Recipe of the Day: Cookies While You Sleep!

Thanks to www.LivingOnADime.com for this great recipe! What could be easier than baking while you sleep?

In the following recipe, you can add red or green food coloring to tint for Christmas or add another food coloring to tint for any other holiday you want. You can also add 1/4 tsp. of peppermint extract if you like chocolate and peppermint flavors together.

Cookies While You Sleep
2 egg whites

Pinch of salt

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Beat egg whites until foamy; add salt and cream of tartar and beat until stiff.

Very gradually add sugar, then vanilla and peppermint (if you are using it). Peaks should be shiny and stiff.

Fold in nuts and chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoons on greased cookie sheet.

Place in oven, turn off heat and leave oven closed until morning.

NO PEEKING! or you will lose oven heat.

Store in airtight containers.

It might be fun to experiment with these cookies and replace the chocolate chips with peppermint, butterscotch chips, chopped maraschino cherries or different types of crushed candy.

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Recipe of the Day: Cranberry Squares

...AND a great decorating idea!

Check out the recipe and the decorating idea over at Windy Acres Cottage!

Cranberries are on sale for $.99 a bag at Aldi this week - put them to great use making these bars! I love the votive candles with cranberries in the tart tins, too!

You might also try my mom's yummy cranberry nut bread recipe.

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Recipe of the Day: Cranberry Nut Bread

This is was an annual favorite it our house when I was growing up. Now, I like to make it each year for myself! It makes up quickly and is super yummy!

Mom's Yummy Cranberry Nut Bread

1 cup cranberries, chopped

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 TBSP grated orange peel

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 TBSP shortening

3/4 cup orange juice

1 egg, beaten

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Generously grease and lightly flour a 9 x 5 x 3" loaf pan. Prepare cranberries, nuts, and orange peel. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Cut in the shortening. Sit in juice, egg, and peal JUST until moistened.

Fold in the cranberries and nuts.

Spoon into loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes on a rack before turning loaf out onto rack to cool completely.

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Recipe of the Day: How to Paint Cookies!

This is a project that is on our schedule to make with Bubba. I think he'll have so much fun painting the cookies and then getting to eat them!

I'm going to do the technique where the cookies are baked first and then painted with the corn syrup mixture (don't want to risk the little guy eating any raw egg yolks - yuck!).

You can make these cookies for any occassion! I'm thinking ahead to Bubba's 2nd birthday and think this might be a fun project to complete with the kiddos. They can paint their own cookie and then we'll wrap it up for them to take home and eat later.

I haven't been able to find a very good tutorial on these online. So, the plan is to try to take pics when we make them and post a tutorial myself! Be checking back for more over the next week or so.

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Awesome FREE Christmas ebook!

Head over to Homeschool Freebie of the Day to download your free "Christmas Cookie Plate Project" ebook. I just saved mine to my computer and checked it out and this is a great little book!

In the ebook, Sheri outlines all the steps to making great Christmas cookie plates for family and friends this holiday season! She has a time table for making the different cookies over the period of a couple of weeks and then putting the plates together at the end. Sheri even includes a grocery shopping list!

Even if you don't plan to make a bunch of cookie plates, there are a bunch of yummy-looking recipes in this ebook to save for later.

And remember, it's Free to download - but only for today!

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Recipe of the Day: Cookies Galore!

I came across the Betty Crocker site and found that they have a great list of yummy Christmas cookie recipes!

I think the Choco-Hazelnut Latte cookies look the best!

Bake these up for that Christmas Cookie Swap you're planning to host or attend!

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Recipe of the Day - Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

Like I've said before (here and here), I love my crockpot. In thinking ahead to the big Thanksgiving meal, I was trying to figure out ways to make the preparation of the meal easier. Having two little ones under-foot, I need to make the process as quick and stream-lined as possible!

So, what do you think of making your mashed potatoes in the crockpot? A Year of Slow Cooking has a recipe here that looks really good!

Even if you don't make your mashed potatoes in the crockpot, adding cream cheese and sour cream to them is always a good idea. I add cheddar cheese to ours, too, which adds a really nice flavor and richness when it's all melted in. Definitely not the healthiest ideas but you can't scrimp on taste at Thanksgiving, right?

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Recipe of the Day: Turkey cupcakes!

These turkey cupcakes were too cute not to share.

I love how easy the decorating idea is! Even I can put some candy on cupcakes to turn them into turkeys!

This could be something fun to do with your kiddos (depending on their ages - I'm not sure Bubba at 22 months would be quite up to this, although I bet he would like eating the candy!)!

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Recipe of the Day - Crockpot Green Bean Casserole

I love using my crockpot - it's so versitle! I was excited to find yet another way to use it for the holidays this year!

Around our house, green bean casserole is a staple at holiday meals. With how busy the holidays can be, making them simpler in any way is a plus! So, I did some research and found a recipe for Crockpot Green Bean Casserole! Put all the ingredients in the corckpot and leave it for 5 or 6 hours and it's ready to go!

Check out the recipe here.

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Free Thanksgiving Recipe Ebook!

Plan your Thanksgiving meal with this free ebook from Quality Health. The book includes recipes, coupons, tips from experts and much more!

Check it out here.

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Recipe of the Day - Cake Mix Cookies

I love this recipe because a) it uses only three ingredients, b) these cookies are super easy to make, and c) the possible combinations are endless! These whip up really quickly so keep them in mind for all those holiday events coming up!

Cake Mix Gookies

Ingredients:
18 oz. pkg. cake mix (any flavor)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients at low speed until dry ingredients are moistened and dough is thoroughly mixed. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2" apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes. Cool two minutes on cookie sheets, then remove to wire racks to cool.

If using chocolate cake mix, add 2 Tbsp. water along with egg. You can stir in chocolate chips, coated candy pieces, chopped nuts, or oatmeal. Frost the cookies, using canned frosting, or make sandwich cookies by spreading frosting between two cookies. These Cake Mix Cookies should be stored tightly covered at room temperature so they stay soft.

See more ideas for using this recipe here.

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Recipe of the Day - M&M'S® Championship Chews

I don't know how it is where you're at, but around here Fall means football! I thought this recipe from M&M'S® was a cute idea and they look super easy to make, too! If you hang out more with baseball fans, I'm sure you could easily adapt the look of them to fit. I'm around both sports so plan to make a combo!

If you're really serious about making a statement, what about buying the single color M&M'S® and mixing them to match your team's colors (I'm tucking that one away for the Super Bowl party)!

Check out the recipe here.

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