“This Means Something”

And what does a giant oatmeal cookie that looks more like a volcano than a cookie mean? It means that today’s experiment baking with the latest batch of homemade margarine did not go according to plan. 😂

The second batch turned out much better, thankfully, because the first ones definitely won’t fit in the box I intend to use to mail these giant cookies to Matthew. 

It’s a good thing that cookies that look more like geographical features than confections are still tasty because it looks like massive oatmeal cookies are on the menu tonight!

P.S. Name the movie and I’ll bake you a mountain-shaped cookie. 😜

Sugar Cookie Success

I know that switching from talk about cancer and the blessings of eternity to a big essay on cookies might seem like emotional whiplash, but I know that I need to keep moving forward and keep looking for the good even when there are incredible hardships happening with my family that are accompanied by what at times feels like an almost overwhelming amount of distress and grief. Writing helps me process my emotions, so I suspect there will be more deeply introspective posts coming. I also know that there is joy to be found and that I will be writing about special events and graduations and cooking experimentation and pancakes and so on and so on. Life is full of ups and downs and if I only focus on one or the other, this won’t really be an accurate reflection of me and the life of my family. So, buckle up. There is going to be some emotional whiplash. I have no idea what the future holds, but I can guarantee that there will be both good and bad. 

Having said that, let’s talk about cookies. 

When it comes to a cookie that absolutely depends on butter/margarine to be at its very best, the first one that comes to mind is the classic sugar cookie. There is no brown sugar to cover up the shortcomings of your choice of fat and no chocolate chips to make them a decadent delight. They don’t have a bunch of citrus zest to elevate the flavor. And at their most basic, no frosting to provide a burst of sweetness that can make just an ok cookie feel like a winner. The wrong consistency can lead to spreading which ruins the shape of your cutouts. And for anyone who has ever choked down a hard, dry sugar cookie so as not to offend the chef, you know that texture and moisture level are key elements that can’t be ignored. Basically, the perfect sugar cookie is kind of like the holy grail of cookies. Each chef has their own idea of exactly what a sugar cookie should be, and like many others before me, I spent years testing recipes until I found one that produced a cookie that had all the elements I like best-super soft, with a delicate texture, moist and able to hold their shape when baked. 

So, when it came to testing the homemade plant butter, I knew I needed to pull out my family’s most loved sugar cookie recipe. I always chill my sugar cookie dough overnight, so on Wednesday evening I whipped up a tiny batch to be baked yesterday. In the process of doing so, I made a mental note to add just a bit of color to the plant butter next time. As it was, when I creamed my butter and sugar together, it looked exactly like mashed potatoes, which was, in all honesty, a bit off putting. Other than that, the dough acted and felt exactly like it always does. After chilling, it felt a bit stiffer than normal, but it rolled out easily and cut nicely. I think I baked them about a minute too long as they were just a bit drier than I like, but overall, it was a huge success. I know that I’m pickier than most of my crew, so when I say they were drier, I mean that they were fully baked while I generally like mine just a tad shy of all the way done. Other than that, they held their shape well and were still soft and tender. They tasted great and the texture was exactly the same as with the Nucoa. I was quite surprised and totally thrilled with the outcome.

With a trial run completed with great success, I mixed up a full batch so that I can send some super cute Easter cookies to my missionary. I baked them this afternoon and shortening the bake time by 1 minute brought the cookies in at exactly the right texture. Total win. 

Next trial? Pie crust. In a few weeks I will have to break out the pie pans and see how the plant butter performs in my favorite part butter/part Crisco pie crust recipe.

Let me wrap this up with one more plant butter related comment. I used the homemade plant butter on the griddle when I made pancakes this morning. I wanted to see how it performed in a direct heat, let the butter melt kind of a situation. End result? It worked great. It didn’t separate, kept the pancakes from sticking to the griddle, and tasted just fine. That’s two wins for today. And after the past several weeks, this little success has been a much-needed positive development.

