Catching up with the Kelnhofers-124

This week on Catching up with the Kelnhofers, I want to make sure you have all of the recipes you need to keep cooking all through winter break!

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First and foremost – I hope you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and happy holidays! I hope you have the most wonderful and lovely holidays (and that you get a little break!). From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here and being part of this community.

For a laugh – please see Ben giving Santa the side eye lol!

AND! Baby Sam is 1 month old, how did that happen so fast?!!

We’ve been having lots of fun in the kitchen, but even as someone who creates recipes and enjoys cooking, I sometimes draw a blank on what to make for mealtime. So I wanted to share some cozy recipes and ideas of what to make over winter break (below)

Check out the latest recipes from SweetPhi.com

• Weekly meal plan – a week’s week of recipes and easy to create grocery list
• Chocolate cake with cinnamon whipped cream – a light and delicious holiday dessert
• Holiday Entertaining – sharing a roundup of all the holiday recipes you need
• Love List – weekly fun finds from around the web
• Sour cream and chive fries – only 5 ingredients and a fun copycat recipe

What to make during winter break

Christmas is over but the kids are still off of school and you have to be even more creative with mealtime.  I’m here to help!

Breakfast:

• Frittatas: this one with sausage can be made ahead of time! Or this is my fave easy quick one (only 5 ingredients!)
• Pancakes + Waffles: Snowman pancakes are great because you can make them ahead of time, or these waffles (<- they’re eggless and also freeze really well!)
• Muffins: Banana cinnamon roll muffins can be made in an air fryer or in the oven! Cranberry gingerbread muffins are very holiday-ie! Also, here is a muffin roundup. 
• ​Pumpkin loaf – one of my favorites for a great breakfast/snack/dessert or even a gift. I make this with either gluten free or regular flour, so it’s dietary restriction friendly
• The way I make my coffee (Starbucks copycat) and my coffee creamer)

Soups and salads:​

• Freezer butternut squash soup – lost track of how many times I’ve made this delicious soup
• Minestrone soup – very comforting and delicious, the parmesan croutons, omg amazing!
• Slow cooker lentil soup – healthy and full of veggies, this is a feel good soup!
• Spinach salad and dressing with super customizable topping options
• ​Salad with candied seeds by far my favorite salad recipe with candied seeds (or nuts!)
• Tomato and cucumber salad – a great side for any meal!
• Also this easy side salad – great side for any meal
• Oh and don’t forget the crackers!

Mains:

• ​5-Ingredient baked parmesan chicken pasta – this is a no pre-cooking recipe, you just put all ingredients in a baking dish and bake, viola, so easy!!
• ​5-Ingredient parmesan pork chops – these have become a weekly thing at our house. We make them with either pork chops or chicken
• ​Whole roasted chicken – this easy meal is a rediscovered favorite this year
• ​Sheet pan balsamic turkey meatloaves with sweet potato fries and green beans – a whole meal on a sheet pan
• Instant pot pork ragu served with pappardelle pasta, this is one comforting and amazzzzing recipe
• I also LOVE a good lasagna around the holidays, I always make this one 
• The magic of sheet pan dinners is that it all cooks on one pan!
• Mini meatloaves 
• Hot honey chicken with broccoli and potatoes 
• Sheet pan sausage, squash, apple and corn 
• THIS is my favorite sheet pan 

Sweets

You’re probably tired of baking by this point, so here are 3 of my favorite non-baking recipes!

• Only 3 ingredients in this decadent chocolate mousse 
• ​Mini no bake cheesecake bites 
• Chocolate coins 

If you’re looking for more recipes, we have a great “search” function on the blog, and if you have a cup of coffee and are looking for cool lists – have you read all our Love Lists?

And if you’re not sure what to make for New Years, here are some of my favorites:

• White chocolate peanut grapes – apparently eating grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve bring luck
• Mimosa bar – champagne is the best way to ring in the new year!
• Champagne rice krispie treats – and why not add it into your baked goods.  Only 5 ingredients.
• Baked brie – the easiest 2 ingredient appetizer

This is the sweetest comment on my post for how to make a fun Hot chocolate bar and hot chocolate mix.

• “About five years ago, I made this as a Christmas gift in a canister for a dear friend of mine. He said it was the best hot chocolate mix he’s ever had and because of it, it has become an annual gift that he looks forward to and frankly expects every year. Two years ago, I lost the recipe and didn’t realize it was yours. He eventually showed me the recipe I included the first year I gave it to him and when I realized it was yours, now I have it every year. A double batch is ready and waiting for him. The year he didn’t get it, I can’t even begin to tell you how much pouted and sad he was. That said, I have now started making it in a sugar free version. I make it with an artificial sweetener, erythritol, without the dry milk and I add that to some hot almond milk for a delicious sugar-free hot chocolate treat. So there you have it, the perfect Christmas present for some.”

Bridget, who is also on the SweetPhi team helped her Dad make holiday treats for the staff at his company.  This year, they included my Holiday Snack Mix and packed it into little baggies for the cookie tins.

This onion chopper – we were just talking at a team meeting about the onion chopper, definitely is a must for those who cry when chopping onions (me!)

• In terms of Christmas books, I’d recommend The Santa Suit over Dear Santa if you’re looking for a short Christmasy book. The Santa Suit story was just way better/cutter and more realistic with a touch of whimsy. 

• With the holidays in full swing and a newborn, I feel like this perfectly describes me:

• Wrap + baby Sam – sometimes baby Sam does not want to be put down, and he’s getting heavy (he’s 10 lbs already!) so I got this wrap and it’s honestly the best purchase ever!! Allows me to hold him and also walk around and do other things.

• Santa drive by – Our town does this sweet thing where they do a ‘Santa drive by’ so we bundled the kids up and went…we were like an hour early and waited, and then they zoomed by, Frankie was scared and buried her head in the wagon and did not want to see lol. 

• Kids gifts – the kids’ school makes the sweetest gifts, I save them every year – this year the twins’ gift to us was an ornament with a ribbon inside that’s the same height as them and a picture in a frame. I cried!!

• Twins’ school photos – speaking of school, how cute are these Christmas themed twins’ school photos?

• Lots of baking – we did a lot of holiday baking – especially gingerbread cut out cookies and sugar cookies and other cookies from this Christmas cookies roundup 

• Gnome prints – I just saw they added MORE GNOME PRINTS to the collection. They’re definitely a fave around here, as you can see – us in gnome prints throughout the past year – I even got a tiny one for Sam!!

How will you be spending your holidays? Just leave a comment below and let me know!

P.s., our holiday baking this year included salted caramel chocolate chip cookies – which were the first cookies the kids grabbed, we added a few sprinkles to make them festive!