Christmas Cookies... Your Way

Who doesn't love Christmas cookies?? I would go to wager a great deal that even those who don't celebrate Christmas, love Christmas cookies. Personally, I can't live without them and one of my most favorite parts of Christmas, besides decorating the tree, is making Christmas cookies. It's a family tradition that my mom and I make the cookies together each year, but now that I feel like I have a little more cooking savvy, I felt that it was time to give the cookies an MMW twist.

While searching through the magazines and cookbooks, I decided that I wanted non-bar cookies with almonds. Conveniently, there were no non-bar cookies with almonds. SO we created them. I took another cookie and replaced the walnuts with almonds and "Walla!" non-bar cookies with almonds. And oh are they fabulously tasty! Now you may  be saying to yourself, "wow what a change," in all your sarcasm, BUT surprisingly enough many individuals will not take the risk to deviate from the cookie recipe. Especially if they don't bake often.

Allow me to empower you. While you may not bake often, you always know what good cookie dough tastes like, and ultimately how a good cookie tastes. As long as you start with a basic cookie dough (try making the dough for chocolate chip for example and not putting in the chocolate chips yet), you can make any type of cookie with easy add-ins. Try cranberries, or walnuts (though I don't like them), or chocolate chips and walnuts and cranberries. You'll be surprised with how crafty you feel and how good the cookies taste. You might even go as far to have your friends call you "chef". I warn you against this one unless you can back it up in the kitchen with a killer meal.... But I digress.

I remind you not to forget the fallback of the pre-made cookie dough for those who don't want to make the mess in kitchen.  While it's not my preferred cookie, you can always decorate these to your preference, such as the sugar cookie with lots of icing! Or you can use the sugar cookie dough and mix in what you want (just pull out all the cookie dough and put it in a mixing bowl and mix in your add-ins). Remember however, to adjust your time of cooking for your add-ins. I might suggest you do a sample (1 or 2 cookies).

The most important detail to remember is: Don't feel limited by the cookie recipes that you have. The worst that can happen is you throw a batch away, but if you stick to basic changes, I doubt that will happen - unless perhaps you decide to put in a crazy add-in.

Happy Homemaking!

The Rollercoaster Ride.... of Plants

My mother can tell you that I've never had a plant. Nor would she ever trust me with one, except for maybe watering her outside flowers, with the garden house, when she's away on vacation - which isn't often. So when I embarked on my own personal garden earlier this summer, with encouragement from my favorite cooking blogger, I was a little skeptical.

My biggest problem with shopping is that I have no terminal amount that if reached, stops the spending. Therefore, I make sure to bring a valued friend with me to make sure I do. In this case, my favorite cooking blogger took me to Home Depot (as you can tell one of my favorite stores - just under Macy's and Williams Sonoma) and we went plant shopping. I decided that I wanted a hanging basket and a few plants for some pots. This is where it started and it didn't end.

Noting that I don't have a lot of sunlight on my patio, I purchased some rainbow and peperomia plants, an ivy plant, a hanging basket full of guinea impatients (more to come on this plant), a roma tomato plant, and some red and green bell peppers. I also purchased some rosemary, chives, italian parsley, and some basil.

My first adventures with THE hanging basket turned into some very testing ones. One morning I woke up to realize that my plant was completely sucicidal, that or very much asking for attention, and had it been able to, I think it would have thrown itself off the plant hook. See picture here. The best thing about this impatient was if I watered it - it immediately came back to life! A very good plant for someone who is a little forgetful about watering.

Overall, the plant adventure has been very rewarding. I've had a few bell peppers in my meals, and my tomatoes are flourishing and the herbs have been a great addition to my cooking! More importantly, I've kept the plants alive!! What a confidence booster. The twist this week: Challenge yourself to go outside your comfort zone and get a plant, just make sure its one that will be forgiving and will let you know when it needs some TLC - like my very patient impatient :)

Happy Homemaking!