Zesty Zucchini Noodles

A few years ago my Mom made a really awesome zucchini dish, and never saved the recipe!  For years now, I have been searching the internet for similar recipes, and experimenting with tastes in my own kitchen. Sadly, it has been to no avail.  One day though, I hope to find it because the dish was just that good!  I am a big fan of zucchini, but sadly I am the only one who is in my household!  Sometimes I try and sneak it in, hoping that it will become a hit over time!  

This recipe is such a simple and basic recipe!  It also follows the school of knowledge that if you want a kid to eat a veggie, cover it in cheese!  Because of the cheese I used, and the use of black pepper, it winds up becoming a dish with bite!  Delicious!  

I usually designate my Sundays for any mass cooking I need to do.  I already knew that this week I wanted to do a zucchini dish and a cauliflower dish.  I didn't want to fully prepare the zucchini on Sunday so that by Wednesday it's limp and mushy!  Oddly enough, as I type this I am listening to The Chew and Clinton Kelly just said, "A limp noodle...always bad for the soul."  Couldn't have said it better myself Clinton!  

To make life a little easier, cut up and blanch the zucchini a few days ahead when you have the time.  I used 3 zucchinis, which rendered about 3-4 servings.  Take each zucchini, wash and cut each end off.  Cut into strips lengthwise.  With each strip, cut thinner strips from it making "noodles."  Put the cut up zucchini in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle with salt.  Let sit for about a half hour to drain the zucchini of excess water.

  

While you wait for the zucchini to drain, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil.  Add the zucchini and boil for 1 minute.  Drain zucchini into a colander and run under repeatedly with ice cold water until zucchini is cold to the touch.  This is to shock the zucchini to prevent further cooking.  The whole process is called blanching.  I then put the colander over a bowl for about 15 minutes to drain the excess water from the zucchini.  

From this point:

1.  You could freeze the zucchini if you had cut it into round slices and spread them in a single layer on a wax-paper-lined baking sheet until frozen; then transfer to a ziplock to use in recipes in the coming months.  

2.  Or you can put it into an airtight container and put it into the refrigerator to use within a few days.

When ready to prepare the recipe, set the zucchini on the counter for a few minutes to bring it back up to room temperature.  

This recipe is SO simple, I'll just give you the whole recipe in a matter of sentences.  Heat about 4 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet.  Add about 2 tablespoons minced garlic (more or less according to taste).  Immediately add the zucchini (you don't want the garlic to brown and caramelize, which makes it sweet).  Heat and stir until zucchini mixture is heated through.  Season with salt, ground black pepper and a dash of hot sauce and sprinkle with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese right before serving!  I am telling you, it is DELICIOUS!

London Broil

I love when there's a good London Broil sale and you can buy the family pack which has two steaks in the package.  When I get home and unload the groceries, one of the first things I do is open all of my packages of meat, and re-pack them into zip-lock bags.  I'll buy 3lbs of chicken and then break it up into 1lb packages.  Not only is it economical to buy family packs, but I know how much my family eats so there's very little waste; and by taking them out of their original packaging, I also wind up saving space in my freezer! 

London broil is often referred to as a cheaper, tougher cut of meat.  This really depends on how you utilize it.  It is best if you marinate, I cut a few slits into the top of the meat, as to let the marinade penetrate the meat more sufficiently.  When you marinate, you can marinate for as little as an hour, or (and this is what I prefer) you can marinate for 24-48 hours.  The longer you marinate, the more flavorful your meat becomes.  

Since I only have indoor grills, I prefer to make London Broil in the oven.  For me, it's just easier.  But it can be prepared on an indoor or outdoor grill.  It can also be made in a slow cooker, which I have tried before and DO NOT recommend!  Let's just say that certain things really do sound good in theory, but the finished product is not quite up to par!   

