Shirley's Thai Noodle Salad

This cold pasta dish is so amazing, it's great for a hot day when you still want the comfort of pasta.  It can be a side dish or you can add some grilled chicken (or protein of choice) and call it a meal. 

 

Dressing:   ½ c. canola oil

                  ¼ c. sesame oil

                  1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Heat mixture over medium heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and leave at room temp. for 2 hours.

 

After 2 hours…

 

Cook 1 lb of spaghetti (angel hair), drain and rinse.

Reheat oil and strain pepper flakes out.

 

Add to oil:  5 Tbs. soy sauce

                  6 Tbs. honey

Toss with noodles.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours

 

Before serving…

 

Add:  ½ c. chopped green onions

         ½ c. cilantro (optional)

         2 Tbs. sesame seeds lightly toasted

 

Top with ¾ c. chopped peanuts right before serving

It's a Brand New Year

I'm not one to make resolutions.  They're hard to keep and it's disappointing to let yourself down, but this year I want to make some changes.

I want to write more, and I say that every year, but maybe I'll do it this time around.  I don't necessarily mean to blog more, but I want to keep my journal at least somewhat up to date.  I'm trying to do the bullet journal, but it's really more "bullet-ish" because there are a lot of features of an actual b.journal that don't really work for me, others that do, and I have some ideas of my own that I've been incorporating.

I want to learn to listen more.  Not just be a sounding board for the people in my life but someone who is present and pays attention.  This might mean that I need to learn to unplug myself from my smart devices and take a break from all the distractions.  I'm someone who always has to be doing something with her hands, whether its checking my apps, or doodling, or picking at my clothing, and I'd like to stop the fidgeting and start being more focused.  Also I'd like to be more informed about the world around me.  When I watch the news or read articles online I want to really absorb them so that when they are brought up in normal conversations I can feel like I have an educated opinion and not just be talking out of my ass.

I want to get back to the person who used to read all the time.  I don't need to catch up on the same Big Bang Theory I've watched 16 times in the past year.  If it's something I've already seen, instead of becoming one with the couch and TV, I want to pick up a book and lose myself in a new world.

I want to motivate myself into learning how to cook meals that are more than just fatty comfort foods. I'd like to learn how to cook things that are more healthy (but taste good, and don't take all night to prepare) so that I don't feel guilty when I stuff my face at the end of a long day.  I started a subscription to Talley Farms harvest boxes today, so hopefully this will get me going in the right direction.

I want to get back to my photography hobby.  I want more than just an iPhone camera in my hands, and I need to get myself out in nature more and get some photos to hang on my walls, and make our house more of a home.  I have all these visions of what I want, but I need to make them happen.

I want to exercise more, but its so freaking hard to get started. I have all the tools I need at home, and yet.... I make 10000000000 excuses as to why my butt is not on the elliptical, why the weights are not in my hands, and why the yoga mat has never been unrolled.  I need to cut the BS with myself and do it.

If you have any good book recommendations, recipes, want to go on a weeknight photo adventure (which might have to wait until it starts staying light in the evenings), want to go for a walk with me and my awesome dog, or just offer up some of your own resolutions/ideas/goals... hit me up in the comments section, or however you'd normally contact me.

Happy New Year!

Strawberry Pie... or why I like baking cakes

This year for the 4th of July I went to on of my FAVORITE tasting rooms.  Bedford Winery in Los Alamos is really the place to be, from the first time I walked through the doors there almost a year ago, I felt like family.  They host a ton of special events throughout the year, and offer a great selection of wines to sample in their tasting room.  If you love dogs, books, and wine (like me) this place will feel like home.  

