Christmas Cheer

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday filled with good wine, good food, and lots of presents. I definitely had a great one! Let's start with my fabulous Christmas Eve dinner made by my amazing brother.

This salmon was amazing! My brother is a great cook. This recipe came from The New York Times Cookbook.  Roasted Salmon with Herbed Vinaigrette, scalloped potatoes, and Swiss chard with pickled onions.

I also got some great gifts. Look at these awesome aporons my step-mother sewed for my sister and I! They are super cute!

And lots of great gifts too! Reusable produce bags!

And lots and lots of dishes!

Think my family knows I like food, cooking, and blogging? :-)

I also got something super exciting.

My first reaction: "Ew! Gross!! What is it??! Ewwwww, it just leaked on me!"

But then I found out it is a Kombucha clone so I can make my own Kombucha at home! It's stinky, it looks really gross, but I'm super excited to make my own Kombucha! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Christmas Peanut Butter Crack

Crunchy, peanut buttery, chocolatey, toffee, salty....

Christmas Peanut Butter Crack!

When I saw these on PreventionRD's blog, I knew I had to give them a try. Nicole has been baking up a storm this holiday season and her taste buds are right up my alley. The best part about this treat is that it's so easy!!! In under 20 minutes of preparation time (plus some time to cool and harden), you can have an amazing sweet treat that will wow people's taste buds!

I added my own secret ingredient. PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter. 

My PB2 I had ordered a couple of days ago arrived in the mail and I could not wait to try it out. When I first saw PB2 I knew I had to try it. Whole roasted dehydrated peanuts with 85% of the oil and fat removed. No Chemicals. No artificial sweeteners. Just your favorite peanut flavor with less fat!

Test one: Dip dry spoon in dry powder = Taste like peanut butter!

Test two: Take 2 tbs of PB2 and mix with 1tbs of water and mix until smooth = Taste like peanut butter!!

Test three: Add PB2 to treats = Taste like Christmas Bark on Peanut Butter!!!

I can't wait to try out more things with my PB2! This stuff is great! I'm thinking Thai for my next PB2 experiment!

Now back to my schedule crunchy, peanut buttery, chocolatey, toffee, salty goodness...

Christmas Peanut Butter Crack Bark adapted from PreventionRD and her salon owner.

1.5 sleeve of saltine crackers

1 cup unsalted butter (because more butter is better, right??)

2/3 cup brown sugar

6 tbs PB2

1/2 tsp baking soda

12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 Tbsp chocolate sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Lay saltines on the bottom of the pan, sides touching, in one big rectangle. Note: I have a very large cookie sheet, about 14" x 17" from William-Sonoma. Most cookie sheets are smaller in size. 

In a sauce pan, melt butter and brown sugar until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add baking soda and PB2. Mixture will get frothy. Spread the butter mixture over the saltines. 

Bake for 8 minutes. Keep an eye on your Crack, err, bark because it can burn. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Return the cookie sheet to the oven for 1 minutes or until chips are melted.  Use spatula to smooth chocolate over the surface of the crackers. Top with sprinkles or decoration of your choice. I also suggest slivered almonds, hazelnuts, candy bars, or any taste of your choice!

Note: You can make this recipe without PB2, but in my opinion, PB2 just makes it that much better!

Enjoy!

For any of you who may have noticed I've been photographing on an iron board, the pictures don't lie. I have in fact not been eating at a table. My dining room table is currently full with a new and exciting project which will soon be unveiled and will be an amazing giveaway for you! Stay tuned!

Holiday Chocolate & Peppermint Bark Cookies

For a blog with a name like How the Cookies Crumble, it's kind of ironic how few sweets you see on my page. I've never had much of a sweet tooth, however, I do love to bake! I just need a place to dispose of my treats once they are made. As a Christmas treat for my office I made the delicious Peppermint Bark cookies with a recipe I got from PreventionRD. I followed the first part of this recipe exactly but chose to go without the white chocolate at the end. I'm sure it's delicious both ways.

Chocolate & Peppermint Bark Cookies from PreventionRD and Cookin' Canuck


2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped red & white candies or candy canes (about 3 ounces)
2 oz. high-quality white chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with cooking spray and line the bottom of the pan with parchment, letting it hang over the sides of the pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar. Continue to beat for an additional 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla extract and egg yolk. Turn the mixer to low speed and gradually beat in the flour mixture, until just combined. Do not overmix.

Scatter the dough over the bottom of the prepared pan and gently press it, with slightly moistened fingers, to form a flat layer. Prick all over with a fork.

Bake the cookie layer until golden brown and slightly puffed, and edges are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, 25-30 minutes. Place on a cookie rack and immediately sprinkle chopped bittersweet or semisweet (or a combination of the two) over the cookie layer. Let the chocolate sit for about 3 minutes. Using an offset spatula, spread the chocolate into an even layer over the surface of the cookies. Immediately sprinkle 3 ounces crushed red and white peppermint candies, or candy canes, over the chocolate layer.

Place chopped white chocolate in a medium metal bowl set over a simmering pot of water. Stir constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Using a fork, drizzle the white chocolate over the peppermint candies. Chill for approximately 30 minutes.

