Category: Holidays

Happy New Year’s. I love New Year’s. Time to spend with family and honestly to evaluate how I’ve done in my life the past year and how I can be a better person in the new year. Some may say that resolutions just depress one’s self but I think this is a great time of year for self-reflection and pondering and to set reachable goals.

I love warm winter drinks. I love tea. I can drink hot herbal tea any time of the year. When fall starts, different drinks take priority. A few months ago I was in Alaska and the cooler temperatures were ahead of Utah. I enjoyed a good hot cup of cocoa and I knew the fall season would quickly be upon us. Upon returning to Utah, I knew that I wanted to blog about some of my favorite fall and holiday drinks. I find that I will fill my thermos when I am on the road or enjoy a mug curled up with a good book or a holiday movie with cocoa or steamer. These drinks have the perfect aroma that fills the house with the perfect holiday smells and creates the feeling of Christmas. This is a perfect week with the colder weather to enjoy these flavors.  All of these drinks can be created to be vegan.

Mincemeat is a word that we hear at Christmastime. What exactly is mincemeat? Mincemeat is a combination of apples, raisins, fruits, and citrus peel, blended with sugar and spices to make a delicious filling for baking. This filling is usually made into mincemeat pie, but tarts, shortbread, cookies, breads, and more are additional options to enjoy this delicious filling.

Gingerbread is a favorite for the holidays, whether it’s gingerbread cookies or cake. Ever wonder where it came from?

This post will be written by both of us Kitchen Kneads bloggers, Dawn and Allison, each answering some questions and sharing a recipe for gingerbread cookies and gingerbread cake. We hope you have fun reading! We definitely found the history surrounding gingerbread so much more fascinating than we thought it would be and we hope you do too!

After you’re done reading, we hope you’ll go have fun baking each variety and sharing it with your family this Christmas season.

After a whole month of a pie a day, wow, that’s a lot of pie. I am doing 2 last posts. One post will be my favorite pie and the other will be what I learned about pie making to share with you. A couple of weeks ago, I had a pie delivered to me. A chocolate banana cream pie covered in delicious home-made whipped cream. This pie was amazing. I found I could eat it for 3 meals a day if I let myself. I did share a piece with a neighbor but I learned something so valuable not just about banana chocolate cream pie but something much more. I have heard several times in life we “break bread together” and yes, a hot loaf of bread out of the oven is divine and smothered with honey, jam, or butter…yum! Pie, I have decided when shared is true friendship, caring, and love.