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.