Creamy tomato and basil soup

Recipe taken from Pioneer Woman cookbook

Ingredients:
1 medium white or yellow onion, diced
6 tablespoons butter (3/4 stick)
Two 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
One 46 ounce bottle/can tomato juice
3-6 tablespoons sugar
3 chicken bouillon cubes
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped basil

Method:
1. Melt butter in large soup pot, saute onion.

2. Add tomatoes and stir. Add tomato juice, combine.

3. Add sugar (I used 4 tablespoons), chicken bouillon, black pepper. Stir to combine and heat until almost boiling.

4. Turn off heat and add cream, parsley, basil and more pepper to taste.

I served this soup with grilled cheese on sour dough and it was perfection.

Gnocchi with ricotta and tomato sauce

Adapted from Good Housekeeping: Vegetarian Meals cookbook

Ingredients:
1 package gnocchi (16 oz)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 medium tomatoes (1 1/2 lbs) chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 - 10 fresh basil leaves chopped
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Method:
1. Cook gnocchi as directed on package.

2. In nonstick skillet heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

3. Stir in tomatoes, salt, basil, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes break up slightly - about 5 minutes.

4. Drain gnocchi; transfer to warm serving bowl. Stir in ricotta and permesan.

5. Pour tomato mixture on top; toss before serving.

Serve with a leafy green salad and bread sticks or garlic bread. Use an olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper dressing on the salad.

Lemon-ginger chicken

Recipe taken from Betty Crocker: Bisquick II cookbook.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup original bisquick mix
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Lemon sauce:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon grated ginger

Method:
1. Flatten each chicken breast to about 1/4 inch thickness.

2. Mix Bisquick mix, bread crumbs, lemon zest and ginger.

3. Dip chicken into water and then coat with Bisquick mixture.

4. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken 8 to 10 minutes, turning once.

5. While chicken is cooking, make Lemon Sauce by combining all the sauce ingredient in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat; stirring occasionally, until thickened and bubbly.

Serve chicken over rice. Drizzle sauce over chicken and rice - you might want to double or even triple the sauce recipe.

You could even make an orange version of this and it would be divine!

French onion soup

This recipe is not fast but surprisingly, it's little hassle. It's also extremely delicious.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
6 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups water
1 can (14 1/2 ounces | 1 3/4 cups) chicken or vegetable broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 slices (1/2 inch thick) french bread - I used french sour dough
4 ounces (1 cup) Gruyère, swiss or muenster cheese

Method:
In a large pot melt butter over medium heat.
Add onions and salt.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are very tender and begin to caramelise - about 45 minutes.
Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring often, until onions are deep golden brown, about 15 minutes longer.

Put onions in a bowl.
Add 1/2 cup of water to pot; heat to boiling over high heat, stirring until browned bits are loosened from bottom.
Add broth, thyme, and remaining water.
Heat to boiling over high heat.
Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer about 30 minutes, until onions are very tender.

Meanwhile pre-heat over to 450'f.
Place four 2 1/2 cup oven safe bowls in jelly-roll pan.
Spoon onion soup in bowls; top with bread pressed lightly into soup.
Put cheese on bread.
Bake until cheese melts and begins to brown, 12 - 15 minutes.

*I use larger oven proof bowls than the 2 1/2 cup ones. Mine are big enough to top with 2 slices of bread.

Chidester Pot Roast

Description:
This is how we make it in the Chidester household. Please comment on how your recipe differs.

Ingredients:
1 4-5 lb roast
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup with garlic
2 envelopes beefy onion soup mix
1-2 lb baby carrots
1 large onion
8 oz mushrooms, quartered
about 1 c water

Directions:
Put the roast in your crock pot.
Add the vegetables.
Top it with the soups and water.
Cook on low for 6 hours, or until done.

We make ours with mashed potatoes instead of cooking them in the crock, because there is never enough room for them. I just got a bigger crock, but I'll probably still mash because I can never get the potatoes to cook all the way through.

According to my crock pot cookbook, you shouldn't take the lid off while your meal is cooking.

Also, you're only supposed to fill you crock pot 2/3 of the way because that's how high the heating coils go. (I always fill to brimming, and my food cooks just fine.)

BeQui's Non-Greasy Fried Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken tenderloins (Whole breasts take too long to cook.)
vegetable oil
2 T margarine/butter

Coating:
about 1/2 c flour
any spices you like. I prefer chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, lemon herb seasoning, salt, and pepper. It is next to impossible to put too much seasoning in your flour.

Directions:
Mix flour and spices in a bowl or bag.

