Friday Favorites from Camille Styles, Cup of Jo, A Spicy Southern Kitchen, French by Design and More

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Good morning! How was your week? Are you getting ready for the holidays? I have my house decorated, I have watched a ton of Christmas movies, wrapped and sent all of my gifts but the baked ones and now I am getting to the fun part, baking and eating!

I made 4 batches of nut brittle yesterday, along with 3 different spiced nuts, a cake and a loaf of bread. Next week I have about 10 batches of candy, 6 kinds of cookies, 3 cheesecakes and a tart to make. It’s my favorite part of the holiday. Have you been baking? 

If you need a few ideas, here are the 27 Best Christmas Cookie Recipes as picked by Camille Styles. 

Image a Cup of Jo

I love sandwiches and this Croque Madame is right up may alley. 

Image HERE

My husband has been doing all of the cooking while I have been under the weather and last Saturday he made on of my favorites, French Dip sandwiches using this recipe from A Spicy Southern Kitchen and the best news, its made in a crockpot. 

Image from Ikea via French by Design

I love Christmas so much that I put up multiple trees in my house and on the years that I am hosting Christmas every guest room gets its own tree. For those of you who are short on space, do not like real trees or just want to try something new, this post Alternative Christmas Trees from French by Design might interest you!

Image Private Newport

If you like making pomanders here is a great post from Bettie at Private Newport. I love to make them but I have yet to figure out how to keep them from molding. If you have tips I would love the hear them. 

Love this post by House of Harper, 10 Tips To Make Sure You Do Not Miss The Holiday Spirit This Year

The Rules of Magic: A Novel (The Practical Magic Series)

Winter Reading List: 4 Magical Books That You need to Read from Career Girls.

Speaking of books. I have 2 great recommendations of books to give friends and loved ones for Christmas!

The first, Valerie’s Home Cooking: More than 100 Delicious Recipes to Share with Friends and Family is one of my new favorite cook books.

From the back cover:

As the current star of her Food Network show, Valerie’s Home Cooking, and co-host of the network’s Kids Baking Championship, as well as having spent years acting on television, Valerie Bertinelli has made a name for herself in households across America. But to really know Valerie, is to spend time in her kitchen. 

Inspired by her family’s cooking legacy, Valerie specializes in showing fans how to make dishes their own families will love that are for the heart and soul. As she often says, there’s a story behind every recipe and Valerie shares them in this gorgeous cookbook, where home cooks will find more than 100 recipes that are easy to make and innovative–they’re just as fresh, vibrant and down to earth as Valerie herself. Many of these classic comforting recipes have an original twist like Bloody Mary Tea Sandwiches, Lobster BLTs, Quick Rotisserie Chicken Gumbo, and S’mores Popcorn. These mouthwatering dishes will become your go-tos, whether you’re having breakfast or lunch on your own, friends are joining for last-minute cocktails and small bites, or the whole family is coming together for a hearty dinner and dessert.

I have been a fan of Valerie since One Day at a Time and have watched her show of Food Network. What I love about this book is that the photos are beautiful and the recipes are easy. There are cocktails, breakfasts, snacks, lunch, dinner and dessert recipes. Many of the recipes are comfort food, my favorite sort of meal, macaroni and cheese, pasta, sandwiches and there are also recipes that my husband would love for steaks, lamb chops and tenderloin.

If you know someone that loves easy, family friendly meals than this is a beautiful book to give them for Christmas.

The second book I was given by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest opinion. It is called The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution and I think it is going to be perfect for my nephew for Christmas! If you have a “gamer” in your family than this is the book for them. It tells history of computers and games, contains details about the programmers and the companies behind the technology and so much more. IT is everything that you would ever what to know about video games and more in an illustrated in comic book.

And last but not least and interesting article: 31 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Setting Next Years Goals

I hope that you have a great weekend. If you have something that you would like to share, a movie, book, podcast, or perhaps a favorite Christmas recipe please do!