It was 70° two days ago. Right now it is 39°, cloudy and misty. I’m wearing long pants, a sweatshirt and my fake fur lined boots…and I like it.
I am starting to truly like cool weather and I’ve always loved the things associated with this time of year. Changing leaves, pumpkins, sweaters, warm socks, soup, and before you know it, it’s Christmas! Anyway…
The cooler weather inspired me to bake something warm, rich and chocolate-y yesterday, so I found a basic and easy brownie recipe, halved it to better serve 2 people, and made use of what I had in my pantry.
I have too many cooking magazines, too many cookbooks, and way too many printed recipes from various websites. Even if I were to cook something from one of these sources everyday, there is no possible way that I could exhaust my recipe stockpile in my lifetime. I don’t help the situation by buying more cookbooks, more magazines, and printing more website recipes. I’ll admit it, I have a problem. Progress is being made, though. I did find a recipe in the September issue of Food & Wine magazine yesterday that I made for dinner last night. I didn’t just mark it with a sticky note or tear the page out as something I’ll make someday. I MADE it, and we ate it, and it was yummy.
More zucchini calls for more zucchini recipes. This time I thought something sweet was in order. I got this recipe in my daily cookie email from Martha Stewart. She sends them to me personally…ok, not personally. I had everything on the ingredient list, so not having to go to the grocery store was an appealing thing to me about this cookie.
I liked the crunch that the cornmeal provides, the clean flavor of the lemon and the moistness that the zucchini adds. You can’t really taste the zucchini, so don’t let that deter you. The cookie isn’t too sweet. It would be nice with a cup of coffee or tea. A nice afternoon treat! Enjoy!
This weekend we traveled to Fort Worth to spend the weekend with some college friends. Texas A&M played Arkansas at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, so they guys in our group went to the game on Saturday night. We brought our dog who enjoyed the company of Kolby and Candace’s baby, Samson.
While the boys were at the football game, the ladies got a babysitter for Scott and Jennifer’s sweet baby girl and went out to dinner. Jennifer suggested a sushi place she’d been wanting to try; Piranha Killer Sushi.
A friend in high school took me out to sushi one summer when we were both home from college. He did all the ordering. His dad lived in Japan for a while and my friend had gone to visit a few times. So he was pretty educated in the ways of sushi. I just sat back and enjoyed it…and let him pay. Since that time I have not eaten sushi mostly due to my inexperience and lack of knowledge about it.
If you are anything like me, you collect recipes and put sticky notes in cookbooks as “Recipes to Try” but somehow, in the business of life, they just do not get the attention they deserve. This is one of those recipes. Neglected for over a year…a sad tale.
I have mentioned Rebecca Rather on my site more than once. I’ve been to the bakery in Fredericksburg a few times, and have her cookbook. I’ve made quite a few of the recipes in the book, and this one has always sounded delicious, but I’ve just never gotten around to making these cookies. Why, you ask? How could someone resist this lovely combination of four, yes four, kinds of nuts in one cookie? Well, believe it or not, some people do not like nuts. I know, this is the epitome of crazy. But it is true. So, I haven’t made this cookie before because I worry that someone in the group of cookie recipients may not be a nut fan and therefore shun this cookie. I just wasn’t sure if I could handle the disappointment of someone rejecting something I have put love, sweat and tears into! OK, so no sweat and tears in this cookie…but there is love.
I have overcome this fear of rejection and today decided to bake half a batch of these cookies and bring them to some friends we are visiting this weekend in Fort Worth. Are they nut lovers? I don’t know for sure…but if they are then that just means more for me.
This cookie dough is easy and simple. Toasting the nuts before mixing the dough is the biggest effort you have to make, and it’s worth it. Toasted nuts provide a more complex flavor than their un-toasted counterparts. The end product is soft, nutty and delicious. A must make for a nut lover.
Sweet fancy Moses! These burgers were my favorite out of all the burgers in the Zinnecker Burger Marathon. The burgers were moist, juicy, flavorful, delectable, mouthwatering…crazy good.
I baked a bag of sweet potato fries served with spicy aioli (courtesy of Carrie Hartman) to accompany these burgers and they were the perfect match.
I adapted this recipe from an allrecipes.com burger recipe of the same name. Here is my adapted recipe and the recipe for the aioli which I also used on the burgers.
I have overcome this fear of rejection and today decided to bake half a batch of these cookies and bring them to some friends we are visiting this weekend in Fort Worth. Are they nut lovers? I don’t know for sure…but if they are then that just means more for me.
