Dairy-free Eggnog Smoothie

This is one of my favorite holiday treats!

Blend together until smooth:

1/2 cup soy nog
1/2 cup rice milk
1 frozen banana
dash nutmeg

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cookies

My son wanted to make gingerbread people for Christmas.  I really liked the gingerbread cookies on our Disney cruise, so I tried this recipe.

After chilling the dough, I rolled it thick (about as thick as my index finger), cut out the cookies and baked them for 8 minutes.  You don't want to overcook gingerbread dough, especially if you like soft cookies.  One recipe made six large cookies.

The cookies smell amazing!!!

Christmas Foodcrafting

I have a tradition of making gifts for my colleagues at Christmas.  Some things I've made in the past:

• candy cane bath salts
• stove top potpourri
• mulling spices
• gingerbread cookie mix with a cookie cutter
• peppermint bark cake balls
• s'mores caramel corn
• spiced nuts

This year I made cake pops with red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting.  I dipped half of the pops in white chocolate and the other half in dark chocolate.  I love the taste of Ghirardelli candy melts but they are a little runny.  I mixed half Ghirardelli candy melts with half Wilton candy melts -- it was the perfect combination of flavor and consistency.

I sprinkled the white cake pops with clear sugar sprinkles, and the dark cake pops with white nonpareils.  I packaged them using buckets from the One Spot at Target.  I also individually wrapped some of the pops with a ribbon and a gift tag.  I love how they turned out!

  

A few weeks ago my son told me that he wanted to give something to the kids in his preschool class.  I was inspired by something I saw pre-made at Target.  We put jumbo marshmallows on a long sucker stick and dipped them in chocolate candy melts.  Then we dipped them in Andes peppermint crunch baking chips.  My five-year old was able to do most of the work with a little guidance from me.  Easy and fun!  The only thing I would do differently next time is to use a thicker stick like a cookie stick.

Spooktacular Treats

I love holidays, and they are even more fun now that I have a kiddo.  We were looking for something to do one weekend in October, so we made a haunted gingerbread house.  I used melted marshmallows to glue the house together -- they weren't quite strong enough to hold for longer than an hour.  Next time I might try melting gummy bears and marshmallows together.

I needed to take treats to a Halloween potluck lunch at work.  My son told me I should make eyeball cupcakes (he is very creative!).  I used Lindt white chocolate truffles and decorated them with food markers.  They were a big hit!

Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

I am a huge fan of Thanksgiving food.  I can't even pick a favorite.  I want it all!

After many years of making sides, desserts, and even a few turkeys, here are my favorite recipes (click on the hyperlinks to access the recipes online).

Turkey:

I have made Martha Stewart's perfect roast turkey several times.  It always turns out tender and juicy.  I'm also a fan of her giblet gravy (included in the turkey recipe) and classic stuffing with cherries and pecans.

Turkey breast:

This is the perfect recipe for a smaller crowd.  I back off on the salt (reduce to 2 teaspoons).  Butter and bacon and herbs...oh my!

Cranberry mocktail:

I had one of these on my recent Disney cruise and will be re-creating it for Thanksgiving.  Yum-o!

Cranberry sauce:

Homemade cranberry sauce is super easy to make.  The recipe on the back of the bag works well.  If you want to try a new recipe, I've been making Alton Brown's recipe made with honey and juice instead of sugar and water (note: a standard bag of cranberries is 12 oz not 1 pound, so you'll need 3/4 of the ingredients).  I prefer it with clover honey since wildflower honey was a little strong (though after a few days it tasted perfect!).

Sweet potatoes:

The dessert that we call a side dish.  This is my go-to recipe.

Dinner rolls:

See my recipe for perfect dinner rolls here.

Chocolate pie:

My husband is a fan of chocolate pie so I make one every year.  I use a Pillsbury crust (the kind in the refrigerated section of the grocery store) and cook it first (follow the directions on the box).  I fill it with a large box of chocolate pudding, made according to the directions on the box (I prefer the cook kind, not instant -- you can make it in the microwave).  I pipe on homemade whipped cream and sprinkle on mini chocolate chips for a show-stopping dessert.  If you want to make homemade filling, this one is my favorite.

Whipped cream:

Homemade whipped cream is simply whipping cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar.  I don't measure my ingredients -- I just add vanilla and the sugar a little at a time until it tastes good.  Beat it until it's fluffy but stop before it turns into butter.

