Watermelon Sugar Cookies

So first of all you will have to forgive me for my terrible pictures...our camera doesn't work and these are taken off of my phone so for now it works but I promise I will get it fixed soon :) Our air conditioning was broken for 3 days...yep you heard right...3 days. With me being 4 months pregnant and 2 little ones at home all day, I was super relieved when we got it working last night. However this little experience has left me begging for fall! I can't wait for sweaters and jackets and falling leaves and pumpkins...the smell...you get my drift. So as a big finale to summer we decided to try out these Watermelon Sugar Cookies. I have to say, I was definitely not a huge fan of the recipe...they turned out dry. So I am going to post my tried and true recipe for sugar cookies that do not spread because these were definitely fun to make! Remember, I will be posting my 3 week menu rotation tomorrow as well as a grocery shopping list with the current sales from my area so don't forget to check back! Also, if you have a recipe you would like me to try and post on here with instructions, send it my way @ kdalomia@gmail.com. Thanks, and ENJOY!

Watermelon Sugar Cookies

- 1 C. butter, softened

- 1 1/2 C. sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1 tsp. almond extract

- 1 tsp. vanilla extract

- 3 1/4 C. four

- 1 tsp. baking powder

- 1/2 tsp. salt

For Decorating

- Wilton's Red Food Coloring Paste (Or regular fo

od coloring is fine it's just not as vibrant)

- Green Sugar Crystals (found in the baking aisleat WalMart)

- White Chocolate Chips or White Chocolate Discs

-Miniature Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Beat butter until it is light and fluffy, then add in your sugar a 1/2 C. at a time until well blended. Add eggs and extracts and mix until well combined. If you don't like almond extract, you can substitute for 2 tsp. vanilla extract. At this point it is easiest to add your food coloring, if you are using regular food coloring I would use about 8 drops...remember not to use too much as it can change the consistency of your dough.

Sift your flour, baking powder and salt and mix in on low speed until everything is completely mixed.. I honestly don't bother sifting my ingredients...I just dump them all in at once and it saves you a quick step. By the end, it should look a little something like this.

Take your dough out and divide it into two balls. Place each ball between 2 sheets of parchment or wax paper and roll out until it is 1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate for 1 - 2 hours or until it has a harder consistency. After it has hardened, take one out and cut it out with a circle cookie cutter then cut each cookie in half. While you are cutting, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. I used a small flower cutter like the one below to cut out small bites in each cookie, however, if you left it flat it would be adorable too!

Then I used miniature chocolate chips for the seeds. You need to work fast with these because since they are so small, they melt extremely fast. The should look something like this by now!

Bake for 8 minutes...DO NOT OVERBAKE! If you overbake them, they turn out dry and horrible and you want a moist sugar cookie. After they are done baking, place them immediately on a cooling rack and let cool completely. Once they have cooled completely, melt your chocolate chips or discs in the microwave for 30 second intervals until completely melted. Dip your curved part, or rind, in the melted white chocolate and let excess drip off. Then dip it right into your sprinkles and back onto a piece of parchment paper to harden. There you have it! Your farewell to summer!

I have to admit, these were very time consuming, but I just wanted to give you a fun post...and the best part is that they are so fun to make with kids because they can get really involved! If you have any questions, let me know! ENJOY!

- Kristin

Why A Meal Plan?

I have had a lot of people ask me, "why a meal plan?" Well for me there are 3 good reasons.

#1: It Saves Me Money

- I end up spending less money when I go grocery shopping because I have exactly what I need for each meal on my list, plus additional items such as snacks, cleaners and food storage. This prevents me from just grabbing whatever sounds good to me at the moment.

#2: Fewer Trips to the Grocery Store

- If I plan my menu around every 3 weeks then I make one big trip to the store every 3 weeks. Occasionally I will ask my husband to pick up a couple gallons of milk on the way home from work since usually our milk won't last that long. But doesn't one (prepared) trip every week sound easier than going to the store every single week (or more) to buy things you forgot or don't have to make your meal?

#3: Healthier Options

- If I plan ahead, then I have time to prepare a healthy, well balanced meal for my kids. I know what's on the menu for the next day and I don't have to spend the time each day looking for a recipe, only to give up and make a microwave dinner. I have healthy side options that I know are available to me in my fridge or pantry. Each night I look at my menu for what the next day holds and I stick my meat in the refrigerator so it's all set for me to go the next day.

If you are feeling overwhelmed with a 3 week grocery shopping trip, try going every 2 weeks for a while and then the jump to 3 weeks won't seem so scary, I promise ;) It also gives me a good opportunity to rotate my canned food storage. We eat all the fresh fruit and vegetable produce first with our meals so that they don't spoil and once that is gone, we rotate our canned fruits and veggies for our sides until our next grocery shopping trip. If you are finding that your fruit is starting to go bad faster than you can eat it, buy less, or the great thing about fruit is that most of it can be frozen and then put into smoothies or just eaten plain. My kids LOVE frozen grapes and frozen sliced bananas for a great after school snack.

Hopefully these tips gave you a good insight into my 3 week rotation. Come back later tonight and I will have a yummy recipe waiting for you!

- Kristin :)

3 Week Menu

Here is an example of my "3 week menu". Click on the image above and it will bring up a larger version that you can then print out or save to your computer. I am not completely computer savvy so I am still learning if there are better options than what I have provided above. Right now on my own personal 3 week rotation I am on week 3 so I will be going grocery shopping at the end of this week and will post a new menu and grocery shopping list that will have all the deals for that week this Thursday! But for now, the first recipe I will share from this menu above is the recipe for my Sweet Pork Salads. Now I know that there are many Sweet Pork recipes out there to choose from, but this particular one only has 2 ingredients, which in my book is definitely the way to go on a crazy day! A big "Thank You" to my sister Crystal who handed this recipe down to me, we use it ALL the time and the leftovers can be used for Nachos or burritos or just plain with rice.

Sweet Pork

*1 cup Jack's Salsa (from Costco or you can use homemade but really in this you can't tell the difference. My husband is a huge "Salsa Snob" and eats only fresh, but he loves this!

*1/2 cup brown sugar

*1 - 4 lb. pork roast (Again I purchase mine from Costco since they have the 4 packs that are really lean and turn out perfect every single time.)

- Place your pork roast in your slow cooker. Pour your salsa over, nothing fancy, and then add your brown sugar right on top of that. Cook on low for 8 hours. It really is necessary to cook on low...it turns out so much more tender and juicier. When finished, shred and that's it!

Are you kidding me? Go make yourself 5 since that was so easy! Enjoy!

- Kristin

Welcome!

So just a little short explanation about this blog. I love to cook and bake...mostly bake :) and I have always LOVED trying new recipes. I have had numerous people ask me how I plan my meals and for the recipes and instead of e-mailing each person I decided to share them all on here with each of you. I usually plan my meals 3 weeks at a time, you may do more or less depending on what is easiest for you, but I find that 3 weeks is perfect for my family and I love that I don't have to go to the grocery store every single week with all of my kiddos. Each day I will be posting new recipes that I have experimented with as well as a 3 week menu every 3 weeks. Now I am not saying this method is the best method out there, but this is what works for me and helps to simplify my life so I hope you all enjoy and if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment and I will get back to you!