Tasty Holiday Treats Inspired by Classic Christmas Movies & Blu-ray #Giveaway

My family loves to watch Christmas movies, and once we pass Thanksgiving every year, we tend to watch them quite often. My favorite Christmas movie of all time is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer while my husband's is Santa Claus is Coming to Town. I honestly think my kids love them all equally and as I type this they are enjoying Frosty the Snowman. For any family that loves classic holiday flicks, The Original Christmas Classics set on Blu-ray is an absolute must have. In this two disc set, you get Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

The only thing better than cuddling up on the couch and watching these classics with your family is enjoying delicious treats inspired by these very movies at the same time. Holiday baking is another great way for families to spend quality time together and kids will love helping out in the kitchen with these simple recipes that will remind them of the movies they love so much.

The Kringle Elves Candy Crispies are a festive twist on traditional rice cereal treats and my favorite of these recipes because I don't have to turn on the oven. Plus, who doesn't love those crunchy, marshmallowy treats? You can really customize these too and let the kids decide which types of candy they want to add and then help mix it all together. When its all cooled off, sit down and enjoy your sweets with the movies. This could make for a fun new family tradition.

Download recipe cards for all five of The Original Christmas Classics inspired treats:

• Egg Nog Panna Cotta with Citrus Cranberries & White Chocolate "Snow"
• Frosty the Snowmelt
• Kringle Elves Candy Crispies
• Kris Kringle Pie
• Santa Claus Stocking Cookies

Giveaway
One (1) winner will receive The Original Christmas Classics Blu-ray box set (two discs). This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on December 21, 2012 at 12:00 AM EST. Please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

Please note that the opinions and views expressed in this post are my own .  I received free product.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Between my own garden and our farm share this week, I had a nice amount of beautiful cherry tomatoes to enjoy. I get bored with traditional salad after a while so I decided to use them for a simple tomato salad. Not only was it delicious but I love the colors. It is super quick and easy to make and perfect if you are looking for a light summer meal or snack.And best of all - it is healthy!

Simple Cherry Tomato Salad Recipe

Ingredients
1 Pint Cherry Tomatoes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Garlic Salt
Basil (dried or fresh)

Directions
I apologize in advance for my lack of exact measurements. With something like this for me, it is more a trial and error of adding ingredients until the taste is just right.

1. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, place in bowl and lightly coat with garlic salt.

2. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to taste and add basil.

3. Serve and enjoy!

If the rain ever stops up here in New England, eventually we will be getting some warm (hot) summer weather. When it comes to summer entertaining, or even just snacking, I love a good dip. Plus, it sometimes gets my kids to try foods they normally wouldn't if there was no dip to slather it in.  When I was working on my Old London snacks review, I wanted to make a light and somewhat healthy dip to accompany the snacks. I found one on All Recipes that looked pretty good and just adjusted based on the items I had and my taste preferences.

Cucumber Dill Dip Recipe

Adapted from AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients
1 large cucumber
16 oz container sour cream
2 tablespoons dried dill
1/2 fresh lemon juice
1/2  teaspoon salt

Directions
1. Peel, grate and drain cucumber.
2. In medium size mixing bowl, combine grated cucumber with sour cream.
3. Add dill, lemon juice and salt and mix well.
4. Store in fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.

To grate your cucumber, use the larger size of the grater. Using the small size will just give you cucumber mush. I love this Pyrex grater because it holds it all neatly for me.

The grated cucumber should look something like this. Don't even try to pick out the seeds. Not that I did or anything.

Cucumbers contain a lot of water, so once it is grated you will have to try and get as much of that water out as possible.The original recipe mentioned something about a cheesecloth and squeezing. Um, no. I wasn't even trying that and I don't own a cheesecloth. So I took a small fine strainer, place the cucumber in it and used my ginormous spoon to push down and squeeze the water out.

You'd be surprised how much water will come out of a single cucumber.

Combine the cucumber and sour cream in a bowl.

Add in the dill, lemon and salt. All three can be adjusted to your taste.

Mix everything well, then cover and store in your refrigerator. I would recommend to let it cool for at least 2 hours, longer if you can.

I served mine with melba toast and bagel chips but it would also be great with fresh vegetables, pita chips and even a sauce for some salmon.

I like to keep meals as simple as possible. Mainly because I don't have a whole lot of time for complicated recipes with 4 kids swarming me. Plus it is inevitable that the more blood sweat and tears that I put into a meal, the greater chance that the kids won't eat it. So easy is the way I prefer to go. This tomato sauce recipe is another one that I borrowed from my mother. It uses fresh cherry tomatoes that are cooked with just olive oil and garlic and then poured over your favorite pasta. Super easy and super yummy.

