Merry Berry Cheese Bars

  So far, my Christmas baking is going well. Two recipes down, a few more to go. Today, I'm going to share a favourite recipe that I've been making all of my married life - 11 years now. 

If you like cheesecake or cranberries, then you'll enjoy these! This recipe originally came from Eagle Brand.

Merry Berry Cheese Bars a.k.a. Cranberry Cheesecake Bars
makes 24-36 bars


crust:
2 cups unsifted flour
1 1/2 cups oats
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened

cream cheese layer:
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice

berry layer:
1 can cranberry sauce (you can use whole berry, but I prefer jellied)
2 Tbsp. corn starch
1 Tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350°.

1) With mixer, beat flour, oats, 3/4 cup sugar & butter until crumbly. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the mixture. Press remaining mixture on bottom of greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

2) With mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth, stir in lemon juice. Spread over baked crust.

3) Combine cranberry sauce, corn starch, & 1 Tbsp. brown sugar. Spoon over cheese layer. Top with remaining crumb mixture.

4) Bake 45 minutes or until golden. Cool & cut into bars. Refrigerate leftovers.

~~~

I hope your family enjoys these as much as we do!

Enjoy your Monday!

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'Tis the Season for... Peppermint

  Christmas is drawing ever closer. Thankfully, I got a bit more of my Christmas shopping done yesterday. One step closer to being done. I personally like being done with gift buying by the time December rolls around. Then I can focus on wrapping, decorating, baking, cooking, & having fun with my family & friends.

  One of my favourite flavours of Christmas is peppermint. I've found a wonderful collection of Christmas goodies featuring peppermint on Pinterest. I'm planning on making some (not all!) of these goodies this Christmas season. I am having a hard time deciding on which ones though. Any votes for your favourites?

Frozen Peppermint Cheesecake

Peppermint Crunch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peppermint Sugar Cookies

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

Peppermint Meltaways 

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Peppermint Profiteroles

All photos via Pinterest. 

So, what are your votes? Are you feeling inspired to make any of these for your family? I have the Peppermint Meltaways on my list to make this week.

Have a great weekend!

Linkin' Up:

5 Minutes Just For Me

Pinterest Recipe Reviews Pt. 2

  How's your week been so far? Here in Saskatchewan we are trying to stay warm... cuz baby, it's cold outside! I'm trying to keep things cozy in our little nest. Christmas tunes are playing (click here to hear our new favourite album) & I've been doing some Christmas prep. We're starting to feel the Christmas spirit & I, for one, love it!

  Several weeks ago, I did my meal planning via Pinterest. Well, I'm here to finish off the reviews on that group of recipes. (Here is part one if you missed it.)

Lemon Chicken Breasts

  This was an amazing chicken dish! SOOOOOO tasty! The only thing I did differently was I used skinless chicken breasts instead of skin on. If you're a fan of lemon, you will love this as much as we did. I will definitely be making these again.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

  Okay, this recipe wasn't on my original meal plan, but I was going to a girl friend gathering & had to bring something. ;) These cookies are crazy good! If you enjoy sweet & salty together, you will certainly enjoy these bundles of yumminess. In Canada, we sadly don't have the caramel pieces she lists in the ingredients so I used butterscotch chips instead. I think they were a pretty great substitute. I will be making these again.

Mini Frittatas 

  My kids helped me make these for supper one evening. They are easy & tasty. One note: do not mix in the salt with the eggs like it says to. It all settled to the bottom & most of the salt ended up in one of the frittatas. Yup, I got that one. Yech! But the rest were very good. I would just sprinkle some salt into each cup next time. I'll make them again.

  So now that I've finally made most of what was on that original meal plan, I'm off to do another one! A family's gotta' eat, after all. Might as well make it good.

Enjoy your day!

Office/Craft room/Guest Room Makeover

  Before I start today's post I have to tell you that I'm so excited to be able to add a new "I was featured on" button to my small collection. Yesterday, my Christmas Banner was featured on Mommy By Day...Crafter By Night. I totally did a happy dance when I found out! I feel like Sally Field - "You like me! You really like me!" (I have to be honest though. I didn't actually know who said that until I googled it.)

  Anyway, onto today's topic - our office/guest room.

  When we moved into this house, this room (in the basement) was actually divided into 2 smaller rooms, but you had to go through one room to get into the next one. Also, the wall connecting the two rooms was just a temporary wall. So we took down the wall to open up the space. The side that is now the office was decorated as an 80's diner or something. Kinda fun, but so not my thing.

  If you've looked through my Home Tour page, you know that I love colour on the walls! I am not afraid to paint... like, at all. I guess growing up in a decorator's home, some of my mom's courage rubbed off on me.

  My colour inspiration came from the turquoise chair. I love the colour turquoise & wanted to incorporate it into the house somewhere.

  I chose a scrapbook paper line that I loved that had turquoise, pink, & brown in it. It was the Urban Prairie line from Basic Grey. Those were the colours I matched my paint up with.

My craft table

    This table is made of two small book shelves & a glass table top we found in the as-is section at Ikea. It has a small chip out of one corner & didn't have a base. It works perfectly & even has a bit of an aqua tinge to the glass.

  A few weeks ago, my mom (an interior decorator) came over & helped me reconfigure the furniture in this space. I love how it looks now! 

  After mom & I reconfigured the furniture, I set to work cleaning up my desk a bit. I added some decorative scrapbook papers to my pen jars & the front if my little box of drawers. I'm so happy with the results!

What do you think? I'm loving crafting in this space. It's my happy place. And hopefully a pleasant place for our guests to stay.

Oh, before I go, I want to keep things real & show you the pile of stuff I had to remove from the office before I took the photos. Just so you know that my office is not always never that neat & tidy. 

I almost always have some projects on the go on the desk.

Enjoy your day!

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Update

This was featured on:

How To Bake A Pumpkin

  I know a lot of you out there in blog land are getting ready for American Thanksgiving. Are pumpkin pies on your menu?

  I bought some pumpkins at the farmer's market earlier this fall to use in my fall decorating. (Click here & here to read about them.) Since fall is officially over here in Saskatchewan & winter (including snow) has come, my pumpkins were due for a makeover... a cooking makeover that is.

  If you have bought pumpkins & have struggled to peel them before cooking them, then this post is for you, my friend! This couldn't be easier!

What you need:

• A pumpkin (this is for a 4 lb. pumpkin. If your pumpkin is bigger, you'll need more water & leave it in the oven longer.)
• 1 cup of water
• 1 roaster pan or 2 smaller baking pans
• An oven :)

1) Preheat the oven to 350° F.

2) Split the pumpkin in half & seed it. Remove the pumpkin guts (stingy fibres) by scraping the insides with a metal spoon.

3) Fill roasting pan with 1 cup water (more if your pumpkin is bigger). Place the two halves cut side down in the pan. 

4) Bake the pumpkin until very tender. About 90 minutes. Longer for a larger pumpkin. 

This is what they will look like. All blistered & bubbly.

5) Flip them over & scoop the flesh out of each pumpkin half. 

6) Puree pumpkin flesh in a food processor or blender & use as needed. It also freezes well.

Here's visual run down of the instructions (feel free to "pin it"):

Pin It (Aak! this pinning button doesn't seem to be working... I'm still figuring this out. Sorry!)

What do you plan to make with your pumpkin? I use mine for yummy muffins & pies. 

Enjoy your day!

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