Eat Like a Caveman!

Cooking Club was yesterday - and I was the hostess.

My turn!  My turn to turn my friends onto the wonderful world of paleo - or as we like to say 'eating like a caveman'.

I had the fleeting thought of building a fire in the yard, and as each guest arrived, handing them a bow and arrow, saying 'Have at it! You catch it, you eat it - oh, and by the way - I do believe the dandelions are up now in case you are hankerin' for a salad."

But I just had a feeling that wouldn't go over with this crowd.

In fact, I even gave them forks, knives, and plates.

This is some high falutin' primal eating.

Isn't this table that Glenco made for me awesome?

It cost us $3.

All we had to buy were some screws.

The lumber was 'reclaimed' from a dumpster.

That Glenco - he's worth his salt.

I really had fun with the tablescape.

Nothing like walking around the yard finding things to slap on the table.

The food was extremely delicious.

Please know that this is not a way that I eat every day - nor do I suggest that this is 'healthy'.

It's much higher in fat than I eat, or suggest eating.

But if you are looking for something that is non-allergenic, something that will sway you into getting away from grains and dairy - something that you want to use to 'celebrate' a certain event - I'd endorse it then.

Except for the cake.

Amen.

Bacon wrapped dates.

Chicken with a Mushroom Sauce

Mashed Cauliflower

Kale Salad

Caveman Biscuits (made with coconut and almond flour)

Dessert was stretching things a bit - but it was Cooking Club after all.

A flourless Chocolate Cake with Strawberries.

The meal was higher in fat than I typically eat, but it was a nice treat.

I took all the recipes from this cookbook:

Here's their website

http://paleocomfortfoods.com/a-look-at-our-book/

I truly hope that you are either:

A.  Changing what you feed yourself

B. Seriously thinking and planning on changing what you feed yourself

or

C.  Getting a really good health insurance plan

I just watched this documentary online, and it was worth every minute.

VERY eye-opening, and if it doesn't motivate you to change, I'm not sure what will.

It's free online until March 31st.

http://www.hungryforchange.tv/online-premiere

Please take the time out to give it a look see.

Life is too short to eat crap, feel like crap, and look like crap.

Take care of yourself.

No one else is gonna do it for you.

Best Chocolate Cupcakes. Period.

I have a confession.

I like baking.

Still.

There ain't no crime in that.

I'm a versatile blogger if anything -

blogging about my workout one day - cupcakes the next.

It's how I roll.

I recognize that not all of you want to suck on brussels sprouts and orange slices while swinging kettlebells.

I still love ya.

Today has been a lovely day - the sun is shining in a way that makes you want to get your seeds organized and dream of seeing little rows of lettuce popping out of the soil.

Aaron has been with me all day - and I'm sure you can tell by the photos.

I told him that my blog has declined a great deal since he decided to leave the Marmie Learnatorium and go to the 'Public School'.

Mmmhmm.

Glenco just finished a brake job on the 1973 Maverick and is dozing on the couch.

I'm in the kitchen roasting a humanly raised, organic chicken.

Now - call me crazy - but how is it any different once the birds have been killed?

You raise them humanly, and you still kill them and roast them at high temperatures??

I'm so on the fence about meat in general.

But this post is about cupcakes.

You can put your search for the perfect chocolate cupcake to rest my friends.

Meet Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

Moist.

A tender crumb.

Quick and easy.

Frost them with gobs of this:

1 stick of butta

2/3 c cocoa powder

1/3 cup of milk

1 t vanilla

3 cups of powdered sugar

Everyone who's anyone that's tasted them has declared them the best ever.

Ever.

Now - this video might be a little disturbing - yes - I have the spatula full of frosting very close to my mouth as I'm singing right on top of it - rest assured that these cupcakes were consumed by family only.

I don't breathe all over cupcakes that I give to friends.

Or do I?

 Enjoy the rest of your Sunday friends!As always - thanks for stopping by. 

Bootcamp, Beefstew and Beseeching

I have had one heck of a busy weekend.

I've spent the better part of the day planning meals, grocery shopping and washing fruits and veggies.

Guess what I ended up getting for my birthday?

Mmmmhmmm....

I've sliced and chopped my fool head off today.

