Merry Christmas!

Cheese plate to go, M's gorgeous ornament that she made, and a repurposed lemonade bottle for gifting some Huggo's On The Rocks Mai Tais (fun labeling by me, to make sure the recipient knew where the recipe was from).

Gifts from the kitchen... And, the Interwebs.

I love the Internet. Brilliant ideas, information. Love it. This brilliant lady made fresh Christmas potpourri, and so I did this... I added whole cloves to mine (about 1 Tablespoon).

And, my friends loved it. LOVED.

And, this brilliant lady shared this recipe for Primal Chocolate Chip Cookies, and they are the only kind I make anymore. They're that good. And, our family isn't even gluten free, but healthier cookies are a winner, especially when they taste great. 

I do make mine with COLD butter rather than palm shortening (or coconut oil when I make them for vegan friends). 

They're made with almond meal, butter, honey, vanilla, salt, and baking soda. That's it. I know the recipe by heart. Oh, and they're made in the food processor. I only stir the chocolate chips in by hand at the end. 

Aren't they pretty? 

And, perhaps most exciting of all this year... On The Rocks, the casual dining restaurant/bar on Kailua-Kona Bay in Kona, HI, shared the recipe for their Famous Mai Tai on their blog this month. If I close my eyes, it's just like I'm right there with my feet in the sand sipping on one while listening to some amazing live tunes on a ukulele!

Go to their site to see this recipe and more... Be sure to try out all of their cocktails! Open for happy hour daily from 3 – 5PM!  See you On the Rocks!   Be Social!! Or, just whip it up for gifts:

Huggoʻs Famous Mai Tai
1/2 oz of white rum
Mai Tai Mix – 1/2 inch from top
Float Dark Rum on top (about 1.5 oz.)
Served On the Rocks with 12″ straw
Garnish with a fresh pineapple wedge, lime wedge and umbrella!

For Mai Tai Mix (by the Gallon)
1.5 cans of Pineapple Juice
1 qt Orange Juice
12 ox Orgeat syrup
12 oz Orange Curacao

Holiday Houses

Sweet Brickle

When M was a baby, we started calling her "Brickle" because she was as sweet as butter brickle. But then we figured we should look up exactly what kind of candy we were comparing our child to.

It turns out that it's a delicious toffee-ish confection that I made for our family that first Christmas. And, I'd only made it once since then, until today. Jen served the exact recipe at our scout leader holiday party last week, and so I figured it was time to dusty this one off for the holidays!

So easy. So delicious! Share it with your friends and family. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Saltine-Toffee-Cookies/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=saltine%20toffee&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe&soid=sr_results_p1i1

More Construction

Amazing icing in this recipe... http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Building-Gingerbread/

Construction

Graham cracker house construction is M's homework this week. So, I made a wee one, and I'm helping her construct.

The bonus is that the icing recipe the school suggested is fantastic.

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

As You Wish

The boy wanted "a towering mound of cream puffs" for his birthday, with blue icing, candy, and Slugterra characters.



Store bought puffs, homemade blue butter cream, and decor. Done!

Coconut-free Santas

And, the white cotton candy has only two ingredients: Sugar and artificial flavor. Strawberry flavored. The kids are so excited. Personally, I prefer the coconut beard.

Happy Thanksgiving @Home

Macrina Bakery's Apricot Walnut bread crostini with some tasty French cheese, blue cheese and apple-cinnamon goat cheese, our spatchcocked turkey read for the BBQ, roasted veggies rule!!, and ready to eat!

Erik laughing, Mads going for her faves, and a nicely set table with placemats from Made By Joel 

Caesar salad with anchovies, stuffing with sage sausage and honecrisp apple, barbecued rosemary sage turkey, roasted truffle green beans, roast sweet potatoes and shallots. Plus potato rolls and gravy. Mmm... 

Cranberry Custard Pie - Mmm...

Wordless Wednesday: Bourbon Ginger Pecan Pie

Thanksgiving: Place cards

Trial Run: Spatchcocking

Erik said, "No, mom, we need a bigger turkey than that. This one's so wee." I pointed out that it's a chicken. It was delicious, and I'll make avgolemono soup today!

Unlunchables

Kidney beans for the win. Plus gluten-free chocolate chip cookies - made with only almond meal, honey, vanilla, butter and chocolate chips.

Birthday Cake Bento

Unfussy: Potato Skins

Erik (as usual) balked at trying them, but he loved them. Mads didn't like the cheese or bacon, but after scraping it out, ate three or four skins...



The orange and vanilla cake was well loved by all though.

Eggnog Doughnut Muffins

These are so fantastic. Make them, stat! http://www.thekitchn.com/holiday-breakfast-recipe-eggnog-doughnut-muffins-recipes-from-the-kitchn-198386

 

 

Unfussy: Meatloaf

Erik was thumbs up on meatloaf (after finally trying it), and Mads was on the fence about it. I made Lora's recipe, but with onion powder instead of chopped onion so that E could have zero issues with it. He loved it, but didn't touch the potato. Go figure.

Campfire Cake

My Girl Scout troop bridged to Juniors this weekend, so I made them a campfire cake. This hard candy recipe from Allrecipes.com was perfect for the flames, but I would at least halve it (maybe even divide by four) for future use - it made a ton! 

Amazing. Delicious.

So delicious. You need a food scale to measure everything, and the oven temp translates to 350-degrees F. So worth it.

http://souvlakiforthesoul.com/2013/06/kolokithopita-pumpkin-pie-recipe

Greek Pumpkin Pie

It's just so pretty...

 

So fragrant. So beautiful. I can't wait to taste it later today. I just pulled this out of the oven at 1:01 a.m.

Baked up a sugar-pie pumpkin and butternut squash and had to try this Kolokithopita... fillo pastry pie filled with fresh-baked pumpkin, spices, and raisins.

Halloween Lunch

Not fancy, but she'll love it. Pumpkin-shaped cheese sammy with an extra slice on top, honeycrisp apple, carrot "chips" (purchased cut like that), and the Green Goddess dressing I make that is currently M's fave. I tucked in one pouch of "Fruit Snacks" in Halloween shapes, which is our hand-out this year. Those things are just glorified gummies. Happy Halloween!!

Vegan Morning Glory Muffins

Only in my kitchen is it possible to accidentally make vegan muffins past midnight. Completely altered a recipe, was out of eggs so used Ener-G Egg Replacer, and... they're great!

Now, I need to get some to Miki.