I Needed a Little Whimsy in my Life

Do you ever have those days when you really need to lay down the cares of the world for a bit and just find a little joy? Or possibly do just a little bit of emotional eating knowing full well that it is exactly what you are doing? And maybe even blow off a little steam at the same time? Today was one of those days. And since it is spring, and nearly Easter, my little bit of joy came in the form of some adorable chick cookies.

Whimsy? Check.

Delicious lemon crinkle cookies? Check.

Decapitating some chicks? Check, check.

Mission accomplished. 😂

Apparently, Some Things Never Change

Nathan, Matthew and I made candy cane cookies today. While the majority of them were traditional candy cane shapes, there were still a number of unique, nontraditional shapes. When the kids were younger, we usually had more oddball shapes than actual candy canes. I don’t have photographic proof, which seems weird to me now, but it makes sense when you consider the fact that none of us was walking around with a fancy camera in our pockets all the time like we do now and sometimes hauling out the big camera took more time than the kids had focus. So, you will have to take my word for it. Trust me that the cookies were always creative. Perfectly shaped or not, they were always delicious, and today’s cookies were also a perfect match in the taste category. Yum!

Simply Sweet (And a Little Bit Gruesome)

As previously mentioned, I’m simplifying this year which means instead of gingerbread houses or giant gingerbread, I stuck with the ubiquitous normal sized gingerbread man…and woman, of course. I baked them a couple weeks ago, made the frosting earlier this week, and just pulled everything out of the freezer/fridge in time for it all to be at the optimal temperature for decorating. That definitely helped make the whole process smoother. I assumed that decorating these typical cookies would yield fairly typical results. However, I should know my offspring better than that. 

One of Matthew’s cookies had giant eyes. And when I say giant, I mean his neck should not be able to hold up his head with his gargantuan orbs. Another of his cookies had serious surgery where his legs were amputated and became ears. That little guy was meant to be the little cat from the Halloween Google doodle game. Upon discovering my inability to decorate a gingerbread man that looked normal (although I created normal looking girls just fine), Matthew attempted to make several normal boys. He came close to normal, with one who was wearing eyeballs for shoes and another who was either a clown with the typical red nose or cookie screaming for its life. So close, but not quite normal.

Nathan’s efforts yielded a man with giant eyes growing on his belly, an old man cookie with a big beard and some serious eyebrows, and an unfortunate fellow who had lost his head…and was holding it in his head. Blood included of course. The old man, while not traditional, was pretty normal looking so I have to give Nathan points for not being completely messed up.

Malia is another story. Not one of her cookies can wear the moniker of normal. These are definitely not standard gingerbread people. One of hers was missing an arm, which I’m fairly certain was just an excuse to sample the cookies ahead of schedule. Another was holding her own foot and had a peg leg in its place. A third had a giant case of pink eye which was unfortunate since he also happened to be a cyclops. Yet another was obviously all hopped up on candy canes and had two different size eyes as a result. And another must have gone through the mixer because it came out assembled all wrong, so wrong in fact, that it was quickly dubbed “The Blob.” 

{sigh} I know this is all my fault. I’m the one who introduced them to gingerdead men after all. Be warned that exposure to said gingerdead men at an early age has some serious developmental side effects. 😜 Having said that, it also means cookie decorating day is never dull at our house!

And now, let’s talk about my cookies for a minute. Several of these cookies were destined to be gifted to my sister Esther, so I was trying to come up with a few normal ones. As mentioned previously, I created normal looking gingerbread girls with no problem. But for some reason, my gingerbread boys came out just a little bit…wrong. One of them ended up looking like he was in the middle of a fascinating drug trip. Another seemed to be screaming for his life. It was not intentional, but they just looked weird. (Nathan said that sounded about right-normal girls and no normal boys. Cookies imitate life. 😂) That was where Matthew’s attempts at a normal boy came into play. In the end, we all voted on which cookies should be bequeathed to Esther and she ended up with one very cute girl and a boy who was holding his bleeding head in his hand. I hope she is entertained. 😉

I love this time with my kids in the kitchen. As noted on my Christmas tree cookie day, having time to make the cookies cute in no way outshines the opportunity to have many tiny fingers covered in flour join me in the kitchen. And I’m so glad that even though my kids are all growing up, they still enjoy spending time with dear old Mom making some sweet…and sometimes gory…memories.

