Monday, December 29, 2008

Nathan is home!!! Oh, and some food!

Sorry I have been MIA the last few days. Nathan arrived home Saturday morning. I spent Friday night at Monica's house so that the kids could sleep while I headed to the airport. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Frankfurt and Nathan's flight arrived at 5am. I was so excited that I think I only slept about 2 hours on Friday night! It was absolute TORTURE waiting at the airport, but when he finally walked out of customs it was all worth it! The last 2 days have been amazing and it is so nice having him home.

Anya has been attached to his side since he got home. I don't think she has stopped smiling since he walked in the door at Monica's. Eric hasn't wanted to be away from Nathan, either. He went right to him and only wants me when he's hungry! Of course, Nathan is soaking up every second with the kids and he has been on cloud nine since being home.

We have had a lot of good food over the last two days, too! On Saturday we celebrated Nathan's birthday with not one but two cakes! I wanted to try a new cake recipe (Paul Prudhomme's Spiced Pecan cake), but I wanted Nathan to still have his German chocolate cake. So, I made two mini's! YUM, YUM, YUM!!!

Sunday was our Christmas and I made a delicious Christmas dinner. We had ham, mashed potatoes, bacon wrapped asparagus, and pumpkin dinner rolls. For dessert we had an apple-cranberry crisp with eggnog sauce. OH MY WOW! I didn't want to go to the commissary, so I finally made my own eggnog and it was phenomenal! The recipe I used called for orange and lemon zest, so it was more citrus-y than I am used to, but I will definately use the recipe again.

Now for some pictures and the recipes for the eggnog and the crisp. I hope to be able to stop by some blogs and comment soon. Thanks for still checkin' in here!


Seeing Daddy for the first time

Together again

Nathan and Eric on Christmas


Do you know how IMPOSSIBLE it is to get both kids to smile at the same time??? :)


Nathan's birthday cakes



Apple-Cranberry Crisp with Eggnog Sauce



Sauce:

2 containers (3.5-4oz each) refrigerated vanilla pudding

1 cup eggnog



Fruit Mixture:

5 cups sliced peeled apples

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 TBSP flour

Topping:

2/3 cup flour

1 cup quick oats

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

Place pudding and eggnog in bowl; whisk until smooth. Cover and refrigerate.

Heat oven to 375. In large bowl, combine fruit mixture. Spread evenly into 2 qt baking dish.

In medium bowl, combine topping ingredients until crumbly. Spoon evenly over fruit.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until deep golden brown and bubbly. Serve warm with chilled sauce.


Homemade Eggnog

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma American Christmas


12 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg plus more for garnish

Grated zest of 1 orange

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 - 3/4 cup dark rum, cognac, or bourbon (optional) - I just added a little rum extract

In a large saucepan whisk together egg yolks, sugar, nutmeg, and citrus zests. Stir in the milk and cream. Place over low heat and cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, just until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon (160 degrees).

Immediately remove from heat and strain through a sieve into a pitcher. Cover and refrigerate to chill thouroughly, about 1 hour.

Serve alone or topped with whipped cream and nutmeg.

16 comments:

Shelby said...

Cristine, what lovely pics! I love your family one. I'm so happy your family is together :)

Reeni said...

Your son looks just like Nathan! How sweet. Enjoy your precious time together. The cakes look delicious and so does the crisp!

priscilla joy said...

What sweet pictures Cristine! I was going to say Eric looks just like you, but after seeing the above comment...maybe I am wrong.=) Sounds like you guys are enjoying some amazing food.

Cathy said...

Yay, what a happy reunion!!!! I love your family pictures. And your food all looks great, too!

The McBride Family said...

AWWW the kids look so cute in their Christmas clothes! Thanks for dinner tonight and letting me intrude on Nate time!!! I'm so glad he is home with you guys. Love you!

Maria said...

I am so happy for you! Looks like everyone is having a great time!! Enjoy it!! Nathan's cakes look super yummy too! He is lucky to have you spoiling him!

Megan said...

YAY! He's home and you all look so happy! It's wonderful to see you like that, and the kids are just like pie - I want to eat them up!

Enjoy your time together, I know it's going by really fast!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

I'm so happy for you! Sounds like you guys are having quality time together! Yay!

Both your cakes look great and your family photos even better!!!

Hope the new year brings you many happy moments, yummy food, good health, and lots of time with your honey!

Happy 2009!
~ingrid

Millers! said...

Yeahhhh!!!! So glad he made it home safe! I love the picture of him and Anya, its so cute! Have LOTS OF FUN!!!!!

betty geek said...

Thanks for sharing your pics! HELLO NATHAN! You baked him two bday cakes?! Um, do you know that my bday is coming up in January? ;)

Bunny said...

Beautiful pictures Cristine! I'm so happy for you, enjoy every minute with your husband!

Pamela said...

Cristine~Thanks for sharing these fabulous pictures! And yes...I feel your pain about the kids in the pictures!! I hope you guys are busy making some wonderful memories together! Thanks for all of the updates. Enjoy every second. :o)

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said...

I love your family pics. You have a lovely family.

Maggie said...

It's wonderful to see your family so happy! Having him home must have made for the best Christmas.

J.L. Danger said...

Oh I am SOOOO glad for you! What great pictures! Thank you for sharing that with us! Enjoy you time!

AmyRuth said...

I am so happy that you are all together again to celebrate the holiday as a family. The day finally came and that is wonderful. It sounds like you have enjoyed some amazing food. You're awesome! Lovely cheesecake. Glad you liked it.
AmyRuth

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