This recipe is a pretty much how my parents have always made their London Broil.  Usually, they use the dried variations, but I just wanted to eat onions with my meat.  For this, you would use at least a 2lb London Broil which would serve about 4-6 people.   Usually, you figure a half pound of meat per person.

Ingredients:

• 2lbs or more of London Broil
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce

*YOU  COULD USE MORE OR LESS OF THE SOY AND WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCES DEPENDING ON YOUR DIETARY NEEDS AND BASED ON THE SIZE OF THE LONDON BROIL.  I JUST USE EQUAL PARTS OF EACH.

Directions:

1. Set your meat in a container that you have enough room to marinate.  Pour both of the sauces over the meat and then top with garlic and onions.  Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to about 24 hours.  
2. Before cooking meat, bring to room temperature.  The easiest way I do this is take it out of the fridge and let sit for 15 minutes.  Then turn on oven to 325º F.  By the time the oven preheats, it's been a half hour since the meat has been out of the refrigerator.  Now you're ready to cook!  Transfer the meat to a roasting pan and pour the left over marinade over the meat.
3. Roast for about a half hour.  When you test with a meat thermometer, you want it to read 140ºF.  This will give you a little pinkness in the middle of the steak.
4. Let rest for at least 15-20 minutes after removing from the oven.  This will allow the juices to go back into the steak.  Then slice thin and against the grain!  Serve with the onion slices that you roasted with the meat.

♫♪I'm Bringing Home A Baby Bumblebee...♪♫

Lucky for me, my son and I LOVE to do crafts.  Also lucky, is the fact that my boss loves my constant crafts with the kids, and will buy absolutely anything I need to complete another one of my ideas.  I had seen, in one of my parenting magazines, a bumblebee craft out of a water bottle; but it was definitely way too complex for little 2-year old hands.  This is my hands-on, step-by-step of what I came up with:

• After some thought, I figured I could do my own bumblebee craft, using an empty toilet paper roll for the body.  I had the kids finger-paint the roll yellow, but you could also have them glue yellow tissue paper or do it the opposite way and have them do the black first!  
• Next, take a sheet of black construction paper (yellow, if doing it the opposite way).  For each bumblebee, you will need to cut out 3 strips that will fit around the diameter of the roll.  Each strip needs to be from 1/2" to 1" wide.  Let each child glue their strips around the roll, one on each end, and one in the middle.  With the left over construction paper, cut out a stinger for the bee and wings for the bee.  Glue stinger at one end of the roll and the wings on either side of the roll towards the middle of the body.  
• I was initially going to construct the head out of construction paper, but couldn't find an easy enough way to do it while also having the kids contribute to it.  I then thought of foam craft balls!  PERFECT!  Use a foam ball at least large enough to fill the opening of the toilet paper roll, let the kids finger-paint it yellow.  After it dries, let the kids glue on 2 googly eyes, and let an adult stick in 2 cut pieces of pipe cleaner (for the antennas) and draw on a smiley face.  Of course, if your child is older, they may do all of these steps themselves.  Then glue the head of the bee onto the body.  I put glue on the rim of the paper roll and pressed down firmly.  Don't press down TOO hard, otherwise you will crush either the roll or the foam ball.
• Using a hole puncher, punch 2 holes onto the top of the bumblebee's body.  Thread string or ribbon through the holes with enough slack to hang the bumblebee for decoration.
• I have a tendency to try and put songs with the crafts we do, it's the daycare teacher in me!  For this craft, we used the song by the same name!  :)

Zesty Lime Pork Chops

Recently, I've become a little obsessed with the pairing of meats with citrus flavors.  Although these are mainly lime-infused, there is a hint of lemon pepper seasoning in the breading.  The key to packing in the flavor to anything breaded is to season, season, season!  It's the same theory as seasoning your pasta sauce.  I never make pasta without generously salting my pot of water first.  Otherwise, your pasta is bland.  And, in my house, one of our favorite dishes is Pasta e Broccoli, so the sauce relies on the addition of a few ladles of pasta water.  

