Perfect Roasted Veggies in 20 Minutes

I love the flavor of roasted veggies, but hate the time it takes to do it in the oven. My Mimi taught me a little secret to achieve the flavor and texture of roasting, but in half the time. Her secret weapon? The microwave. These veggies come out perfect every time and are a super low cal side dish, or depending on what veggies you use, can even be hearty enough to make a meal on their own.

Choose your favorite in-season veggies. Here I used butternut squash, turnips, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and carrots. To make a heartier mix, you could add in some sweet potatoes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and chop veggies into bite-sized portions. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over them (2-3 teaspoons), salt and pepper them, toss to coat and pop in the microwave for 15 minutes (in 5 minute increments.) Notice that I have a full baking dish, so mine took the full 15 mins, but if you are working with less, yours may take less time. When the veggies are tender (your fork should be able to pierce, but not go completely through), transfer your baking dish to the preheated oven. Cook at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Perfection every time!

New Year, Old Me

Happy New Year friends! Sorry I've been MIA since before Christmas, but I've been enjoying some much needed r & r with my little family. We had a super busy Christmas and then left to ring in the New Year down at the coast. We did a whole lot of nothin' while there and it was wonderful!

One evening while watching the sunset on the deck, I began pondering my "New Year's Resolutions." I quote that because, let's face it, we all realize the irony in that statement. A lot of people say they don't even bother to make them, but I usually do. I love a fresh start and most of the time I even have a sliver of hope that I'll stick to at least one. But this year, I started thinking backward instead of forward. Instead of thinking about what I could do to be a new and improved me, I started thinking back to times when I felt the best about me. Times in my life and things that I've done that made me feel good. I mean, I figure if I have done it before, I can do it again, right? Maybe it's just the same game, different name, but here are a few things on my list of things to get back to (in no particular order):

Reading: For as long as I can remember I have always been a bookworm. A good book becomes an obsession for me, an infatuation...I literally will think about it all day long until I can open it again and then I will think about the characters like they're friends of mine when it's done. But, when I got pregnant I only read pregnancy or baby related material for 9 months. Then when Jack was born, well, you know how that goes... picking up a book vs. sleeping? You know what won. Now that I'm getting to bed at a semi-decent hour again, I'm ready to have my reading time back. Plus, I got an iPad for Christmas and I'm itching to have my first e-read. Any suggestions?

Journaling: I have journal, upon journal, upon journal from high school and college, but for some reason after college I just put my pen down. I love to write, whether it's about my day or whatever, and I miss it. Curling up with my journal and pen and letting my thoughts escape my head was the cheapest form of therapy I've ever had!

Jogging: I'm notorious for being a bandwagon exerciser (and dieter), but at one time, a couple of years ago, I really got into jogging. (I'd like to say 'running' but really, I'm sure I never got faster than a jog). I really stuck with it for a few months and it became like a drug. If I missed a day, I missed that feeling, that rush. I loved challenging myself to see if I could make it one more lap. The best part of jogging for me is that it literally is the only time my head ever feels CLEAR. I crank my music so loud that I can't possibly hear myself think and I just run...

These are just a couple of things from my list. I won't bore you with them all, but hopefully this year I'll get back to some of these pastimes. I'm also shooting for my annual "eat healthier and lose weight" goal, so I'll be sharing my healthy recipes and treats with you along the way. I hope you all have started your new year feeling rested and renewed! Cheers to 2012!

Gingerbread Pancakes

This is my final featured recipe for my 12 Days of Baking Series. I will be making these tomorrow morning as part of a large Christmas breakfast. I have had fun baking so much over the past month, but I have to tell ya, my waistline and I are ready for a break! I hope you've enjoyed it and hope you've tried out a recipe or two. Thanks for reading and have a very Merry Christmas ya'll!!!

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love baked for me...

Gingerbread Pancakes

3 eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup brewed coffee

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon ginger

1 tablespoon nutmeg

4 tablespoons melted butter

In a large bowl, mix eggs and brown sugar until well combined. Add buttermilk, water and brewed coffee and stir to combine. In another bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until combined. Stir in the melted butter.