Simple Cherry Tomato Sauce Over Pasta

Ingredients
1 pound cooked pasta
2 pounds cherry tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
1-2 TSP fresh chopped garlic
fresh basil (optional)

Directions
1. Wash tomatoes, slice in half and place in bowl. Lightly sprinkle with garlic salt and set aside.
2. Cover bottom of a large saute pan with extra-virgin olive oil and heat over medium-low heat. Add chopped garlic, 1-2 teaspoons depending on your preference. Stir constantly until golden.
3. Add in cherry tomatoes and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until tomatoes are fully cooked.
4. Poor over your favorite pasta and toss.
5. Garnish with fresh chopped basil.

2 pounds of sweet cherry tomatoes, sliced in half and sprinkled with garlic salt.

Saute fresh, chopped garlic in EVOO just a few minutes until it starts to turn golden.

Stir in tomatoes and cook over medium heat. The water and juice will start to draw out of the tomatoes, creating the "sauce".

Cook for about 20 minutes or so until all of the juice has been drawn from the tomatoes. It will look like this.

Pour over your favorite pasta and toss. I used Mezze Penne - mini penne. You may garnish with fresh chopped basil. I leave that out since my kids freak out and the sight of green in their pasta.

Enjoy!

Healthy Cookie Dough Dip Recipe

This is RJ from VirtuousGirlhood.com. Marianna was nice enough to let me guest post today and I wanted to share this easy and healthy cookie dough dip recipe with you all!

I am currently on a sugarless diet. (sort of) and I saw a recipe for cookie dough dip. I died. I love cookie dough, but I was not about to eat a 600 calorie sugar laden dip.

There are lots of recipes for a healthy cookie dough dip, but all of them call for ingredients that I didn’t have and they were not easy. So I revamped several of the recipes, mushed them all together, and came up with this! It’s oh-so easy and can be made within five minutes. The best part? It tastes exactly like cookie dough.

Ingredients
2 cups of chick peas (You can buy a can in the store. Just be sure to drain them.)
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
2 tsp. of vanilla
3 TBSP of sugar
2 TBSP of coconut oil (or any oil)
2 TBSP of milk

Directions
Mix everything together in a food processor. Or pulse in a blender. Everything, BUT the chocolate chips. You want to pulse it until everything is really smooth. When you finish just add chocolate chips and serve!

This tastes exactly like cookie dough dip. No one will know any different. (If you are like me then you can serve it to your friends, then watch them groan about the calories and laugh your head off when you tell them it’s healthy!

I made this for my family and they ate it up. They didn’t believe me that it was healthy until I showed them the chick peas. You can enjoy this with any sort of cracker or fresh fruit.

RJ is a homeschooled teenager who is a passionate writer, amateur photographer, dreamer, and lover of rain who lives in the country. If you can’t find her at the barn with her horse you can find her hanging with her loved ones and friends. You can check out her blog at - www.virtuousgirlhood.com.

Panko Breaded Chicken Fingers Recipe

We eat a lot of chicken in our house. A lot. Mainly because the kids don't really like other meats and chicken is less expensive, which is important for a large family on a budget. While I generally like to keep our meals healthy, eventually you just get sick of eating baked chicken over and over again. So last week I decided to change it up and go the not so healthy route of fried chicken fingers. Now in my defense I didn't deep fry them, just in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil. That makes them a little more healthy, right? Well, that's what I keep telling myself anyway.

Panko Breaded Chicken Fingers

Ingredients
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast halves or tenders, pounded to about 1/4 inch thick
panko breadcrumbs
flour
2 large eggs
1 tbsp milk
extra virgin olive oil

Directions
1. Slice chicken into desired "finger" sized pieces. I usually start with boneless skinless chicken breast tenders that I pound thin and then slice them diagnolly to get a chicken finger size. If you start with the larger breast halves, you'll just have to slice a few more times.

2. Coat a large saute pan with a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil and heat on medium-low.

3. Set up three good sized bowls for dipping. The first bowl should have flour, you can start with a cup and add more if needed. In the second bowl whisk together your eggs and milk. And fill the third bowl (or dish) with breadcrumbs.

4. Start the chicken finger assembly line. Take a piece of chicken and coat with flour, then dunk in egg mixture and then coat in breadcrumbs. I set these all aside on a plate until I am ready to put them all in the pan. I don't want to have to go back and forth between dipping and frying.

5. Once all of your chicken is ready, place them in the pan. I was able to get mine done in one batch. If I am making more than a pound, then I use two pans that way all of the chicken is cooking at the same time.

