I had very good fruit cake this past Christmas. I can't remember if I had ever tried fruit cake or not previously. But its thanks to Niel. We were walking around the mall by his office one day and he suggested we go into Harry & David's to purchase some. The fruit cake was moist and flavorful. Not at all scary as I heard fruit cake can be.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Another one of my favorite foods of winter, you know besides clemenitne's and chestnuts are pomegrantes. They taste so good and are really wonderful for you. Plus the seeds are such a bright burst of color during the gray winter.

I had a cookie exchange this week at work. I made Joellen's Chocolate Devil's food cake cookies, Mommas soft sugar cookies and sugarless oatmeal cookies. A big hit. So big of a hit they didn't make the picture. I got back some fabulous cookies as well:Linzer cookies, chocolate chip, white chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies and sugar cookies.

Over the weekend I made one of my favorite recipes. Grilled portabello burgers ala Rachael Ray(don't shoot me). I found some humongous thick portabellos, marinated, grilled them, add mozzarella cheese(I hate smoked) spread some Trader Joe's roasted red pepper paste over it and enjoyed it with another recipe I've blogged about before Zucchini fries(from Confabulation).

God I can't believe I am mentioning this person's name cause I find him vile, but I accidentally purchased some Trump water. Yes folks Donald Trump shills water now. It is called Trump Ice.

I accidentally purchased it because I was in need, so I asked a vendor for water. I was expecting a bottle of Poland Spring, but I was handed Trump water instead. It's not any better or worse then what I have tasted already.

One of the best foods during this time of year, at least for me are chestnuts. My favorite way of make them, is to start off the same way my mom did, she boiled them. But I also roast them after they are boiled. To enure they are fully cooked and to give it a nice toasty flavor.

I am finally participating in another Weekend Cookbook Challenge(brainchild of Sara from I Like To Cook) and Presto Pasta Nights. But I am being a bit sneaky by using one recipe for both.

This Weekend Cookbook Challenge's theme is Celebration Dishes and this round is hosted by Mike from Mel's diner and of course Presto Pasta Nights is hosted by Ruth Daniels from Once Upon A Feast.

I got the idea for my Celebration Dish and Presto Pasta meal from two sources. One is a dish my husband Niel's mother makes for all of his birthdays Fettuccine Alfredo. The other is a dish Niel once ate at an Italian restaurant not too far from our neighborhood that he fell in love with, but the restaurant only served once:also Fettuccine Alfredo however with ham and corn. So in short my Celebration Dish/Presto Pasta meal is in honor of my husband who will have a birthday in a few weeks.

Fettuccine Alfredo with Ham and Corn

1 lb of egg Fettuccine Pasta
Half a cup of whipping cream
Half a cup of Parmesan flakes
Half a cup Fresh, frozen or even canned corn
About half a Ham steak chopped
A few pats of butter

Boil noodles in salted water until Al Dente. While pasta is boiling, cook the ham in a non stick skillet on a low to medium heat. The ham is already fatty no need to add any lubricant to the pan. Make sure the ham doesn't burn though.

Once pasta is done, drain and add the butter, cream, Parmesan, corn and ham. You have a simple but tasty meal!

The recipe I used for those gigantic biscuits is here. Those I did make from scratch. They are called biscuit muffins and oh my were they ever. A bit crunchy on the outside like a muffin but moist on the inside. I used big muffin tins and got four of them. Just the perfect amount for the sausage gravy.

Now that the site of food doesn't repel me(well not often) and the snow the city got on Sunday, I spent the entire day cooking from breakfast to dinners for Sunday through Tuesday. It was my cleaning out the freezer day. Nice and cozy. I made Jess's delicious recipe for lasagna, fajitas, and an easy Lamby Curry I made up which I have mentioned before.

I want to go into detail about what I made for breakfast. I've expressed here previously my love of biscuits with gravy. But I have had trouble making the gravy from scratch, so when I visited a supermarket that had products my local one doesn't I found a premade package of gravy.

Niel liked it a lot and it was convenient to have but I think I will try again to make biscuits with gravy from scratch. There is nothing like it.