I love baking!  These are the first things I make at Christmas time and… they are the first to disappear!  Mine is a healthier version of sugar cookies and if you try them, I promise that everyone will be asking for the recipe.

You don’t have to use pounds of butter to make a delicious sugar cookie – I use part canola oil but nobody has to know. I had planned to make a video but this recipe is so easy, and besides, I would have had to do the hair & makeup thing and who’s got time?  I’m too busy looking for parking at the mall! Click here for the recipe.

Oh, and one more day for the Christmas Tree contest (below). Someone is already within ten of the correct number! See who it is on Friday.

Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away so I’m sharing my recipe for fresh cranberries. Comparing fresh cooked cranberries to the canned stuff is like comparing Spago to DerWienerschnitzel. No comparison.  None. They may seem very “fru-fru” but fresh cranberries are super easy to make (5 minutes), and you can cook them days before turkey day. Cranberries have more antioxidants than broccoli and they have a fantastic sweet/tart taste. Try it. It’s fun too – they pop while you cook ’em!

I’ve finally made a video of my recipe for homemade pizza! It has a crispy thin crust, the kind you can pick up and eat – no fork, no plate – and lots of pepperoni.  I use a special pan for a crispy crust and wait ‘til you see my trick for prepping pepperonis (say that 3 times).

This is one pizza you can eat without thinking, “OMG, I just ate half a pizza and am going straight to hell.” More like, “Wow, I didn’t know healthy pizza could be this good!” Click here for the video.

I celebrated Independence Day by making my fall-of-the-bone  baby back ribs.  There’s enough for leftovers tomorrow!  I also made potato salad, cole slaw, fresh corn, homemade bread,  and we had fudge bars for dessert.  I found some by “Skinny Cow” and they were low fat and really good. The meaning of the day was not lost, though.  I remembered today, as I do every day, how lucky we are to live in this country and we should never take our freedoms for granted. I am grateful for many things, every day.

For me, the only way to make bread pudding is to make the bread.  So today, I made egg bread with poppy seeds, and about three hours later, it was bread pudding.

I don’t want to say it’s the best bread pudding on the planet… okay I do want to say it.  “It’s the best bread pudding on the planet.”

Between my stepmom and me, it won’t last the night.

Click here for the recipe.