Tis the season…for craziness

Hey there

I am up to my eyeballs lately.  And I not-so-secretly love it.  I thrive on being busy and having a lot on my plate.  One thing I may not thrive on so much is having a nearly 1 year old who seems to be sprouting teeth like crazy.  Seriously, I see 4 popping through.  And for once, I’ve seen my poor baby miserable — quite a departure from his usual smiles.

Another thing driving me a little batty?  The car situation…Apparently it’s a total loss

I’m personally not a fan of looking for new cars.  To get almost the exact same car, I will likely have to pay a difference.  So then do I upgrade?  Gah, dunno.

Despite all that, we’ve been trying to squeeze in some holiday fun, which included baking:

Why is it that Hershey kiss blossom cookies only come out at Christmas time?  The cookies above were actually made with TJ’s Speculous Cookie Butter since the only PB I had on hand was coconut PB spread and Zach vetoed that.  Surprisingly, the cookie butter made for a less sweet cookie than PB.  Delish nonetheless.

I’ve declared I’m making 4 more things pre-holidays: Hershey blossom cookies (with PB next time), peppermint chocolate crinkle cookies, butterscotch brownies, and white chocolate crunch bark (a la Courtney).  Taste testers for all the above are welcome

And finally, we chopped down our Christmas Tree!

(Thanks to Shayla for the super adorable sweater for Bean!)

It’s our “tradition” (as in 3x) to go to Frosty’s on Skyline.  The owner is so kind and the lot is full of excellent trees.  Aside from a debate on Noble vs Douglas with our friends, we both found our perfect tree.  It’s now up and decorated with some gifts underneath — it truly is feeling like the holidays.

On that note, when all the crazy occurs, I am so glad to have moments to take a break and enjoy what the season is all about.

Is there anything I must add to my baking list?  If so, send me a link!

2 new cookie recipes for the holidays

Well good morning! Are you excited that Christmas is just 3 days away?  Our tree is filling up with presents, but the only present I’m anxious to open is the one in my belly.

I did arrive home yesterday to this:

Naava discovered where I was hiding stocking stuffers (in my closet behind piles of clothes on a high shelf), so she managed to eat a bag of peppermint dark chocolate pretzels and a bag of TJ’s rosemary nuts.  Bad dog!  The little butthead was all hopped up on sugar for hours!

Moving on…

I had never had no-bake cookies until I spent my first Christmas with Zach’s family.  I was instantly hooked and had no idea how easy they were to make. 

After looking at various online recipes, this is the  mish-mash I came up with and they turned out fabulously!

No-bake PB cocoa oat cookies:

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons Nestle cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup creamy PB
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/3 cups quick oats

Directions

• Add all ingredients into a pot on the stove
• Heat on medium-t0-high stirring frequently
• Once mixture begins to boil, allow to boil for 1 min (no more than 1 min 20 sec or so)
• Remove from heat
• Add all oats and stir
• Allow to cool on stove top for about 15-20 min
• Drop large teaspoonfuls on waxed paper (lined over cookie sheet or large plate)
• Place cookie sheet in fridge for several hours
• Store in airtight container in fridge or freezer

After tasting some of these, I knew I needed to bake with them:

Cinnamon M&M cookies:

Simply follow the recipe on a bag of a Nestle chocolate chips and instead of adding the chips and optional nuts, add 1 bag of cinnamon m&m’s and about 1/2 – 3/4 cups of chocolate chips. 

Bake at 375 degrees for about 9 minutes.  Cookies will be unbelievably soft and chewy

What are you baking up this Christmas season?

If you have a dog, is she/he as crafty as finding hidden food as my dog is?

Christmas trees and Christmas lists

Really, where is Sawyer?  I mean come on already!  Sure he’s got 10 more days, but I expected him to be like his mama and be insanely early.  Argh

But it is Friday and we’re just over a week from the big holiday, so I figured today’s post should focus on the happiest time of the year!

Zach and I are are still forming our traditions.  This is our 4th Christmas living together and the one tradition we’ve really kept up with is cutting down our own tree.  I absolutely love it.  This year we went back to the place we went to first: Frosty’s in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

Purty right?

There were so many good trees to choose from that it didn’t take long.  This year we wanted to go a tad smaller since we have enough ‘stuff’ going on and didn’t want to maneuver around a massive tree on top of it. 

Naava likes to come too so she can pee on all the other trees to help us pick out the perfect tree

Zach is in charge of hanging the lights when we return home and I do the ornaments. 

And to add a bit of holiday cheer, we have a few other decorations around the house:

Moving on to Christmas lists….

This year it’s been really tough.  The only gift I really want is a healthy, happy baby boy!

But still random things go through my head so here are a few items I drummed up:

Silly / ridiculous:

• Cinnamon cupcake from Sprinkles
• Cinnamon roll from Los Gatos Café (seriously, so freakin’ good)
• Rose gold diamond band(s) like these or this one to go with my push present ring (size 6)
• Kate Spade or Hunter rain boots (darn Piperlime gave me  the idea, but they had no size 7.5)

Acts of service:

• Healthy dinners and a fully stocked fridge everyday
• Someone to vacuum the endless cat/dog hair that appears
• Unsolicited offers for foot and back rubs

Practical:

• New jammies.  I’m sick of my old ones and could do with getting rid of some too.
• Leopard pumps/shoes like these (totally practical right?)
• Curling wand

What’s on your silly / service / practical Xmas list?