That’s right – Emergency Cookies! From the couch to fresh-baked in 20 minutes…depending on how fast your stir and stuff.

After seeing how much you guys liked the idea of these cookies on Facebook, I decided to put these ahead of some other recipes and posts I was planning to publish. Here we go…

I came up with this recipe when I was craving homemade dessert but feeling lazy. Also, I wanted sweets like yesterday, so I had to come up with something in a jiffy. Oh, and I also didn’t want to waste the time or ingredients baking dozens of cookies. I just wanted to make enough for me…okay, and hubby. You guys know I love things in small portions.

After trying a couple variations on the recipe, I have one I’m ready to share.

Emergency Chocolate Chip Cookies

You can have fresh-baked cookies 20 minutes from getting your booty off the couch with this recipe (assuming you don’t take forever gathering your ingredients, your oven doesn’t take too long to heat up, etc.). I seem to be in quite the lazy mood whenever I make this recipe, so I use ingredients that seem easier to find and portion out like oil instead of butter, maple syrup (plus molasses) instead of brown sugar. I think butter would taste better, but I never feel like waiting for it to come to room temperature or dirtying up another plate to melt it. But, there are plenty of substitution possibilities. Tailor them to your liking.

*Vegetarian, Vegan*

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 14-16 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup flour, plus 1 tablespoon (I’ve used unbleached all purpose and spelt with good results) (sub coconut flakes for the 1 tablespoon flour for a fun variation)
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons oil (I used canola – feel free to sub softened butter)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub brown sugar)
• 1/8 teaspoon molasses (omit if using brown sugar)
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons chocolate chip

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine (or use a fork to stir).
3. In another medium bowl combine oil, maple syrup, molasses, and vanilla extract. Whisk till evenly combined (or use a fork).
4. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and gently stir until all flour absorbed, careful to not overmix. If you’re feeling particularly lazy (like I was the last time I made this), go ahead and your chocolate chips with the wet mixture and skip the next step.
5. Gently stir in chocolate chips.
6. Evenly distribute to 4 mounds. Bake 14-16 minutes or until edges are just browning or to your texture liking. Allow to cool till they’re safe to touch and enjoy!

You May Also Like:

• Chocolate Depression Cake Minis
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls
• Peach Blueberry Individual Breakfast Crisp (could probably be modified for dessert)

You may want to book this one for the next time you’re craving sweets. This is now one of my go-to recipes.

PS I’m working on a variation of this as a breakfast cookie! I think I’m almost there and can’t wait to share it!

Have a great week!

I remember when I was excited about being an “adult.” I had just graduated college, and I was waiting tables to pay the bills. But, meanwhile, I was planning to hit it big by scoring my first “real job.” I wanted to be a professional and one of those “ladies who lunch.” I wanted to be able to buy nice things and go to fancy dinners.

I found myself there and talking about the realization of the moment with my friend Sarah over one such fancy dinner at Ruth Chris (where all the adults eat) this weekend. It wasn’t my first moment of adultness, but it was still fun to chat about. (details on the outfit next time)

We had plans to go out of town on a girls’ weekend but ended up staying in town for a couple reasons. We decided a nice dinner out would still be fun while also being cheaper than gas, hotels, and multiple meals out over the course of a weekend getaway.

The weather was too gorgeous to eat inside, so we opted for the patio.

Cheers! Look how adult-y we are!

I decided to take advantage of the Ruth’s Spring Classic Menu. With one steak running you between $30-40 (for just the steak), the thought of 3 courses for $42.95 sounded like a steal.

{bread & butter}

I chose the arugula salad for my starter.

And for the entree – the reason I was there – a steak on a plate of sizzling butter.

Do you see that bubbling, beautiful butter!? I’m apparently developing a thing for butter. Let’s hope it doesn’t get too out of control.

Sarah got one of the spring menu items, too, so we ordered two sides we both wanted to share – garlic mashed potatoes…

…and broccoli au gratin.

We enjoyed a duo for dessert – a chocolate cake and berries with cream.

Everything was wonderful!

And look how pretty the patio looked by the end of the night. We even got to enjoy live music the whole time since there was an event going on across the street. Score!

Reader question: What’s the best part of being an “adult” for you?

When I first started really watching Food TV, one of my favorite chefs was Giada. I used to watch Food TV almost everyday, and I’d always try to be home in time to catch Everyday Italian (we didn’t have DVR at the time…did it even exist 8 or 9 years ago?). I tried many of her recipes back in the day, but one of the most memorable ones, that I never got to try, was her Olive Oil Cake. I wasn’t as familiar with baking back then, and the thought of olive oil going into a cake intrigued me. I really wanted to know how it would taste.

I’ve tried olive oil cakes a couple times since then, but I finally got around to baking my very own just this week.

Since the olive oil flavor seemed light, I decided to pair it with something else. Oranges popped into my mind. Citrus and olive oil are a popular combo, so this seemed like a great idea.

And it was.

The cake was great – with a slightly crisp outside (perfect for those edge-piece cake eaters) and moist inside.

I loved the lightly sweet and barely-there-orange flavors. Possibly best of all for this lazy baker – there’s no frosting required. Just dust your cake with some powdered sugar and you’re ready to dig in!

This cake turned out so much better than I thought…I almost ate hubby’s before he even knew it existed. And since I baked it while he was out playing basketball, I totally could have gotten away with this. Lucky for him, I saved his cake mini without even taking so much as a bite (though I was tempted). I totally could have hidden a small bite with enough powdered sugar.

Orange-Scented Olive Oil Cake Minis

These lightly sweetened, citrusy cake minis would be great after an evening of pasta or dinner al fresco with lots of grilled goodness. Try using a little orange olive oil for an extra orange kick. And I bet an orange-scented quick drizzle frosting would be pretty good, too! Just make this frosting recipe (click) with fresh-squeezed orange juice instead of water. Oh, and if you’re feeling really gourmet, I think these cake minis would be wonderful topped with candied orange zest (whether you purchase it or make it at home).

*Vegetarian, Vegan Options*

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 16-20 minutes
Total Time: 26-30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 teaspoons water
• 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed
• 6 tablespoons flour (I used unbleached all purpose)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons sucanat (or sub sugar for a sweeter flavor)
• 2 tablespoons milk (or vegan milk, like rice milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
• powdered sugar, for garnish
• orange peel, optional, for garnish

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2 3-inch diameter ramekins with non-stick spray.
2. In a small bowl, combine water and flaxseed. Stir and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together (or stir with a fork).
4. In another medium bowl, add flaxseed mixture, olive oil, sucanat, milk and orange zest. Whisk to evenly combine (or use a fork).
5. Gently stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (batter will be slightly lumpy).
6. Evenly distribute to ramekins and bake for 16-20 minutes, until top is golden brown and tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Allow cake minis to cool. Run a knife along the outside edge of the cake mini to release it from the ramekin. Place each cake mini on a plate and dust with powdered sugar. Garnish with orange peel, if using.
8. Enjoy!

Happy baking!

Reader question: What’s your favorite flavor to pair with olive oil?

I went to the local bowling alley last night. Why? The obvious answer is that I was there for…

…dinner! Yup, you read that right. I went to a bowling alley for dinner.

Last night, I had the opportunity to serve as quasi-press at a special preview event for the recently revamped George Pappas’ Park Lanes, now known as Ten at Park Lanes, in Charlotte, NC.

From their press release:

“The popular George Pappas’ Park Lanes is undergoing a renaissance. In addition to a new name – Ten at Park Lanes, the Montford institution will feature a restaurant featuring scratch-made comfort food and expanded entertainment areas.”

I was invited, along with other local food fans, to try out some of the restaurant’s new menu offerings. (The event was free, and I wasn’t paid to blog about this. I just thought I’d share my photos and thoughts from the evening.)

We started with a fruity cocktail on their newly renovated porch, and then headed to a covered section for more foodie-fun.

I ran into Gwen at the cocktail portion of the night.

{The covered area of the new porch}

After a quick intro and walk-through of the menu, we were off the races.

{Our new friends – Carly and Tony}

{the menu – love the graphic design work here}

Everything was served family-style to the various tables of four.

The first course that arrived was the fried pickles & jalapenos. My spice-tolerance isn’t very high, so I normally shy away from jalapenos, but these were really good. Admittedly, I only had the ring-shaped ones, sans seeds, but I enjoyed them. I always love a fried pickle, too. I liked that the ones here are chip shaped.

Next up, we had the PBR Sliders and Smoked Pork Belly Skewers. The sliders actually did not have Pabst Blue Ribbon in them, as they explained in the intro. I believe the PBR in the name represents the key ingredients – prime rib, bleu cheese, and roasted sweet onion. The slider was good, as was the pork belly slider, but some of the other dishes were better, and I’d probably order them first if I came back here for dinner.

I really loved the Carolina Greens Salad. I thought all the flavors went together nicely, and I really liked the vinaigrette.

{an apple pie cocktail}

One of my favorites was the BBQ Chicken flatbread. This tasted a lot like Brixx’s BBQ chicken pizza, which is my favorite-ever BBQ chicken pizza. I thought the flavor of the sauce was spot-on, and I loved the topping of fresh cilantro to brighten the flavor.

The Fifty-50 Retro Burger was probably my least favorite. This one was touted as the bacon-fanatic’s burger, and I can see why. The patty is basically made with half ground beef (a blend of short ribs and Angus brisket) and half bacon. Plus, there is an additional piece of jalapeno bacon on the slider. I thought the idea was unique, but I’m big on texture when it comes to bacon. I don’t like when it’s soft or chewy. I prefer my bacon crisp for whatever weird reason. The bacon that was mixed with the beef in the patty stayed really soft, so it was just a texture thing for me. The slider well prepared and had a nice presentation. It’s a cool concept – just not for me.

The mac and cheese was awesome and reminded me of my dad’s version. The baked beans were pretty good, but a little saucy for my liking.

My other favorites were the ribs and pulled pork. This is probably a good thing because, as I understood it, Ten at Park Lanes wanted to be known for BBQ. I thought the ribs were nice and meaty and had a great glaze. Plus, I liked the crisp outside and tender inside. The pulled pork was nice and smokey and went well with the sauces.

They had four tasty sauces by the way: jalapeno coffee, chipotle apricot, honey comb, and piedmont-something (I can’t remember the exact name of the last one). I thought it was cool that their sauces were all so unique and distinctive. I tried all of them except the chipotle apricot and liked them all. The piedmont was my favorite of the group.

And for the last course – homemade moonshine pecan pie. I could just barely taste hints of the moonshine, which made for an interesting flavor. The inside was very soft and sweet, and the pie had a thin crust, which didn’t stand out as much as the filling. I think this will be a nice addition to their menu, especially since I don’t seem to see a lot of pecan pies around town.

After dinner, we took a quick walk around the revamped bowling alley. I think people are going to love the outdoor area. They have cornhole, plenty of seating, and plans to add bocce ball and ping pong tables.

{The new bar}

{the new bowling area}

One of the things that I really liked about their remodel is that they strove to stay true to their roots.

From the press release:

“Williams says the bowling alley has been renovated to look more like it did when it was built. “We want to honor the building — the look and the architectural style,” he explains.“

{front desk}

They offered us the chance to test out the bowling alley, but hubby and I decided to call it a night.

I really like what they’ve done with the Park Lanes bowling alley. We have a nice bowling alley uptown, but that one is very modern and swanky. I think I’d probably end up spending more time at Ten at Park Lanes since it has more of a casual, neighborhood atmosphere. Plus, Park Ten has all the from-scratch, comfort food eats!

What do you think? Does this look like somewhere you’d like to visit (even if you don’t live in Charlotte, what do you think based on the pictures)?

Dad asked me to find the impossible – somewhere for dinner that was cheap, had good service, had great food, and wasn’t too far away. I really wanted to check out one of the Facebook recommendations, but they were all a little too expensive, unfortunately.

I did manage to find the chupacabra – a local restaurant with delicious food for a low price tag.

For dinner, we visited Homegrown.

Homegrown features a new menu every night. They keep costs down by using ingredients from local farmers.

I think they also save a bit of money by not having full on waiters – you order at the counter…

…plus the decorations are quite simple. I thought the place was cute, and I didn’t mind not having a waitress waiting on me the whole time. I just wanted good food for a low price tag.

After ordering, you get a seed packet with a number so they can deliver your food later.

Hubby had the Philly cheesesteak (which had much thicker meat than traditional Philly cheesesteaks) and dad had the trout with beets and mashed potatoes.

I ended up ordering the buttermilk fried chicken breast with beets and sesame greens. I was really excited that the chicken was actually boneless/skinless with a mushroom gravy. If you’re a die-hard traditional fried chicken fan, you may want to skip this. Personally, I don’t love chicken skin, so with this dish, I was able to enjoy the crispy goodness of the fried chicken breading. Yum!

Homegrown was fantastic. It was a little north of downtown Asheville (only a few minutes), but worth the drive. Definitely check out Homegrown if you’re in town. They have super low price tags (most entrees were around $10-11) and great people working there.

After dinner, we headed back to downtown to check out a place another friend, Gina, recommended – French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

Even though it was Tuesday at 10pm, there was still a line. We were a couple out from the door when we started, but the line moved slowly. I’d read on Yelp.com that the food was worth the wait, so I used the time to select my choices.

I ordered the quintessential chocolate cake…

…and a lavendar-honey hot chocolate. I felt like I should order the organic milk with the chocolate cake, but I really wanted to try the hot chocolate and wanted to try to hit all of my must-tries.

I read a lot about the liquid truffles, but my family wanted to take dessert to go, and I figured the liquid truffles would be better if we were staying there.

We also tried a couple “perfect” chocolate chip cookies, which were good, but would be in tough competition with my dough balls. 3

My friend Gina highly recommended the chocolate creme brulee, but those didn’t seem like they’d be as good to-go.

We left with a brownie, a pecan tart, a couple perfect chocolate chip cookies….

…a lavendar-honey hot chocolate (yum!)…

…and that chocolate cake! Wow – delicious chocolate sweets, and yes….worth the wait.

We loved the great local eats! Yum-yum!

We’ve been quite busy here in Asheville, so I haven’t been able to blog quite as fast as I’d like. I’m trying to catch up a bit now.

After our gorgeous afternoon at the Biltmore gardens, we headed back to the B&B for a quick refresh before dinner.

Then, we headed out to check out a place my friend Dana recommended – Jerusalem Garden Cafe.

The interior was really pretty.

Dana told me about a cool back room where you can sit on the floor, but it wasn’t meshing well with my parents’ knees.

We ended up sitting in the front room.

Sis and I had Moroccan tea.

And we dined family-style, ordering 4 entrees to share among the table: salmon with artichokes and capers, cous cous with chicken, the chicken kabobs and the vegetarian combo.

We had a full table of eats. Jerusalem was in the downtown area, almost across the street from one of the Tupelo Honey Cafes. If you’re in the area and you’re looking for good food, definitely check this place out. I didn’t think their vegetarian combo was as good as the one I get in Charlotte, but it was good. The other entrees were really-really great, so I’d stick with one of those. The salmon was tasty and you got a big portion. The grilled chicken kabobs were tasty, and I really liked the cous cous, too. All in all, you got pleasant atmosphere, good service, and tasty eats for a pretty reasonable price and no wait.

After Jerusalem, we hit up another spot my friend Dana recommended – Dobra tea.

I’d read online their menu was quite large, and it really was – not sure if you can tell from the photo here. Luckily, our waiter was very friendly and helpful in ensuring we made a good selection.

After ordering, Sis and I wandered around the shop a bit.

They have teas on display…plus local pottery and other goodies for sale.

We were most interested in the dessert display, though.

The inside has a great Zen feel. Like Jerusalem, this place has on the floor seating in the back and regular tables in the front.

I ordered the herb tea with a mint flavor.

I also had to try the Lavender blossom cake, which was great.

I really loved Dobra tea – I can see this being a must-stop every time I visit Asheville. I already want to go back on this trip so I can try one of the teas with caffeine!

All in all, we had a great Monday!

Get some cocoa powder, coconut milk, and other milk of choice on your way home from work/school/etc. because you’re going to want to celebrate…

National Hot Chocolate Day!

I heard about the holiday on twitter earlier and decided to whip up something for the special event. I actually tried googling to learn more about the holiday, but as it turns out (like it does with many of these food or at least lesser-known holidays) there are multiple National Hot Chocolate Days. But who needs a legit holiday to celebrate something as simple as hot chocolate, right?

That’s what I’m going with…

WIth my newly-found excuse to make hot chocolate, I decided to work up a recipe for something else inspired by twitter – coconut milk hot chocolate. I tried this once a year or so ago when I heard a twitter friend mention it on a particularly cold and dreary day, except I used 100% coconut milk for the recipe. As it turns out, too much of a good thing really can be…well, not so good. The full-coconut milk hot chocolate was just so-so. I found it to be too thick and rich (perhaps because I was using the canned version instead of the carton type?).

Lesson learned. This time, I followed my trick for making oatmeal with coconut milk – I went 50% coconut milk and 50% something else. When I make oatmeal, the other 50% is usually water. Today, for the hot cocoa, I decided to use some rice milk.

And since I was feeling really festive, I also whipped up (literally) some whipped cream for the top. Mmm…

Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate

It doesn’t have to be National Hot Chocolate Day for you to enjoy this cozy drink. Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate yields a tasty twist on this classic dessert beverage. As for making the drink from scratch…For most of my life I used packaged hot chocolate mixes to make hot chocolate, but from-scratch really takes very little additional effort. I made mine stovetop, but you could easily adjust the recipe to make it quicker in the microwave. Oh, and if you’re feeling particularly lazy, you can try skipping the step of mixing the cocoa powder in a separate bowl by putting it straight in the pot…however, I find that usually creates lumps making the extra step useful. And I only used 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder, which I thought tasted plenty rich, true chocoholics may want to add 1-2 additional teaspoons.

Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 1 (but you can easily multiply for fellow chocoholics)

*Vegetarian, Vegan if you use vegan milks and whipped cream*

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut milk (canned), or sub carton version for a lighter flavor or sub other milk of choice if you really want
• 1/2 cup rice milk, plus 1-2 tablespoons (or sub other milk of choice, but please read above story before using coconut here, too)
• 2 rounded teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• sweetener of choice, to taste (I used about 1 teaspoon of agave syrup)
• whipped cream, optional, for serving

Directions:

1. Place coconut milk and 1/2 cup rice milk in a small pot over medium low heat.
2. Meanwhile, place cocoa powder and extra tablespoon of rice milk in a small bowl. Whisk until a paste/thick mixture forms and powder is absorbed. Add additional tablespoon of rice milk, if needed.
3. Whisk cocoa mixture into milk mixture. Heat till hot but not boiling.
4. Pour into a mug and top with whipped cream, if using.
5. Serve and enjoy once the drink is cool enough to safely drink.

Enjoy!

***

PS: It’s the last day of Eat in Month! Gotta admit…I can’t wait to eat out again! lol

***

Reader question: Are you celebrating National Hot Chocolate Day today? Do you prefer “regular” hot chocolate or a particular flavor?

Whether you really love the flavor of peppermint or you’re just trying to figure out what the heck to do with all the leftover Christmas candy sitting around your house, these Peppermint Snow/Dough Balls are sure to fit the bill.

I made two variations of the recipe – one with candy pieces on top in frosting (pictured above) and another that is more like a snow ball with candy inside the cookie and powdered sugar on top.

The key to both is the use of crushed Christmas candy (candy canes, peppermint swirls, etc.).

While both cookies feature peppermint extract instead of vanilla…

…the first is more like a sugar dough ball as the base with the candy sprinkled on top of creamy, sugary glaze.

The latter gets the candy mixed into the batter and then gets dunked into powdered sugar.

So, it looks like a snow ball!

I taste-tested both…

…and I took some to a friend’s house for taste testing. The result of which version was better came down to personal preference.

Bake up a batch of each and decide for yourself! You can even split a single batch of cookies in half and try both methods (at least that’s what I did!).

Peppermint Snow/Dough Balls Recipe

This recipe makes great use of leftover Christmas candy. Just crush it up and choose one of the two methods below to add it to a peppermint-infused sugar dough ball. You can either bake the cookie, top it with icing, and sprinkle candy pieces on top (this is the method described in the main recipe) or stir the candy pieces into the cookie batter, bake, and dunk the cookie in powdered sugar to make it look like a snow ball (this is explained in the alternate directions below)!

You can even make these well ahead of time and freeze them till you’re ready to bake them, which makes these dough balls great for entertaining.

Inspired by Annie the Baker, adapted from my Sugar Cookie Dough Ball Recipe

*Vegan options listed*

Prep time: 1 hour 30 minutes (this includes 1 hour required to freeze the dough after initial prep)
Bake time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 3/4 stick butter, softened/room-temp (or vegan butter alternative)
• 1 egg (or flaxseed-egg)
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• Simple Icing, recipe follows
• Crushed peppermint candy, about 1/2 cup
• Powdered sugar, about 1 cup – this is only needed for method #2 – see Alternate Preparation below

Directions (Scoop then freeze method):

1. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
3. In a medium bowl, mix sugar and butter till creamy. (I used a handheld mixer, but you could probably just use a whisk). Add egg and peppermint extract and mix till combined.
4. Mix wet into the dry. Note: it will appear there is not enough liquid for the amount of dry ingredients, but continue mixing. It will form into a dough, it will just be a firm dough. See tips on this post (click) for combining. Careful to not overmix. I’ve found pressing the back of a firm, medium/large spatula into the dough seems to work well. Also note: if you want to go with method #2 for this recipe, see alternate directions below because you would mix the candy in here for that alternate version.
5. Use a small sorbet scoop to scoop out dough into small mounds. Spread evenly on a baking sheet so mounds don’t touch. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, though 1 hour is better if you can wait that long. I often leave mine in the freezer overnight or till I’m ready to eat them.
6. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake balls for 10-11 minutes, depending on how set you want your centers. If you use egg, and you’re paranoid like me, you can use a meat thermometer to ensure the centers of the balls are at least 160 degrees F, which many web sites say is the safe temp to eat eggs. The tips should just be turning lightly brown.
7. Let your dough balls cool to room temperature.
8. Top with a bit of Simple Icing (see next recipe) and top with crushed candy.
9. Enjoy!

Alternate Preparation:

1. Follow steps #1-4 above. Stir in crushed candy pieces.
2. Follow steps #5-6 above. Pour some powdered sugar into a bowl. When cookies are still warm, but safe to touch, dip tops into the powdered sugar shaking excess off. Note: some of the sugar will be absorbed by the cookie.
3. Enjoy!

Simple Icing

I’ve tried making this icing with water before, but milk just tastes so much richer and creamier. You’ll just have to be a little more careful since you’re using dairy. If you’re planning to leave the cookies out for a long time, you may want to consider substituting water. Either way, start with the directions below and add additional liquid as needed to get the icing to the thickness you want.

*Vegan options listed*

Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon milk (or vegan substitute)

Directions (Scoop then freeze method):

1. In a medium bowl, combine sugar and milk and whisk until smooth.
2. Add additional milk if needed.

Peppermint-goodness. I may have to actually bake these before Christmas next year!

Hubby and I spent most of today cleaning up the house and prepping food for company. I made things more fun with my Lady Gaga iTunes playlist and the Dance channel on my Pandora. Good music makes almost everything better, right?

We had friends over tonight for Poker Night!

I managed to squeeze in a Zumba class beforehand thanks to getting most of baking done earlier in the day and utilizing my slow cooker for the main event.

The spread.

I was planning to make chili and corn muffins for the main eats, so I asked hubby to find something we could just throw in the oven for appetizers. He found a Tex-mex mix of 3 appetizers at Costco, and they came in quite handy. The boys loved them!

And I was really impressed hubby made this veggie platter all on his own. It was his suggestion, and he even bought the veggies individually and chopped them himself. I realize that’s not a big deal to most people, but I thought it was awesome.

I made my slow cooker chili recipe for the main eats.

And I also made these corn muffins (and turned one batch into bread).

And I made about a hundred of these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Not really. But I usually bake in smaller batches, so when this recipe said it would make 3-4 dozen, it seemed like I had so many more cookies than I’m used to baking. I had to do them on 3 pans (2 in one round and 1 in another) with about 6 turns in the oven.

We had games on…

…but poker was the main event.

In fact, they’re still playing as I type.

I’m just glad we got all of our cleaning done today so I can relax tomorrow. I’m planning to take things easy for most of the day. I never seem to have much down time, so I’m trying to enjoy it while I still can! As for tomorrow night…we’re having a low key night at our neighbor’s house to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?

Brie. Baguette. Vino.

That was my Facebook update after I finished my last (crazy-stressful-busy) work day of 2011. Phew! It’s also what I was enjoying immediately after shutting down my work laptop.

After enjoying one Christmas with my family and one with hubby’s, hubby and I celebrated our Christmas tonight.

I experimented with a new risotto recipe that I’m hoping to share with you guys soon. It was inspired by a visit to Olive Garden a couple years ago where I ordered the shrimp and asparagus risotto. I enjoyed the mindless stirring after staring at 6 databases and roughly 25 excel spreadsheets all day during work. lol

Hubby decided that since I was in charge of dinner, he’d be in charge of dessert.

He brought home two caramel apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate, and we dug into the pecan-chocolate one tonight.

And tonight’s Riesling tasted extra-delicious in the new wine glasses my MIL gave us for Christmas. I’ve been wanting stemless wine glasses for years, and I’m really excited to serve wine to guests using them!

I’m feeling very blessed to have enjoyed three beautiful Christmases this year. I hope your holidays were lovely, too.

What was your favorite Christmas, Hanukkah, or other holiday gift and/or memory from this year?