Best. Christmas. Tradition. Ever.

Besides seeing all my family within two days, my favorite holiday tradition is Cookie Day with my cousin/sister Natalie. This year we decided to tackle 12 recipes, for the 12 days of Christmas. On the list:

1. Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
2. Sugar Cookies
3. Gingerbread
4. Thin Mints
5. Lemon Bars
6. Truffles
7. Pumpkin Chip
8. Fudge
9. Oreo Truffles
10. Chocolate Truffles
11. Raspberry Kolackys
12. Peanut Butter Mocha Cookies

This is what my house looked like before:

During:

Not Pictured: when I set a kitchen towel on fire.

After (Before you see this picture I want to very clearly state that Nat and I are incredibly grateful):

There is no doubt I have the world's best husband!

Destroying My Kitchen

Cooking is a HUGE stress reliever for me. Consequently I do a LOT of it. This week was no exception. I made prune cake, zucchini bread and 16 trays of cinnamon rolls. I'm usually not a baker, but this week seems to have changed that. Next week I'll probably make friend chicken and maybe Joe's dad's pork chops.

As one can imagine, spending this amount of time in the kitchen is bad if you like your pots, pans and bowls clean. So, Joe and I now call my cooking/baking marathons "destroying the kitchen." I believe my next big destroying will come when my cousin and I bake our Christmas cookies. And I can not wait!

Graf Family Traditions

One of my favorite parts of starting a new family with Joe is the holiday traditions we borrow from each other's families and the ones we create on our own. Here are some of our traditions:

Super Bowl- This is our big hosting event of the year. We invite all of our friends over to watch the big game and I spend the day cooking lots of yummy treats.

St. Patrick's Day- Every year I make crock pot Corned Beef and Cabbage and Irish Soda Bread. Last year we shared the meal with a couple of friends. Seeing as there is always an abundance of food, I would like to continue sharing that meal with friends or family. Also, last year all four of us learned the joy of Potato Leek soup.

Easter- In an attempt to fairly split our time between families, we have decided to spend each Easter in Wisconsin with my Mom's family. We don't always get to see everyone we want to, but we try our best.

Memorial Day- My Opa, German for Grandpa, was a World War II vet. Every year my mom, and me if I'm lucky, go to his army reunion. Every Memorial Day, we all go up to the cemetery where he is at for a beautiful service hosted by the cemetery.

Fourth of July- My brother usually hosts a BBQ on the Fourth. So we go over and hang with him and his friends.

Birthdays Day-This is a new tradition my mother and I have started this year. Seeing as all our birthdays are within four months, and we have five people, all with very unique schedules, we have decided to do one big celebration! Our first one is next Sunday.

Election Day: One thing my Dad always felt very strong about was voting. He has voted in every election since I can remember and has instilled the same passion into me. So no matter how cruddy I feel, I make it out the the  polls and cast my vote every year. For the last presidential election I had a Returns Viewing Party for my fellow political buffs. I hope to do the same again next year.

Thanksgiving- This holiday we spend with Joe's side of the family. Often we meet with his mother's family and we have a nice dinner with them and then go to his Grandpa's house for desserts.

Anniversaries (yes, plural)- Our dating and wedding anniversaries are two days apart. Since there is a significant amount of time between the years (6 years!) we like to have a big celebration for both. We aren't really big on Sweetest or Valentine's Day, so we make this our big date night or weekend getaway of the year.

Sunday after Thanksgiving-This is the day I am usually able to convince Joe its time to get our Christmas tree. Since our first Christmas together we have been getting real trees...a first for me! If I ignore the needles on my floor, its definitely a tradition I love adopting! And, if I'm real lucky, I can even get Joe to bring up all the Christmas decorations from our storage unit! When we decorate we have adopted the German tradition of hiding a pickle ornament in our tree. Traditionally, when a child finds it they get a piece of candy. Since we are childless, one of us usually just hides it from the other.

St. Nicholas Day-This is a tradition we are taking from my parent's. During the night of December 5th and 6th St. Nick comes and fills our stockings. Even the kitties have one!
Baking Day- This is one of my favorite traditions! My lil sis/cousin comes over and we destroy my kitchen making baked goods for friends and family! Its an all day event with lots of delicious out comes!

Christmas Eve- Usually we both work Christmas Eve, but as I am without a job, I will have the day to get ready for our nighttime festivities. On Christmas Eve we drive up to Wisconsin and spend the night going to church with my Mom's side of the family.
Christmas Day- Christmas Day is a busy one for us. Usually in the morning/early afternoon we head out to Joe's mom's house and spend some time with his side of the family. Then in the late afternoon/evening we go to my aunt's house and celebrate with my dad's side of the family. THEN, my parents and brother come to our place for dessert and a family Christmas.

New Year's Eve- Every New Year's Eve our dear friends host a party, so we always spend the night with them, eating, playing games and welcoming the New Year.

Those are our current traditions, I am sure we will be developing more as the years go on.

Julie and Julia vs Meg and Ree Part 2

So here I am thinking I have made a huge dent in my Meg and Ree challenge. I've been making a few things each week. Including the Creamy Rosemary Potatoes that are responsible for my sliced finger. Apparently you are supposed to be careful when you use mandolines. Unless of course you want your finger to match mine...but I promise you that you don't. Its not pretty, takes too long to heal and will never look the same again, its just not worth the trouble to be my finger twin. Anyway, back to the challenge. I'm only 26% of the way through the cookbook. But I suppose to be fair, there are things I have made more then once. I also suppose I will consider myself a success if I finish before the next cookbook comes out in the Spring. Also, before ya'll jump to the conclusion about me using all that butter, I want it noted that I am working hard on my weight loss goals. I even appear to be making some headway! Consequently, I am allowed to have butter a few times a week. I've decided.

Dorothy's Zucchini Bread

One of my old coworkers from my Sisters of St. Joseph days makes this AMAZING Zucchini Bread. I begged her for the recipe! Its absolutely delicious (and if you shred all your summer zucchini at once you can freeze it in 2cup portions to use all year.) Anyway, here it is so you can try it!

Zucchini Bread

3 Eggs
1 cup of oil
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 8.25oz can of crushed pineapple
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
optional: 1 cup dates/nuts
2 cups shredded zucchini

1. Beat eggs, mix in oil, sugar and vanilla until thick
2. Stir in remaining ingredients, stirring well.
3. Add zucchini and its juices
4. poor into a mini loaf pan and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or poor into 2 loaf pans and bake for an hour

Pumpkin Chip Cookies

I know its the beginning of August and the last thing you want to think about are fall holidays. But these cookies are too amazing to only have once or twice a year. They are a huge hit with my friends and even their kids! Thank you Taste of Home for this delicious recipe!

Pumpkin Chip Cookies

Make them today! I did!

Note: I double freezer bag half the dough and freeze it for future use since it makes so many cookies.