Simply Cute

In days gone by, Christmas cookie making days were a marathon event, especially sugar cookie days. All the kids wanted to help and as every mother everywhere knows, things take five times longer with kids as helpers. In past years, the dough has been mixed and chilled, the cookies cut and baked, the frosting whipped but not colored, and at the end of the day one very tired mother left the dishes piled up for the father to wash when he got home from work. And it was all a bunch of glorious fun. Every cookie cutter in the bin was used at least once. Many of the cookies were slightly deformed by just a little too much contact with warm little fingers. The dough was rolled and rerolled many times as the concept of cutting cookies as close together as possible was still a nebulous concept. And nearly as many scraps ended up in little mouths as in the pile to reroll. It really was an all-day adventure. 

Today was my sugar cookie day. All the kids were at school and based on a previous conversation, there were only a few cookie cutters in play. I rolled the dough, cut the cookies, rerolled and repeated until all the cookies were cut. As the finished cookies started coming out of the oven, I looked at the clock and was stunned to discover that I had only been in the kitchen for an hour. Yup. Solid proof that cookie baking time increases exponentially with each child involved. 

With so much more time available than planned, I not only whipped the frosting, I colored some. And then I decorated cookies to be consumed for our FHE treat this evening. And it was fun! A different kind of fun than cooking with kids, but the kind of cute food fun that I love. And once the cookies were all decked out, I shared the pictures with our family group chat. Because my family knows me, and they always appreciate my gastronomical endeavors. And this was the ensuing conversations:

And I meant every word. Grownups only cookie days lead to cuter cookies, but kids on hand cookie days lead to sweeter memories. And the fact that Nathan snort laughed in public totally made my day!

Caloric Torment

There are pros and cons to having older siblings that live away from home. Cons include not having them around for all your performances and important events. Pros include fewer pile ups in the bathroom and having your own room. Matthew and Malia discovered a new pro today: Christmas cookie taunting. It was a virtual “neener neener.” Luckily for those older boys of mine, I will be stashing some in the freezer to be eaten when they come home for Christmas. 😂

C is for COOKIE!!

I love cookies. If given a choice between a delicious cookie or a bowl of ice cream, I’m going to choose the cookie. All bets are off if it is a mediocre cookie, but if it is a perfectly baked combination of crisp exterior and chewy interior with the amazing flavor to back up the right texture, I’m going to go for the cookie. Cookies are often at the top of my stress eating list as well, with the baking of said cookies being an important part of the experience. But since I know that about myself, most of the time when I get all stressed and want to bake, I can opt not to which is generally the healthier option. And now that you know a little bit more about me than you probably want to, let me introduce our last Halloween themed treat for this year.

There are three distinct reasons these cookies can claim the moniker “monster.”

Monstrous Quality #1:

A monster cookie is actually a flavor of cookie the same way a snickerdoodle is a flavor of cookie. The traditional monster cookie features peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips and M&M’s. Our version uses almond butter, oatmeal and three flavors of chocolate chips-dark, semi-sweet and white. It’s our allergen free version of the traditional recipe.

Monstrous Quality #2:

These cookies are massive. Seriously, I’ve never baked a single serve cookie this big before. I’ve made bar cookies, cookie pizzas, and cookie cakes, but I’ve never slapped a baseball-sized chunk of cookie dough on a baking sheet with the intention of it being consumed by one person. 

Monstrous Quality #3:

Eyeballs. And monster-colored sprinkles. Because it can’t be a proper Halloween treat without looking the part. 😉 

Now that we have clarified this particular cookie’s claim to its name, let’s talk about how they taste. They were good, very rich though, and honestly, one cookie could easily feed two people. The outside was crisp, and the inside was just barely baked which made them super yummy. I would make them again. And we most definitely have leftovers. It might take us the rest of the week to finish the batch!

