Prepping for Holiday Baking

I love baking specialty breads, cakes, pies and cookies around the holidays. This weekend I will sit down with my favorite cookbooks and plan out a baking schedule. My family is pretty picky with their sweets. The girls aren't much for pies and my husband doesn't like sweets at all, save for a cheesecake or key lime pie. That won't stop me from baking things they won't eat. I'll just spread the love to friends and family...at least, that's the plan.

When we moved here five years ago I culled my collection of cookbooks and saved only those I truly enjoyed owning. I've resisted buying more since I'm able to find so many recipes on the internet. This past weekend my daughter and I stopped at a used book store in Waxhaw, NC. There we found a nice collection of expensive cookbooks for $2 each. We had the best time going through the recipes and I brought four books home. I figured at that price I could try the recipes I liked and donate the book back to the store when I am finished with it.

The Martha Stewart cookbook and Cooking Light Annual recipe book should provide some tempting recipes to add to my list for this year. Tonight I'm making a chicken recipe and potato wedge recipe, both from Southern Living's Easy Weeknight Favorites. I'll report back on them tomorrow.

I am also launching a new cooking and recipe site to celebrate the holidays. I know there are a lot of similar sites already on the web, but I plan to concentrate on developing recipes around the vegetables and herbs I grow in my gardens. Hopefully, these recipes will help others take advantage of produce as it is harvested and when it is in good supply. How many ways are there to prepare okra? I don't know, but I plan to add a few more to the mix!

How does this tie in with my holiday baking?  Tune in and see. :)