Gripping the overhanging parchment paper, lift the cookies out of the pan and place on a work surface. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the cookies into pieces. Yeild: 40 pieces.

Nutrition Information (per piece): 115 calories; 6.1 g. fat; 5 mg. cholesterol; 18 mg. sodium; 15 g. carbohydrate; 0 g. fiber; 0.7 g. protein

These cookies are absolutely amazing and were a huge hit! These are definitely a new holiday favorite! Don't worry mom, I froze half the batch to bring home to you next week. Enjoy!

What's your favorite holiday treat? Post your favorite recipe or link back to your blog recipe.

What's for Dinner?

You know that feeling, the I have nothing to eat at the house. Yeah, that feeling. Well it's time to open your freezer and cabinets and be creative! You'd be surprised at the meals you can make.

With some whole wheat pasta from the cabinet, tomato sauce from the freezer, and some quickly aging tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, and onion from the fridge, I put together this delicious meal in less than 20 minutes! I like pasta, but I like it even more when it's packed with veggies!

To make this quick meal start by boiling water and cooking pasta to package directions. While you are waiting for the water to boil, chop up your mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and saute with the spinach with a dribble of white wine. While your veggies cook defrost your sauce in the freezer. Once defrosted add to your veggies and heat until warm. Then take your delicious *almost* homemade sauce and top it over your pasta. Garnish with fresh grated parmesan.

Enjoy! And you thought you had nothing to eat! 

What was your last great meal you made with limited supplies on hand?

Protein Baked Potato

The baked potato...

Many fear the baked potato because of it's high glycemic index but the truth is potatoes are not the enemy. Potatoes are actually full of healthy nutrients such as Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, copper, magnesium, potassium and fiber. With all the talk in recent years about "white carbohydrates" being "bad" it's understandable how the misconception came about. My thought is any food in it pure, unaltered form is not bad for the body - white, purple, green, yellow or whatever color it maybe. If it comes from the earth you can be fairly certain it's good for your healthy as well. Refined foods such as white sugars and white breads are not good for your health. Enriched does not equal nutrients. I should also mention, however, that potatoes in the fried form are also not considered healthy (but eaten in moderation are delicious)!

By pairing potatoes with a high protein the glycemic response can actually be greatly reduced. One of my favorite picks is to pair the potato with Greek yogurt, or tonight's choice, cottage cheese! Healthy amounts of warm ooey, gooey cheese, calcium and protein.

Topped with a healthy dose of hot sauce, of course.

Enjoy!

Portabella Mushroom Stack

Roasted portabella topped with cottage cheese, roasted eggplant, 4 grain medley, fresh basil and a balsamic reduction.

Start this meal by rinsing portabella mushrooms and eggplant. Thinly slice eggplant. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, place vegetable, and spray a 2nd coat of cooking spray on top of veggies. Roast at 375 for 20 mins flipping eggplant half way thru. Portabellas will become super juice when they are ready.

While mushrooms and eggplant are roasting, cook grains on stove according to package directions. I used a blend of quinoa, Israeli cous cous, orzo, and baby garbanzo beans.

For the balsamic glaze, take 1 cup of balsamic vinegar and cook on medium heat until it begins thicken. About 10-15 minutes. 

Once portabellas are cooked, top them with 1/2 cottage cheese and bake for another 10 minutes till cheese is warm and begins to melt. You can also substitute other cheese such as feta or mozzarella. I went with cottage cheese for lower fat and higher protein. 

After the cheese is warm and gooey, stack the portabella with eggplant, top with grains, and drizzle with balsamic reduction. Top with fresh bail from the garden for some extra flavor. Enjoy!

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Thanksgiving Feast

I was whisked away on Black Friday to beautiful, sunny and cold Chicago for work, but I didn't want to leave you all without some pictures of my amazing Thanksgiving feast. Compliments to my host & hostess Russ and Sarah for sharing their home and holiday!

My plate - I was sure to try a little bit of everything!

My contributions to the spread were Cranberry & Goat Cheese Puff Pastries and Spiked Poinsettia Punch.

Cranberry & Goat Cheese Puff Pastries


1 log of Cranberry Crusted Goat Cheese
1 sheet of premade Puff Pastry
(I found both these items at Trader Joe's)

Cut puff pastry sheet in 1.5" squares, place in small muffin tin, and top with cranberry goat cheese. Bake at 400 for 15 mins or until puff pastry becomes golden.

These were super easy and everyone loved them! If you can't find cranberry goat cheese you can always use regular goat cheese and top the pastry with a little cranberry sauce. This recipe would also be great with brie. 


Spiked Poinsettia Punch


1 liter Absolut Mandrin
1/2 litter Triple Sec
5 bottles of Champagne
1 bottle of Cranberry Cocktail

This punch was also super easy and was a huge hit! Everyone love the bubbly, crisp flavor the wasn't too sweet. Our punch had quite a kick to it - if you don't want the punch as strong, double the cranberry juice.

Hope you all had a fabulous holiday as well! What was your favorite Thanksgiving Treat?