In Preparation For Our Vacation...

Hello once again! The hubby, E, and I are getting ready to go to Mexico on Sunday. Above you'll see a lovely shot of my passport and its uber-chic blue flowered jacket that I got at Borders.

I also stopped by my local Barnes & Noble today for lunch. I had just gotten done getting my braces tightened (ouch!) and had about 45 minutes before my hair appointment at Gene Juarez. I found a couple baking books on sale that I just HAD to have. Also pictured is the recipe card box that E's mom gave me when we got married. It came with some pre-filled cards with E's favorite recipes his mom made him, which I thought was sooooo sweet! His favorite birthday cake is in there, and his birthday is in November, so I'll definitely be posting on that then.

I don't know about you, but I HATE how much they're charging nowadays for food on flights. It's outrageous. Five bucks for a stale cheeseburger and Lay's potato chips? No thanks! So, I decided to take it upon myself to make up some snacks for us to have on the plane. Since our flight is in the wee early hours (we depart at 6:05am, which means we need to be at the airport no later than 4:30am... it makes me tired just thinking about it). So far, I've decided to make two kinds of muffins and two kinds of cookies. One kind of cookies I'm planning on making is just for my younger brother, because he loved them so much last time, I decided to make him his very own batch in payment for house/dog-sitting while we're away. I started baking tonight, and will finish up tomorrow.

First, I decided to make Peaches & Cream Muffins. I found the recipe via The Domestic Goddess. Let me preface this with saying that this woman is a genius. I want to try every recipe she has on her site. The link for the muffins can be found here: http://www.domesticgoddess.ca/recipes.php?recipe=10103. Here's how they turned out:

I haven't tried them yet, but will definitely let you know when I do. I followed the recipe to a T, but added some powdered sugar on top. I'm of the belief that powdered sugar should be like salt: on top of EVERYTHING! (Can you tell, I have a major sweet tooth?) They made my house smell so wonderfully delicious, I even took it upon myself to lick the bowl!! (With some help from E and my brother, naturally!). These freeze really well, so my brother will have plenty of them to eat while we're gone, too. It's comforting to know that at the very least, he'll have at least one semi-healthy thing to eat while we're gone (he has three pizzas in the freezer... yikes).

Next up came some lemon crinkle cookies. I made these once before for my Italian friend Diana's birthday. I asked her what her favorite flavor is, and she said lemon, so these were a natural choice for her. I'll admit, I cheated a little bit and used lemon cake mix, but they were easy and quick and oh-so-delicious.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies Recipe:

-1 (18.25 oz) box of lemon cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)

-2 eggs

-1/3 cup vegetable oil

-1 tsp lemon extract

-1/3 cup confectioner's sugar (for topping)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C).

2. Pour cake mix into large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil and lemon extract (I added a wee bit of lemon zest, just because I love love love lemon, and can't get enough, but that's just me) until well blended. Refrigerate dough for 2-3 hours until firm (this way, the dough won't be too sticky to work with later).

3. Scoop dough out by rounded teaspoonfuls (I used my handy-dandy mini ice cream scooper, I love that thing!) into confectioner's sugar and coat well. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet about 2-3 inches apart.

4. Bake for 6-9 minutes. Cookies should have light brown bottoms, that's how you know they're done. They'll be slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

*Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.

That's all for now, folks! I'll report back tomorrow on the second round of muffins and cookies for our trip!!

~Mehgan~