Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a great holiday season!  Happy New Year!

As for me, I ate a lot, drank some, and was able to spend some time with my family and friends.  The best part of the holidays had to be Christmas morning when the Toddler discovered her bike that Santa left for her under the tree!  And also making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

I'll be back to my regular posting schedule soon.  In the meantime, you will notice some changes around here.  I am trying to give the blog a little face lift - make it more "my style".  Let me know if you notice anything funky - I am learning as I go :)

Have a Happy!

I'm taking a few days off from my "real" job, so I figured I would take a few days off from blogging as well.  I hope you all have a very Happy Holiday and a great start to 2012!

I'll leave you with a picture from my loot I scored at last night's cookie exchange

Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods

I have my cookie exchange tonight!  And I am so excited to sample all the cookies - especially mine.  Though, mine are technically not cookies.  See, I was inspired by Bouffe e Bambini to make chocolate covered pretzels!  So last night I spent at least an hour and a half dipping pretzel rods in chocolate and then covering them with sprinkles, toffee bits and walnuts.  Since I fell short of the requested 6 dozen, I was not even able to sample one of them to make sure they tasted okay!

Don't they look great!  Can you believe my will power?  I can't. 

The directions to making these bad boys couldn't be easier.  Simply slather a little peanut butter on the top half of the pretzel rod and dip it into melted chocolate.  I used dark chocolate for 3 doz and milk chocolate for the remaining.  Let the excess chocolate drip off and place the pretzel on some wax paper.  Decorate your chocolate with some toppings and place them in the fridge for a few minutes to set.  The DEVOUR!!!

P.S. I'm linking up to Centsational Girl's linky party.

Tuesday Edition: Kitchen Tip

That over there is the turkey I cooked for Thanksgiving.  It came out so yummy.  I had wanted to share the recipe with you before Thanksgiving, but then my modem died.  So now I know who is control of my blog scheduling - the computer!

But maybe you plan on cooking a Turkey for an upcoming holiday?  If so, I highly recommend you try this recipe, which is from Food and Wine magazine.  It involves a 4 day dry brine, which may seem like a lot of work - but it is totally worth it!

In case you do not want to do a 4 day dry brine, but still want moist turkey, I recommend you wet a paper towel, wring out the excess water, and then place the paper towel over the breast of the turkey.  Then, cook your turkey at 425 F for 30 minutes and then cool the oven to 325 F for the remainder of the time.  The high heat "sears" your turkey, while the low heat cooks it.

What are your tips for a moist turkey?

P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway - it ends tonight at 10pm Eastern time.  You can enter right here.

Tuesday Edition: Kitchen Tip

"Christmas Cookies" uploaded to Flickr by everyspoon

Now that the holiday season is in full swing, are you thinking about making some holiday cookies?  Or maybe you already started making them?  Or maybe you just rely on co-workers, friends and family to supply them for you!

It is a tradition for me to get together with one of my good friends from high school and make cookies on Christmas Eve day.  Unfortunately this year will be the first time that we won't be able to meet up.  Life will just get in the way.

So this year I will make my own cookies and my sous chefs will be the Husband and the Toddler.  The cookies will probably not be that pretty, but I am sure they will be edible!  And that is all that counts.

I will be making sugar or butter cookies and decorating them with fun icing and tiny trimmings.  To be honest, I do not have the patience for decorating so intricately and usually the cookies just end up being iced with no decorations.  But I know many of you do!  And here are some tips to make simple holiday cookies (courtesy of Cooks Illustrated):

• Color your own sugar by placing 1/2 C of granulated sugar in a bowl and add about 5 drops of food coloring.  Mix thoroughly and push sugar through a fine mesh strainer.  Spread the sugar on a plate and let it dry completely.
• Use a muffin tin (mini or regular size) to hold and separate all of your tiny decorations.
• When doing cut-out cookies, peel away the scraps, not the cookie.

My own tips: (1) use a plastic sandwich bag with a corner cut off to pipe out icing/frosting; (2) sample all decorations, especially m&m's; and (3) do a cookie exchange with friends so you only have to make one type of cookie.

What's your tip?

Memorial Day

I don't have a post today.  I will be enjoying the day with family and friends.  Hopefully our town's parade will go on - but we woke up to horrible storms this morning.

I hope you have a great day with your family and friends too.  If you see a serviceperson, make sure to thank them and also remember all of the people who aren't here to celebrate.  Happy Memorial Day.

Memorial at the USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii