I was the last hold-out among my local circle of friends to hire a babysitter. I just couldn’t bear the thought of entrusting the care of my precious little ones with anyone outside of our family. And given that we have no family closer than an 8 hour drive away…well, you can just imagine how rare our date nights have been.
It wasn’t until I was about a month away from my due date with our second child (as it turned out, it was just a week before he was actually born!) that the reality of two kids finally set in with me. My sanity was going to depend on having a trustworthy helper. End of story – the most wonderful woman now comes over to watch Dora the Explorer and rock the infant seat for a few hours every week while I “get things done”. She genuinely loves children (she’s got three grown ones of her own) and, best of all, she loves my children. My daughter took to her immediately which was pretty much all I needed to observe to move past my fears. If she could get comfortable with a babysitter than so could I!
Did I mention that our Mary Poppins likes to bake too? When I told her about Cooking On the Side she remembered a cookbook she had at home, Philadelphia Cream Cheese Classic Recipes, and offered to lend it to me. How cool is that? I definitely had to make one of the cheesecakes – the Cookies and Cream one, complete with Oreo crust, called my name.
Secretly, I’m very excited it’s Girl Scout cookie time. I’ll admit I look forward to it every year. Their scarcity tactics work very well on me – I feel compelled to buy a bunch of boxes as it will be a whole year until they’re available again. Plus there’s the nostalgia factor, as I was once one of those eager little girls in brown uniforms positioned in front of the grocery store.
They got me in front of Vons over the weekend.
I had to buy a box of Thin Mints, that was a given. Beyond that, I’m all about the peanut butter. Specifically Do-Si-Dos (the peanut butter sandwich cookies) and Tagalongs (the chocolate coated ones with the peanut butter filling). You’d think this would have satisfied my hankering for peanut butter cookies for a while, but no. It actually bolstered it. Yes, despite having all of those other cookies in the house, I made the Utterly Peanut-Buttery Bars recipe from the back of the C&H brown sugar box.
I never ate cake until I was 8 or 9 years old. But I sure ate a lot of frosting! I was that kid at birthday parties who hopped up and down when the corner piece – the one with the profuse amount of frosting flourishes – was being passed out. I’d extract every last bit of sugary, fluffy stuff and leave the cake on the little paper plate. It wasn’t until the middle of my elementary school years that a frustrated parent of a friend finally urged me to try just a bite of the cake “just this once” that I discovered the treat I was missing.
I always enjoyed the ritual of exchanging valentines as a kid. Opening up a box of 32 (plus two for the teachers!) brand-spanking-new valentines, preferably the Snoopy variety. Carefully addressing the envelopes in crayon for all the kids in my class. Even the boys. Dropping a few conversation heart candies into each envelope. Being careful not to include any too-lovey messages in the ones for the aforementioned boys. Eagerly opening the little cards from everyone else in the class. Hoping for chocolate.
{Hmm-hmm} years later, I still love Valentine’s Day. Our playgroup is having a little celebration this week for the kiddies so I thought I’d make some conversation heart-inspired cookies, with one subtle little twist – these are actually made with animal cracker dough. The difference? They’ve got a lot more crunch to them as well as a hint of spice from dashes of nutmeg and mace. For a treat that will be grabbed and tossed by two-year olds I tend to prefer these over traditional sugar cookies. Plus they’re so darned good.
I have been holding onto this Gingerbread Biscotti recipe for months now, waiting for the holidays to give it a try. It was definitely worth the wait, although I wish I’d tried it much sooner – they are fantastic!
Most of the biscotti I’ve had in the past have been tasty but not especially noteworthy on their own. They usually come to life upon being dunked in a nice cup of coffee or tea. But these spices within these Gingerbread Biscotti, along with the fresh ginger and dried apricots mixed in, have wonderful flavor all on their own. I confess to having enjoyed several without even dunking.
The gratitude on my husband’s face when I brought a small tin of these Chocolate Chip Rugelach up to his office this week was all the validation I needed. They’re among his favorite cookies and this was the first time I’d ever made them. The recipe is a little bit different from many I’ve seen – it uses a prepared chocolate filling rather than nuts, jam or other traditional fillings – but the end result was delightful nonetheless. With tonight being the first night of Hanukkah, I thought I’d share the recipe with you.
You’d think that after all the toffee I consumed last week I wouldn’t want anything more to do with the stuff for a while, but it’s not so. On the contrary, I was quite eager to chop up some of the decadent candy that had eluded my eager hands and parlay them into the Toffee Almond Shortbread recipe that I found on yet another package of butter (I’ve definitely become a fan of these recipes from the butter producers!).
Ever since my sister was in the Camp Fire Girls in first grade and had to sell Almond Roca for their fundraiser I’ve been in love with toffee. I find that buttery crunch to be positively addictive – my hand just keeps grabbing for another “little piece”. At least with Almond Roca there’s that gold foil that you have to contend with which helps to pace your consumption. But when you make your own toffee at home…and there’s a whole entire pan of it sitting in front of you…unwrapped…and it’s your job to break up the pieces…apparently it takes a stronger person than myself to resist.
Whew! As much fun as Thanksgiving cooking was, I’m actually kind of glad to switch over to other late-autumn treats (if you’re looking for some good leftover turkey ideas, check out the leftover panini recipes on my other food blog – Panini Happy). Cookies call my name all year round, and as we enter part 2 of “the holidays” I find oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks especially irresistible.
I have to admit, whenever I hear the words “pecan pie” I immediately think of the line “But I would be proud to partake of your pecan piiiiiiiiie…” from that sweet museum scene in When Harry Met Sally, when Harry is gearing up to ask Sally out:
It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty years since that movie first came out! It’s still one of my all-time favorites. Anyhow, I digress…back to the pie.
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It's the recipe collection I didn't realize I had - the recipes printed right on the food packages in my kitchen. It's time for me to finally give them a try, and hopefully I'll find some hidden gems along the way. Learn more about me and this blog.
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having a trustworthy helper. End of story – the most wonderful woman now comes over to watch Dora the Explorer and rock the infant seat for a few hours every week while I “get things done”. She genuinely loves children (she’s got three grown ones of her own) and, best of all, she loves my children. My daughter took to her immediately which was pretty much all I needed to observe to move past my fears. If she could get comfortable with a babysitter than so could I!
The Best Fudge Brownies Ever
Bacon Wrapped Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Matzo Ball Soup
Garlic-Lime Cornish Game Hens
Crispy Fried Shrimp
It's the recipe collection I didn't realize I had - the recipes printed right on the food packages in my kitchen. It's time for me to finally give them a try, and hopefully I'll find some hidden gems along the way.
