~Cozy Customs~

Favorites recipes, family traditions, holiday or vacation fun!

Monday, December 31, 2012

Author Linda Rondeau's Pistachio Pudding!

 Author Linda Rondeau
Grandma’s Green Stuff

AKA Pistachio Pudding

1 package Pistachio Pudding mix
1 can crushed pineapple drained
1 package cool whip

Mix together then chill until set.
***

Every year, the children looked forward to Grandma’s Green Stuff, as they nicknamed it. Sure enough, Mother always delivered without being asked. Even after Alzheimer Disease claimed her memory, she somehow managed to bring the Green Stuff…her way of showing how much she really did love her family.  

Life is ever-changing and family gatherings never remain the same. The older generation eventually passes on and the younger generations begin new traditions with their growing families. My husband and I sometimes make the trek to visit the married children during holidays and sometimes they will visit us. Sometimes we are alone. But a major holiday does not seem complete without Grandma Wood’s Green Stuff.

My relationship with my mother was sometimes tumultuous,but, her son-in-law could do no wrong. How she adored him. 

When Mother went into the nursing home, my husband took up the cause of the Green Stuff, continuing the tradition after she passed away. Wherever we spend the holidays, he makes certain a bowl of Green Stuff is on the table...his tribute. 

Funny thing, though, when the Green Stuff comes out, I forget the silly quarrels we may have had and recall only the good, the visible reminder that love surpasses all obstacles, even a fractured relationship...love that arrives in a tasty green delicacy.  

 Linda's latest book!


Thursday, December 27, 2012

Author Robin Patchen's family tradition and Crab Rangoons recipe!

Author Robin Patchen
Nothing says Christmas like…Crab Rangoons?
“Chinese food…seriously? On Christmas Eve?”

That was my reaction the first Christmas I spent with my soon-to-be husband, Eddie. He confirmed—Chinese food on Christmas Eve was his family’s tradition. Not only that, but right after I arrived, he and his cousin Tim left to pick up our dinner from the restaurant about a mile away. I could have picked it up, but apparently, the young men picking up the food was also a tradition. When they returned—an hour later, explaining the food hadn’t been quite done when they’d arrived—my fiancĂ© smelled of soy sauce and Mai Tais. As the years went by and the trip to the Chinese restaurant lengthened, I realized that the restaurant owners were happily keeping the food under the heat lamps until the men had finished their drinks.

Another family tradition, apparently.

My family had few such traditions. Because we lived in New Hampshire, a thousand-plus miles from my parents’ families in Oklahoma and Louisiana, our Christmas Eves were a little different every year. Some years, we’d get together with friends. Some years we’d go to church. By the time I was engaged to Eddie, we had for a few years gone to a party at some friends’ of my mother’s with others who had no family close by. The same thing a few years in a row—that felt like a real tradition. It seemed normal to me, until I met Eddie.

Many of the Patchen family traditions had held on since his parents were newly married, including the darned sock they gifted each other every Christmas, a humorous reminder of their first Christmas together, when my mother-in-law, a new bride, had darned her husband’s socks—and he refused to wear them.

It’s those traditions that weave together the fabric of our families. Even when they’re strange to outsiders, like Chinese food and darned socks, they make us who we are. So when I married into the Patchen family, I was honored to join in their family traditions.

We’ve even kept the Christmas Eve tradition of Chinese food—sans the Mai Tais, these days. Can somebody pass the crab rangoons?

Blurb:

Movie star Blake Carmichael found more than just freedom from his drug addiction in rehab. He found God. And he has just one wish for the first Christmas of his new life: reconciliation with his teenage son, Eli. But after eight years of hardly hearing from Blake, Eli wants nothing to do with his father. So when his mother forces Eli to stay with Blake during the Christmas holidays, Eli sneaks out of the house.



From the New Hampshire seacoast to the dangerous streets of Boston, Blake searches for his son, desperate to protect Eli from sins Blake knows all too well. But even if he finds his son, will he ever be able to convince Eli of his love?





Bio:

If time and money were no object, I would travel constantly. My goal is to visit every place in the entire world--twice. Because, as you know, the first time, you don't know exactly what you want to see. So you flit from one tourist attraction to another and enjoy every minute of it. But it's always on the last day that you find the best thing, and you don't have enough time to explore it properly, and you wished you'd discovered it first (but even if you had, you wouldn't know it was the best thing, because you hadn't seen everything else yet). So you have to go back a second time. It's just logical.

Alas, time is short and money is scarce, and my family doesn't really want to follow me all around the world, so I do the next best thing: I write. In the worlds I create, I can go back to the best places time and again. And when they're not perfect, that's all right--I just edit until they are.

