Christmas Cookies

This is a great sugar cookie recipe for Christmas cookies or other sugar cookies.  Pictured here are assorted Christmas cookies, Easter cookies, and cookies used as wedding favors.  They are all the same recipe, which is really simple, but it does require an investment of some equipment.  You will need:

A rolling pin

A silpat mat to roll the dough on

Cookie cutters

A piping set (tips, bags, and couplers)

Royal icing mix (or make your own)

Gel coloring 

All of these things can be purchased at a cake supply store, some art supply stores, or online at amazon.com (click on the links above).

Split Pea Soup

This is a friend's split pea soup recipe.  She eats very, very healthily but says that this is a recipe that even "regular people" like.  She encouraged me to taste it, and now it is one of my favorite soups.  I admit it doesn't sound or look as good as it tastes, but it really is an excellent soup.  It is healthy, tasty, easy to make, inexpensive, and it freezes well.

I've always made this soup with green split peas, but our grocery store was out of them so I made it with yellow split peas this time.  It tastes exactly the same, but it does change the look.  Feel free to use either kind.

Rigatoni with Butternut Squash

This rigatoni has everything that I love about pasta with cheese sauce.  The thick and creamy sauce fills the pasta and bursts out when you bite into it.  It is inexpensive, comforting, and is ready quickly.  But unlike macaroni and cheese, it can be made completely dairy free and since the sauce is made mostly from pureed squash instead of cheese, it is a much more balanced, healthy meal.  I topped mine with some parmesan cheese and used 2% milk to thin the sauce, but the cheese is not needed and any kind of milk would work (soy, almond, lactaid, rice, etc.)  The sweet and salty in this dish is so comforting, and the fresh chopped basil adds some great dimension to the flavor.  PJ didn't believe me that there was no cheese in it!  Add some grilled chicken to this dish for an even heartier meal.