Snow Day

It snowed a bit over Christmas weekend so my husband took the kids out to play. Tristan LOVED IT! It was his first time in the snow and he played for at least 40minutes before we dragged him inside kicking and screaming. He probably would have stayed out all day if he could!

Daniel helped shovel our walkway and then played a bit with his baby brother, all in all, very awesome!

Happy Holidays!

I hope you have a wonderful Holiday no matter WHAT you decide to celebrate!

{snowman shot at some random house while I was running errands a couple weeks ago}

Recipe: Maple Sugar Cookies

My husband and older son thought they were amazing! The little one tried to sneak off with them so I think he liked them too!

Ingredients

• 3 C all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 C good quality REAL maple syrup

Cookie Topping Ingredients

• 1/2 C good quality REAL maple syrup
• White sanding sugar (decorative sugar crystals)

Directions

1. Stir the flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Cream the butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar in a separate bowl until pale and fluffy. Add your egg yolk and maple syrup.
3. Add in your flour mixture and mix until combined. Shape into two disks and keep the fridge for about 2 hours to rest.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. My oven is evil so I did 350 degrees.
5. Roll out one disk of dough and using whatever awesome cookie cutter you have, cut out as many cookies as possible and place on a baking sheet that’s lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch apart. Re-roll scraps and repeat until you have no room on the baking sheet.
6. Bake 15 – 17 minutes until edges are golden. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then brush with the maple syrup and sprinkle with the sanding sugar.

It’s a very pretty cookie overall and a different take on the more standard sugar cookie!

Recipe: Snickerdoodles

Such a soft and tasty cookie! My family LOVES these and as long as you have room-temperature butter on the counter, they are SUPER fast to make.

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture

• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 TBSP granulated sugar

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. My oven sucks and is like 40 years old so I did 375 degrees.
2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and freshly grated nutmeg.
3. In a separate bowl, cream the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy. I use a hand-mixer because I am not fancy enough to afford a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Add your eggs and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.
4. Now carefully mix in your flour mixture. Start at a low speed and work to the highest speed so you don’t get flour all over the kitchen or on yourself!
5. In a small bowl, mix up the cinnamon sugar mixture, this is to roll the dough in for tasty goodness.
6. I used a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop so I had even cookies (mostly even!) or you can just make about 20 balls. So grab some dough, shape into a ball, and roll around in the cinnamon sugar mixture until its totally coated.
7. Space about 3 – 4 inches apart on a parchment paper (LOVE PARCHMENT PAPER OMG) lined cookie tray.
8. Bake 14 – 16 minutes, until the edges are golden. Let cool for about 5 min on the tray and then move to wire racks to finish cooling.

I normally make a double batch because they go so fast, they make awesome gifts, and I make my husband share them at work! I actually plan on mailing a container of these out to a friend tomorrow (if I can summon up the courage to deal with the post office), so hopefully they ship well.

Are you baking lately? Share your recipes!

Christmas Ponderings

Ah I feel like I am finally coming up for air! In the past 30 days… heck, the past two and a half WEEKS, we’ve dealt with the norovirus, colds, and I got MARRIED!

With everyone finally feeling better I’ve been running around like crazy trying to prepare for Christmas. The tree is up and decorated, the mantle is also decorated, simply yet pretty. The tree on the other hand is crazy and full of color. Daniel LOVED decorating it although I realized we need to buy shatterproof ornaments as we had a lot of casualties! I wonder if after the holidays if Christmas decorations and such go on sale?

I’ve also been doing a lot of baking! I have in the fridge right now, dough for Maple Sugar Cookies and I baked two batches of Chocolate Gingerbread Brownies. It’s funny in a way, how much I love to bake considering I rarely if ever EAT what I bake. I know my husband gets a kick out of my baking urges. I always make sure my family has something homemade for dessert and snacks, plus Keith brings his lunches to work (which either I make for him or it’s leftovers) and I want him to have a really awesome ending to his meal. I know. Very housewife like.

I will be mailing out my holiday cards by the end of the week and so far I am excited to be EXCHANGING cards with EIGHT people! I know that seems like a small amount but I LOVE real mail and I always take great care to write something thoughtful in my cards! It drives me INSANE when people mail cards and just sign their names to them. What’s the point in keeping a card like that? I also hope to mail out some goodies as well, just depends on when I can find the energy to deal with this frigid and snowy weather to buy what I need!

