Holiday Edition

Happy Holidays!
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All of us at Canyonland would like to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season, whatever you celebrate whether it's the winter solstice, Hanukkah, or Christmas.

In honor of the season, each of us will be sharing either a holiday recipe or our favorite holiday tradition.

Holiday Dessert
By Anna Sugg
We have a tradition around our house for our Christmas Day dinner. All our children and grandchildren come for Dad’s Christmas dinner. His prime rib dinner is the dinner of the year. It’s succulent. Since he won’t let me in on his secret for cooking the perfect prime rib, I’ll have to give you a recipe that is always expected on our Christmas table.

My Christmas Jell-O recipe:
1 package (3 oz) Jell-O Raspberry Flavor Gelatin
2 cups boiling water
¾ cup cranberry juice cocktail
1 cup diced apple
¼ cup sliced celery
¼ chopped walnuts
1 package (3 OZ) Jell-O Lemon Flavor Gelatin
1 container (4 ½ oz) Cool Whip
½ cup Real Mayonnaise

Dissolve raspberry gelatin in 1 cup boiling water.
Add cranberry juice cocktail and chill until thickened about 1 hour
Fold in apple, celery and nuts
Spoon into 6-cup ring mold and child until set (15 minutes)
Dissolve lemon gelatin in remaining boiling water
Chill until slightly thickened (45 minutes)
Combine cool whip and real mayonnaise
Fold into lemon gelatin
Spoon onto the raspberry mold and chill firmly – 4 hours
Unmold. Garnish with crisp salad greens and apples or grapes, if desired.

If you need a good cheese ball recipe for the holiday days, I have one on my website: http://judybaker.coffeecup.com we use this recipe for more than just Christmas.
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Anna

Holiday Traditions
by Marie Higgins
I make this every year for my friends and neighbors. It's soooo good and it doesn't take long to make or put together--which is another reason I make this. I don't have all day to spend on making Christmas goodies.

Applesauce Cake
½ cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips (or raisins - your choice)
1 cup sugar
1 cup nuts
1 egg
½ teaspoon cloves
1 ¾ cup flour (or so)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup applesauce
½ tsp nutmeg

Blend butter, sugar. Add eggs. Add applesauce with soda. Mix well. Add spices, choc chips and nuts. Add flour. Bake 350 for 50 minutes in greased and flour bread pan or small tins.

Recipe and a tradition
By Amy Durham

Toffee Spice Pudding Cake

1 box Spice Cake Mix
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
1 cup Heath Toffee Bits
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Bake cake in a 9X13 pan according to directions on box. While still very warm, use a butter knife to punch holes all over the cake. Pour the can of Eagle Brand Milk evenly over the warm cake. Don't worry if it "pools" up in spots; it will all soak in to the cake! Sprinkle Heath Toffee Bits evenly over the cake.

Just before serving, whip two cups heavy cream. While whipping, add sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. When cream is ready when stiff peaks form. Top each serving of pudding cake with whipped cream.

Cake is best served warm. It will be incredibly moist, and is easier to serve with a large spoon than a cake server!

Ornaments
When I was a little girl, my mom and grandmother made a BUNCH of beaded Christmas tree ornaments. They were beautiful and sparkly, and they fascinated me as a young child. Many of them hung on our tree each year as I was growing up. The rest hung on my grandparents' tree each Christmas. My grandfather passed away in 2000 - my grandmother in 2010. Just before Christmas in 2009, when my grandmother was living with my parents as she battled ovarian cancer, she asked me if I'd like to have her beaded ornaments, since she wouldn't be putting up a tree of her own. It made me sad to know she'd never hang those ornaments again, but honored and happy that she wanted me to have them. This is the fourth year I've hung these beaded bells, stars, and icicles on my Christmas tree. And each year I love them a little bit more.

Holiday Traditions
by Mary Martinez
Okay I'm going to give you a break from recipes. Most my holiday recipes are pretty mainstream. I usually bake a big ham on Christmas Eve that way when everyone drops by on Christmas--usually at different times--who ever is hungry can make a ham sandwich. And of course I have other goodies to go with it. It differs from year to year.

But we have other traditions that start with Halloween. We take all the grandkids to Garden After Dark, this is Red Butte Gardens, Salt Lake City's botanical gardens. They open the garden up late into the evening and have booth's where they kids can make anything from fairy wings to vampire teeth. They have a pumpkin patch, the list of activities go on and on.

Then for Thanksgiving on one of our Papa and Nana nights (every Wednesday evening are grandkids come to have dinner with us) the kids make Thanksgiving decorations to sit around. On thanksgiving day we do the Traditional dinner.

Christmas is a fun month, we start with our family party. First we make ornaments for Nana and Papa's tree. Then make cookies or cupcakes or both and frost them. Then the kids run around like Comanches for a bit. Then we have a nice family dinner until we have a surprise visitor. The older kids roll their eyes a bit, but the younger once are so excited they can hardly sit still. And this escalates when they hear the door open and papa is talking to someone. Then the bells jingle and get louder as he's walking down the stairs. And there is Santa!

And then another fun tradition is our yearly trip to the Hogle Zoo. Yup, rain, snow, freezing cold, it doesn't matter we have to go see the Zoolights. Santa usually makes a visit and the reindeer are there. The animals are smart and stay indoors but it's a good time.

All of us from Canyonland wish all of you Happy Holidays and in we hope all your dreams will come true in the New Year!