We spent some good quality family time this weekend... baking!

There are 4 Christmas cookies that I really wanted to make, and each of them I thought the kids could probably help me bake. They loved it! It was slightly messier and more time consuming than I expected, but hey, that's life with kids, right!

First is snowballs or Mexican Wedding Cakes or Russian Tea Cakes -- I think they have a multitude of different names. As a kid, I loved these. As an adult, I discovered I really don't care for them all too much. The nostalgia just didn't quite carry over. So I've got the cookies this year, but will scratch them off the list for next year.

Next is almond bark pretzels. I've always loved these -- don't like them at all with regular chocolate, but with almond bark, YUMMY! I don't know that I've actually made them before -- I've always just eaten them. They're significantly more time consuming than I expected them to be! Still turned out delicious though! I added the little sprinkle balls to the top -- even better!



Peanut Blossoms (i.e. Hershey Kiss cookies) are my personal favorite Christmas cookie. The perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter in the form of a moist chewy cookie. And have you ever eaten these fresh out of the oven when the kiss is still all melty. Oh, to die for!



Still on the docket: Kringla.

Stay tuned.

I don't know if I'm craving kringla (cring-luh) or missing my Grandma.... probably both.... but boy could I use a kringla fix right now!

Kringla was a holiday staple at our family gatherings, and Grandma made them like none other! They were soft, moist, not-too-sweet cookies with a thin layer of butter spread over them...mmm...good!

My Grandma made everything wonderfully. My Dad has mastered her lefse. My Aunt has mastered her rommegrot. I have no desire to master her (or anyone else's for that matter) lutefisk. But the kringla, and really the flatbrod, too, I really really miss. More than that, I miss my Grandma's sweet face and gracious smile serving them to us.

We do have my Grandma's kringla recipe, however, it calls simply for "flour" -- not how much. So I've been on a search for a recipe. I've found one. We'll have to give it a whirl (and a figure 8 swirl) and see how it turns out. This is one tradition I'd love to pass along to my kids -- who are a quarter less Norwegian than I am (I'm 50%), but they can flaunt their Norwegian-ness for Christmas and kringla!

Kringla - Norwegian

1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon soda
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 Dash salt

Directions:Mix sugar, butter, and unbeaten egg. Add buttermilk, soda, then flour, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Knead on a board and leave in refrigerator over night. One soup spoon makes a nice size Kringla. Roll on lightly flour board until the size of a pencil. Form a Figure-8 and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet in a 450 oven until lightly browned on bottom. These are supposed to be soft and chewy, kind of between a cookie and a cake. Many prefer to butter them or eat them with coffee. They taste somewhat like shortbread.

Meal Planning is quite possibly one of my least favorite things to do. I'm not a huge fan of the kitchen in general, so planning meals is very stressful for me. That said.... I have a huge desire to put healthy, well-balanced meals on the table for my family. Always a challenge when we don't usually get home until 6pm or 6:30!

I discovered this receipe a few years ago in a Quick Cooking Magazine, which is published by Taste of Home, I believe. I grabbed the photo from their website. My whole family loves this recipe. My husband isn't a fan of regular taco salad because of the hard corn chips. This recipe actually asks you to fry up tortilla strips -- which is quite a bit tastier, and definitely not as hard as regular chips.

I don't have a meal planned for tonight... this might just fit my bill!

Ingredients:
1 pound uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 envelope taco seasoning, divided
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons diced green or sweet red pepepr
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3 corn tortillas (6 inches), cut into 1/4-inch strips
1 package (8 ounces) ready-to-serve salad greens
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can (8 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups (8 ounces) finely shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese

Directions: Remove shrimp tails if desired. Place shrimp in a bowl; sprinkle with half of the taco seasoning. Set aside. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine 1/2 cup oil, onion, vinegar, green pepper, garlic, coriander and sugar; shake well and set aside.

In a skillet, stir-fry tortilla strips in remaining oil; drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with remaining taco seasoning. In the same skillet, saute shrimp for 8-10 minutes or until shrimp turn pink.

In a large bowl, combine the greens, tomato, beans, shrimp and tortilla strips. Just before serving, shake dressing and pour over salad; sprinkle with cheese and toss to coat. Yield: 6-8 servings.