Thanksgiving tends to be all about the food!  And by food, I mean the major stuff, side dishes and turkey, The Dinner.  Sometimes appetizers might make an appearance but it’s all about the big stuff.  This Thanksgiving was a bit different for us and you can read about what I learned this year here.

Christmas and the other “winter” holidays tend to be about the baked goods and candy.  Yes we all still have big special dinners but that is not the big focus.  It’s the sweets!  There are cookie swaps and gift baskets given out to friends and family.  People bake for days or weeks during the holidays.  I sure did.  I made a bunch of stuff this year! And some of it stayed put because I ended up not wanting to share!

This year, I took this baking season by the horns and challenged it…

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I have come across a snack mix that is typically referred to as Puppy Chow.  It is a snack mix that is covered with tons of powdered sugar and is typically seen during the holiday season.  Has it made an appearance near you?

I have never eaten this snack mix before.  First of all it’s covered in powdered sugar which means it’s gonna be major sweet.  And secondly, it’s called Puppy Chow for frack’s sake.  I’m not eating that.  At the risk of sounding totally snotty, I don’t even feed my dog kibble, you think I’m gonna touch something that is named after some crappy dog food?

Fat chance.

I don’t know what prompted me to look into this snack mix a bit further but I did and realized that it’s pretty easy to make.

I decided to come up with my…

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Hi guys!  Last month I posted about OHC’s Holiday Card Exchange to see if there was any interest and I’m pleased to say that there was!  Hooray!  However I think there was some miscommunication on my part in that I didn’t make clear how the exchange would work.

I originally was just considering this an exchange between you and me.  I was not going to share your address with anyone else.  I am willing to change tactics though!  If you would like to do an exchange with everyone who signed up, we can do that!  Just let me know! I will then send out a master email with everyone’s name, blog, and address.  This way you will be able to send cards to everyone.

If you want to share your address, that’s cool!  And if you don’t and just want to exchange with me, that’s cool too!  Just shoot me an email letting me know your preference.  Then I will…

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This Thanksgiving was a bit different for our household this year.  We’ve been eating clean for over a year now and have been reaping the benefits.  Our eating habits aren’t even close to being the same as they were last year at this time.  We eat way more produce and a lot less meat than we did a year ago.  I’m a lot more consciousness about ingredients and what exactly goes into a dish.  I’m also a lot more aware of where my food comes from and what I choose to put on my table.

This year my focus was on making all of our favorite things yet keeping things healthy at the same time.  Is it possible to live through the holidays eating fabulous food that not only feel like indulgences but are also healthy for you?  I was going to try and find out.

What I learned…

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It’s November gang and that means that Thanksgiving is just around the corner!  Last year, OHC brought you Thanksgiving related Tuesday Tips all the way up till the week of Thanksgiving.  It was so fun that I think we should do it again!  Last year we discussed the benefits of brining your bird and if you are still not on the brining bandwagon, what are you waiting for?!  Get it!

Today’s tip is also about brining because there’s always more to learn!

The basic base for a brine is water right?  But brining liquid doesn’t have to be just water based, oh no friends, you can use anything.  A list of things I’ve used in brining include:

• Wine
• Beer (hellz yeah!)
• Apple Cider
• Unsweetened cranberry juice

All that sounds pretty tasty right?  And it totally is!  A brine consists of:

• Liquid
• Salt
• Sugar
• Seasonings and miscellaneous veggies

Some people don’t use sugar when they brine but that’s not a practice I subscribe to, so for the purposes of this post, we will…

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Hi guys! I’m sure you all might think I’m crazy for bringing this up now, but for those that have been with me for awhile, you know I’m big on getting shiz organized.   Planning and organization are my middle names, so it really should be no surprise that I’m already in the prepping stages.

I was wondering if any of my fellow pretties would be interested in doing a little holiday card exchange?  Wouldn’t that be fun, getting holiday cards from all our favorite bloggies?  And even if you don’t have a blog, you are still free to join in the fun!

If you are interested in exchanging holiday cards, email me at Andrea AT Offhercork.com with the subject line, Holiday Card Exchange. Include:

• Your name
• Blog if you have one
• The address of where the card is going

The signup deadline is Monday, November 30th at 10pm EST.  I will count all the names and…

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When I was a kid growing up, I looked forward to Easter!  Actually a little more than I did Christmas, if we’re going to be truthful.  It wasn’t because of the candy because candy was and still is, just okay to me.  Not something I flip over usually.  It was because I had to search for my Easter basket.  My mom would turn it into a treasure hunt.  There would be little notes all over the house filled with clues and I would wander around searching for my basket.

There was always a bunny in my basket.  Now I got two bunnies, a chocolate one and a peanut butter one.  Oh yes, a peanut butter bunny.  For someone who loves peanut butter, those bunnies were tops.  And I loved them more than the chocolate bunnies.  Ever since I’ve been out on my own, I have looked for peanut butter bunnies and have come up empty.

What?!

Almost as if this was some sort…

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I am a lover of cheese, but I’m not a lover of all cheese. Blue cheese or anything that has a mold as an ingredient is not something I really want to eat. Stinky cheeses and sheep’s milk cheese are also not cheeses I care for much.

This may surprise you, but brie is also not a cheese I care for too much. I know people love it but for me, brie basically tastes like what an old musty basement would taste like if you could spread it on a cracker and serve it during cocktail hour.

However I can appreciate the creamy perfection of this cheese and how when melted, it envelops everything it touches. I have discovered that I like and enjoy brie when something sweet is accompanying it.

Because brie is a cheese that almost everyone else on the planet loves and it shows up often during the holidays, I wanted to create a recipe that…

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Still plowing your way through leftovers? This is one of my very favorite leftover recipes. I look forward to this all year long! I started doing this a few years back with leftover stuffing and have made it every year since. It’s so easy and so yummy! Perfect if you are hosting guests at your house and they are threatening bodily harm if you feed them another leftover. Disguise it!

Andrea’s Stuffing Frittata

• 1 C overloaded with stuffing
• 1 C of leftover chopped turkey
• 4 eggs
• 1 TBSP of olive oil
• Shredded Cheddar for topping

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sized skillet, drizzle in the olive oil and heat over medium heat. Then add in the turkey and stuffing. Whisk the four eggs and pour that mixture over the turkey and stuffing. Making sure the egg mixture covers the whole thing. Turn off heat and plop in the oven for about 5 minutes…

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Hi guys!  I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving full of yummy food, laughs, and naps!  Over at OHC HQ we had a beautiful day, the skies were clear with a very mild temperature outside.  Perfect for an afternoon stroll to help digest the big meal.

Here we are the day after and while some of you may be shopping and scoring deals, others of you may be wondering how to handle all those leftovers in your fridge.  My suggestion is to turn them into something else!

For example, if you have leftover mashed potatoes and the last thing you want is another scoop of them, try my little Potato Puff recipe!

This is a recipe you can play around with and discover new combinations!  Possible mix-in ideas can include:

• Leftover greenbean casserole
• Leftover corn or corn pudding
• Turkey and cranberry sauce
• Corn and stuffing

Or you can even make a sweet potato puff!  Don’t get in a leftover rut, use your imagination and get…

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