I even made some dough.

With wheat!

Gasp!

For Glenco.

My fruits and veggies are resting comfortably in the fridge all prepped and ready for me this week.

I wanted to share the Beef Stew recipe with you.

Certainly - it was my favorite beef stew recipe, thus far.

Perhaps it was the mood I was in whilst cooking it - perhaps it was the celery root, perhaps it was the humanly raised, grass fed beef - I behoove you to try it and let me know what you think.

This isn't a picture of the actual stew -

photo from eating clean diet website

But this is the actual recipe I used.
: -)

The Best Danged Beef Stew Evah

1.25lbs of beef stew meat
1 tsp smoked paprika (I used regular)
1/2 scant teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon oil (I used a bit less)
1/2 large white onion, chopped
Large pinch dried thyme
Large pinch dried rosemary
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (I used quick cooking tapioca)
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar - divided
2 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth (I used beef broth)
2 bay leaves
1 cup chopped, peeled carrots
1 1/2 cups potato chunks (I used red potatoes)
1 cup of peeled, cubed celery root chunks (try not to substitute or eliminate this)
2 large portobello mushroom caps, cut into 1" chunks
3/4 cup of frozen peas

Pat beef dry with paper towel and sprinkle with paprika, salt, cayenne and black pepper.  In a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat oil on medium high.  Add beef and cook, undisturbed for two to three minutes.  Flip beef and repeat on opposite side.
(original recipe said to do this in two batches.  I ask you, who has time for that?  I did it in one.)
Remove beef and place on a large plate.
Add the onion to the pot and cook about six minutes, til lightly browned.  Reduce heat to medium low and add thyme, rosemary, tomato paste and garlic.
Mix well.  Return beef and any accumulated juices to the pot.
Sprinkle with flour and cook for one minutes - stirring constantly.
Add 2 T of the vinegar and simmer for one minute.  Add broth and bay leaves.
Cover and increase heat to medium high.  Once it begins to simmer, reduce it to medium low, and maintain a slow, steady simmer.

Cover and cook for an hour and fifteen minutes - stirring about three times.

Add carrots - simmer for thirty minutes more.
Add potatoes, simmer for 10 minutes.
Add celery root, cover and simmer til all is tender - about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, coat a large skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium high.  Slap those mushrooms in there and the remaining 2 T of vinegar, and a pinch of salt and black pepper.
Cook three to five minutes, stirring frequently.  Continue cooking until mushrooms are tender and all liquid is almost completely reduced, about three minutes.

Add peas to the pot.
Cook about 2 minutes, add mushrooms and remove from heat.
Remove bay leaves and serve.

Worth every minute.
One and a half cups of beef stew has 386 calories, 10 g fat, 32 carbs, and 35 protein.

The last thing I wanted to mention tonight is Bootcamp.
Tomorrow is the day.
Sign ups.
If you don't sign up tomorrow - you probably won't get in.
I'm beseeching you to give it a little more thought.

Click here and give my interview a listen.
You can access the link to sign up for the early bird email there too..

I wish I could somehow convey to you what a difference this program has made in my life.
I finally admitted that I couldn't do it on my own.
I liken it to the dentist, or going to the doctor for a needed surgery.
I wouldn't in a million years try to fill my own tooth - or give myself surgery.
I feel that being overweight for so long, and all of the emotional baggage I carried from it - was like a cancer on my soul.
I admitted I needed help.
I got it.
It was worth every dime, and even more.
If you are just sick and tired of being sick and tired - if you are just at the end of your rope of 'trying it on your own' or other programs that don't seem to work for you.
It's not just calories in, calories out.
You aren't broken.
You can succeed.
You aren't too old, you aren't too young.
You aren't too busy either.
There's no perfect time to change.
Now's your chance.
Right now.

Many of you will be glad to know that after today I won't be mentioning it again!
Ha!

Sign ups are tomorrow - the program starts on February 8th.
I'll be helping coach.
Nothing would make me happier than to help you succeed.
For real.

Please email me if you have any questions at all!

My goal for Bootcamp this go around is to lose another 20lbs.
I want to build some serious muscle and build my endurance.
I plan on rocking 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and possibly 100.
Gettin' old ain't for sissies baby.