The event for Independence Day was BYOPFP (Bake Your Own Pie For Prizes), and of course I had to participate (even if there may have been a slight conflict of interest with my BF being one of the judges).  I started thinking of all the pies I love, what I thought I could make, and what would stand out in a crowd.  I immediately thought of my Aunt Josephine's Strawberry Pie, but was a little intimidated because I've never baked a pie before (and I would learn for good reasons).  I took that inspiration and started thinking about what I wanted to make.  BF and I brainstormed a little and we cobbled together a pretty kick ass pie.  It wasn't one of the winners, there were some kinks to work out, but for a first attempt, I'd call it a success... with a teensy bit of side-eye.

The pie story really begins on the 3rd of July, when I went shopping for ingredients. I picked up a pretty pie plate at Target, along with a few other essentials (some clothes, some house hold items... you know, all the stuff you can't live without)... and by dawdling there I missed getting the the berry stand before they closed. BY FOUR FREAKING MINUTES. I knew they would open again in the morning, but I wouldn't have time to let the berries set up if I waited, that meant I would have to buy them at the grocery store. Now for most people, grocery store strawberries are the only option (and I feel really sorry for you), but I live in the strawberry capitol of California, and store bought ones only get purchased out of sheer desperation. So I go to the Albertson's near my house, buy two clamshells of berries and the rest of the ingredients I needed and headed home.  

While prepping the berries the night before (I quarted the regular sized ones, chopped the larger ones into pieces that were close to the others.... roughly 4 cups of strawberries) I realized that it was a stroke of genius to buy double what I thought I needed.... mostly because half of the berries were bruised and rotten. Way to go Albertsons, way to suck. I could have taken them back and complained, but I really didn't have time or the inclination.

that's not a giant bug, it's a mint leaf, I swear! 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups self rising flour
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4+ cups of strawberries
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Mint Leaves
• Basil Leaves
• Unflavored Gelatin
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips--Melted
• Cooking spray
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Vanilla
• Powdered Sugar

Berries:

• Quarter roughly 4 cups of berries, they will shrink overnight, you'll need about 3 cups to fill the pie.
• Mix in a generous splash of your favorite balsamic vinegar, a few mint leaves, and a few basil leaves.
• Let sit overnight to get the juices flowing.
• After the berries have set overnight and created a juice  strain the berries.  Boil a small amount of the juice with the unflavored gelatin until it has thoroughly mixed.
• Mix the gelatin mix back into the berries and put into the fridge while the crust is getting ready.

Trisha Yearwood, you're a godsend,
this is the BEST pie crust I've ever had. 

For the crust I doubled Trisha Yearwood's Shortbread recipe (because 1, it's super easy to make, and 2. who doesn't LOVE shortbread? It's a clear winner).

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mix flour, butter, brown and granulated sugars in an electric mixer until thoroughly combined.  (I mixed the last bit by hand because the mixer wasn't getting the butter just right)
• Spray the pie plate with your favorite cooking spray (mine is Trader Joe's coconut oil spray)
• Bake for 25 minutes
• Don't panic if the crust falls/flattens, you can press it back into place with a wooden spoon or use your Pampered Chef Mini-Tart Shaper like I did (seriously, that little gadget kept me from crying and/or burning my fingers).
• Allow to cool completely before spreading chocolate shell/ganache.

Tollhouse Semi Sweet morsels 

The next step was getting my double-boiler action on.  I tossed about 3/4 of a 16 ounce bag of semi sweet Nestle Tollhouse morsels, but you can use whatever your favorite chocolate is to create the shell.  I wanted to make sure that the berries didn't make the cookie crust soggy, but I didn't really think about how creating a chocolate shell layer would make the pie hard to cut into slices.  The baker at my BF's work suggested making a chocolate ganache, so that you'll still get the chocolate flavor, a barrier between the cookie and berries, AND you'll be able to cut the pie without too much difficulty.




This is how the pie looked before I put the strawberries in, I waited for the chocolate to harden into a complete shell, dumped the berry mixture in, and made some whipped cream according to the directions on the heavy whipping cream carton.

