It's not Christmas without the Cookies!

After my wildly successful pot pie experience on Sunday, I went into my cookie party with friends on Monday feeling very confident in my culinary expertise. And I was not disappointed because my peanut butter kiss cookies turned out great! That was in part to Amy, who helped make sure my cookies got out of the oven on time.

But let me back up, on Monday, I had a few friends over for a cookie exchange. We all brought a recipe to make, and most of the ingredients. Then we spent a few hours chatting and baking. It was really a ton of fun! Plus each of us got to take home a bunch of cookies!

Here are some fun pics:

Cookies!

Christina's gluten free bars

Some turned out better than others...

Jeni and I's cookies

Jeni and I

Amy and Christina

Where's Waldo?

Our cats have really been enjoying our Christmas tree. Fibi especially likes to curl up under it and take a snooze. Riley on the other hand likes to be a naughty kitty and eat the branches and unwrap presents!

Anyway, I wanted to take a picture of the tree looking all pretty stuffed full of presents. But Fibi was hiding in the tree and wouldn't come out so I ended up with her hidden in the photo. Can you spot her?

I will give you a hint, look near the bottom

And there she is!

Cooking Successes!

Much to my mother's surprise, one of the things I've really enjoyed a lot lately is cooking meals for my husband. True, I never really took an interest in cooking when I was living at home, or even when I was living on my own. Before I got married my dinners consisted of popcorn, or peas. Yes, I would just eat peas for dinner. Multi-step meals were something I simply did not do.

I don't have a particular aversion to cooking, I'm just not that patient. I'm truly the queen of multi-tasking and tend to try and accomplish many things quickly and efficiently. Which as my brother can attest to, doesn't always work when cooking. A running joke in my family is the time that I was babysitting my brother and burnt the tomato soup. I then strained the burnt chucks out and served it to Jame. Hehe. Supposedly he begged my mom to not let Jessie cook for him anymore when she babysat but that's just hearsay. : ) But there was also the time that I overcooked Ramen noodles to the point of coagulation. So yea, most people would agree that although I have many talents, cooking is not among them.

But I am smart, and can read a recipe. And given adequate time to rise to the cooking challenge, can generally do quite well.

And now being newly married, I have extra motivation because Matt really likes to eat. I sometimes tease him that his day revolves around his meals. He does spend a lot of time preparing, cooking and eating meals and is so appreciative whenever I step up and take over. Food makes Mattie happy. And I enjoy making Mattie happy! : )

A couple of weeks ago I made a steak dinner with cauliflower mashed (sort of like mashed potatoes only healthier). The other day I made breaded chicken breasts with sun-dried tomato pesto pasta. But this past Sunday was my biggest cooking venture to-date, a chicken pot pie almost completely from scratch! (I did use a store bought pie crust, but baby steps, right?)

I actually got the recipe from a new book I was reading called Mrs. Miracle. It was a book I picked up randomly at the airport on our way to see Dana and Phil over Thanksgiving. It really was a sweet little book. The kind that makes you cry, but makes sure the plot is wrapped up in a nice little bow at the end. Plus it was Christmas themed which also caught my eye. I did have to chuckle though when half-way through the first chapter I discovered it was a Christian book! I always seem to pick those up wherever I am without meaning too. I think it's God's way of helping me read things that are good for the heart. Anyway, back to my chicken pot pie...

So I started by boiling a chicken. Now most of you experienced cookers are saying, "yup, what happened next?" But let me tell you that before this experience I had never purchased or prepared a whole animal of any kind. It was very weird boiling a whole chicken in a pot. Then I took the meat off of the bones and finished the filling. I even had to peel, chop and boil a potato and two carrots. Again, both firsts.

Anyway the pot pie turned out amazing and Matt has had the pleasure of enjoying the leftovers all week!

What a good looking pot pie!

Mmmmmmm

And the book that inspired it all!

The Leibrocks First Christmas!

I'm so excited to FINALLY get these pics up! It's been such a busy couple of weeks of work that I never thought I would find the time to do another blog post again! : )

Anyway, last weekend Matt and I decorated our lovely new house for Christmas. We have the absolute perfect house for decorations with a beautiful wrap around banister leading up to the loft area and an adorable little fire place. Here are some pics, enjoy!

Our first married tree! Mattie really wanted a real one but since it was my cat Riley's first tree, I wanted her to get used to one that wouldn't get needles all over the house!

A cheap decorating tip, I wrapped the pictures! It really makes the whole room look more festive.

Our adorable mantel. Matt and I joke that we feel like we live in a catalogue!

Our banister. I have to give my husband credit. The green garland and white lights were his idea. Can you spot our tiny Nativity Scene?

Another view of the banister. Now to give myself credit, I added the red bows. : )

We even decorated the top of the TV!

Awww, don't you just want to sip a cup of hot cocoa right now???

And that's just what we did! We had Matt's family over to see the decorations and enjoy some hot cocoa and hot apple cider by the fire. We missed you Dena, Phil and Adam!

Matt and Jess stockings.

And we couldn't forget our kitties Fibi and Riley

We both feel so blessed to have such a beautiful home to decorate and to be able to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple!