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Christmas Cookies!

This year the Christmas cookies didn’t all get finished. Both in their decorating (I missed icing on one) and from the tins. Once again, I made cookies for Hubby’s staff at work. And well, this may be the last year for that.

Hubby has 46 employees, at his previous job he had 11. Every Christmas for ten years Hubby would buy boxes of Chocolate for the staff, write them all a card and everyone appreciated it. At least, if they didn’t they never said a word. Which of course it what you would expect when your boss does a little something for you.

The first year at his current job, we pulled together boxes of cookies mostly in one night, when we realized the boxes were huge and would hold way more cookies than we had on hand. While Hubby ran to the store for chocolates and stuff, I baked and baked and baked. By midnight they were ready and the staff was shocked. You see, they had never received anything for Christmas before, so it was a surprise. Last year, we were better prepared and the boxes came together rather quickly with little fuss. I even got a call from one of the staff who wanted to say thanks.

This year. We had to get new boxes, and they were a little smaller. They got the same amount of cookies, just not as much filler. Hubby has had a bit of trouble with some staff lately, nothing big, just small stuff, but stuff that made him wonder if he should give out the boxes. But, since I had a freezer full of cookies and had then baked them all off, I kinda wanted to sway him just a little, if for nothing else my waistline didn’t need a thousand cookies hanging around. He decided to go with it. So we packed them up and away they went. He received a couple of thank you’s and a few, ‘Wow, we didn’t think you would do this this year, with all the stuff going on’ but he also received a few not so nice comments. Stuff that only kids in high school would say. Stuff that any grown person would be embarased by if they actually stopped and listened to themselves. So after all that, we aren’t so sure if we will do it next year. And truthfully, it would be no sweat off my back to not have to make an extra thousand cookies at the busiest time of year. We will just have to wait and see, if the girls and boys play nice in the sandbox this year. If not, that will be the end of the cookie box tradition.

*note: none of the brown sugar fudge made it to the boxes (yes, totally my fault) and there were other cookies, I just can’t find the photos of the rest…

5 comments
Categories: Christmas, Pay it Forward, Recipes

Let the Baking Begin.

As I have done for the last two years, I am going to bake again for Hubby’s staff.  I even searched for last years post, but I just can’t find it. I know I wrote one because I remember some of the comments.  Alas, if I keep searching I won’t get this one written either.

For the last two years I filled boxes full of cookies, and when I mean full, I mean full.  I bought 4x4x4 (inches) boxes the first Christmas and thought 400 cookies would be plenty to fill them.  Ten a piece for the staff, no problem.  Then the night came to fill the boxes.  Well, ten cookies looked like ten crumbs the boxes were so big.  So while I started baking another 400 cookies, Hubby went to the bulk store and picked up chocolate balls and sesame snaps to help fill the boxes.  Thankfully we started early and got them finished in time.  And the staff loved them, which I truthfully would never know the difference, but I do know that they were so surprised that Hubby even thought of his staff.  (It was his first year there and in the past we would buy a box of Chocolates for each of his staff, but back then he only had eleven staff members, not 44.)

 

 Last year, I was prepared.  I made a thousand cookies, bought sesame snaps and an ornament for each box.  Some of the staff called to Thank me, I was touched.

 

This year, I have started baking, in between other stuff and have about 300 cookies on hand in the freezer, ready for baking.  I also had to purchase more boxes this year, so I opted for the 3x3x3 (inches) size box which is considerably smaller, but I will be able to get away with ten cookies each and some sesame snaps.  I hope to tie them with some twine and an ornament again (we bought a big box of ornaments for very little money and so it was festive to put them in the boxes). And hopefully this will be the start of less cookies is more.

My waistline is almost (and I mean I am on my last 5lbs) as small as it was when I first got pregnant with J, so I don’t want to ruin it all by baking as much as I did last year.  Because when baking for others one must always sample the wares, just in case.  Actual cookie photos to come when baked, promise.

7 comments
Categories: Christmas, Holidays, Recipes

Menu Planning 101

For a long time, I planned out our meals, made a grocery list and stuck to it.  I never had to sit and think and think and think about what to make.  Then one day I stopped.  I don’t know why, I just stopped.  We started eating out more, I made the same boring thing every week.  And our grocery bill was skyrocketing.  This is what got me the most.  How on earth did we buy more groceries with nothing planned and use them all?

Well this had to stop.  With a little inspiration from Kim over at Beanish and other Languages I’m Learning, I started to plan out menus again.  It was working well, I would stick to five out of the seven days.  So, I decided to try something funky.  I made a plan for two weeks.  Yes, two whole weeks.  I got the groceries for two weeks then, sat back and relaxed.  We didn’t stick to the plan for every single day, but I didn’t have to worry about what to make, I just looked up at the list and away I went.

Wee are on the second week of two week planning and our grocery bill was lower, again.  Yes, I forgot to mention buying planned groceries for two weeks actually worked out cheaper than the weekly purchases.  And in the second week we only had to make a milk and bread run.  Amazing.

For the fun of it all, I want to share our two week menu with you for the next two weeks.  Just in case it inspires you to try a new recipe or just plan it out.

Thursday – Spaghetti Bolognese

Friday – Dinner out, Mom is cooking (that is Grandma, actually)

Saturday – Calzones – recipe from Kraft.ca

Sunday – Bruchetta Chicken – recipe from Kraft.ca

Monday – Beef Stroganoff – a recipe I adapted from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook

Tuesday – Peppery Maple Chicken – recipe from Chatelaine Magazine

Wednesday  – Soy and Orange Pork – Chatelaine again

Thursday – Creamy Chicken Skillet – hey it’s another Kraft.ca recipe

Friday – Crock Pot Roast – just a good ole roast in the Crock Pot

Saturday – Lazy Man’s Lasagna – From The Big Cook

Sunday  – Peirogies and Sausages

Monday – Beef Stew

Tuesday – Curry Chicken  – adapted from my Mom’s recipe

Wednesday – Marla Maple Pork Tenderloin – Looney Spoons 

Happy Cooking!

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Categories: Recipes