TGFB Cookie Swap: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my favorite blogs posted a few weeks ago about the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! I absolutely love the idea of getting packages of delicious goodies in the mail (who doesn't?) so I of course joined in on the fun!

We each were supposed to bake 3 dozen of the same cookie and ship one dozen to 3 other bloggers that we were matched with. In return we get three dozen different cookie packages back! It's a win-win!!

I looked through a lot of cookie recipes and decided to do one I've never done before. I also look through the blogs of my matches to check out there style and taste. I settled on a Southern Living cookie recipe and added my own twists.

They really came out great and were perfect for shipping. If you have relatives in far places and you want to bake some love to send to them, this is a keeper! The oatmeal in these wasn't over powering it  was mainly there for a bit of texture and chewiness.

This oatmeal cookie also had no raisins. I not a fan of raisins in my cookies and neither was one of my matches so that worked out great. The chocolate chips instead of raisins was a great swap and was just delicious in this oatmeal cookie!

Pin it, bookmark it, but definitely bake it! They were outstanding!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

These are my current obsession! Finally a healthy, delicious, sweet snack! The bars are chewy and very peanut butter-y. You can really play around with what other things you'd like to add to it. For this one I added dried apricots, cashews, and chocolate chips!

The great things about granola bars are many. You can use them as a snack. They are great on the go and kids love them. You can carry them hiking or on a walk or just to the office. You can crumble them over yogurt. And these also make great gifts during the holidays or anytime!

These really knock out hunger. There is protein in the nuts and peanut butter and fiber in the brown rice cereal and wheat germ. The recipe is so adaptable so play with it and let me know your favorite add-in's!

Hostess with the Mostest - Italian Rosemary Bread

I'm of the belief that if someone invites me to their home and cooks me dinner, I shouldn't show up empty handed. Hostess gifts are also so much fun if you don't wait till your on your way to the party to think about it. If that does happen, grabbing a bottle of wine is always a nice gesture.

However food makes a great hostess gift and the presentation is my favorite part. Recently, we were invited to a formal dinner party where I gave the hostess this gift.

Two homemade loaves of Italian Rosemary Bread and  a bottle of her favorite type of wine wrapped in argyle socks. Just the wine and socks is a cute gift, I think.

I also made this gift box out of a shoe box and left over burlap from my fabric stash and some ribbon. It turned out beautiful and the hostess loved it.

This bread is delicious with just about anything! Make sure you put it in a plastic baggie if it's not going to be eaten that day. Also after 3-5 days, if you want to make it last a little longer, throw it in the fridge. This bread is also great frozen if you want to eat one loaf and save the other loaves.