Heat griddle or skillet over medium-high heat and add batter. Cook until bubbles form around the edge of the pancake, then flip. Cook on the second side until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Southwestern Breakfast Casserole

We start our Christmas celebrations bright and early on Christmas Eve morning (tomorrow..yikes!) Our tradition is to open gifts and then have a big breakfast before our 5 other Christmas celebrations over the next 48 hours (yes, we really have 6 Christmases in 48 hours)...

I always make this casserole and it is always a crowd pleaser. This is also a standby for me throughout the year if I'm making breakfast for a crowd.

I'm making this tomorrow morning, so I'll post pics later when I get a chance.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love made for me...

Southwestern Breakfast Casserole

1 dozen eggs

1 16 oz carton sour cream

4 cups monterrey jack cheese

1 lb hot sausage

4 oz chopped green chilies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown and drain the sausage and set aside. Beat eggs with sour cream, green chilies and cheese and add in sausage. Pour into a lightly greased 9 by 13 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until eggs set.

Serve with salsa and warm tortillas.

Crockpot Candy

I wanted to post this recipe earlier, but I never actually got around to making it. This past week has been crazy busy! This is usually on my list of Christmas treats to make, but as I said, time just got away from me. Sorry about no pics, but I promise this is easy and well worth trying out!

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love made for me...

Crockpot Candy

16 oz salted peanuts
16 oz unsalted cashews (or unsalted peanuts)
1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips
1 4oz German chocolate baking bar
1 package almond bark

Layer the nuts and chocolate in the listed order above in your crockpot. Turn on low for 3 hours. Spoon out onto wax paper and let cool and set.

Santa's Little Helper

Poor Jack, I sometimes forget he's a real boy and not a dress-up doll... But he's so adorable and it's so much fun to take cute pictures of him! One day he'll appreciate the cute pics of himself as a baby, right? Okay, well probably not, but hopefully his wife will enjoy them!

My mom insisted on this one...I was reeeeeaaaalllll nervous!

Guess who got their two bottom teeth for Christmas?

Pretty lights...

.

Hey, I like this rocking horsey!

Happy little elf!

Sugar Cookies

Yesterday my Mimi and I spent the day making Christmas sugar cookies. This is a tradition she and I, along with my Aunt Margaret and cousins, did when we were growing up. It has always been one of my favorite Christmas memories. I hope to share this experience with Jack when he gets a little older. It will make all the hard work of making the cookies worth it to see him have fun decorating them!

I discovered that the whole sugar cookie making experience is quite an undertaking and pretty exhausting when you're the grown up. It's way more fun to be the kid who just gets to do the decorating. Not even halfway through frosting I was ready to settle for a few dozen non-iced cookies. Luckily, Mimi pushed through and finished the job up for me. Then later my mom and I added details and prettied them up. I was aspiring to make my cookies as beautiful as my friend Monica's, but that didn't really happen. She says she's been doing this for a long time, so hopefully I'll get better at it with more practice. Even though I wasn't able to do it, I will share her secret to her fabulously beautiful sugar cookies.

I made the White House Sugar Cookies that I shared at Halloween, so I'll just link you to that recipe. But this time I used Royal icing instead of the egg white frosting.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love baked for me....

White House Sugar Cookies

As I said earlier, my friend Monica makes the most professional looking frosted sugar cookies. She shared her secret with me, and it's piping the outside with Royal icing and then flooding them with Wilton's Color Flow icing. The meringue powder makes the icing dry hard and glossy. I wasn't able to make it to the craft store to buy the meringue powder, so I'll share the Royal icing I used, but I will also link you to the Color Flow icing as well. 

Royal Icing

• 6 cups confectioner's sugar
• 8 tablespoons warm water
• 2 teaspoons almond extract 
• food coloring

Mix confectioner's sugar with water and almond extract. Pour white icing into separate bowls and color as desired. 

Wilton's Color Flow Icing

Mimi shared a wonderful secret to make rolling the cookies out easier. Roll the dough out between parchment paper. This made rolling a snap!

Some of my favorites. Add a glass of milk and we're ready for Santa!