Peanut Butter Nutella Sugar Cookies.

It's Houseful of Cookies time again!!!

And I'll admit, I'm getting this shared right under the wire, folks. 

I had a different plan, was missing an ingredient, and so I decided to go with simple and delicious, with a hope that y'all enjoy these just as much as I do.

Peanut Butter Nutella Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c peanut butter* 

1 c sugar

1/2 c Nutella

1 egg

splash vanilla extract (optional, but makes it better)

Optional ingredient: caramel bits

* honestly, when it comes to peanut butter I'm going to suggest you skip the health food store kind - only because I don't know how well that will do!

Steps:

Mix together the peanut butter and the sugar. 

Add in the Nutella. 

Toss in an egg.

Add the vanilla extract (if you want to!).

Roll into balls and bake at 350 degrees for about 13 minutes. 

Check on them in case you're unsure of how well they've cooked. I put mine in for a bit longer and one or two cookies burned at the bottom. No clue why those two acted up. But it's okay, they're still edible!

Honestly, the cookies taste even better with the caramel bits. You can pop a few in while the cookies are just about to cool, which lets them melt a little and sit perfectly. 

You can also try melting them and drizzling on top of the cookie - which is delicious and also something I did not have the capacity for this fine evening. 

Either way, I hope you enjoy these cookies - and all the others the Houseful of Cookies participants have shared this year.

Houseful of Cookies 2020!

Houseful Of Nicholes - Dumpster Cookies 

Day By Day In Our World - Granola Cookies

Honest & Truly - Spiced Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Love Jaime - Snowball Cookies 

How Was Your Day? - Lingonberry Thumbprints

Mama Harris' Kitchen - Cranberry Pistachio Citrus Cookies 

This Worthey Life - White Chocolate Cranberry & Chocolate Cookies

Someday I'll Learn - Easiest Christmas Cookies

Life Of A Ginger - Chocolate Candy Cane Kiss Cookies 

100 Directions - Easy Chocolate Peppermint Fudge Brownie Mix Cookies

Brooklyn Active Mama - Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

Sugar, Spice, and Glitter - Glazed Gingerbread Cookies

Good Girl Gone Redneck - Peanut Butter Nutella Sugar Cookies 

Care to check out my Houseful of Cookies recipes from previous years? 

2016: Graham Cracker Pecan Toffee Squares

2017: Perfect Holiday Saltine Toffee Treat

2019: Chocolate Rolo Surprise Cookies

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Super Simple Cauliflower Soup

This cauliflower soup recipe will change your life.

I'm not kidding.

You're going to be so surprised at how easy it is to make that you're going to start making it from scratch all the time.

I promise.

p.s. a few links throughout this post will bring you to amazon.com and enable you to shop while supporting good girl gone redneck.

You CAN make this soup with just three ingredients if you want to.

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Chocolate Rolo Surprise Cookies

It's that time of year again! Time for the annual Houseful of Cookies blog hop!!

What more could you want than a list of incredible recipes for you to enjoy and make for your loved ones this holiday season?

Nothing, right? I know, me, neither.

Houseful of Cookies is an annual, virtual cookie hop, hosted by Natasha Nicholes of Houseful of Nicholes. She really likes playing on the "Houseful" theme when there is more than one of something, and since there's more than one cookie ... here we are.

Each year Natasha gathers a bunch of us together from the internet to bake up our epic cookie creations and share them with all of you. It's a fun time, and we all have dealt with butter, flour, and a number of flavors to bring you these goodies every year.

I'm going to start you off with my recipe for this year's virtual cookie hop. I'm offering up one of the simplest of recipes for y'all.

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Life Takes Hold

Hello, friends.

I have not written in a while.

Quite possibly over a month. Maybe longer?

Life took hold of me and didn't let go.

I'm quite active on social media.

You know how that goes.

It's my norm.

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Community.

This morning I was catching up on Instagram Stories.

I like to see what my friends are up to, and yes, some of these people I watch and check up on I do consider friends. Not just blogging boos or celebs that I keep an eye on, or expert chefs and the like.

And I caught some clips of Kita in the Dark with my friend It's Really Kita.

She was talking about community.

I told her that I thought she just gave me the prompt for my next blog post.

And so here I am.