Pour just enough oil into a frying pan to cover the bottom. Add the margarine. Heat over medium-high heat. Watch out, this stuff splatters.

Dry your chicken tenderloins with paper towels, then dip in the coating. (I read somewhere that you can put the spices on the chicken first, THEN the flour, and the seasonings will stay on better. I think it tastes fine without the extra step.) Fry in the hot oil. I usually cook for 2 minutes on one side, flip, 2 minutes, and then repeat. This will get the coating really crunchy and golden.

Drain in a metal strainer or on paper towels.

We like it best with mashed potatoes, and broccoli or steamed green beans.

Pumpkin Enchiladas

1/2 red pepper, diced 1/2 white onion, diced
1 T olive oil
2 tsp chopped garlic (I used the refrigerated kind in a jar)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or more or less - according to your taste)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin (maybe more)
1 tsp cinnamon (I used more of this, too)
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed
1 large can pumpkin puree

small corn tortillas (I used about 17)
1 bag Mexican mix finely shredded cheese
2 cans medium red enchilada sauce (I think I used Old El Paso brand)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add onions and peppers. When onions become translucent. Stir in garlic. Add remaining spices. Reduce heat to med-low. Add black beans and pumpkin. Mix all ingredients together and remove from heat.

To assemble enchiladas:

Spray 9"x13" or a few 8"x8" baking pans with non-stick spray. Place about 1/2 T of cheese mixture on a tortilla. Add 1/4 - 1/3 C of pumpkin mixture on top and roll tortilla - not too tight - corn tortillas tend to be fragile. Place folded side down in baking pan. Repeat, placing enchiladas closely, side by side, until pan is full or you run out of ingredients. Pour some sauce over enchiladas. Don't drown the enchiladas. You should still be able to see them under the sauce. You'll need more than one can, but still have a lot left over. Sprinkle more of the cheese over the sauce and bake for 20-30 minutes. Enjoy.

Cake Balls

1 chocolate cake mix (and ingredients on back of box)
1 tub cherry frosting
2 packages milk chocolate almond bark
1 package white chocolate almond bark (opt.)

Bake cake according to directions on box.
While cake is hot and fresh from oven, mix and mash together with tub of frosting till it's one ooey gooey mess.
Place ooey gooey mess in freezer till completely cold.
Roll ooey gooey mess into one-inch balls.
Melt almond bark.
Roll cake balls in chocolate, covering completely.
Place cake balls on wax paper.
Cut small hole in corner of zip-loc bag and put white chocolate inside bag.
Squeeze white chocolate in zig-zags over the cake balls (I did a really sloppy job because the bag exploded).
Leave cake balls on wax paper until chocolate hardens.

You can potentially use any combination of cake and frosting for this recipe. Chocolate cake with cherry frosting is my favorite. I have also added orange extract to vanilla frosting and used that with chocolate cake. That was scrumptious as well. You can also roll cake balls in white chocolate. Be creative!

Apple-Cinnamon Butternut Squash Soup

8          cups cubed seeded peeled butternut squash (2 medium)

1          large apple, peeled, chopped

1          large onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

2          tablespoons packed brown sugar

3/4       teaspoon salt

3/4       teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8       teaspoon pepper

4          cups chicken broth

1          container (6 oz) Greek plain yoghurt

2          tablespoons chopped fresh chives

In a large soup pot combine all ingredients except yoghurt and chives.

Cover and heat to boiling.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Blend 1/3 of the mixture at a time or use an immersion blender and blend until smooth.
Return to pot - add yoghurt and mix well.
Serve sprinkled with chives.

recipe modified from here.

Olive Garden Spinach & Artichoke Dip

This recipe is from food.com, my comments are in parentheses. I love this stuff!!

2 fresh artichokes
1 lemon, juice of, squeezed
1 teaspoon salt

OR

1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and sliced (I used fresh, but I LOVE canned. Mmmmm.)
1 lb cream cheese, room temperature
8 ounces Mascarpone cheese, room temperature (This is Italian cream cheese. It comes in a tub.)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leave
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 fresh garlic clove, minced
5 green onions, chopped
salt
ground black pepper
1 (6 ounce) package fresh spinach, chopped
(I added 4-5 slices bacon, cooked crisp then crumbled)
8 slices crusty Italian bread (I used a round loaf of sour dough, sliced thin.)
extra virgin olive oil-to drizzle on bread (I didn't do this step)

