Ingredients:

A container of your choice, a glass jar

1 – 1 1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

Scented oil

Directions:

1. Pour the white sugar and olive oil into a bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly until the ingredients are well blended. Add the scented oil of your choice and mix together.

3. Put the sugar and oil mixture into your container of choice.

3. Label the jar and and tie a bow on it!

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1. Chocolate Covered Popcorn. Super simple and gourmet looking! Also, fun to package in a special way.

2. Homemade Strawberry Jam. My Nana’s recipe! So sweet and perfect for a piece of toast or a pb&j sandwich. Something I have grown up with and now can’t live without.

3. Cookies! There are tons of different kinds of cookies I love to make and share. I will post a few of my favorites.

4. Hot cocoa and biscotti. Everyone loves a glass of hot cocoa! Pair a cute glass container with a few pieces of fresh biscotti for a festive gift.

5. Cookies in a Jar. I haven’t made these since I was in high school, but they are great gifts! Supercharge me cookies anyone?!

I plan to put a healthy twist on all of the gifts I give out this season so we will see how that goes!

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This super simple gift only takes main three ingredients:

• Air popped popcorn
• Dark Chocolate or Chocolate Almond Bark
• White Chocolate or White Almond Bark
• Sea salt

1. Pop 10-12 cups of popcorn with an air popper (or use butterless microwave popcorn)
2. Melt 4 blocks of chocolate in the microwave
3. Place the popcorn on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or foil to make easy clean up.
4. Drizzle the chocolate on the popped popcorn and add sea salt while the chocolate is still not dry so it will stick.
5. Melt 2 blocks of white chocolate and drizzle on the chocolate popcorn.
6. Let cool, harden and dry. Then package in clear bags with fun bows!
7. Share with the ones you love!

Enjoy!

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1. Polar Heart Rate Monitor. This simple gadget is great for working out and making sure you make your workouts worth it. It usually costs about $100 and can be found at any major sports store or possibly at your gym.

2. Subscription to a Health magazine. Giving the gift of fitness/nutrition knowledge is great because it keeps giving all year. I love getting magazines and look forward to everything they have to offer each month. A few of my favorite choices are: Health, Fitness, Women’s Health, Clean Eating, Cooking Light and Martha Stewart’s Living. I also make sure Brady gets Men’s Health.

3. Simple exercise equipment. Give a friend who has been trying to get in shape a simple piece of equipment to add to her collection. A kettle ball, a set of light dumbells, a yoga mat or an exercise band are all good and inexpensive choices.

4. A healthy cookbook. I have a HUGE obsession with cookbooks and have a few on my list this year. Think about the type of person you are buying for and get them a book that fits their style – quick healthy meals, vegan recipes, feeding the family on a budget, or crockpot favorites. What ever their style, make it personal. Some of my favorites are Moosewood Low-fat Vegetarian Cookbook, Tosca Reno’s Clean Eating, Ellie Krieger, Eat Drink and Be Vegan and Cooking Light’s Annual recipes.

5. A personal training session. If you know someone who is trying to get in better shape get them a session with a personal trainer. By giving them an hour or a few half hour sessions you could help them to get motivated and on the right track with fitness. If you can, join them during the session! Usually it is cheaper to train with more than one person and it will be more fun! Plus, you can keep working out together when you are done with the training sessions.

I will be back with more Christmas ideas coming your way! Do you have any ideas for me to add to the list? Let me know, I would love to hear from you!

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Grandma’s Classic Coffee Cake

• 1 box of yellow cake mix
• 1 stick of melted butter
• 1 c. light sour cream
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 4 eggs
• cinnamon and brown sugar for the middle (about 1/2 cup

Mix all ingredients together and put half of the mixture in bundt pan. Cover cake batter with the cinnamon and brown sugar.  Add the rest of the cake mix and bake at 350 for an hour.

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