Christmas Cookies!

Once again I am delighted to have been invited by the Really Real Housewives to do another post for their blog. Thanks ladies, it’s fun to do.

I just learned a good tip from another bowler which she got from her manicurist. It came about because I had once split my nail right up the middle when bowling, thought I had done so again. She told me she had done it a couple of times and the manicurist had told her to mend it with Krazy Glue and then paint over it with clear polish (or coloured I guess). It occurred to me that this would be a good idea for any split nail no matter how it came about. I know mine have a tendency to split at the side when I let them get a tad long. I could cut them before that happens I guess!!

Don’t really have a lot to do except for worrying about Christmas Dinner – no kids or family in Canada – however, I seem to be driving myself crazy about the meal I am cooking. No idea why.

Mind you, I haven’t cooked a whole turkey in a long while so I am flapping about that. I ended up deciding to buy a fresh turkey, the frozen ones are either pre-stuffed or pre-basted and NOT with butter as they lead you to believe. Trouble is, they are rather expensive but not as much more pricey than the frozen ones. I do miss living in NC where turkeys were bred and therefore not so likely to break the bank. I always loved Brussels Sprouts but in the last few years I had gone right off them. I finally realized it was because of the softened water in the building. I cook them in distilled water now and they taste like they should once more.

Christmas is almost here, but you still have time to make these easy cookies.

Easy Slice and Bake Cookies

It's quick and easy to mix together these slice-and-bake cookies whenever you need something sweet. The recipe makes enough dough so you can bake half and put the other half in the freezer—ready to pull out and bake up a few fresh cookies anytime.

1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour (see Tip #2)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt1 cup sugar
5 Tbs canola oil
4 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
Coarse sugar for decoration

1. Whisk white whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat sugar, oil and butter in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.
2. Place half the dough on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a 10-inch log (it's OK if it's not perfectly round). Repeat with the remaining dough. Wrap and freeze until just firm, about 45 minutes.
3. Reroll the logs to make them rounder and return to the freezer until very firm, at least 1 hour more. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Remove one roll of dough at a time from the freezer and let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Unwrap the dough and slice crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, turning the dough a quarter turn after each slice to help keep the cookies round. Place 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Sprinkle each cookie with a little coarse sugar and gently press it into the cookie to help it adhere. Bake 8 minutes for soft cookies or 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining roll of dough, if desired.

TIPS:

1. Make Ahead Tip: Store wrapped rolls of dough in the freezer for up to 3 months.
2. White whole-wheat flour, made from a special variety of white wheat, is light in color and flavor but has the same nutritional properties as regular whole-wheat flour. It is available at large supermarkets and natural-foods stores and online at bobsredmill.com or kingarthurflour.com. Store it in the freezer.

Recipe Source: Eating Well Magazine

I do hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I will see you here again on Dec. 28 when I have been invited to burble at you once again. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Jo's Blog

F: Freezers

It's confession time! How many of you  have that dreaded bottom drawer or shelf on the freezer that - should you brave its frozen depths - might have anything from decade old frozen peas to near desiccated freezer pops?

*Raises hand*

Our freezer has been a bottomless pit that was starting to approach critical mass, but we DID start taking some steps toward making sense out of the chaos. Here are some of the tricks we've used:

From Food and Nutrition

• Ditch the bulk bags! If you buy a giant package of meat, vegetables, or ANYTHING, take advantage of a vacuum sealer and repackage it into serving sizes appropriate for your family before sticking it in the freezer. This way you're more likely to use it before it becomes a permanent resident of the ice fields, AND you're less likely to risk losing it to freezer burn.
• Label EVERYTHING. Forget the mysterious packages that you never bother with opening until the power goes out - from now on nothing goes in the freezer without a label AND a packaged on/eat-by date. Decide on the amount of time you're willing to store something and commit to throwing it out after that. Freezers can extend the life of your food, but it's not a magic time machine that will keep it delicious indefinitely. Eventually, that beef will make some seriously manky burgers.
• Lay bags flat to freeze. If you've ever tried to untangle a mound of frozen ziplocs or pry them out of the bars on the shelves, this one needs no explanation.
• Use organizer bins. Just like with your closet and bathroom drawers, sometimes breaking up a huge space into more manageable chunks is the best way to keep from losing your mind when you're digging for that one little bottle of vodka. I mean, frozen peas. Yeah, that's it...

This has actually even saved us money by helping ensure we waste less food in the house, and you know I'm all about pinching a penny. If only it would finally stop the freezer from ejecting that one single ice cube into the floor every time we opened it...

If you'd like some more ideas on freezer organization, check out this awesome slideshow from Good Housekeeping! How are your freezers shaping up these days?