Julie's Maple-Date-Walnut-Spice and Vanilla-Mint Sorbets

I invented my own flavors of sorbets a few days ago using ingredients I had in the house.  I only used the ice cream recipe book for the proper amounts of sugar and water, but everything else was all my creation.  I didn't measure anything and probably couldn't even make them exactly the same again!  Mel & I both think they turned out great, both are 10's!  Especially the maple-date-walnut-spice.  I hate to say this because it sounds very conceited, but it is by far my favorite ice cream/sorbet flavor I've made so far!

Mel's Birthday Cake & Zucchini Bread

 I got both these recipes from the same cookbook & brought them both to Mel's birthday picnic with the bible study group.  I didn't get any good photos of the cake (where you could see the layers) because the camera I was borrowing was a cheap one & no matter how hard I tried, the photos would not turn out.  Basically, it was a white cake w/ lemon extract, and I made a lemon & coconut filling, and frosted it w/ a cream cheese and coconut icing.  All Mel's favorites!  Everyone liked it at the picnic; I'd give it an 8 1/2 - 9.  But everyone really went crazy over the zucchini bread.  They said it was the best they had ever had and wanted the recipe.  I changed the recipe a bit from what was in the book.  I changed the type of oil used and added a butter/ raw sugar topping.  I'd give this bread a 10!

Cherry Veggie Roll-Ups

I can't remember where I got this recipe from, but it's one I really like.  Mel does not like cucumbers, so he doesn't care for this dish, but to me it's a 9! 

Julie's Tater Tot Casserole

This is another recipe that became my own because I changed the one from the cookbook so much (as you can see by the writings all over the recipe page).  It's also one of our favorites I make at least once a month.  It's also a 10!

Julie's Chili Cheese Dog Mini Pizza Rolls

I titled this as "Julie's..." because, even though this recipe idea came from the Rhodes Rolls cookbook, I changed it so much that it's now my recipe.  This has become one of Mel & my favorite recipes; I make it at least once a month, and it's easy and cheap to make.  I make make two separate batches of filling/topping since I'm a vegetarian and Mel is not.  I give this one a 10! 

"The Little Red Cat" Menu Board

I actually have a bunch of photos to post that I need to catch up on, but I'm tired, the computer is crazy slow at downloading, and it's late.  So I'll just leave today with this last picture.  Just for fun, I made this menu board a few weeks ago!  It's so fun being able to cook for another person, especially since it's for my amazing new husband!

Ice Cream & Sorbet

Mel & I got an ice cream maker for a wedding gift.  I made more types of ice cream other than just what's posted here, but I didn't have a camera for a while and had to borrow one.  Anyway, since it's so fattening, I switched to sorbet.  The ice cream is better; all the recipes I tried were 10's, and the sorbets were, an 8 1/2 for the lemon-basil, and an 8 for the coconut.  The 2nd photo is triple berry ice cream (supposed to just be strawberry, but I wanted a mixed berry version, butter pecan, and Mexican chocolate ice creams.  Mel & I liked them on waffles!  I think butter pecan was both our favorites of all the ice creams I made.  I also made peanut butter cup & banana walnut with white chocolate chips (no photos).  The bottom photo are the lemon-basil & coconut sorbets.