{Creative Mamas Blog Hop} The Best Gingerbread Cookie Men EVER

Join us every Monday morning with your own creative post! Link up, meet other crafty moms, and be inspired!

Find out more about this blog hop and get the code for my banner here.

My Creative Endeavors

So I made the best ever Gingerbread Cookies for Thanksgiving! They turned out so good that my parents hid the leftover cookies afterward, hoping I would forget...

I was LUCKY. I used the first recipe I googled that looked halfway decent - I was going blind, lol. And the gingerbread men ended up being the best I've ever tasted! So on with the recipe, from McCormick - McCormick Gingerbread Men Cookies.

Step 1: This is very important - don your favorite cute apron! It makes baking so much more fun!


2. Get the following ingredients together:

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons Ginger, Ground
1 teaspoon Cinnamon, Ground
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg, Ground
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg

Got 'em? Good! I actually didn't use McCormick for any of the spices, lol. I generally buy the least expensive... and it still turned out great!

3. Mix the first six ingredients together in a bowl - flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt.

4. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter and the sugar - medium speed until light and fluffy. Mmm... you know you have to take a taste at this point. ;-)

5. Add molasses and egg, mix well.

6. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed.


7. Shape dough into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for four hours or overnight.

*Twiddle your thumbs, write a blog post, chase your children around*

8. When you're ready to start making cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees!

9. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness on lightly floured surface and cut out dough into gingerbread men cookies.

10. Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes (mine were perfect at 7 minutes) on ungreased cookie sheet.


Decorating Time!

Make yourself some quick and easy frosting with powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla - just add until it tastes good and has a good thickness for decorating. I spoon mine into resealable bags, cut a tiny hole in a corner, and squeeze the frosting out that way. It works really well! Just check out my lovely people...

I had a bag of red frosting, but after decorating one cookie decided... it just didn't look... right.


Share your Thoughts!

Do you have any recipes, crafts, or other creativity to share? You can: a) Write a post on your blog and link up to it so we can come visit and give you some comment love, or b) leave a comment letting us know what you've been up to. :-)

Can't wait to read your comments and visit your blogs!





Past Creative Mamas Monday Fun:

Share Your Thanksgiving Creativity (Nov 23)
Holiday Scrapbook Paper Chains Tutorial (Nov 16)
Easy Christmas Tags/Ornaments Tutorial (Nov 9)
No-Sew Projects (Nov 2)
Easy Flower Hair/Hat Clips Tutorial (Oct 26)

{Holiday Gift Giveaway #9} Relish Meal Planning Service (One Full Year!)

When Relish contacted me about reviewing their online meal planning service, I was hesitant about trying it out. I've never been good at meal planning, but having someone else planning my meals for me seemed a little bit lazy to me. And what if I didn't like the recipes they provided? Would there be a lot of repetition? Was it worth paying someone money to plan my meals for me?

Well, there's no better way to answer those questions than to try it myself, so I did. And boy was I pleasantly surprised to find that it is for me!

I decided that the best way to show you how cool Relish really is is to actually show you, so here we go!

(Video embedded in post)

Here's how it works:

• Every Thursday you receive an email with the featured article of the week (this week it's tips on freezing your meals ahead) and a link to go to Relish and see the week's new menu.


• You are able to choose from about 15-20 new recipes each week (or pick from old favorites).

• Plan to cook for 2, 4, 6, or 8 people - the list and recipes automatically scale up for you!
  


• You choose up to 5 entrees and one dessert for the week's menu.


• Submit your meal plan and print your shopping list and recipes (all one PDF file - easy!).

What I love:

• You can customize your menus any way you want each week, choosing from your "favorites" or new recipes added that week.


• There are "legends" distinguishing certain recipes as kid-friendly (KD), Vegetarian (V), lower calorie (LC) and more, making it easy to find just what you want.
  


• The shopping list is categorized by grocery section. For example, all of the items you need to find in the meat section are in one category, all of the dairy in another, etc. Quick grocery shopping trips, yay! This is a total must when you have a fussy toddler in the cart...

Sample Grocery List

• The subscription to Relish is only $7/month, and even less if you order six or twelve months at a time!

What I don't love:

I don't really have anything I don't love about this service! Would you hate someone who helped you save time and money every week? I think not! You'd be grateful, as I am. However, I do have a suggestion: I think that it would be awesome if you could uncheck and therefore not print items that you don't want or need on the printable shopping list. It's not a problem crossing those items out, but I would love to have that option.

Will this work with my budget?

