Mostly Healthy

I have three recipes to share today.  Two are healthy and absolutely delicious.  One is not healthy, but absolutely delicious!  And one is a repeat with a few tweaks.  Get excited, people.

Last night after a 2-hour trip to our new Pricechopper (which, by the way, is fabulous, just incredibly crowded right now), I did not have much time before I was heading out to a friend's house, but I have been dying to make Mexican tamale pies since I saw them on Pinterest.  They are meatless, which I love.  They are full of vegetables, which I also love.  And then they are topped with polenta.  I do not have much experience with polenta (besides the fact that Linny always said that her mom used to say "your mother eats polenta" as a horrible insult!), but in the pictures, it kind of looked like cornbread. So I was hooked.

This was so simple to throw together.  You basically whip the filling ingredients into a pan and simmer for 40 minutes.  Meanwhile you make the polenta topping, which felt like a science experiment.  It's just a cup of corn meal, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2  2/3 cups of water.  It starts out looking like sandy water with the corn meal all sitting at the bottom.  Then you boil it and stir constantly, and the sandy water suddenly becomes this beautiful, yellow, thich mush!  That might not sound appetizing, but just trust me here.  Anyway then I got to finally use my cute little Le Creuset individual-sized bowls (along with 2 ramekins) to make 6 little pies.  The filling of corn, pinto beans, tomatoes, and zucchini (with delicious Mexican spices) goes on bottom, with the polenta on top.  Now it was not so easy to evenly spread out the polenta on top without it sinking into the filling, so some of my pies got way more filling than others, but just do your best and then bake them for 45 minutes, and prepare yourself to be in love with these little pies.  They taste like chili (vegetarian chili!!!) with a wonderful, thick, cornbread-y polenta-y topping.  Mom and I were both scarfing these down.  Today Susie came over and had one, and was thrilled to see that it only cost her 3 Weight Watchers points!  So, healthy, vegetarian, easy, and delicious?!  More Mexican tamale pies are in my future.

Today I decided to make some chicken salad with the leftover chicken that Mark bought Friday, and with the rotisserie chicken that I bought yesterday at Pricechopper because I had a coupon.  I do not usually crave anything with meat,  but I had made this salad before and I actually liked it.  As someone who hate mayonnaise, I was pumped when I found a recipe that calls for Greek yogurt instead.  I was shocked at how much I really enjoyed it!  The "sauce" is the yogurt, a little Dijon mustard, brown sugar, lemon juice, and a smidge of cayenne pepper.  It's a weird mix, but it's really tasty.  Then the salad has chicken (duh), diced green pepper, and red grapes! I love the sweet and salty mix of flavors, and the crunch of the grapes and peppers.  The added benefit is that it's really healthy!  Low fat, low calorie, high flavor.  I will be taking this to lunch this week quite happily.  I am happy that I made the decision to double the chicken and peppers, triple the grapes, but not to double the sauce. Last time it was a little too wet, and this time it's perfect.  I will post my exact recipe below.  It makes a nice big Tupperware for multiple lunches!  If you want to follow the original, I'd still recommend cutting down the sauce recipe.  Trust me- I made it perfect :)

Okay they look like meatballs but they are good!

Then for a dessert today, I was reading of lists of options to Mom, Kenzie and my grandmother.  I read something about pecans, and my mom mentioned that pecan pie is one of Gram's favorite things.  I remembered pinning a recipe for pecan pie muffins, and I had the ingredients to make them, so I decided to surprise Gram.  They were very easy to make, but also kind of weird.  They only have a half cup of flour!  I think the majority of these babies is pecans!  And butter... and brown sugar.  Anyway they were fast to throw together, and I ended up with 24 mini muffins.  I am happy to say I have about 6 left!  They were a big hit with Mom and Gram.  Kenzie hates nuts, so she wasn't a huge fan, but if you like pecans, these are the perfect muffin for you.  They are nice and miniature, with a great pecan pie flavor in a little muffin shape.  In fact, Mom said they were in the top 10 best desserts that I have made.  Go figure!

Back to the grind tomorrow.  Can someone explain to me how it has only been one month of school?  Because it feels like it has been waaaay longer than that!


Recipes:
Mexican tamale pies
pecan pie muffins

healthy chicken salad
adapted from Fabtastic Eats

Ingredients:

1  1/2 cup diced green peppers

6 cups cooked chicken, cubed

5 ounces Plain Non-Fat Greek Yogurt

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup quartered or halved red grapes (I quartered the big ones, and halved the small ones)

Honey Wheat Rolls (optional... I couldn't find them but I have had them with ciabbatta rolls and regular rolls)

Instructions

1)  In a large bowl add the green peppers and cubed chicken.

 

2) In a separate small bowl whisk together the Greek yogurt, Dijon, lemon juice, brown sugar, cayenne, salt, and pepper.

 

3) Once completely whisked together, pour into the chicken and pepper mix. Toss to combine and thoroughly coat.

 

4)  Add the quartered grapes, and toss to mix.

 

5) Spoon into rolls or on a salad (but seriously, spoon into rolls) and enjoy!

The End of Week-o'-Craziness

Oh my lord.  What a week this has been!  I had no idea Sunday night that I would literally not get the chance to cook anything again till Friday night.  Monday was open house night at work, Tuesday I went to Mary Poppins at the Hanover, Wednesday we went to see Sam James play in Worcester (go Team Adam!:) ), and yesterday we went to the Big E.  I am overtired and barely able to keep my eyes open now!  I fully plan on sleeping an embarrassing amount of hours tonight... and may or may not have attempted to hit the hay at 8:00 tonight but was ridiculed into staying up a little longer.

I did manage to do a little cooking though; after all, I've missed my kitchen this crazy week!  When Mom and I went grocery shopping a few weeks ago, we were looking at the butternut squashes, and she mentioned that Anne had a recipe from my uncle PJ's wedding that was an amazing butternut squash and apple soup.  I was pretty surprised that Mom would think squash and apples would combine to make a good soup, but clearly I knew immediately that it had to happen because I love mixing weird things.  Tonight I finally had the chance to give it a try.

I made a few changes... mainly because I was not entirely sure what a quart of butternut squash looks like, and I also did not want the soup to be too sweet because I knew it would freak my family out a little.  I also doubled it, which was probably not a great idea since we never finish anything anyway, but it made a nice big pot of a lovely, thick, yellow, fall-colored soup.

Mom loved the soup.  She said that it was a treat, and recommended that you slurp a nice big spoonful into your mouth and let it run all over your tongue.  It kind of reminded me of elementary school health class when you learn that the tongue has separate taste buds that taste different flavors.  You definitely did want to let it hit the salty and sweet taste buds, because it is a very interesting mix!  You can definitely taste the apple, and the squash, and the fresh thyme.  I can't really taste the maple, but it said "to taste" and I was nervous about adding too much.  I didn't want the soup to be too sweet; in fact, I cut out 2 apples from the recipe.  And yet still, Kenzie didn't like it because she said it was sweet.  But I have quickly learned that you cannot please them all!  Obviously since this is healthy, low-fat, and vegetarian, Nick bitched all night and would not go near it.  Mark loved it and had two mugs full (don't get me started on him and his eating out of mugs) and I thought it was really tasty too.  Definitely a delicious fall soup on a cold rainy night.

Mark's mug and bandage!

Recipe:

butternut squash and fall apple soup
adapted from a recipe given from the Bedford Village Inn

ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 medium white onions, peeled and diced
8 cups of roughly chopped, peeled, seeded butternut squash
4 apples, peeled, cored and diced
8 cups chicken stock (approximately)
2 cups apple cider
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
pure maple syrup to taste

directions:
1) Over medium heat, slowly saute onions in butter until translucent.  Add butternut squash, apples, fresh thyme, cider, and chicken stock.  You may need to adjust the amount of stock to completely cover the other ingredients.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

2)   Bring to a boil them reduce to a simmer.  Simmer until squash is very soft.  (For this reason, don't be lazy and toss huge hunks of squash into the pot.  Otherwise you will be simmering forever!)

3)  Place all ingredients in a blender (or use an immersion blender if you are lucky enough to have one... sigh) to puree the mixture while hot until smooth.  Be careful here if you use a blender - Mark  burned himself like nobody's business because the steam built up and the cover exploded off.... squash everywhere!

4)  Add maple syrup and salt and pepper to taste.  Adjust consistency if needed with more chicken stock (I did not need to do this).

5)  Optional garnishes include a tablespoon per bowl of lightly honeyed whipped cream or creme fraiche and freshly chopped chives.  I did not have any of these so the soup was fine on its own.

Thanks Mom for the medical help!

Happy bithday, Pat!

I am finally feeling a lot better from this bizarre fall cold, so I took advantage of today to do a lot of cooking and baking.  My darling Marky had the day off and was making his delicious roast for dinner, so I took care of lunch with black beans and coconut-lime rice.  Mom and I had planned on me making this meal for dinner last Monday, but I spent so much time laying around sick this week that today was the first time I could get to it.  I love any meatless meal, but I especially love beans with all their protein-packed goodness that leaves my family not complaining for once that they are starving after they eat!  I also like strange flavor mixes, like coconut and cumin, lime and black bean.  For these reasons, I knew this meal would be delicious.

And oh man, was I right!!!  I am a little in love with this lunch.  The rice was beyond amazing.  It was made with not just water, but water and chicken broth.  Then I had to toast shaved coconut in the oven, and that went in to the finished rice along with cilantro, scallions, lime zest and lime juice.  The rice was salty and sweet and sour and just all sorts of amazing.  The beans on top were great too, but the rice was really the star of the meal!  I am pretty pumped to have this for lunch tomorrow.  It just might make curriculum night bearable.

Then Mom has been begging me to find an apple muffin recipe, and I found one from good old Martha Stewart which has diced apple in the muffins, but also one thin slice on top.  They were really quick to make, but looked kind of gross.  Have you ever mixed melted butter, buttermilk, and eggs together?  Because it curdles and looks repulsive and makes you think you messed up the whole recipe.  But never fear: the gross liquid mixture gets folded into the dry ingredients and poured into a muffin tin, and voila: apple muffins!  Kenzie maintains that these are "boring but good," so not surprisingly, Mom was obsessed with them! They are flavored with sugar, cinnamon, apple and walnuts, so if those are your favorite fall flavorings, make 'em up.

Last was my struggle of the day: chocolate swirl buns.  It's Pat's birthday and I had to make him something special since he always comes over to sample my treats, and never has anything to say other than how great things are.  When he was here the other night, I had been looking at Annie's newest recipe, which was chocolre swirl buns.  The pictures were just gorgeous, and it said these are a simplified version of a chocolate babka, which made me think of Seinfeld.  So today Pat said he'd like those for his birthday, and I thought, easy!  Yeast dough rolled around a chocolate cinnamon mixture? No problem.  So I made the dough and waited for it to rise.  And waited.  And waited.  And finally I decided I must have done something wrong, so I made another dough and waited.  And waited.  I have come to the conclusion that my yeast is dead.  RIP.  The jar does say to use it within4 months of opening, and it has definitely been more than 4 months.  I left both doughs on the kitchen table and went to sulk for a while.  Miracle of miracles: five hours later they both were rising slowly!  I found this out only because Delilah started eating one.  So I tossed that one and decided to make the buns with the remaining dough.  It was not as risen as it should be, and it kind of freaks me out that I baked with dying yeast, but hey: it rose.  So I rolled it out, used my cute new little food processor (thanks Ajemians!) to chop the chocolate mixture up, sprinkled that on top, rolled it up, and cut it into twelve pieces.  Each piece goes into a muffin tin well, and they come out looking absolutely beautiful.  The bread part is buttery and soft, and the filling is a cinnamon-y, chocolate-y, decadent mush!  They are sort of like a cinnamon roll, but made with chocolate.  Bittersweet chocolate, to be exact.  Kenzie claims they were too bitter for her super sweet tooth, but Pat, Mark, Mom and I loved them.  Mom even said they were perfect because they aren't "sweety-sweet."  And the birthday boy gave me his usual: "loved it."  A job well done :)

Recipes:

chunky apple muffins
chocolate swirl buns


Black beans and coconut-lime rice

from the May 2010 issue of Southern Living Magazine

Ingredients:
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1  1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 1/4 cups uncooked basmati rice
1 small onion, choppd
2 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, drained and rinsed
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 lime
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake coconut in a single layer on a baking sheet 8-10 minutes or until toasted.

2)  Bring broth, next 2 ingredients, 2 Tbsp. butter, and 1 cup water to a boil in a large saucepan.  Stir in rice.  Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender and water is absorbed.

