truffles and tortes

I am trying out two recently acquired recipes on Chris' family tomorrow for their annual holiday get together the Sunday before Christmas.  I love making new and fun appetizers and dips to bring to a party.  I will be honest that I have been craving the cranberry walnut torte concoction from Trader Joes. So when posed with the task to bring something different...I decided to see if I could make one myself.

{via Season to Taste}

I altered the recipe as the container I was using to make my torte was a 1 qt. souffle dish.

Here is my version:

8oz. package low fat cream cheese {softened}

5oz. crumbled Gorgonzola {room temperature}

Dried Cranberries

Walnut chips

I also used cling wrap in my dish instead of waxed paper. Check out the original recipe and directions here.

My next new treat are Oreo Truffles. The Beginning of Forever recently blogged about cake balls and how she calls them truffles.  Which is so perfect...really, I wish I would have thought of it. lol. This rather settled my issue with "cake balls" so I am proud to say they have a new name now....cake truffles!  I am so excited I found this Bakerella recipe.  

So back to the Oreo truffles.  After reading about the existence of these delectable delights I decided it was a perfect time to make them...

{via Flickr}

The recipe is super simple

1 package Oreo's divided

8 oz. cream cheese {softened}

White Chocolate Bark coating

Visit Bakerella for all the details.

Chicken? Again?

I have a weird thing about chicken...I really am rather grossed out by it tend cut off all the parts that are "suspect".  Like that long white stuff, or the other gross things that are in/on a chicken breast.  So now you know something strange about me.

I am on a quest for good chicken recipes.  I have been making a very tasty breaded chicken, I can do chicken and rice, I even ventured into stuffed chicken breasts and brussel sprouts after reading this post...but every time I tell my husband we are having chicken for dinner...I get the "oh" response....meaning....is there anything else!

So I need some good recipes.  Anyone have anything to share?  Don't be chicken! Please share!

Frankie and the Christmas Tree

 {Clary Pfeiffer Photography}

I love my little Frankie. I love his occasionally crossed eyes and all! He is my little cuddle-bug and is always happy to see me when I come home.

{Clary Pfeiffer Photography}

Frankie is a talker, a feline trashcan {he eats anything....anything}, and a destroyer of all Christmas trees.  No matter how much I love him,  the fact that I cannot even get my Christmas tree decorated has me peeved.  Tonight, I came home and there was a large gap in branches on the tree as if a cat had taken a nap in the tree.  While I do not have physical proof of Frankie being in the tree, I would bet money that he did in fact take a nap in the tree.  Looking at the amount of droop in the branches, it appears that it was a very long nap.

Good thing Frankie is cute and likes to cuddle.

6 months!

Today marks 6 months since we got married in June.  I was looking forward to this day because we were going to the Fabulous Fox Theatre to see "A Christmas Carol".

{The Fabulous Fox}

The show was very good.  Sometimes I get disappointed if I have a preconceived notion about what the performance/story line will be like...I was definitely not disappointed!

Then we were off to Our Lady of the Snows Shrine to see the "Way of Lights".  We were too early so we went to have dinner.  Nothing worth talking about here...we went to a place in Belleville, IL and I would not go back again.  So we finally left dinner and it was dark so we went to see the lights.  It was pretty, but so chaotic with all of the vehicles that I was so caught up in vehicles not observing the 2 lane rule that I really did not enjoy the lights.  Again it was pretty but way crowded, and not organized well for the amount of traffic coming through.

So in the end, I convince my wonderful husband to treat me to something delicious!

We went to Ted Drews and checked out some holiday lights in South City.  I was hoping the ice cream would cure the headache that was caused by the "way of lights" fiasco, but no such luck! 

All in all it was a wonderful day, and I am counting down the days until winter break! {7}!