Christmas Eve Eve is celebrated on December 23 and we traditionally have a Mexican Fiesta. This started a few years back when my Dad brought handmade Tamales for dinner. It’s a great meal, and nice to have something different during a time where many meals are heavy and extremely unhealthy. Tamales are not healthy, but all the sides we make with it are. Plus, it’s SUPER easy, nut-free and everyone loves Mexican food!!! Here’s our menu. It’s also a good day to kick back a little and enjoy the holidays without the pressure of cooking / being in the kitchen since Mexican food can kind of just chill out for…
Sunday Night Beef Roast
It’s cold, damp and dark in Wisconsin, so it’s the perfect time to make a hearty and filling Beef Roast with Vegetables. So bring out your dutch oven, turn on your fireplace and snuggle in with this winter favorite recipe. It’s the perfect addition to your Sunday, especially if you’re hanging out with friends or family before your busy week starts. The yield on this is about 6-8. We made it last week and it was excellent. I was busy searing the meat on the stove top, about 4 minutes on medium- high each side, when I realized I did not have any red wine to add to this recipe.…
Sugar Cookies
Today was sugar cookie day. It’s the cookie I hate the most. Making the dough is easy, but rolling it out and using it quickly, before it gets too mushy, can be challenging. Especially when you have two littles eagerly trying to help. This morning we rolled out the dough and used our cookie cutters for various holiday cookie shapes. This afternoon, I made 3 types of frosting and gathered some toppings to decorate the cookies with the kids. Here’s the recipe – I’m a little under the weather, so tonight’s post is quick. Sugar Cookies Ingredients 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 2 egg yolks 1 tsp baking powder…
Chocolate Reindeer with Vermont Skippers
This herd of chocolate reindeer is perfect for your upcoming kid-friendly holiday parties and gatherings. This recipe is always my favorite to make because it creates the most laughs. The chocolate dough does need to refrigerate, so keep that in mind before making this recipe with littles. Perhaps you want to make the dough the night before, so when your helpers are ready you can get right to business, their attention span is short, maximize it! Also, you decorate these cute little fellas BEFORE you bake them. Opposite to our classic sugar cookie. This year, we did not factor in the time it took to chill the dough, so my…
Lemon-Poppy Seed Melt Cookies
If you’re looking for a bake-ahead + freeze cookie, this is it. These cookies can last up to 6 months in your freezer. However, they taste so good, I think you’ll have a hard time putting these away. The lemon zest is bright and gives you the illusion these are “healthy” cookies. Not so much. But the creamy lemon poppy seed is a comforting flavor that has me coming back for more every time. Enjoy! Lemon-Poppy Seed Melts Ingredients 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 tbsp poppy seeds 1/8 tsp baking soda 1 egg yolk 1 tbsp milk 2 tsp grated / shredded lemon peel 1/2 tsp vanilla…
Dipped Creams with Artisan Kettle Chocolate
Dipped Creams are little delicious pillows that melt in your mouth. Literally, they just pooof before you have time to chew! They are very light and fluffy and highly addicting, especially with the melted chocolate on the top. Be sure to have your favorite holiday drink near by, these DO need some milk or egg nog to wash them down. Chocolate Dipped Creams Ingredients 1 cup of butter, room temperature 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1/8 tsp salt 1 cup cornstarch 1 cup sifted flour Extra powdered sugar for rolling 1 cup chocolate for melting; set up a double boiler so you don’t burn your Artisan Kettle Chocolate.…
Raspberry Meringue Cookies with Enjoy Life Chocolate
These are probably my favorite holiday cookies to make. They look complicated, but they are super easy and very unique. Chloe and I love them because they combine two of our favorite things: the color pink, and chocolate. Enjoy life brand makes a nut-free / allergy free mini chocolate chip that completes this recipe beautifully. The taste is perfection, and I can’t describe it, you just have to make these. Light, pink and fluffy. Pink is the perfect color to add to your holiday cookie baking, or ladies night Holiday get-together. Raspberry Meringue Kisses Cookie Ingredients 3 egg whites 1/8 tsp salt 3.5 tbsp raspberry gelatin 3/4 cup sugar 1…