3)  Meanwhile, melt remaining 1 Tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion (and if you want, 1 diced poblano pepper, but I obviously did not do this).  Saute 5 minutes or until tender.  Stir in black beans, chili powder, cumin, and 3/4 cup water.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

4)  Grate zest from lime into a bowl.  Squeeze lime juice into bowl. 

5)  Fluff rice with a fork.  Fold in lime zest and juice, coconut, green onions, and cilantro into hot rice. Serve bean mixture over rice with desired toppings (the recipe recommends lime wedges, diced mango, sliced radishes, sliced fresh jalapeno peppers, and sour cream, but we found no need for any of these things!)

Lemon loaf Cake

Well I was lucky enough to be stricken with the fall cold that seems to be flying through Glenwood Elementary like wildfire.  I still don't feel 100% - I think there is a real chance that I am experiencing my first ear infection - but I am good enough to entertain myself by baking tonight since I am home alone. 

I have been wanting to make Annie's Eats' newest cake recipe since she posted it at the end of August.  I do not like cake - I have been known to have Jello on my birthday - but I love citrus, so a lemon loaf cake intrigued me.  It uses a ridiculous amount of lemons (both their juice and their zest) so I knew it would be a little sour as well as sweet.  This most likely means that Mom will hate it, but I love that sweet-and-sour, tangy and sugary thing that citrus cakes got going on!

While Annie claimed it was easy to make, I would like to elaborate on that.  It kind of took me a while.  Perhaps this is due to the fact that I am half asleep and drugged with Benadryl, or the fact that I am the world's slowest lemon zester and juicer.  But I like to blame the fact that you have to make the cake, zest and juice 3 lemons, make a syrup, and make a drizzle a glaze.  Multiple parts to a cake means multiple hours if you are in a Benadryl daze!  It was okay though, since I had the whole night to keep myself entertained. 

It's in the oven now, and my entire house smells like lemons.  Definitely a plus about this cake!  Considering it's already 9:30, way past my bedtime, you may have to wait for photos and an update on the flavors of this baby.  I'll be grabbing a piece for breakfast- because yes, you can tell yourself eating lemon cake is breakfast because it has fruit in it.

Recipe:
lemon loaf cake

Thai Turkey Bundles

Unfortunately the fall cold has gotten to me already!  Last night I made the chowder, ate it, hung out with the Cormiers for a bit - all feeling fine - and then, boom.  It hit me all of a sudden.  I started  sneezing and my nose was running and my eyes were itching.  It was really the strangest thing.  I was hoping it was allergies, but today I am still not feeling great, so perhaps it is more than pollen and mold.  Anyway, Mom and I had bought groceries today for a meal I was excited about, so even though I feel pretty crappy, I decided to make dinner.

My uncle used to have a bake-off and grill-off competition at his house every summer.  It was pretty awesome.  Everyone would bring their own grills and set up shop.  There were judges, and awards, and everything; and my family does not mess around when it comes to their food.  Lots of huge egos, great flavors, and good old-fashioned teasing!  I have great memories of watching my dad win many times, wrapping his dessert trays with fairy lights and using his laptop to play music to add ambiance!  Believe it or not, Jay and I won one year with a chocolate cake; I still have the cookbook we won.  My immediate family was best at the baking competition (now that I think about it, maybe this explains my affinity/love for baking!), but I do remember one year that we actually won the grilling competition.  It was my mom, and her amazing Thai turkey bundles. These delicious little Asian-inspired nuggets were wrapped in cool savoy lettuce leaves, and there was a ridiculously flavorful dipping sauce.  When Mom found the recipe in her files, I knew I had to make it.

This meal was pretty quick and easy to throw together.  I think it is pretty similar to making meatballs (not that I have ever made them, since meatballs are gross), because you mix up all sorts of things like ginger, water chestnuts, scallions and soy sauce into ground turkey.  They you make little "loaves" and either grill or broil them.  My mom grilled them when she won the award, but the grill kind of scares me, so I broiled them.  The recipe was doubled and supposed to make 24 little turkey bundles, but I made them much smaller and ended up with probably closer to double that amount.  Once they are cooked, you serve them in little cabbage leaf cups and dip them in the sauce which is a hodgepodge of everything you can imagine going into an Asian sauce: soy sauce, fish sauce, cilantro, sugar, lemon juice, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper.  There are a lot of flavors going on in this sauce!  It definitely makes the meal, so do not skip it or substitute!

These turkey bundles were a big hit.  Rachael actually said it was the best thing she ever ate!  Mom and Kenzie gave it rave reviews as well. Nick proceeded to devour them (without cabbage of course) until I mentioned the fish sauce in the dipping sauce, at which point he was "full" again (rumor has it he just went to McDonald's).  Nevertheless, this was an easy and very delicious dinner.  After all, it is award winning!

Recipe:

Thai turkey bundles
source.... TBD... it is photocopied on a piece of paper.  It does say Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen, so perhaps that's a clue!

Ingredients:
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup coarsely chopped water chestnuts
1/3 cup fine bread crumbs
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash ground red pepper
1  1/2 pounds ground turkey
12 savoy cabbage leaves
1  recipe Thai dipping sauce (see below)

1)  In a large mixing bowl, combine egg, water chestnuts, bread crumbs, green onion, soy sauce, lemon juice, ginger, sugar, salt, and ground red pepper.  Add turkey; mix well.

2)  Shape into twelve 4 x 1/2 x 3/4-inch loaves (or smaller if you'd like!).  Grill over medium-hot coals or boil 3inches from heat for 12-14 minutes or till juices run clear, turning once.

3)  Serve each loaf wrapped in a cabbage leaf  (I recommend cutting out the thick white spine part and making each large leaf into two small ones).  Serve with Thai dipping sauce.

Thai dipping sauce

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, 3 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoon snipped cilantro, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil.

Cupcakes and Chowder

Last night, I had a party to go to.  In fear that I would spend all my time browsing recipes (this has happened many times before),  I told Kenzie to choose something for me to make and bring (or make and take, a term I heard last night and loved).  She chose, not surprisingly, Oreo cupcakes.  Well, their official name is cookies and cream cupcakes, but that is the same thing.   I was rather surprised that I have not made Oreo cupcakes before.  Kenzie loves Oreos, and I used to make Oreo things for her, until I realized that I was eating the same amount as she was.  I have grown to appreciate the Oreo as well.  On the other side of things is Mom, who hates Oreos with  a strangely strong passion.  So don't even ask her thoughts on these babies.  Just use your inferring skills. 

