This sweet and salty holiday treat can be adapted for other special occasions by using different M&Ms — Reindeer Bait Leprechaun Bait — you get the idea.

Puppy chow is one of our family’s favorite special treats. It’s great for camping or large parties. It’s also gluten free! I have been playing around with different recipes, adding and taking out ingredients. This one contains no peanut butter, the staple in a traditional puppy chow. I added Trader Joe’s freeze dried strawberries to make it a bit more healthy. I also incorporated essential oils. Cooking and baking with them has been an adventure. A very yummy adventure!

I made this Lemon Strawberry Puppy Chow for OC Family magazine’s Art Director Monica Garrett’s baby shower. It turned out … if I do say so … delicious!

Ingredients:

It’s a challenge to find nice New Year’s decor for the home. I loved this handmade “Happy New Year” banner I bought from the ETSY store Paramore Art Studios. Please take time to visit her shop. She sells Valentine’s, Easter, Christmas and custom banners. She is wonderful and the prices are right! ($25).

We changed it up this year for New Year’s Eve. I wanted to host at my house to give the kids more time together. For the last 10 years we have eaten dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack in Newport Beach and then all shuffled off to our own homes, but this year called for something new!

We rang in the New Year with a silly hat party! The *ahem* kids loved the idea and really got into it!

I served this fantastic adaptation of Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Lasagna recipe by Kayotic Kitchen. It takes some time, but well worth the extra work. It is delicious and served all 15 people at the party! Kayotic Kitchen provides a step-by-step pictorial guide to this recipe which is much appreciated.

I also served Martha Stewart’s Lemon Drop Champagne Punch. I doubled the recipe — in order to serve all the adults — and tripled the vodka (Oh, yeah!) to make it more flavorful.

At the last minute I realized I didn’t have any bread to serve with the pasta and salad. My mom came to my rescue and improvised these delicious Garlic Oregano Biscuits.

Here’s how she made it.

Garlic Oregano Biscuits

Ingredients

One roll of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits

One stick salted butter

Handful of fresh oregano (Perfect if you’re already buying some for the lasagna)

One clove garlic

1/2 Tsp. garlic powder

Directions

Completely melt butter in microwave. Take the stems off the oregano. Add pressed garlic, garlic powder and oregano to the melted butter. Open the biscuits and separate. Cut each biscuit in half and dip it into the butter (fully coating). Cheat a little by making sure a little oregano is on each piece. Set the pieces beside each other in an ungreased 8 x 8 ceramic or glass dish. Pop in a preheated 350 degree oven for 14 – 17 minutes.

Enjoy!

My mom nailed this … and, naturally, she looked great in her silly hat!

My guy loves the old-fashioned taste of Thrifty’s Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. I like making my own ice cream and have been frustratingly unsuccessfully at copying the recipe. The ice cream was coming out pretty well, but the texture of the chocolate chips was the tricky part. I tried shaving and pounding chips from blocks of chocolate but nothing seemed right.

The method I outline below matches Thrifty’s the very best. It takes a little extra time but is well worth it! I also use essential oils instead of peppermint extract. It was  more flavorful and I like to cook using doTERRA products whenever I can.

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 drops Do TERRA peppermint essential oil

2 drops green food coloring (optional)

2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.) In a large bowl, stir together the milk, cream, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and peppermint essential oil until everything has dissolved. Color to your liking with the green food coloring. Pour into ice cream machine.

2.) Place the chocolate chips into a clear Ziplock bag and heat in microwave for 10 seconds (or until softened). Pound chocolate chips flat in the bag until they make a wafer-thin sheet. Place in the freezer.

3.) Fifteen minutes into the freezing, take the chocolate chips out the freezer and pound the sheet through the plastic with the back of a one cup measuring cup. Keep pounding until you’ve smashed the chocolate into tiny shards.

4.) Add the chocolate chips into almonst finished freezing ice cream.

5.) After the ice cream is finished spoon into a container, and freeze for 2 hours or until it is the thickness you like.

6.) Sprinkle with additional chocolate chips for added love and hugs.

This is one of my favorite holiday recipes. My friend Robin served it at Christmas over 20 years ago and I’ve made it every year since. It’s super simple and delicious.

Cranberry Pineapple Jello Salad

2 Cups raw cranberries

1 1/2 Cups water

2/3 Cups sugar

1 Small package any red jello

1/2 Cup crushed pineapples

1/2 Cup pecans 

Directions

In a medium saucepan add water and cranberries. Bring to simmer for ten minutes. Add sugar and jello (reminder it needs to be a small package of red jello). Let partly cool. Add mostly drained pineapples and the pecans. Pour into a pretty dish. Refriderate for 3 – 4 hours.

Enjoy!