• Season the egg, I usually put a few shakes of hot sauce in my egg/water mixture.  I don't make it "spicy" as I would like for my son to eat as well.  The key to seasoning, is to add just enough, not to overdo it with any one flavor.  
• Season the flour.  You can season the flour a little more liberally.  I season with salt and pepper.
• Season the crumb mixture.  For this recipe I used Panko crumbs to give it more of a crunch.  Depending on what I'm making, determines what I'll season my breadcrumbs with.  In this case it was lemon-pepper, but it has been oregano, basil, parsley, red pepper, the list goes on forever.  Just season to your taste.  

***Since I have typed most of the recipe as is already, I've decided to ditch my usual format and just keep typing!  If you need the exact quantities for each item, I pretty much use a cup of each: flour and breadcrumbs to start, with around 1 tsp of each of the added seasonings and just add more as needed.  For my egg mixture, it's about 1 egg to 1/4-1/2 cup of water.***

Recently, I've only been using Canola and EVOO for any and all of my cooking needs.  In this recipe, I used Canola to cook my pork chops in, cooking them over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes on each side.  You want your chops to become nice and brown and crunchy!  

After your chops are cooked thoroughly, a meat thermometer is one of the most useful tools in the kitchen; drain on a paper towel.  Squeeze fresh lime juice over the chops and garnish with lime slices.  This is great with rice and corn or any other summer vegetable.  The flavors are so tantalizing that even Eoin enjoyed it and he's not a huge pork chop fan!

"Orange-you Happy Carrots" from Parents Magazine

I feel absolutely terrible for not updating this blog in so long.  Work has been a bit hectic; and now that the summer is here, every weekend there's just something else going on!  I have quite a few recipes that I need to start typing up, and even some toddler crafts that I have done recently with the kids.  We have been so busy, averaging about 2 arts and crafts projects per week!  Right now we're on our bug-theme, so I hope to share some of my ideas relatively soon!  

While Eoin likes a lot of veggies, he does need some "encouragement" to eat a select few.  Carrots are not on his favorite list, and haven't been since he was an infant.  Usually, I will buy a bag of baby carrots for a recipe, use some and then have about 1/2-3/4 of the bag to find something to do with!  I found this recipe in my May 2012 issue of Parents magazine.  It's a quick and easy side dish that the whole family can enjoy!  I will post the original recipe for you.  I, of course, didn't have all of the exact ingredients on hand, so I substituted!  My substitutions are always in italics!  

I tend to read a lot of posts in cooking forums and the like.  One of the most common comments on some of these recipes are that "I really wanted to try out this recipe, but I didn't have such and such" (OR "I don't like such and such").  Recipes are merely suggestions.  Yes, you can follow them exact, or you can take the tips you learn from them and make it your own!  I think as time goes on, I get better and better at this, finding out what I can and cannot substitute for certain things.  For instance, white granulated sugar, honey and maple syrup can be interchangeable, depending on the dish.  This recipe called for honey, which I didn't have at the time.  But it was a carrot dish and had raisins in it, so I opted to sub in some maple syrup to give it the same glaze that the honey would have.  Cooking is a learning experience, and like a fine wine, you'll get better at it with age!  The key is to enjoy it!

Like I have always encouraged, if you do try on of the recipes posted on my blog, feel free to make it your own.  I welcome any and all feed back and comments! 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb packaged peeled baby carrots
• 1/2 cup orange juice (I used the juice from about 2 oranges)
• 2 Tbs honey (I used roughly the same amount of maple syrup)
• 2 Tbs golden raisins (I used your run-of-the-mill, dark California raisin)
• 1 tsp finely shredded orange peel

Directions:

• In a large, deep skillet, bring 4 cups water to a boil.  Add carrots; return to boiling.  reduce heat; cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until tender.  Drain and return to pan.

• Stir in orange juice, honey (maple syrup), and raisins.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 5 to 8 minutes or until liquid is syrupy and carrots are glazed.  Serve topped with orange peel.

