Welcome November

Happy Tuesday, lovelies! And Happy November to you all!

This fall has gotten off to a rather unusual start for me. Typically I would be stuffing myself with baked goods, delicious mulled drinks and pumpkin lattes but silly ol' me decides to go gluten-free and vegan right in the beginning of the most scrumptious season. What was I thinking?!?!

Well the truth of the matter is that it hasn't been all that bad. I've lost weight and I've actually enjoyed everything I've eaten so far. It's fun learning how to cook different types of food and I haven't missed the treats all that much.

But honestly as the weather gets cooler {I mentioned yesterday how it SNOWED on Saturday...}, and the calendar flips the page to November, I can't help but think of the cooking and baking that comes along with this month. I mean Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. I can't even begin to think of a TG without the turkey. We'll see how long this lasts... :)

So where does this leave me? On a search for delicious tasting dairy and gluten-free alternatives to the delicious staples that are calling my name. Pumpkin pie and pumkin bread anyone? If anyone knows of any recipes out there, I'd be more than grateful to find out.

Lastly, I'd like to welcome in November by introducing you to my two new sponsors PRIVÉ and The Trend Boutique. Both wonderful companies that I hold near and dear to my shopaholic heart.

Check back later for more info on these fabulous companies.

Have a wonderful day, sweets!

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 All images edited by The Alternative Wife

Sweet Holiday!

Well we're almost here. One more day until Christmas Eve and I've been baking up a storm for days. Can't wait to dig into all of the sweetness tomorrow!

Today I'll be busy getting ready for my hosting duties. I just found out that I'll have some overnight guests tonight so the festivities will be starting sooner than I thought. Better get a move on!

Wishing you and your loved ones a most joyous holiday filled with lots of goodness & cheer! xoxo

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Take Two

Good morning lovelies! Hope you all had a wonderful evening.

So last night didn't turn out exactly as planned. After running around to pick up xmas gifts and stopping by the grocery store to get baking supplies, we came home and realized that we forgot to get butter! Seriously we're brilliant. So rather than run back out to the store at 8:30 to get butter that would need to then be defrosted, we decided to officially postpone cookie baking until today.

We did, however, manage to squeeze in a few other baking projects that I had on the agenda. I made apple pie, brownies and, what I'm most excited about, I made Peppermint Bark for the very first time!

I don't know about you all but I seriously LOVE peppermint bark. There's something oh so delicious about the layers of chocolate and mint. Oh Williams-Sonoma, thanks for helping add an additional 5 lbs to the yearly holiday bulge ;)

I couldn't contain my excitment when I came across this recipe last week on The City Sage. How fabulous, right? I figured that it looked simple enough to make. Why not give it a shot? I could package it up and give out to our guests on xmas eve as an extra little treat.

Well I'm happy to report that everything went smoothly. It really didn't take much time at all to make. And it looks amazing! I haven't tasted it yet but I'm hopefully that it will be delicious. But maybe I should stop by Williams-Sonoma on my way home tonite to pick up some of theirs as backup...

Do you have any baking projects on tap this holiday?

Images: found here, here & here

Cookie Craving

Well it's finally here. The night that I used to look forward to more than any other night of the year, but after many years and years, has become the most dreaded night of the year. Christmas Cookie Night!

It's funny, I seriously used to love decorating all of the cookies. It was a major creative outlet for me. I even would hold cookie decorating parties so we could do it a few times during the holiday season. But something happened along the way. It became a major chore. I don't know if it's because our lives are more hectic than they used to be. Or if it's because it is expected of us. Our families would seriously kill us if we decided to skip this tradition. And believe me, we have tried to many times. Just. Not. Happenin! Oh an I won't even go into the fact that not only do we have to bake and decorate cookies tonight but then we are expected to bake some cookies and leave them undecorated so we can have a separate decorating party with J's family on xmas eve.

Well this year I'm determined to bring the joy back to cookie decorating. Why dread something that used to give us so much joy? We even picked up some new tools to spice things up this year. I'm loving the new Williams-Sonoma Message-in-a-Cookie Holiday Cookie Cutters and I must admit that I'm pretty excited to give them a whirl tonight. Oh and we also get to use one of our wedding gifts, the Williams-Sonoma Marble Rolling Pin. We've been dying to get one of these for years. Let the fun begin!

And in the spirit of sharing, I figured that I'd share with all of you the famous Dawn & Jen's Sugar Cookie recipe. People tell us all the time that it's the best sugar cookie recipe they've ever had so I figure why not spread the love around. It's the same recipe that we gave out to our wedding guests as favors. I think we need to come up with a snapier name for the recipe but for now it'll have to do :)

Dawn & Jen's Sugar Cookies

2 sticks butter (room temp)

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

3 c flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

• Use an electric mixer to beat together the butter and sugar until creamy.
• Add the eggs and beat well.
• Beat in vanilla extract.
• In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt.
• Beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture slowly, one-third at a time.
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Sprinkle flour onto work surface and rolling pin.
• Divide the dough into quarters.
• Roll each quarter to about 1/4" thick.
• Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.
• Sprinkle on decoration.
• Bake 5-10 minutes.
• If frosting cookies, bake first, let cool and then frost.

Frosting

1/2 c butter (room temp)

1 lb confectionary sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 tbsp. milk

• Place butter in a bowl.
• Add confectionary sugar, vanilla and milk.
• Mix until smooth.
• If frosting is too loose add more confectionary sugar.
• If frosting is too stiff add more milk.
• Add your favorite food coloring or use sprinkles on top of frosting.

And the rest is up to you. Oh I can see those creative juices flowing already :)

Oh and if you have any favorite cookie recipes to share, I'd just love to hear them!

Images: 1, 2-4, 5