The part of her story that jumped out at me first was the mention of the dreaded ole' emergency contact.

Goodness.

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November.

image from pixabay

It's November.

Which, in the blogging universe, can mean, for some, that it's National Blog Posting Month.

NaBloPoMo.

It's weird. It's strange. It's normal, really.

So many of us do this, and we don't even know why.

So many of us decide, THIS is the month we'll get back to our blogs.

And so we do.

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Is There Anybody Out There?

Hello, dear friends.

Remember me?

Oh, how quickly they forget.

I'm Andrea.

Good Girl Gone Redneck.

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Cantina 18 Raleigh

Cameron Village, a wonderful shopping center in Raleigh, NC is the perfect place for Cantina 18. And these beautiful summery nights are the perfect time to head over there and try out their delicious Southwestern fare with, as they describe it, a Southern drawl.

I had the opportunity to attend a hosted event there about a month ago and since I'm so delayed on all the things I haven't had the chance to get a detailed post up until - well - now.

We had an opportunity to try out some of the items on the Cantina 18 catering menu, and everything was delicious. The setting of the Cantina 18 restaurant is really perfect. I loved being upstairs with the wide open windows and view of the sky over across the parking lot. Sounds weird, I know, but it was a really pretty night. Now, before you ask what I was drinking in order to think the parking lot looked pretty - remember I said the SKY - and that I started off the evening with a refreshing beverage and switched to water soon after. But, looking for a place to say cheers with your friends? This is it.

Now, listen, I have no idea what sort of magic was in the queso, I only wish I'd discovered it sooner. I dove right in, even after enjoying their buffet of fajita deliciousness. I'd pretty much marry the queso if that was an option. In fact, I really wish I had some right now.

Oooh, this queso and the nachos from either Maverick's Smokehouse and Tap Room or Top Of The Hill - sigh, now I really want ALLLLL the nachos.

Anyway, the queso was incredible. All of the food was. I shared a few pics on Instagram to show y'all just how happy it made me. Each and every bite.

Oh - let me not forget that I really need to thank my girl Kate of Life of a Ginger for getting me out of the house! We went to enjoy this meal together and had, as always, a fantastic time.

A huge thanks to the team at Cantina 18 in Raleigh for hosting us. The food was incredible and I definitely plan on coming back - especially for more of that queso!

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Intentions.

We all do things with good intentions.

I started blogging for the month of November and fell a bit short.

I didn't feel horribly disappointed. Life got in the way. I did my best. And that has to be good enough. Right?

It happens sometimes.

We do our best.

We try.

We feel as though we fall short.

We watch others succeed and are SO FREAKING HAPPY FOR THEM.

And we insist that we're not experiencing the 'why not me?' feelings.

And that's true.

I believe that.

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Shopping Small With Two Of My Favorite Creators

image obtained for free from Pixabay

We all know what holiday shopping is like. We head to the malls and the big box stores and find ourselves exhausted and wishing we could pick up some Starbucks and head home to snuggle up on the couch and binge watch our favorite shows.

Just me?

I have been doing much of my shopping online for years. And every year I try to support small businesses, not just for Shop Small Saturday, or whatever it's actually called. But because I love supporting people as best I can - especially when they're friends!

Many of my friends have incredible talents. I'm sharing two of them with you here to help you support small businesses this holiday season.

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The Perfect Holiday Saltine Toffee Treat

Hey, y'all. Here it is. 

I told you it was coming! 

I'm participating in this year's Houseful of Cookies event. 

There are some amazing sounding cookie recipes available for you. Seriously. After you check out mine you'll find a full list at the end of this post. 

But don't skip mine or I'll cry. Or something. 

For this year's Houseful of Cookies I've got a recipe that's similar to what I shared last year. I'm honestly not sure which I prefer. I kind of love them both for different reasons.

And if you were around last year then you know that when it comes to holiday baking, I'm all about delicious and somewhat easy recipes. Honestly? The fewer ingredients the better - because I love keeping things simple. Like five ingredients kinda simple. [I'm including some affiliate links to these ingredients in case you want to buy them immediately!]

This recipe has been a family favorite for years and I know I'm going to have to hide them from myself for a bit or I'll find that I'm eating the entire batch.