There ended up being roughly 27 contestants at the event, I placed somewhere in the middle, but I think given more practice I could totally knock this recipe out of the park.... if I ever decide to make a pie again, it was so much harder than I had anticipated.

The Frankie's Sunday Gravy aka the BEST tomato sauce you'll ever eat

My mom has this amazing cookbook called The Frankie's Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual and one day we (she) found this recipe and it totally changed our lives and how we eat red sauce.

It has just a few ingredients, but it takes a long time to cook... and let me tell you every second and every stir is worth it. FOR REAL.

I copied this recipe from this link they have a lot of input on this recipe as well.  I just wanted to have this in a central place for me to look back at when I'm feeling Italian.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup olive oil
• 13 cloves garlic
• One 96-ounce can (or, if you can find it, 1-kg) or four 28-ounce cans Italian tomatoes (my favorite are San Marzanos fromLa Valle) 
• Large pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt

(seriously, that's it!!)

Directions:

1. Combine the olive oil and garlic in a large deep saucepan and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring or swirling occasionally, until the garlic is deeply colored—striations of deep brown running through the golden cloves—and fragrant. If the garlic starts to smell acrid or sharp or is taking on color quickly, pull the pan off the stove and reduce the heat.
2. While the garlic is getting golden, deal with the tomatoes: Pour them into a bowl and crush them with your hands (it's so squishy and cool feeling). We like to pull out the firmer stem ends from each of the tomatoes as we crush them and discard those along with the basil leaves that are packed into the can.
3. When the garlic is just about done, add the red pepper flakes to the oil and cook them for 30 seconds or a minute, to infuse their flavor and spice into the oil. Dump in the tomatoes, add the salt, and stir well. Turn the heat up to medium, set the sauce simmering at a gentle pace, not aggressively, and simmer for 4 hours. Stir it from time to time. Mother it a little bit.
4. Check the sauce for salt at the end. The sauce can be cooked with meat at this point, or stored, covered, in the fridge for at least 4 days or frozen for up to a few months.

Grandma Lillian's Cheese Ball Appetizer Recipe

Grandma Lillian's Cheese ball Appetizer

Ingredients:

• 1 lb medium cheddar (use block cheese, not pre-shredded)
• 1 lb extra sharp cheddar 
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup blue cheese crumbles
• Parsley (to taste)
• Pecans (to taste)

Directions:

• Cube cheddars before putting in the food processor, mix all cheeses in processor until creamy.
• Once everything is mixed, cool in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour, up to overnight
• Knead cooled cheese into a ball shape, set aside
• Chop pecans and parsley in food processor, then spread on a cutting board or other flat surface
• Roll the ball in the pecans until evenly covered
• Serve with your favorite crackers

Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood... Shortbread

A few years ago my dad bought me "Homecooking with Trisha Yearwood" it had been on my Amazon wishlist for awhile and I was really excited to get it.  It's beautiful and I love all the little personal tips and notes she has put into it. If I had a large enough coffee table, it would definitely be one of those books you leave out for guests to go through.  Anyway I've had it for years, but never got around to making any of the recipes, I love cook books, but typically don't use them. I don't know... weird quirk of mine I guess.

I happened to be looking through it yesterday, and saw this recipe and HAD TO MAKE it. HAD TO. I even went to the store to get the ingredients (even though most of them are staples in a baker's kitchen).  This is seriously the easiest cookie recipe I've ever made.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup self rising flour
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray a 9in pie pan with cooking oil (I used coconut oil, but any spray should do).
• Mix all ingredients in an electric mixer until combined.  It doesn't get smooth, it's kind of grainy looking.
• Spread mixture evenly across the pie pan
• Bake for 25 minutes
• Allow to cool, then slice and serve.

I'm thinking this would be DELICIOUS if they were dipped/drizzled in chocolate and topped with fresh berries and homemade whipped cream, just make a whole decadent dessert of out it. I haven't tried that yet, but I can't see how it could possible go wrong.

