I cannot help but sing many different songs to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree.”

I make up words to this tune, silly words, while driving the kids around town. And I could just as easily make up a holiday-cookie-baking version of the song… if I really wanted to.

Singing or not singing, it is the time of year to bring out the flour, sugar and butter and mix them into round, square and otherwise cut-out cookies. My son loves to make this particular recipe. The recipe originated from my beat-up, soft cover Betty Crocker Cookbook (from when I was a kid); you know, the fancy twisted candy cane cookies? But over the years and birthdays and broken candy canes, it has become a multi-colored log that we slice and bake as ’rounds.’

It still tastes as good.

And we alter the colors according to the event. When we cheer for our team, it is purple and gold swirled together; for my son’s birthday it was blue and yellow. And for Christmas, well you would think—and could go with—red and green. But in our case, my son chose ice blue. And we rolled the log in red and green sugar before slicing. (Recipe below).

Oh, and speaking of variations on the Oh Christmas Tree song? My sons picked up this hilarious version; be careful, you will start singing it at the most inopportune times:

“Oh Todd the Toad”

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?
Did you not see the big red truck?
For now you are a hockey puck.

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?
Did you not see that rolling car?
For now you are a piece of tar.

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?
You used to be so big and fat,
And now you are so very flat.

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?
You used to eat a fly or two,
But now the flies are eating you.

Oh Todd the Toad
Oh Todd the Toad
Why did you hop onto the road?

Keep singing and make:

Hockey Puck Cookies
1 cup shortening (or half shortening, half butter)
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp food coloring (split the dough in 2 and use 2 different colors, if desired; roll together into log)
optional: crushed candy cane, colored sugar for rolling

Oven to 375 degrees. Mix well first five ingredients; blend, then add salt and flour. Color dough. Roll into 1 1/2 inch log; roll in colored sugar/crushed candy canes. Cut in 1/2 - 3/4 inch slices. Bake for 9 minutes. If after singing and baking, you have developed a great affection for Todd the Toad, consider coloring the hockey pucks green.

I am all about finding little helpful tricks in the kitchen, if only to make me feel ’smart.’ Tricks sometimes save you time, but there are those that don’t. With a lot of kitchen ideas and doo-dads out there, it is essential to wade through all the ‘good things’ to find what works for you and what doesn’t. I am increasingly fond of ice cube trays. Not necessarily if they are blue or red or silicone or heart-shaped. So what is the attraction? Ice cube trays:

1. Save me time: I make pesto from scratch and freeze them in ice cube size portions. Later I can pop pesto into soups, risottos or on top of focaccia for a quick, easy appetizer. If I have lemons and limes that might go bad, I take the liberty of squeezing out all that yummy citrus juice and freezing it—in trays—for later.

2. Make drinks look good: On Top Chef’s first season, one of the candidates served up a drink with one, huge square ice cube (instead of a pile of little ones). It looked very savvy and makes the drinker feel special. Change up the size and style of your ice cubes to add interest. Also, feel free to freeze cranberries or citrus wedges inside ice cubes to include some artistic effects in your cocktails.

3. Are great for centerpiece-making: This centerpiece would be a punch bowl. Use a bundt pan as a circle or ‘wreath’ of ice. Fill with rosemary sprigs and cranberries for Christmas, cherries for Valentines or any other colorful items that fit a given party-theme. In fact items don’t HAVE to be edible to freeze in a ring and serve up in a bowl of punch: for Halloween try a bunch of wiggly worms, plastic spiders and flies. A birthday punch bowl could be filled with all sorts of plastic toys and goodies. But let’s talk Valentines Day: heart shaped candy, a necklace, or some sort of message in a bottle.

Let me clarify: I feel smart in the kitchen when I am saving myself time, as with the citrus or pesto cubes. I feel smart in the kitchen when I appear savvy, artistic and clever as with decorating drinks and punch bowls. I don’t feel so smart when my attempts backfire like the time I tried to freeze red hot candies in ice cubes to create a bloodletting, red hot flavored drink for Halloween. The candies all sunk to the bottom of the ice cube trays and the red dye came off. And it tasted, well, nasty. That wasn’t so smart, but alas the pathway to success is often many rounds of failure: and recognizing that is smart indeed.