Mini pumpkin pies:

These are adorable mini pumpkin pies.  They are called "impossible pie" because they form their own crust while they bake.  I like to bake them in foil liners since they look like mini pie pans.

Pumpkin cupcakes:

Oh my!  These are light and delicious and melt in your mouth.  I top mine with homemade whipped cream instead of frosting.

Pumpkin cheesecake:

Crust:

1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

Mix ingredients together.  Press into a springform pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Cool.

Filling:

3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

5 eggs

1/4 cup heavy cream (2 oz)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 can pumpkin (16 oz)

Mix together cream cheese and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Stir in cream, spices and pumpkin.  Poor into cooled crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  Cool.  My cheesecake usually cracks, so I spread homemade whipped cream over the top.

By now you've figured out that I love pumpkin desserts!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Candy Corn Fruit Kebabs

There is so much candy and so many treats this time of year, that it's nice to find cute food that is healthy.

This idea came from Super Healthy Kids.

All you need is pineapple, mandarin oranges, apples (or banana), and toothpicks (or lollipop sticks).

The trick (haha!) is to line the fruit up on the cutting board and then cut the sides so they're even.  I dipped the apples in the pineapple juice so they wouldn't brown.

Fun and yummy for kids and grown ups!

Rainbow Cupcakes

My son is a Brony (a dude who likes My Little Pony), and his favorite pony is Rainbow Dash, so I made rainbow cupcakes for our family birthday party.

I used Duff's tie-dye cake mix.  It is a white cake mix that comes with red, yellow and blue food color.  My only complaint is that the box tells you how many drops of food color to put in each bowl of white cake mix, but the food color came out in globs, not drops, so I had to guess.  The color turns vibrant a minute or so after mixing it into the cake mix.

I used about 1/2 tablespoon of each color of batter for each cupcake -- in order to get a full layer of each color.  One box made 12 cupcakes, and they were a bit full.  I baked them for 18 minutes (there are no baking times for cupcakes on the box).  I was very happy with the result!

I used blue frosting (from a tub), AirHeads candy, and mini marshmallows to decorate the cupcakes (thank you to my friend Amy at sometimes creative for the inspiration!).  We bought Rainbow Dash at Target -- she came in a "blind bag" but there is a little window on the back if you want to know which pony you are buying.

Happy Birthday to my little Brony!

Recipe Review: Perfect Cupcake Frosting from Our Best Bites

I am always on the lookout for good frosting recipes.  I decided to try a cooked frosting recipe from Our Best Bites.  They claim it's the perfect cupcake frosting!

Step 1:  Whisk together flour and milk

Step 2:  Cook flour and milk mixture

Step 3:  Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla

Step 4:  Add cooled flour and milk mixture

Step 5:  Beat for a long time

Result:  Sweet, fluffy frosting -- this is a frosting that is light and does not draw attention to itself -- my little boy said "it's whipped cream!"

I made cupcakes with a chocolate fudge cake mix and added 1 cup mini chocolate chips to the batter.  I piped on the perfect frosting and topped it with Andes creme de menthe baking chips.  YUM!

Stars & Stripes

I wanted to make a thank you gift for one of my colleagues, and since it's July I went with a patriotic theme.

This cute bucket from Target was begging for some cookie pops.  I love how it turned out!

Spreading Sunshine

When I was going through a difficult time, a friend of mine brought me a "box full of sunshine."  It made my day!

I loved the idea and wanted to pay it forward.  After Easter, I bought a couple of yellow Easter baskets and some bags of yellow shred.

It's finally time to make the first delivery!  I bought some honeysuckle hand soap, a lemonade candle, and yellow note cards at Target.  I've been wanting to make smiley face cake pops, and this was the perfect occasion.  I also made a little note from stickers and card stock.  Just by chance, I found yellow pinwheels on sale at Joann's -- I couldn't resist adding one!

Other ideas for yellow things include candy, gum, lip balm, nail polish, lotion, bubbles, a mug, etc.  Check out my friend Amy's post on her Sometimes Creative blog for her version.

Spread some sunshine and brighten someone's day!

Recipe Review: Muffins

A couple of years ago, when my sous chef was two years old, he wanted to make "nuffins" on Saturday mornings.  We would leave the extras on our neighbors' front porches.

I found three amazing muffin recipes on allrecipes.com:

Jumbo Fluffy Apple Walnut Muffins

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

Banana Crumb Muffins

All of the recipes lived up to their name and their 5-star rating.

