The Naptime Chef

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I wasn’t around here much because I unplugged a little bit. I spent most of the two weeks focusing on finishing up the manuscript for the next book and I finally handed it in (!!!!) It was just the first draft. But that draft took me nearly a year to write and I am so excited that the ball is really rolling. That said, my New Year’s resolution is to get back on my game here with social media! Between the book, the baby, and the move I haven’t been as present as I like to me and this year that will change. Let’s get started:

I’ll be back full-time on January 6th, but today I am stopping in with a little holiday treat fun. I know Christmas cookie season has past, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up on the sweets entirely. In fact, not at all! New Year’s Eve is around the corner so why not think about a few luscious goodies you can make to share with friends.

These chewy sandwich cookies were a recent baking project of mine. We were invited to go to a friend’s house and I decided to make these using some leftover Gevalia coffee we had in the coffee maker. I had already made the cookies so all I had to do was whip up some soft coffee-flavored buttercream and sandwich it between them.The coffee filling made this otherwise regular chewy chocolate sugar cookies taste like the most insanely good mocha dessert. We loved how the soft coffee filling almost tasted like an afternoon sip of cappuccino!

As we round out the week before Christmas I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things from around the web. I’ll be back next week with a few of my favorite last-minute holiday food ideas. Until then, here are so great reads (and eats!) that are making my mouth water!

Check out Marisa’s Pomander Spiced Jam

I LOVE Phoebe’s article in Marie Claire and her recipe for pork stew.

Our recent ice storm was nuts! Thankfully I stayed safe and sound inside and worked on my homemade gifts. Check out some great ideas on The Kitchn if you need some!

Her gifts guides are always the best.

Three cheers for eggnog treats!

This is one of my favorite videos about hostess gifts – no cooking required!

When in doubt, this is always a favorite.

The 2013 Naptime Chef holiday gift guide for Mamas, Guys, Little Girls, Little Boys.

For my last food truck visit of 2013 my family and I swung by the pork-based Vanchetta. It was a sunny late fall afternoon and us hungry travelers were totally gunning for a heavy duty sandwich. I really have been thrilled to learn all about food trucks this year. In just a few years food trucks have become a food movement in and of themselves. They offer everything from coffee and donuts, to heavy duty french fries, to you name it! Every time I spot one now I run over to see what amazing delicacy the chef has mastered and is serving up. In the case of Vanchetta it is sandwiches. Hearty, meat-based sandwiches to be exact.

I hope you all are with me when I say this week is crazy with a capital “C”! Raise your hands if you have so much left to do before Christmas and seemingly no time to do it. (Me! Me!) It has been a great year but between the baby, move, and the next book, I’ve pretty much lost all of my free time. This Christmas I’ve parred down my baking ambitions in order to keep up with daily life. This means I’ve concentrated on a few cookies and desserts and we’re sticking with a great Christmas dinner menu of tried-and-trues. One of the few new recipes I’ve tried recently are these eggnog oatmeal cookies. They are rich and spicy but still chewy like the classic oatmeal cookie everyone loves.

To cap off my year of exploring flavor trends with Sargento I am writing about my latest favorite winter dish involving mushrooms: Slow-Cooker Mushroom Bolognese. I’ve been eating mushrooms for nearly every season and this month I wanted to try them in a heavier dish. I also wanted to make this to prove that mushrooms can indeed withstand the slow-cooker and be the basis of a hearty winter meal. I made this on a particularly blustery evening which made it even that more special. It was a great cozy meal for one of the first chilly weeks of winter.

When it comes to the holiday meal I find that I usually keep our main course the same, either a ham or turkey, but I love to play with the side dishes. There are a few things I keep tried and true, like creamed onions for Dad, but there is a lot of room for experimentation. Lately I’ve been making a lot of bread puddings and will be incorporating it into our meal this year.