Kathiey's World

You probably have a Holiday Breakfast dish you like to serve on Christmas morning. I have one too, and today I want to share my Sausage Strata Recipe. It is a breakfast sausage casserole that I have made every year on Christmas Eve for decades. It has become our traditional Christmas breakfast strata.  I started making this recipe in 1981. My husband and I were moving to the Kansas City area. He was headed to seminary, and I was headed to nursing school. We stopped at my mom's brother's house in Ohio and spent the night with them on our long journey to Kansas. In the morning, Aunt Edna served us a make-ahead breakfast casserole. She actually made two. On the table in the morning were cheese strata and sausage strata, and both were delicious. That morning eating the strata that Aunt Edna lovingly prepared for us, we did not know the Sausage Strata would become the Christmas Breakfast Casserole recipe that we would make for decades. For this recipe, you will need things like a 9-

 I can't believe it is only just over a week until Christmas. Is all of your shopping done? Mine is not. I am going to take a look on Amazon for a few potential stocking stuffers. I love Christmas stockings. The joy of what you will find inside. (I am an Amazon Affiliate, and I get a small percentage of the sale of anything you buy using my links. Don't worry; there is no added cost to you:-) 1- LESONG Brain Teasers Metal and Wooden Puzzles for Kids and Adults 9 Pack,  I love puzzles, and a gift like this is always nice to receive or give on Christmas. 2- Toys for Girls Gifts LCD Writing Tablet - CHEERFUL Toddler Toys for 3 4 5 6 7 8 Year Old  My granddaughter would love this writing tablet. She is 6. 3- 4 Pack Jumbo Eggs with Dinosaur Pull-Back Cars, Dinosaur Toys for Kids - These would be fun to play with on Christmas morning! 4- Taco vs Burrito - The Strategic Family-Friendly Card Game Created by a 7-Year-Old  This looks like a fun game to me:-) 5- Hog Wild Holiday Reindeer

 I do enjoy wine.  Do I know a lot about wine, and have I been drinking wine for decades?  The answer is no and no.  That being said, you have to start somewhere, so let's start with your basic wine tasting.  As a beginner, I am looking for a process to help me better taste my wine. As I research wine tastings, I have found 3, 4, and 5 steps to wine tasting.  There are three main factors: visual, smell, and taste.  Other steps you could add are swirl and spit, and you can also include savor.  I would love to get to the point where I was an expert at all 5, but that will not happen anytime soon. As far as the "spit" portion of the wine tasting, I would prefer to "dump".  Meaning I want one of those containers to pour my leftover wine into rather than having to spit.  I was never into spitting unless something was so offputting that I had no choice. The Wine Tasting 1-The Visual -Take a good look at your wine.  Look at the color and the clarity. Is it clear or clo

Let's continue on our stress relief journey today.  I found an article several years ago called Karen Carnabucci's GPS Guide On Relieving Stress . One of the first things in this list of 100 ways to relieve stress is "Chocolate Meditation."  I found instructions on how to meditate with chocolate on Psychology Today. This should be fun. Stress relief through chocolate. I think almost everyone enjoys chocolate and the added plus of stress relief makes it even better. Before we get to chocolate meditation, let's look at how chocolate can relieve stress. According to Healthline  "eating dark chocolate can change your brain wave frequency, providing benefits in memory improvement and stress reduction." Most say dark chocolate is the chocolate of choice to decrease stress. 70% Cacao or above is the recommended level of dark chocolate to get the desired stress-release effects. According to Very Well Mind , dark chocolate is the chocolate of choice, but milk

  I am always looking for fun things to do in the area.  I thought I would take it a bit further and see what events are occurring in North Carolina in a specific month.  Let's take a look a just a few things happening in December in NC that you may enjoy. I live in the Raleigh/Durham area, so I decided to look for interesting events to attend in December that are easily within driving distance.  I would love to attend them all! Things to do in December in the Triangle Area The Links to Each Event... (Be sure and verify event times and locations before attending.   You may need a ticket depending on the event) Chinese Lantern Festival November 18-Jan 8 in Cary NC Holiday Pops North Carolina Symphony In Raleigh December 9-10 Skate the Square at Fenton-Ice Skating in Raleigh Nov 5-Jan16 Disney on Ice Frozen and Encanto in Raleigh Dec 7-11 Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Dec 14 in Raleigh A Few Things to do In NC that are not so local to the Triangle Area. Historic Beaufort Christmas Cand