Simplify your holidays!

Last year, Ry and I spent our Christmas morning out in North Shore, passing out lunch, gifts and bags full of groceries to the less fortunate. It was an amazing experience, and one that I’m hoping to jump in on again this year. (Those are alllll the grocery bags in the pic above. I forgot to take pictures of the actual event! ><)

This year, I’m once again participating in Kanu Hawaii’s “Simplify the Holidays” campaign.  It’s pretty simple, as the title states, the goal of this campaign is not only to reduce the ridiculous amounts of trash accumulated during the holiday season, but to really focus on giving from the heart and spending quality time with the people we love.

I had originally pledged to give gifts of time, but since most of my coworkers and friends wouldn’t be THAT excited to get a coupon from me, I’ve decided to give them some baked goods instead! I’m putting them in glass storage containers and wrapping them in chico-bags, for the full effect. (They already know this, so if those that actually read my blog shouldn’t be surprised! Hehe)

Since I’ve been busy with studying for finals and some crazy work deadlines, I’m making this “filler post” of recipes that I’ll be using for this year’s holiday gift-baking:

Pumpkin Crunch (The downside is that this doesn’t keep long since it needs to be kept in the fridge. Make sure to let them know it’s perishable!)

Granola bars – Easy and quick to make, and hopefully a tad bit more healthy than some of the other things I’ll be stuffing in those bags! Hehe.

Chex Mix! This is actually from  last year, a recipe stolen from my friend’s mom. 2 pounds of butter. Hopefully I’m giving all of this away or the cholesterol ninja will totally kick my butt. Hahaha.

I think I’m also going to make Muddy buddies, the choco-peanut butter-powdered sugar version of chex mix. I read somewhere that it’s pretty amazing on popcorn, so I might try that out too.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies – Since I made these last year, I haven’t made them again. Mostly because I absolutely HATED taking off the wrapping from ALL 30+ pb cups. However, I came back from Vegas with a box of unwrapped mini pb cups from Trader Joe’s…so I’m thinking this is up for round 2!

Speaking of round 2′s, I’m going to try a new recipe for the Caramel Cuts that I attempted to make all those months ago. This recipe was sent over from @joooo way back when I made it the first time.

Of course, no holiday is complete without NEW recipes…so you can bet I’ve been scouring through the internets and bookmarking some pretty exciting treats.

Picky Palate has been one of my new favorite go-to blogs with all of her unique sweets! I mean, seriously,  Brownie covered oreos? How can I RESIST? Hehe.

Anyway, before I start going down a long list of sweets I can’t wait to try out over the holiday break from school, back to the point at hand!

This season, join the campaign! Simplify the Holidays and make a commitment at Kanu Hawaii today!  :) Happy Holidays~

Tags: Brownies & Bars, Dessert, Going Green, Holidays, Recipes, Websites