December 1st is right around the corner! Are you ready for the countdown to the holidays? We usually have two types of advent calendars in our home each year. One calendar that focuses on a simple eco-friendly activity that we can do together each day and a second where we open a wrapped holiday book from our collection and read it together. Both of these advents are super easy and don’t require us to purchase anything new. Yet, they are both very special activities that we look forward to all year.
I have been looking for new ways to present the advent calendars this year. I have compiled a list of my top 7 favorites, all of which you can make using upcycled, eco-friendly or even recycled materials.
— I think number four would be fun for a couple – you could use organic wines!
Does your family celebrate with an advent calendar? Which kind?
The shopping season is upon us – which means you have most likely made your list and checked it twice! Don’t forget to add stocking stuffers to that holiday wish list. I partnered with Target to round up 7 of my favorite eco-friendly stocking stuffers for #MyKindofHoliday. When all of these are wrapped and packed inside of the stocking, it will definitely fill it up! Not only are all of these products sustainable, they are affordable too! In fact, you can fill her stocking this holiday season for less than $50 dollars – check it out!
I am a member of the Target Inner Circle – all opinions expressed are my own. Target supplied a gift card to purchase my favorite stocking stuffers , however these are all products that I love and would have shared with you anyway! Thank you for your support!
This Thanksgiving has been very low key and laid back – we slept in until 10 a.m.! We are having the mister’s father and girlfriend for dinner – so there will be only 5 of us. Our guest won’t arrive until 4 p.m. – giving us plenty of time to leisurely cook, clean and decorate, it has been a lovely morning.
I hope you have a laid back, lovely Thanksgiving and enjoy the long weekend with your family. I will see you back here tomorrow – I will be announcing the line-up for the 2013 Sweet Greens Holiday Giveaway Week! They are pretty amazing!
Tonight is the 1st night of Hanukkah – Hooray! It’s also the first time since 1888 that Hanukkah will be celebrated on Thanksgiving Day. If you celebrate Hanukkah, I hope you have something special planned for each of the eight lovely nights with your family and friends! I bet some of you will have latkes on your Thanksgiving table.
This weekend we visited the mister’s 98 year old grandfather to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. We brought along one of our favorite holiday treats, a yummy coffee cake! Our coffee cake is layered with a crunchy cinnamon-walnut mixture that isn’t too sweet and perfect for holiday brunch.
As a Stonyfield YoGetter, I wanted to take the Stonyfield Challenge to see if our favorite recipe would be just as good when we substituted the sour cream with Stonyfield Organic Greek yogurt. Guess what? Not only is it just as good – it made our favorite cake more nutritious – packing it with live and active yogurt cultures, protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals – and we saved all of the fat and calories that sour cream would have added. What a fun way to kick off the holiday season – read on for the full recipe and pin this one to your favorite holiday recipe board, you won’t be disappointed!
Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients
3 cups organic flour
1 cup organic walnuts
2 cups organic sugar
3/4 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon organic baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup organic butter
2 teaspoons organic vanilla
1 1/2 cups organic Stonyfield Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons organic milk
Step 2: Add 1/4 cup chopped walnuts to a food processor and chop into crunchy crumbs and set aside.
Step 3: Combine 3/4 cup walnuts, 1/3 cup sugar and 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon to a food processor and chop into a crunchy crumbs.
Step 4: In a separate bowl whisk the 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt together.
Step 5: Add to the bowl 3/4 butter, 1 1/4 cups sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla and beat until creamed.
Step 6: Add the 5 large eggs, then scrape down the bowl again.
Step 7: Then add the flour mixture and beat for 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go. Finally, add the 1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt and milk, beat again until creamy.
Step 8: Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts that you set aside on the bottom of your 9″ cake pan.
Step 9: Spoon 2 cups of batter over the nuts, covering them completely but not mixing them into the batter.
Step 10: Sprinkle 1/2 of the cinnamon-walnut crumbs (careful not to spread them to the edge of the pan). Top with 2 more cups of batter spreading it over the nuts, then layer the remaining 1/2 of the nuts for the third layer and top with the last 2 cups of batter for the final layer. You should have 3 layers total.
Step 11: Bake at 375° for approximately 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out completely clean. Let the cake cool for 25 minutes.
Step 12: When completely cool, you can remove the cake, the top will actually be the bottom of the cake with the nuts on top – so you will have to flip it.
Cooking Tip: Interesting in making your favorite holiday goodies with yogurt instead! Here is a nifty yogurt substitution guide to get you started.
Full Disclosure: I am a Stonyfield YoGetter and received product coupons to complete this recipe. However, all opinions are my own!
