Jeffrey Campbell Wedge Heel

Are these not the perfect winter shoes? Wedge heels to keep you from falling in the snow + a little pewter shine with tights? Yes please.

Jeffrey Campbell, $198 at Urban Outfitters.

Sunday Best v.6

Or more like Monday best! I totally forgot to post this, even though I've been collecting these links all week. My bad!

Sunday Best

• An incredibly authentic Web site for "Parks and Recreation".
• An equally, hilariously authentic Web site for photography by Ryan from The Office.
• My favorite blogger, Dooce, is also learning how to bake, to hilarious results.
• Nietzsche + Family Circus = comedy gold.
• The most beautiful rainy day wedding.
• Happy news from one of my favorite bloggers.
• In honor of the dearly departed Brittany Murphy, a favorite Clueless clip.

Nutella Cookie Sandwiches

We're still baking up a storm (or baking during a storm) here at the Kennedy Compound. This time it was Real Simple's Sugar Cookies. They had a few different suggestions and I decided to try one of them: Nutella Cookie Sandwiches. mmmmm.

First off, you make a flour mixture (unfortunately not pictured) and then beat unsalted butter and sugar (which went much better this time than last time).

I added an egg and vanilla, then gradually added flour until it got so thick I could barely lift the hand mixer. REEEE-DICULOUS.

Then I popped the dough into the fridge for an hour, before laying it out on a floured surface and using a cutter to make tiny little cookies. That dough went back in the fridge to get firm and then into the oven.

I cooked until the edges just started to brown...except for that poor one that didn't quite make it. Oops!

Then I spooned some Nutella into a plastic bag, snipped off the end, and squeezed about a dime-size amount into the center of a cookie, then pressed another on top to make a sandwich. Easy-peasy!

Finally, sprinkled the tops with confectioners' sugar, which frankly made them look more messy than anything else.

A nice spin on the sugar cookie, but I wish they tasted more like those golden oreos. That would be awesome.

Feta-Stuffed Chicken

Chicken breasts are a staple in our freezer. They're easy to prepare for one or two people and versatile. But they can also be really, really boring.

I'm always trying to find new and creative ways to make chicken breasts. I've done Lemon Chicken Scalloppini, Chicken Scalloppine, Chicken Parmigiana, Kansas City BBQ Chicken, and Moroccan Spiced Chicken. And they were all good. But I wanted something different.

So I found this recipe for Feta-Stuffed Chicken through Foodgawker. It was one of the five times in my life I actually had all of the ingredients on hand, so I happily mixed cream cheese, feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes to stuff inside a chicken breast.

Um...ew. Chicken is gross. Anyways, I sliced from the fattest side to create a pocket.

Then stuffed the pocket with the cheese mixture.

I browned the meat in the skillet, then transfered to the oven to bake for about 25 minutes until cooked throughout.

Mmmm. Cheese-stuffed chicken. The verdict: It was good, but not as good as I thought it would be. I LOVE feta and was disappointed to see that the sun-dried tomatoes really overpowered its saltiness. The rest of the chicken also didn't have much flavor, so next time I might try to season it a little more.

REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS: SALMON EDITION

I was recently gifted with a bag full of wild salmon from my boss. As we've discussed before, I have little to no experience cooking fish, but I know many of you are salmon lovers, SO would you do a gal a favor and leave me recipes or links to recipes in the comments section? Or you can e-mail me at newlydomesticated(at)gmail.com. I'll choose the ones that sound most appealing and we'll see how it goes.

Lemon Wreath Cookies

This is the epic story of baking Martha Stewart's Lemon Wreath Cookies.

I started these cookies at 10 p.m. Wednesday unaware that I was at the bottom of the sugar and flour jars. I trudged out to buy more sugar at CVS, dumped it in and then realized it wasn't supposed to be dumped in. So I just tossed it, felt bad for myself and started over Thursday.

I love lemon and I love cookies, so why not lemon cookies? Let's throw it down, shall we?

I zested the crap out of my lemon, then added to sugar and pulsed in the blender for about 2 minutes.

Then I was supposed to add the lemon sugar to 2 sticks of unsalted butter and mix until fluffy. Here is where it would have been really nice to have a KitchenAid standing mixer because I have made so many cookies that I literally was out of high-walled mixing bowls and had to use a smaller one, shielding the rims with my arms as though me and the bowl were dancing. Butter still flew everywhere and I knew better, but what was i supposed to do? Every other mixing bowl was occupied with dough or flour or glaze.

Any way, through some strenuous mixing, I managed to achieve pale and fluffy. I added one egg at a time, beating after each.

Then in went the vanilla and lemon juice (freshly squeezed, thankyouverymuch).

I then slowly added the flour mixture pictured at the top.

I also prepared the lemon glaze -- always delicious. Confectioners sugar + lemon juice = fabulousness.

I took balls of dough and rolled them into little ropes, connecting the ends to form little donut-shaped cookies. Popped them in the oven at 350 degrees for almost 18 minutes, until brown on the sides and bottom.

I dipped each cookie in the glaze, then sprinkled Christmas-y nonpareils on top.

So all of that looked easy enough, right? So explain to me how I was making these cookies from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.? Seriously, I have problems. I think part of it is the lack of proper tools, etc., so hopefully registering for wedding gifts will take care of some of these issues (hint hint!).

Have a great weekend ya'll, and try to enjoy the snow if you get stuck in the house. Sledding is the best thing ever and you should never forget it!

Gift Guide: Moms and Grandmoms

Finishing Salts Collection, $40 at Williams-Sonoma.

Leather gloves, $50 at J.Crew.

