Parade of Cookies

 I have decided to share our wonderful Christmas tradition, Parade of Cookies. This year is the fourth annual Johns Parade of Cookies.  I started it because I love to bake. What a better season to bake than Christmas. My mom once said that baking is a winter sport. Since I have never been one for the conventional types of sports, baking is my sport of choice and Christmas is like my super bowl.  I also love to bake with my family. The kids and my husband love to help me, mix, bake, decorate and of course taste the cookies. This tradition has been a very "sweet" addition to our family.  I hope that by sharing this tradition  it will become a fun tradition in other households.


Here is how the parade works. I research cookie recipes that look yummy and sometimes unique. I often tweak the recipes as well. I bake and bake and bake. I bake around 5-6 different kinds of cookies in the month of December. As I bake a new batch we taste and give our personal opinions.  On the Eve of Christmas Eve we vote.  The voters are anyone who have tasted all of the cookies.


After the vote is in we name our family champion cookie, that cookie gets left for Santa as well as the top two cookies. We leave Santa a voting slip and he votes on his favorite.  I have learned through the years to vote on the Eve of Christmas Eve, because the last thing I want to do is start mixing up a couple of batches of cookies before bedtime on Christmas Eve.  Chances are, if the cookie is the winner it also means we are out of the winning cookie. Yum, Yum!

If you do decide to host your own Parade of Cookies, let me just give a few tips. 
1. Share, Share, Share it's a lot of cookies.  
2. Get a couple of really good cookie sheets. I like the insulated ones they cook evenly and a little faster. * If you have these adjust your cooking times.
3. Get the family involved in the baking. We have a great time making the cookies. We had some beautiful Ginger Bread Men last year. 


*Please post your family traditions, it would be fun to read what other families do, maybe I will add another tradition to our Christmas Season!


Here is our starting line up this year!
1. Classic Sugar Cookie
2. Oatmeal Supreme


Below you will find the recipes. I have Pictures posted on Facebook if you want to see the finished product. 

Sugar Cookies

½ cup butter softened

½ cup shortening

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon of salt

3 egg yolks

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 ¾ cups of flour

Preheat oven to 325. In a large mixing bowl beat butter and shortening on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart of an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are set. (Do not let edges brown.) Let stand 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

*I always check them at 10 minutes. My oven cooks a little faster than some.

* This year a put a little frosting and sprinkled little red and green sprinkles on top. The frosting is just confectioners sugar and a little bit of milk

Oatmeal Supreme

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 ¼ cups of flour

2 cups of rolled oats

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in the flour. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 1 minute then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Show ME the MONEY

My husband and I have been tossing around the idea of an allowance.  To give or not to give is the question at hand.  We want the kids to learn how to save money, but should they receive money without earning it?  We have chores that the kids are required to do because they are a part of this family. I don’t believe that I should pay them for cleaning their rooms, picking up after themselves, and putting away their laundry.  Also, we are on a tight budget, the last thing we need is another monthly bill.

Since, we don’t give money just to give it. The kids have become entrepreneurs.  Which I think is great!  We do hire them to do “contract” work around the house. The kids will ask if there is any work they can do for a little money.  We do have a few rules to their contract work.  First they have to have all their regular chores done. Second, mom, dad or even grandparents will pay what they think is fair. If we left it up to the kids, vacuuming the living room could run me 50 bucks, instead of its usual dollar.  This has been working out really well. It is nice to get a little extra help around the house.  The kids are learning to work for money; they are learning how much work it takes to keep the house clean (I am appreciated a little more) and how to save their money.  Getting the kids to help out is a little easier and they are quick to get their regular chores done so less fighting on that front.

I mentioned entrepreneurs in the last paragraph. The kids have taken to earning money and have tweaked it a little.  Last weekend, my oldest made several drawings and little craft items.  He made up a price list. He packed it all up and took it with him to our weekly dinner with grandparents. Genius!  He made a profit of $6.00.  This isn’t the first time he has set up shop. If he is saving up for something he really wants, he gets creative about it.  I wish that I had his courage to just set up shop and start making money. I am so encouraged by his attitude toward making money. If you need or want something find away to earn it, simple but brilliant at the same time.  

