Where's the Beach?

Saturday was all about family time. It was a miserably rainy day, kind of the perfect day to stay inside and bake cookies though. Cookie baking (and decorating) was something my sister and I had grown up doing, and continued the tradition up until about two years ago. Well, this year we brought the tradition back. My sister and her kids showed up around 11. We started working on some of the cookies while Jason and C ran to the store to pick up a few things I had forgotten. Jason's brother, sister-in-law and their 2 kids showed up closer to 1. Let the party begin! They have a girl (J) who is one year younger than A and a son (N) who is one year younger than C. But they all got along fabulously. They played and the ladies finished up most of the cookies. My niece had initially started off assisting Sarah and me with making the dough for a few of the cookies and the icing as well. Then she got side tracked playing with J and the boys. I took the easy way out for sugar cookies ...

Today my sister and I got together for our annual cookie baking day. We used to make the dough and bake the cookies all in one day, one very long and tiring day. We've gotten wiser over the years and pre-make dough now. So we just get together to bake everything off. It's much more enjoyable to bake cookies with your best friend! This year we made: White Chocolate Cherry (I use Cranberries) Chunkies Yummy Peanut Butter Cookies with chocolate/peanut butter swirled chips Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies Spicy Oatmeal Cookies Russian Teacakes (my mom's favorite) Dipped Pretzels I brought over a salad for lunch: leaf lettuce, spinach, roasted red bell peppers, artichokes, sundried tomatoes, sauteed portobello mushrooms, cannellini beans, and balsamic vinaigrette. After baking with my sister, we went over to a friends' house for another annual tradition. A very dear friend was killed in 1996. I am still very close to her parents though. So her parents, two other g...

Saturday was a day of going with the flow and trying to enjoy every part of the day. So, for dinner I decided to make pizza. I hadn't had my weekly pizza fix yet. I have a bread machine whole wheat dough recipe that I like to use. I add a teaspoon of ground flax seed to it as well. I like a Greek style pizza, so my half was topped with artichokes, sundried tomatoes, spinach, banana pepper rings, roasted red bell pepper, Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips Meal Starters , and feta cheese (2nd picture). My husband likes to do a buffalo wing style pizza. His half was the meal starters, sauteed green and red bell peppers and onions, hot sauce, barbecue sauce, and blue cheese (3rd picture). I top the whole thing with mozzarella (1st picture). I was inspired by Newlywed, Newly Veg's post " Pizza Date Night ." Typically my husband and I eat on TV trays while catching up on DVR'd shows or watching a movie. With so much going on, I thought it would be a really good...