Yuletide Delights-Part IV

Today’s holiday creation was another old favorite. We used to make candy cane cookies every year, but for some reason we stopped making them a few years back. I’m not sure why, but Malia didn’t even remember these little sweets, so I figured I’d better get my act together and quit neglecting her childhood just because the boys are all getting quite grown up. 😜 

When they were young the boys liked helping make all the Christmas cookies, but the candy cane ones were always the favorites when it came to enthusiasm for the creating. It is probably because they kind of got to do whatever they wanted. I would show them how to form the candy canes, but then their creativity always burst out and we ended up with peppermint striped assorted shapes. I think it is because forming the dough is a lot like handling playdough and since playdough is all about making whatever shapes you want, making these cookies inspires an undeniable urge to create whatever your mind can think up. 

My playdough hypothesis was proven correct today. I showed Malia how to make the candy canes, but she quickly (like on her second cookie) diverged from the standard cane form and made a variety of braids, twirls, twists, and even a bit of tie dye. Not only that, but she actually said that the cookie dough reminded her of playdough! She also very much enjoyed sampling the baked cookies, helping me taste test the broken ones . And joking that if we ate them all now, the boys would never have to know they existed. 😂

I feel like I gained two points for this particular activity-one for reintroducing a family favorite and one for some good one-on-one mother/daughter time.

Yuletide Delights-Part II

A few weeks ago, Malia’s teacher let the parents know they would be doing a cookie exchange in class as part of their twelve days of Christmas activities. Cookies needed to be store bought and commercially packaged due to our district’s food in the classroom policies. The students would each bring one cookie and after their activity each would end up with a different cookie to enjoy. Store bought or bakery cookies are often problematic for food allergy kids and knowing that the odds were not in her favor, I immediately started making plans for Malia to have a special cookie at the end of the activity. While I can’t bake cookies for the other kids, I can bake cookies for Malia, so I made her a delightful Christmas themed cookie and arranged to get it to her teacher the day in advance so it could be a surprise for Malia. Often the food allergy kids are the ones who get left out when food activities occur, but I think Malia got the better end of the bargain today.

And my choice of gingerbread ended up being perfect because Malia told me there was a gingerbread cookie day a few days ago. Her teacher checked ingredients but didn’t spot the cross-contact warnings on the cookies she bought, so Malia had to pull something out of her treat bin rather than enjoying gingerbread with the rest of the class. Malia’s were cuter and I’ll bet hers tasted better too. Malia did have to double check when she got home to make sure it was a reindeer though. She kept trying to make it standard gingerbread man and couldn’t figure out why the face was so weird. 😂

Cookie Dough Though

Nathan is still running a fever and has been asleep for most of the day, but in general, the stress level of this household was dropped. School went much smoother than Malia expected yesterday so she is  feeling calmer. Matthew still isn't sleeping well, but at least he was in bed at 4:00 this morning. I have prepped nearly everything for the activity on Tuesday so if for some reason I can't go, one of the other leaders will be able to step in. With some help from Kev, I've even been able to dial back the germaphobe freak out a bit which is a huge accomplishment for me. Yes, I'm still cleaning like a maniac, but my stomach doesn't feel all tight like it did yesterday.

I didn't actually eat a cookie today, but I did make cookie dough for Christmas cookies and snitched a bit before it went into the freezer, so I think that counts. 😉 

State of the Household

I want to take a minute to address the physical, mental and emotional status of those living in my house. 

Malia came home from school yesterday distraught because she has found herself in the middle of two warring parties. This has been going on for months now, but things kind of blew up yesterday. She is friends with both girls, wants to remain so and doesn’t want to be mean to anyone, so she gets very worried about all the drama and how to navigate her social world. Nathan was having some mild cold symptoms yesterday morning, but when he started running a fever last night, we broke out the Covid tests. Unfortunately, he most definitely has Covid. That raised everyone’s stress levels but having Covid in the house coupled with the need to wear a mask at school due to being exposed to Covid added to the emotional stress was nearly more than Malia could handle. She couldn’t even focus enough to get her homework done, so she went to bed knowing that she would be unprepared today. Matthew’s focus was shot as well, so there was no homework done in our household last night and I was totally ok with that. Sometimes life requires a recess from the normal school rules.

