Eat cheap, stay healthy, be happy.: Cheap, tasty and not-so-sinful treats

First of all, we got our new camera! It's a Canon SD1200, and I love it!

We got the silver one!

Of course, we had to try it out first-on some of our favorite models...

Cooper and Callie are ready for their close-ups!

This new arrival was just in time for my holiday baking post, so I can add in pictures of all my sweet temptations!

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to cook, and over the past few years (thanks to my increasing patience and knowledge gained at school) I have grown to love baking as well. The bottom line is, "cooking is an art, and baking is a science." Just doesn't sound very fun or tempting when you think of it that way, does it?!

Once you learn to do it, it's actually very satisfying-and fun-to watch science take place in your kitchen.

The first thing I had to learn was, it is very important to follow the recipe! There was a time when I didn't even know the difference between baking soda and baking powder, and may have used them interchangeably.

Well, they both have the word baking in them-so what's the difference?!

The difference is huge-and was evident in my past baking escapades which tended to end in disaster.

This year-seeing as I am totally broke-I am spreading the holiday love with gifts from my kitchen.

I tried three new recipes from CookingLight.com, my favorite and most trusted source for good food at a low nutritional cost.

Oatmeal Cookies

Fudgy Mocha Toffee Brownies

Peanut Butter Icebox Cookies

Cookie making madness!!

There are two changes I make to every recipe which are okay and do not create tragedies like the baking soda/baking powder substitution. I use only whole wheat flour rather than white (and no, I don't mix-it still turns out great an no one knows any different), and I replace the butter or margarine with Smart Balance. This does not change the amount of calories at all, but it does increase the nutrition. The whole wheat flour adds fiber, and the Smart Balance exchanges the saturated fat for unsaturated, which is more conducive to raising "good" cholesterol over "bad".