Christmas Cookie Hangover

I've been BEYOND busy with Christmas activities and moving.  I feel like a loon for choosing to move in December, but c'est la vie right?  :)  Anyhoo, I would like to apologize for my 10-part series on Christmas Traditions only being a 6-part series.  I was having some technical and scheduling difficulties.  Also, today marks the first anniversary of my tiny little blog, so I thought it fitting to re-post my very first post.  What's different between now and then is that I would make this delicious recipe using whole wheat flour.  Thank you so much for coming over to read my blog and thank you for extending some grace my way until some of the crazy makes it's way out of my schedule. 

Originally Posted 12/26/2011

It is the day after Christmas.  All of the presents are opened, the house is messy from entertaining, everyone stayed up too late playing with their new treasures, and I'm standing in my kitchen trying to figure out a breakfast that doesn't have sugar in it.  Normally, I'm very quick to whip up a batch of fluffy waffles or pancakes, but this morning, I can barely see straight because of all the sugar I've consumed the past four days. 

Favorite Christmas Traditions Series: English Toffee

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My oldest daughters favorite Christmas treat is this amazingly simple English Toffee.  I’ve always been intimidated by making candy.  But this is so easy, it’s next to impossible to mess up.  This recipe comes from my Grandma’s recipe book and only takes 5 ingredients and about 20 minutes.  I also give this out for quick, cheap, and easy Christmas and Hostess gifts.  It just wouldn’t be Christmas at our house without some of this in the candy dish. 

Favorite Christmas Traditions Series: Soft Ginger Cookies

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If you could capture the essence of Christmas in a cookie, this is it.  I make these delicious gems every Christmas and they don’t last long in my house;  I will abstain from admitting who eats most of them.  *ahem*  But once your kitchen is filled with the wonderful aroma of these cookies, you’ll have a hard time waiting for them to cool before eating one. 

Amazing Chocolate Cake With Peanut Butter Frosting

I made this amazing recipe for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  I like to try at least one new recipe each year.  I'm so glad I stumbled upon this incredible, perfect chocolate cake.  Paired with peanut butter frosting, this cake can't be beat.  There is absolutely nothing healthy about this cake, but that's OK, I'll make an exception, it's that good!!

Seared Pork Chops with Wilted Spinach

We recently picked up a half pig from Date Creek Ranch, a local ranch here near Phoenix.  They are a local, family-run ranch that takes a holistic grazing approach; and they're just super-nice people.  We've ordered grass-fed beef from them in the past and LOVED not only the beef, but the prices as well.  Their prices are very comparable to conventional meats in the store.  So when we re-ordered our beef for this year, we ordered a half-pig as well.  It is delicious!  I've not been a big fan of pork because I've always thought it smelled and tasted funny, but I am now a fan of the pastured pork from the ranch.  No funny smell and the taste is nothing short of wonderful.  If you have access to pastured meats, I HIGHLY recommend you give it a try and taste the difference. 

Roasted Okra

It's okra time in the desert and boy am I ready!  I must admit that okra used to be on my list of veggies I tolerated but never really enjoyed.  I just couldn't get over the "slime" factor.  Fried okra is good, but I really try not to eat deep-fried vegetables.  Last year about this time, I was getting tons and tons of okra in my CSA basket and didn't know what to do with it.  Then I found this method.  Hallelujah! **light rays from the sky, angels singing, doves flying**

Athena Creation: Groovy Sausage Veggie Rice Casserole

My most recent Athena Creation was a success!  From time to time, I throw together the ingredients I have and cross my fingers.  I lovingly present these to my family as "Athena Creations" with either a silly name or a random number like 3,296.  Anyhow, sometimes they are great, sometimes they aren't so great.  This dish was great and made fantastic leftovers for lunch the next day.  Boy do I love dinners that turn into an enjoyable lunch the next day!

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I love banana bread.  This recipe is my grandma's but with my take on it by using whole wheat flour.  I use freshly-ground whole (hard white) wheat flour, but the recipe works with all-purpose flour or King Arthurs White Whole Wheat Four.  Now, whole wheat flour requires a bit more liquid, so feel free to be very generous with your liquid measurements and maybe add a bit more for good measure.  :) 

Adventures in Breakfast: One-Eyed Toast

Breakfast is hands down my favorite meal.  I love how versatile it is.  It can be sweet or savory, heavy or light.  And the genius behind brunch?  Props to whoever that was.  One of my favorite things to make for breakfast is a big batch of Grandma Carol's Waffles.  But this morning, I was in a savory mood.  I had some artisan 3-cheese bread leftover from dinner and wanted to do something special with it.  Thanks be to my dad for introducing me to this one-eyed toast recipe when I was 10 years old. 

