May Your Stockings Be Stuffed With Cream Cheese

So as an Army Wife, I am used to being invited to parties where I am expected to Buy Crap in the name of "Social Outlets" for other Army wives. Personally, I prefer not to host said events, but I don't mind going to them, because there's usually free food, and that food almost always involves various uses of cheese. And I do love cheese.

The latest Buy Crap Party I went to was a Tastefully Simple party. I bought a few things. Everyone was very nice. Almost all the recipes I bought included sour cream and/or cream cheese as the additional item(s) needed to make the dish. I think if I didn't enjoy cooking, this would perhaps be a company I should own some major stock in, or at least find a way to get a discount... However, I really enjoy cooking. A lot. So I came home and started thinking about recipes and how I could make the dishes those smart folks at Tatefully Simple are selling for prices I'm too cheap to pay more than once (for the novelty value). For example: Key Lime Cheese Ball. Now, I tried it at the party. It was ok. I have a margarita pie recipe that would taste even better in cheese ball form, for free because I already have all the ingredients at my house. Next up, figuring out how to make beer bread from scratch taste as good as this.

So I headed home, inspired to make something delicious for dinner. Instead, I made a pretty normal meal (small steak, wilted leaf salad, baked potatoes), BUT I found a magical website (I'm having fun with the link button today) that just made my Christmas a whole lot easier! I figured since there's a whole two of you that follow this blog, it was probably pretty safe to post it here. Today, after class I spent all afternoon on the phone with my mother-in-law (she's in on the Christmas gift secret because it's her recipes and her mother's recipes that comprise most of the gift) and then copying recipes into a family cookbook. I'm super excited. I think this is probably the most personalized gift (other than the scarves I made a few years ago) I've ever made for That Nice Man I Live With's family.