Sunbutter Temptation Cookies
This weekend was our annual cookie bake weekend in preparation for the upcoming holidays. This tradition started 7 years ago when I was 9 months pregnant and craving cookies. It worked out well, my mom needed a personalized gift for 15 co-workers and Cookie Bake weekend was born. Craving satisfied and gifts delivered, we have continued this tradition through babies, toddlers and now little people who actually help! It’s been fun talking about our cookie bake memories; the recipe mix-ups, spills, breastfeeding while baking, kid naps on the kitchen floor, burnt spatulas, burnt cookies, unidentifiable cookies, the list goes on. Each day this week, I’ll share a recipe of the…
Nut Free Advent Calendar
Since it’s challenging to find a nut-free advent calendar, I’ve purchased a Pottery Barn “fill-it-yourself” type and have stuffed a bunch of nut-free candy of my own in. It’s the same thing. Just a count down. Nothing fancy. Ok probably the fanciest advent calendar, but at least it’s 100% nut free and I know what’s in it! Other options I saw this year include the Target countdowns with Lego. Love that they are non-food based. Check the link to order online and pick-up in stores. Target Lego Advent Calendars\ A few ideas for a fill-it-yourself calendar….we raided our local Target tonight. Somehow I’ve missed the boat here for advent calendars.…
Nut Free Starbucks Gingerbread House
We had a little Gigi time today at Mayfair Mall where we visited Santa and had some chocolate milk and cookies. As we waited for our Starbucks chai tea lattes, we saw this adorable nut-free gingerbread house. Make sure you check the label, Starbucks notoriously has items made in a facility with nuts. But these are too cute!
Nut Free Thanksgiving Menu
Tradition gives us hope and happiness, and while I know it won’t be the same this year without my husband’s Mom here (we miss her so much already), we are going to try to incorporate some of our usual traditions to help carry us through to a new beginning and happier 2018. Especially for the kids. They need this the most, to see how we persevere in light of adversity. For thanksgiving this year, we’re going to use the staples most of us have had, sans the nuts, as per usual, except the one cooking in the kitchen! Here’s what we are thinking. Do nothing. Do absolutely nothing, call Whole…
Chocolate Chip Ghost Muffins
Tonight we baked pumpkin muffins for school tomorrow to celebrate Halloween! We also finally carved our pumpkins, and holy cow, carving an owl was harder than I thought! But we did it, all of us (as in all four of us carved one pumpkin because it was huge and we ran out of time!), and the pumpkins are on the front porch ready for tomorrows trick-or-treating! The kids are excited for “The Great Pumpkin” to arrive, since we do not keep our candy, the Great Pumpkin leaves a small little something in exchange for the kids candy (that is always donated). This year I found glow in the dark Thomas…
Fall Colored Sprinkles
This is SO incredibly rare, I had to buy them and post them here: Made in a nut free facility! We can use these on cupcakes for Halloween and Thanksgiving! Or ice cream sundaes. Plus they were 50% off. We purchased these at Hobby Lobby. This is NOT my usual store for craft and baking, it just happened to be near our errands today. Don’t forget Betty Crocker is a safe brand for baking if you’re in a pinch, just make sure you double check the label. Happy Monday!!
Halloween for All!
The teal pumpkin project has grown so much over the past few years and this year I was SO happy to see retailers participating, too! Walmart, Target, Michaels all have teal pumpkin and products to support Halloween for All! lLast year we painted a wooden pumpkin teal, and it rained a lot, which gave us a teal porch (Crayola washable paint wasn’t a good choice). This year’s teal pumpkin is from Michael’s. My only beef with it is that it’s SO light, it blows off my porch daily and I’m always running after my teal pumpkin. We will leave it inside until Halloween. The banner is from Amazon.com. it shipped…
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