Anyway, I will admit that after my first full week, my brain was a bit mushy, and so I forgot to add sugar.  That's a huge rookie mistake (who does that!?) but luckily I spotted my error before I got them in the oven.  Unfortunately, they were already in their muffin cups, so it was a bit messy pouring them all back into the bowl to add the sugar, but luckily in the end the taste was not affected.

Now, these cupcakes aren't pretty.  Even in the recipe's pictures, the cakes are very hole-y.  They are like the Swiss cheese of cupcakes.  They look boiled or something.  At least Rachael and Mom helped me to make my frosting look semi-acceptable.  I definitely need to take cake-decorating lessons because I am unable to pipe frosting on to anything.  It did not help that I was trying to pipe frosting from a tiny little hole in my bag, and said frosting happened to be full of cookie crumbs, so it kept clogging!  Luckily Rach and Mom came to the rescue and just smoothed it on with knives.

I didn't try a cupcake, but they seemed to be well received at the party.  We left the rest of them there because the hostess has three kids and I figured they would actualyl stand a chance of getting completely eaten there.  I had left four at home; Pat ate one today (and he likes everything), and Delilah at the rest (BAD DOG), so unfortumately I don't have much information to share about them!  Judging from the ugliness of the cakes themselves, I would say these are probably not make-agains.

Today Mom and I went grocery shopping and got the ingredients for a couple meals that she has been asking for.  Tonight for dinner I made shrimp chowder.  Mom gets emails from Martha Stewart with crafts and recipes and other things of that nature, and occasionally she forwards cooking ideas to me.  This was one of them.  Now, I was not keen about cooking with shimp, but since you can buy frozenn raw shrimp that has already been peeled and deveined (ugh!), it's actually more doable than chicken.   Very minimal raw meat touching!  Perhaps I will have to make more shrimp dishes (except for the fact that it was so expensive!) The chowder claimed to take only 30 minutes but with me being super slow, it took me longer than that.  I doubled the recipe, so just chopping up two onions and eight potatoes, and taking the kernels off 6 ears of corn took me the thirty minutes!  This was still not a difficult recipe though. 

I used 8 cups of whole milk, and 2 cups of 2% (10 cups of whole milk was first of all more than I bought, and second of all, kind of gross).  What was kind of interesting is that you boil the corn cobs in the soup to get more of the corn flavor!  Then in the end, Mom tossed in some fresh oregano because she claimed to have fond memories of a chowder with oregano.

Boiling some cobs!

In the end, she was ecstatic over this soup.  Jay, Pat and Ross came over as well to have some and they said it was good.  I also enjoyed it, but I don't think it's as flavorful as I would like.  I said to Mom I was not sure it was make-again worthy, but she heartily disagreed.  Go figure!  It's not that this chowder wasn't good, but the flavors were too subtle for me.  Maybe I am more used to things being overpowering.  Either way, I have a huge amount of chowder left, so come on over tomorrow for some corn and shrimp chowder!

Recipes:
cookies and cream cupcakes
shrimp chowder

Caramel Apple Cake

Whoa.  Is this what a full week feels like!?  Only three days in to my first full week, and I am already not sure I will make it to Friday!

We still have lots of apples left in a huge basket on the kitchen table.  With Mark taking care of dinner, I was free to focus on dessert.  Mom has been pushing caramel apple cake recipes on me all week that she rummaged up out of her recipe file, so I decided to get one done.  I wish I could tell you where this recipe is from, but it was snipped from a magazine god knows how long ago.  I suspect it is really old, because it has strange ingredients (like 1.5 cups of vegetable oil!!?  And it gave the "butter or margarine" line, which I refused to even type in my recipe.  Butter all the way, please.).  But: it's also very good.  The caramel sauce is basically good enough to drink, and the cake is moist, appley, spicy, and delicious.  Mark said it was "wicked good," and Mom and Rachael are both trying it now, even as Rachael yells (as usual) that I am making everyone fat.  Mom said "all I can say is it's delicious.  I will be having it with my tea tomorrow."


Recipe:

caramel apple cake

Ingredients:
1  1/2 cups vegetable oil
1  1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2  teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3  1/2 cups diced peeled apples
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
for the caramel icing:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup light cream
1/4cup butter
dash salt
1 cup confectionary sugar

1)  In a mixing bowl, combine oil and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

2)  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add to batter and stir well.

3) Fold in apples, walnuts and vanilla.

4)  Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour 10 minutes or until cake tests done.  Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

5) To make icing: in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, heat brown sugar, cream, butter and salt until sugar is dissolved.  Cool to room temperature.  Beat in confectionary sugar until smooth; drizzle over cake.  Sprinkle with more walnuts if desired.

Happy 14th Birthday, Daisy!

Today is the day my baby girl turns 14!  I can't believe it.  It seems like just yesterday - and also about 20 years ago  - that Daisy was a tiny puppy knocking over the trash and eating rotten cucumbers.  And now I have officially had her more than half my life!  She has overcome cancer, Lyme disease, and Delilah, and was the oldest and yet youngest looking senior hound at Woofstock Saturday!  I am so proud of her and adore her more than is probably normal.

In honor of my honey hound, I decided to make a birthday cake tonight.  I found a dog-friendly cake recipe made from whole wheat flour, baking soda, peanut butter, vegetable oil, honey, carrots, and an egg.  I made it in a loaf pan, and then carefully cut it out in the shape of a dog bone.  I know, I'm a dork.  I chose not to frost it with peanut butter because they have both had enough treats today.  Plus, both hounds have have already gotten the pieces I cut off and they were pretty pumped about it.

Since the dogs were covered now, I decided to make an apple pie with some of the 5 million apples left from Kenzie's apple picking trip. My family has been pestering me for weeks for a pie, so tonight was a good chance.  Big thanks to Mama who peeled and cut my apples for me!  I made a new pie dough recipe tonight, and this one was so easy!  I never had to take out my pastry cutter!  All I had to do was toss everything in the mixer.  Of course I neglected to carefully read the pie recipe and notice I had to make two doughs, so please note you have to double the recipe for the dough!  Luckily they are super quick to throw together. 