This morning we made the banana crumb muffins for Father's Day.  We mixed in Heath chips.  They should be a treat!

Restaurant Review: Kenny's Burger Joint (Plano, TX)

Today is my birthday!  And I always need to eat good food on my birthday.

I decided to try Kenny's Burger Joint since I'm always hearing rave reviews.

I ordered a classic cheeseburger.  It reminded me of home-grilled burgers.  Yum!

But even better than the burger were the loaded cheese fries.  Kenny knows how to do cheese fries!  There's nothing worse than eating a few cheese fries and being left with a plate of plain fries underneath.  Not so at Kenny's!  There is cheese on every fry.

I don't know that Kenny's is my favorite burger in Dallas (Liberty Burger and Hopdoddy are some tough competition), but I definitely wouldn't turn down an opportunity to eat here again.

Foolproof Brown Rice

I am always trying to eat healthier, and especially try to replace the white carbs in my diet with whole grains.  I actually really like brown rice.  However, it can be tricky to cook.

Here is a foolproof method for cooking brown rice (from Our Best Bites blog).  You cook it like pasta -- by boiling it in excess water!  Just be sure your colander/strainer has holes small enough that the rice won't pass through when you drain it.

Favorite Foods Tour

To celebrate my friend Ginger's birthday, we had a progressive dinner at three different restaurants and ate some of her favorite foods.

First stop - appetizers:  Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen for lump crab & spinach dip and Greek salad

Next stop - entrees:  Maggiano's Little Italy for Rigatoni D pasta

Final stop - dessert:  Breadwinners Cafe for chocolate seduction cake

Sugar Cookie Pops

Tomorrow I am teaching a lesson to our women's group at church and the lesson uses the sunflower following the sun as a symbol for us following Christ.  I decided to send the ladies home with a little reminder of the lesson.

I made my favorite sugar cookie dough recipe.  I used my mini flower cookie cutter to cut out the dough.  I added a lollipop stick before baking the dough.

I tinted store bought frosting with food color, frosted the cookie and added an M&M.  I packaged the cookie pop with a treat bag and ribbon.

Tomorrow is also our babysitter's birthday, so I made a few extra cookie pops for a birthday cookie bouquet.

My sous chef was a willing helper:

Recipe Review: Rolled Sugar Cookies

I have a batch of rolled sugar cookies chilling in my refrigerator right now.  I discovered the recipe at allrecipes.com a few years ago and have made it several times.  With this recipe my sugar cookies always turn out perfect.  I like to roll them thick and pull them out of the oven just as they are starting to brown.  The recipe makes about four dozen cookies so I usually make a half recipe.

Unlike most sugar cookie recipes, the dough tastes amazing even before it's baked.  My taste tester agrees:

If I am feeling ambitious, I make homemade frosting.  My favorite is this Swig copycat frosting with sour cream and salt (I use 1/2 cup sour cream and omit the milk).  I've used vegan sour cream successfully but it has to be one with a mild flavor.

Here are some sugar cookies that my little guy helped me make awhile back:

Recipe Review: Fudgy Chocolate Fondue

A few years ago I found a recipe for chocolate fondue on Pinterest (original source is the Sing for Your Supper blog).  I made the fondue for a Valentine's Day party and it was super delicious.  I made it for Valentine's Day again this year.  The best part is choosing all the yummy things to dip in the chocolate!

Restaurant Review: Torchy's Tacos

Torchy's Tacos is my favorite taco joint in Dallas.  Their menu is hysterical and their tacos are food heaven.  I love the Democrat (beef barbacoa) and Mr. Pink (salmon).  The Democrat has enough meat for two tacos so I order it along with a side of torillas and have two delicious tacos.  The breakfast tacos are also stellar.  My husband likes the Trailer Park and he gets it trashy.  Torchy's sauces compliment the tacos nicely.  The queso has just the right amount of kick, and Torchy's serves Maine Root drinks -- my favorite is the vanille creme soda.  Super YUM!

Recipe Review: Chocolate Chunk Cookies from The Pioneer Woman

For years I have been looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I finally found it!

I love The Pioneer Woman's recipe for chocolate chunk cookies.  The secret is browned butter -- it gives the cookies a wonderful caramel flavor.

I omit the coffee and the nuts.  I usually find that I need to add extra flour.  I recommend following the instructions in the blog post.  The key is to refrigerate the dough before you bake the cookies -- do not skip that part -- otherwise you will have flat cookies.

