Visits: 24
Songs to kick in The New Year Join in with songs that you think are great for ringing in the New Year. Anytype of songs will do. Have a great New Year.
Hopefully you had a safe and enjoyable New Year’s Eve if you went out.
Category: Links from other sources.
Visits: 63
Heard it in a love song. It’s the last day of the year. So lets close it out with love songs.
https://youtu.be/i24nkxr8G8o
Visits: 79
December 30, 1968, Led Zeppelin is recorded live for first time at Gonzaga University. My all-time favorite. So, play the songs of your favorite group.
Led Zeppelin, one of the most celebrated and influential bands in rock ‘n’ roll history, was recorded live before a dazed and confused audience for the first time on this day in history, Dec. 30, 1968.
“The show took place at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, and saw them opening for Vanilla Fudge,” writes Canadian entertainment site Exclaim!
All of my love was a tribute to Robert Plants son who was five when he died.
Visits: 47
Christmas Cookie Club delivers memories annually. These women have been friends since they were 7 years old. What’s remarkable is the fact that the women are developmentally disabled.
Since 1992 they got together and baked their Christmas cookies. 31 years.
They enjoy a special connection which has become a testimony to the joy of the season, and an act which offers a deeper meaning — that the most important part of the Christmas holiday is being together.
The four starts at 10:30 am and bake till 4:30 pm. After baking, the group will go Christmas caroling at the homes of family members and then have dinner together. “They love that, they love going out to eat,” Bobbie said.
Article complete can be found here.
Visits: 26
Is there a holiday cookie, bar, or baked good in your life that makes you misty-eyed? If so, you’re not alone. There’s something about the aroma and the simple act of baking and sharing that bring up nostalgic memories for people.
This year, we’d like to share with you a handful of RADA employees’ favorite recipes for holiday sweet treats. Maybe one of these will become your new favorite too. From the employees of Rada Cutlery, have a wonderful start to your holiday season!
From Sandra’s office comes this recipe from the 1959 Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cookbook. She says it’s an old but reliable recipe she has used for many years and creates perfect dough for using cookie cutters.
Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
1 C. butter or margarine
1½ C. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3½ C. sifted enriched flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
Directions
Cream the butter. Add sugar gradually, creaming until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Sift together the dry ingredients; add gradually to creamed mixture. Chill thoroughly (3 to 4 hours).
On a well-floured surface, roll dough ⅛” to ¼” thick. Cut into shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 375˚ for 6 to 8 minutes. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before removing to a rack to cool.
Frost and decorate as you wish.
Kristi shared this recipe for Toffee that her grandma always made for Christmas. Kristi and her sister still make it as a tradition every year, but she says it never turns out as good as Grandma’s (but it’s still delicious).
Toffee
Ingredients
About ½ C. chopped pecans
1 C. butter
1 C. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
About ⅔ C. semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
Line an 8″ or 9″ square pan with foil, allowing the edges of the foil to hang over the pan. Grease the foil lightly with cooking spray. Spread chopped nuts over the bottom of the pan; set aside.
In a large saucepan, bring the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat, stirring to help melt the butter. Bring the mixture to a boil and, stirring constantly, boil the mixture for exactly 7 minutes. Mixture will be thicker and caramel colored. Stir in the vanilla and pour the mixture over the chopped nuts.
Immediately sprinkle with the semisweet chocolate chips in an even layer; let sit for a few minutes until the chips are melty then spread out over toffee. Break into pieces when cool.
This recipe from Andrea is easy to make—no scooping into individual cookies—and you can make them festive for any holiday by using holiday M&Ms!
No Flour Christmas Monster Cookie Bars
Ingredients
½ C. butter, softened
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. white sugar
1½ C. peanut butter
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
4½ C. quick oats
1 C. M&Ms
1 C. chocolate chips
Directions
Cream butter and sugars. Mix in peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla then add the baking soda and oatmeal. Stir in the M&Ms and chocolate chips. Press into a 12×17″ jelly roll pan (dough is sticky so I use a greased sandwich bag over my hand). Bake at 350˚ for 15 minutes. Super easy and yummy!