To continue the Daisy love theme, instead of a lattice pattern for the top crust, I decided to use heart and dog bone cookie cutters to make a crust!  I think it came out pretty damn cute too.

Watching me cut the cake

We love you, Daisy!

The pie had to cool while my family begged me to cut into it.  The dogs were salivating over their cake.  I'd say it was time to feed the masses their desserts!  Everyone was happy to devour the treats.  I made the dogs eat only part of their cake and save the rest for tomorrow.  They were ecstatic and devoured their pieces.  We, meanwhile, ate more than half the pie.  Mom said it was a perfect pie crust, and although Alex made inappropriate comments about the dog bones shapes, everyone enjoyed it.  Even Rachael, despite the fact that she then announced I am making her fat.  I'd say it was worth it.


Recipes:
dog birthday cake
apple pie
pie dough

Boo to Fall

Let's just be honest here: everyone who acts like fall is such a great season is really lying.  Who would rather have the weather be cool and foggy than warm and sunny?  Not me.  Fall is the time I have to go back to work!  And that is devastating in and of itself.  Fall is the time I have to put away my beloved flip flops.  Fall is the end of fresh tomatoes, and herbs picked from my garden.  But worst of all: fall means football.  And I really, really hate football.  I hate the men's voices on the TV (so gravel-y).  I hate the fact that it turns the majority of my house into monotonous conversationalists who can only discuss their fantasy teams ("my kicker is benched!").  And I hate that, due to said fantasy football teams, we have to watch every single football game.  Literally every single one.  And do you have any idea how many hours of TV time that is?!  Or how many boring discussions about "they're blitzing!" or "it's fourth down territory!" (As I type this, both of these scintillating sentences were shouted.)  So, yeah.  Cold weather, no more flip flops or tomatoes, and football: I hate fall.  And today was the start of the Patriots.  Sigh.

But let's look on the bright side (since I can ackowledge that was a bit of a rant).  It means no one will be bothering me in the kitchen while I make whatever I want, and they can all sit there hollering at the television.  It also means that people are more apt to want to snack on things, since that appears to be a prerequisite for football games.  So I took advantage of this today and escaped from the football talk to my kitchen.  Kenzie had been craving baked potato soup, so I found a recipe on my favorite blog, and then it hit me: why not make bread bowls too?  Because baked potato soup is amazing, but serving that soup in fresh, warm bread bowls would really up the amazing factor.  And thus an amazing idea was born.

before baking... note my bad job splitting them equally!

I started with the bread bowls.  I found the recipe on the web site that also has my favorite focaccia bread recipe, so this lady knows her breads (by the way, I used the top recipe, the one for the Italian bread bowls, rather than the artisan).  It was pretty quick and easy as far as breads go.  It had to rise twice, first for 45 minutes and then for 30 once it has been separated into individual balls of dough.  My balls are a bit uneven, so next time I do this I will be more careful so that one bowl doesn't end up double the size of another!  Anyway, then they are baked - and if you try this recipe, don't be alarmed when your bowls are not golden brown in the least after 18 minutes.  I think mine took more like 25 minutes to get done.  This was stressful mainly because Mark was roasting beef stew in the oven and claiming that I was "ruining it" by turning the oven up for a while for my bowls!  Luckily they came out of the oven looking delicious.  I wasn't so good cutting them at first, but then I realized that the trick is to cut a big cone out of the top, and not cut too far deep down.  Even so, I think the bowls ended up fitting about 1/2 cup soup in there.  I will confess to refilling my bowl while I ate.

Susie modeling my bread bowls along with her cool patched jeans

While the bread rose the second time, I made the soup.  I am still shocked at how easy this soup was.  It calls for baked potatoes, but seeing as Mark acted like my use of the oven was sabotage, I microwaved the potatoes.  It took 15 minutes rather than an hour, so it was a huge time saver.  You scoop out the potatoes and let them sit while you melt butter, stir in some flour, add milk, and then mix in the potatoes, cheddar cheese, sour cream and scallions.  And that's in! (besides salt and pepper of course).  I couldn't believe it was so quick and easy.  And the best part is that this soup is damn good.  Nick said "wow" and Kenzie told me she was in heaven.  Not to mention the fact that it was served in homemade bread bowls!  I may be the best football day hostess ever: I don't care to watch the game and I made bread bowls from scratch.  The other thing I liked about the soup is that I can fool myself into thinking that it is not too bad for you.  I was sure it would be full of cream, but it only had the 6 cups of milk, half stick of butter, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, and 1/3 cup sour cream.  I ackowledge I probably could not call this healthy, but it still didn't feel so bad.  And it tasted oh so good!  I recommend serving the soup topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, and scallions.  Perfection!

So now it feels cold outside, and football is on the TV, and I have to go to work in the morning.  Sad things, all of them.  But, I will be positive, and remind myself that there are two bread bowls and plenty of soup left, so perhaps I will survive the autumn!


Recipes:
baked potato soup
bread bowls

Dinner and Dessert on Day 7

It totally shocks me that today is only the 7th day of school.  I was just saying today that it truly feels like we never left.  With the new mandates and standards and pacing guides, I am already working these poor 10-year-olds like nobody's business - not to mention working myself!

Exhausted or not, I had a meal planned for dinner tonight and I was determined to get it done.  I am obsessed with roasted vegetables.  Perhaps you noticed this since I have been mostly living on my roasted vegetable chickpea salad.  So when I spotted Giada De Laurentiis' baked penne with roasted vegegetables, I was pumped. It actually didn't take too long either; I started when I got home from school and it was ready about 20 minutes after Mom came down from getting Dad to bed.  The vegetables roasted for about 20 minutes, and took up two huge baking sheets.  There are onions, zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms (I couldn't find crimini; I just used those regular white ones you always see), red bell pepper, and peas; in fact there are more veggies than pasta, which makes me feel like it simply must be healthy.  Never mind the fact that there are three -count 'em - different types of cheeses melted in there (smoked mozzarella, parmesan, and fontinella, although it called for fontina but Stop & Shop didn't have it).  Pasta, cheese, tomato sauce, and tons of amazing roasted vegetables: what's not to like?  Mom, Mark I devoured this meal and I even caught Rach having seconds despite lots of whining about the mushrooms (she did say it would be her favorite meal ever minus the shrooms and plus more pasta).  Mom said she loved it and claimed to be full far earlier than she wanted to be because she'd have liked to keep eating.  It is really filling for a vegetarian pasta dish!  Anyway, big success for dinner!

