Awfully Good Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars

Honey and I had our "Strawberry Hill" Christmas party last night. We had never met most of our neighbors and this party is a huge deal for the neighborhood.

Honey had been gone all day and came in right at time to go, he had told me that he had some cheese spread given as a gift and so I went and bought special crackers so that we could carry it to share. I knew that it would take the two of us forever to eat it alone. I also made a double batch of my famous Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars because one batch is NEVER enough.

Honey finally made it home in time for us to shower and dress while my bars cooled so that I could cut them and place them on my Christmas platter. Before jumping in the shower I took the cheese spread and put it in a dip bowl to serve on a platter along side assorted crackers. After getting the dip bowl ready I licked the spoon I was using to discover that the cheese spread tasted like an expensive form of Velveeta cheese. I was soooo disappointed but decided to take it anyway after all I had all those crackers and what would I do with them?

I got dressed for the big event, at least I felt I was having a good hair day! I headed to the kitchen to get the bars ready to discover in horror that my bars had flopped! I have made these bars for years ya'll and I've never had them flop one time until last night, the middle never completely set up. It was getting late and we needed to get next door so I cut the bars and saved the outer edges, thank God I had made a large batch.

I cooked them longer than normal but next time I make a large batch I'll know that you have to cook them a lot longer.

They turned out awful but were sooo good.

This recipe is too good not to share, if you don't have to eat gluten free just use your normal cookie recipe for the crust and topping.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars

Ingredients:
1 Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
1 pkg cream cheese; 8 oz.
½ cup sugar
1 egg

Instructions:
Mix cookie mix according to pkg directions. I add sour cream to make it moister.
For crust, press half of the dough onto the bottom of a greased 8-in. square-baking pan.
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth. Spread over crust.
Crumble remaining dough over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

I had most of the cheese spread left so I plan to make dips and use it in my southern grits!! Yum it will be sooo good.

I met a lot of new people and had a great time, I just hope that I wasn't literally the talk of the party.

Party Time!!!

We attended a Christmas party with a lot of our friends last night. I want to thank Morris and Mariam for hosting the party and Cornerstone Community Church for providing the facilities. I also want to thank those who thought about my crazy gluten-free diet and provided foods that I could eat. DeColores!!!!!!

I took a few photos to share but was told by several others (mainly my family) that it was rude to take photos of people eating. Well, there's just one problem with that, when this group gets together all we do is eat!!

One of my friends went and bought Hellmann's mayonnaise and made devil eggs just so I could eat them! Thank you Mark and Karen!!!!

Some told me the ingredients to see if I could possibly eat it. As you can see I had plenty I could eat!

There was one person who didn't eat a thing, so I took a few photos of her. I think she was talking to Merl though.

Our entertainment!

Now for the new news I am washing and packing right now. It looks as though Joshua may make is appearance earlier than we had thought. So we are getting things ready to leave for Indiana to receive our Christmas gift! Maybe I can post photos of the new baby soon!

The Best of the 6th Annual Ornament Party

Last Thursday night was my sixth annual ornament party. I had the first party the year that I married Steve as a way to get to know ladies in the community, I think I had twelve ladies to attend that one. Then one of the parties we had around forty-five guest, that was a lot for my living room. We set anywhere imaginable and made it happen and what a blast we had. This is an event that we look forward to every year. In January we began the search for the perfect ornament for next year. My friends take this party very seriously!


This year the party was held in the fellowship hall of First United Methodist Church of Macon. I hated to move it from my house, it's just always so personal in a home, but we are expecting a new grand-baby anytime and my house is also due some renovations so I decided that I had better not count on having it there.


Once again the party was a huge success, we had 24 in attendance. A few of them were ladies who had never been before and everyone seemed to have a great time. It's such a blessing to have friends you can be yourself and have fun with.

Here are a few of the photos from this years party.

The food was great as always and my friends made sure that there was some things I could eat! We enjoyed our time of fellowship together.

We each enjoy choosing and showing off our ornaments in hopes that no one else will like them enough to steal them!

It's exciting to see what others get.

We have to make sure someone applies a sticker so that it can't be passed over three times.

We learned something new this year about the pickle ornament.

I think the ladies had a story of their own.

LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS PICKLE
A pickle is used as decoration on the Christmas tree seems odd at first, but it is an old German tradition. When decorating the Christmas tree, it is traditional to hang the pickle last, hidden among the branches. The first child on Christmas Day to find the Christmas pickle receives a special blessing for the year and an extra gift! Great tradition to share with your family this year and for years to come!

If you have never attended an ornament party you should give it a try we love them and plan on many more!

GALS (God's Amazing Ladies in Service)

This has been a fun week thus far. Monday we all went to lunch then Steve and I chased parts while Ashia and Ben went to Eupora and picked up Austin's newborn photos. She has grown sooo much since then it's hard to believe she was ever that small!

On Tuesday I went over and watched Austin for a while for Ashia. She was so cute, she laid down on a pillow and cooed and laughed. I swear she was trying to tell me something but I never did get it. She is really at a fun stage right now.

Tuesday night we had our GALS (God's Amazing Ladies in Service) Christmas party. We have had secret sisters for a year now and at this time our sisters were revealed!

I made Betty Crocker's "Chocolate Chip Cookies" and took. They didn't look great but they tasted good. I understand others have had similar problems and say that you need to add flour to the mix, maybe I'll try that next time. Steve has enjoyed the leftovers! :)

 

 The finished product! You can buy these mixes at your local Kroger.

 

I was Lynda's secret sister. Lynda lives down the street from us across from Ben and Ashia. It's a miracle that I didn't get caught, or Ben didn't, putting things in her mailbox. 

 Mrs. Ann was my secret sister but she was sick and didn't make the party. Mrs. Ann has sent me tons of happies, cards, and gifts. THANK YOU MRS. ANN!! I love you!

 

Ashia was Pooh's secret sister!

Ashia's secret sister was Natalie. Natalie is a friend of the family and I just knew that Ashia would figure it out but she didn't. If you know Ashia you know it's very hard to keep a secret from her but we did it!!!