Move over Betty White -

Another Great Breakfast Idea...

I was surprised and delighted to find out that most of you do not consume fast food on a regular basis!

Hurrah!

This was my go to breakfast before I found out that dairy bloated me like a tick and caused a severe hole in the ozone layer in Northwest Indiana.  Now, I just stick with my turkey sausage and fruit.  I do try to have this once in a while as a change - but I get so danged gassy!

It's quick - it's inexpensive - it's filling - and it's balanced with carbs and protein.

It's also versatile.

This might sound gross to you at first - mixing oatmeal and cottage cheese together - but trust me on this one. 

I'm a real texture kinda girl - and if I don't like the texture of something in my mouth - no matter how much I love the taste - I just won't eat it.

This - I really like.

1/4 cup of old fashioned oatmeal

3/4 cup of water

Cook the oatmeal in the water - and add your choice of fruit.  I like apples or blueberries - bananas are good too - but if you choose those - add them after cooking.  Use about a 1/2 cup of fruit.

Add a dash of cinnamon, almond or vanilla extract (depends on what fruit you are using).

Add 3/4 cup of lowfat cottage cheese.

I usually put the pot back on the stove at this point and warm the whole thing up again.

Now - the sweetener - I used agave nectar - I really frown upon the artificial sweeteners - perhaps you could use honey - again - I'll leave the sweetener up to you - it's personal preference.

Some nuts would be delicious on there, wouldn't it?

I'd refrain from doing that - even though 'it's a good fat' - it's a fat nonetheless - and with the amount of carbohydrates in this dish - you want to avoid any extra fat.

Let me know what you think!

Start your day out right girls - get protein in your craw first thing in the morning.

This recipe has been approved by Scarlett - she has often been the lucky chicken that gets little bits of it leftover.

Holiday Nipples....

Hey gals!

THANK YOU!

I am just blown away by your support of my Etsy shop yesterday.

I hope to make some more aprons soon - but right now I'm knee deep in packaging papers

skin oil.

Here's a post I did a few years ago - wanted to bring it back up to the top so that you can get busy making some Santa Nipples - or Reindeer Nipples - or Elf Nipples....

or you could just call them Nipple Rings.

The possibilities are endless!

Just wanted to show you a super quick, super tasty little treat to make for the holidays.

I call these Nipples.

I think it's funny. Glenco just rolls his eyes.

These would be Turkey Nipples.

I also make Reindeer Nipples, Leprechaun Nipples, Cupid's Nipples....

I think you get the idea.

I was going to name this post 'Everyone Loves My Nipples'

Aren'tcha glad I didn't?

All you need are some round pretzels, Hershey kisses and M&M's.

The M&M's should reflect whatever holiday it is that you are celebrating.

Of course, the day before Thanksgiving, it's impossible to find any fall colored M&M's, so I had to buy a regular bag and sort them out myself.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Using a Silpat or parchement paper, line a cookie sheet (I like using a jelly roll so they don't fall off going in and out of the oven, trust me on that one)

"Kiss your pretzels"

Put them in the oven for about two to three minutes, until thoroughly softened and shiny, but not melted and running.

Now all you have to do is 'nipple' them!

Chill them until they firm up. These make great snacks. They pack well and can be put in tins or jars and given as gifts. Kids especially like these.

Hoping you all have a wonderful, and Happy Thanksgiving!

PS House post still planned for sometime later tonight!

Cuban Pork Tacos with The BoyChild

The BoyChild is mine!  All mine!

Seven glorious days of love and laughter.

I'm sitting at the gym with him now - while he's doing his gymnastics practice.

Doesn't this pic make you hurt?

It does me.

Aaron helped me stretch the other day.

It's just a good thing I'm too old to birth babies because I do believe

 he's permanently relocated my uterus.

I think it's where my lungs were.

One of my favorite things to do is to feed the BoyChild.

He's an adventurous eater - much more than I am.

He'll try anything once.  If I don't like the look of it, the smell of it, or the name of it - I won't.

I love that about him - he loves food and loves to try new things.

He was all up and over these Cuban Pork Tacos tonight.

Clean eating or not - these were so delicious they were 'ridickerous'.

