mostly butter but so good with the different jams-so that one was our splurge this year. I also have not made any chocolates yet-I may still dip some glazed fruits in dark chocolate this coming week and for New Years weekend may make up the chocolate popcorn--then diet time-lol
  Our friend in the Keys did finally get his big box of cookies late on Tuesday.They all arrived in good shape and I think he has half of them eaten already. lol
  So this past week I made up a couple more batches of the Tollhouse cookie recipe for us but used different chips, Splenda, coconut sugar, coconut oil, and gluten free flour. I love to make the roll out cookies so I dug out the cutters and made gingerbread, and a lemon sugar cookie.

all photos will enlarge just click on them for better viewing
    -you will see a few Yellowstone animal cookie cutters that I found after my Yellowstone trip. smiles

   Last week was Hanukkah so I made up a dinner for my hubs. I made him corn beef, noodle kugel, latkes, fresh beets, fresh veggies and pickles. I also made him a batch of shortbread with a Hanukkah mold I picked up years ago. 
   There is a Jewish donut I found a recipe for that I had the perfect cast iron mold to make them in on top of the stop. They are filled with jams and dusted with powdered sugar-I did not get to those but we love them so may make them this coming week.

We have a friend-Mr L-that lost his wife this year after many years of illness. I invite him over for dinner at least once a week. He came over a couple times last week.
   I love love my newest cast iron grill pan for grilling meats especially tenderloins. The meat just turns out so juicy. For the three of us I made a turkey tenderloin-in the package there were two so I just grilled both of them. For the sides I served green beans, corn on the cob, and sweet potatoes. I now steam whole sweet potatoes they turn out so nice and then we add a little butter and a splash of pure maple syrup. This year I purchased a meat thermometer-my first ever and it works out so well for me-I am not good at telling when the meat is done.

Since Saturday was full sunshine I decided a perfect day to make some candy. So I made peanut brittle and then also used the same recipe to make a pecan brittle-I just cooked the pecans a shorter length of time than the raw peanuts. One of my favorite candies that I learned to make with my Grandma on her farm.

For the drink I am sharing today I opened up a bottle of wine and have been enjoying a glass of wine in the evenings. This brand was my father in laws favorite wine during the holidays. So this was in remembrance of him and has become a favorite of ours too.

As you can see I have not changed out my fall tablecloth I need to do that soon-my table just got overloaded with lots of stuff it seems. The second photo shows the handmade Christmas cards I received from two friends of our T Party-thanks so much to the two of you, they are beautiful!

Happy T Day and Merry Christmas everyone!