Relish's weekly meals don't cost more than $85 a week, but that was still a bit steep for me. I'm happy to be able to tell you that you can customize your menus and only shop for the meals that you can afford that week. There are some weeks that I can only shop for two or three bigger meals. I check those two or three meals and print a shopping list and recipes for that. I just make more, we eat leftovers, and sometimes we end up having a macaroni and cheese night now and then. I do think, though, that making a list and keeping to it will save you money as it has for me.

To Recommend, or Not To Recommend?

This service does indeed save me time and money. I love it and recommend it to anyone who, like me, hates meal planning or wants to get more organized. It's actually fun now! I find $7 a month very worth paying for this service. The peace of mind it gives me makes me very happy!

Cool Fact: Relish is a company that guarantees you'll love them! "We guarantee that you and your family will enjoy our service. If you are unhappy with your subscription, please email us and we will refund your membership cost at any time."

Relish is generously giving away a one-year subscription to Relish to one lucky winner! This would make a great gift subscription for yourself or a loved one!

How To Enter (mandatory): Visit Relish's How it Works or FAQ page and tell me what you learn and like about the service! Please leave your email address in your comment so I can let you know if you win!

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  #Giveaway - Need some help with meal planning? Relish is giving away a free one-year online subscription! (Review, too) http://kindredspiritreviews.blogspot.com @kindred_spirit

• Grab my 2009 Holiday Gift Giveaway Extravaganza button and put it in your sidebar! (+2 extra entries!)
  
  
  
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Giveaway will be closed on November 28 at midnight and winner notified by email - good luck, everyone!

Disclaimer: This service subscription was provided free of charge to me by the company or manufacturer in exchange for an honest review. This review is 100% my own content and my own opinion, and I was not reimbursed in any other way for this post.

Recipe-Sharin' Time! ♥ Looney Tunes Kids Eating Right Program

Well, it's week five, and I'm wrapping this series up. Did you miss my previous posts? Here's a short overview:

Week 1:
I shared my personal challenges getting my toddler to eat healthy.

Week 2:
I shared my tips on helping children to make healthy eating a habit.

Week 3:
We talked about teaching our kids that "healthy" is not a dirty word.

Week 4:
We discussed the best way to go grocery shopping with kids
(and this is where you enter the Looney Tunes Gift Basket Giveaway - which ends on 10/1!).

For this final week, moms are sharing their favorite healthy recipes. Every mom needs a good stash of easy, healthy recipes, a go-to for those days you're crazy busy and need a quick energy burst for the family. You know what this means...

It's recipe-sharin' time!

Here is one of my favorite EASY quick recipes for an energy burst, between-meal snack, or breakfast:

Cream Cheese and Tomato Onion Bagel

Ingredients:

• Sesame-Onion Bagels
  (If your kids won't eat onion, you CAN get plain... but oh how sad. I get my bagels from Costco!)

• Cream Cheese (low-fat)

• Sliced Tomato

How-to:

• It's pretty straightforward - toast half of an onion bagel.
  
  
• Smother it (unless you're trying to cut down on fat, lol) with cream cheese.
  
  
• Top with a nice thick slice (or two) of tomato.

I didn't think I liked cream cheese that much, but somehow the tomato evens everything out and it is an extremely delicious combination that is quick and filling - wonderful for a quick breakfast! When I'm out of tomato I top it with fresh salsa.

I have heard that you can substitute the cream cheese with peanut butter and it's really good. I haven't tried it yet, though. So if it's awful... don't blame me. ;-)

♥♥♥

Don't forget to head over to MomLogic for sample lunch menus, more recipes, and tips from nutrition expert Haylie Pomroy!

You can also enter to win a mega gift basket at MomLogic!

Disclosure: No products were provided to me in exchange for posting about the Looney Tunes Eating Right program, but I will be compensated by Warner Bros. for this series.


Thank you sooo much for sharing this post! :-)

MckLinky Blog Hop ♥ Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

This is one of my favorite recipes, a jazzed-up version of the One-Dish Chicken and Rice Bake taken from the back of a Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup label - sooo good and definite comfort food for me. And I like it because you throw the ingredients in a casserole and bake, you don't have to pre-cook the chicken or anything like that.

Lindsey's One-Dish Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

Ingredients Needed:

• One can (10 3/4 oz) Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 2/3 cups water
• 3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice (I use Basmati from Costco)
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I use thighs - from Costco)
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1 cup mixed veggies (or whatever you have on hand, sometimes I add broccoli)
• Sliced/chopped mushrooms (I like a lot so I add 5 or 6 mushrooms)

Directions:

1. Stir soup, water, rice, paprika, and black pepper in baking dish. Add 1/2 cup cheese, veggies, and mushrooms - stir. Top with chicken. Sprinkle chicken with additional paprika and black pepper if desired. Top with remaining grated cheese. Cover.

2. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until chicken and rice are done.

Yummy!

Want to be a part of the MckLinky Weekly Blog Hop? This week there will be two prizes worth $100 and all participants will get a free recipe book containing all of the recipes from the blog hop! Sweet! :-) Make your own post, add it to the MckLinky here, and enjoy! I suggest you sign up for the MckLinky newsletter as well.






Thank you sooo much for sharing this post! :-)

Delicious and Simple Strawberry Recipes

Need some creative, simple, and delicious recipes for strawberries?



First, check out the goodLife Eats Easy Chocolate-Covered Strawberries recipe:

And don't miss her recipe for Strawberry Mascarpone Scones with Honey Milk Glaze!

Yummmmmmm...

Photography copyrighted to Katie @ goodLife Eats.
Used here with permission.

♥♥♥

And don't miss this Strawberry Shortcake Recipe from Smitten Kitchen:


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Tammy's Recipes has some AWESOME strawberry recipes:

Strawberry Slushie

♥♥♥

And one more from The Bitten Word:

Fresh Strawberry Gelato


Enjoy!

♥ Share Your Thoughts ♥

What's your favorite way to eat strawberries?

I think strawberries are wonderful on their own. :-) But I couldn't resist these yummy-looking recipes!

Thank you sooo much for sharing this post! :-)

How to: Make Your Own Baby Rice Cereal

So I've been giving my daughter boxed (processed) rice cereal from the baby aisle since she first started wanting solids (about four months old).

Why, you ask? I had my reasons - good reasons, too!

It's easy!
It's fast!
She seems to like it...
Did I mention it's EASY? ;-)

My mom mentioned to me a couple of times that I should make my own baby food, but I dismissed it with a wave of my weary hand - I'm a work-at-home mom with a toddler. Like I need cooking to take up more time. And anyway, lots of moms give their kids store-bought rice cereal, right? It has special vitamins just for babies... right?

Too lazy to make cereal for little ol' me?

I started thinking it may be worth taking the time to make it myself when I read in the news that a rocket fuel chemical was being found in various baby formulas - are you kidding me? Hello! I'm TRUSTING people with my precious baby here. How dare they let something like that get through! Ugh.

ANYWAY, this spurred me to find out how to make it myself.

And you know what?

It was EASY! Maybe not as easy as adding milk or water to the mix and stirring, but come on. Would we want to eat something that could be made like that? No, we want real food! So the least I can do is make something extra good, extra nutritious for my daughter. For just an extra five minutes of my time - literally!

And now, without further ado (grin), here's my photo recipe:

Ingredients Needed:

Water
Rice (Basmati, Brown, etc)

Optional Add-ins:

Bananas
Cooked Apples
Berries
Raisins
The possibilities are endless!

Instructions:

FIRST, find a way to grind the rice to a powder. I used our electric coffee grinder!

Boil one cup water in pan.
(Easy enough...)

Add one-quarter (1/4) cup of ground rice powder.
(Oh my weary hands, having to grind all that rice! Oh wait, we have electric grinders nowadays...)

Stir over medium heat. Watch it almost boil over and turn the heat down. ;-)

Suddenly remember you're supposed to use a whisk and switch from spoon to whisk.
See the texture thickening? It only takes a few minutes of stirring!

Serve warm or cool!
You can add a bit of sugar or fruit to sweeten it, too.

Watch baby eat with relish!

Great Resource! Baby cereal recipes, ideas, and FAQ at Wholesome Baby Food.

♥ Share Your Thoughts ♥

What do you think? Have you ever made your own baby cereal?

If you use this recipe, I would love to know what you think and what your variations are!

Thank you sooo much for sharing this post! :-)

Quiche Photo Recipe - The Pioneer Woman Cooks

If you don't follow The Pioneer Woman Cooks blog, you are so missing out! She also has a main blog that is pretty awesome. The reason I like her cooking blog is because she has photo recipes, and excellent photography, so that visual learners like me can see exactly how it's done.

This is her quiche photo recipe. Check it out! Now I've never made a quiche before, but my best friend makes it all the time - I absolutely love it, but I've been a bit afraid to try it. I don't know why. lol I'm inspired to give it a try now, and I hope you will be too. :-)


♥ Share Your Thoughts ♥

Do you like quiche? What do you like in yours?

(I like mushrooms, onions, ham, cheese, and broccoli!)



Thank you sooo much for sharing this post! :-)