My Dad's Garlic and Oil Pasta with Vegetables

I am so happy to present my reader's with my second guest contributor, my Dad!  I have not tried out this recipe yet, but I will in the foreseeable future, and I'm excited!  It looks great.  After years and years of just pasta and sauce, I have finally discovered just how versatile pasta can be.  You can literally add ANYTHING to it and come up with your very own dish!  This uses frozen Italian vegetables, but I'm sure you can substitute it for any frozen packaged vegetable that you have in your freezer.  

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pasta (Vermicelli)
• 1/3 - 1/4 cup E.V.O.O.
• 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic (crushed)
• Kosher salt
• l pound bag frozen Italian vegetables

Directions:

• In a large pot of salted water, boil pasta until al dente.  Drain well.  (Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water).
• In medium pot, heat vegetables, and drain well.
• In a small saucepan heat oil slightly, add garlic.  Saute garlic until it is lightly browned.  Be careful not to burn garlic.
• Combine pasta and garlic, vegetables, and pasta water.  Toss and serve.  
• Top with Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Salt and Vinegar Chicken Thighs

I was planning on having my cousin and his girlfriend over for dinner one night, but then Bill went to 12 hour work days and scheduling a dinner date was next to impossible.  I had planned to make Greek-Style Chicken and had bought the extra chicken thighs and all, so I needed a new recipe to use up the surplus.  Although my family loves the Greek-Style Chicken, we don't want to eat it constantly!  I have recently been experimenting with brining, and it does make a world of difference!  This chicken came out so moist and tender!  It was delicious!  And for any of you that know me, I am so not a fan of chicken, especially dark meat!  As I've gotten more and more acclimated to making dishes that are healthy and totally from scratch, I've gotten more adventurous.  There are so many "spices" that don't come dried in cylindrical containers!  I left my chicken marinating for 2 days, but you can leave it marinating for far less than that.  Just make sure you marinate it for AT LEAST and hour.  Your are also going to save 1/4 of the marinade.  The chicken will cook in it for a half hour.  Then just use a baster to drain all of the marinade from the baking dish.  

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken thighs (I used bone-in, skin on)
• 1.5 cups of apple cider vinegar (you can substitute for white vinegar if you don't have cider)
• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 teaspoons of seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, egg, seasoned salt, black pepper and minced garlic.  
2. In a baking dish, lay chicken thighs in a single layer and pour marinade over them.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 2 days.
3. Preheat oven to 350º.
4. Transfer thighs to a glass baking dish, and pour 1/4 of the marinade over the top.
5. Bake chicken for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, drain the marinade from the baking dish and return to over.  Bake an additional 15-25 minutes.  Until the juices run clear and the skin is nice and brown and crispy.  Chicken thighs should be cooked until the internal temperature is at least 165ºF.

Fried Chicken

It seems like every time I have chicken thighs, I make Greek Chicken.  While I personally love my Greek Chicken, change is also very good!  I NEVER make fried chicken, the closest I ever come is oven-fried chicken.  I'm personally not a huge fan of poultry, but I figured Bill would love the change of pace, and he did!  He actually LOVED this chicken! It does take a while.  I made my own buttermilk, it's easy enough and you can find the recipe from this oldie but goodie:  "You can catch more flies with honey than VINEGAR, assuming you want to catch flies!", it's located under the cooking and food uses.  You can soak the chicken in the buttermilk anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours!  I soaked mine for about 5 hours, obviously the longer you soak, the better.  Just lay the chicken flat in a shallow dish, pour the buttermilk over it, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.  I fried the chicken thighs in the pan and oil for the whole time, but I think next time I may just fry them until the outside gets crisp and then bake them the rest of the way.  It took me about 50 or so minutes to fry them, which seemed drastically long because they weren't all that thick to begin with!  