Then Mom gave me a list of recipes that she would prefer for dessert.  Most of them were weird, as expected, but I finally decided that I would just give the woman what she wanted, and I made date nut bread.  I don't love dates or nuts, and the recipe seemed to have a frightening lack of flavoring (where is the vanilla!?).  Mom said it relies on the dates and the nuts, and that was even more scary.  But it was pretty easy to make, and it was nice to finally have Mom excited to try something I was baking!  The recipe is from some lady at our church and Mom claimed it was a good one.  So, I made it.  An hour in the oven, and out came a dark-colored, rather good-smelling loaf of bread.  I cut slices for Mom, Mark and me and followed Mom's directions by putting some cream cheese on top (who knew?).  I will say that I was pleasantly surprised.  I wouldn't say this is the best thing I ever ate, but it was better than I thought.  Mark said he liked it too ("this is wicked good")... and as for Mom?  The moment of truth??  I will let these pictures speak for themselves. 

P.S. Linny come back and visit before she eats it all!


Recipes:
baked penne with roasted vegetables


Lola's Date Nut Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup dates, chopped small
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a loaf pan.

2) Mix dates, nuts, baking soda and boiling water together in a bowl.  Set aside and let cool.

3) Cream sugar and shortening until creamy.  Add eggs one at a time and beat.

4)  Add the date nute mixture and beat well.

5)  Add flour and mix.

6) Pour in prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour.

Apple Pie Cookies

This is not a good day for me.  I got 2 hours of sleep last night.  You read that correctly: 2.  I am not quite sure why, but the more I tried to figure it out, the less possible it felt to fall asleep.  It was not helped by the fact that there was a pack of psychotic coyotes in my front yard howling and barking and yipping and basically scaring the crap out of me.  Then when I got up, Kenzie was puking in the bathroom.  Yeesh!

Luckily my work day wasn't too bad, and when I got home, Kenz was taking her vertigo pills and begging for apple pie cookies.  She and Nick had picked apples yesterday, and with that huge basket full of apples and Kenzie looking pathetic on the couch, it was hard to say no.

These cookies are basically little pies, and they gave me flashbacks to last Thanksgiving when I made hand pies for so many hours that my heels ached for days.  And I do not really like pie dough.  But anyway, I persevered and made the dough and let it sit in the fridge for an hour.  Then it was time to roll it out... and though I asked Mark to eyeball my dough's thickness since I am really bad at estimating, unfortunately I am starting to think he isn't so great at it either.  The recipe claimed to make 20 cookies, and I only got ten out of it.  I also don't have a small cookie cutter so I used a small juice glass, which worked fine, but maybe it wasn't as small as I thought.  Either way, my ten cookies were not so easy to work with.  The apples and juice were squirting out the sides and making the dough wet, which then made it more difficult to seal, and hence led to quite a few side splits in the oven.

But nevertheless, these cookies are good.  In fact, Mark said they "may be" the best thing that I've ever made!  Big words from him.  He claimed to wish that he could eat 4, and for the perpetual dieter, that says a lot.  Kenzie and Mom both liked them but said that they wish there was a more even ratio of pie crust to apple, and I'd have to agree.  If I made them again, I would try to roll the dough out thinner.  It would be tough to add more apples though, since I had a hard enough time fitting two slices between the dough rounds, but I think if the dough was rolled thinner, it would make it seem like there were more apples.

And now... I will allow myself a half hour of getting passionate and worked up watching the DNC, and then it's bed time!

Recipe:
apple pie cookies

Happy Labor Day!

Soooo very happy to have today be a holiday.  It nearly makes the beginning of the school year bearable when our first two weeks are 4-day weeks.  (Do not bring up next week please.)

Mark and I spent today going to random farms and picking up great looking fruits, breads and vegetables.  I am pretty sure this was his dream day.  When we got home, I set about making a salad to tide me over for lunch this week.  You have seen this recipe before: roasted vegetable chickpea salad!  I don't know what it is about this salad, but I am absolutely obsessed with it.  It's the deep flavor of the roasted vegetables, the salty feta, the snap of the fresh corn, the slight sweetness of the dressing, the bites of basil and chive... oh my lord.  I have made this salad three times, despite the fact that for some absolutely bizarre reason, I am the only one that loves it.  That is fine with me, because I am 100% okay with eating this for lunch at work all week long.  Mmmmm, I love this salad.

In addition, Marky and I tried a new beet roasting opportunity.  This time we rubbed them with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them for an hour.  Then we peeled them (Mark did, carefully wearing gloves because he is honestly petrified of dying his hands red!) sliced them up, and I had the ingenious idea to toss them on top of slices of the multigrain bread we bought today, with a layer of goat cheese.  Oh my lord.  Bread, goat cheese and beets is an ungodly delicious combination.  Between this and the salad, I'm almost in a good mood, except for the fact that it's back to work tomorrow!  At least I have some good food for lunch.  Is it 12:30 tomorrow yet?

Recipes:
roasted vegetable chickpea salad

Barbecue Day 2

Smorgasbord!!!

Okay, I still hate barbecue.  And I still am exhausted.  But after two days of kitchen marathons, I feel satisfied with my creations!

Today was the day that Tuck and Linny came to visit, like I said yesterday.  I had decided to really take one for the team and make a meat dish today.  And I am not sure what I was thinking, but of all the meats, somehow I thought I could handle making baby back ribs. 

Now, the good news is that the end result of these ribs was great.  In fact, everyone raved about them.  Tuck said they were cooked perfectly, and Maggie's quote was "these are the best ribs I've ever had... and I eat a lot of meat."  Kenzie claimed to '"love them" and I will even admit to eating one bite of one (Tuck nicely cut it off the bone for me since bones totally freak me out) and it was very tasty and tender.  The barbecue sauce was pretty great too; Nick refused to let me throw out the extra and kept it in a jar.  One note about the sauce: I did not add any vinegar, mainly due to the bean mishap yesterday.  But today I have a new scapegoat: the ketchup.  Before I had added a drop of vinegar today, I tasted it, and it was already vinegar-y.  So I blame the ketchup for making my beans sour yesterday.  Damn you, vinegary Stop & Shop brand ketchup!  Luckily they were better today, and the sauce was still great (but I am glad I didn't add any extra vinegar!).

