Wow! What a day yesterday. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and taking the time to leave such nice comments. I’m glad to hear that everyone is enjoying the blog hop, the fun projects, and our different themes everyday.
Today’s theme is Family Traditions.
Our family doesn’t have many specific family traditions.
For example,we don’t have a set day that we get together and open presents (we just squeeze it around all the other holiday celebrations)
Sometime we do a Christmas cookie bake day, sometimes we don’t.
On one side of the family we draw names, the other side we don’t.
We always have a tree, but don’t usually have a Santa.
So, I don’t really have a heart warming family tradition story to share. . . . .
However, I did want to share something that we have been doing the last few years that might turn into a family tradition. All of our family gatherings seem to always revolve around a meal. The holidays are so busy with get-togethers, that you actually get a little tired of all the meat and potato type meals. To add a little variety to the Christmas meals, my immediate family decided to start doing a Christmas brunch. We get together at 10:00 a.m. and have breakfast type foods, then open presents and hang out together for the rest of the day. It’s fun because nobody else serves caramel rolls or waffles for their Christmas dinner and it’s something fun and different.
I thought I would share a couple of our family favorites for Christmas Brunch, just to give you an idea of what our brunch is like –
#1 – There must be caramel rolls.
My husband’s favorite caramel recipe is one his mother uses that has marshmallows in it. They keeps the caramel from getting too hard. It’s very simple:
1 stick of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup mini marshmallows
Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes. Let cool before adding the caramel rolls.
My MIL makes the caramel rolls and freezes them. Then the night before she needs them, she makes the caramel, puts it in a 9 x 13 pan, adds 12 frozen caramel rolls, and leaves them out on the counter all night to rise. The next morning you bake them. It’s a great way to have fresh caramel rolls without having to get up at 5:00 am on Christmas morning.
#2 – There must be homemade waffles and syrup.
Our favorite waffle recipe:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp soda
6 Tbsp melted butter
Beat everything together and cook 2 minutes in waffle iron.
We top the waffles with whipped cream, peach pie filling with 1 tsp almond flavoring and my husband’s homemade syrup. He brought the recipe home from school in 4th grade, and his family has been making it ever since.
Joey’s recipe for syrup:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
3/4 cups corn syrup
Bring to a boil and add 1/2 tsp maple flavoring.
#3 – There must be something with fruit
My favorite hot fruit recipe
1 – 16 oz can of pear halves, peach halves, apricot halves, and bing cherries
1 – 20 oz can pineapple chunks
1 – 11 oz can of mandarin oranges
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Drain fruit well and layer in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Stir brown sugar and spice into melted butter. Pour mixture over fruit and sprinkle with almonds. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
To make the fruit extra special, we top it with this:
1 – 8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 pt whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp orange rind
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Whip together and serve on top of warm fruit.
I’m looking forward to Christmas brunch already!
It seems every family get together has food involved. Are other families like that, or is it just us?
I’m also looking forward to what our featured designer will be sharing with us today. Head over to the Pam Kitty Morning blog for a special project and be sure to leave a comment to be eligible for the grand prize!
You can check out the family traditions of the other blog hop designers by clicking on any of the links below: Gudrun from GE Designs, Sandy from Pieces from my Heart, Terry from Atkinson Designs, Pat from Pat Sloan and Co, Pam from Pam Kitty Morning, Kari from New Leaf Stitches, Terri from Whimsicals, Sherri from This and That Pattern Co, Carrie from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co, Roseann from Rosebud’s Cottage and Linda Lum DeBono
Breakfast is my most favorite meal of the day! YUM…thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much not only for posting your family traditions but for the recipes. I am going to use these on Christmas morning and surprise my mom with a delicious breakfast as well as dinner. This will be her 1st Christmas without my dad, her husband of 56 years. It won’t take place of how special their Christmas mornings were…but we can share our special memories over our new family tradition.
ALL I CAN SAY IS YUM YUM YUM THANKS FOR SHARING. IM GOING TO USE THESE RECIPES.THE KIDS WILL LOVE THEM AND HUBBT TO.
Food is a very important tradition! We made a Christmas bread….it’s a yeast bread with black raspberry jam, nuts, and confectioner’s sugar icing poured all over the top. One year I wasn’t going to make it and there was a revolution at my house. I ended up making it Christmas eve for the morning breakfast. We eat it after we’ve opened presents…..Can’t wait!
I feel like I’ve gained weight just reading the recipes and drooling over the pictures! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for all the great recipes! I’m adding them to my recipe book right now!
YUM, not diet food.
Oh boy, what yummy looking recipes! The food is always a big issue in my hubbys family 🙂
Our extended family is like yours – no set date, jusst whenever we can find a time when everyone can make it! Now that we have college kids in the family, it’s getting harder and harder to schedule celebrations. This year, we will probably be doing a Sunday brunch on Dec. 20, so thanks for the recipes!
Please, hand me over a caramel roll to go with my morning coffee. Pam Kitty Morning says she’s a coffee nut too so she might like a roll with me. LOL Thanks so much for the recipe.
Food – always – anytime – all the time. LOL
Everything looks YUMMY and the recipes are a bonus for all of us looking for something extra easy to do during the holidays. Thank You
My mouth is watering! Thanks for all the recipes.
Your recipes sound amazing (Thanks for sharing them!) and I love the idea of brunch.
Thanks, I think I will use these recipes for thanksgiving morning as well as christmas, I am happy you chose to share them with us.