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

• about 5-6 chicken thighs, roughly 1 1/2-2 lbs total
• 1 cup buttermilk (store bought or homemade, look for the recipe above)
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2-2 tspn of seasoning salt
• 1/2 tspn chili powder
• 1/2 tspn ground black pepper
• 1/2 tspn garlic powder
• oil for frying

Directions:

• Soak the chicken in the buttermilk, as explained above, for desired time.

• Combine the flour and the spices in a large resealable bag.
• Drain the thighs and put into resealable bag, one at a time.  Toss to coat.  This is a fun part for your child to help with!  Mine did, and had a blast!  

• Shake off excess flour and put on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining thighs.  Let stand for 15-20 minutes.

• Heat about 1/4" of oil in a large fry pan.  Fry each side until a deep golden brown.  (Next time here is where I would drain the chicken on paper towels and then I would bake until cooked through).  Cover and cook for 30 minutes, turning occassionally to keep from burning.  Uncover and cook for about another 15 minutes, turning to prevent burning until chicken is cooked through.  

• Drain chicken pieces on paper towels.  Serve with your favorite sides!

Blackened Tuna Steaks

For awhile now I've been toying with the idea of making a blackened chicken dish and hopefully as warm weather approaches, I will gain some courage and attempt to make it.  We had the opportunity over Lent to get some real good tuna steaks, and I didn't want to do the "tried and true" ways of preparing it, like most no-fail fish dishes: broiled with lemon.  Don't get me wrong, it's DELICIOUS that way, but I'm becoming a more adventurous cook!  I've only had blackened catfish before, and it was very good, so I figured blackened tuna would be just as good; and it was!  For those of you, who are like me, and are frequent flippers, FIGHT THE URGE!  This needs to cook 4 minutes on each side!  At 4 minutes, it is medium, if you want it more thoroughly cooked, cook for another 2 minutes on each side.  Longer than that, your fish is going to start to dry out.  We had gotten four pretty thick tuna steaks, and while the cajun seasoning wasn't that spicy the day of, after sitting for 2 days, there was a decent kick!  There is also a blackening seasoning, I have not tried it, but if you do, please feel free to leave your feedback!  It is always encouraged and appreciated!  Also, while I didn't experience this, you may encounter a lot of smoke while cooking this.  It is very encouraged to open your windows and turn off your smoke alarm while cooking!  Afterwards, please remember to turn that smoke alarm back on!

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 tuna steaks
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 TBSP butter
• Cajun seasoning (about 1/4-1/2 TBSP for each steak, you're going to sprinkle both sides with the seasoning)

Directions:

• Heat oil and butter in a pan over high heat.
• Coat both sides of each tuna steak with cajun seasoning.

• When oil is hot, near smoking, add each steak and cook for 4 minutes on each side (1 or 2 minutes longer if you want it more well-done)

1-2-3 Shrimp Scampi!

This year I've become more adventurous in what I make on Fridays during Lent.  This week I wasn't quite in the mood for fish, and one can only eat so much pasta, so I decided to branch out and cook a shrimp dish.  This was seriously the easiest thing I've ever made, and it was DELICIOUS!  Serve over rice, pasta, roasted potatoes, whatever your favorite starch is!  We served this over wild rice because we had it on hand.

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed is the best, it's juice for approximately 3 lemons; but you could probably use lemon juice concentrate, such as Real Lemon)

 
Eoin helped me hand-squeeze the lemons!

• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tbsp and 1 tsp of minced garlic
• 2 lbs of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• ground black pepper, to taste
• crushed red pepper, to taste

Directions:

• In a large bowl, take the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, black and red pepper and whisk together. Add cleaned shrimp to the mixture and toss to coat.  Put in the refrigerator and let marinate for at least a half hour.

• When mixture is done marinating, add to a skillet over high heat.  Cook until the liquid boils and the shrimp turn opaque.  