Don't mind my pajamas.  Just notice the membranes.

But what I had to go through to get to the final end product of these ribs was just not worth it.  Did you know that when you make ribs, there is something called a membrane that has to be cut off the back?!?!   Because there is.  And it was horrendous.  There was blood, and slime, and fat, and membranes, all the way up to my elbows (despite the fact that I was wearing gloves!  There was spattering!!!).  I was literally tearing up and shaking, which perhaps seems like an over-exaggeration, but you can ask Kenzie and Rachael who were watching (and laughing, and apparently snapping pictures as well!): it was bad.  And it is a good thing that I read Food Network Magazine to even know that there is a membrane than needs removing; the recipe I had didn't even mention it.  And I can promise you that this was not something you would want to eat.  It was stretchy and bloody and.... just 100% the worst thing ever.  But anyway, the good news is that everyone was in love with the ribs, and we don't even have any left.  Just don't expect them again any time soon... I may be scarred for life.  Thanks to the Hard Rock Cafe for their great recipe, but no thanks to membranes.

I also made a cake this morning.  I have been meaning to make this cake for a while because I think it sounds great: strawberry cream cheese coffee cake.  It has layers, which I like: buttery, scone-like cake, sweet cream cheese, a quick homemade strabwerry jam, and a crumbly crumb layer.  Lots of layers did mean lots of time, which was probably not the greatest choice on a morning when I had to make ribs, barbecue sauce, andd salad dressing, not to mention clean the kitchen and shower before our guests arrived at 1:00!  But the cake was worth it.  It was really good.  Maggie said it was the best thing I have made.  I have to say that the cream cheese and strawberry parts are my favorite layers, and I wasn't sure that was going to happen this morning.  The strawberry "jam" was not thickening and I was worried, but it thickened up in the oven.  The only thing I can say negatively is that the "crumb" layer wasn't so crumbly.  It kind of sunk down into the strawberries and is a moist top layer.  This isn't necessary a bad thing, but it doesn't really look like the pictures from the recipe either.  Nevertheless, more than half of the cake is gone, and I think it is pretty tasty.

In addition, I made a salad dressing I have been dying to try.  I adore the dressing at hibachi restaurants, so when I saw the recipe on the Skinny Taste blog, I was pumped.  Delicious and healthy!?  Perfect!  It was pretty quick to throw together since you just toss all the ingredients in the food processor.  I love this dressing.  You really taste the carrot, ginger, and soy sauce.  I doubled it and I am glad there is some left over for the rest of the week.  As someone who isn't wild about salad, this dressing can really make them bearable!

Lastly for dinner, I made the cheesey cauliflower mash that Mark and I had loved a few weeks ago.  I thought it would be perfect for Tuck since he can't have carbs.  But... something happened today.  I don't know what.  Partly I think it was my crappy ancient food processor, because the texture was not as smooth as last time.  But it also didn't taste as good.  It just tasted like cauliflower.  I was disappointed in it today.  Boo.

After a very successful dinner, I felt satisfied.  The ribs and barbecue sauce were huge hits.  The beans had improved.  The mac and cheese all went - and Linny even saved the last few noodles for later.  The mash... well, let's not talk about that.  And the dressing even made Nick eat his vegetables.  The cookies and cake were more than enough for dessert... or so I thought.  Somehow at 8:00, I was in the kitchen again making another batch of my healthy zucchini brownies.  I am not even sure how this came about!  But somehow it was decided that they needed to be made.  Tuck was a wonderful sous chef, grating all my zucchini, and it was great to have someone tall reach the things I always have to bring a chair over to baking cabinet for!  Just like last time, the brownies are absolutely delicious and definitely do not taste like they are healthy or filled with vegetables :)  Sooo chocolatey and moist and rich!  And pretty easy to make, too.

And now, after two ridiculous but wonderful days, I would say it is definitely time to relax.  Tomorrow might be a day for takeout :)

Recipes:

Asian ginger carrot salad dressing
strawberry cream cheese coffee cake


Hard Rock Cafe BBQ Ribs
from America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from Your Family's Favorite Restaurants

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups liquid smoke
one 3  1/2-pound slab St. Louis-style ribs

for the sauce:
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 cups ketchup
1 teaspoon real maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2  1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1  3/4 teaspoons liquid smoke
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1  1/4 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
1  1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons orange juice

Directions: 
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  In a large bowl, mix together the water and liquid smoke.  Marinate the ribs in the mixture for 15 minutes.  Note:  I skipped this step.  My mom has a bizarre hatred for liquid smoke, so I left it out of both the sauce and the marinade.  The ribs were still great, so if you hate liquid smoke taste, skip away!

3.  Place the ribs in a roasting pan and cover with foil.  Discard marinade.  Bake for 3 hours or until fully cooked and just tender.  Remove from the oven and let cool at room temperature for no more than 30 minutes.

4.  To make the barbecue sauce, place the chicken broth, ketchup, maple syrup, garlic powder, pepper, vegetable oil, liquid smoke (or leave that out!), yellow mustard, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaf in a stockpot and bring to a boil (watch your wrists on this one, folks.  That bubbling thick sauce is dangerous!!)

5.  Add the white vinegar (I didn't!) and orange juice.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Do not overboil, because the orange juice and vineger will make the sauce bitter.  Remove from heat and discard the bay leaf. 

Thanks to Nick for the grilling!

6.  Preheat the grill to 225 degrees. 

7.  Place the cooked ribs on the grill, bone side down.  Brush with the sauce, then turn them over to grill the meat.  Brush, bone side up, with the barbecue sauce.  Grill 8-10 minutes per side or until the surface of the ribs starts to char.  Brush with addition sauce before serving (and serve the extra sauce on the table!)



Healthy Zucchini Brownies
from BalticMaid blog

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup whole wheat flour (regular works fine too)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
2 cups grated zucchini
1  1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
1.  Preheat the oven to 350°.

2.  In a bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla extract, sugar, salt, and the applesauce.

3.  Sieve the flour and the cocoa powder into another bowl. Add the baking soda, the cinnamon and the cardamom. Mix well.

4.  Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and combine until the dry ingredients are mixed in well.
Add the grated zucchini and the chocolate chips. Mix once more.

5.  Pour the brownie batter into a greased 8 x 8” baking tin or something with similar dimensions.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out somewhat clean.  Allow to cool completely in the pan.