Mel shares this recipe from her neighbor who made these when Mel’s daughters were little. The cookies found their way over to their house many times along with stories of early morning fishing trips and camping adventures. They’ve always been a family favorite.
Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies (a.k.a. “Fishing Cookies”)
Ingredients
¾ C. Parkay or butter
1 C. sugar
1 C. brown sugar, packed
½ C. peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2½ C. unsifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ pkg. Heath toffee chips
1 (11.5 oz.) pkg. milk chocolate chips
Directions
Mix butter, sugars, and peanut butter until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir in toffee and chocolate chips.
Bake at 350˚ for 10 to 12 minutes on ungreased cookie sheets.
This recipe from Sue has been on friends’ and relatives’ Christmas cookie trays for as long as she can remember. They’re delicious—just don’t eat them above your pretty velvet party dress.
Pecan Snowballs
Ingredients
2 C. flour
¾ tsp. salt
2 C. chopped pecans, divided
1 C. unsalted butter, softened
⅓ C. sugar
1½ tsp. vanilla
Powdered sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325˚ and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Mix the flour, salt, and 1 cup of the pecans. Finely grind the remaining pecans in a food processor, then stir them into the flour mixture.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the vanilla and the flour mixture until mixed. Roll into scant tablespoon-sized balls and bake for 18 minutes or until the bottoms are golden. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then move to a rack to finish cooling.
Roll cooled cookies in powdered sugar. Let stand about an hour, then roll again in powdered sugar.
What’s your favorite Christmas/holiday sweet treat?
Visits: 58
The more flavor you can cram into a wrap, the better. Loaded with chicken, dried cranberries, and all the flavorful, crispy, chewy, tangy ingredients imaginable, these rollup pinwheels are the best! Let’s dig in!
What Makes the Best Wrap?
FLAVOR! Check out the ingredients in our recipe:
- chicken
- dried cranberries
- celery
- red onion
- lemon zest
- dried tarragon
- water chestnuts
- walnuts
- alfalfa sprouts
Rounding out the list of flavor-bomb ingredients is a combination of Greek yogurt, mayo, and Dijon mustard.
Cranberry Chicken Wraps
INGREDIENTS (Makes 4)
1 T. vegetable oil
¾ lb. boneless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 (5.3 oz.) container plain Greek yogurt
¼ C. plus 1 T. mayo
1½ tsp. Dijon mustard
⅓ C. dried cranberries
2 celery ribs, diced
1 red onion, finely chopped
Zest from 2 lemons
1½ tsp. dried tarragon
1 (6 oz.) can water chestnuts, drained & chopped
½ C. chopped walnuts, toasted if desired*
Salt and black pepper to taste
4 (10ʺ) flour tortillas
Alfalfa sprouts
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a skillet and add the chicken, cooking until no longer pink; set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, mayo, mustard, dried cranberries, celery, onion, lemon zest, tarragon, water chestnuts, and walnuts; stir in the set-aside chicken and season with salt and pepper.
Heat the tortillas according to package directions. Divide the chicken mixture among the tortillas and add some sprouts.
*To toast, place walnuts in a single layer in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Visits: 167
Music that moves you can be any type of songs or melodies. Today I’m inviting some new folks to join us.
Visits: 88
Spreading Kindness One Lasagna at a Time.
Food is more than a simple snack or meal: It symbolizes comfort, connection, and care, and we’ve been using it to nurture social relationships since at least the Bronze Age. So when Rhiannon Menn found herself yearning to make an impact as the COVID-19 pandemic caused layoffs, school closures, and illnesses, she started cooking.