Spinach, Scallion and Provolone Quiche

I haven't posted a breakfast recipe in awhile.  Usually we either have fried or scrambled eggs with corned beef hash or bacon.  Last week I bought a container of cottage cheese, and fully intended to eat it.  Well that was until Friday came around, and I came to the realization that it was just going to go to waste.  I decided instead of wasting it, I would make a quiche for breakfast one day over the weekend.  The joy of making quiche is that you can use whatever you have in your fridge!  I added spinach, scallions (green onions), garlic and provolone to mine.  This very may well be the only way I get my son to eat spinach at the moment!  Since it was on a whim, it was also crust-less.  I am intrigued about all the future flavor combinations that I can try, and will definitely be adding them to this post as I try them!

Makes about 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 (16 oz) container of cottage cheese, I used small curd but you can use whatever fat content and curd size you prefer
• 1 (10 oz) package of frozen, chopped spinach; thawed and liquid squeezed out
• 1 bunch of scallions (green onions), white parts only, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of jarred minced garlic
• 1/4-1/3 lb of slicing provolone, ripped into bite-sized pieces

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325ºF.  Spray baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, beat eggs.  Then using a large spoon, add and mix each ingredient to the bowl.  Pour into prepared baking dish.

• Bake uncovered for about 35-40 minutes.  Mixture will rise slightly and start to brown.  Let stand about 5 minutes, serve.

Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips

Homemade tortilla chips are seriously THE EASIEST thing to make! You can fry them, but for a healthier version, I bake mine. You can season them however you want, toss them in a splash of lime juice, salt them; whatever your heart desires! All you do is take a large tortilla (you can use corn, whole grain or whole wheat); cut the tortilla into eight pieces (cut in half, stack, in half, stack, and in half). Put the tortilla wedges into a bowl and season with a drop of olive oil and whatever seasonings you like. I used salt and chili powder. Then spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350ºF for 5-10 minutes, until you get your desired crispiness. Serve as a side to homemade salsa or guacamole! If you use a whole pack of 10 tortillas (most large tortillas come in pack of 10-12), you'll get 80 chips!

Valentine's Day Toddler/Preschool Crafts

So every once in a while, someone will ask me for ideas for arts and crafts to do with their child.  Usually, I don't do anything all that notable.  I am a Nanny to two 20 month olds, and my son is only 25 months old; so I can't do anything all that intricate.  I already have ideas of what I want to do next year and the year after, but I try and break down most of what we do to the simplest form, so it's not too overwhelming for them.  Plus, I don't want to do the same thing year after year, then it just seems like a chore for me!  Here are three Valentine's Day crafts that we have recently done.  They all came out so incredibly cute, and the kids were so proud of themselves.  The last craft is from Parents Magazine.  Usually I'm intimidated to even try the crafts they have, but this looked like something I could do!  The only thing I didn't like about this craft is that, although the kids glued everything down themselves, it still looked like they had help from an adult!  Aside from creating and cutting out all the parts, all I did was put glue on the back of each part!  They did the rest!  It still came out really cute nonetheless!

(This is actually copied from an email I just sent out today) 

Today Eoin's going to do a simple, cut out a white heart and let him fingerpaint it red, but we also did a few more intricate projects:

1.  Valentine's Day Wreath:

We took a paper plate (ours was pink, but any color will do) and cut the middle out.  I have a stash of multi-colored paper scraps so I cut out a bunch of different sized hearts.  The kids I watch are 20 months and Eoin is 25 months, so I do the gluing for them.  I just put a single line of glue all around the perimeter of the plate and then let them put the hearts all over.  I added more glue as necessary.  Then at the end I let them pick out a glitter glue color and just put a little trail all around it.  

