Life According to Yoda

My son-in-law is a big sci-fi fan. I decided some Star Wars cookies would be fitting for his birthday. The Darth Vader cookies were really very easy!

The light sabers would have looked better in different colors but I was lazy and just used what I had already made, but I did like the added disco dust.

Yummy Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles

(printable recipe)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. In a medium bowl beat butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Beat until combined. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour
2. Cover and chill dough for 30-60 minutes
3. Preheat oven to 375. Combine sugar and cinnamon.

                Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture.

                  Bake 9-11 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet.

Makes 36 cookies
WW Points: 1.5 per cookie

*Diet 2009*

Ten in 10 Weeks…..Week 1

Today is the beginning of the Ten in 10 but there is still plenty of time to join! The great thing about the Ten in 10 is that it is whatever you need it to be to get healthy or maybe you just need some motivation to maintain your healthy lifestyle.

I think we can all use a little inspiration to shake things up and the first of the year is always a good time to re-evaluate what is working for you and what isn’t. Now is the time to really think about the steps that will lead to success.

Goals:

1. Weight Loss – The goal is 20 pounds in the next 10 weeks.
2. Vitamins – I am really bad at the healthy stuff, first up I need to get back to taking my vitamins and adding some calcium in.
3. Fruits and Veggies – I am even worse at eating green stuff. I plan on starting off slow just by adding a few healthy foods here and there. This needs to be a lifestyle change not a lifestyle phase.
4. Water – I really would like to be one of those girls that drinks a gallon a day, but that might be a bit much. I will settle for a healthy 6-8 glasses a day.
5. Bite it…Write it – I guess this should really be #1 but logging your food and exercise is so important especially in the beginning when you aren’t sure of portion sizes and you just don’t think you could possibly be eating THAT much.

Lastly, my former weight watcher leader used to say: those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Maybe she had something there.

Cookie Cutter Madness

I feel like it has been so long! Christmas was filled with lots of food and family. I am finally dragging myself out of the food coma and getting a few things done. The first on my list was to catalog my cookies cutters. I think the second on my list is going to be to find a bigger cookie cutter box.

Possibly this is a geeky thing to do, but it works for when I am short on brain cells and can just scan a list to see what I have. You can see the rough draft of my excel sheet below. Very simple, if only I can remember to keep it updated.

I just had to gush about a few ‘foodie’ gifts I received at Christmas. Bake It Pretty is carrying this great cookie cutter set, 5 cookie cutters in a tin. I can’t wait to try them!

Aren’t these teaspoons awesome! A smidgen, pinch, and dash. Describes my cooking perfectly.

I couldn’t help but add a little family charm. My son and his girlfriend sporting 3-D glasses while watching Bob’s Big Break.

My New Blog!!!…..and Snowman Cookies

Jessica finished my new blog! I love it!! She has some great blogs in her portfolio so jump over and check out her great, creative talent.

These adorable snowman were part of the cookie baskets I made for family gifts.

I’ve developed an obsession with sanding sugar. I just love it!

Happy Baking!

The Birthday Girl!

We celebrated Chloe’s 1st birthday. She was less than thrilled with her birthday hat, but I just couldn’t resist!

I made the same peanut butter cookies that I made for Molly’s birthday last month and added some frosting by mixing 1 cup of greek yogurt with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and some gel color. I let it chill to thicken it up a bit. It didn’t exactly ‘dry’ but the dogs didn’t mind.

Every dog deserves a new fluffy squeaky toy on their birthday! I take advantage of buying her lots of pink things.

Ok, now that the furbaby birthdays are done with I can get back to Christmas and some baking!

Gift a Homemade Cookbook….Works For Me Wednesday

Personalized cookbooks make great holiday gifts for friends and family. It is a great way to pass down recipes that have been around for generations and to put the new favorites in the mix. Using an expandable cookbook makes it easy for the recipient to add new recipes .

You will need:

• an 8x8 scrapbook
• additional pages
• sticky tabs
• cardstock

I am using an orange scrapbook I bought on sale at the craft store($5) along with flickr images for the divider sections and post-it colored sticky tabs. MasterCook 7.0 to print recipes and Microsoft Word to make the divider sections but any text editor will work just fine.

This isn’t a very good picture but it gives you an idea of what you can do with some great food images and Microsoft Word. A homemade cookbook should be personal and next to cookies is my love of chicken. I cook it a hundred different ways, hence the section for just chicken.

If you are looking for something a little more fancy, HP Offers an Heirloom Photo Book with themes, a place for images and text to make your recipe pages. It would make a lovely cookbook for anyone. There is also a nice little article on eHow that can give you some ideas on what to include in your cookbook.

Homemade cookbooks make a great basket idea, add an apron, a few spatulas and measuring spoons. Ta da!

This gift from the heart works for me. Don’t forget to jump over to We Are That Family and check out all the awesome works for me wednesday tips.