1. Artichoke Preparation:.
2. TRIM off stems and dry leaves/ends of leaves
3. BOIL artichokes in 3 quarts water with 1 tsp salt and lemon juice for 30 minutes.
4. COOL artichokes. Clean, peel, remove center “choke” (the hairy part) and slice artichoke.
5. FOLLOW Dip Preparation steps below.
6. Dip Preparation:
7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
8. MIX all ingredients in a large bowl, except bread and extra virgin olive oil. (Room temperature cheese wasn't soft enough to stir, so I microwaved it all together for almost a minute. I figured it was going to get baked anyway.)
9. COAT a large non-stick baking pan with pan spray; fill pan with mixture. Bake at 325ºF for about 25 minutes or until bubbling and center is hot.
10. DRIZZLE both sides of bread with extra virgin olive oil. Grill bread on both sides. (I left out the oil and just used my toaster.)
11. SPRINKLE top of heated dip with Parmesan cheese. Serve hot with grilled bread.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Cheese

I wouldn't say this is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten, but if anyone ever gives me Brussels spouts, I will make this again rather than throw them away.

6 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small onion, julienned
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 small Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped
1 recipe Basic Brussels Sprouts, recipe follows
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
1-ounce blue cheese, crumbled
Pinch freshly ground nutmeg

Place the bacon into a 10-inch straight-sided saute pan and set over medium-high heat. Cook bacon until crisp and brown. Remove bacon and all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan using a slotted spoon. Decrease the heat to low. Add the onion and cook just until they turn semi-translucent, approximately 3 minutes. Add the salt and apple and continue to cook for another minute. Add the Brussels sprouts, heavy cream and mustard and cook just until the Brussels sprouts are heated through, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the bacon, blue cheese and nutmeg. Serve immediately.

Basic Brussels Sprouts

* 1 pound Brussels sprouts, rinsed
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Cut off the stem end of the Brussels sprouts and remove any yellowing outer leaves. Cut each Brussels sprout in half from top to bottom. Place the Brussels sprouts, water and salt into a 3 to 4-quart saucier and cover. Place over high heat and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Remove and serve immediately.

Olive Garden Stuffed Mushrooms

A recipe from recipezaar, now food.com. Anthony really likes Olive Garden's stuffed mushrooms, so we gave these a shot. My comments are in parentheses.

8-12 fresh mushrooms (I used 17 large-ish ones)
1 (6 ounce) can clams, drained and finely minced, save 1/4 cup of clam juice for stuffing
1 green onion, finely minced
1 egg, beaten (I used 2 because I had so many mushrooms)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 tablespoon melted butter, cooled
2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon finely grated romano cheese
2 tablespoons finely grated mozzarella cheese; for stuffing
1/4 cup finely grated mozzarella cheese; for garnish (I substituted all cheeses for Kraft's Italian Cheese Blend)
1/4 cup melted butter
fresh parsley; for garnish (I never use parsley)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly oil a small baking dish.
3. Gently wash and stem mushrooms; pat dry. Save stems for another recipe. (I included the stems to bulk up my stuffing.)
4. Combine clams, onions, garlic salt, minced garlic, butter and oregano in a bowl and mix well.
5. Add Italian bread crumbs, egg, clam juice, mixing well.
6. Add Parmesan, Romano, and Mozzarella cheeses to the clam stuffing and mix well.
7. Place approximately 1 1/2 teaspoons of the clam stuffing mixture inside mushroom cavity and slightly mound (You should be able to stuff between 8- 12 mushrooms depending on the size of mushrooms. I stuffed 17 and had way more than enough left over. Maybe I should have left out the stems...).
8. Place the stuffed mushrooms in slightly oiled baking dish and pour 1/4 cup melted butter over the top of the mushrooms.
9. Cover and place in oven for about 35- 40 minutes. (This is important! I forgot to cover it and all the cheese and butter in the bottom of the pan burned!)
10. Remove cover; sprinkle the 1/4 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese on top and pop back in oven just so the cheese melts slightly.
11. Garnish with freshly diced parsley.
12. Serve hot.

Apricot-Pineapple Jam

I looked and looked online and only found one recipe that asks for fresh pineapple. The rest say canned.

This is DELICIOUS! I posted the recipe as I found it, and my notes are after it.

5 cups of apricots, (skins removed and pitted--about 4 pounds)
1 medium sized pineapple, peel and core removed (about 1 cup)
1 Box Pectin
6 cups sugar, divided (4 1/2 cups and 1 1/2 cups)
1 pat butter

EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
Water bath canning pot and rack. (I used a steam canner and it worked fine.)
Clean jars, lids and rims.
Clean towels, long tongs and a jar lifter (or tongs with rubber grips)
Pot of water for metal lids and rims.
Bowl of ice water (to remove apricot skins)

To easily remove apricot skins, cut a small “x” at the bottom of each fruit.
Gently dunk into a pot of boiling water for 1-2 minutes.
Remove, with a slotted spoon.
Starting with the “x”, peel the skins off by sliding with your thumbs. It’s that easy!

Using a food processor (or by hand, if you prefer), pulse the apricots until they are chunky smooth— not pureed. You want bits of apricot for texture.Strain the apricots and reserve the juice.

For the pineapple:
Trim the pineapple by removing the top, cutting off the shell and then cutting into quarters.
Removing the core, is easier.

I like to use my food processor, but you can cut the pineapple, by hand. I pulse the cut pineapple until it’s fine but not pureed.

Strain the pineapple, reserving the juice with the apricot juice. I ended up with about 3/4 cups juice.

In a large pot, add the fruit, box of pectin and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Combine and bring to a low boil.

Slowly stir in the remaining sugar.Bring to a continuous roll, stirring frequently, so it doesn’t stick.

Bring to a gel stage (approximately 10 minutes).

I like to chill a plate in my freezer. Spoon a little of the cooked fruit on the cold plate. Run your finger through it, and see if it separates. Let is sit a minute more and feel the texture. If it gels, it’s ready.

Pour into sterilized clean class jars with lids.

Set the filled jars in a rack, covered by at least 2” of boiling water. Keep the pot covered and set a timer for 10 minutes, from when the water begins to rapidly boil.

Remove from the pot, carefully, with a jar lifter onto a clean towel.

Listen for the “pop” of the vacuum on the lids…and/or press a finger on the top. If it’s firm, you have a good vacuum.

If a jar is not sealed, properly, you can repeat the water bath boil method, or refrigerate this jar and eat within 2 weeks.

A few things happened when I was making the jam.

First: I forgot the butter. No big deal, my sister says it just keeps the jam from foaming. But I scooped the foam into one of the jars and I'm just eating that one first and it's VERY yummy!

Second: The lady says to reserve the juice, but then doesn't say what to do with it. My sister says you use that if you don't have enough fruit to make 5 cups or whatever. This would have been good to know, because I only had 4 cups apricots and I ended up pureeing one cup of pineapple and mixing it in, then chopping up another cup for the pineapple bits. Still tasty, but it gives it a much stronger pineapple flavor.

Third: The tip about the plate REALLY helped. My sister was trying to explain how to test for the gel stage by dipping a spoon in the jam, but when I did it, it still seemed super runny. But when I put it on the plate after the 10 minutes of cooking, it jammed right up.

This is the first time I've ever made jam and it was super easy!

Island Pork Tenderloin Salad

This is another P90X recipe. OMG, it is the best salad on the planet! I crave it all the time! It's a lot of work, but so worth it!

The Pork:
16 oz Lean Pork Tenderloin
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t chile powder
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t cinnamon
2 T olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 T fresh garlic, finely chopped
1/2 T Tabasco sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon, then coat pork with the spice rub.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over moderately high heat and brown pork, turning, about 4 minutes
3. Stir together brown sugar, garlic, and Tabasco and pat onto top of tenderloin. Place pork in a roasting pan and cook in the oven for 20 minutes. (It took closer to 35 for me, but my oven is wacky.)
**I used a glass brownie pan and covered it with foil, so the juices wouldn't escape. Then I pull the pork instead of cutting it in pieces. I also like to make the meat in double batches, and freeze the leftovers, because this is the most time consuming part of the salad.

The Dressing; Cumin Vinaigrette:
4 T Fresh Lime Juice
1 T Orange Juice
1 T Dijon Mustard
1 t Cumin Powder
1/2 t Salt
1/4 t Black Pepper
2 T Olive Oil

Whisk together. Store covered in refrigerator
**The easiest way to measure fresh juice from something, is to squeeze it into a bowl and then spoon it out. Do NOT try to squeeze straight into the spoon!

The Salad:
1 orange, peeled and cut
3 cups fresh spinach
1.5 red bell pepper, cut in strips
1/2 cup golden raisins
3 cups cabbage, shredded
16 oz Island Pork Tenderloin
cumin vinaigrette dressing

1. Peel and cut oranges crosswise into ¼ inch thick slices and set aside.
2. Toss spinach, cabbage, bell pepper, and raisins in a large bowl.
3. Prepare the dressing.
4. Mound salad mixture on a large plate. Arrange pork and orange slices on top and drizzle with dressing.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

Since you make these with whole wheat flour, you can pretend they're healthy! Right up until you pour syrup all over them. They are my FAVORITE pancakes, and they taste good even after you refrigerate them.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk (I used regular milk)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 cup frozen blueberries

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine buttermilk, oil, egg, and egg white, stirring with a whisk; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Add frozen blueberries.

