Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, we have officially entered cookie baking season. Last year was a rough one for me, and I remember sitting at the kitchen counter crying my eyes out because the thought of baking one holiday cookie just added more to my plate that was already overflowing. Cookie baking is something that I have always loved to do, and for as long as I can remember, I even spend my entire birthday on the 23rd making cookie boxes for friends and family. It's the gift that they all want and ask for every year, and the thought of letting everyone down weighed heavily on my heart. My husband ended up convincing me not to give up the beloved tradition, but suggested that maybe I cut down on the amount I normally bake and scrap the recipes that take a lot of time to make. At first I felt like Scrooge, but in the end I felt a sense of relief at still being able to scrape enough yummy cookies together to fill the boxes, and knowing that I still had some time left over to decompress and enjoy the holidays as well. This year I decided to keep that same energy and just stick with recipes that yield a lot of cookies per batch so I am not spending the majority of the Christmas season in the kitchen, but rather enjoying everything else fun that comes with the holidays. I nixed my sugar cookies because those always take the longest, and decided to replace them with Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies instead. This Golden Blossom Honey recipe seems like a Godsend, netting 3 dozen cookies per batch, so you can knock out a whole lot of space in those boxes without spending a whole lot of time in the kitchen.

 

What I love most about these cookies is that they have an air of being fancy, but the reality is that you should probably have all of the ingredients already on hand since they are all pantry staples. At least in our house they are. And this recipe proves that even with basic ingredients, you can still mix up one posh cookie, perfect for holiday gift giving without over the top or expensive ingredients. While I am a huge fan of the classic oatmeal raisin cookie, using dried cranberries in place of raisins just makes it that much more elegant and festive for the holiday season. Even if you aren't making cookies for other's this year, it's a delightful recipe to whip up for yourself. For my trial run barch, I paired mine with some berry flavored green tea, which made for the perfect Hallmark Christmas movie watching snack. Which now makes me wonder if these cookies are better to give or receive? The only logical solution would be to give a few away, but make sure you keep some for yourself because you deserve to treat yourself at the holidays, too! 

Ingredients

3/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

1 egg

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups quick cooking oats (not instant)

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup walnuts chopped, optional

Frosting:

1 cup powdered confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon orange juice

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

How many different varieties of cookies do you bake during the holidays?

Sundried Tomatoes & Goat Cheese Appetizer

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

 

I've been watching the Martha Stewart documentary on Netflix this week and have been reflecting a lot on how unknowingly she did shape my life a little bit. I used to subscribe to her Living magazine and would pour through the colorful and glossy pages, admiring her dinner party spreads, decorations, and gardening skills. Her approach was teaching women of all different financial backgrounds how to make "perfect" things that didn't cost a fortune. But honestly, I don't know what her idea of not costing a fortune meant, because as a young family in the early 2000's, we sure couldn't afford to make much of what she was publishing. But I still did enjoy flipping through the pages each month dreaming about the days I would be able to host perfect parties too. Then when Martha was out, along came Pinterest to pick up where she left off, shoving elegant recipes and crafts and home decor in our faces. I admit that I fell for the trap of hostess with the mostess, and it took me some time to realize that perfection is so overrated. 2 income houses are struggling to stay afloat, we're overloaded with work and home obligations, and frankly, just plain physically and financially tapped out. I think that social media is adding to the stress of our lives, making us feel less than if we aren't hosting Pinterest worthy gatherings. And after scrolling through TikTok last week, I actually started feeling sad for these "influencers" trying to keep up with the facade of living a perfect life. Why are we doing this to ourselves? As I was preparing this week's Golden Blossom Honey share for you all, it made me realize why I've stuck with the company for so long. Almost every recipe on their website truly is budget friendly, or can be altered a little and still taste good while looking elegant without breaking the bank. For example, their Sundried Tomatoes & Goat Cheese Appetizer recipe. 

 

 

This appetizer is easy on the budget and easy on time, both of which I seem to be in short supply of these days, and more than likely you are too. For cost, I bought most of the ingredients at our local Aldi, so the entire recipe ran right around $12. As for time, the dip came together in under 10 minutes. I know that some of my readers aren't big goat cheese fans, so I'll suggest swapping that out for another soft cheese such as brie or mozzarella, but I even think cream cheese could work here as well and everything would come together as Martha would say, "Perfectly." I used our spread on some lightly toasted French bread slices, but you could use it as a veggie or cracker dip too. Whether you're hosting or need a quick dish to bring as a guest offering, you can't go wrong here.

