Merry Christmas!

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good girl this year.

I weigh 5 pounds less than I did this time last year. I am doing things I am really bad at…like flossing and wearing jewelry. Though, I can’t say I’ve weight lifted much this year. Again.

I paid off my car because I am working very hard. I now own a crossover that’s 2 1/2 years old with over 63,000 miles on it. Do your elves make new cars?

I gave money to several charities, mostly in honor of friends and bloggers who had their act much more together than I to do fun things like walk and run to help raise awareness for various diseases and to fund research.

I continue teaching and when my students show up 20 minutes late to an exam and I want to be really, really mean and unprofessional…I refrain.

I even made my students Reindeer Feed and brought them Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins during finals week.

I try to go to bed every night by 10pm because I know that 8 hours of sleep is super important. Mom always told me so.

And then I start each morning with breakfast just like I should. Breakfast…and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

I try to make healthy, yummy meals for Mr. Prevention and I to keep us healthy. I then take a lot of pictures, analyze the nutrition facts, and come to preventionrd.com each day to post all about what we eat for the world to read. I think a few people appreciate finding new recipes to try and ideas to please the pizza and buffalo chicken-lovers in their lives. It’s pretty cool to think of who’s out there reading.

So anyways, Santa…I left these for you. I hope you and your reindeer enjoy them. There’s nothing not to love about an iced sugar cookie, so I left you the recipe.

[print_this]

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies from Allrecipes.com and Christmas Cookie Frosting from Cooks.com

Cookies:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Frosting:
4 cups (1 lb) powdered sugar
2 egg whites
1/4 (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract
food coloring, optional

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

For the frosting: Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Stir in food coloring, if desired. Frost cookies after they have cooled completely. Yield: About 5 dozen (my recipe made 57 cookies).

Nutrition Information (per cookie w/ frosting): 148 calories; 5.7 g. fat; 15 mg. cholesterol; 64 mg. sodium; 23 g. carbohydrate; 0 g. fiber; 1.6 g. protein

[/print_this]

Merry Christmas, Santa!

Love you,