Recent Recipes: Holiday Edition

Posted on December 16th, 2015

Since moving to Seattle with a reasonable kitchen and someone who will share my cooking, I’ve had so much fun trying new recipes.  I’m not saying I am some kind of gourmet goddess who whips up all my own meals, but we’re in a pretty good pattern, particularly during the week.  (If you think I’m cooking Friday night, you’re dead wrong.)  It’s a big world of food bloggers out there, so I thought I would share a few of the festive recipes with which I have found success in the past month!

Croissant Sausage and Egg Casserole

We had this croissant sausage and egg casserole on Thanksgiving morning after our Turkey Trot, and I’m definitely rooting for it to return while we’re home for Christmas.  With their make-ahead construct, egg casseroles are so perfect for the chaotic holidays.  We dressed up this recipe with extra vegetables like mushrooms, and subbed in a healthier sausage option.

Matzo Ball Soup

Our little household is a multi-cultural one, and this month I enjoyed celebrating Hanukkah with Ian.  What better way to fully immerse myself in his traditions than by making a big Hanukkah meal for some of our Seattle friends?  Matzo ball soup is a classic– I actually ended up getting sick a few days after making it, and the leftovers were the best medicine.  We also made latkes with homemade applesauce.  I took a risk (read: cop out) by using frozen shredded potatoes instead of doing it by hand, but we all agreed we couldn’t tell a difference.  HUGE timesaver, big win.

Sausage, Bean, and Cheese Dip

I served this sausage, bean, and cheese dip to friends who had come over to watch football with carrots and tortilla chips, and it was a huge success.  This was another one I lightened up with chicken sausage, which was definitely a good substitute.  Will definitely be breaking it out at upcoming football parties this winter!

Now on to the real fun… COOKIES!  I’ve baked almost every day this month– here are some highlights:

Flourless Fluffernutters

I was super skeptical when I put these fluffernutter cookies in the oven, but they were delicious.  I did sub marshmallow fluff for the mini marshmallows because of what I had on hand, which worked fine.  Peanut butter + sugar gives me life.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

These have a jillion names– snowball cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes– but let’s not overcomplicate things.  These are ground pecans wrapped in sugary goodness.  Simply delicious.

Classic Christmas Sugar Cookies

I think these were the winners, you guys.  Normally when I think about decorating Christmas cookies I think more about applying the sprinkles than eating the final result, but these simple sugar cookies changed my mind.  A perfect, classic texture, and the almond extract makes it pop.  Note: ours did not look this pretty…

And because we’re all among friends here, I feel like now is a good time to mention that last night I had Christmas cookies for dinner.  No regrets.