Creating Cherished Christmas Memories and Overnight Breakfast Strata – HBHW Newsletter

December 8th, 2010

Editorial

Hello again and welcome to another edition of the Hillbilly Housewife Newsletter.

Our Holiday Recipe Contest has come to a close;  thank you to all who entered their favorite holiday recipe.  It’s very important at this time to make sure we have all the emails for participants in the contest. We have more than 130 participants and only a little over 30 responses to our email request.  Be sure you send your email to us at susanne@hillbillyhousewife.com so we can notify you if you’ve won a prize, and to send your gifts to you. Be sure also to scroll down and check out the prizes and gifts we have in store for you.

I’m also in the process of setting up a way for you to vote on your favorite recipe. Look for an email from me about this later this week.

Our featured article this week is about fun, and frugal, ideas to entertain the family this Christmas. The article is a good look at creating memories without spending a lot of money. Written by a fun-loving woman who lives with her family outside of London, the article gives a fresh perspective for those of us who live elsewhere. It’s well worth a read, so I hope you’ll scroll down and click on the link to enjoy our featured article.

This week’s quote is about the blessing of memories. The story this week is a particularly moving one, especially for this time of year, about our wishes and God’s plan for us.  I hope you’ll take a moment or two out of your busy day to read and reflect on today’s quote and story.

Those are my thoughts this week. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. Feel free to email me at susanne@hillbillyhousewife.com

Warm Regards,

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife

Inspirational Quote
God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
~J.M. Barrie~

Sponsor

I Highly Recommend Creating Cherished Christmas Memories

Christmas is almost here. It should be a magical time of year, right?  But many people are wondering where the magic has gone.

Thinking back to special holiday seasons of your childhood, do the memories get trampled by the stress and frustration you feel?

All the commercials are screaming at you to buy bigger and more expensive gifts — “Have you done your holiday shopping yet?” Are the holidays only about spending money?  Is it your duty to run up impossibly high charges on your credit cards? Are you supposed to spend your precious time shopping for yet another gift?

In short, have you lost that sense of family togetherness that used to make the holidays so special?

You CAN bring back the magic of Christmas for your family.

What does it take? It takes good old fashioned creativity!

That’s just what Tracy Roberts of MomsInABlog.com has set out to do; Creating Cherished Christmas Memories for her family.

Tracy has made a commitment to stop shopping and start celebrating.  And now she has put together her favorite memory-making ideas into one book – Creating Cherished Christmas Memories.

This ebook is filled with great tips and ideas to get your holiday back on track and out of the rut of frustration and debt.  Take a look at just some of the things you’ll find to help you find the joy in Christmas again:

• Grow closer as a family while instilling strong values about things like giving, empathy, and thoughtfulness.
• Yummy recipes for holiday treats that the family can make together.
• Rein in the season while having fun the whole time.
• Handle sticky situations you’d rather ignore, but can’t.
• Make the holidays last much longer than just one day.
• Give gifts that don’t cost an arm and leg, and are much more appreciated.
• Make visits with the neighbors, relatives, and extended family enjoyable again.
• Reduce your stress with these tips.
• Explore traditions old and new, and make memories that last.

Doesn’t that sound more like a holiday season you long for?

Tracy also includes two bonuses that I know you’ll enjoy.  Buy Creating Cherished Christmas Memories today and you’ll receive The Big Book of Classic Christmas Tales as well as Tracy’s Wacky Party Ideas absolutely FREE. Both resources are perfect for this time of year… and for years to come!

Please click on the link and take a look at Tracy’s Creating Cherished Christmas Memories.  It’s never too late to get off the commercialized merry-go-round and get back to creating memories for your family. Buy Creating Cherished Christmas Memories today… it may be the best Christmas gift you’ll ever get your family.
http://momsinablog.com/creating-cherished-christmas-memories/?hop=kinderinfo

Holiday Recipe Contest

We are happy to report that your recipes have been gathered into a pretty little cookbook ready to email out to each and every participant in our contest.  However, there’s a little glitch.  Out of the 130+ recipes, we have only received 30 or so responses to our request for email addresses.  We are looking forward to getting your cookbook out to you so be sure to send your email address to me at susanne@hillbillyhousewife.com Thank you!

Along with your own recipes, we are also giving another great collection of recipes.  My friend Patti Winker at www.RemarkableWrinklies.com has created a fun eCookbook called,  Memory Lane Meals.  Patti has put together a nice collection of over 80 recipes for cakes, pies, cobblers, bars, candies, snacks, and more.  Because these recipes have been collected for many years, you’ll find some of them a tad old fashioned, but don’t we love that! Patti and I are giving you this eCookbook as a thank you gift for sharing your recipes with us at HBHW.

