Pralines and Crunches: Snow Day

Snowmageddon is upon us. It's been snowing continuously since the early morning and we are under an official Winter Storm Warning until 9 am tomorrow morning. Last night, in preparation for all the expected inches of snow, all of the schools in the area announced closings. My office closed today, as well. Because there was no rush associated with getting out of the house this morning, we had an egg-and-bacon breakfast in our breakfast area by the window, while watching the backyard getting covered in snow and contemplating the strength of the pool cover.

Uncured bacon (no nitrates or nitrities) and Omega-3 eggs

After breakfast, the kids settled in for a comfortable day of TV watching in the basement (I know), and Bill and I settled in for a comfortable day of working on our computers, since whether or not our offices are closed, there is still work to be done. Bill's work and Emily's TV watching were punctuated by two snow-clearing missions. Alexis so wanted to join them in all the snow-shoveling but was told that (a) she needed to be 7 years old to be allowed to shovel snow (we made this on up on the spot); (b) she didn't have her own shovel; and (c) we were suspecting this activity would violate some state child-labor law. Surprisingly, Alexis accepted these arguments, made us promise that we will buy her a kid-sized pink shovel for her 7th-birthday, and agreed to watch Doc McStuffins instead.

And since no snow day is complete without cookies, the girls and I baked these delicious gluten-free chocolate chunk cookies by Immaculate Baking Company. As much as I love to bake from scratch, I don't always have the time to do that, which is when pre-made options come in. The Immaculate Baking products are my favorite, since they are clean and don't have any of the usual offenders; no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial flavors, no hydrogenated fats. I usually buy them at Whole Foods and was pleasantly surprised to see them at The Fresh Market. The girls decorated them with M&Ms. I tried to steer them toward the Unreal Candy, but didn't succeed this time. I prefer the Unreal Candy version of M&Ms because it has no artificial ingredients, no GMOs, no corn syrup, and no preservatives.