My son helped me make this dough for a Memorial Day potluck at our friend's house.  We used 1 cup of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup of mini M&M's.

I baked most of the dough in a round springform pan for around 20 minutes.  We decorated the big cookie with store-bought frosting.  I used the rest of the dough to make individual cookies.  I hope that the kids and the grown ups like them!

Recipe: Easy Lasagna

I do the cooking on Sundays, and lasagna is one of our favorites.  This is an easy lasagna that takes a little over an hour to make.

You will need:

8 to 12 oz. chicken sausage
8 oz. ricotta
1 egg
9 sheets no boil lasagna (I typically use a whole wheat lasagna available at Whole Foods)
approximately 1-1/3 jars pasta sauce
8 oz mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

1.  Brown the sausage.  I like to use my crinkle cutter to mince the sausage after I cook it.

2.  Mix together the ricotta and the egg.

3.  Grease a square baking dish.


4.  Assemble the lasagna

1/3 jar sauce
3 sheets lasagna (they will overlap)
half of the ricotta
half of the sausage

repeat

top with 3 sheets lasagna and 1/3 jar sauce

NOTE:  You want to use enough sauce to cook the pasta, without using too much sauce

5.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes

6.  Remove from oven.  Top with the shredded mozzarella.  Sprinkle with Parmesan.

I typically like to shred my own cheese since I think it melts better.  But pre-shredded cheese is certainly more convenient.

7.  Put under the broiler until cheese is brown and bubbly.  I love the flavor that the browned cheese adds to the lasagna.

8.  Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

You can experiment with different brands and flavors of ingredients until you find your favorite combination.  I'm still experimenting to find mine!

Cheese of the Week: Camembert

This week's cheese is a wedge of camembert that I picked up at Trader Joe's.

Camembert is a semi-soft cheese from France that is similar to brie but with a stronger aroma and flavor, and a texture that becomes creamier than brie when heated.

I let the camembert warm up to room temperature before eating it.  I liked the buttery texture, but the flavor was a little bitter for my taste.  I'll stick with brie in the future.

Gadget Review: Yonanas Frozen Dessert Maker

I had been making "banana ice cream" (or as Daniel Tiger calls it, banana swirl) in my Cuisinart food processor.

To save wear and tear on my food processor, I asked for the Yonanas frozen dessert maker for Christmas.  It retails for around $50 but you can find it for less.  It comes with recipes.

To use the Yonanas maker, start by peeling and freezing "cheetah spot" bananas.  When you're ready to make your dessert, allow the bananas to thaw slightly (I pop mine in the microwave for 15 seconds on high).

Put half a banana in the Yonona maker.  Turn on.  Add your other ingredients (my favorite combination is frozen mangoes and berries).  Turn on.  Add another half banana.  Turn on.

The result is a super yummy and healthy treat!

My only complaint is that about half a banana is left inside the machine.  Since I don't like to be wasteful, I open the machine and scrape out what is left.  The machine is easy to take apart and easy to clean.

Recipe Review: White Chocolate Frosting

Quite by accident, I stumbled upon The Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcake bakery in Draper, Utah about four years ago.  I had the most delicious cupcakes!  Now I try to stop at The Sweet Tooth Fairy whenever we're in Utah to visit my in-laws (sadly their Southlake, Texas location closed).

The owner is a Cupcake Wars winner and was kind enough to share her black & white cupcake recipe with the world.

I tried making the dark chocolate cupcakes and they didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.

But the white chocolate cream cheese frosting was AMAZING.  It is my go-to frosting recipe.  I just need to be sure I have lots and lots of white chocolate on hand!

I once heard Alton Brown (my hero -- all that science and all that food!) say that he approves of cake mixes but he believes in making homemade frosting.  I agree.  I like to make a chocolate fudge cake mix and stir in 1 cup of mini chocolate chips.  Then I top it with the amazing white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Here is the amazing frosting at my son's birthday party.  I recommend chilling it slightly before piping it.

Cheese of the Week: Muenster

I'm sure I've eaten muenster on sandwiches I've bought at a deli, but I think this is the first time I've bought it to eat at home.

Muenster is a semi soft cheese from the United States.  It is a white cheese with a distinct speckled orange rind.  I think it tastes a lot like mozzarella.

My favorite way to eat muenster is on a buttery cracker.  It'a a great flavor combination!

Easy Party Brownies

My favorite treat to take to a party!

I buy two-bite brownies at Kroger, pipe on store bought frosting, and add fruit and nuts.

Easy peasy!