Ingredients

10 sundried tomatoes in oil, chopped, plus 1 teaspoon oil from jar

1/8 pound Kalamata olives, pitted

1 package (5.3 oz.) goat cheese

1 teaspoon RAW GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

What is your favorite party dip?

Guilt-Free Pumpkin Pie

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

I think that Thanksgiving has always been one of my least favorite holidays because it's usually a time we start eating from the minute we wake up until the carb crash hits us like a ton of bricks. It's so easy to sit around and snack on the appetizers, fill our plates with the main course, head back for seconds, then round it all off with a sample platter of desserts. But just because it's the holiday season, it doesn't mean that we absolutely must throw caution to the wind and abandon our healthy eating habits. This past year I have been reevaluating my own eating habits and found that I was a perpetual plate clearer, finishing every bite even if I was beyond full. It took me some time to unlearn that habit, reminding myself that just because it's there, that doesn't mean that I have to eat it. And that I can still enjoy my favorite foods, because in this digital age it is so easy to find healthier substitutes to make those favorites a little healthier, like this Guilt-Free Pumpkin Pie recipe offered up by Golden Blossom Honey.

I've had this recipe saved for years because when I switched over to a vegetarian diet I thought that meant living off of tofu and greens. I quickly learned that I wasn't a fan of tofu and found many other things that I did like to keep the diet interesting. But this recipe still intrigued me enough to save it and maybe try it some day. That some day came earlier this week when I realized I had some cans of pumpkin that were nearing their expiration date and thought there was no better time to give it a whirl than the present. I will say that with the tofu replacing the evaporated milk from most other recipes, this was the least messy pumpkin pie that I've ever made. It blended, poured, and baked up so smooth and silky, I was pretty impressed with the final outcome. I was a little worried that the tofu would take away from the flavor of a normal pumpkin pie, but that definitely was not the case here at all! It tasted just as good as grandma used to make (and she wouldn't dream of ever using a hippy dippy ingredient like tofu in her recipes lol). So if you're looking to enjoy those classic holiday staples but do so in a guilt-free way, this pumpkin pie is a great recipe to start with this year! 

 

Ingredients

10 1/2 ounces firm tofu

3/4 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

2 egg whites

1 3/4 cups canned pumpkin

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

Are you a member of the clean plate club?

Cornish Game Hens With Fruit Chutney

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items. 

 

 

Every now and again I like to get on Pinterest and take a look at what what pins of mine are grabbing people's attention. A lot of my travel pins circulate year round, but then there are seasonal ones that start gaining popularity before the holidays hit. One of my most popular pins to date would be the Golden Blossom Honey Glazed Cornish Game Hens that I posted about in 2017, and I find it fascinating that 7 years later, it still gains even more steam as Thanksgiving approaches. Since the pandemic, I've seen a shift to smaller family gatherings and I don't know if it's because something fundamentally changed in our social behaviors since then, or because the cost of groceries has skyrocketed in recent years, hosting large dinners simply isn't in the budget anymore for most families, or because most of us are just burnt out, but I think more and more people are scaling back and opting for smaller holiday gatherings. And I think that's why smaller main dishes, like Cornish game hens over a big turkey, gain traction every year around Thanksgiving. So I thought I'd offer up a new recipe this year for those who may have already tried the first one from 2017. Golden Blossom Honey has several tempting Cornish game hen recipes on their site, but the Cornish Game Hens with Fruit Chutney spoke to me this year. 

These little hens are super easy to prepare and are perfect for a small holiday gathering. For me, the hardest part was separating the skin from the meat to spread the mixture, so I ended up using a meat injector to get the mixture under the skin which made the prep work that much quicker. The end result was a tender and juicy bird that is probably much better than turkey, which usually comes out of the oven dry no matter how hard you try to keep it moist. 

