Meatless Monday: Christmas Cookies!

By now, you should know I love to bake cookies, I think...!

Well, today is an especially momentous cookie baking occasion because, you see, I FINALLY found a sugar cookie recipe that was just right, and the dough was perfect for making shapes with!!! I have had so much trouble in the past trying to make cute cookie cutter shapes from cookie dough; it was always too wet, too soft, didn't taste good, or the cookies didn't bake right and lost their form in the oven. But, FINALLY. Finally. I have found it! And I am so excited to share this marvelous lemon sugar cookie recipe with you! But, I must not take all the credit- this recipe is largely adapted from this little gem from myrecipes.com.

Lemony Sugar Cookies
(makes around 30 cookies depending on cutter(s) used)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt 
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat together butter and sugar until well combined. Next, add in the egg, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, milk, and vanilla until nice and creamy. Bit by bit, beat in the flour mixture until dough is formed. Flatten dough into disc onto a plate like in the picture below, cover with plastic wrap, then cool in the refridgerator for at least 2 hours, or up to overnight.
 

When dough is ready, take half of it and roll out onto floured surface to about 3/8" thick. Cut out desired shapes then place onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet(s). Decorate with sprinkles if desired, then pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool before enjoying!

I have not been able to stop eating these tasty treats since making them earlier this afternoon! Lily quite fancies them as well. I normally make a healthier version of sweet cookies like these by using whole wheat flour or less sugar or a sugar substitute, or however I am able to, but this time I kept it traditional and just make them like the recipe indicated. Afterall, it's Christmas time and I think enjoying something extra sweet is alright once in a while :)


 
These cookies will be made as gifts for friends and family this year, along with some other kind of cookie, probably my dark chocolate coconut and flax cookies; those will be the healthy option! Although, adding fresh lemon gives these cookies a boost of vitamin C, antioxidants, and can also aid in digestion.

Lily is feeling much better now, although she was quite the cranky kid this weekend! We did still manage to get some fun holiday crafts done, so check back on Wednesday for that, plus Sweet Saturday on Friday! Thanks so much for stopping by, now on to the link-up! 

Now it's your turn to share your Meatless Monday dish below! Share your turkey-alternatives or other yummy Thanksgiving favorites. No rules, other than please only link-up meat-free recipes. No other un-related links or I will remove them. Sorry to sound so harsh, but let's keep it true to what it is, ok? Link up as much as you want, and feel free to spread the word with the button below. Thanks, and have a great week! 
          

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Have a great day!

 
  

Sweet Saturday #29: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies with Flax

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I am just getting back into the swing of things after returning from my travels to North Carolina (I hope none of you missed me too much!). I hope everyone had a nice one, too. I was visiting my mom’s side of the family in North Carolina. It was an especially momentous gathering since my grandmother intends to move out of her house- the house she has been living in for the last 35 years –by next spring. The very house where I, my sister, and our cousins spent many a fine summers exploring the woods out back, building dams in the creek, hiding in Grandpa’s garden, and enjoying Grandma’s homemade treats like cookies and pancakes every day of each visit. The very house where, each December, Grandma always had the biggest, nicest tree my young eyes had ever seen, and where we’d join her in the Love Feast Mass at her Moravian church on Christmas Eve, and, if we were lucky, we’d get to catch the Christmas light garden, too. The very house where my parents and then my sister got married in the backyard, where I learned the joys of outdoor trampolines, where I used to spend hours catching salamanders and snakes and crawfish and other creepy crawlers (those were my tomboy days!), and where I’d hoped my little Lily would get to spend at least a few good years experiencing the splendors her Great Granny’s home had to offer.

It was a bittersweet visit…mostly sweet, though :)

Source

We had the whole family there for the first time in years; there is usually at least one of us who can’t make it at the same time as everyone else, but this year, somehow we managed to do it. My eldest cousin’s wife recently gave birth to her first child, a sweet baby boy named Declan. My sister has another on the way, plus a toddler who thinks the world of Lily. We ate lots of good food, played Scrabble and Scattergories together, watched a few good flicks, and enjoyed the surprisingly warm and sunny weather.