This morning was a hard one all the way around. Malia had a really hard time falling asleep last night so she was extra tired this morning. Not only that, but she really, really didn’t want to go to school because she was so worried about the social drama, so she had a really hard time getting up and moving. It took her nearly an hour to get out of bed, which meant that she was eating breakfast five minutes before she was supposed to walk out the door. Matthew woke up at 3:00 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. At 4:00 he was still so completely awake that he figured he might as well get up and decided to take advantage of the time to wrap some Christmas presents. Although he didn’t come fully awake, Kev heard rustling in the house at 4:00 which disrupted his sleep a bit. And I never sleep well when I’m anxious about sick kids, so I was pretty tired this morning as well. In fact, I think Nathan was the one who slept the best. With some Aleve in him to dampen the fever and no need to get up early to go to work, he felt pretty good when he got up.

I’m feeling stressed today as well because I really don’t want Matthew and Malia to get sick and miss out on their fun activities for the next several weeks. Malia feels like she always gets sick just in time to miss the big events at school and to be completely fair, she is justified in thinking so. She has in fact missed many days that held fun activities, the latest being her big turkeys vs. farmers debate just before Thanksgiving two weeks ago. And Matthew has concerts and parties and a variety of things coming up as well. 

As for me, I’m a germaphobe who has Covid in the house which means my stress is running high. In addition, I am in charge of our primary activity on Tuesday, and I really don’t want to miss it. Not only is it the last activity of the year and our Christmas activity, but it is Malia’s last primary activity ever. I was in charge of our Christmas activity last December as well and it was cancelled due to a Covid outbreak in the ward. I’m really hoping the rest of the family can stay well so Malia and I can attend this activity.

So the catchword of the day seems to be stress. I’m so stressed that I can’t even stress eat which means my stress level is higher than the normal day to day stress of life. When the world shut down due to Covid and we had two earthquakes that same week, there were cookies. When the kids went back to school with all the Covid protocols in place, there were cookies. When Nathan was preparing to leave on his mission, there were cookies. When Matthew had Covid in July, there were cookies. When Nathan began to really struggle with the headaches while he was in Texas, there were cookies for both of us. When he came home as a result of the headaches, there were cookies. So the fact that the thought of eating a cookie makes my stomach clench up is really saying something about my current stress level.

Honestly, I think Nathan is the least stressed of all of us. He doesn’t feel particularly well, but he really needed a day off work and he’s going to get a few of those which will be good for his mental state. His life is on pause for a tiny bit, but he spent the day finishing his Christmas shopping and playing a Spiderman video game, so he feels like it has been a productive sick day. He is still running a fever, but at least the meds take away the fever headache, if not the underlying one that is still plaguing him.

Hopefully we will all sleep better tonight so that tomorrow doesn’t feel so hard. If I can sleep well and get the “what if’s” in my brain to quiet down, maybe I’ll even want to eat a cookie. That would be an improvement.

Pretty Little Pumpkins

Often, I get my inspiration for fun food from the internet. Once in a while, I come up with clever ideas all on my own. And sometimes my inspiration is a combination of the two. Today’s edible ode to autumn was an idea sparked by an image I saw of a cupcake decorated to look like a pumpkin. My thought process was, “Mmm…I’ll bet I could make a pumpkin cookie that looks like a pumpkin…” And thus, an idea was born. 

I used the pumpkin cookie recipe we already love and used a toothpick to create the grooves in the pumpkin prior to baking. The cooled cookies were sandwiched with a bit of tinted cream cheese frosting and details added with some pretzel sticks and a bit of fancy piping. The leaves were my favorite. So easy with a frosting tip and so cute!

The house smelled delicious all morning, like cinnamon and pumpkin. I made Kevin and Nathan, who were home for the baking and basked in the aroma, wait all day to sample our goodies. And when the time came to consume my art, none of us were disappointed. They were delightful. And fun food is always so much fun to eat! The only thing I would do differently next time would be to decrease the amount of frosting used to sandwich the cookies. It was a bit too much for our tastes and made them too sweet. But other than that, these little cuties were a complete success!