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Maverick's Smokehouse and Taproom in Durham, NC

Last week I had an opportunity to enjoy dinner hosted by Maverick's Smokehouse and Taproom in Durham.

It. Was. Amazing.

I went with my friend Kate from Life of a Ginger, and we ordered the BBQ nachos with pulled chicken (as seen in the photo above^). Oh my sweet goodness - they were amazing. I think I ate too much of them as I wouldn't let our waitress take the plate away, even when she brought us our completely full trays of food for the main meal.

Now, I ordered the smoked southern brined fried chicken.

I've never tasted fried chicken like this before. Ever.

The skin was really delicious, but I'll be honest, I picked through a lot of it to get to that smoky chicken. It was so strange - you could tell how delicious it was going to be - and yet, still find yourself surprised at how good it actually was.

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NaBloPoMo: Slight Detour

Yesterday I didn't post. I think it's pretty impressive that I made it this far with the kind of fall we've been having in my household.

But yesterday was one of my busiest workdays. And last night I ended up getting a chance to go see Coco - Disney/Pixar's latest animated film.

It was so cute, but that's neither here nor there right this second.

I didn't post.

Now, I did write a piece for another site I work for, but that didn't go live so I'm considering it a missed opportunity for me to complete an entire month of November.

That said - I'm okay with it.

I seriously have so many posts in the works right now.

I'm going to be participating in Houseful of Cookies again this year with Natasha of Houseful of Nicholes. So keep your eyes peeled for that post later this week.

Last year I shared the amazingly delicious Graham Cracker Pecan Toffee Squares. If you haven't tried them yet? Please go on and make yourself a batch this holiday season. I can promise you - you will thank me. You may hate me - but you'll still thank me.

I've also got a review coming up that local friends will absolutely want to see. I went to dinner at Maverick's Smokehouse and Taproom in Durham and it was delicious.

I'm overdue a few book reviews. I want to try to get through at least one of the Nonfiction November reads I'm in the thick of before November is over, ya know?

But for tonight I'm going to hit publish shortly. Because my kiddo is in need of rest, as am I. She's got herself a bit of a fever and I'm hoping it's the same 24-hr thing I went through a few weeks ago. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'm going to make myself some soup tomorrow. Possibly a few different batches. Or maybe I'll just do one a day over the rest of the lonnnng holiday weekend.

I have this post that includes 9 Soup Recipes to keep you warm and cozy this fall.

And I've also got my eye on this Flu-Fighter Soup from my friend Susan of That Susan Williams. That one might be first on my list.

And if you find yourself tired of turkey over the weekend and in need of something that'll cook itself? Head on over to my Crockpot Recipe Round-Up post and pick one of these eleven delicious looking recipes for your family.

So - there you have it. Day 21. Minus one.

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Halfway There

I'm totally phoning it in tonight.

I started the day off right, drafting a post early-ish this morning and I was like, YES! I'm going to be done in advance.

And then?

No.

See. I wanted to share some fun graphic tees, and no, that's not a tangent off of the graphic novels I just shared, although it is a little bit ironic (dontcha think?).

But then I realized that so many of the tees I was sharing were going to be gone tomorrow, and there's nothing more annoying than sharing stuff that vanishes, because what's it all about [Alfie] then?

Please tell me you got the Alfie reference. Because if you didn't I'm going to feel - oh - about 90.

Anyway.

It's still NaBloPoMo and I'm still going strong. Or slightly strong.

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I Was (And Am) Down For The Count

soup image obtained on pixabay

When I'm down for the count I don't usually pull out the laptop and start writing.

Actually, not true.

Sometimes I do.

It's the place I go, this blog, to talk about all of the things.

But last night I got so sick so quickly that I spiked a fever and had a stomach bug all at once and there was no way in heck I was successfully making it through NaBloPoMo.

But then - whoop! Saved!

I wrote a post for Midlife Boulevard, my home away from home when it comes to talking about books, and it went live yesterday.

And so - my streak continues. This totally counts, people.

Because I say so.

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Saturday. In The Park.

My daughter and I did a charity walk this morning.

It was the perfect day for it.

Even got a bit chilly after a while.

Like, actual fall temperatures chilly.

And look at those colors.

It even LOOKS like fall here in North Carolina.

Shocking, I know!

Now - the important stuff - why did we walk?