Here are more interesting ice cube trays:

• Lego ice cube trays
• A variety of molds
• Light up ice cubes
• History of ice cube trays

Yes—I too ate the boxed version of macaroni and cheese in college. I would add smokies and/or broccoli to give it a little color and flavor (my other main indulgence was making Big Gulp size lattes on the $30 Krups espresso machine, back in the day we actually thought it was ‘expresso’). For the record, I would read Gourmet and Bon Apetit magazines while eating said boxed macaroni and cheese.

Collegiate foodisms behind, I now happily gulp coffee from talented baristas at Zoka, Fuel and Vivace—and make macaroni from scratch. Though I changed it a bit, the original recipe is from Pasta & Co, one of my favorite gourmet take-out shops in Seattle. (I am secretly proud that my kids don’t like boxed macaroni, though perhaps I have robbed them of classic feel-good, widely-popular commaraderie over boxed mac ‘n’ cheese).

Don’t cringe—it isn’t too much work: most importantly, you can double the recipe and freeze a whole bunch for later (I use small, aluminum mini loaf pans to serve 1-2). Then all you have to do is whip it from freezer to oven and dinner is served! When you aren’t sure about what to serve guests, or are wary of their diverse palates and dietary needs, this dish is a very safe choice. All you need to do to make it a special meal is add some special sides and salads or sausages, or maybe some olives and bruschetta. Last time I served this meal for guests (some of whom were vegetarian), I rounded out the flavors with a Pesto & Spinach Salad and Roasted Roma Tomatoes.

Macaroni & Cheese
12 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
12 oz mozzarella cheese
3 cups whole milk (I use whole)
7 T butter
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
1-2 tsp tabasco or other hot sauce
pinch white pepper
1 pound dried rigatoni
3/4 tsp paprika or chili powder to sprinkle on top
2/3 cup milk

Grate cheeses, mix together in bowl and set aside. Boil water and cook pasta about 5 minutes (it will cook more later in oven), drain and set aside. Heat 3 c. milk in saucepan until nearly boiling, off the heat. In huge skillet or saucepan cook butter (medium) until foam subsides, add flour and stir over medium low heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir in hot milk, raise heat to medium high and stir to thicken, 5 minutes. Whisk in Parmesan, Tabasco and white pepper. Add pasta, stir to cover.

Oven at 375, fill bottom of 9×13 pan with half the pasta mix. Sprinkle half the cheese over top; repeat. Sprinkle top with paprika. (You may freeze portions at this point). Pour 3/4 cup milk over dish; bake for 1 hour. If frozen add 20 minutes. Serves 8-10.

Note: make some and freeze some, this dish is very forgiving on the proportions. Feel free to use different size baking dishes. (And don’t forget to have your kids assemble this one! They love making layers and seeing quick results!).

Oh for the love of pesto. This is one of my ‘make it easier on myself later’ tricks that I employ in my kitchen. No doubt there are a million more tricks to discover: I love the thrill of finding that next one (find other tricks in Tomatoease). When the basil is abundant—and especially when I buy a voluminous bunch at the store—rather than let it go to waste, I make it into pesto for ‘Later.’

This pesto freezes well in ice cube trays; I later use a ‘cube’ at a time to infuse minestrone, add interest to focaccia, upgrade risotto or fold fresh flavor into alfredo sauce. Pasta with pesto is an easy side dish, especially if all you have to do is drop a cube into already hot pasta, stir and serve. Next to some grilled chicken or as a start to a great pasta salad, freshly made frozen pesto provides a magical touch each and every time you use it.

And the steps to making this pesto are even easier with a little helper by your side. Though not so little, my 10 year old son tore all the basil leaves from the stem, added all the ingredients to the food processor and blended away. The next time you need some pesto ‘Now,’ pursposefully make much-too-much, place in ice cube trays (once frozen put in ziploc bag), so you can enjoy pesto ‘Later.’

Pesto
2 heaping T pine nuts
3 cloves minced garlic
4 T parmesan, grated
Big pinch Kosher or coarse salt
10 grinds coarse pepper
1 1/4 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil

Add all ingredients except olive oil. Process to blend; add 1/4 cup of the olive oil and process. Add the rest of the olive oil, process. Put into ice cube trays to freeze, pop out and keep in ziploc freezer bags for future, random and ease-of use.