Heat a nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto griddle. Turn pancakes over when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Serve with syrup and butter.

Notes:
If you use tiny blueberries, don't use a full cup. it will be blueberry overload!
Sometimes I like to mash in 1 or 2 super ripe bananas. This makes them VERY moist (which I like) but maybe you'd want to cut back on the milk to 1 1/3 cups instead of 1 1/2.

Miso Soup

We got this recipe from a P90X cookbook, but made a few alterations. I'm also going to give you some tips:

*Miso is soy bean curd. They sell it at Asian grocery stores. It's about a pound, and in the refrigerated section. I used yellow Miso.
*Tofu goes bad after about a week. If the water is discolored, or it's extra slimy, or it smells bad, throw it away. To prolong the life of your tofu, you should replace the water every day and keep it in an airtight container. Tofu is also found in the refrigerated section, but you can get it at most grocery stores.

Miso Soup

½ t Dark Sesame Oil

⅓ c Onions -- finely chopped

3 T Miso

1 quart Vegetable Stock

¼ c Firm Silken Tofu – diced

Optional: 3-6 finely sliced mushrooms

3 T Green Onion -- sliced for garnish

1. Heat the sesame oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent.

2. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Remove a small amount of stock and dissolve miso in it. Add miso, tofu, and mushrooms to stock. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish each serving with green onion.

Sorry I don't have any pictures!

Almost Vegetarian Lemon Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies

Somehow, we’ve got three full bags of powdered sugar in our 2 bedroom apartment. I have a suspicion they are leftovers from cupcakes never made, but I couldn’t tell you for certain. Anyway, when I happened upon a recipe that would use the leftover summer squash in my fridge and powdered sugar, I was sold. Luckily, these little cookies taste great too and are fairly healthy for you too. Well, healthy enough that I didn’t feel too guilty about eating them for breakfast and Kelli triumphantly called them “Vegetarian Cookies!” (Somehow she’s embraced my almost-vegetarianism as much as I have). When Kelli ate them, she said that she loved them so much she wanted to get them pregnant. Now, if that’s not a voucher for these cookies-I’m not sure what is. Enjoy!

Adapted from Everyday Food

Lemon-Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon packed finely grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/2 cup fine cornmeal
• 1 medium summer squash or zucchini, grated on small holes of a box grater (about 1 cup)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon zest, and salt. Add flour and cornmeal and mix until mixture is crumbly. Add zucchini and stir until a thick dough forms.
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookies are light golden brown at edges, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on wire racks.

Makes 25 cookies.

Notes: I only had summer squash in my fridge so I used it. The cookies were delicious, and although the green specks of a zucchini would make the cookies a little less yellow or orange-feel free to use what you have.

The next time I make these I may add a little bit of spice, but they aren’t lacking for flavor at all.

Oatmeal choc chip cookies

This is my new favourite cookie recipe. I used to have a picture but I can't find it. You should probably thank me.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats, regular or quick
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 eggs
2 cups (1 bag) choc chips

Method:
Preheat over to 350'f.
Cover baking sheets with foil.
Blend oats until finely ground.
Combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.

In another bowl cream butter, sugars, vanilla and lemon juice.
Add eggs and beat until fluffy.

Stir flour mixture into egg mixture.
Blend well.
Add chocolate chips and mix well.
Scoop dough into balls and place on baking sheet.

Bake until lightly browned 16-18 minutes.
Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely.

Penne alla Betsy alla Laura

This recipe is a Pioneer Woman recipe modified. It can be found on page 188 of her cookbook or here.

1 pound penne pasta
1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped - 1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (14.5 ounces)

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup chopped parsley

6 basil leaves, cut in chiffonade

salt

pepper

Cook penne until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Heat oil and butter in sauce pan.
Add onion and garlic. Saute until onion is translucent.

Add chicken stock and simmer.

Pour in tomato sauce and stir.
Reduce heat.

Pour in cream and stir.
Simmer.
Add basil and parsley. Stir.
Add cooked pasta and stir gently.
Add more broth if too thick.

Season well.

Serve.

You can add shrimp, chicken, bacon, sausage or olives. Dress it up, dress it down. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top... YUM!

Stuart's Pico

6 tomatoes
2 med. onions
~10 tomatillos
1/2 a bunch of cilantro
salt
pepper
lime juice
lemon juice

Dice and mix all vegetables.
Finely chop cilantro
Add lime and lemon juice to taste along with salt and pepper
For some heat and a nice flavour add a couple of jalapeños