Ingredients

2 Cornish game hens

1/3 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

1/4 cup lime juice

1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary

1 apple, coarsely chopped

1 pear, coarsely chopped

2 kiwi fruits, peeled and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup cranberries

 CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

While meat usually is the star of any Thanksgiving meal, can we just talk about the fruit chutney for a second? The chutney was what sold me on picking this recipe over the others this week because I love a good fruit dish. I ended up buying double the fruit the recipe called for so I could make a heaping dish of the chutney for myself. I just drizzled a few tablespoons of honey over the fruit, then baked for the allotted time the recipe called for. The end result was sweet, sweet perfection! So I wanted to point out to the non meat eaters to not overlook some of Golden Blossom Honey's meat dishes because sometimes you'll find a part of the recipe that you can make your own like this fruit chutney here. 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

Have you noticed a shift towards smaller family gatherings over the last few years?

Roasted Root Vegetables

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

 

I don't know how November rolled around so quickly, but here we are at the starting line of the holiday season. Last year Jason and I didn't even participate in the family Thanksgiving meal. We decided to opt out of the gathering in favor of a low-key holiday and went to a Brazilian steakhouse instead. My grandparents always dined out on Thanksgiving in their older years, and now that I'm getting older, I'm starting to realize that they were onto something there. I don't think we're going to be let off the hook so easily this year since we plan on staying in Indiana for a change, so I've been gathering up some easy recipes so we can at least keep it as simple as possible. Thanksgiving for me is always about the side dishes. I love the salads, potatoes, beans, rolls and stuffing. But aside from my mom's marshmallow topped sweet potatoes (sorry mom, those are just gross), I love all of the other veggies that get put on the table. I love this time of the year because root vegetables fresh from the oven are my favorite. That's why when I saw this simple but delicious sounding Roasted Root Vegetable recipe on Golden Blossom Honey, I bookmarked it in case we will be attending the family gathering this year. 

 

Roasted root vegetables aren't a new concept, but what intrigued me about this recipe was the crumb topping. I don't normally put a breadcrumb topping on my veggies and was curious how it would turn out. I did stray from the recipe just a touch and used butter instead of olive oil for the crumb portion because I wanted a richer tasting topping, and will say that it did not disappoint. Turnips aren't something that I make often here, so I was glad to find a recipe to utilize them more. If you aren't a fan of root vegetables, you could easily swap out some of the veggies here for others and it would still come together quite well. The recipe was minimally challenging to toss together, and while roasting does take some time it wasn't necessarily fast, but the simplicity made it worthwhile and one to definitely add to the holiday menu.

 

Ingredients

5 carrots, peeled

4 medium white turnips, peeled

30 small white onions

8 whole garlic cloves, peeled

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon olive oil

 

 CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

 

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

What is your favorite root vegetable?

Baked Bean and Bacon Casserole

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

 

I know we haven't had Halloween yet, but I've already been thinking about Thanksgiving and trying to decide what the menu will consist of this year. It's never a surprise at my moms because she likes to keep things simple, consistent, and traditional. I, on the other hand, always try to change a few things up to keep the menu fresh and exciting. Of course I keep a few tried and true staples year after year, but sometimes I'll add a little twist to a classic dish to see how it goes. One thing that seems like it would be a sin to change is our family baked bean recipe, but I came across this Baked Bean and Bacon Casserole on Golden Blossom Honey and thought it might be a fun one to try this year instead. 

 

 

There are a few similarities to our family recipe, but I was intrigued not only by the 3 different types of beans in this dish, but also by the use of Canadian bacon instead of American bacon. The normal bacon that we use adds a bit of extra flavor because of the fat and grease that bakes out of it and into the beans, so I was curious how much flavor the ham would provide instead. I'll be honest and say that there were so many other flavors in this recipe that I didn't really notice any extra oomph from the Canadian bacon, but if you're looking at this from a healthy eating standpoint, Canadian bacon is leaner and has fewer calories than regular bacon, so in that respect it wins out. I personally don't eat pork, so I could leave this part of the recipe out and be content having this as a standalone meal. It's makes for a filling and healthy one pot dinner idea or for a simple holiday side dish. If you're in the early planning stages of your holiday meals right now, earmark this recipe to shake things up a bit on your table this year, too. 

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped

1 large green bell pepper, chopped

2 Tablespoons water

6 ounces Canadian bacon, cut into bite-size pieces

2 (15 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained

2 (15 ounce) cans Northern white beans, drained

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained

3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

1 cup hickory-flavored barbecue sauce

1 teaspoon dry mustard

3 Tablespoons cider vinegar

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

What traditional recipe do you always have on your holiday menu year after year?