The picture really doesn't do them justice.

Click HERE for the recipe.

The fresh pineapple salsa?

Forget it.
I couldn't believe the flavor!

It's my fault that I've been eating rather plain for months - it's just been easier - or maybe I've been lazy.

This recipe looked a bit involved at first - but it wasn't.

Now - here's the kicker for me - I didn't do the whole avocado thing - or the corn tortilla thing.

I'm not a fan of the avocado.

What's up with the texture of it?

I react to it almost as much as the dreaded cotton ball.

*shudders*

I steamed some cauliflower -

chopped it up rrrreeaallll fine like and faked myself into thinking I was eating rice.

I just put the meat and salsa over it.

It's pretty danged spicy - so if you aren't the spicy loving kind - I'd suggest that you cut the cayenne and red pepper down some.

I may be singing 'Ring of Fire' tomorrow.

Amen.

Easy Teriyaki Meatballs

Here's what we had for supper tonight.

Teriyaki Meatballs

Cauliflower 'Rice' (not pictured-it's just steamed cauliflower, chopped fine)

Cucumbers (of course)

Sliced tomatoes from the garden.

Watermelon

A few of you had asked what Glenco eats.

He eats what I eat at supper, but traditionally has a sandwich for lunch, and he still loves his potato chips.  He's eaten a banana for breakfast everyday for the last 28 years. I kid you not.

He's lost 18lbs since I've changed my way of eating, shopping and cooking.

He loves how he feels.

Here's the recipe for the meatballs. I used ground sirloin tonight - next time I'll try it with ground turkey breast. They were so flavorful!

1# ground sirloin, or ground turkey breast
1/3 cup of teriyaki sauce (I used Organicville Island Teriyaki Sauce-it's quite clean, found at regular grocery store)
1/2 cup of chopped green onions
1 T freshly chopped ginger root
2 teas. garlic powder
6 T oatmeal
1 egg white

Mix all the above together, and form into 8 meatballs. Place on baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes at 350*. (I made mine ahead, and had them ready to go right in the oven - oh so convenient)
These are surely going in my recipe file. We all really enjoyed them!

Nutrition info: 16 gr carbohydrates, 28 gr protein, 7 gr fat (would be MUCH lower in fat using turkey breast, and I bet just as tasty)

I'm sharing daily recipes on my new Facebook page

Eating Clean with the CoopKeeper

I hope that the 'like' button over there works from here - if it doesn't - please let me know!

Would love to see you there!



Fresh Strawberry Pecan Bread

I love baking.  I do.  It makes me happy.

I'm not entirely sure why, but it could have something to do with using my mom's old spoons and bowls, or baking breads in my aunt's old bread pans.

When I bake - I feel this connection to my family in a way that warms my heart as much as the oven warms the kitchen.

I feel connected - I feel that I'm showing love in some way.

Doesn't seem right for the ManChild (formerly known as the BoyChild) to come for a visit and not find some fresh baked goodness going on.

I don't cotton to sending Glenco out among the English for the day without a little cookie or something in his lunch.

That's how I roll.

And - that's how I got so many rolls.

Selah.

I adore quick breads.

There's something so homey about them, and well - they are quick.

The variations are endless - and when Aldi had strawberries on sale for 99 cents a box -

I went a bit nuts.

I ate four boxes m'self the first week.

Then I got four more.

Um, and four more.

My strawberries fresh from the garden - 2010

Needing to bake (yes, I needed to) yesterday, I thought...well, now if there can be banana bread, and pumpkin bread and the likes, then surely, there could be some strawberry bread makin' up in here.

Enter

Google.

I found  this  recipe on Allrecipes, and tweaked it around.

Use FOUR cups of strawberries, and ONE teaspoon of cinnamon.

Slice some of the strawberries, and halve some.

If you have strawberry extract around, I'd splash some in there.

I do think it's very good - BUT - I'm dreaming of a poundcake like strawberry bread, perhaps with a tad of heavenly cream cheese mixed in it somehow with more of a strawberry taste.

I'll keep playing.

This bread is definitely worth a go - especially with our beloved strawberry season upon us.

I'm bringing a loaf to the 'Your Garden Almost Made Me Crash' lady/man today.