The Moral of this story, you never know what your kids will teach you.  We spend so much time talking to them, it is important to stop and listen as well. 

Cheap and Easy

Made ya look!

If you read my blog yesterday, you know that we are cutting out fast food for a month.  Now I have another problem.   Isn’t that always the case, when you solve one problem it always seems to create another.  Since I can no longer depend on the fast and cheap drive thru, what do I feed the family on those busy nights when cooking just isn’t an option?  One night every week we have two activities, with an hour between the two. Here’s the problem, I either feed the kids at 4:00, before we leave or 8:00pm when we get home. If we go home between the activities I only have 30min. to fix and shovel food into them before we have to jump back into the car.  Thankfully, this is an only 1 night a week thing.   If you are a parent you know that kids don’t eat in a hurry unless it’s ice cream or candy.  Which they would love for dinner but, defeats my purpose to raise healthy children.

I have given this a lot of thought today and I have come up with 3 options to choose from.

1.      1.   Picnic in the parking lot.  I pack a dinner and take it with us and eat in the parking lot.  This would mean that a hot meal would be out and I would be limited to what I could bring. Not to mention the MESS it would leave in the car. Not my favorite option.

2.      2.  Go out to eat at a nice sit down restaurant and order healthy food.  This is a tasty option but, not very economical.

3.      3.  Eat at home, quick!   If I made a crock-pot meal, then we could get home fill plates and eat. We just may be able to make it back into the car and to the second activity without being late. Did I mention I hate being late!

I found this website http://crockpotgirls.com/  it is called Crockn Girls. They are on Face book as well.  This is a great website for real life recipes. I love the food network but, I don't have time to do all that chopping and prep work.  These ladies make fixing dinner just a little bit easier. Easy is good!

Tonight I am going to try the crock pot Lasagna and tomorrow night the crock pot meat loaf.  They have lots of recipes on their site.  I am going to Crock pot it up at least twice a week. I think that just might make a difference in our crazy busy lives. I figure it will also save us some money too. 

Bless those Crockin Girls!!  

What is your go to meal when you are in a hurry?  I need ideas for new and healthy meals.

Goodbye Fast Food, Hello Healthy Kids

So I was listening to the news today and heard that in the year 2030, 1 out of every 10 people will have type 2 diabetes.  That is the kind that is adult onset due to obesity and lack of exercise.  This number scares me. I wonder why do we as a country let our children eat they way most of them do.  By all means I am not saying all of them are unhealthy and I am certainly not accusing anyone of child abuse with a happy meal.  My point is that when there is a problem why don't we solve it?  Problems need solutions. Why it is that childhood obesity is such a hard one to solve.  It seems easy to me, eat healthy food and exercise.

I certainly wouldn't let my child do any activity that would put them in harms way.  They wear a seat belt in the car; they wear a helmet when they ride their bikes. I don’t let them play outside in a thunderstorm. I make sure they do or don't do these things to keep them safe and healthy, as most parents do.  That is the job of a parent. Yes, turning off the television (insert any other form of sit and stare activity here) makes your job a little harder. In these times in most neighborhoods you just can't kick the kids outside without a parent and say go play.  Kids need your attention and guidance. Parenting isn't for the weak, you have to be strong and do what right because it is right. Remember these are the little dependant babies that we worked so hard to keep them alive that first year. Just because they can feed themselves doesn't mean your job of food patrol is done.  Remember when we could only introduce one new food a week and we took their diet so seriously.  Why do parents stop this when the child can eat from the table? 

  I am not perfect, but I do try  to make sure that my kids eat semi healthy  everyday and do some sort of activity that requires movement. It is not always easy, especially on those nights where we are running from one activity to another. Some days, I am tired and we hit the fast food, not my finest mom moment.

I believe that if you truly want the best for your family you can change.  Change is hard, we all get into this routine of life and it is easier to do what we have always done. To make that change and have a healthier family I challenge anyone who reads this, to make one change for a month and see how it goes. I am taking fast food out of our diet for 1 month. Who knows maybe we will save a little cash money too.

Let it be noted that today is November 14, no fast food for 1 month. Sorry Mcdonalds my money stays in my pocket this month.