“I just thought, well, what do I love to do? And what do I know how to do? And for me, that’s cooking; it’s my happy place,” the mother of three told Nice News. In March of 2020, Menn began making extra pans of lasagna, then got on Facebook, found a few “mom groups” in the San Diego area, and offered to drop them off to anyone in need. She delivered seven meals her first week and quickly began getting messages from other people inspired to help. “All of a sudden I found myself managing this network of amazing volunteers who all wanted to feed people in their community,” Menn said.
Just over two years later, Lasagna Love has become a registered nonprofit with over 35,000 volunteers — or “Lasagna Chefs” as they are called — in all 50 states, as well as Canada and Australia. Altogether, they’ve delivered more than 250,000 lasagnas, feeding over one million people in total. The organization has been featured on Good Morning America and The Kelly Clarkson Show. And Menn believes it’s all a testament to how many people are looking for an outlet to show kindness and help others.
Lasagna Chefs are matched with families based on distance and dietary restrictions. Once a match is made, all communication occurs directly between those two people. “We do feed families, and that’s important, but really what we’re doing is spreading kindness and strengthening communities, and it’s through those one-on-one bonds that it moves the needle on connectedness,” said Menn.
Lasagna Love
And there are no eligibility requirements to request a meal or nominate a family. One of the nonprofit’s core values is zero judgment. “We can’t say what needing help looks like,” Menn said, “only you, as a recipient, know what it means to need help”
Virginia resident Jan Delucien, who experienced a traumatic brain injury that left her unable to work, requested a lasagna after hearing about the organization in a support group. For the 64-year-old, the smiling volunteer handing her a home-cooked dish at her door meant much more than just a free meal. “It really was a gift of love,” Delucien told the Associated Press through tears.
According to Menn, when asked if they felt inspired to pay the act of kindness forward, 97% of Lasagna Love meal recipients said they did, and a quarter responded that they already had. “I deliver a lasagna to you, and then you’re inspired to go donate a bag of clothes, or maybe share the meal with somebody, or maybe volunteer at the local animal shelter. So, all of a sudden, those million people that were fed — how many acts does that actually result in? And that’s where we have the power to really shift communities,” she said.
The founder hopes that one day the world won’t need Lasagna Love anymore and that people will help each other entirely organically. But until then, Menn and her team will keep spreading kindness one lasagna at a time.
Visits: 75
43-Foot Wave Lands Pro Surfer Laura Enever in the Record Books.
After conquering a giant wave in Oahu, Hawaii, in January, Australian pro surfer Laura Enever is officially a world record holder. Enever broke the record for the largest wave surfed paddle-in by a woman, tackling a crest that reached 43.6 feet.
“I knew when it picked me up that it was a massive wave,” Enever told The Washington Post earlier this week, after the wave was certified as the biggest by the World Surf League. “But then when I looked over the edge and saw how far I had to go down and how big the drop was, I was like, ‘OK, this is the biggest wave you ever caught.’”
The 31-year-old athlete said she didn’t set out that day to make history, but nevertheless considers the achievement a “monumental” part of her surfing career. She told the World Surf League she hopes the next generation of female big wave surfers continues to push the envelope and smash records.
“I would never be in this position if it wasn’t for all the big wave surfers who have come before me and paved the way, especially the really brave, courageous females who have always inspired me and made me feel like I could get out there and give it a crack,” she said.
Visits: 67
Cranberries at your table if you celebrate Thanksgiving? I LOVE Cranberry Juice, but that’s as far as it goes for me, How about you?
If nothing says Thanksgiving to you like a wobbly red blob with the can lines still on it, you’re not alone—Ocean Spray (whose farmers produce 65% of the world’s cranberries) told the Wall Street Journal that Americans will consume 80 million pounds of the tart berries next week. Though the holiday makes for the 93-year-old farming cooperative’s biggest sales, it’s been innovating for decades to keep cranberries on your mind even when you don’t have a turkey or a UTI: The company pioneered juice boxes in the 1980s and coined the term “craisin” in the 1990s.