Cupcakepalooza and the Bing Wedding

The Newlyweds

 Last week the baby of our family, Brandyn, married the love of his life, the beautiful Miss Taylor. In celebration of this special day we had a big BBQ, and the bride requested some cupcakes for the event...roughly 100 of them.

 The request was for Chocolate Cake with Oreo Buttercream Frosting, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, and White Cake with a Strawberry Buttercream Frosting.  This time around I did not make the old family recipe for the carrot cake, it takes too long and I didn't have enough time to make it from scratch, I did however doctor a box cake and it tasted pretty amazing, I did use the frosting recipe that is on the link.

Additions to Duncan Hines Carrot Cake: roughly 1 cup of chopped nuts (I used pecans), 1 box of vanilla instant pudding, 1 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple (strained), used butter instead of oil, and milk instead of water.  It ended up being super moist and quite delicious.

It took roughly 3 hours to bake 125+ cupcakes at my aunt's house, thank goodness for double ovens, two kitchen aid mixers, and a talented chef of a boyfriend who volunteered to help.  We let them cool in the fridge over night and came back in the morning to decorate, where I enlisted the help of my guy and my cousin who had also gone to culinary school and was trained in the arts of decorating for the masses.

Real Men Frost Cupcakes

Devil's Food Cake with Oreo Buttercream

White Cake with Strawberry Buttercream 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting 

Cupcake Display (created by Taylor)

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

I found a recipe online for raspberry buttercream frosting and used strawberries instead. The only problem was that the recipe was too runny to frost the cupcakes with so we had to double the butter and God only knows how much powdered sugar was added.  I'm going to post the recipe as I made it originally, but make sure you have extra sugar and butter so you can bring it to your desired stiffness.

Ingredients:

•  1 pound powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup pureed strawberries

Directions:

beat the ingredients together, adding sugar and butter until mixed well and you have your desired consistency.  The finished product tastes like a strawberry milkshake and is delicious whether its topping a cupcake or straight out of the batter bowl

Death by Carrot Cake

My last post was the recipe for this cake, it is an old family recipe that my Aunt Josephine used to make. You can find it here if you want to try your hand at it yourself, it's delicious, and that's coming from someone who isn't especially fond of carrot cake.

Anyway, I had promised my boyfriend that I'd make him whatever cake he wanted (stupidly assuming he'd pick something super easy like chocolate cake) and he told me his favorite cake is carrot cake.  I popped off with "Awesome, I have an old family recipe that's been passed down for years, I haven't made it myself yet, but everyone really seems to like it, I'll make that."  I then went home, looked at the recipe, and panic ensued. I even called my mom so that she could virtually pat my head and tell me everything would be okay, that this cake was well within my skill levels.

Still the following thoughts wouldn't stop racing through my head:

1. While I have baked and decorated dozens of cakes over the years, I've never made one completely from scratch.  I always use a boxed cake mix as a base and doctor the recipe to get a homemade taste/texture.
2. This recipe in INVOLVED and has a TON of ingredients.
3. I would be baking in his kitchen which is known to have a VERY temperamental oven.
4. I have developed a reputation among friends and family of being THE BAKER, and he is well aware of it, he's known about my rep longer than he's known me.
5. Boyfriend is a culinary school graduate chef.

No pressure right?

So I packed up all my gear and took it to his house. Have Kitchen Aid (TM) will travel. Sunday morning dawned and I got up to get my inner kitchen goddess on, and learned right away that the oven did indeed suck balls.

First I couldn't get it to preheat to the temp I needed it to be, so I cranked the dial to 500, and it grudgingly raised to 350 (score, that's just where I wanted it), I flipped the dial to "bake" and the heat element turned off and the temperature dropped to 200 degrees. Fail.

Then while I was mixing all the ingredients, I realized when I got to the end on the instructions I still had a few ingredients that never made it into the bowl... turns out I skipped a couple lines on the recipe... anxiously called my mom, and again she virtually patted me on the head and told me it was fine, just put them in at the end. So if you do make the cake, order of operations isn't super important, it'll still turn out okay.