I didn’t get to make anything for Thanksgiving since we got there a bit later than planned and I had other things to do, but I did bring along these yummy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies and they must’ve been a hit because they all got eaten up :)

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cookies with Flax

(makes 2 ½ dozen)

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 cup butter

1 cup honey

2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 cups dark chocolate chips

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

¼ cup ground flax seeds

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 tbsp flax seeds

1 tsp honey + 1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and ground flax in bowl. In a separate bowl, combine butter and honey, then beat in banana, eggs and vanilla. Slowly stir dry ingredients into bowl of wet. Once well-mixed, add in the chocolate chips.

On ungreased baking sheets, drop spoonfuls of cookie dough at about one inch apart. Place sheets on center rack in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until nicely browned on top. While cookies are in oven, mix the 1 tsp of honey with 1 tbsp water in a small bowl. During last 2 minutes of baking, brush the tops of the cookies lightly with a little of the water and honey mixture, then sprinkle on flax seeds. Put sheets back into oven and continue baking. 

These cookies are nice and moist and don’t taste “too healthy” at all. In fact, you could probably even add a cup of rolled oats to the dough to pump up their grain content even more. Mmm…that sounds really good, actually.

Soft and sweet and full of banana, flax, honey, and whole grain goodness, you won’t feel bad about treating yourself or you family with these cookies!

And now for our most-clicked Thanksgiving-themed features!

Appetizer/Centerpiece

Sherry from Jazzy Gourmet shared this incredible bread dough cornucopia. Just look at it! She even has a how-to video on her blog for your viewing pleasure. This is something I really want to try next year. Thanks so much, Sherry!

Main Course

 Mary from Mary's Kitchen always shares wonderful posts with us. For Thanksgiving, she linked-up two recipes for some yummy turkeys and everyone checked that out! Thanks, Mary!

Dessert!

Good Girl Gone Green hits the bullseye on the awesome meter once again with this vegan version of green tea hot chocolate. Perfect pick-me-up for those chilly winter afternoons. Thanks, Stephanie!

Our most-clicked overall were:

Eco-friendly Gift Giving part 4 from Back to the Basics! 

Give Thanks for the Giver! from Saved by Grace 

What's Going on in Vegetable Garden? from carpe diem

 

Thanks to everyone who linked up, and welcome new linkers! Grab a button below if you were featured!

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Now on to the party!

Just follow these simple rules:

This weekend's guest hostess is Tammy from Our Neck of the Woods. She has one awesome blog full of yummy recipes, beautiful photos, and tales about her switch from city-living to country-living life. Check her out, follow her, and show her some love! Her linky will not be live until Saturday, but she's still hosting!

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me and Tammy at Our Neck of the Woods if you are not already. Leave me a comment if you are a new follower so I can follow you back!

3. Don't forget to hop around and say hi!

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

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Now that November is ending, it is officially Christmas time! (and I'm sure many of you have already started early). I intend to post at least 1 holiday-themed post each week, along with the weekly Meatless Monday Recipe Hop and Sweet Saturday Link Party. Let's hope I can keep it together and stick to that schedule!

Thanks for stopping by, this little get together really makes the weekend even more enjoyable for me, and gives me the encouragement to keep my little blog going :) 

Sweet Saturday #26: Pumpkin S'mores Cookies

Happy almost-Halloween, everyone! I don't know about you all, but I'm getting excited! I'm also going pumpkin-crazy, so I just had to make something pumpkin-y. I came across these AH-mazing sounding cookies recently and had to try them. Don't they look so yummy? I only did some slight tweaks, and I honestly was not 100% satisfied with them, but wanted to share anyway. The original recipe is called "Pumpkin Swirl Sugar Cookies", but they made me think of s'mores, so I gave them this cute name for my post. I Read on for how it went...

Pumpkin S'mores Cookies
(makes about 30 cookies)

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (+ extra for rolling) 
Chocolate chips  
Mini marshmallows
Raw brown sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350. Combine sugar, coconut oil, and butter, then mix in the eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. 

