Alphabet Soup

It's been ages since I've actually participated in the Cookie Carnival , but this month I swore I was going to jump back in!  We were given the choice of two different cookie recipes (or both) but the one that I really wanted to try was the Apple Butter Cookies .  But then, I was presented with a dilemma.  Do I use the apple butter I picked up at a local orchard, or the pumpkin butter that I found at World Market?  The pumpkin butter won out, this time.  I mostly followed the recipe, although I used all-purpose flour instead of pastry flour.  The recipe calls for "fancy molasses" and I didn't really know the difference between types of molasses.  I'm not sure how reliable it is, but I found an explanation here  and another here .  I didn't have any fancy molasses, and wasn't going to go on the hunt for any, at least not today.  I did, however, have plenty of unsulphured molasses in the cabinet, so that is what I used.  The...

Why look!  It's an actual blog post from me.  Shocking, I know.  No excuses or apologies.  It's just life!  :) A couple of days ago I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and after reading through the comments, I got some ideas on how to adapt it.  This is my interpretation.  The original recipe can be found here . I also made some salsa that night.  Some Pioneer Woman Restaurant Style Salsa , which I actually found through Good Life Eats .  Salsa, like most food, is very personal.  What works for me may not work for you.  But here's how I changed the recipe up to suit my family (and I may still tweak it a bit!).  Note:  I started with the adaptation of the recipe from Good Life Eats, except I used two cans of original Rotel.  I mixed my salsa up in the blender.  If you want it slightly chunkier, I'd go for the food processor instead.  Next time, I will drain the cans of Rotel, and maybe the tomatoes too....

This week, Jasmine of Jasmine Cuisine chose Peanut Butter Crisscrosses to bake for Tuesdays with Dorie .  I'm not sure why, but I don't often make peanut butter cookies.  Sprout will eat anything.  I think we've established that fact.  And although Munchkin likes peanut butter and cookies, he won't even try one.  Slight surprise there. I really liked these.  It seemed that some bakers had their cookies turn out soft while others turned out crisp.  Mine were more on the crisp side.  Not biscotti hard, just nice and crisp.  I didn't add quite as many chopped peanuts as the recipe called for.  It was nice finding the occasional chunk without them being overwhelming.  D even liked them, saying that he doesn't usually like peanut butter cookies but that these were good.  Leave it to Dorie -- she's become my baking go-to girl!  I must have made mine (much) smaller that Dorie does thoug...

I ran across a post today, that I found through Twitter (I've become addicted!) called Retake Homemade .  What does that mean?  Well, here's a little quote: I am proposing that we start a movement, people! To teach people that good food does not have to be complicated or come from a box. That you can put a meal using fresh, healthy ingredients on the table in the same amount or less time than it takes to open those boxes and cans and microwave dinners :shudder: To show them that it doesn’t have to be complicated or creepy... That's it.  Simple.  Basic.  What I want to do!  You can read more about it here on Pots and Plots by Kait Nolan.  So, what does all this mean to me?  I try my best to serve good meals to my family.  I'm not going to lie, we have definitely had our ups and downs when it comes to eating.  We fall prey to the call of fast food.  If I'm lucky, I get to go out for lunch with my best friend on a weekly basis....

I was hoping to be able to post about some yummy sticky pecan rolls, but I'm still tweaking the recipe just a bit.  Instead, I want to share some (a ton!) of pictures and explain what it's like having a two-year-old in the kitchen.  Or at least, my two-year-old in my kitchen.  :) These days, whenever Sprout even thinks I'm going to be cooking something, he comes running into the kitchen saying he wants to help.  He then proceeds to haul out one of the step stools and drag it to wherever he thinks he needs to be.  So, how do you cook with a two-year-old?  And what can they help with?  Good questions. Well, step one is to find the closest two-year-old.  This one looks like he might be up to something.  And apparently, if mama is wearing an apron, he requires one as well. Next, he might climb on the counter you just very carefully cleaned.  It's okay.  He's just after the magnets on the refrigerator.  After he gets t...

You may remember that a while back I made some  baked doughnut bites .  They were good, but upon further review they need some tweaking.  I'm working on that. However, I've been tossing around these chocolate doughnut muffins around in my head for a while.  What does it say about you when you're thinking about recipes and ingredient proportions while you're driving down the highway??  Anyway, these are oh-so-good.  I baked them in mini muffin pans again, to try to get the impression that they are more like doughnut holes.  (By the way, do you prefer "doughnut" or "donut"? and a funny quote about it all.)  They were then dipped in a chocolate glaze.  Do they truly taste like chocolate cake doughnuts?  Not exactly . But the chocolate glaze?  It tastes just like the glaze you would get at a doughnut shop.  For "research" purposes, I even stopped at a doughnut shop and got a chocolate cake doughnut with choc...

Okra.  You either love it, or you hate it.  Or at least it seems that way.  I've noticed that people tend to have very strong opinions when it comes to okra.  I, personally, love it.  Apparently so does Sprout.  He's eaten it fried, raw, and even pickled.  He hasn't had the chance to eat it boiled yet.  I like it all of those ways.  So, when I saw some at the grocery store, I decided to make okra fritters with it! This is a pretty simple recipe and quick to whip together.  I pan fry my fritters instead of deep frying.  Although, if you don't deep fry it, would it still be considered a fritter?  Either way, these are good!  D's response was "surprisingly good".  I'm not sure how to take that... I realize the picture I am using is not the greatest -- it was one of those snapped super quickly while a crowd of hungry people were hovering, waiting to eat supper! Okra Fritters adapted from Everyday Fo...