Pumpkin & Spice Shake

Let's Get It Started by The Black Eyed Peas
Today's recipe is one of my newest favorite breakfasts.  It makes me hap-hap-happy and ready to "get it started."  You'll be dancing with will.i.am and the rest of the gang in no time.  Items on your "to do" list will be falling like pianos, houses, and cars.  Just watch the video.  But make your shake first - you know, so you have the energy to . . . well, shake!  Let's get it started!

Everybody is going to be having some pumpkin 

around the house in the next several weeks.

It's the star veggie of the holidays!

And if you find you've got about 1/2 cup extra and 

don't know what to do with it -

for heaven's sake -

make this shake!

Pepper and Onion Corn Muffins

Get What You Need by Jet
I love it when people write songs about vegetables.  I mean, this is what Nic Cester is singing about, right?  Getting what you need?  Or maybe I'm being influenced by my current concerns of getting those fruits and veggies in every day.  As well as the required water and fiber.  Ah.  Perhaps he isn't singing about food at all.  We all have things we need.  Here's to hoping everyone finds what that is - and gets it!

My family just started a Health and Wellness Challenge.

Yes - right at the beginning of the holiday season.

What better gift could we be giving ourselves - and each other - than

healthier and happier versions of ourself?

This challenge includes my husband and myself and all of our 

children and spouses.

That's nine total.

My daughter-in-law and daughter worked together

to come up with a really great point system.

We are rewarded points for healthy eating habits as

well as healthy emotional and physical and spiritual habits.

If someone doesn't have a physical problem to work on,

there are opportunities to work on other aspects of our life as well.

At the end of the challenge in February, the person

with the most points wins!

Yay!!

Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Simple by Indie.Arie
"What more can I say?"  It's simple.  My love.  Of shortbread cookies.  "I love you."  

Remember that post a few weeks ago about my new pal,  Sailor Jack?

And I talked about how I went into the bakery and got my "usuals"?

The shortbread cookies?

I often get asked why, when I'm faced with shelves full of 

decadent pastries, voluptuous brownies, and cheeky cookies, 

that I almost always walk out with the 

seemingly plain Shortbread.