We walked today in support of UNC Children's Hospital.

I'm a member of the UNC Children's Hospital Digital Influencer Advisory Board, and this is the first time I've been able to stand up and be counted on behalf of this incredible community. I was so proud to participate - and thrilled to introduce my daughter to the incredible work that UNC Children's does for the families they support.

Today's walk for #UNCChildrenshospital was a lot of fun. It was chilly and overcast, but no rain! The kiddo and I enjoyed wandering around the #Raleigh course and then returning to the park for face painting and bouncing around. It's not too late to help #SupportUNCKids - let me know if you'd like to contribute and I'll direct you to our donation page! #motherhood #parenting #365feministselfie #fitnessselfie #fitspiration 👟 #itsfallyall 🍁🍂🍃🌾#longhairdontcare #happinessis #familyselfie

A post shared by Andrea Bates (@goodgirlgonered) on Nov 4, 2017 at 1:59pm PDT

UNC Children's is a top-tier academic medical center that works to deliver world-class family-centered care to all families - regardless of their ability to pay. 

You can still make a donation to support the every day efforts of UNC Children's Hospital, whether you do so through my fundraising page or their general website.

And I know this is an abbreviated post, but in all honesty? I should have written it earlier.

And?

I'm tired.

But to wrap it up I say thanks to my friend Lisa of A Daily Pinch for inviting me to be part of this advisory board and the event. It's a privilege to be considered for such an opportunity, and I look forward to spending more time introducing you to the incredible community that is UNC Children's in the future.

P.S. Here's a quick pic of me with Lisa today. It's been years since I've seen her, so a hug and some quality chat time was required!

* I was not compensated in any way for this post. My role on the UNC Digital Influencers Advisory Board is completely voluntary and I receive no compensation for any support I give to the organization. * 

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I Need To Write Earlier In The Day

this image was obtained via pixabay

I'm so tired right now.

Today was a long long day.

I spent much of it doing parenting and co-parenting things.

My emotions wavered a bit on and off, but I did okay.

Tonight when my daughter returned home I was exhausted.

So very tired.

I should have written something sooner.

It's National Blog Posting Month, why didn't I write earlier today?

Because I was tired, dang it.

Super tired.

Drained.

Remember yesterday? That whole motherhood thing?

It got better, but I was still carrying some of it around with me.

That weight is a heavy one - for sure.

Anyway, I need to get better at this writing earlier in the day thing.

Because here I am. It's 10:00 at night. And I don't want to write.

But there's no way I'm going down on day 3 of NaBloPoMo.

Nope. Nuh-uh.

Not.

Me.

So.

Here I am.

Writing before I say good night.

Sweet dreams, y'all.

Or good morning - depending on when you're checking in and reading this.

When do you sit down to write?

Spill it in the comments and let me know what motivates you!

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Friday Free Write: Good Eats

So. I know. It's another Friday. In case you haven't noticed, I've been working pretty hard around here. I finally got my new header live. I'm excited about this. I love it. It's got the look and feel I've wanted to have over on my site for a while. A lonnnnng while.

Unfortunately, the template/format isn't exactly the way I wanted, but I worked on it for a hot minute the other morning and pulled something together. It's not perfect, but it's going to be. Whenever I find my way back to perfection, or something.

Anyway, today's post is a free write about some good eats. Including pictures.

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What To Bring To A Blog Conference

Let's be real - you're headed to your first blogging conference and you have 957 things on your mind. I hear you. I was you. I've been you. I even AM you.

It's not my first conference, I've been to several. And I've even written lists like this before.

So, you may be asking, why am I writing another one?

I don't know - likely because I need my own current packing list - and what better place to create one than on my own blog, right?

If you're like me and headed to BlogHer next week - you need to have a look at this list and determine which items apply to you - or interpret them in a way that works for you.

You may find some shopping links scattered throughout this post to help you purchase what you need asap. These are affiliate links and support Good Girl Gone Redneck, so thanks for using them!

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5 Reasons You Haven't Been Writing and What To Do Next

It can be hard to be a blogger these days.

We write because we love to write. We write because we want to write.

And then, well, we write for so many other reasons.

And sometimes we just don't write at all.

Here are five reasons you (fine, maybe *I*) haven't been writing and how to take them on.

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