In the real world, I'm married to the man of my dreams, Edward, and together we have three children, Nicholas, Lexi, and Jacob. They are a close second on my list of priorities after my relationship with my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

So that's my life: God, husband, children, and made-up worlds where I have complete control. Who could ask for more?

Monday, December 17, 2012

Lemon Lime Cheesecake by: Author Clare Revell

Author Clare Revell

Lemon and Lime Cheesecake
large packet crushed ginger biscuits
2oz melted butter
2x250g tubs mascapone cheese
1½oz icing sugar
zest and juice of 2 lemons and 2 limes
6 pieces chocolate

1. Mix crushed biscuits and butter. Press into base of a 7 inch loose bottomed cake tin. Or line tin with foil to ease removal. Chill

2. Put mascapone, icing sugar, zest and juice into bowl and beat together. Spread over biscuit base. Chill for at least half hour.

3. Grate chocolate over  dessert.

4. Chill overnight/or at least half hour

5. Eat!
 
Tuesday's Child tenders direction...

Deaf from the age of five, Adeline Munroe operates a hospital for injured dolls, but lately her quiet life is disturbed by violent, haunting visions. Perhaps it's just her unspoken fear--a serial killer has struck in Headley Cross. But Adeline soon realizes she's seeing each murder just before they happen and reluctantly contacts the police. 

Detective Sergeant Nate Holmes has enough to deal with between caring for his orphaned niece and his current assignment--the Herbalist killings, so when a woman comes forward who claims to be "seeing" the crimes in dreams, he isn't hopeful she'll be of any help. But he knows her from church, and she inexplicably describes how each crime is committed. Is God answering his prayers through Adeline?

Adeline assists the police, yet more women die and she becomes the prime target of the killer. Will Nate crack the case before the Herbalist can complete his agenda--or will the next murder Adeline foresees be her own?


Clare Revell
Where faith and romance meet
Books available from http://www.pelicanbookgroup.com and Amazon
Season For Miracles
Saving Christmas #1 bestseller Amazon UK/Amazon.com Oct 2011
Cassie's Wedding Dress
Time's Arrow 
Kisses from Heaven - FREE Read
After the fire 
Monday's Child Series - A romance novel for every day of the week. Mon Child available now. Tues Child coming Oct 19th 2012. Wed Child coming Jan 11th 2013
An Aussie Christmas Angel - coming Dec 2012
 



Monday, December 10, 2012

Family, Rainbows and Jesus & a fun recipe too! ~ by blog guest Tanya Eavenson

Author Tanya Eavenson
Family, Rainbows, and Jesus
For years growing up our tradition was to gather with family on Christmas Eve. Aunts, uncles, and cousins I hadn’t seen since the year before would flock together for this one day. Even now, I can picture the older men sitting at their squared card tables playing dominoes and smoking cigars. No matter where you were in the house, the sound of shuffling and clinking tiles could be heard.
This is a memory I will never forget, and was a precious time growing up. But when my first daughter came into the world around Christmas time, I told my husband I wanted to start my own family tradition, one that would help our children understand what Christ did coming as a babe. My husband knew how important this was for me since I hadn’t grown up in a Christian home. So the next year we began our own family tradition.
Every year on Christmas day, whether we go home for the holidays or not, we make a birthday cake for Jesus. The kids get up in the morning and help me make the cake, from stirring the ingredients to layering the icing on thick, and yes, they like a lot of icing. Then after dinner we bring out the cake, light the candles, and sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. Now, you might be wondering who blows out the candles. We all do because Jesus came for all.
I pray when my children get older, they will have their own traditions, but they will always remember praising and worshiping Christ on Christmas day. Even with something as simple as a cake.

Jesus’s Birthday Cake
Ingredients:
·         1 box of cake mix
·         Food coloring (at least four colors)
·         Bundt pan
·         Cooking spray
·         Icing (any)

Directions:
·         Make cake mix as instructed on the box.
·         Separate cake mix into the same amount of bowls as food coloring and add food coloring to those bowls. Mix well.
·         Spray the bundt pan.
·         Take one color of cake mix and pour around the bottom of the bundt pan. Then take another color adding it on top. Do not mix. Add cake mix in layers, adding on top of each color until done.
·         Place in oven.
·         Let cake cool before icing.

When it comes time to cut the cake, you will see the center looks like a rainbow. It represents the story of Noah and God’s promises. And just as God made promises to them, He also made promises to us. One day Jesus will come back for those who love Him. 


He will fight for her at any cost...
Elizabeth Roberts can't remember her past, and the present is too painful. She turns to nightclubs and drinking to forget her infant daughter's death, her husband's affair.

When his wife's coma wiped out the memory of their marriage, Chris Roberts found comfort elsewhere. He can't erase his betrayal, but with God's help he’s determined to fight for Elizabeth at any cost.

She wants to forget. He wants to save his marriage. Can they trust God with their future and find a love that’s unconditional?