Anyway! I have been in Sarasota this week to spend some (lazy) time with my sister and mis padres. It’s been fun! Not gonna lie though, I miss my husband!!!

Christmastime!

When I first got here my mom gave me a super cute ornament she got for Ross and I. (She’s been hunting for a cute “first married Christmas” type ornament…I think she found one!)

My two favorite parts of the ornament are the foot pop (hello, Princess Diaries anyone?) and the lipstick mark on the boy snowman’s cheek. Too cute! Thanks momma!!

Vanilla Chobani Review

I also brought a couple Chobanis with me to Sarasota. My mom and I both tried part of the Vanilla Chobani.

Review: You can taste the tartness of the greek yogurt more in the vanilla than in the fruit chobanis. I’m sure this is due to the fact that without the fruit there are 6 grams less sugar in the vanilla (13 g. sugar total in the vanilla chobani). My mom wasn’t expecting the tartness and commented on it right away. All in all, another great chobani product! I think this would be great with some fun mix-ins (berries, bananas, ground flax seed, almond slivers, etc.). You can check the chobani website for the vanilla nutritional information.

P.S. The peach is definitely my favorite.

Christmas Shopping Bargains

Now yesterday I mentioned I’d share with you some Christmas shopping bargain hunting tips. Megan (the sis) and I were shopping at some outlets yesterday and I kept noticing there are SO many great sales going on right now! Everyone knows the economy is down and retailers are hurting. But if you still have Christmas gifts to shop for, now is time to take advantage! Do your research! Go out one evening and find out what kinds of deals the stores in your area are offering! You can still get a nice gift for someone while shopping on a budget.

For example: we stopped in the Nike outlet store yesterday. Because we were raised in a family of bargain hunters we headed straight to the clearance section. The majority of their clearance (already reduced to a super cheap price) was on sale for an additional 50% off! So if you have a runner you need to get a gift for, you would have been able to get them a new pair of running shorts and a new running shirt for $15 – $20!

Bottom line: bargain hunting is called bargain HUNTING for a reason! You really have to search for and track down the best deals. I promise it’s worth it though!

I won a giveaway!!!
I also mentioned yesterday that I would share with you a contest/ giveaway that I recently won! Some of you out there in the blog world may be familiar with Miss Marie and her fabulous blog. Did you know she also has her own photography business called Studio222 Photography? Long story short, I won a fabulous new iPod shuffle! Check out her photography blog for the fun video Becka and Nate made revealing the winners from the giveaways of their launch week. And please, go check out her new and revised photography site, www.thestudioishere.com. Some of the most beautiful images I’ve ever seen!!

(The above photo was taken from here). I’m so excited. This actually comes at a really great time. Because finances have been a little rough my husband recently listed his Creative studios Zen MP3 player on ebay in order to bring in a little more money for us (which by the way, sold last night!). So I’m so excited about winning this iPod shuffle, and absolutely can’t wait to start using it on runs and when working out! [should I be worried though? I never got a notification email!! I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world with my first and last name, because it's a last name my FIL created and changed a couple decades ago. Becka if you're reading this, shoot me an email at mrslcblog at gmail dot com, thanks!!].

Time to go out and do something with the sis! Much love everyone! Sorry for being little miss random today!

LC

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With the Christmas season finally here, I have felt an uncontrollable urge to bake! For my family a lot of memories and fun times are always had in the kitchen. This is a tradition that my husband and I both look forward to continuing. So as we were setting up our Christmas tree Ross really wanted some cookies, and he wanted us to come up with new traditions, too. I decided, “why not do create both at the same time?”. Thus Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies were born. Ross is all for keeping this recipe around and making these every year when we set up our Christmas tree. Plus, I feel it’s the perfect holiday “transition” cookie. Why not take an everyday chocolate chip cookie and put a seasonal spin on it?

The chocolate chip cookie part is a recipe from the back of a Nestle Toll House Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips package. (Hey, I had just gotten back from being out of town for over a week and my husband decided he wanted cookies, give a baker a break!). I will admit, this is definitely not my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I definitely will be tweaking this recipe the more times I make it. But with my two add ins? Delish. (Other modifications are in italics after the ingredient)

Chocolate Chip Candy Cane Cookies

• 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour (I used unbleached, & would use whole wheat pastry flour in the future)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt (I omitted this)
• 1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened (oops, I guess I forgot about this – I only used 1 stick butter)
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. (12-oz. pkg.) Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 4 candy canes, crushed (I put them in a plastic bag and smashed them with a meat tenderizer…for more visual pieces, don’t smash them to smithereens!)
• 1 tsp. mint extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cream butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and mint extract in a large bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Gradually beat in flour and baking soda.
4. Stir in chocolate chips and candy cane pieces (you should do this manually, you don’t want to break up any of the pieces or burn out your motor!)
5. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet (I used my silicone baking mats). Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets a couple minutes, then move to wire racks to cool.

I got about 3 dozen cookies out of this. Like I said, they tasted yummy! I made these this past Sunday night, and froze some to be used in a dessert platter that I’m bringing to a holiday work party for Ross’ work tonight. (P.S. Photos taken by my sweet husband).

I also have one more cookie recipe that I made last night. I have been craving biscotti for a while, and needed another holiday type cookie to include in the dessert platter I’m making. This recipe is completely original.

Peppermint Cocoa Biscotti

• 2 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (I actually threw in about another 2 T. because I was at the end of my cocoa)
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. mint extract
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. fat free vanilla yogurt
• 1/4 c. chocolate chips
• 3 candy canes, crushed

1. Sift together all of the dry ingredients.
2. Combine the eggs, yogurt, mint extract and vanilla extract. Gradually add this wet mixture to the dry mixture. When the dough comes together, stir in the chocolate chips and candy cane pieces.
3. Form 2 loaves on a baking sheet.
4. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes. Slice loaves (anywhere from 1/2 inch to one inch thick slices). Place the slices back on your baking sheet and bake another 30 minutes, flipping them after 15 minutes.
5. Let cool on a wire rack, where they will continue to harden.

These are also quite tasty. Ross’ review? When I handed him a small piece, he ate it and proclaimed, “Oh wow!” (in a good way).

Other variations one could do to this recipe:
*I really wanted to make a Mocha Mint biscotti. For this, I would add 1 tsp. instant coffee powder dissolved in 2 T. water (I didn’t want to go to the store just for this one ingredient though, so that’s why I went with “Peppermint Cocoa” instead of “Mocha Mint”).
*Using butter instead of the yogurt. The yogurt doesn’t make the biscotti SUPER hard and crunch. It still has a crunch, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little softer on the inside. I just didn’t want to use butter and needed to use up the last of a container of yogurt I had. You could also use 2 more egg whites instead of the yogurt or butter, too.

I’ll be submitting these recipes to Sabrina (RhodeyGirl) and the Christmas cookie contest she’s doing right now. If you want to submit any recipes, hurry, it’s ending today!

ALSO, if you have not done so yet, go over and check out Hangry Pants‘ Food Drive! If you go to this post and leave a comment, they’ll donate 5 cents towards nonperishables for a food drive in their area.

Be back later with more!!

Love,
LC

P.S. The UPS man just came and brought me a lovely package:

The generous Tiffany (aka Chobani fairy!) sent me some yummy Chobani to try! I can’t wait to try some of the other flavors since all I’ve tried is the peach. Here are all my pretty Chobanis lined up in a pretty little row:

The UPS man said, “this must be some pretty good yogurt,” haha and I excitedly proclaimed, “you have no idea!!”. I think a strawberry Chobani will be included with lunch.

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