6. Once the bottoms start to brown, probably around 5-6 minutes, flip over and continue to cook for another 5-6 minutes. I always cut one open to be sure its cooked throughouly, just to be safe.

7. Place finished chicken on a dish lined with two paper towels and place another paper towel on top of chicken to absorb as much excess oil as possible.

8. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce!

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

When I made this chicken last week, I very badly wanted some honey mustard sauce to dip it in, but all I had was spicy brown mustard. I thought why not just combine that with some honey? It could work right? It could and it did. I realize that this is cheating and not the same as making it from scratch, but I simply don't have the time for that. So I took equal parts spicy brown mustard and honey and mixed them together and made myself a very tasty sauce. Even my 6 year old loved it. It was perfect!

Sauteed Chicken & Mushroom Penne

When I am in the kitchen cooking, I make an absolute mess. Did you ever see that episode of Modern Family, when Cam destroys the kitchen making breakfast and then leaves for the day hoping that Mitchell will clean it up for him? Yeah, that's kind of like me. Fortunately 99% of the time, my husband does clean it up for me. So when I have a meal like this which is only two pots/pans it makes clean up so much easier. This started out as another great recipe of my mother's and I added the chicken to it to make it a complete meal.

Sautéed Chicken & Mushroom Penne

Ingredients
1 pound penne pasta
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 pint sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 pint sliced mushrooms
1 - 2 cloves fresh crushed garlic
extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste

Directions
1. Pound chicken until its about 1/4 inch thick and slice into bite size pieces.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions or to your desired texture.
3. Coat a large sauté pan with olive oil and warm over medium-low heat. Add crushed garlic and stir. If you want a lighter garlic flavor than just use 1 clove. If you like the garlic to be stronger, use more. I probably use 1.5 to 2 cloves.
4. Cook garlic for about a minute and then add chicken. Continue to stir to cook all sides.
5. Once chicken starts to whiten on all sides, add in mushrooms. I prefer to buy the pre-sliced, pre-washed mushrooms to make it easier on myself. I also add more olive oil now so that everything is coated.
6. Continue to cook over medium heat until chicken and mushrooms are fully cooked. Add salt to taste.
7. Drain pasta and return to pot. Pour chicken and mushroom mixture over pasta and mix together.
8. Serve with fresh grated cheese.

Five Mouthwatering Nutella Recipes

My guilty pleasure is Nutella. I can eat it slathered over a waffle, baked inside a crescent roll or, let's be honest here, just straight out of the jar on a spoon. I have entire Nutella pinboard on Pinterest dedicated to awesome looking recipes I come across. Though I have never made any of them (hello, I a spoon is much quicker!) I do love drooling over them. Some day I hope to actually try a few. Here are five Nutella recipes that look especially delicious.

Source: blogs.babble.com via Marianna on Pinterest

Self Frosting Nutella Cupcakes

Source: blog.al.com via Marianna on Pinterest

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: heathersdish.com via Marianna on Pinterest

Nutella Stuffed French Toast

Source: cookincanuck.com via Marianna on Pinterest

2011 Nutella & Cream Cheese Swirled Blondie


And finally, to wash it all down with....

Source: chefdruck.com via Marianna on Pinterest

Nutella Hot Chocolate


I'd like to say I have a clear favorite, but I don't. They all look amazing to me. Now I just need someone to start making these for me!

Which one do you think you would like to try the most?

I don't use my slow cooker nearly as much as I should. In fact, it usually gets used only once a year and that is to make Corned Beef for my husband St. Patrick's Day birthday. But I got a hankering for beef stew this week so I dug it out and gave it a whirl. I cheated a little bit by using a seasoning packet, but all other ingredients are fresh. I recommend using organic potatoes as they are on the Dirty Dozen list for retaining a high amount of pesticides. Onions never need to be organic as they retain very little to no pesticides. Carrots fall somewhere in the middle, so I play it safe and always go organic.

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew Recipe

Ingredients

• 1.5 - 2 pounds of stew beef, cubed
• flour
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 3 medium potatoes, cubed
• 1 medium onion, cut into wedges
• 3 cups water
• 1 packet McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning Mix

Directions

• Coat beef cubes in flour.
• Heat oil in skillet over medium heat, add beef and brown.
• In slow cooker layer the beef, potatoes, carrots and onion.
• Mix seasoning packet with 3 cups of water and pour on top of ingredients.
• Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 5 hours.
• Serve alone with a hearty bread or over Pennsylvania Dutch Noodles.