Back to the oven... I put it back on preheat, and figured that was fine... and popped the cake on the center rack, it wasn't 10 minutes later the kitchen is full of smoke (and only my nose detected it, not the smoke detector) and the top of the cake was black. I was really concerned because the cake was supposed to take 90 minutes to bake.  I rip it out of the oven and start poking around at it, nearly crying, but was hopeful when I discovered only the top 1/4 inch was charred. I started peeling off the blackened portion and sent the BF a frantic text about ruining the cake and hating his oven.  He gave me some pointers and left work to come to my rescue (or maybe his shift was over and he was on his way anyway, I like to think he was concerned for my mental health and raced home).

Meanwhile, I went all Swatter Ninja and started killing the hoard of flies that had infiltrated the house over the weekend. It was a way to be productive and to take out my frustration all at the same time. Plus who likes to be in a house full of flying insects? Not me. I also took a pumice stone to the bathtub and got all the bachelor pad grit off. What? When I'm stressed I obsessively clean things. I blame my mother, she does the same thing.  

Turns out I should have been using the bottom oven, not the top... and once I had the cake in the right place (who knew?) everything turned out fine.  I won't lie and tell you that I didn't at least once or twice fantasize about tossing the entire cake, pan and all out into the street and just watch it roll down the hill... maybe get hit by the neighbor's truck and splat everywhere. There were a few dark moments.

Luckily, once the cake was baked, cooled, and frosted it was DELICIOUS and a big hit with everyone who tried it.  So it was completely worth the struggles I faced making it.  I would definitely make it again, just maybe in someone else's oven, or you know, just use the functional oven now that I know which one it is.

This may not have been the prettiest cake I've ever made, but the fact that I made it from scratch, burned part of it, and that it still came out awesome (tasting)... it really might be the one I'm most proud of.

Aunt Josephine's Chili Colorado

Aunt Josephine's Chili Colorado

Ingredients:

• 1 Tri-tip cut into bite sized pieces (if tri-tip is unavailable in your area, stew meat will work as well)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3-6 cloves of garlic, chopped 
• Stewed tomatoes (14 oz)
• Tomato sauce (14 oz)
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• 1/8th Worcestershire Sauce

The following ingredients are optional, and super tasty, my mom has added them to it after making it so many times through the years

• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 small can herdez salsa (or whatever your favorite salsa is)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low all day

Can also be cooked on the stove top, takes 90 minutes to two hours to simmer. 

Serve:

with refried beans, cheese, tortillas, and any of your favorite Mexican side dishes. 

Oreo Buttercream Frosting

My grandmother's 81st birthday was this weekend, and my mom wanted it to be potluck style.  I was assigned to bring the birthday cake, which is awesome, because if I'm bringing anything to a potluck type party I want to bring desserts or an appetizer, I'm not usually too stoked on bringing a main course if I don't have to.  Grandma requested a chocolate cake, and the rest was left to my imagination.  I used a Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake box mix, but instead of using oil, I used butter, and instead of water, I used milk, and added a packet of chocolate instant pudding mix. These substitutions help the box cakes taste more homemade.  I wanted to do something different with the frosting than chocolate or vanilla, and I remembered the MOST AMAZING cupcake I had in Los Angeles, at a cupcakery called Crumbs, a few years back and it had a cookies and cream frosting.  I wanted to see if I could do something similar, so off to Google my fingers ran, until  I found the recipe that I was able to slightly modify to make the best frosting I've had in my whole life.  The original can be found here. 