I Hate BBQ

Holy exhausting.  This has been quite the day.  In fact, this might be the first time I sat down.   I am just not high-energy enough for a day like this, particularly after my first week back at work!

When I got up this morning, I cleaned the house.  This included a much-needed and sweat-inducing mopping session.  After I showered, Mom and I went on a marathon grocery shopping trip.  Tomorrow, Tuck and Linda are coming to visit, and I planned a rather insane and out-of-my-comfort-zone menu.  After we got out of there, it was time to start my nonstop kitchen day!

First I should explain the menu.  I decided to actually make meat.  I know, shocking, and I hate meat.  But Tuck is on a crazy diet because of his diabetes, and meat is really one of the only things he can eat.  I will be making him my carb-less cauliflower mash, but he needs a little protein too.  So I am attempting to make ribs.  I scrounged up a cookbook that my uncle PJ had given me a couple years ago for Christmas called America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from your Family's Favorite Restaurants.  Basically it gives the "secret" recipes of restaurats, which I think is very cool.  And somehow I got it into my head that I was going to make a barbecue-style meal (despite the fact that I actually hate BBQ food).  So my menu includes BBQ ribs and BBQ beans, both from the Hard Rock Cafe, a salad with hibachi-style ginger carrot dressing, cauliflower mash, and flufferutter cookies for dessert.  In an attempt to make tomorrow a bit easier, tonight I decided to make some things tonight, so I made the beans.

Ugh.  So here's the thing.  The recipe says it serves 6, so I planned on doubling it.  Even though we will probably have 6 people for dinner, Mom insisted that I triple it and make enough for 18 (she's crazy!).  So, fine.  I tripled everything.  And this, my friends, was my downfall tonight.  While the texture and the look are perfect... the taste is not.  My beans are pretty vinegar-y, and I am starting to think that perhaps when multiplying a recipe, one should not multiply the vinegar.  I went into panic mode and started Googling everything I could about how to cut down the acid.  I tried brown sugar and white sugar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, and even my mom's suggestion of baking soda (which you perhaps realize is exactly how you make a volcano model explode... baking soda and vinegar.  Yeah so that went well!).  To be honest, I am not sure if my additions changed the flavor of the beans, because I couldn't bring myself to taste them again.  I hate barbecue food - all that ketchup and mustard and sauce - so I am not a very fair judge.  I will have to wait till Nick helps me out tomorrow.  I am hoping that the mellow a bit overnight.... either that or they will become inedible by tomorrow.  I'm a bit depressed:(

After I put the beans in the oven, I made some dinner, and per Kenzie's request, it was the Boston Market recipe for their macaroni and cheese.  We love that stuff.  Mom was not as happy, since we spent a ridiculous amount of money on the three cheeses that this recipe calls for.  However, I am very happy to say that this recipe turned out much better than the beans!  The sauce is so rich and cheesy; it has bleu, American, and cheddar cheeses in it!  Kenzie said it tasted exactly like Boston Market's, and I caught her having seconds.  So at least tonight was not a total loss!  One note: I decided to quadruple the amount of pasta (who the heck cooks 4 ounces of noodles!?) and only double the amount of sauce.  This was my mom's ingenious idea, and after my multiplying mishap earlier tonight, I went with Mom's advice.  I am glad I did; there was lots of pasta left, and it wasn't too soupy.  I didn't get the chance to snap a picture of it, since we were all devouring it so ravenously.  Just trust me that it wasn't healthy at all, but it was absolutely to die for.

Then I sulked for a while about my beans, but finally I knew I had to bake my cookies tonight.  Linny had requested the fluffernutter cookies, so that's what I made tonight.  It felt good to make a recipe that I know will turn out delicious!  And they did.  Luckily.  These are peanut butter cookies with mini marshmallows on top, and a drizzle of chocolate.  They are definitely one of my favorite cookies I have made this year.  I am sure Linny will love them tomorrow!

Now it is definitely time for bed.  Tomorrow I have two intimidating racks of ribs awaiting me, along with a homemade salad dressing and who knows what else I'll think up?!

Recipes:

Hard Rock Cafe BBQ Beans
fromt  America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from your Family's Favorite Restaurants
serves 6

Ingredients:
two 15-ounce cans pinto beans (the recipe says to use the liquid it comes in, but I think that's gross)
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/2 cup crumbled cooked bacon, for serving

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Pour the entire contents of the vans of pinto beans into a 2-quart casserole dish.

3.  Dissolve the cornstarch in a small bowl with the 2 tablespoons water.  Add this solution to the beans and stir.

4.  Add the remaining ingredients except the bacon to the casserole, stir well, and cover.

5.  Bake for 90 minutes or until th sauce thickens.  Stir every 30 minutes.  After removing the beans from the oven, let them cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.  Top with crumbled bacon.



Boston Market's Macaroni and Cheese
fromt America's Most Wanted Recipes: Delicious Recipes from your Family's Favorite Restaurants
serves 6

Ingredients:
1 tablepsoon minced onion
4 tablespoons  (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
4 ounces American cheese, cubed
1/4 cup cubed bleu cheese
1/4 cup cubed cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
4 ounces semolina rotini pasta, cooked al dente

Directions:
1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Saute the onion in the butter until translucent.

3.  Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes.

4.  Slowly stir in the milk.

5.  Stir in the cheeses, salt, pepper, and mustard.

6.  Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

7.  Stir in the prepared macaroni.

8.  Lightly butter a casserole dish and pour the pasta mixture into the dish.

9.  Bake for 20 minutes.



fluffernutter cookies
from Sweet Pea's Blog


Ingredients:

For the Cookies:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1   3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Mini marshmallows

For the Chocolate Glaze:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed, scraping the side of the bowl occasionally, until smooth. Transfer the dough to the refrigerator and chill 15 minutes.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

4.  Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a 1½-inch ball and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the balls about 2 inches apart. Using your thumb, make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until very lightly browned.

5.  Remove the cookie sheets from the oven. Using your thumb, press into the cookies again and place 3 or 4 mini marshmallows on top of each cookie. Return the cookies to the oven and bake 2 to 3 minutes longer, until the marshmallows are melted. Cool cookies for 5 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

6.  To make chocolate glaze: place chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup in a medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until chocolate is melted and whisk until smooth. Add vanilla. Drizzle a small amount of chocolate glaze over the top of each cookie. Glaze will set slightly upon cooling.