secret recipe club: almond butter cookies

it must be this time of year: i am craving cookies like crazy. not fancy, fussy kind, but more of the slice and bake or drop variety. last month, jason and i were out somewhere, eating some kind of almond flavored dessert - a cake, maybe? - when he casually mentioned that it had been a long time since i made anything almond flavored. he was right and i've been on the lookout for an easy almond cookie ever since. when i spied these iced lemon butter cookies at cooking mimi for this month's secret recipe club, i knew with some simple swaps, i could have exactly what i wanted.

coffee blondies

every once in a while, a girl  needs a non-chocolate sweet treat, know what i mean? while perusing my pinterest boards a couple weeks ago, i realize i don't make bars and brownies nearly enough - considering i still have 90+ pinned on my board. considering how easy and delicious they usually are, i need to add them to my holiday baking list.

my favorite 30-or-less minute meals

lately i've been on the lookout for easy weeknight dinners that can be made in 30 minutes or less. bonus if they are relatively light, nutritious, and toddler friendly. as i was going through my archives, i realized there are almost 100 posts in "dinners in 30 or less" - 96 to be exact - and many of them are worth repeating. here are a few of my favorites -

creamy chicken stew with bacon

ah, leftovers. i am going to skip right past thanksgiving, since i've never cooked a thanksgiving dinner and don't plan to anytime in the near future, and head straight to leftovers. i made this soup a couple weeks ago with chicken, but there's no reason not to sub it out for turkey. looking for other uses for leftover turkey? check out a few of my favs after the break.

poached pear & brie salad

while nothing has been able to knock my fall apple chicken salad with maple mustard vinaigrette out of the top spot as my absolute favorite salad, this one isn't far behind. sweet poached pears, brie, and candied walnuts are a delicious combination - try topping sliced baguette with them and toasting, just enough to melt the cheese. with so much flavor, a basic balsamic vinaigrette tops this salad off perfectly. don't let the time throw you off - you can poach the pears a day or two before and keep them in the refrigerator. assembling the salad itself takes all of 10 minutes.