Flour a flat surface for rolling the dough out on. Take a section of the dough, and roll out onto the floured surface with a rolling pin into a rectangle about 1/4" thick. Spread chocolate chips and mini marshmallows onto the dough like shown below.

  
Roll the dough into a log.

  
Slice roll into slices about 1" thick, then spread onto ungreased baking sheet about an inch apart. Sprinkle some of the raw sugar on top of each cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until slightly browned on top. Allow to cool before serving.

  
Now, as awesome as these cookies look, I was a little disappointed. I thought dough was too doughy, and the pumpkin flavor was too subtle. This may have something to do with my using whole wheat flour or omitting the ginger, but I really don't think that should've made a huge difference. Also, the marshmallows practically completely dissolved into the cookies, which may have been because they were a cheap brand, perhaps? Honestly, I don't know. I followed the recipe to a tee except for the slight ingredient changes, but what I changed shouldn't have changed the cookies flavor too much I feel, but what do you think? I'm not the most experienced baker, maybe I did miss something...

Let me know what you think if you give them a try! Now, onto the features! Last week's most-clicked on posts were....

Simple Sweet 'n Savory is being featured here again for these too-cute cupcakes!! Love the cobweb frosting!

This yummy apple and honey challah is from Something Sweet, a blog that always has the most amazing baked goods on the web! 

Pinkoddy shared this sweet and simple DIY ghost tutorial made from upcycled materials.

This adorable unicorn-themed birthday party post is sure to inspire you! Congrats, Becoming SuperMommy, for being the most clicked-on feature!

I invite you to link-up Halloween-themed posts, but feel free to link-up whatever you want, as long as it is family-friendly and sweet! Fall-related posts are also encouraged. Our guest-hostess today is Good Girl Gone Green, and her blog is one of my favorites, so please check her out and be sure to leave some comment love if you like what you see ;)

Just follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me and Good Girl Gone Green if you are not already. Leave me a comment if you are a new follower so I can follow you back!

3. Don't forget to hop around and say hi!

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

I am still working on my Halloween costume, so expect some sweet pics of that and Lily's coming soon, as well as our pumpkins! Have a great weekend! 

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Sweet Saturday #25: Nutty Peanut Butter-Banana Cookies

It's officially baking season in my house now! Our oven hadn't been working since we moved in to the new house, and Paul finally got around to tinkering with it, and somehow got it to work. Hooray! So, I got started on making some cookies, and here's a new one I came up with. It's so tasty, moist, and healthy you could even have them for breakfast!

Nutty Peanut Butter-Banana Cookies

(makes about 30 cookies)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup honey + a little extra for topping

3/4 cup coconut oil, softened (you can also use shortening or butter)

1 egg

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup cut oats

1/4 cup hemp seed

1/4 cup flax seed

1 cup walnut pieces

1/4 cup brown sugar or honey

Preheat oven to 375. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl until combined. In a separate bowl combine the honey, coconut oil, and egg together; then mix in the banana and peanut butter. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the wet ingredients with an electric beater until well-mixed. Last, add the oats, hemp seeds, and flax seeds. 

On ungreased baking sheets, place small spoonfulls of the batter onto the sheet, at about an inch apart. Place into center rack in oven. While they're baking, heat the walnuts and brown sugar in a small pot over medium heat. When the brown sugar starts to melt, start mixing together with the walnuts, being careful not to burn. Continue until sugar is all melted and coating the walnuts, should take about 5 minutes. 

Spread candied walnuts over a sheet of parchment paper and allow to cool for a moment. At the 10 minute mark on baking the cookies, remove them from oven without turning off the heat, and carefully press the tops with the back of a spoon in order to make a shallow indent. Dab a little extra honey onto each indent, the place a few of the candied walnuts on top of each cookie. Bake for another 5 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned. Allow to cool before serving.