Kelly hanson in duluth, mn
Wow. These pictures are making me hungry. Thanks for sharing.
you’re making my mouth water!! those caramel rolls look so yummy. I’ve never made them with marshmallows… i’ll have to try that!
OK, it’s official, now I’m hungry!
Those carmel rolls have my mouth watering! Our food tradition was homemade candy. My mom was famous for hers and I still make some. But it’s not like mom’s:)
Love the hot fruit sauce recipe. There’s a recipe in a Louisiana recipe book that’s very similar and it is delicious!!!
“B”ay (as opposed to Day) 6 of CCCBH, one would think that was a Freudian slip since you live on the water!
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for sharing the recipes. I have to take a break from the blog hop to go make breakfast!!!
I’d love to be at your place for breakfast on Christmas morning! Thanks for the wonderful blog!
yummy you are making me hungry!
I like the idea of a Christmas brunch. Yours sounds wonderful. Thank you for the recipes.
Have you ever tried making a hot dinner for 45 to 50 people? Don’t bother! We used to do this every year for my large family. I have 7 brithers and 2 sisters and there must be about 8o kids and they are not so kiddish anymore. And now they have kids. OMG! Anyway we now serve a buffet style meal with no hot food. If you want something hot, you heat it up in the microwave. It’s so much easier and less work trying to time everything to be hot at the same time. One year my brother brings a ham that has to be heated up for 3 hours and dinner is going to be served in 10 minutes. He’s such a nut! I’ve always thought it was a great idea to do brunch but no one else has warmed up to it yet. There’s still hope!
Thanks for sharing—it wll be so fun to have some new recipes to make–I will try these—caramel rolls are one of my very favorite things to eat too.
How perfect to share recipes that mean so much to your family. We love, love, love caramel rolls – this recipe looks fabulous – thanks!
Love brunches for entertainment! And that is the best time of day for little granddaughters! I usually bake a lot of brown sugar bacon, too, and then pretty much follow your rules – starch, sweet, fruit and yum!
May I share a recipe tip for your waffles? Separate your eggs, and beat the egg whites stiff. Mix yolks and other ingredients, and fold in the whites last. It makes the fluffiest waffle ever!
My MIL makes waffles for dinner after church every Sunday, and has for ever- I’ve been married for 33+ years, and I was served these when I was just dating Larry. It also doesn’t matter who is coming over, the Preacher or any one- we always have waffles!
We also eat them with peanut butter and heated maple syrup, yum!
Nuestras tradiciones no abarcan las comidas, si una mesa dulce.
Pero me parecio encantadora la de su familia,gracias
Those cinammon rolls look just like the ones we had for breakfast every Sunday morning when I was growing up!
We sometimes do a Christmas brunch too. We always have baked pineapple, and a French toast casserole. YUM! ; D Thanks for sharing your recipes.
ohhhhhhhh everything looks so YUMMY!
I love the idea of a family Christmas brunch, I will try the caramel rolls looks delicious. Warm fruit over waffles a grand idea; Thanks for sharing
YUM – thanks for sharing your recipes. My mouth is watering already.
Cindi
Hot Fruit recipe is copied, pasted, and printed. Thank you for another fun food addition.
Those breakfast treats look devine! Thanks for sharing the recipes!!
Can’t wait to try those carmel rolls. Everyone expects them on Christmas morning. I’ll have to try the freezer method. Thanks, Mary Jo
Yummy recipes – I may have to try a few of them myself.
Everything looks so good. It’s about time for supper so it really looks yummy.
Thanks for the recipes. I love the idea for the rolls. I want to try that!
Caramel rolls are going on our Christmas food list this year. Thanks for sharing
These recipes sounds delish! Thanks for sharing – our family does an Easter brunch – and I can use a couple of these. Christmas Eve is our big night with all the brothers, sister, wives, husbands and kids. We do pizza, stromboli and hoagies (subs?) – easy and leftovers for lunch the next day! Thanks again…..I’m hungry already! Piece…
Thanks for the recipes!! I’ve hit the jackpot with this CCCBH!!
What tasty recipes you shared with all today! Can hardly wait to try them – they all sound yummy & ones that will be enjoyed by all.
Oh the food all looks so yummy, to bad I don’t like to cook or I would go cook up something.
Thank you for the recipe yummy yummy; I’m going to try it
Oh, that fruit recipe looks wonderful – I am going to try that and maybe take it to a Christmas party…
I can almost taste those caramel rolls….thanks for sharing the recipe!
We always have Pillsbury Orange Danish rolls. Our kids even took that with them and get them for Christmas morning as well. They are fast to make and taste wonderful. I tried one year to make something different and I put it in the wrong type of pan resulting in a big mess burning in the oven! Required cleaning the oven on Christmas morning so that I could cook our main meal for Christmas dinner! Next year I went back to the Orange Danish rolls.
Heather
I love your homemade bread recipe! Thanks for sharing these ideas and recipes. You are so multi- talented!
I have been sitting here all morning catching up on this special blog! What wonderful stories and recipes. I will look forward to the rest of the upcoming entries.
Cute ornaments. I’m not very happy because I’ve been doing so good leaving comments each day of the blog hop. But Kari’s blog won’t let me leave a comment so that totally messes me up for the prize drawing. Dang it. Sorry, for venting on your nice blog.
Ohhhh! Your post is making my mouth water. They all look so yummy. Thanks for sharing your heart warming stories.
Jane
Oh no, more recipes! I am gaining weight just looking at all the yummy goodness that is being shared on this blog hop, and I am looking forward to trying some of these.