January Wrap-Up

Best recipes for January; Best recipes for cookies, desserts, and snacks for the month of January.

Isn’t January wonderful?

Nothing against December, I love December, and Christmas, and baking and gift giving… but January is so wonderful.  It’s all clean, and simple, there are no big holidays, no reason for the kids to have a day off school, and everything gets organized and back to routine in January.

January is all full of hope and goals and resolutions.  They might all fall apart in February, but at least we have January, my friends.  At least we have January.

January was a good month for baking, too.  The Plain Oatmeal Cookies were quite popular, especially on Pinterest.  The Nutella Swirled Peanut Butter Bars were so popular, my church asked me to bring them to a social.  The Red Velvet Dip nearly caused my kids to come to blows.  And… I got to indulge in one of my very favorite snacks ever ever… Cheesy Garlic Bread.  Yuuuuuuumm.  I think only chocolate can compete with garlic for my love.

There’s a quick recap and link to each post here:

	Plain Oatmeal Cookies These simple cookies might be my favorite recipe in several months. There are no chocolate chips, no nuts, nothing fancy at all in these lovely, delicious, perfect oat cookies.
	Cinnamon Spice Granola Homemade granola is one of my favorite things, and this one is warm and comforting, with walnuts, cinnamon and other spices.
	Nutella Swirled Peanut Butter Bars These fudgy peanut butter bars are fantastic on their own, but the addition of a swirl of Nutella puts them over the top!  I guarantee these will disappear in hurry.
	Key Lime Sugar Cookies Bars Sugar cookies are easy to make as bars, and they taste just as soft and delicious!  I used lime juice to give these a fresh citrus flavor, and even topped them with lime frosting.
	Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks My secret ingredient for fantastic bread sticks is hot dog buns!  Cover them in cheese and garlic butter for a great game day snack or side dish for pizza.
	Dark Chocolate Cheesecake Bars This dark chocolate cake is topped with a layer of cheesecake, and chocolate chips.  It makes a beautiful black and white dessert.
	Red Velvet Cake Batter Dip My kids fought over this dip when I made it!  Red Velvet cake mix and cream cheese make a great dip for fruit or graham crackers.  The red color makes it a perfect addition to your Valentines celebration.
	Sweet & Tangy Meatball Dip I make this 5-ingredient combination frequently, and it works perfectly with meatballs or sausages.  You’ll love this for your game day get together!

What else happened this month?

Well… I created a new Pinterest board where I shared some of the very best stuff from some of the very best bloggers during 2013.  If you would love to see some new blogs, and want to start with their very best and most recent stuff, I suggest browsing through this board, called Best Recipes of 2013.

I contributed a chocolate version of the cake batter dip at My Cooking Spot.

I re-created a crazy cute hairstyle at my daughters insistence.  Even though I couldn’t have done it without the video playing in the bathroom while I worked, I was still pretty proud of myself.  The Hippie Chick was happy with the compliments she got.  Check out Cute Girls Hairstyles on YouTube to learn this one yourself.

I bought myself a much needed utensil crock in January.  The old (very old) one was just too small to hold my ever increasing number of wooden spoons and spatulas.  The new one is red, and big, and gorgeous and NEW.  Just the way I like my stuff.

Last but not least, I chatted with some of you awesome folks over at Facebook.  If you want to catch up with me about recipes, or baking, or hairstyles, or why my dog is photobombing my food pictures, Facebook is the place for it.  I practically live there.

Leave me a comment below, and let me know what you’re hoping to see in February!