I’ve also bought all of Tristan’s and Daniel’s Christmas gifts, however there may be one or two more items I would like to to get for Danny as he is such an awesome big brother and helps SO MUCH that he deserves a few extra goodies. All in all though, we did NOT go crazy for gifts. I did make sure to get the main gift that he has been talking about for months though.

So tell me, how is December going for you so far? What’s going on for Christmas?

We Made It Legal

I am now a MARRIED woman!

Yep! Keith and I got married today! I can’t believe it!

Last Signs of Autumn

Yeah. You know you love it. Beware, soon it will be snowy and I will be posting snow and snowflake photos until you get sick of them! Oh yeah, changed the theme for December and January!

Thanksgiving Weekend From Hell

I can say without a doubt that this has been the WORST Thanksgiving we’ve ever experienced.

We got the Norovirus.

The only one that seems to have been spared is my oldest son, Daniel. Yep. Sir nummies got it Sunday and vomited all morning. Thankfully after a LOT of nursing, the magical breastmilk seems to have done its job and he was back to his happy self by late afternoon. I wish I could say the same for myself.

It seems to have lasted longer with me and even as I type this I am miserable and in pain. I’ve suffered from two migraines and a third will probably hit soon because it looks like it’ll rain.

I am trying to have high hopes that the rest of this week improves.

Not Over Yet
As of now, Tuesday SUPER EARLY MORNING. My oldest son Daniel has started vomiting. I had hoped one of the boys would be spared but sadly, everyone in my household is having to deal with this evil illness. I got him cleaned up, on the couch, vomit bowl and gingerale in hand, and cartoons on the TV.

Keep Danny in your thoughts please!

My Thanksgiving Menu

I am SO freaking excited about making Thanksgiving Dinner.

I love to cook and more importantly, I love to cook for my family! This year I am having Daniel help me out because he loves to create, cook, and I’ve always felt that baking, roasting, whatever it is, even basic prep work like cutting celery, can give one a sense of accomplishment.

So this year we will be making the following from scratch:

• Roast Turkey (20lbs!) with roasted garlic, white wine, fresh thyme, and butter
• Gravy made from the turkey drippings
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes
• Cranberry Sauce
• Baby Carrots with Brown Sugar and Butter
• Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
• Hot Spinach Dip
• Sausage, Apple, and Mushroom Cornbread Stuffing
• Angel Biscuits
• Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
• Apple Pie
• Pumpkin Pie
• Double Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Am I forgetting any “classic” side dish or dessert? What are you cooking for Thanksgiving this year? If you’re not cooking, what are your plans?

Recipe: Baked Penne w/Butternut Squash, Ricotta, Bacon, & Walnuts

This is a delicious Autumn themed meal and very filling! The walnuts add a nice flavor and crunch while the bacon… is bacon! Smokey and AWESOME!

Ingredients

• 2 LBS butternut squash, cubed and peeled
• 5 C whole-wheat penne, cooked
• 1 1/4 C milk (I used 2%)
• 2 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/3 C Parmesan cheese, grated (I use REAL Parmesan Reggiano)
• 1/4 C walnuts, chopped and toasted
• 4 slices of thick cut bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• kosher salt to taste (the type of salt I use)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 TSP fresh thyme leaves, chopped (you could also use dried)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Coat a cookie (baking) sheet and a 2 1/2– to 3-quart baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Place squash on baking sheet; sprinkle salt and grind pepper over the squash and roast until tender, about 30 minutes. Place in a large bowl and mash until all the cubes are broken up but not totally smooth. I use a potato masher for this NOT a hand-mixer.

3. In a large saucepan, whisk together milk, flour, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in mashed squash, chopped bacon, and the fresh thyme. Add sauce to pasta; toss to mix and coat.

4. Transfer pasta mixture to prepared baking dish; dot with spoonfuls of ricotta and then sprinkle with Parmesan and walnuts. Bake until top is lightly browned in a few spots, about 20 minutes; remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Makes about 1 cup per serving and this recipe makes 8 servings. You can eliminate the bacon to make this dish vegetarian as well!

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