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Yay! I finally received my copies of the January spread I did for Highlights Magazine! Love love LOVE how the colors came out on this one.

I hope you guys get to pick up a copy! 

So for those that don’t know yet, we’re expecting our first baby!! Yipee!!! I’m nearing my final trimester, there are two books in the pipeline with very tight back to back deadlines so I’m trying my best to beat the 3rd trimester fatigue and getting as much done as I can while I CAN!

I’ve been so wrapped up with work lately it’s been challenging to find the time to indulge in any holiday fun. But this weekend I put my foot on the breaks and was finally able to let myself indulge in some seasonal goodies. It was a nice and much needed break!

All the while I was working over the weekend on sketches for them, I received this little fun card from the team at ABDO. Thanks ABDO!

We finally found time to actually buy a tree (his name is “Monty”) and make some christmas cookies for the postman and a few of our dearest and nearest…I wrapped them fast this year, or else they’d all end up in my belly..hee hee. I tell yah, there’s nothing like taking in some holiday music and the smell of cookies and pine to get you caught right up in all this season cheer!!

Happy Holidays!!

For me, Christmas is all about traditions. One of our favorite ones is baking cookies. Yesterday was baking day. Earlier in the week I got out the recipes, checked what ingredients I had on hand, and Friday we went shopping for the things still needed. Saturday morning, we got right to work. It was quite the festive day as we listened to Christmas music and made five different varieties of cookies: peanut butter blossoms, chocolate mint Kiss cookies, homemade poptarts, chocolate peppermint crunch, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I did sample a couple as they came out of the oven, but for the most part, we managed to wait and indulge for dessert after dinner.

Here's a peek at what we did.

Ingredients.

By; Laurel Hudson, culinary instructor at Wellspring Academies (http://www.wellspringacademies.com/)

Peppermint Meringue Crisps
Yield: 18 cookies

Ingredients:
· Juice of 1 lemon
· 2 egg whites
· Pinch salt
· ¼ tsp cream of tartar
· ½ cup Splenda, granular
· 1 sugar free candy cane
· ½ tsp vanilla extract
· 2 tbsp sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 F.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with Pam.
3. Combine the egg whites, lemon juice, cream of tartar, salt, and sugar in a bowl.
4. Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites into a meringue, until the whites are thick and stand up in peaks.
5. Add the Splenda and vanilla and whip for 30 seconds.
6. Drop by the spoonful onto pan, making 12 cookies.
7. Crush the candy cane into small bits.
8. Sprinkle the candy cane on top of the cookies.
9. Bake 1 ½ hours, then turn the oven off and let the cookies sit in the oven while it is left partially open until the oven is cool.
10. Remove the cookies from the tray and enjoy!

Approximate Nutritional Information:
12 calories/ 0g fat per cookie

CHRISTMAS COOKIES: BITE-SIZE HOLIDAY LESSONS , by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, pictures by Jane Dyer (HarperCollins, 2008), all ages, 32 pp., On shelves now.

Season's Greetings! (Please greet me with cookies.)

I squealed with delight when I saw Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons (HarperCollins, 2008), the scrumptious follow-up to her New York Times Bestseller, Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons (HarperCollins, 2006).

This time, we are treated to 23 more delectable cookie-centric definitions to inspire, enlighten and delight readers of all ages. Have you ever tried to explain such abstract terms as "Prosperity," "Charitable," or "Perseverance" to a child? Pretty tricky, huh?

That's where these cookies come in. "Prosperity means, My goodness, just look at all those cookies!" "Charitable means setting a big batch aside to give to people who maybe don't have any cookies at all." And "Preseverance means, We tried and tried and tried, and finally we made the perfect not-burned batch."


"GRACIOUS means putting out a plate for our special guest."

With cookies, everything becomes clear. Especially when the definitions feature charming, curly haired, multiethnic kids and their gentle animal friends working together in the kitchen.


''FRUSTRATED means, I can't believe we burned them again!"

If ever there was a perfect pairing of author and illustrator, these cookie books are it. Jane Dyer's winsome watercolors perfectly capture the candy-striped, multicolor-frosted, sugar-sprinkled celebration that is Christmas without being cloying or overly cute. Kids will love how humans and animals, equally enthusiastic about cookies, inhabit the same world. Since these crunchy chunks of wisdom can be nibbled on one tasty morsel at a time, or gobbled up in one fell swoop, it is suitable for picky eaters as well as established gastronomes. No holding back here. Open the book to any page, cozy up to the table, and help yourself to pure yummy-ness.


"SHARING means, Thanks for giving me a taste. Would you like a bite of mine?"

I am a huge fan of both Rosenthal's and Dyer's work, and highly recommend both of these Cookie books. Created from what seems like the perfect recipe, these gems satisfy to the very last crumb.

To browse inside Christmas Cookies, click here.

For the Christmas Cookie recipe included in the book, click here.

If, by some chance, you were visiting another planet and missed the first Cookie book, take a peek inside it here.


COOKIES: BITE-SIZE LIFE LESSONS, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal,
pictures by Jane Dyer (HarperCollins, 2006), all ages, 32 pp.

**This book inspired me to write my own Bite-Size Writing Lessons here!

Special thanks to R. Michelson Galleries for permission to post interior spreads from Christmas Cookies. All images included here are available for sale (watercolor on paper, 8.5" x 8.5"). Click here for more information on these and other illustrations from Jane Dyer's books.

*All interior images copyright © 2008 Jane Dyer, published by HarperCollins. All rights reserved.