Saturday, April 30, 2011

Lemon Thins

I am embarrassed to admit that this is the first time that I have ever eaten a lemon cookie. 

Why??  I have no idea!

I love lemon everything.  The taste, smell, look...you name it.  The thought of making a lemon cookie has always been there and I have always wanted to try them...so now was the time.  ;)  I made these for Easter weekend and they were a huge hit.  I think they were different enough but yet familiar...if that makes sense.  Everything during Easter is so rich and sugary and these little babies are light and have just the right amount of sweetness.  The texture was perfect and they look really cute as well. There is nothing worse (to me) than a dry and hard cookie.  For whatever reason I just do not like them.  Just under-baked cookies are perfect in my book!

Like I said, I love me a soft cookie so that was what I was on the mission for.  A lot of the lemon cookies that I found looked like they were hard and try.  Who knows if they were but I was not about to make 4 dozen cookies to only have them go to waste.  I came across a lovely blog that I have grown to like in the last week or so.  The pictures were perfect and they sounded amazing just by the description.  Well...I am glad that I bake them and so were our friends!  I brought them with us to our Easter weekend away and they were scarfed up!

Light, sweet, soft, chewy! Perfect!

SOURCE:  Found on www.thepastryaffair.com (This is the blog that was mentioned above.)
Adapted from The Eating Well Dessert Cookbook

INGREDIENTS
 
1/2 cup sugar, (extra for sprinkling/rolling)
4 T. butter (softened)
1 egg white
1 t. vanilla extract
Zest and juice of 1 lemon (I did use a good amount more than this. 4-5 lemons)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 t. baking powder

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Beat in the egg white and vanilla until smooth.
Beat in the lemon zest and lemon juice.
Fold in the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder.
Take a teaspoonful of dough and roll it into a ball with your hands.
Roll in bowl of sugar and place on baking sheet, flattening slightly.   
Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the edges barely begin to brown (do not overbake if the edges do not brown; the cookies will be done).
Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.

NOTE: Original recipe called for sugar to be sprinkled on top but I did it differently.  I rolled the balls of dough in sugar and it gave them that sweet taste and shiny look. 



XoXo
Valerie

Friday, April 29, 2011

Peanut Butter Banana Dog Biscuits

Yes...I said DOG BISCUITS!

I honestly did not know that people made dog biscuits but come to find out...a lot of people do and there dogs love them!  I thought for sure that I would find a recipe and it would have all kinds of weird ingredients in it.  I told myself that I was not going to go to the store just to buy ingredients for dog biscuits.  To my surprise the recipe that I found was very simple and I had everything on hand.  SCORE!  

I have been seeing several different recipes circulating around the food blogging world so I decided that I just needed to pick one and give it a go!  I had a few bananas that needed to be used up and Xena (our pup) loves loves loves peanut butter so it was the perfect recipe. 

This recipe makes a good amount of biscuits but next time I am going to make them a little smaller.  I find that I have been breaking them up before giving them to Xena.  She loves them!  I know that I will be using this recipe a lot in the future.  Another plus is that I didn't have to buy biscuits for a while so if you are trying to cut back on costs I would be making this recipe.

SOURCE:  www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs (1 will be used at the end for brushing the biscuits)
1/3 cup peanut butter (I used smooth)
1/2 cup bananas (Smashed)
1 T. honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Mix egg and bananas together in bowl.
Add in peanut butter, honey, flour and wheat germ.
Place dough on clean floured surface.
Knead dough for 3 - 5 minutes until smooth.
Roll out dough to be 1/2 inch thick.
Use cookie cuter or small kitchen glass to cut biscuits.
Place biscuits on baking sheet (not greased).
Beat egg in small bowl and brush over tops of biscuits.
Bake 30 minutes.
Cool.
Store in seal tight container or seal tight bag. 

NOTE:  You certainly do not need to brush the top of the biscuits with egg.  I did, just to make them shiny! =)


Ms. Xena patiently waiting for her cookie to cool!


XoXo
Valerie

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Garlic Baked Asparagus


Fun fact: eat asparagus and your pee will smell like it! =)

Makes you want to eat a bunch of asparagus right? I know!  

Growing up when we had asparagus it was covered in salt, pepper and cheese cheese cheese! That is the only way I ever had asparagus until I was older and started cooking for myself.  My Momma knew that it wasn’t healthy but it was what my Dad liked it she went with it.  

I wanted to be able to enjoy asparagus without all the fatty cheese so I have been experimenting.  You can bake, fry or boil.  I have done all 3 and my favorite way is baked.  It turns out perfect every time.  This is so simple I don't like to call it a recipe but sometimes the simplest recipes are the best!

SOURCE: ME

INGREDIENTS

½ lb. asparagus
PAM
Seasoning Salt
Pepper
1 – 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9x13 inch pan with PAM.
Place asparagus in pan with all of seasonings and garlic.
Cook for 15-20 minutes (or until done to your liking).

Healthy and delicious….win, win!


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Overnight Oats


When I first heard of overnight oats I was really confused.   Are they cold? Are they hot? What does it taste like? Is it bland?  These were all things that I was asking myself and I was too embarrassed to ask questions to anyone so I just did the research on my own.  

Turns out they are cold, spiced just to your own liking and tastes amazing!! I first heard of these when I was reading a blog a while back.  I got hooked on this blog and she was always eating overnight oats so I was drawn in.  Let me just say that I am glad that I tried them and it is now one of my favorite breakfasts.  During the hot summer days (mornings) the last thing that I want to eat is piping hot oatmeal.  Something cool and refreshing sounds so much better to me.  

These do require a LITTLE planning ahead but not much.  It takes maybe 3 minutes to whip this up at night and about 2 minutes to garnish it in the morning.  Not bad…5 minutes total for a healthy hearty breakfast…SCORE! 

SOURCE: A combination of two different places.
1.        http://eatliverun.com/
2.       www.sparkrecipes.com

Between these two sites I guess you could say that I made my own little recipe but that is where I got the original idea from.

INGREDIENT

This will make about 1 serving.

1 cup oats (rolled, quick, either will work)
¼ cup almond milk or coconut milk (I have used both and like them both.)
½ cup greek yogurt (I use plain, nonfat.)

Toppings (Add in the AM)

Spices of choice
Fruit of choice

I use whatever fruit I have on hand.  For my spices I usually add cinnamon and brown sugar.  Sometimes I add a drizzle of honey, a spoonful of peanut butter or a spoonful of almond butter.

DIRECTIONS

The night before:

Mix together first 4 ingredients in a bowl and cover. 
Place in fridge to chill overnight.

In the morning:

Add toppings and stir. 

Enjoy!


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Potato Spinach Leek Soup

You will love this soup if…

You like Zuppa Toscana….check!

You like Potato Leek Soup….check!

If you made it past the two above then you are going to love this soup.  For awhile now I have been on a soup kick.  Chili, broccoli cheese soup, minestrone soup…you name it…I made it!  My Mom recently started making Potato Leek Soup which I decided to make and I loved it.  I also recently made Zuppa Toscana and loved it.  Between the two soups I had a good amount of leeks and spinach left and I couldn’t let it go to waste. 

That is when I made this wonderful Potato Spinach Leek Soup. It is mighty tasty and is the perfect combination of the two soups that I mentioned above. 

Kyle loves both Zuppa Toscana and Potato Leek soup so I knew that this would be a winner in his book.  I was right…he loved it!  He loves spicy sausage so that is what I used and it is nice because the sausage gives it so much extra flavor.  Next time you are in the mood for soup…pick this one.  It is a little different from the usual soups and that is what makes it so yummy on a cold day!   

SOURCE: ME =)

INGREDIENTS

1 lb Italian sausage (I use spicy sausage)
2 large russet baking potatoes, sliced in 1/4 inch slices
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 cups leeks, chopped
2 cans chicken broth
1 quart water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt
Pepper

DIRECTIONS

Sauté sausage until fully cooked.



Add onion, garlic and leeks and cook 5 minutes or until onions are clear.





Add water and broth.
Add potatoes and spinach.
Cook until potatoes are tender.
Add cream last 20 minutes and simmer on low.

Seven Layer Taco Dip

I won’t say this often but I could eat this dip every single day!  It is true!  I don’t know why but I don’t get sick of it.  I got this recipe from my Mom but I am sure she got it somewhere but I am not sure where.  My Mom would make this recipe for special occasions..you know..Super Bowl parties, New Years and family gatherings.  Between my Mom and me we could eat an entire 9x13 dish full. Terrible but oh so good! =)  I bring this anytime I am asked to bring my favorite appetizer or dip.  It is always a hit!

SOURCE: Momma’s Kitchen

This recipe will make an 8x8 dish.

INGREDIENTS

1 can refried beans (whatever your favorite is works just fine)
1 cup guacamole (I make homemade guacamole but store bought would work as well)
1 cup spicy sour cream (mix 1 cup sour cream with 1 package of taco seasoning)
1 cup cheese (I use a mix of jack/cheddar)
1/3 cup chopped green olives

DIRECTIONS

Layer ingredients in order listed above in 8x8 dish.

Chill.

Serve with tortilla chips of choice.  

The great thing about this recipe is that it can be altered to your liking.  If you don’t like spicy then don’t make it spicy, if you don’t like green olives – use black, if you don’t like guacamole – don’t add it.  You get the point.  Have fun with it and make if your own (or don’t and make it like I do!) =)