Peppermint Gingerbread Cook Ball (Ebleskiver) Recipe and $175 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

Two of my favorite Christmas season cookies are gingerbread and Danish pancake balls called ebelskiver (it is pronounced able-skeev-er and spelled three different ways in English – ebleskiver, ebelskiver, aebleskiver because Danes like to complicate things sometimes.)

There are many varieties and recipes for making ebleskiver. Since gingerbread is also a Danish Christmas tradition I'm going to combine the two and make gingerbread ableskiver!

With peppermint candy chips. Because peppermint candy makes everything Christmasy and better.

The only special skills you need to make this Scandinavian treat is a stove top  Danish Aebleskiver / Ebelskiver pan like this one. I use an electric cake pop maker similar to this one which makes it even easier! (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience)

Save this Christmas recipe to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

Gingerbread Cake Ball Recipe

How to Make Dairy Free and Delicious Croutons!

One of my favorite dishes served with any chicken, turkey, goose, or duck dinner is the stuffing!
Which is actually dressing because I don’t cook it inside the bird. Stuffing = baked inside the bird. Dressing = baked inside of the bird. The more you know, right?

So I thought that my all time favorite side dish was safe from my personal Great Milk and Dairy Ingredient Purge when I was first diagnosed with being severely lactose intolerant. Until that familiar gut punch told me differently while I was making my way through a big ol’ pile of dressing on an evening out.

Turns out the dairy was in the croutons.

It wasn't until I went on the Great Dairy Free Crouton Quest of three grocery stores in one day that I realized that the only way I’m going to get a crouton for stuffing, salads, or to top a bowl of soup is to make it myself.

Pin this quick and easy recipe tutorial to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

Making croutons is so super easy I’m kicking myself for not learning how to make them sooner! It is a great way to use extra, old bread or bread crusts! Here’s how.

A Quick and Easy Crouton Recipe

How to Cook an Acorn Squash in an Instant Pot in Six Minutes or Less!

Stuffed acorn squash is one of my favorite fall dinner meals. After a few failed attempts, I discovered the trick to having the stuffing and the squash cooked equally in the oven (I can’t be the only person who dried out/singed the stuffing because the dense winter squash took longer to cook than the stuffing inside it, am I? ) is to pre bake the squash by itself for an half an hour or more before stuffing and baking the squash per the directions in the recipe I’m following.

Since my dinner meal planning usually goes along the lines of, “it’s dinner time and I need to make food immediately” I rarely cooked acorn squash in any way, shape, or form because of that pesky house long baking time.

 Save this post to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

That is until one kitchen experiment later, I now know I can pressure cook a hard acorn squash in 5 to 10 minutes. Woo hoo! Acorn squash for everyone!

How to Make Instant Pot Acorn Squash the Easy Way

After enjoying a bowl of popcorn during a home movie night there were quite a few unpopped kernels in the bottom of the bowl.

Normally I’d chuck them in the trash bin but there were about two tablespoons of unpopped popcorn kernels in the bottom of the bowl. (Tip: Once I started using a 1/4  measuring cup instead of eyeballing it when I pop popcorn, I now end up with one or two unpopped  kernels of corn.)


I looked at the unpopped popcorn kernels and remembered hearing a story about my grandmother repopping leftover popcorn kernals the next time they ate popcorn. Which in this house is alllllll the time.

Pin this popcorn recipe tutorial to your Pinerest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

I figured I'd give repopping unpopped popcorn kernels a try. And you know what? It worked!

How to Pop Popcorn

The Best Pumpernickel Bread Machine Recipe!

When the weather starts to cool it is all the incentive I need to make my favorite comfort food dinner - 16 bean soup with homemade pumpernickel bread.

 It is also one of my favorite quick and easy dinner ideas to make when time is short because I use a dried 16 bean soup mix (you can find it here.  I suggest going with a mix that includes the seasoning) in the slow cooker and when paired with pumpernickel bread fresh from my bread machine it makes a filling meal just waiting for you when you get home from work, school, or busy fun activities. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

Pin this bread recipe to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

Quick and Easy Dairy Free Pumpernickel Bread Recipe

5 Quick and Easy Frugal Way to Save $500 On Clothing This Week

This week the majority of my savings came from repairing something I was convinced we needed to replace (and I admit to using it as an excuse to replace it with something I like better just for the sake of liking  it better) and a surprise shopping spree for necessary items at the cheapest high quality store I know of – my house.

Here are this week’s money saving hacks  that saved me a surprising $500 dollars this week!

Save this post to your Pinterest Boards for later!

Share it with your friends

5 Frugal Things: How I Saved Money This Week

Quick and Easy Mix and Match Granola Cereal Recipe

I’ve always been more of an oatmeal for breakfast kind of gal. If I indulged in cold cereal it was the oaty hippie kind but not very often because it is usually more expensive. When I discovered milk solids added to my favorite store bought cereal, I figured it was time to learn how to make my own. (grumbles at food intolerance)

Making a granola recipes is very, very easy and affordable! Especially when you make it with things you already have on hand in the kitchen. The way I do that is with what I can this Mix and Match Granola Recipe.

Save this yummy breakfast or snack idea to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!


I call this cheap and easy baked granola recipe Mix and Match because it is very versatile. All you need is a neutral tasting cooking oil, oats, a sweetener, and dried fruit, nuts, and other add ins if you wish, or in my case, chuck that last little bit of whatnot into the a granola recipe because I need to use it up.

How Not to Burn and Ruin a Baked Granola Recipe