Happy Holidays – “Gingerbread” Houses

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Just wanted to get in one more post before I head out to California. But don’t worry, after a week in CA, I’ll be back with lots more delicious baked goods (many of which will probably go against some of your New Year’s resolutions, but oh well).

This past week, I have been squeezing in a few of my favorite holiday traditions—ice skating in the sculpture garden, watching Christmas movie after Christmas movie, eating lots of holiday cookies, and making gingerbread houses!

While many of you may imagine gingerbread houses made with, you know, actual gingerbread, I’m here to show you my version. It’s called graham crackers. YES. It’s cheaper, easier to buy, and well just really awesome. This is how I grew up doing it, and I’ve kept the tradition alive in DC. This year, my two awesome friends, Kelsey and Colleen, hosted the party. Between the amazing quesadillas and the 20 bowls of candy, it was pretty fantastic.

This is how my house turned out:

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For any of you who want to make your own at home, I’ve included the recipe below for frosting, and a list of some of our favorite candy. And come on, I know you’re looking at mine thinking, “Wow, I could never do that!” I’m here to tell you, yes you can – just use the gumdrops. Great structural design.
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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Holiday Brunch

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With my brother visiting last week, I had a lot of amazing meals. He even made us dinner one night (delicious steak tacos). But my favorite meal of the week was the holiday brunch we hosted for 25 of our friends on Sunday. I made a couple of items previously posted on here (pumpkin donuts, croissants, and cranberry pear salad) and a new one (raspberry muffins). Plus, Dave made a strata with bacon, green onions, and cheese.

So while the brunch ended up turning out well, there were a few moments when I wondered why I had volunteered to squeeze 25 people in our small one bedroom apartment on a Sunday morning. Brunches are hard because everything seems to need to be done at the last minute (which resulted in me being in pajamas when the first guests showed up). But I have to say, I’ve decided it’s my favorite event to host. I love being able to just hang out on a Sunday, without feeling rushed, or tired. Plus cleaning up is much easier to do when its 5pm on a Sunday and not 1am on a Saturday night.

Anyways, I promise to get the strata recipe up soon (it’s been a big hit every time we’ve made it). I’m headed to California for the holidays at the end of the week, and won’t be back to DC (and my computer) until after New Year’s, so there may not be any posts for the next two weeks (we’ll see how relaxed I get on vacation).

But happy holidays everyone! Looking forward to more posts in 2013.

Holiday Cookies – Part 2

Posted in Cookies, Dessert, Holiday by

These double chocolate peppermint cookies are a bit of a legend in my house. My mom makes them every winter, and quite often, a good chunk of the dough doesn’t even ever get baked because my brother and I eat it before it ever hits a cookie sheet.

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In order to earn the name “double chocolate,” these cookies require a LOT of chocolate. This does make them a bit time intensive (and expensive), but this year I tried using the Cuisinart to replace some of the chopping, and I have to say, I think they’re just as delicious.
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Time for Some Holiday Cookies – Part 1

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So it’s that time of year where we all eat way too many cookies and treats in honor of the upcoming holidays. I decided to contribute by making cookie plates for all of my friends, co-workers, and the other people I wanted to thank. The list got kind of long and I ended up doing five different kinds of cookies (with four of the recipes doubled). I might have been a bit too ambitious because it ended up taking nine hours. But oh well. They all turned out well and I made so many that we had lots of leftovers! I made chocolate hazelnut crinkle cookies, seven layer bars, Mexican wedding cookies, double chocolate peppermint cookies, and cranberry streusel shortbread bars.

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Holiday Gift Ideas

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After several years of shopping for my kitchen, I am starting to get to a point where I don’t regularly get to the middle of a recipe only to realize I don’t have the right utensils. But this has taken time and many trips to Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Amazon. So in honor of the upcoming holidays, I wanted to share some of my favorite kitchen tools (and some of the ones still on my wish list) to help any of you who are doing shopping for fellow baking/cooking friends.

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Jumbo Pretzels

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So you know when you walk by the pretzel stand in the mall, and that amazing smell seems to follow you around? Well, I’ve figured out how to recreate this at home (in a much healthier way). This past weekend, I finally got around to making pretzels. And I’m here to say, it’s not too hard.

If you want a perfect afternoon snack, or a yummy carb to accompany an otherwise healthy dinner (see my previous post), I recommend you make these.
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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Pretzels and Fall Chopped Salad

Posted in Gluten Free, Healthy, Holiday, Salads, Vegetarian by

This week, I did very little cooking. Between recovering from Thanksgiving and getting the house all prepared for the holidays (see below), I had no energy left to toil in the kitchen. But after finishing all of our holiday decorations this afternoon, I decided to get a little creative for dinner, and it turned out to be one of the best meals of the week.

I’ve been meaning to make my own homemade pretzels (I have a soft spot for the horribly unhealthy ones you can find in malls and airports), and after sitting on the floor for three hours making my own cranberry popcorn garlands today, pretzels sounded like an amazing dinner. And while yes, part of me wanted to just devour the pretzels by themselves (see the next post for recipe), I added in a fall chopped salad (really just so my mom wouldn’t disown me upon reading that I’d only had pretzels for dinner).

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Pumpkin Donuts

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So if you’ve been reading my blog, you know by now that I love pumpkin. Last Sunday, I decided to use it in a new way by making donuts for the first time. And wow, these were delicious.

I’ve never actually fried something at home before, but I’m proud to say I didn’t screw it up too badly.
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My Favorite Meal of the Week – Thanksgiving Style

Posted in Dinner, Entertaining, Holiday, Winter by

Preparing to host our first Thanksgiving kept us very busy this week. But now that it’s over – we survived and have a fridge full of leftovers – it was so worth it!

Although, there was one moment when I wondered if we’d be able to get everything done. I spent all week getting the food, figuring out timing for how to get everything done on Thursday, cleaning, and setting up. None of that prepared me to have our sink stop draining, our disposal stop working, and our dishwasher start flooding at 11:30pm on Wednesday. After an hour of trying to fix it, we went to bed thinking we’d be doing all of our dishes in the shower on Thanksgiving. Luckily, Dave managed to fix it Thursday morning about five minutes before his parents showed up (side note, pour baking soda and vinegar, and then boiling hot water down the drain to clear the clog).

But all in all, we had a pretty seamless day on Thanksgiving.  I had wanted to do several posts with all of the different things I made (and lots of pictures) but I sort of underestimated how much I’d have to do on Thanksgiving. So I had to skip taking pictures of every step. But I do want to give you the links/recipes for all of my dishes, and some pictures of the final products!

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Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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If there is something that I have made most in my baking career, it is definitely banana bread. While yes I do love it, that is not why I end up making it all the time. Really, it comes down to the fact that I hate wasting food. And nine times out of ten, I (or my roommates in the past) do not get through all of the bananas before they go brown. My solution is to freeze them until I have enough to make banana bread (3-4).
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