Gingersnaps Christmas Cookie Recipe

We have a family recipe for gingersnaps that we make just around the holidays, and it's a sweet and tasty version of a Christmas favorite. My friend Marianna is letting me share it with you, and we hope you and your family enjoy our recipe for delicious Winter Gingersnaps! We use cloves and extra cinnamon in our twist on this traditional treat because I love those spices, and it adds a terrific flavor. If you'd like to find more holiday favorites, check out my recipe for a Christmas glazed ham or Cherry Cheesecake on Penelope's Oasis!

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 large egg
4 tablespoons molasses
3 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon ground gloves
1/4 tsp salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix shortening and sugar together with a blender. Add the egg, molasses and salt and mix together well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves together. Slowly blend in the mixture from step 2 a little at a time, mixing with blender.
4. Make small balls out of dough and roll each ball in sugar. Place dough balls on a greased cookie sheet and flatten each ball slightly with the bottom of a glass cup.
5. Bake for 12 minutes (until light brown).

Penelope is a mom to one bunchkin and the author of Penelope's Oasis, where she writes about healthy living, beauty tips, and relationship advice.

Grammy's Homemade Pumpkin Pie

No one, and I mean no one, make a pumpkin pie as good as my mother. I refuse to eat anything but her's because they don't even begin to compare. She brought her first pie of the season to our house over the weekend and I convinced her to let me share her secret recipe. Little did I know that she spent a considerable amount of time perfecting her recipe many years ago, including library research. What makes her pumpkin pie so wonderful? She only uses fresh pumpkin puree, not canned, and the perfect blend of spices.

My photography does not do this pie justice.
This is my entry to the Hotpoint family baking competition

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Ingredients

1. 3 eggs
2. 3/4 cup brown sugar
3. 1/2 tsp salt
4. 3/4 tsp ground ginger
5. 1/4 tsp nutmeg
6. 1/4 tsp cinnamon
7. 1/4 tsp ground cloves
8. 12 ounces evaporated milk (1can)
9. 1 3/4 cups pumpkin (canned or fresh cooked)
10. 1 pie crust (home made or pre-made but uncooked)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Place pie crust in pan
3. Gently beat eggs in mixing bowl by hand with whisk
4. Add brown sugar, salt & spices to bowl - gently whisk until blended
5. Add evaporated milk to bowl - gently wisk until blended
6. Add pumpkin to bowl - gently wisk until blended
7. Pour into pie crust and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 25 minutes more
8. Test for doneness - when a sharp knife inserted in center of pie comes out clean it is ready- if not continue to cook but check at 5 minute intervals for doneness
9. Let cool completely. Serve alone or with some whipped cream.

This time of year, you can often catch me eating a slice for breakfast.

Grammy strongly urges the use of a silicone crust shield to prevent pie crust from browning too much - if not available make one out of aluminum foil.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Broccoli & Garlic Mini White Pizzas

My six year old's favorite lunch for me to pack him is an English Muffin pizza. Its just a whole grain muffin, pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese and he absolutely loves it. Then one day while staring into the fridge pondering what to have for lunch myself, I had an epiphany! I could make a gourmet mini pizza just for me. While I do love a pizza loaded with sauce, cheese and maybe some eggplant, I also have become a fan of a white pizza topped with broccoli and garlic. Oh so yummy. So I threw one together myself for a quick and healthy lunch and it was quite yummy.

Broccoli & Garlic Mini White Pizza Recipe

Ingredients
whole grain English Muffin
shredded mozzarella cheese
fresh garlic, finely chopped
leftover, cooked broccoli, chopped

Directions
1. Split and lightly toast your English Muffin.
2. Finely chop some fresh garlic.
3. Sprinkle a thin layer of mozzarella over the English Muffin. Add broccoli, a generous amount of chhese and top with garlic.
Place in toaster oven or regular oven and broil until cheese is completely melted.

Gather your four ingredients: English Muffin, mozzarella cheese, broccoli and garlic. I am not a fan of frozen broccoli but you certainly can use that (thawed) if you prefer.

Lightly toast the English Muffin. This will help to give it a nice crunch.

While that is toasting, finely chop your garlic. I started with the slice of garlic on the left and chopped till I got to the size on the right. Don't ask for a measurement, I don't have one.

Add a thin layer of cheese to the English Muffin.

Place the desired amount of broccoli on top of the cheese. I packed mine with as much broccoli as I could fit.

Pile on some more cheese. Add more than you think you should because when it melts down it seems like it is less.

The last thing I add is the garlic. I like for it to be on top so its get a little toasted by the broiler.

Place the mini pizzas in the oven or toaster oven on broil until the cheese is completely melted. Let cool for a few minutes before biting into this healthy and yummy snack or lunch!