This is a recipe I came up with on my own. I had an overly ripe banana I needed to do something with, and peanut butter goes pretty awesomely with banana, so I got creative. The added benefits of all the omegas, protein, fiber, and minerals from the nuts make these cookies especially healthy. Walnuts are especially beneficial for brain development and function, and those candied walnuts really make them yummy, so don't leave that out unless you want them to be completely sugar-free. Of course, you could probably make them candied with honey instead. Let me know how that goes if you try that!

I was happy to see that Lily really enjoyed these cookies. She loves treats, but- like most parents -I don't want her eating a lot of sugar. These cookies are the perfect fix for your little sweet tooth- whether it be your child, or yourself! We even had them for breakfast without feeling guilty about it ;) The only thing I would change next time is either add more banana or ease up on the nuts, because the banana flavor was a bit subtle. Other than that, this recipe is a keeper!

Now, here are the most clicked-on fall features:

These tasty-looking cookies made with apple sauce, walnuts, and raisins are the perfect healthy treat to satisfy your fall sweets craving! Thank you, Angie from God's Growing Garden!

Holli from Full Hands, Full Heart had a wonderfully informative post about choosing allergy-friendly treats to give out to trick-or-treaters this year. I was especially glad she posted this since I often try to choose allergy-free treats myself! Thanks, Holli!

And we also have another adorable and creative costume from Carpe Diem who has lots of fun DIY Halloween costume ideas on her blog, so please check her out! I really liked this costume in particular because it was one of my first Halloween costumes when I was a little girl, and my mom made mine too! I'll have to dig-up a picture to share ;) Thanks, Ana!

And the most clicked-on features over all were:

Cream of Cauliflower Potato Soup from Good Girl Gone Green

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups from Something Sweet

Eat to Beat Cancer (part 2) from Back to the Basics!

Thanks, ladies! I can't wait to see what everyone links up this week!

Now on to the party!!!

Just follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me if you are not already. Leave me a comment if you are a new follower so I can follow you back!

3. Don't forget to hop around and say hi!

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

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Sweet Saturday #14

I have been one busy bee lately, once again. So, I do apologize for not thanking everyone who linked up here recently individually yet, but I will! 


We had lots of great stuff here over the last 2 weeks, and since I have not even had time to do any fun recipes this week, I figured I'd highlight some of the favorites. Everything was awesome though, and I love looking at every single post. 


Here are some tasty recipes and fun crafts, in no particular order...


This cake grabbed my attention as soon as I read "Pina Colada"! Linda at With a Blast always has such fun and creative recipes, this is just one of many :) Thanks, Linda!

PB&J pancakes? Whaaaa??? Oh, yeah, here's the recipe from Holli at Full Hands, Full Heart. Your kids will thank you!

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you probably know that I am a fan of lemon and lime- especially lemon! And I've had lemon sugar cookies, but this is the first time I've seen lemon and lime combined in a sugar cookie. Genius! Thanks Marly at This and That :)

And now for a fun craft- how darling is this wreath? And so easy to make! Thanks for sharing, Mrs. T Naturally!

I am such a sucker for baby shower favors, and this easy-to-make pacifier corsage is TOO CUTE! I want one just to decorate Lily's room with ;) Thanks, Cluttered Genius! Check out that post for sure, she also has another cute baby shower idea plus a yummy cake recipe!

And last, but certainly not least, check out these super sweet Polar Bear Cupcakes from today's guest hostess, Mary at Mary's Kitchen. How adorable and creative! Bookmark this idea for your next kids party :)

For today's Sweet Saturday, I'd love it if you linked up special BBQ-themed recipes like salads and casseroles in favor of my upcoming family BBQ coming up. If I like your recipe, I'll make it and blog about it later next month! Read here for details: Family BBQ Planning.


OK, now it's your turn! Follow these simple rules:

1. Link up something sweet to really WOW us all- your blog, Etsy store, Pinterest, Facebook, whatever you want! 

2. Link-up as much as you want and please follow me and Mary at Mary's Kitchen. Leave us a comment if you are a new follower so we can follow you back!

3. Hop around and say hi. 

4. Share my button to get more people to join us (not required, but it would be nice!)

Thanks so much for linking up, I really do love Fridays even more because of this :)

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