What's For Breakfast? Mini Ham and Cheese Stratas!

Once all the celebrating is done on New Year's Eve, everyone will head off to bed to get some sleep.  The next morning, breakfast can sometimes be a situation of scrounge for whatever you can find and go for it.  That's all going to change once you see what I made today!

These sweet little ramekins are filled with the perfect way to start your day!  Eggs, cheese, ham... even some diced up bread cubes... kind of hard to say that this won't taste good with these ingredients.

Eat. Live. Be. Reboot. (Recipe: Wheatberry Salad with Cranberries)

Don't forget to enter the fabulous giveaway that Grumpy's Honeybunch is hosting!  Check out my Brie Bites post for more information on how you could win!

Nothing like getting past one holiday feast only to look forward to another weekend of indulging, right?  New Year's is coming and it's likely to be brought in with lots of food to nibble on... and we'll, be enjoying some football food come Sunday night.

This week, we are sharing something from television, and I imagine we'll all interpret that in different ways... that's what I like about how we are doing it this time.  I may look at the topics as they rotate and find something different each time that speaks to me.   Cate, Sarah and Joanne may interpret each topic in a completely different way... which, will often make me look at something in a whole new light. 

I don't watch a ton of television these days.  I was lucky enough to receive a new Kindle Touch, so I am much more into reading right now.  But this morning, I was able to sleep in a bit since I have some time off from work to be with My Boys while they are on break from school... so, I watched a bit of television.  I enjoy watching the Today Show and today was a segment about People Magazine's feature sharing weight-loss stories. 

I find these stories to be so inspiring because they had so much more to lose than I do, and they didn't let that stop them.  Once they hit their "moment of truth", they had the motivation and focus to make the weight-loss a reality. 

Inspired by what I saw in each of the people featured today, I decided to make a wheatberry salad.  Wheatberries are a grain (not actually a fruit!) and full of good stuff for you... and what's more, they are pretty tasty and filling.

Happy Blogiversary to Grumpy's Honeybunch! (And, a Giveaway!)

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a dear blogging friend who was gearing up for her 4 year blogging anniversary.  She asked a number of her on-line blogging friends to join her in this celebration because over the years we have gotten to know each other on-line and become friends.  Shelby, who is also known as Grumpy's Honeybunch, shares fabulous recipes and bits of her life in each post.  She is one of those people I would love to meet in real life sometime because I know we'd have so much fun cooking together!

Shelby and I have participated in a few fun on-line things over the last few years - the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club and a giveaway or two together. 

She began her blog as a way to keep a journal of her life for her kids and to keep family recipes in a safe place.  It has certainly grown for her over the years!  You can read more about her inspiration for starting her blog at her current post, which is for some really tasty little bites - Brie Popover Bites.  When I saw her post I had to laugh a bit... because my recipe contribution is also a little bite of brie inside puff pastry! 

Homemade Gifts: Peanut Butter Truffles

Have you entered my current Shabby Apple Apron Giveaway yet?  No?  What are you waiting for, take a moment and see how to enter on THIS post then, come on back here to see what I have to share today. 

I only have one more treat package to deliver!  That is a good thing because there have been years when I've delivered the last one a day after Christmas or after Hanukkah... always hate when that happens.  But, I try to look at it as just allowing the holiday spirit to last a bit longer.  That's me... looking on the bright side!

 

Before I share my final treat of the week, I thought it would be fun to share some photos from the last couple of days.  For anyone who was looking for my Eat. Live. Be. post, I'm going to double up next week... I had a really good week, but with Hanukkah in full force I didn't have the time to put toward a thoughtful post for this week's topic.

 

What is Hanukkah without Latkes? 

 

Then, I had to fry up some panko breaded chicken strips... mine went on a salad, so I could keep the fried foods somewhat limited...

 

 

Happy Hanukkah! (Homemade Gifts: Rainbow Cookies)

Happy Hanukkah to everyone celebrating the 1st night tonight!  We had a wonderful evening of gifts and latkes! 

As promised on the Family, Friends and Food Facebook page, tonight I am sharing my new favorite cookie!  Rainbow Cookies!!! 

There is something special about these cookies that I simply cannot resist.  I've never attempted making them before because I thought they would be much too complicated.

It's a Shabby Apple Apron Giveaway! (now closed!)

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!  And, the winner is...

Comment #11 made by PMJ! 

I am sending you an email.  Please forward your mailing information to me as soon as possible so that your new apron from Shabby Apple can be sent to you! 

Thanks, to everyone who entered!

I can hardly believe that tomorrow night is the 1st night of Hanukkah and Christmas is less than a week away!  The holidays have snuck up on me... even though as of tonight, I am 100% done with my baking for my cookie trays (some great treats to share coming this week!) and all gifts are wrapped and ready to go... the menorah is ready and candles are patiently waiting for the moment when we can light them.  My Boys are actually being quite patient waiting for the 1st night... and, I am pretty certain that they will be very happy with their gifts tomorrow night.

