Butter, Crisp Honey, & Honey Raisin Cookies

Rather than post 3 separate blogs, I'll just put these into one long one.  I made these 3 different kinds of cookies today for my mom & me for dessert w/ our lunch (about 15 cookies each).  The recipes came from an old cook book my Grandma bought me b/c I love honey (all the cookies have honey in them).  I noticed that I once gave the honey raisin cookies a 10.  Not sure why.  I would give all three of these cookies a 7 1/2 (each).  They were all pretty average.  The raisin ones may get an 8, but not any higher.  I pretty much stuck to the recipe for all the cookies.  For the butter cookies, I decided to add 2 tablespoons of marmalde just because it sounded like fun and I needed to finish up the jar & I topped them w/ raw sugar.  For the crisp cookies, I didn't have any cloves, so I used all spice & I topped them w/ regular sugar.  For the honey cookies I just topped them w/ powdered sugar.  I'm posting 2 photos of all the cookies just because I think the first one is cute w/ Jonah in the photo!  The photos of the cookies are in alphabetical order (as they are in the title)!

Pasta With Spinach & Garbanzo Beans

I made this today for my mom and me for lunch today.  We both really liked it.  I'd give it a 9.  I got the recipe from the back of an Albertson's coupon book.  I didn't have to buy anything for it since I had all the ingredients at home already.  The only thing I changed was that it calls for spaghetti, but I didn't have any, so I used the pasta I had.  This would be good on a menu.     

Easiest French Fry Recipe

I got this recipe from the PBS t.v. show "America's Test Kitchen."  Apparently they had experimented with several types of potatoes and oils and ways to cut and cook them, and this was the best way to make french fries.  They are supposed to be cooked in 6 cups of peanut oil, but I ran out, so I used 3 cups of peanut oil and 2 cups of vegetable oil.  So I guess I messed up their experiment by not using all peanut oil, but they still tasted pretty good.  They were pretty easy too; the only time consuming part was cutting the potatoes.  I would given them an 8.  If I was making them for a restaurant, they would need some kind of seasoning other than sea salt & I would create my own fry sauce.  But I do like the brand I used "Some Dude's Fry Sauce" is the best I have had.

Black Bean Pizza - Again

I made the "Black Bean Pizza" again on Friday.  I followed the recipe and did not add pizza sauce and did not saute the veggies.  I still added green pepper though (and a yellow pepper).  And this time I bought a pizza crust - I know shame on me for not using homemade.  It was so much better this way. A 10!  But I do think my homemade crust is better! 

Black Bean Pizza

I can't remember which magazine I copied this from.  Cheryl often brings in magazines with yummy recipes, so it's from one of those.  I made this yesterday for my dad and me.  I messed it up.  I should have followed the recipe and not added pizza sauce, but at the last minute I decided to add it because I thought my dad would like it better that way.  But I think it would have been better w/o it.  Next time I'll skip it.  It was pretty good though.  I give it an 8 1/2.  Minus the sauce I think it could be a 9 1/2.  The only other change I made was adding a green pepper and adding garlic and basil and skipping the cumin.  And I made the crust instead of store bought.  Notice another new plate! 

Cheesecake

I think I mentioned before that I'm going through all of my cookbooks to get rid of old recipes, etc.  Well, I've had this cookbook for at least 25 years.  It was a gift from my Aunt Paula.  You can see by the cover that it's been well used.  I think the corner is even a little burnt!  I made this cheesecake yesterday morning.  It's pretty good, an 8 1/2.  I had to buy a spring form pan (it's the first time I've ever used one), and I hated spending the money, but it's good to have one.  I think I'll make it again, but it's pretty basic so I think I'd add some white chocolate and raspberries/peaches instead.  Oh, and notice the new plate the cheesecake is on.  I bought some cheap plates (less then $1.50 a plate) at Wal-mart.  Just one each of a 4 desgins and 2 dessert dishes.  

Aztec Platter

I've been very curious about making a dish with the grain quinoa.  My co-worker Nicole has always said I should try it because it has the most protein of all the grains.  I was at Costco a few weekends ago stocking up on canned foods and saw a big bag of quinoa.  My mom bought it for me.  So then I got this cookbook out to find a yummy-sounding recipe.  I have more, but I'll have to look for them.  I had planned on sticking with this recipe as written except for substituting onion for scallions (since I had onion already) and skipping the olives (I don't like olives).  However, as I started sauteing the olive oil, and lemon juice, onion, garlic (oh yeah, I added garlic), and green pepper, I suddenly decided I wanted to saute all the veggies together so their flavor would mesh better.  So I added the corn, beans, and apple cider vinegar too.  You're supposed to make this in layers starting with the a quinoa-corn salad, then add the bean salad, and top w/ the seeds, olives, and pepper.  Obviously, I didn't do it that way.  I put just the quinoa first, then topped it w/ all the remaining ingredients, then put sunflower seeds on top (it calls for pumpkin seeds, but I couldn't find any).  It all blends together when you eat it anyway, right!  It's pretty good, an 8 or maybe 8 1/2.  The quinoa pretty much just tastes like rice to me.  I just mixed it all together in a container for leftovers, but then it seemed like there was too much quinoa, so I think I'll add a can of peas and black beans when I pull it out for leftovers.

King Creole

I made 2 fillings for wraps yesterday, plus one other dish.  It works really well for me to do all my cooking on the weekend for the week so that when I come home from work I can just stick something in the microwave.  Preferably something homemade!  I made the chow mein filling again, but doubled the sauce as I said I wanted to.  Much better.  That one is still my favorite.  Then I made this one.  I think I mostly stuck to the recipe.  I only changed a few things:  It called for 1 tablespoon each of oregano and paprika, but I didn't want it to be too spicy, so I only used 1/2 a tablespoon of each.  Also, it called for onion powder, but that seemed redundant w/ the diced onions, so I skipped it.  And of course, I used veggie sausage.  I also added feta cheese since I had it left over from the "french kiss" tortilla I made last week (I didn't get a photo w/ the cheese).  This is my second favorite; an 8 1/2 or 9 with the cheese.  The great thing about this is that I had all the ingredients and didn't have to buy any thing new (except to get fresh celery which was less than $1)!  I will make this again.