Texas Extras

Due to the idiosyncrasies of the postal system in Texas, all mail to Nathan was sent to the mission office. From there it was distributed as time and travel of zone leaders and such permitted. While that protected the missionaries from unexpected charges for package delivery, it also meant that mail did not reach its final destination for an undetermined amount of time. It was a bit frustrating at times, but it was entertaining when Nathan had half dozen boxes waiting for him all at the same time.

Three weeks ago, Malia and I assembled a package for Nathan. We had just spoken to him, and he was looking really rough around the edges. He was getting more and more worn down by the headaches and I felt like some mail from home would be a good pick me up. Malia baked cookies and we all worked to find some goodies to fill the box. Knowing that it would probably take longer to get to Nathan than we would have liked, I put some extra thought into how to package the baked goods so there was half a chance they would be somewhat fresh upon arrival. I sealed them in FoodSaver bags with either a tortilla or a slice of bread in each to help keep the cookies soft. I dated the bags so Nathan would know how old the cookies were when he got them, and his job was to tell us how they fared.

The package arrived in Texas only a couple days after we mailed it, but when we spoke to Nathan the following week, he had not yet received it. Two weeks after we mailed the package, Nathan finally got his mail. Homemade coconut granola had also been included in the box and apparently the entire box smelled of coconut. Malia had tucked in one of her fabulous chickens and since the theme of the box was “C is for…” Matthew printed a picture of Calvin Coolidge. That week was the day when Nathan counseled with Kevin and I about coming home, so needless to say, he was really distracted. Nathan and his companion consumed the granola with gusto, but he forgot all about the cookies. 

Nathan was made a district leader at the last transfer, so today was his last district counsel before he comes home tomorrow. He pulled out the cookies to share with his district and gave a report on the success of our packaging. All the cookies were still soft. The ones packaged with bread were softer than those tucked in with tortillas, but they were all completely eatable. The only problem that occurred was the fact that the vacuum sealing and the extended wait time pretty much glued the cookies to the bread/tortillas. Most of the missionaries pried them off and ate them anyway, but Nathan told us one of the elders ate his with the tortilla. That made me laugh. I’m glad the entire zone enjoyed Malia’s treats. And though I won’t be needing the knowledge right away, next time I would slip a piece of parchment paper between the cookies and the bread to solve the problem.

After their counsel, the entire district went out to lunch. Nathan wanted to spend as much time with them as he could before leaving Texas and I can’t blame him. Although he knows that coming home is the right choice, it is still difficult for him to leave. He has loved being in Texas, has loved the work, and will miss many of the people he has met.

C is for Cookie

And when I say cookie, I mean cookies. Plural. So. Many. Cookies. 

Today was cookie baking day in preparation for hosting friends and family when Nathan speaks in sacrament meeting in a couple of weeks. In honor of where he will serve his mission as well as his mission language, we have Texas shaped cookies and hand cookies forming a variety of common hand gestures and ASL letters. I made all the cookie dough in advance, so our four hours in the kitchen today was cutting and baking time. Now we have a couple of hundred cookies that will get tossed in the freezer for now. I don’t usually do labor intensive cut out cookies when I’m baking for this many people, but Nathan and I had a fantastic time creating all these goodies. And the cookies turned out super cute. It was well worth the effort.

As a side note, Nathan is my Sesame Street kid. When the cookie dough was mixed and colored, it reminded him of Cookie Monster and Elmo. It might be a bit morbid to say it looked like a couple of bowls full of Muppets, but I think he’s right. 😂

Festive Food-Parts III and IV

Today was a two-fer in terms of fun food. With a limited number of days remaining until Christmas, so many fun ideas to create, and only so many days that all my kids are here, sneaking in a couple fun foods seemed like a good way to go.

