This is the week of the year that I am tempted to give up on healthy eating, forget about balance, give in to the holiday feeding frenzy, and eat ALL the cookies. We had our first office party on Friday, celebrated my husband’s birthday on Saturday, I have a holiday party for a work-related organization on Tuesday, our second office party on Wednesday, and our neighborhood holiday party on Saturday. As much as I plan to make healthy choices, I’m bound to overindulge, so why bother?
With a Friday Five topic of Holiday Wish List, I expect to see gift guides and stocking-stuffer ideas. I’m interested in seeing what you all suggest, but my holiday wish list is a little different.
Maybe it’s because I’m older, my kids are older, and we all have everything we need, but Christmas is becoming less and less about shopping, wrapping, and gift-giving, and more and more about stepping off the crazy treadmill that is my day-to-day life and spending time with friends and family.
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A few years ago we found the perfect apple pie recipe that we’ve made every Thanksgiving and Christmas since. It’s easy. It’s delicious. It uses a variety of apples with different flavors and textures. What more could you ask for? Well, this year my Mom came across a recipe in Bon Appetit magazine that she thought I should make. As I baked, I swore I’d never make it again, but now that we’ve enjoyed the fruits of my labor, I decided that it’s worth sharing–pain in the ass and all.
This recipe tries its hardest to undo the adage “Easy As Pie.” It’s a multi-step process that requires roasting apples that have been tossed in a sugar/flour mixture, cooling the roasted apples before mixing with one stick of butter (!), brown sugar, cinnamon and flour, chilling the apple mixture before filling into a pie crust, and freezing the filled pie before baking. Ay, yi, yi! Continue reading
My children have outgrown Santa Claus and I do as much shopping as I can on-line, but one enduring holiday tradition is baking cookies. Every year since 1998 a group of us have blocked off a weekend day in December to get together and bake cookies. We each make double batches of two different recipes, and someone brings pre-baked cut-outs that we decorate while the other cookies cool. It’s like a cookie exchange but we do the baking together.
Welcome to the last Ultimate Coffee Date Link Up of 2015! In honor of the holiday season, we also are offering hot apple cider, hot chocolate, and egg nog, if you prefer those beverages. 😉 Don’t forget to visit my co-hosts Deborah at Confessions of A Mother Runner and Lynda at Fitness Mom Wine Country, and spread some holiday cheer by commenting on other blogs in the link up.
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