Christmas time

Christmas Letter Christmas Card

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M&Ms Cookies

I used my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, swapping in M&Ms - some peanut butter for Josh, the rest milk chocolate - and they were a hit. Ben had not tasted cookies before, but I had to store these in the freezer since from then on, whenever he saw them, he really wanted them! Guess he inherited my sweet tooth...

The original chocolate chip cookie recipe is from Cooking Light - just swap in the equivalent amount of M&Ms.

Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms

Any combination of mascarpone, sausage and mushrooms would sound amazing to me. We tried this one weeknight and it was not the fastest meal, but would be a great appetizer for a weekend get-together.

Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms from Ina Garten

Symphony Brownies

From the moment I heard of this recipe I knew I had to try it, and finally did a couple of years later.

A great use of brownie mix. Once Ben gets to the age where he can eat nuts, I'll probably be making these often. I ended up eating most of them myself (before this photo was taken).

Symphony Brownies

Note: I adjusted the baking time and made mine in a square pan. Next time, I'll use the 13x9 pan the recipe actually calls for as I think the brownies will cook more consistently.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

An easy side when it's finally "cold" enough in Houston to roast vegetables...

Based on a recipe in Family Circle December 2009 issue - Roast brussel sprouts and fingerling potatoes, coated with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Lasagna

Not for dieters...

Ingredients

• 1/2 of a lasagna noodle pack
• Tomato sauce can
• Italian-style diced tomatoes can
• ground beef
• mascarpone cheese
• shredded mozzarella
• part-skim ricotta
• panko
• crushed red pepper
• Italian seasoning
• garlic
• onion powder
• salt/pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Cook lasagna noodles per instructions
3. Cook ground beef with Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper
4. Mix mascarpone cheese, tomato sauce, Italian style tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder
5. In another bowl, mix ricotta and shredded mozzarella cheese
6. Combine meat mixture with tomato sauce mixture
7. In a lasagna pan, layer noodles, then sauce and meat, then ricotta mixture and repeat until ingredients run out (2 or 3 times)
8. Top with mozzarella and panko
9. Bake for 30 minutes and serve

Apricot White Chocolate Pecan Bread

If you have a sweet tooth or sugar craving, then make this quick bread. I got a lot of compliments on it, and usually have dried apricots around for snacks, so it will be a repeat in our house.

Apricot White Chocolate Pecan Bread