I hope I'm well received!

Have I told you that I'm declaring this the year of the picnic?

Yes, it's true.

Please make this for your next picnic.

I thank you in advance.

A Pie Tutorial Indeed

Good grief all mighty.

I changed clothes three times.

I had my hair arranged.
My lips were glossed perfectly.

I set up the camera - and half way through the video - goofed up so much, I had to start over.

Guess what?

No more half and half.

Went to the store.

Came home.

Rearranged my hair again.

Changed clothes again.

Re-shot the video.

Half way through - made another blunder.

Started over.

Washed the dishes, set everything up again.

The third times a charm, eh?

Was so confident and entertaining...

Started rolling out the pie crust, and the camera batteries died.

Girls.

I'm giving up for the day!

Cause - crabby women can't make good pies.

It's a well known fact.
And crabby women don't make fun wives either.
Amen.

If you're really hankering to get your pie on, check out the blog I did here:

http://talefromthecoopkeeper.blogspot.com/2010/11/join-pie-gang.html

Dutch Oven Bread Tutorial!

Without further adieu!

The first of many video tutorials of life about the old farmhouse.



Here's the recipe....

3 cups all purpose flour

1.5 t kosher salt

1/4 t instant yeast

1.5 cups warm water

please watch video for instructions!

(I'm adding this - I've gotten a few emails asking about the yeast.  I use instant yeast - but if all you have is the 'Red Star Active Yeast' - go ahead and try it.  You've not much to lose.  It might work just fine.  I haven't used that kind of yeast in a few years, and I've never tried making it with that yeast...but don't let that stop you from trying. 
: -)

It's the Jayme Show!

Thank you so much for all the get well wishes yesterday.

It took all day for my stomach to settle down - and it wasn't too much birthday celebrating - it was just 'something'.  My stomach has been ailin' me on and off for a while.  Seems I can't have dairy products at the moment.

I decided to mix things up a little bit today and do a video.

I found myself dressed, with makeup on, and my chores done at 8am, so I thought I'd play a bit.

It's a whole new level of vulnerable....lord have mercy.

I had to put on extra deodorant!

Here's a photo of my German landlady, Anna Albertson - it goes along with the video.  Please note how similar my hair looks today, as it did in 1966!  When I think of what my mom went through every morning with the lot of us - she was a saint for sure.

I do hope you'll give the German Lemon Poundcake  (click on 'german lemon poundcake' for recipe) a whirl - it's not too sweet, and it's really not THAT lemony - but oh, the memories it brings back for me.

*has anyone tried my honey cookie recipe?  If so, can you please let me know how it turned out?  I had a reader recently contact me regarding them, and I wanted to find out how they turned out for you...

Garlic Pepper Baguettes!

I wanted to tell you about the baguette recipe that I found in my Southern Living Cookbook - a treasure I wouldn't have found if still just 'Googling' recipes.

I'm enjoying going through my cookbooks, something I pretty much stopped doing with the Internet in the house.   Oh the Internet - how I miss thee.  At times.  And other times, I'm so glad I do not have you to distract me.  I've been riding the 'Bi-Polar Express' (thank you Nancy S!) over the whole thing.  I've had the phone in my hand twice dialing AT & T.

Law.

Back to the bread.

I'm always looking for a good bread that will last more than two days without turning into croutons, or breaking any molars.

This bread was super tasty, and fit the bill.  Made great sandwiches.

Easy peasy to make -

I can't remember the last time I 'bought' bread.

I'm going to play with this recipe, adding different spices, finely chopped sun dried tomatoes, etc.

I can't encourage you enough to start making bread.

Like anything worth doing, it takes a bit of practice, and may seem overwhelming if you've never done it.

Seriously - there is only about 12 minutes of 'hands on time' here.

You CAN do this!

Here's the recipe:

1 3/4 cup of water

1 T butter

3 3/4 to 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 pks yeast (or 4.5 teaspoons of instant yeast)

1 T sugar

1 T garlic powder

2 t salt

1 t pepper

1 t thyme

1 T cornmeal

egg white beaten with a little water

Melt the tablespoon of butter into water on stove top in a small saucepan.  Keep an eye on it - you don't want to boil it - just warm it.

Mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the next six ingredients, you can just stir it with a spoon, or use your mixer.  I prefer to do it with a spoon, cause I enjoy the hands on work of bread making.

Keep adding flour, a cup at a time until the dough forms a ball, dump it on on a well floured counter and knead away.  Keep adding flour if the dough feels sticky.

Do you know about the baker's window?

It's truly the key to success.

You MUST knead your dough until you get a 'baker's window'.

Click here to find out how...

Once you've achieved your baker's window, throw a dishtowel over the dough and let it rest 20 minutes.

Divide the dough in half, and roll out each portion into a 10 x 15 rectangle.

Roll up each rectangle tightly lengthwise.

Put on greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.

Cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge for 2 hours.

(this makes a nice slow rise and a nice fine crumb)

Take the dough out of the fridge whilst the oven is preheating to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slash the loaves.

Bake the lovely loaves for 20 minutes - brush with egg white mixture, and bake another 5 minutes.

I'm a Pink Chicken, and I approve this blog post.

Christmas Gift Idea - A Repost

I'm at it again - cheating here - reposting old posts - but perhaps it's new to a few of yuns...
This year I'm doing apple themed baskets.
Canned pie apples, the crisp topping mixed in a cute fabric bag, a red dishcloth, and apple butter.
Of course I have no pictures, cause I'm not blogging right!?

All is well here in Coopkeeperland.  I'm enjoying my quiet month, and realizing that I have to guard it like gold or I'll be overbooked in a heartbeat.  I'm feeling awfully run down and feel a cold coming.
Phyllis the banty hen is up in the house - toe amputation necessary due to scaly leg mites.  (I shant go into details in this post) so she's fat and sassy and cackling in the kitchen.  I had to decorate her cage as well, since she'll be in for a while).  Aaron comes here after school today for us to do our Annual Snowflake Hanging (200 glitter snowflakes hanging from the ceiling throughout the house).  I just put fresh flannel sheets on his bed and some fresh baked cookies are in order.
And that's all the news fit to print.

Remember - slow down.
Breathe.
Enjoy.

Originally posted Dec. 2009


Need a quick little gift idea?

Every year, I tend to do a 'themy' thing like this. This year, because I can't stop thinking about bacon, I have fresh eggs, and I've been roasting my own coffee beans, I decided to do a 'breakfast theme'.

Here's one of the gift baskets ready to go.

I call this one the 'Cowboy Breakfast'

Included in the basket:

Local Bacon (help me)

Fresh eggs (the girls wanted in on this)

Pancake Mix

Homemade Syrup

A handmade dishcloth

A vintagy apron

A little cowboy picture (LOVE THIS, she almost didn't get it)

Fresh roasted coffee

Green coffee beans (she wants to try roasting her own)

If you want to keep it simple, all you need is a little bag of the pancake mix, and a jar of homemade syrup. I added a hand-knitted dish towel for a touch of homey-ness as well.

Here's the link for the pancake mix. I just mixed the dry ingredients, and on the back of the little card, I wrote what you needed to add to finish it up.

The total cost of this gift?

Less than $10, and that includes the basket, bacon, etc.

Of course the dishcloth is worth about $150.

:-)

Christmas Cookies 101 - A Repost

Alright y'all, I tried!  I did - and here I am up in my chair playing around with the blog.
I thought I'd repost this from last year - there's some great cookie baking info here.
I'm enjoying my blog break!  The house is about decorated, we've a 6 inch blanket of snow on the ground, and Phyllis the banty hen is living in the house, with her cage bedecked for Christmas. 
I ask you - does it get better? 
Yes.
It does.
Ray Coniff Singers.
Peppermint lattes.
Seeing old friends.
The wonder of  Christ.

Thank you so much for all of your comments and emails.
You are all a wonderful gift to me.


Originally posted Dec. 8th 2009

Good Morning Blog Friends!

I'd like to talk about Christmas Cookies this morning.

I absolutely love to bake, so Christmas is well....like Christmas for me! It's a great excuse to have the flour flying and be in a sugar coma by the end of the afternoon.

So often I see Christmas cookies that are overbaked, misshapen, and a bit of a mystery.

