I’m an Auntie! My sister and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby boy, earlier this week (with a rather quick labor for a first child, I might add – just 6 hours!) and we’re all overjoyed. They just brought him home from the hospital yesterday, so now the real fun begins. The “new guy” is just 11 weeks younger than my own little man – our family holiday gatherings will forever have a new “energy” with these two little boys running around!

My nephew is actually among a huge wave of births going on among my friends. There have been at least eight new babies since October (three just in the last week) and another five or six friends are due before June. It’s incredible! Everyone gives each other a lot of support, which is especially appreciated in those early days when you’re a zombified mess from lack of sleep. A number of fantastic ladies brought over homemade meals after I had my son in December and I’m excited to have the opportunity to “pay it forward”.

Which brings me to baked pasta…and this wonderful Shrimp with Orzo recipe, from inside the wrapper of a can of crushed tomatoes.

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It isn’t the holidays until someone breaks out a cheese log, am I right? Well this year I guess that someone is me. I can honestly say I’ve never really been all that into cheese logs. The whole concept is so odd…rolling out cheese into log form, crusting it in nuts and serving it with crackers? It’s just always seemed like this strange retro holiday food that’s continued to show up on appetizer tables inexplicably over the years.

I decided to make one – what the heck? What convinced me was the ingredient list in this recipe, which actually sounded like something I’d want to eat. Feta, cream cheese, Swiss cheese and honey? That combo was sure to be super tangy and a little bit sweet. And I’ve definitely demonstrated my affinity for cranberries and pecans over the past month. It would come together quickly and I could easily refrigerate and transport it to the holiday party I’m attending on Tuesday. Really…what’s not to like?

So I abandoned my past judgments on the issue and made one tasty holiday cheese log.

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When green beans are on sale for a mere 88 cents a pound, as they were this week at my local Ralphs, you can be sure I’ll be cooking some with dinner. I usually just steam them or sauté them with a little garlic, but when I found this fresh and flavorful-sounding recipe for a cold green bean side dish inside a package of feta cheese I was eager to try it.

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