This is the recipe I used (nearly identical to the link)

• 1 cup softened butter
• 3.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup finely crushed/packed Oreo pieces (I ground them up in the food processor, about a sleeve and a half of the regular Oreos )

·         Cream the butter for a few minutes until it is light (I had to stop the mixer a couple of times to clear the whisk beater)

·         Sift in the powdered sugar (I just dumped it in, couldn’t find the sifter, didn’t seem to make a difference)

·         Beat until entirely combined with the butter

·         Add vanilla and milk, beat for 3 minutes

·         Add crushed Oreos and mix well to combine

**add more milk to gain a thinner consistency, more sugar and/or Oreos to thicken

It was a complete hit... however, if I were to make it again I'd want to double the recipe. This was just enough to cover the cake, and I didn't have enough ingredients to make more to pipe on decorations to have a more finished look.

Chunky Monkey Cupcakes

Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream inspired this cupcake recipe (with the help of some Duncan Hines cake mix).  I made it a few years ago for a super bowl party and even though they were a hit, I haven't made them since.

The occasion for these tasty treats is my best friend's baby shower this weekend, and I've been salivating since I decided these would be the cupcake for the event.

Ingredients:

• 1 Box Duncan Hines Banana Cake Mix
• 1 Package Banana flavored Instant Pudding
• 1 Cup Milk
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1/3 Cup Butter
• 3/4 Cup Walnuts
• 3/4 
• Chocolate Chips (I prefer milk chocolate, but if you're planning on being true to the B&J's flavor, dark or semi sweet chips are more accurate)
• Vanilla or Butter-cream Frosting
• Banana Chips (for decoration)

Directions:

• Preheat oven 350 degrees for a metal pan, 325 for a dark or coated pan, grease sides with shortening or oil spray, or use baking cups for cupcakes
• blend cake mix, instant pudding, chocolate chips, walnuts (so that the nuts and chips are coated in the dry mix, they won't sink as much while baking if this is done first).
• add milk, eggs, and melted butter until all ingredients are well mixed, about 2 minutes.
• pour batter into pan/baking cups
• bake 15-18 minutes
• cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes
• cool completely before frosting.
• melt some chocolate chips and then dip the banana chips in melted chocolate, set aside on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper until chocolate sets

Butter-Cream Frosting

Store-bought frosting is quick and easy if you don't have time to make your own, but if you do, you won't regret it, this frosting is delicious, I've used it on cakes, cupcakes, cut out cookies... you name it... if it is something to be frosted, this one will not disappoint. 

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup soft butter
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Food coloring of choice

Directions:

• Blend butter and sugar
• Stir in vanilla and milk
• Beat until frosting is smooth and spreadable

Trade Secrets:

Brown or Black Icing?

For brown icing melt unsweetened chocolate and mix into white icing

For black icing, add black gel coloring to brown icing, you’ll use less black coloring and the frosting will taste like chocolate

Dark Red Icing?

Make the icing a day ahead of time, the dark pink will darken over time and turn red if you give it 24 hours, also can use maraschino cherry juice as a liquid, will turn the icing pink and you can use less red food coloring.

Martha Stewart's Chewy Cherry Chunk Cookies

a few years back my mom found this recipe on www.marthastewart.com and they've been a hit ever since, I logged onto her site today and saw that the recipe has slightly changed from the one I'm about to post.  I'm sure the new version is delicious but this is the one I made.







Makes between 10 large or 36 small cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup dried cherries (I cut them in half)
1 stick unsalted softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional... I chose not to use them)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees with one rack in top third and bottom rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine:
• butter
• brown sugar
• granulated sugar
• Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy (roughly 2 minutes)
• Scrape down sides of the bowl, add
• egg
• vanilla extract
• Beat to combine, add
• flour
• baking soda
• salt
• Once combined, add
• cherries
• white chocolate
• milk chocolate
• pecans
• Batter should be stiff
• Use large (2 1/2 ounce) or small ( 1 1/4 ounce) ice cream scoop (I used the medium sized Pampered Chef batter scoop) to form balls of dough about 4 inches apart on a baking sheet (I was able to fit nine per sheet).
• Bake until golden and just set, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even browning (I found 7 minutes on each rack was perfect), the recipe itself says 12 minutes for small cookies, 15 for large.
• Transfer sheets to a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring cookies to rack.
• Store in an airtight container, recipe says they'll last a week... but I think they'll be long gone before the week is up.
• Transfer sheets

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Last year I had this dip at a football party I had attended and I fell in love.  Shortly after the recipe popped up in a blog I follow and I saved it for future reference.  I just copied and pasted the instructions from the blog, and my notes are in the parenthesis.