Don't let this happen to you and your loved ones!

I thought I'd share some of my cookie baking secrets with you.

First things first.

Get yourself a nice cup of Christmas tea and pull your recipes out. Have some wonderful Christmas music playing.

Christmas baking is as much as reflecting on past memories as it is about making new memories.

Reading recipes that dear friends have given you.

Baking cookies from precious hand written recipes handed down from generation to generation.

Remembering the years you forgot to add the baking soda to a batch of cookies.

Remembering the year you dumped a whole pan of gingerbread men, fresh from the oven onto the kitchen floor.

Good times.

Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's I used to have a Prairie Christmas Open House and sell crafts and baked goods. I made up that little Cookie Cookbook and sold those. It brings back such wonderful memories every year when I bring it out.

Now that you know what you are going to bake, please make sure that you have all of your ingredients on hand before you begin!

One tip that might prove helpful for you, especially if you have a lot of baking to do, is to make all the dough one day, and then bake it the next. I do this often. That way, I have all the mess in the kitchen one day, and I'm not distracted by the oven timer going off, only to go back to the dough I'm making and wonder if I've already added the salt.

I just put all the dough in Ziploc bags, label them with the type of cookie it is, and the oven temperature it should be baked at.

The next day, I can bake away without all the mess.

This is THE biggest secret of my success:

It's Reynolds Parchment paper. I hope I can encourage you to use it. What I love about it is that I can have such a mass production of cookies going with it. I can have a sheet of cookies baking, and while it's baking, I can fill another sheet of paper (without a pan under it) with raw dough.

I pull the baked cookies out of the oven, slide the paper and all off of the hot sheet onto the island, and then immediately slip on the new sheet of paper with the raw dough. Absolutely no down time at all, or waiting for the pan to cool. Love it. I reuse the sheets over and over until they are so brittle they can't be used again. It keeps the sheets clean and the cookies never ever stick. Once you use it, you'll be lost without it.

A few more things that I do to insure my baking is a success is:

• ALWAYS preheat the oven for at least a half an hour.
• Make sure the oven temperature is correct, using an oven thermometer. Adjust your oven if necessary.
• Watch the cookies carefully, I usually remove them before they really LOOK done. Never brown your cookies.
• I only use SHINY pans. I abhor the dark pans, they always brown the cookies, and quickly.
• I only put ONE tray of cookies in at a time so that the oven has good air circulation.
• I only bake when I'm in a GOOD mood.

Let's talk about that last one for just a minute, shall we?

How often are you rushed and stressed during the holidays? As women, we usually bear the load of the holidays. Gift shopping, party planning, decorating and baking.

It's a lot.

I've found that when I'm baking when I feel frustrated, anything that can go wrong will.

Your cookies will end up looking like this:

The next thing you know, you'll be biting someone's head off.

You want happy cookies don't you?

Perhaps Aaron sums it all up here:

Do you have any idea how much we laugh on a daily basis?
(seeing this video again made me so sad for the boy child.  The nerve of him going to public school!)

I'll share the recipe for my Gingerbread cookies at the end of the post.

Rolling cookies can sometimes be frustrating as well....it doesn't need to be.

I use a flour sack tea towel, well floured and I flour my hands and rolling pin. I used to use a sleeve on the rolling pin, but it left fabric marks on the gingerbread. Me no like.

Take your time. I make mine about 3/8" thick so that they are easy to handle, and hold up well for decorating and packaging.

I decorate them with a simple powdered sugar and milk frosting.

Mini M&M's are fun.

I like tucking them in all around the house. They seem to disappear one by one though....

Here's the recipe! I hope you'll try them, and perhaps they can become a tradition with you, as they are here. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Gingerbread Men

(makes 20-24 small, or 14 large cookies)

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark molasses

1/4 cup water

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

Cream the shortening and the sugar. Blend in the molasses, water, flour, salt, soda and spices. Cover, or put in a Ziploc bag, and chill for 2 to 3 hours (or overnight!).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough 1/4" thick for small cookies, or 3/8" for larger cookies. Cut with cookie cutter and place on ungreased (or parchment lined) cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (DO NOT BROWN). Remove from pans immediately.

Cool thoroughly and decorate.