Gingerbread Apple Torte

Happy Holidays!!

Sorry that I have been away from the food bloggysphere, but I trust that my wonderful new and old readers are still following along here. It's been bit of struggle with food photography lately with the earlier nights and my two little foodie babies have been keeping me busy. Emilio is almost 7 months old and his two bottom teeth have already poked out. Elena didn't have her first teeth until she was 11 months old. I guess her little brother is trying to catch up fast. Too fast if you ask me.

December is usually a popular month of holiday baking of countless sweet treats or cooking up some scrumptious eats. I love baking up some winter cookie favorites - gingerbread cookies, pecan tarts, holiday biscotti, or peppermint bark. Elena had her first pecan tart this past Thanksgiving and like her mommy - she has one big sweet tooth. So with everything that I try to make - I try my best to sneak in extra veggies, or adding a little bit of wheat germ or wheat flour to the recipe to make it healthier. I joined up with Hodgson Mill because they "believe in living a great life and trying to make life better. That starts with making nutritious foods that are of the highest quality, because we think life's better when you take care of yourself and your health." I liked the fact that I can adapt any of my recipes with a healthy twist using nutritious Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flour.

Pan-Seared Pork Tenderloin with Mustard Sauce

The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming! OMG...the HOLIDAYS are coming!!!

Are you already starting your Christmas shopping, or jamming out to Mariah Carey's Christmas album or quite possibly are you putting out your holiday decorations and perhaps planning your Thanksgiving menus or plans? The annoying Black Friday ads are haunting my inbox and telling me to start shopping on Thursday at 6pm! But isn't that when the holiday eating is still happening? I don't understand the mentality of Black Friday anymore. It's so sad when the stores are not closed on my most favorite eating holiday of the year. Everyone deserves to eat a little turkey in peace right?

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Sometimes shopping during this holiday season makes you a little frantic/tired/weary or BSC! Last week, I was on a mission to find house slippers for Elena to wear around the house. She usually wears her shoes, but most often goes barefoot while in the house. It's getting a little bit colder as we head into the Fall and Winter season, and she needed something cozy for around the house instead of her bare feet.

I went to my go-to store (Target) and found the most hideous glittery over the top princess slippers and Hello Kitty slippers. There was another plain boot style slipper but they didn't seem comfy for her. Honestly, I didn't want any of these slippers nor did I want to scour another store to find them. The easiest solution would have been to find something online but I needed something right away. I texted my husband which one of these slippers to purchase and his quick response was "definitely not the Hello Kitty." I reluctantly bought the princess slippers and came home with the kids.

I wasn't really happy with my purchase because I typically avoid anything princess-y for Elena, and I don't want to give her that princess infatuation just yet. I searched online and had found that Target had sold Minnie Mouse slippers as well, but my store had them out of stock. (Elena loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse!) I called maybe about 6 stores to see if any of them had them in her size, and it turns out there was one store that had them in stock. They placed them on hold for me to pick up, but the real kicker was that this was the store I had originally wanted to shop at - (a bigger Target) versus my own. Mommy lesson : always trust your gut instinct and more importantly do your research before shopping.

I want to save you some time for the holidays and not struggle shopping around at the stores like my mommy madness up above. Start making your own homemade vanilla extract, it's one of those DIY projects that you need to add to your to-do list. It's simple and so straightforward that you will be kicking yourself in the butt for not making it sooner.