I’ve decided to forgo voting this month and make Meltaways. They came in second last month, and they’ll make a great Valentine’s Day sugar cookie.
[ photo from Landee See, Landee Do ]
But if you want to participate in the voting for March, here is the poll:
I have a problem. I’ve pinned too many cookies on Pinterest.
I have so many I want to try.
The good news is that I can’t eat most of them (gluten) and I gave my dad and grandpa a “cookie of the month” subscription for Christmas. Which means I’m making a batch of cookies to mail to them every month this year.
Now which cookie should I make? Can you help me out? I can’t decide. Vote for the one I should make.
If I get a lot of participation with the voting this month, I might turn this into a giveaway (as in you’ll get your own bunch of cookies mailed to you as well). This is going to be a monthly voting conundrum I feel.
The Contenders
Chocolate Ritz Peanut Butter Cookies (we call them bark cookies)
White Chocolate Topped Gingerbread Cookies
The Voting
Voting closes on January 10. I’ll announce what cookie won on January 15.
I’m ringing in 2012 by going to the Bears vs. Vikings showdown at noon today (aye carumba!).
Who will win? It is a tossup. When I bought the tickets I thought the Bears were sure to win … but now I don’t know. It’s sure to be an interesting game!
Happy 2012 everybody! If you’re suffering from a hangover and/or from watching football, why not try making one of these football-friendly comfort foods?
Amazing chili
Greek Turkey Burgers and Coleslaw
Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever
Nutter Butter Knockoff Blizzards
NACHOS.
Also, in case you’re wondering, I did NOT dye my hair red again. I snagged this pic from my facebook from last year. 
However, it is about this same length again!
Last week I posted about the apron I made Emee for Christmas.
Here is the apron in action. Mom and Em were making French toast and Emee asked to wear her new apron.
So cute! I’m glad she liked it. She was so blinded by Legos (which, for the record, weren’t blind after she was done with them — click the link and you’ll understand) and all the other cool stuff she got that she barely noticed the apron that she had wanted. Looks like she’s got a year or more left to wear it since I made it intentionally a bit big.
I bet that was some good french toast!
First of all, I have NO idea how I did this. I actually made creamy and melty macaroni and cheese from REAL CHEESE. That’s right. The consistency of Velveeta mac and cheese, but without all the processed crap.
I used a sharp organic cheddar and a chihuahua cheese (not made from chihuahua’s milk, fyi). I thought that the chihuahua would melt nicely, which it did this first time. But not the second time.
I’ve tried several times since this occurrence to repeat the awesome mac and cheese to no avail. It’s gritty. Or it’s too stringy. I thought that because I processed the two cheeses together in my food processor with the butter that I used in the dish that maybe that was the key — not so much.
I found this recipe by Rachel Ray that does what I want to do. So maybe next time I’ll just use this.
This is a long post. Just sayin’. Long process = long post. For those of you who just want to see the finished product, here you go. Side note, we’re having pot roast today. And after writing this post I’m wondering why I didn’t have the foresight to get more ravioli supplies instead.
How did we put this awesome dish together? It all started with a giant bag of tomatoes from my grandpa’s garden. He had given us some tomatoes when we stopped by a week or so before this. We had BLTs, salsa, salad, etc. and managed to eat all 5-6 tomatoes he’d given us. I sent him an e-mail thanking him for the tomatoes and to my surprise, my parents showed up at Market Day with a GINORMOUS bag of tomatoes for me.
What are two people going to do with that many tomatoes? Simple. Make Smitten Kitchen’s fresh tomato sauce recipe I’ve been eyeballing all summer.
First, here’s the recipe [adapted from Smitten Kitchen]
Fresh Tomato Sauce
Yield: About 4 cups sauce
4 pounds sad, unloved tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
large onion
3-5 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
2 T italian seasoning
crushed red pepper to taste
Peel your tomatoes: Bring a pot of water to boil. Cut a small X at the bottom of each tomato. Blanche the tomatoes in the boiling water for 10 to 30 seconds, then either rinse under cold water or shock in an ice water bath. Peeling the tomatoes should now be a cinch. If one gives you trouble, toss it back in the boiling water for another 10 seconds until the skin loosens up. Discard the skins.
Finish preparing your tomatoes: If using plum tomatoes, halve each lengthwise. If using beefsteak or another round variety, quarter them. Squeeze the seeds out over a strainer over a bowl and reserve the juices. Either coarsely chop you tomatoes on a cutting board or use a potato masher to do so in your pot, as you cook them in a bit.
Prepare your vegetables: I finely chop my onion, and mince my garlic.
Cook your sauce: Heat your olive oil in a large pot over medium. Cook your onions and garlic, if you’re using them, until they just start to take on a little color, about 10 minutes. I really like to concentrate their flavor as much as possible. Add your tomatoes and bring to a simmer, lowering the heat to medium-low to keep it at a gentle simmer. If you haven’t chopped them yet, use a potato masher to break them up as you cook them. Simmer your sauce, stirring occasionally. At 30 minutes, you’ll have a fine pot of tomato sauce, but at 45 minutes, you might just find tomato sauce nirvana: more caramelized flavors, more harmonized texture. We cooked ours for several hours.
If your sauce seems to be getting thicker than you want it to be, add back the reserved tomato juice as need. If your sauce is too lumpy for your taste, use an immersion blender or a regular blender to break it down to your desired texture. (“Blasphemy!” some will say, but they’re not in the kitchen with you. So there.) For the record, we blend ours. I like a chunkier sauce, but Mark likes his blended. So we blend for a short amount of time. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and more to taste. I like somewhere between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon for 4 pounds of tomatoes. Swear you’ll never buy jarred sauce again.
So now what? You make ravioli while your sauce is still simmering.
1 pkg won ton wrappers
1 t cornstarch mixed with 1/2 c water
[feel free to experiment with fillings, but we used:]
1 large container of cottage cheese
italian seasoning
1/2 c cooked spinach
1/3 c parmesan cheese
salt + pepper to taste
1 egg (to bind)
Mix your filling ingredients together. Layout a damp towel and lay 5-7 wonton wrappers down flat on it. Take about 1 t of filling and place in the middle. Using your pinky finger, dip into the cornstarch mixture and outline the edge of the wonton wrapper. Seal the edges of the ravioli. Repeat until you run out of filling or wrappers (we ran out of filling first).
Bring a large pot of water with 1 T salt to boil. Drop your ravioli in the pot. Boil for 8-12 minutes — until the ravioli float to the top. Drain. Coat with sauce or olive oil to keep from sticking together. Serve.
I somehow miraculously created a 3 point per slice pizza. And yes, I’m talking weight watchers points. At the suggestion of my friend Kelly, I’m going to start trying to add points when I can. I’ve asked Mark to help since he’s on WW and I have no clue how the system works. I just try to make things as healthy as possible.
This pizza = magic. I love goat cheese. If I could, I would marry a 6’1″ tall mound of it. Maybe not, but that would be delicious.
Recipe you say? Okay, I may not have one, but I have a guide. Well, to get the points correct, you have to do a 1 point pizza crust. Mark is the pizza crust genius, and I don’t know what all he puts in the crust. However, I can tell you that you have to roll it out crazy super thin to get it down to one point. Then pre-bake for 5 minutes.
Once you have your crust … you need to assemble. Slice tomatoes thin and add some sliced onion and minced garlic. Sauté until a lot of the moisture is gone from the tomatoes. Spread tomato mixture on top of your pre-baked crust. Sprinkle some chevré on top and add fresh basil leaves. Bake for 10-12 more minutes and serve.
This week’s humpday blog love goes to a cooking blog that I’ve been drooling over for months. I’ve pinned a ton of recipes for future use. I’ve made several recipes from this blog and have yet to have one fail or have one not receive rave reviews. [images copyright smitten kitchen]
My favorite recipe on the site? The chili. Hands down best chili I’ve ever made. Or had for that matter.
I also just baked some amazingly fudgy brownies that I’ve been wanting to try for a while.
Next up, I’m trying the fresh tomato sauce recipe. I have a load of tomatoes from my grandpa from my adventure last saturday. I’m excited to try this!
We’ve been trying all sorts of light easy recipes this summer. We love asian but I’ve been trying to cut down on my carbs. I came across this amazing recipe for Asian Lettuce Wraps from Annie’s Kitchen. It’s become a staple of our weekly dinner routine. One batch feeds us for 2+ meals and it is really tasty leftover.
Here is the recipe, courtesy of Annie’s Kitchen.
Asian Lettuce Wraps
Printer-Friendly Version
Ingredients:
For the sauce:
1½ tsp. hoisin sauce
1 tsp. soy sauce
½ tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. rice wine vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. Sriracha hot sauce
For the filling:
2 tsp. canola oil
1 tsp. minced garlic
½ tsp. grated fresh ginger
2 green onions, chopped
1 lb. ground turkey or chicken
2 cups mixed vegetables (I used frozen peas and carrots, diced red pepper and onion)
½ green apple, finely chopped
To assemble:
Butter lettuce leaves, washed and separated
Shredded carrots for topping (optional)
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and mix to blend.
To make the filling, heat a skillet on high heat with cooking oil. Once the pan is hot, add the garlic, ginger and green onions to the pan, and stir fry for a few seconds, just until fragrant. Add the ground turkey or chicken, breaking into small pieces, and cook until almost cooked through. Add the vegetables to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the sauce and cook for about 1 minute until thickened slightly. Add the apples to the pan and toss to coat. Immediately remove the pan from the heat.
Serve the filling in lettuce “cups” and top with shredded carrots, if desired. I top with cilantro because I have an odd love affair with cilantro that’s hard to explain …
It’s been a while since I posted some love about another blog. But I’ve been wanting to post about DIY or Buy for a long time. And she’s been blogging a lot more lately, so I feel like it’s a good time to post.
DIY or Buy focuses on analyzing exactly what the title implies: should you do something yourself or are you better off buying? Her tagline is “Make it or buy it? We’ll help you decide.”
My favorite posts include dishwasher detergent, egg nog and granola. This past week she did a promenade of fried foods in honor of the Iowa State Fair. I slightly feared for her health, but she made it through!
Anyway … if you are in the mood for some good tutorials, fun things to do yourself and maybe some greening of your daily routine, check out DIY or Buy.
