Powernap: Quick Recipes For When Time is Limited!

When I first began thinking about The Naptime Chef & Small Kitchen College Slow Cooker Challenge I knew I wanted to experiment with all kinds of dishes. I slow-cook stews and lasagnas all the time, but for this week I wanted to tackle a few less commonly slow cooked meals. Breakfast seemed like a good place to start so my first step was to remake my favorite Overnight French Toast casserole for the slow cooker.

It took me a few days to get back into the rhythm of the school year last week. I don’t know why, like most parents I was thrilled for school to resume, but the first few days were harried and off-kilter. We spent so much of Christmas vacation being sick and spending our days in jammies that getting up and at ’em first thing was a real jolt. When it came to meal time I kept it simple and stuck to some tried and true favorites like spaghetti and meatballs and carrot souffle. I also enjoyed experimenting with a few new, quicker recipes like this Stromboli.

It was well known that I am a chocolate chip cookie fanatic. Remember my Top 10 Chocolate Chip Cookies recipes? As evidenced by that list, I like them just about any way I can find them and am always looking for new ways to doctor them up. Since I came back from our recent trip to Florida with a fresh jar of malted milk powder I decided add some to a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. My goal was to achieve the classic soda ship flavor of a malted chocolate milkshake.

This year our friends are hosting a New Year’s Eve family potluck. The kids will be in the playroom with pizza and the adults will be in the dining room with a decadent spread. I have committed to bringing two desserts (you’ll read about those soon!) and a signature cocktail. We are all bringing different kinds of cocktails so the bar will be like it’s own potluck too. (And, yes, we have designated drivers!)

It is holiday crunch time and last weekend I test drove a few last minute recipes to make sure I’m all set for Christmas morning. I know we’ll be totally nuts that day and I’ll have about five seconds in the kitchen before my daughter descends on the tree. In the less-than-one-minute I’ll be allotted that morning I plan to shove my Overnight French Toast in the oven and prepare the batter for these awesome muffins.

Last week I was sent a sample pack of delicious limited edition Organic Muir Glen tomatoes. I LOVE these tomatoes and use them for all sorts of things when they are in season. In this case I decided to test drive a few soup recipes to find a great option for our holiday meal. With all the great tomatoes at my fingertips I knew it would be hard to go wrong!

To wrap home homemade gift week I am talking about the two ultimate Powernap (quick and easy!) recipes for the holiday season: homemade vanilla extract and vanilla sugar. Both of these require nothing more than filling containers with one ingredients and sticking in vanilla beans. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not! Once I discovered just how easy it was to make my own vanilla extract I never went back to buying the jarred stuff again. I use it all the time in baking and I can guarantee your friends and fellow bakers will love receiving it as a gift.

I just couldn’t do a whole week of cookies without mentioning these favorites. They might actually be the most ubiquitous holiday cookie of all time (or are did they originate as Mexican wedding cookies, or tea cakes in Russia?) and I do not know of one person who doesn’t like them. My Mom’s recipe has always called for pecans so that is what I use in ours. Like a true Powernap recipe, these cookies are an absolute cinch to make. The dough calls for four ingredients assembled in one bowl. Then they are rolled up and baked before be covered with a light dusting of sugar.

Last week I bought my first fresh cranberries of the season. They were floating loose in a container of water at the grocery store and I quickly scooped up a a few cupfuls to bring home. Though I often make cranberry sauce and cranberry cakes this time of year, this time I wanted to make something sweet that my daughter would love, but with a healthier slant, so I turned to these muffins. Today I am excited to be sharing the recipe with the Macy’s mblog and they have generously donated a gorgeous Red Martha’s Stewart Ceramic Covered Casserole Dish for me to giveaway to one lucky person!

It is nearly impossible to recommend a particular dessert for Thanksgiving because there are so many! Where we happen to be going there are also a ton of awesome bakeries so it is mostly likely we’ll just order something amazing from one of them. My mother-in-law doesn’t stock a ton of baking supplies and I don’t want to buy a huge bag of flour only to use to cups and ask her to store it for a year. The good news for all of you is that we I have a ton of great desserts that have already been written about that I can highly recommend!

I am not really much of a heavy cocktail person. If and when I drink it is usually a glass of wine with dinner. However, when it comes to throwing parties I make an exception. I think a signature cocktail can be a fun way to set the mood for a party or celebration. Last New Year’s I was all about Filthy Fizz and in the summer I am happy to spike the lemonade. For this occasion I was thinking about a friend’s upcoming birthday and wanted to make something smooth and silky with just the right amount of sparkle to fit the mood.

With my daughter at school and pumpkin in the air it seemed only too appropriate to experiment with a recipe for homemade pumpkin granola. I love making homemade granola, but I couldn’t just throw pumpkin puree in my regular recipe because the puree adds so much moisture. Instead, I based this recipe on my regular one but added in some more sweetener and spices and increased the baking time. This quick powernap recipe took just minutes to mix up and get in the oven. I know I could even getting baking early in the morning if we ever needed it for breakfast right that second!