It's safe to say that this dish is not diet friendly, but I guarantee that it will make your taste buds dance (that is if you're a fan of hot wings). 

I made it myself for the first time yesterday for a Christmas Party I attended last night and it was a huge hit, it filled a 9x13 pyrex pan, and by the end of the evening only a small portion remained.

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless cooked chicken breasts shredded or diced (I used Swanson's canned chicken, it's like tuna, and it worked out great, 2 large cans, 1 small)
• 2/3 bottle of FRANK’S BUFFALO WING SAUCE
• 2 bars of cream cheese (softened)
• 1 16 oz. bottle of blue cheese dressing (I used Bob's Big Boy bottled dressing, it was delicious)
• 3-4 cups of shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used a mixed bag of cheddar/monterey jack because I couldn't find pre-shredded Monterey Jack at the store I was at and didn't want to go to another store)
• Tortilla Chips for dipping (Tostitos Cantina Chips are my favorite dipping choice)

Directions:

• First, layer the chicken and Franks Buffalo Wing sauce in the bottom of a 13″ by 9″ pan.  
• Mix together the cream cheese, blue cheese dressing and 2-3 cups of the Monterey Jack cheese. (SAVE THE REST OF THE SHREDDED CHEESE FOR THE TOP) 
• Spread over the chicken.  
• Put remaining shredded cheese on the top.
• Bake at 350 for approx. 1/2 hour. It is good hot ,or warm!

Another awesome dinner in the books

This was Pampered Chef inspired, but I'm not sure that I stuck to the recipe. I didn't have it handy and didn't want to look it up.

Ingredients:

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (I had some cutlets leftover from the last time I cooked chicken so they were perfect)
• Olive Oil
• Pampered Chef Sweet Basil Rub (this stuff is amazing)
• Tomatoes (I sliced up about a dozen cherry tomatoes)
• Garlic (I used 5 cloves)
• Fresh Basil
• Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Box of Penne Pasta (it was way too much for the amount of chicken/tomatoes I had 1/2 a box would have been better)

Directions:

While a large pot of water was heating up to boil I seasoned the chicken with the rub and olive oil, then set it aside to mini marinate while I chopped up the garlic and tomatoes. 

Sprayed my frying pan down with a light coating of Pam then tossed in the seasoned cutlets. 

Once the chicken was about halfway cooked I put the pasta in the pot of water and also added a little garlic to cook with the noodles. 

Back to the chicken. When it was mostly cooked I added in the tomatoes and garlic and stirred in the pan frequently. As the meat was starting to brown I tore strips of the basil leaves and cooked along with the other ingredients. 

By the time the pasta was cooked (al dente) the chicken mixture was ready to be added in. 

Sprinkle Parmesan to taste and serve up.

Chicken & Veggies

I'd like to think of a fancy name for this eventually, maybe you know one if you look at the ingredients, but for now I'm going with Chicken & Veggies.  I don't really measure with this, so go with your gut and taste buds


• Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast
• Olive Oil
• Fresh Garlic
• Zucchini
• Yellow Squash
• Yellow Onion
• Roma Tomatoes (seeded)
• Sun dried Tomato Pesto
• Pampered Chef Sweet Basil Rub
• Salt (optional)
• Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese (optional)

I started by heating up my frying pan with olive oil and a chopped clove of garlic.

I coated the top side of the chicken with the basil rub then chopped it into slightly larger than bite-sized pieces so that they would cook faster than if I left it intact and tossed it in the frying pan with 1/2 of the onion I chopped.