2.  Valentine:

I cut one scalloped heart out of white paper (if you want to be even more creative, you can use a coffee filter or doily) Then cut a pink heart smaller than the white.  I have a heart hole punch, if you don't have one, just cut tiny hearts out of different color paper.  Glue the white and pink hearts on a piece of red paper.  Then take a paintbrush and spread glue over the two hearts.  I used the tiny hearts as confetti and let the kids sprinkle them onto the glue covered hearts.  You can also sprinkle glitter over the glue covered hearts.  While that dries, trace two hand prints on orange paper.  I wrote "I ♥ Mommy" on one and "I ♥ Daddy" on the other.  When the hearts dry, then glue the hands onto the paper.

3.  Stuck on you:

I got this one from Parents Magazine:

I included pictures of the step by step process.  

For the frog's body:  Fold the papper in half, then fold in half again.  Draw a half-heart against the folded corner, making sure that the top and side edges align with the folds.  Cut out, unfold, and flatten.

Cut 4 legs as shown, 2 at an angle about 5" tall and 2 straight about 4" tall.  Punch 6 hearts and glue to ends as feet (again, if you don't have it, just cut tiny hearts out) Glue legs under big heart, and bend larger legs at the knees.  Trace spoon handle on pink paper, cut out , and glue inside of mouth.  Cut 2 2" dark green and 2 1" light green (I used yellow) ovals, glue together.  Draw pupils; fold edges of ovals, and glue to top of head.

Reindeer Munch

This year for Christmas, Eoin made his Great Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles ornaments for Christmas. We also made a recipe that I had found in the December 2011 issue of Parents Magazine. Reindeer Munch is very similar to something that I had tried years ago called “White Trash.” It's fun and easy to make and is quite tasty too! I am going to post the original recipe. I did make some alterations, I used a mix of white, milk and dark chocolates. I already have my idea for next year's presents for Great Grandparents and Aunt and Uncles, but I'm pretty sure we'll wind up making this again as well, it was just that good! Parents Magazine suggests gifting this treat in a handmade container, I used a holiday decorative cellophane bag.

Makes about 12 cups (24 ½ cup servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups bite-size square-shaped rice cereal, such as Chex (you can also use Cheerios)
• 2 cups thin pretzel sticks
• 1 cup salted cocktail peanuts (or use soy nuts)
• 1 cup dried cranberries (you can use any dried fruit really)
• 1 cup candy-coated milk-chocolate pieces, such as M&M's
• 12 oz vanilla-flavored candy-coating, or white candy melts (I used white, milk and dark chocolate chips-not combined, I did a few batches separately)

Directions:

In a very large bowl, combine the cereal, pretzels, peanuts, dried fruit, and candy pieces; set aside.

Put bite-size candy pieces in a microwave safe bowl, melt according to package directions. Pour over cereal mixture; toss to coat.

Spread mixture on a large piece of foil. Let stand until set (about 30 minutes). Break into bite-size pieces.  

Spiced Sugar Cookies

It's been a Christmas tradition in my family for I don't even know how many years, that we make sugar cookies. My brother and sister have taken over this tradition and now make them every Christmas Eve. Since this past year I have been all about starting traditions for my family and I, I wanted a nice and easy cookie recipe to do. These are spiced sugar cookies from McCormick, a little different spin on the original sugar cookie, and this way, if I bring some to my parent's for Christmas Eve, it has a slightly different flavor to it. Eoin loved helping me make these cookies! He spent a lot of time helping me decorate them. You can use whatever you desire to decorate them. We used little cinnamon candies, red and green decorative sugars, multicolored sprinkles, and red and green frosting. The original recipe says that it yields 6 dozen cookies, but it depends on the size of the cookie cutters you use. We had enough cookies to bring to my side of the family for Christmas Eve, the other side of the family for Christmas, give to my landlord, and still have a tiny bit leftover for us.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• whatever you desire to decorate your cookies with

Directions:

1. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight until firm.
   
   
   
2. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookies cutters. If decorating with sprinkles or candies, decorate prior to baking. Place on greased baking sheets.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Bake in preheated 375ºF oven 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. If decorating with frosting/icing, decorate after cookies have completely cooled. Place back on wire rack to dry.