No Bake Holiday Cookies

For our families Christmas Eve celebration this year the hubby and I made No Bake Cookies. These are a little different than your typical chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies. These cookies are made with marshmallows, food coloring, and corn flakes. They are sweet and amazingly tasty. My only recommendation is to not eat all of them while making them. I normally like to try to make healthy versions, but these are a definite treat. I believe it's okay to have things like these every now and then as long as you pay attention to portion control. Having a cookie is not the end of the world, as long as you don't have 20 cookies in one sitting.

The ingredient list was pretty simple like these cookies. I used Special K Protein Flakes as my little way of saying that this recipe is totally healthy, right? Once I gathered all of my ingredients I placed my pot on the burner on medium-low heat. Start out by adding your 30 marshmallows and stick of butter to the pot and stir until melted. It probably took around 5-7 minutes of stirring until everything was fully melted. You want to make sure you keep stirring as it melts to create the right consistency. 

Once the marshmallows and butter had melted, I removed the pan from the heat and added the food coloring and vanilla. I added just enough to get to the right color for my "wreath" cookies. Once the coloring was right I slowly stirred in the corn flakes. I didn't end up using all the corn flakes the recipe called for. It's always important when making a recipe that you slowly add and adjust everything to fit your needs and make everything exactly how you want.

Once everything was completely mixed together I dropped them onto a non-stick pan 1 tablespoon at a time. I then flattened each one a little to make them look rounder before adding the candies. I chose round chocolate Sixlet candies since they looked so much like the berries you see on Christmas wreaths.

No Bake Holiday Cookies

Prep Time: 15 min

Chill Time: 30 min

Makes: 20-24 cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter
• 30 large Marshmallows (a 10-ounce bag contains 35-40)
• 1 to 1-1/2 tsp Green Food Color
• 1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3 cups Cornflake Cereal
• Red Chocolate Candies, for decorating

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring constantly.
2. When melted, remove from heat and stir in food color and vanilla. Add more food coloring if desired. Stir in cornflakes. 
3. Drop mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, onto wax paper. Decorate with Candies.
4. Place in fridge to cool for 30 minutes.

Enjoy your cookies! These would be great altered in color to match brown Easter baskets with little eggs or red Valentines hearts. 

Garlic Parmesan Zucchini and Tomato Bake

Source

This year for Christmas I'm determined to go the "healthier" route for whatever I bring to the parties. Normally I would just make some cookies or drinks or casseroles. This year I'm doing my part in making the meal not just full of heavy foods that make you feel crappy afterwards. For my Christmas Celebration #1 with my family I am making a Garlic Parmesan Zucchini and Tomato Bake. I thought this would be a good addition because it's super easy to make and doesn't require a lot of ingredients. I know I personally don't have time to make super complicated dishes that take awhile to make while I'm wrapping presents, working out, getting ready, and visiting multiple families. 

All you need for this recipe is some fresh vegetables, garlic, parmesan, and a few spices most everyone has in their kitchen. The only thing I actually had to buy for this recipe was the zucchinis, squash, and tomatoes. Everything else I already had in my kitchen. After I gathered all my ingredients I got to work chopping everything. I used my favorite Joseph Knives. Today I needed the purple serrated knife for the tomatoes, and the green knife for chopping the zucchini and squash. 

Once everything was chopped I placed it all in a bowl and mixed in all the dry ingredients. I love all the beautiful colors in this recipe. Lately I've been obsessed with Eating in Color. This book truly motivates me to eat healthy and it's a great way to find recipes where I can get my servings of vegetables in. 

The original recipe I followed called for 1/3 cup of parsley or basil. I had basil on hand so I used that. All I have to say is HOLY BASIL BATMAN! The dish tasted like straight up basil with a few vegetables thrown in. I will be remaking this recipe in the near future for a side dish for dinner and I will be using only 1-2 tablespoons of basil. I'm 99% sure it would taste best with 1 tablespoon of basil and a little olive oil. Or even try making it stove top with a little olive oil to saute the vegetables. Try it out and let me know what you think!!

Garlic Parmesan Zucchini and Tomato Bake

Serves: 5

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25-35 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 large or 2.5 lbs Zucchini, cut into quarters
• 10 oz grape tomatoes, cut in halves or 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 7 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 cup Reduced Fat Parmesan Cheese
• 1 tsp basil/thyme/oregano, dried
• 1/2 tsp ground black peper
• 1 tbsp parley/basil, finely chopped
• Cooking Spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8X8 baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients, except parsley/basil, and stir to combine.
3. Transfer to a prepared baking dish and bake uncovered for 25 minutes, then check for doneness. Add 10 minutes if you like well cooked vegetables. Remove from the oven, garnish with basil or parsley and serve hot/warm.