Chopped the rest of the garlic (I used like 5-6 cloves, but I love garlic, so use as much as you're comfortable with), the zucchini, squash, and put a heaping amount of the sun dried tomato pesto in a large bowl and mixed them all together with a little (very little) salt then tossed everything in the pan. I stirred fairly frequently, and when I noticed that stuff was starting to stick a little I added more olive oil. Just before it was finished cooking, I added in the tomatoes, then turned down the heat and let everything simmer for a few minutes.

Once it was all cooked I put in a large serving dish and sprinkled the top with cheddar and let it sit 2-3 minutes to let the cheese melt a bit and for it to set up.

I've made this before without the chicken and it was just as delicious, but it wasn't filling, so without the protein, it would be an excellent side dish, but didn't work (for me) as a meal.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. milk

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. double acting baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup Coach's Oats

1 cup shredded coconut (I toasted mine, 10 min, 350 degree oven, stirring frequently, until golden brown)

1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and sugars for about 30 seconds.

Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk.

Mix just until smooth

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry with the wet ingredients and beat, be careful not to overmix.

Add oats, coconut, and white chocolate chips.

Beat until combined.

Drop by rounded teaspoon (or medium sized cookie scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheet (I always prepare my cookie sheets by putting parchment paper on them, and dropping the dough onto the paper, less mess and no sticking).

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

The recipe I used/modified (from the container of Coach's Oats) said that it would make about 3 dozen cookies, with the cookie scoop I used, it made about 2 dozen.  The original recipe did not call for white chocolate or macadamia nuts, and did not toast the coconut.

Grandma Lillian's Pea Soup

Okay, now personally, I'm not a fan of this soup, I don't like peas, but I'm pretty much the only one I know who doesn't like it... and I have a lot of friends who are into peas and other veggies, so I thought I'd share. My grandma has been making this soup forever, the recipe card at her house was written in my mom's elementary school handwriting, so it's not something new to the family. It's not quite a vegetarian meal as it's cooked with a ham bone, but it's something good for the winter, and is best served with crusty bread and extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Better Than Andersen’s Pea Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds split peas
• 1 bunch fresh spinach
• 2 bunches water cress
• 3 carrots
• 1 small bunch celery
• 1 bunch green onions
• 2 potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 pound asparagus
• 1 ham bone
• 1 large zucchini
• 6 quarts water 

 

Directions:

 

• Wash all vegetables
• Chop vegetables and place in food processor
• Mix/Chop to the size of large confetti
• Place vegetables in large pot
• Wash peas and add to veggies
• Add Water
• Add ham bone
• Bring to a boil, stirring frequently
• Simmer 90-120 minutes
• Salt and pepper to taste.

 

Lo's Mojitos and Tangerine Dreams

Mojitos are one of my favorite summertime cocktail, they're refreshing, sweet, and oh so satisfying. My version is slightly different than what you would find in a typical bar setting as I use diet 7up instead of club soda, but my friends, the difference is in the details. You'll be a believer after one sip.  The Tangerine Dream is very similar except instead of Key Limes I use tangerines and leave out the simple syrup, I'd say they're equally delicious. Cheers!

 

Mojito

 

Ingredients:  

• 3 Limes (key limes taste best)
• 4 Mint Leaves
• 1.5 Ounces Light Rum
• Ice
• Diet Lemon/Lime Soda
• Simple Syrup (equal parts sugar/water boiled together until they thicken into a syrup)

 

Directions:

 

• Muddle mint leaves in the bottom of glass
• Juice the limes and pour into glass
• Pour in Rum
• Fill glass with Soda
• Add Simple Syrup to taste
• Add ice
• Serve

Lo’s Tangerine Dream

Substitute limes for tangerines and follow Mojito recipe, depending on sweetness of tangerines, syrup may not be needed.