Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

I found this recipe on Bakerella's blog.  She has GREAT recipes and I encourage you to check out her food blog (and her pictures are much better than mine).  Bakerella originally made them for Valentine's Day, but I thought they'd be great for Christmas too!  After all, they are red!

And no, they are not very weight watcher friendly (12 points per cookie sandwich), but I have to treat my family sometimes.  Daughter #2 recently recounted a conversation she had with her best friend as they talked about their mothers being on Weight Watchers.  It seems they shared that when their mom is on a diet, the whole house is on a diet.  Ah, well, it's all about being healthy with a few treats thrown in.  So, this is just for them.

Cookie Ingredients:
1 Box red velvet cake mix (dry mix)
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix ingredients until combined.  Drop spoonfuls (I use a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop) of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cool.

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 - 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 - 1lb. box confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla.  Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Makes about 24 cookies or 12 cookie sandwiches. 

Hubby said they were very very good, but very very rich!  Next time I make these, I'll attempt to make them smaller, more bite size than cookie size.  Enjoy!

Kelly

stopitoff.blogspot.com

Chicken & Zucchini Pasta in Light Tomato Sauce

Makes 8 Servings (1 1/2 cup each)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 box 14.5 oz. bowtie pasta ( used Barilla Plus Farfalle)
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin/chopped
2 green onions, chopped
4 small zucchini, shredded
1 can petite diced tomatoes
2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups fat free chicken broth
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

While pasta cooks, in a large skillet saute cut up chicken in 1 tsp olive oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Saute until cooked, remove from heat. Set chicken aside.

Add 1 tsp olive oil to the pan, lower heat to medium, add green onions and garlic and saute until golden, about 1 minute.

Add tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Cook about 1 minute.

Add zucchini, saute another minute. Add chicken broth, red pepper flakes and mix well.  Chop chicken into smaller pieces.  Return chicken to the pan and simmer 30 seconds.

When pasta is cooked to al dente, drain in a colander and add pasta to sauce. Mix well with the sauce and adjust salt and pepper. Add chopped parsley and serve.

Top with some really good grated cheese!

Kelly~

stopitoff.blogspot.com

The Best Thanksgiving EVER!

Since moving to Colorado, we’ve spent Thanksgiving at my brother’s home in Parker, Colorado. It’s a wonderful new tradition and this year was no different. I spent Wednesday preparing our food contributions—wild rice (which is not very plentiful here in CO, at least not like in MN), orange fluff salad, artichoke dip and chips, and Thanksgiving cut out sugar cookies. Daughter #2 went down on Wednesday to hang with her cousins and Jim and I headed down after the turkey buster H2O class Thursday morning.

We were gathered in my brother’s kitchen, I’d just taken care of the food I’d brought, putting the wild rice and artichoke dip in the oven, the salad in the fridge and the cookies on the counter. Suddenly, a voice behind me said, “Happy Thanksgiving, Mom.” It took me a moment to realize that Haley was in front of me, not behind me. I turned to find Daughter #1 smiling. My brother and sister-in-law had flown her in from MN for Thanksgiving to surprise Jim and me (and Haley too, but of course since Haley went down a day early, she knew Eden was already here. Eden arrived Wednesday night).

Joyful tears and hugs ensued.

Eden is here until Saturday evening, when she’ll catch a flight back to MN. She’ll be back for two weeks over Christmas break.

It was the best gift ever! Christmas came early for the McKees! Who knew my brother was so sentimental.  And I just can't stop smiling...

Eden & John

Nobody wanted to carve the turkey...so I did!

Jim eyeing the food...

Better Than Sex Cake...made Friday at Eden's request.

It was oozing goo!

stopitoff.blogspot.com

All Grown Up. Almost.

It has been a tradition since my girls were old enough to hold a crayon that they receive a coloring book and a new box of crayons from Santa every year in their Christmas stocking. Every Christmas Eve, after the girls were tucked in bed and fast asleep, Santa and his reindeer would arrive and the jolly man in red would faithfully fill their red and white stockings with among other things a big coloring book and new box of 64 crayons (Santa was no slacker). This tradition continued until a few years ago when daughter #1 went off to college and daughter #2 to high school. It seemed Santa decided they were too old for this ritual and it was time to move on. Even though it squeezed my heart a little to acknowledge that my girls were outgrowing a wonderful tradition, I agreed with Santa's decision, as each daughter had the last few years' worth of coloring books stacked in their closet with only a few pages in each filled with color.

Fast forward to yesterday.

I received a text message from daughter #1, now a junior in college, saying she wanted a coloring book in her stocking for Christmas--seems she thinks I have some kind of pull with the big man in red--anyhoo, she then communicated via Facebook (gotta love all these communication vehicles we have today) that she just bought the Disney princess coloring book, wanting to ensure there were no duplicates, no doubt. Then she told her sister (that would be daughter #2) via Facebook to tell me she wanted a coloring book. Obviously, this is very important to her and she doesn't want to leave getting one in her Christmas stocking to chance.

It seems she and her roommates color quite regularly--it's a destresser, a throwback to a time when their lives were simpler, a time when they didn't have midterms and finals, jobs and bills to pay. Ah, the trials and tribulations of entering the grown up world. Should I tell them that someday they'll look back on their college days and wish things could be that simple?

It's a fact that coloring is used in a variety of therapeutic settings, from eye-hand coordination to helping heal victims of trauma. For me, it's a sign that my daughter hasn't forgotten, and has indeed embraced the many traditions she grew up with and hopefully will someday pass down to her children (but not for quite a few years!) After all, who doesn't have a happy memory of lying on their tummy on the floor, coloring book open to their favorite page, crayon in hand with the rest of the crayons spilling out of the box?

My heart is not so tight anymore.

Mom has received the message loud and clear, now I just have to get a hold of the big man in red...