Merino Wool Cardigan, $89.50 at J.Crew.

Fierce Floral scarf, $58 at Anthropologie.

Wedgewood ornament, $25 at Wedgewood.
Beatles tote, $16 on Etsy. Perfect for the grocery store or library runs!

Dogwood Cake Stand, $72 by Whitney Smith on Etsy.

Family Tree print, $45 at My Tree and Me.

French-style Macarons (shown in sweet wedding almond), $36 for a box of 24 at Paulette.

Travel soap, $8 at Saipua.

Christmas Wrapping

Am I the only one who obsesses about gift wrap? I'm an aesthete in all senses and ever since I started doing Christmases as an adult, I've picked a color scheme for my wrapping paper and gone with it. My mom kinda objected to the idea of gifts not wrapped in Christmas paper, but let me lay out my reasoning (which I think you'll agree with):

• Wrapping all my gifts in the same color scheme immediately identifies who the gifts are from and also achieves a design aesthetic I find pleasing.
• I only have to buy about 3 to 4 rolls of paper and coordinating ribbon each year and by not buying Christmas paper, I can use it year-round.
• Every year's color scheme usually recycles some colors from the previous year (with some exceptions), which means I am truly using the paper until I run out.
• If you're horrible at wrapping (like I am), you can make up for it by having a visually arresting color scheme and awesome ribbon.

Christmas 2006: I picked a super "I'm a recent college grad who is so excited to be out in the real world" color scheme of hot pink, black and white. This might still be my favorite. I was able to use the paper throughout the year; I even used some of the striped paper for decor projects.

Christmas 07: I was inspired by a magazine cover to use gold and pink, with some kraft paper. The kraft paper turned out to be a great investment, because you can use it for anything. I also used really great faux bois ribbon (the woodgrain velvet ribbon you can see in the background).

Christmas 08: Where my love for teal + red was born. These are my wedding colors now, but I first used them for my gifts last year. I had a LOT of red and white paper left over, so this year is a bit of a repeat.

Christmas 09: This year I'm doing red and purple. I had a LOT of red left over and not much budget for awesome ribbons, so unfortunately the gifts aren't quite as pretty this year. But I tried to spice them up by making tissue paper poms to go on top of gifts, as seen above and below.

It's a pretty girly combo, I have to admit. I'm already thinking about next year; I was thinking blue and yellow, but that could look really IKEA really fast.

Any color combo suggestions for next year? Do you guys do anything special to make wrapping more fun?

Gift Guide: Your Dad who "Doesn't Want Anything"

Help Dad archive his vinyl records with a Crosley USB Turntable, $100+ at Amazon.

Beer of the Month club.

A very classy umbrella, $85 at Pare Umbrella.

A ham. No joke., $32 from Edwards Ham.

Booker's Bourbon, a small-batch, straight-from-the-barrel bourbon, $64 a bottle.

"Manhood for Amateurs" by Michael Chabon, $14 at Amazon.
RFK Stadium Cuff links, also come from Wrigley and Yankee stadiums, $150 at Eco Artware.

Gingham shirt, $55 at J.Crew.

Camp socks, $16.50 at J.Crew.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

At last! Baking success is mine again!

Last night we had tacos and as soon as the dishes were cleared, I set to work on making Chocolate Peppermint Cookies, using a recipe from a Martha Stewart Holiday magazine I bought two years ago (recipe at the bottom).

This time I read the whole recipe before I got to work and noted one potential disaster: it called for using a mixer with a paddle attachment, which I do not have. But I'm happy to report, that didn't stop me!

The recipe called for me to jigger a mixing bowl and a pot of water into a makeshift fondue station. I placed a metal bowl on top of my simmering water and melted 4 ounces of Nestle chocolate chunks and an entire stick of butter (no one is losing any weight in my house).

I was really impressed with this tactic; everything melted slowly and smoothly with no risk of burning or clumping.

Doesn't that look good? I knew that bowl wouldn't be big enough to hold the rest of the ingredients, so I transferred the chocolate mixture to a bigger bowl.

I added sugar, vanilla extract, peppermint extract and three eggs, then mixed.

Then I slowly added a mixture of flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

I refrigerated the dough for about an hour (longer might have been better; this got real soft and melty real fast).

I used an ice cream scoop to shape the dough and then rolled it in my hands, which then looked like they were covered in poop.

Each ball of dough was dipped in crushed peppermint candy canes.

Then placed on parchment-lined baking sheets. They were supposed to be 2 inches apart, but I don't roll like that.

I like to bake them into big messes that then have to be taken apart! They look like uniboobs.

But the important thing is they turned out DELICIOUS. Seriously. I'll be mailing these off to some special someones and also brought some to the office. I recommend all of you try this recipe; it was fairly easy and for all the prep work, the cooking time is only 15 minutes. You could easily prepare the dough one night and cook a day later.

Martha Stewart Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 4 ounces of chopped milk chocolate
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 3 large eggs
• Coarsely crushed peppermint candies (I used candy canes)

1. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
3. Attach bowl to a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. (NOTE: This is jibber-jabber. I don't have a mixer with a paddle attachment; my hand mixer worked just fine.)
4. Add sugar, both extracts and eggs; mix on medium-low speed until combined.
5. Reduce speed to low, mix in flour mixture. Then add 1/3 of the crushed peppermint candy.
6. Refrigerate dough until firm.

30 minutes later

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using an ice cream scoop, form mounds of dough, dip the tops in the candy.
2. Place cookies, candy sides up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spaced 2 inches apart.
3. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until just set, about 15 minutes.
4. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.