Grandma's Fruit Cobbler

In case you haven't noticed, or are a new reader (thanks to all of you BTW) of my little blog, I feature many of my Grandma's recipes.  Grandma's recipes represent love and comfort to my soul.  This recipe delivers nothing less than delicious, buttery comfort that feels like grandma's hug. 

Simple Chinese Beef and Broccoli with Garlic Sauce

One evening, I had leftover roast beef and some beautiful broccoli.  So what to make for dinner seemed obvious.  However, I've never seen or heard of anyone making Chinese Beef and Broccoli with cooked roast beef.  I've only seen it done with thinly-sliced steak.  But the baby was fussy and I had to get dinner on the table quickly, so I decided to view it as having one step in the recipe done (cooking the meat).

Cajun Sausage Frittata

The other night was one of those nights where dinnertime came and I realized that I didn't have the chicken I planned to serve defrosted, so I had to figure out something quick.  When this happens, I usually fall back on breakfast for dinner.  Luckily I had plenty of pastured eggs and veggies from my CSA.  Then my eyes found the package of nitrate-free cajun andouille sausage I picked up on sale.  Boy did I hit a home run with this nice little dish.  We all went back for seconds and didn't have a scrap leftover. 

Book Review and Giveaway : Your Grocery Budget Toolbox

I have to say that I was super-excited when fellow blogger, Anne, asked me to review her new book, Your Grocery Budget Toolbox.  I have followed her blog, Authentic Simplicity for a while now and I always learn something valuable.  I really admire her balance between providing healthy meals to her family, food allergies, and a tight budget.  This same balance is reflected in Your Grocery Budget Toolbox. 

Simple Salmon (My Favorite Preparation)

It's hard to believe that I only started liking salmon about 4 years ago.  I'm a Cod and Halibut kind of girl.  Salmon had too strong a flavor for my tastes.  But one summer, after reading all the health benefits of salmon, I was determined to make myself like this pink fish. 

Roasted Garlic Mesquite Sweet Potatoes

I didn't think you could eat sweet potatoes with the peel until a friend of mine made a recipe similar to this one for me to try.  Now, sweet potatoes don't seem like as much a pain to cook when I'm in a hurry.  This recipe was so simple, and versatile, I almost couldn't believe it was sweet potatoes I was preparing. 

Roasted Butternut Squash Fries

Yep, I'm roasting vegetables again.  It's just my favorite way with veggies.  I found this great idea on Pinterest (go figure) and decided to give it a try.  It's a recipe by This Southern Mom Cooks and it came just in time since I had two butternut squash left from my previous two CSA baskets.  I adapted the recipe just a tad to use all natural ingredients (the original calls for cooking spray) and voila, roasted butternutty goodness in the form of fries. 

Roasted Nopales

Have I mentioned that I love my CSA?  I find it to be more necessary in the summer months where most farmer's markets are closed for the season because of the intense desert heat.  Things still grow out here in the summer, it's just not reasonable to hold an outdoor market when temperatures at 5am are in the 90's and get over 110 after 12pm.  Anyhow, I would like to highlight one of the new ingredients our farmers included this week in my CSA basket.  Nopales. 

Simple Rosemary Chicken

When I made dinner the other night I realized that I tend to always fall back on the same recipe when I make chicken.  One, because its simple and quick; and two, because it's DELICIOUS!  For these two reasons, this is my absolute favorite way to prepare and enjoy chicken.

Fermented Ginger Carrots

I finally did it.  I finally attempted and succeeded at fermenting vegetables (on purpose anyways).  In reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and in my other research, I've decided that it would be in my family's best interest to include fermented vegetables into our diet.  I'm all about gradual change, so I'm taking the "it's a condiment/relish" approach for now.  My decision to make carrots was based on the remnants from last weeks CSA basket.  These were delicious! It has a sweet and tangy flavor and as an added bonus, it is chock-full of beneficial bacteria to aid in digestion. 

Memorial Day and Delicious Non-Traditional BBQ

This Memorial Day was pretty low-key, and that's the way I like things most of the time.  It was just me, my Handsome Hubby and our Nephew who is staying with us for a bit until he finds an apartment while going to school.  Our house is kind of like a boarding house sometimes.  It seems like more often than not, we have a guest.  I really enjoy this aspect of our home.  Anyways, back to our BBQ.  I picked up some wild-caught Alaskan halibut (my favorite fish) for an excellent price at Safeway and was dying to incorporate it into our BBQ.  Biggest obstacle: my Handsome Hubby hates halibut...