Then, of course, we have the prizes.  We are busy looking at all the recipes and hope to narrow down our prize winners very soon.  But, without your email address, we won’t be able to find you.

So, we need your email address in order to do three things:

1) find you if you win a prize,
2) send your free eCookbook from Patti, and
3) send your own copy of all the holiday recipes submitted.

Please, if you submitted a recipe for the Holiday Recipe Contest, won’t you please take a moment right now to email me at susanne@hillbillyhousewife.com and let me know what email address I can use to send your goodies to?  Thank you very much!

As a reminder, here are the valuable prizes we are giving away:

From HillbillyHousewife.com

• A copy of the Crockpot Cooking Guide
• A copy of the Freezer Cooking Guide
• A copy of the Meal Planning Guide

From MealPlanningCentral.com

• Lifetime Membership
• Six Month Membership
• Three Month Membership

From DineWithoutWhine.com

• Lifetime Membership
• Six Month Membership
• Three Month Membership

From SavingDinner.com

3 month subscription (Value $15)

12 month subscription (Value $47)

Christmas for the Freezer menu (Value $10)

Thank you again for entering our Holiday Recipe Contest.

Featured Article

In these last few weeks before Christmas, I’m concentrating on creating memories for our family.  Shopping and gift-giving often causes stress, and is just as often unnecessary to have a good holiday season.  That’s why I’m sharing an article written by Pippa Wright, a great gal with great ideas for enjoying the Christmas season by creating lasting memories.  I hope you’ll spend a few minutes to see how her family finds the joy in the holiday without spending a lot of money.  Just click the link below:

Frugal Christmas Entertainment Ideas

Recipe Sharing

Perhaps coming up with meals during the Christmas holiday season is one of the things that stresses you out.  That’s why an all-in-one-pan meal for anytime of the day is a great idea.  This is an easy, and tasty, Christmas morning casserole I think you’ll enjoy.

Overnight Breakfast Strata

• 4 slices hearty white bread, crusts cut off, and coarsely torn into pieces
• 4 eggs, beaten with a fork slightly
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese

Lightly grease an 8 inch square baking pan.
Arrange pieces of bread in pan.
In separate bowl, put eggs, milk, mustard, and onion and mix together well, then pour over bread.
Top with cooked bacon, cover the pan with foil, and put in refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, remove the casserole from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake casserole, covered, for 25 to 30 minutes.
Uncover and arrange shredded cheese on top.
Put back in oven, uncovered, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and starts to brown.
Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.
This casserole serves 4 people, and can be doubled using a 9×13 pan instead.

Add whatever other ingredients you might want in this, included chopped green pepper, diced tomatoes, sausage, or chilis for more flavor.

Frugal Tips

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Do you have a tip to share? Fill out the submit a frugal tip form and I’ll be glad to add it to the site and share your tip in an upcoming edition of the newsletter.

Recipes

Here are some of the most recent recipes that have been added to the HBHW site. Enjoy!

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Do you have a recipe you would like to share? Click here to send it to me and I’ll be happy to add it to the website.

I’m Looking For:

This section is all about you. If you are looking for a particular recipe or a tip on how to do something, submit it here and I will post it in an upcoming newsletter. I’ll give you my input and other readers of the newsletter will have the opportunity to share their recipes and tips as well. So take a moment to post your questions and of course if you have a tip or idea for any question posted in this section feel free to leave a comment under the appropriate post.

I’m Looking For Requests
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I’m Looking For Responses
Below you will find some of the recent responses to the “I’m Looking For” Requests. You may also want to go directly to this section and browse through all the recent submissions and replies. To do so, click on “I’m Looking for” here, and start looking through them.
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Inspirational Story

Trees That Wood
~author unknown~

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, “Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.”

Then the second tree said, “Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.”

Finally the third tree said, “I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.”

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, “This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter” … and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, “This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.” The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, “I don’t need anything special from my tree so I’ll take this one”, and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time. Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn’t think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said “Peace” and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don’t seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don’t always know what God’s plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways.

Final Thought

That’s it for this edition of the Hillbilly Housewife Newsletter. I hope you’ve had as much fun reading it as I had creating it for you. I also hope that you have found the information helpful and useful. And by all means feel free to forward the newsletter to family and friends or even better, encourage them to subscribe to it.

Do you have a question, a tip, a recipe or a story you’d like to share with us? Email it to me and I’ll include it in a future issue. Can’t wait to see what you have to say.

Warm Wishes,

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife