This week has been a crazy one! I’m writing this post early (on Wednesday) since I’m headed to New York City on Thursday and Friday. I’ve been getting ready for my trip, trying to get some work done, and also doggy sitting for my parents this week. Needless to say, my house has been a bit…
Now that the holidays are over, it’s time for me to get back to writing my usual Friday Favorites post! It’s been a few weeks, so I thought I’d just jump right in and get straight to the blog posts this week…
If you’re much like me, you’ve probably rushed around to finish all of your shopping and get the gifts wrapped so that you have next week to focus on food. Granted, I do make a lot of homemade gifts, so I don’t have ALL of my gifts done. But, I would much rather spend the week before Christmas in my kitchen listening to Christmas music while I cook and bake. It sure beats pushing your way through the super-crowded stores looking for last minute gifts! I suppose that it’s also a good time to clean the house if you have guests coming, but we won’t talk much about that.
Since I spent last week introducing you to more cookies than you could ever possibly bake during one holiday season (that’s a challenge… I dare you!), I thought it would good to focus this week’s Friday Favorites post on holiday entertaning! After all, we can’t live on cookies alone (or can we?).
I enjoy the way everyone comes about the holidays from a different perspective. We each have our favorite recipes, family get togethers, and other special traditions that make the holidays special. The one thing that almost everyone can agree on, though, is giving. Whether you choose names for a Secret Santa exchange, spend weeks at the mall shopping for a perfect gift for everyone on your list, or spend the week baking homemade goodies, my guess is that giving is a big part of your holiday celebration.
I have always enjoyed exchanging Christmas gifts. I love searching for the perfect gift for the loved ones on my list, and I do lots of baking to prepare cookies and other homemade gifts for my friends and family. I enjoy the hustle and the bustle and love the long days working iin my kitchen and assembling and wrapping gifts. Lately, however, I find that I have less and less enthusiasm about spending a lot of time at the mall. I feel like many of the people on my list really don’t need anything. It’s fun to pick out small gifts that they will enjoy, but I can’t get excited about spending money on extravagant gifts just for the sake of saying we spent money. Can you relate?
A few weeks ago, I was happily surprised to receive a package from my lovely friends over at POM Wonderful. They have a new pomegranate juice flavor this fall, and they were kind enough to send a few bottles in my direction so that I could give it a try. The new flavor? Pomegranate Cranberry!…
You know that I love to cook and bake… And I’m not usually intimidated by recipes that might be considered “complicated.” There’s something about hot weather that just makes me lose my steam in the kitchen, though. I’m not a hot weather fan, and when it’s hot out, I find myself gravitating towards easy and…
We’ve been eating a lot of salads lately. We had my parents over for dinner a few weeks ago, and my mom brought along a spinach, strawberry, and walnut salad. Both my husband and I loved it, and I’ve been making versions of it ever since. When I was contemplating what to do with the…
Not long ago, the great people over at POM Wonderful sent me another case of their 100% pomegranate juice. I have tried it before, and really enjoyed it, so I was thrilled to have another chance to develop some new recipes. The thing is, while I enjoy developing new recipes with the juice, I also…
A few months ago, I decided to stop buying diet soda. My husband and I used to drink a lot of it, but we are now living diet soda free! I was always somewhat skeptical of the artificial sweeteners and knew that drinking a lot of soda really wasn’t good. It was a huge decision,…
Another week has come and gone, and it is now time for my Friday Favorites yet again, for the 34th week in a row! Just last evening, my husband and I were talking about how fast time has been going lately. It’s hard to believe our puppy just turned 5 years old (but she’s still…
