My kiddos love when I bake cookies for them, and they enjoy them even more when I allow them to help Mommy (that's me!) bake the cookies. And since it's the holiday season, we've been trying new cookie recipes.  I found the yummy recipe for these Double Chocolate Chip M&M Cookies (Santa's Cookies) on the Creme De La Crumb blog.  The kiddos helped me make a batch of these Chocolate Chip and M&M Christmas Cookies as one of our Thanksgiving dinner desserts, and we'll definitely make more for Santa on Christmas Eve. These cookies are so festive with the red and green M&Ms.

I love a good chicken salad! I love to eat it either on bread or with crackers. I love it as a snack or as lunch with a salad (veggie salad) Chicken salad is also a good appetizer to take to work functions or to serve at a holiday party. We served chicken salad as one of the foods at my daughter's 1st birthday party, and everybody loved it. My mother makes a really good chicken salad. Anyhoo, I don't make it all the time, but when I do, I only use a few easy ingredients...  

Lately, I've been trying out new recipes. Over the years, I have gotten bored with cooking the same old meals over and over, especially since I'm not a fan of cooking anyway. I'd rather crochet food... But we can't eat yarn! So recently, I made a pot of Zuppa Toscana Soup. It was so delicious! The first time I made it, it was quite spicy! My husband and I really aren't into spicy foods, so now when I make it, I use mild sausage instead of the hot sausage, and I don't add the red pepper flakes.  Also, I used chicken sausage instead of pork sausage.

I often feel like I cook the same meals over and over. So tonight, I decided to add a twist to my usual meatloaf. I'm calling them meatloaf muffins, but they look more like meatloaf cupcakes since they're topped with ketchup and mashed potatoes. I thought about topping them with mashed potatoes and gravy (I'll try that next time).