After the grand time we had fashioning our gingerbread village last Christmas, we all knew gingerbread in some form or another needed to be on the schedule of festivities again this year. I polled the kids and rather than do miniature houses again, we decided to go big and make giant gingerbread men. My goal was to make them as big as conveniently possible, so I sized up a template to print on an 8.5”x11” sheet of paper. The kids used a knife to cut around their templates, the boys all using a traditional gingerbread man shape and Malia going rogue to turn her gingerbread girl into a dragon girl. The boys and I all thought it looked just like Batgirl, but Malia was adamant that it was a dragon. Both men and dragon girl expanded a bit as they baked, and they turned out pretty gargantuan. I’m really glad I didn’t try to make two on a single cookie sheet. We would have ended up with some crazy conjoined gingerbread.

As in all things, all four of my children created very different gingerbread men people beings. Daniel’s man ended up looking like an ‘80’s punk rocker with multicolored spiked hair. Nathan’s looked an awful lot like Oscar the Grouch with a bit of extra bit of color in his hair. Matthew’s was wearing a rockin’ Christmas suit. And Malia’s did not end up looking like Batgirl. It became a man-eating dragon wearing a pearl necklace and star earrings. I’m so proud that my only daughter has such refined tastes. Of course, she did soften the slaughter by adding a timeless piece of jewelry. And to be completely honest, the whole ginger-dead men thing was all my fault. 😂

At the conclusion of the decorating, Daniel decided that the houses had been more fun, but the giant gingerbread men were still fun. I think it would be great to combine the two-a village of tiny houses terrorized by a giant gingerbread man. (I think there have been side effects associated with raising three boys. Twenty years ago, I don’t think I would have considered having a gingerbread village meet a grisly end a funny idea, but I’ve had to make some mental adjustments to keep up with my boys. 😜)

Once the explosion of buttercream, candy and sprinkles was cleaned up, we moved on to our second course of fun food for the day. My kids ask about five million times a day what we are having for dinner, and today I just told them they would have to wait and see. When that is my response, they all know something fun is on the horizon. Nathan even changed some plans for this evening so he would be here for dinner. He realized what I was creating when he saw me breaking the pretzels, but the rest of the kids were otherwise occupied and didn’t figure it out until the moment of final assembly. Sloppy joes with a few additions became a tasty bevy of Santa’s helpers. Yes, they did look more like dogs than reindeer, but a little imagination solved that problem. After our cadre of reindeer was completed, my crew hunkered down and ate every last antler. Seriously, I thought there would be some leftovers. I was wrong.

As for my kitchen, it is jam packed full of Christmas goodness. These are the moments when I wish I had just a bit more counter space. I’m so grateful my crew is willing to clean up when my creativity explodes all over the place. I have definitely made a lot of dirty dishes over the course of the past two days and there are more to come. But my clan will all be well fed time and time again over the course of the week and they know it, so they don’t usually complain too much. 😉

Jack Pumpkinhead

Growing up, some of my favorite books were the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. Unbeknownst to most people, there are actually fourteen books in the original series which starts with the most well-known, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The second book in the series, The Marvelous Land of Oz, features a character by the name of Jack Pumpkinhead. He is a man made of wood with a carved pumpkin for a head who is brought to life by the magical Powder of Life. Whenever I see a classic jack o’lantern, it reminds me of Jack Pumpkinhead.

This evening’s Halloween themed FHE treat was highly reminiscent of Jack. The pumpkin cut out cookies and tinted cream cheese frosting of these tasty sandwich cookies had the iconic jack o’lantern smile. It was a delightfully tasty treat served with a generous helping of childhood nostalgia. It has been a while since I’ve turned the pages of these beloved novels. Maybe it’s time for me to revisit the magical land of Oz.

 

Hopping Down the Bunny Trail

None of the big holidays would seem complete around here without some fun food. With Easter on the horizon, our family home evening treat was destined to be Easter themed. The kids are on spring break this week, so they were on hand to help create this evening’s delectable dessert. Malia was the only one who helped me shape the cookies, but Matthew hopped on over to help when it was time to decorate. The cookies were very easy to create. The hard part was making everyone wait to sample them. They turned out super cute and just as tasty. Hooray for fun food!