To share the holiday spirit with one of my readers, I've got a giveaway to share tonight!  The lovely folks from Shabby Apple, the cool website with dresses, accessories and aprons, have offered to sponsor a giveaway!  Have you checked out their website?  It's filled with fabulous dresses, gorgeous accessories (I've got my eye on a number of those necklaces... my weakness!), and super cute aprons!

Homemade Gifts: Cookie Truffles

I've got a big weekend of baking planned so I can get my homemade food gifts put together!  Since I had a couple of new recipes I wanted to add to my list for this year, I decided to make one earlier and see if it won the taste test.

 

I picked up the Better Homes & Gardens: Food Gifts magazine as soon as it hit the newstands - probably back in early October!  I couldn't resist it, with so many photos and new ideas on things I could make and share with friends! 

 

The first thing I flagged to make was the Cookie Truffles. 

 

Eat. Live. Be. - Let's talk On-Line Motivation

This week's motivational quote:

You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be.
-- David Viscott

Hard to believe it's already been one week since the Eat. Live. Be. Reboot began.  Time to check in... really?

Do I want to admit that I didn't get in as many workouts as I had planned?  Nope.  Do I want to admit that I had a few more tastes of goodies than I should have since last week?  Nope.  But, here it is time to check in and share how things are going.  So, that quote at the beginning of this post... well, that's getting printed out and taped to my computer monitor at work.  A regular reminder to stick to my goals so I can get to where I want to be by staying focused.

Secret Recipe Club: Rolo Cookies

Guess what time it is?  It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day!  If you haven't seen the weekly reveals from Secret Recipe Club, it's a great way to find new blogs and wonderful new recipes to try!  Every month, those participating get assigned a blog to peruse and select a recipe from for the big reveal day.  At the end of this post will be all of the recipes that were made for today's reveal.

This month, I was assigned the lovely blog A Little Nosh.  Amy is a full-time working mom with a cutie-pie little boy.  She has a tiny kitchen, but works hard at making sure she serves her family homemade meals every night.  She's also a Weight Watcher, so she knows all about balancing the healthy stuff with the occasional treat.  That's where my recipe selection came in this month.

As soon as I saw that one of her most popular posts was for Rolo Cookies, it was barely a moment before I clicked over to see what it was all about. 

Eat. Live. Be. The Reboot... Renewed Motivation

When I joined Cate, Joanne and Sarah for our Food Blogger Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago, we decided that we needed to bring back Eat. Live. Be.  If you were reading here back in the early months of 2011, you'll remember that once a week I was sharing different things that motivated me to work toward reaching my goals to a healthier me.

Here we are in the last month of 2011, and where am I now?  Well, the bit of weight I lost earlier in the year is still gone, but I stabilized and didn't lose anymore.  The up-side is that I didn't gain it back, which has always been my "usual" routine.  So, I am choosing to look at that as my win for the year - so far. 

Now that December has arrived and I'm going to be baking, what better time to restart my resolve?  Some would think this is crazy and why not just wait until the traditional January 1st deadline for making resolutions?  Some would also say, why get serious on a Wednesday rather than a Monday?  I think making a commitment to healthy changes is perfect no matter what day of the week it is or what month it is. 

So, what is it I am going to do?  I am going to start by making my goals a priority.  I found this bit of inspiration on Pinterest:

Homemade Holiday Gift Basket: Caramel Crumb Bars (Recipe)

It seems the holiday season as sprung up overnight and it's time to get baking and shopping done.  Of course, I choose to ignore the "early" signs of the holiday season until we are nearly at Thanksgiving.  I'm never ready to fully embrace this festive season until I can start my baking.

I bookmarked a recipe over at Joanne Eats Well With Others awhile back and made it as one of our desserts for Thanksgiving.  I'm so glad I did, too!  These Caramel Crumb Bars are so easy to make because the caramel just really happens on it's own while the bars are baking, so there's no messing it up!

Land O' Lakes: Scrambled Egg, Spinach & Fontina Wrap

Holiday baking season has arrived!  Have you started planning all of the wonderful goodies you are going to bake/make and share with your friends and family this year?  I've got a long list of goodies written and now need to put my plan in place to get started. 

With this in mind, it was a nice surprise to receive an email from the folks at Land O' Lakes asking me if I would like to try their eggs and share how I used them.  I happily said yes, knowing I had several uses for that dozen eggs. 

One of the things that I like about the Land O' Lakes products is that they have the Box Tops for Education labels on them.  Our school collects them and I've even found them on their boxes of butter.  Big score at this time of year!

I picked up a dozen of the brown organic eggs.