The Best Burger Baby!

Yup this is another cooking post! I've been on a cooking kick lately to make up for a few really bad weeks where all I ate was candy and pickles. I'm an emotional eater and I figure if I'm going to be eating a lot I might as well be eating good things! So here is another easy, tasty recipe!

We'll be more witty this time and call it the...Bunny Burger!

The truth is it's not that pretty.

What's In It :

• Put your hamburger in a bowl
• Dump about half a jar of salsa in 
• Grate one carrot on top of it (I used the medium side but I think next time I'll use a smaller side so you don't see as much carrot in it)
• Dump some grated cheese in not too much though (I'll confess I used the rest of a bag of Mexican cheese I had in the fridge)
• Mix it together and form your patties
• Throw them in the pan and cook it up like you would any other burger

To Serve : 

• Put them on a bun with whatever condiments you like (not toothpaste!) I suggest the usual ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, ranch dressing and I haven't tried it yet but I bet sliced avocado would be great on top! 

There you go another quick and easy one for you arsenal! I don't know about you but I'm excited to see what I come up with next! I also promise to get back to talking about Amber too!!

Olive Garden Eat Your Heart Out!

It's very rare that I can actually make an edible dinner. By chance I happened to make this very tasty combination. Twice actually so I think it's safe enough to share with you!

We'll call it....Lemon Chicken Pasta.

I'm not great with timing in cooking, as in when you should start things so they end close together. I'll tell you how to make each part but it's up to you on what you want to do first. I also eye ball things (usually why it's not edible) so I don't have the exact measurements to give you.

Chicken: 

• Put some oil in the pan (maybe about 1 TBS) roll it around to cover the pan
• Shake out some Rotisserie Chicken spice and Mrs. Dash original blend 
• Squeeze a lemon slice over the pan, sometimes this spits a lot 
• Shake the spices and squeeze lemon over the chicken before or after you put it in the pan is up to you
• Cook it till it's cooked!

Pasta:

• Boil your water and cook your pasta like you usually do
• Add some lemon, salt and garlic to the water

To Serve:

• Scoop out the pasta onto your plate
• Pour a little olive oil over the pasta so it's not stuck together
• Put some cheese on it if you like
• Stir in some peas or just leave them on the top
• Then put your chicken on top!

It cooks up pretty fast and tastes really good! If your up for it I even have some additional sides that go really well.

Lemon Asparagus:

• Pour some olive oil in the pan
• Squeeze some lemon in
• Shake some Mrs. Dash
• Cut the hard butts off the asparagus and then throw them in and cook till they're soft 

Easy Quick Garlic Bread :

• Turn your oven on to the Broil setting
• Lay some bread on a cookie sheet (it doesn't matter what kind you can even use halved hot dog rolls or hamburger buns!)
• Butter the side facing up and sprinkle garlic powder over it
• Put it in the over for a few minutes till they're light brown 
• Take them out carefully flip them over 
• Butter the new side facing up and sprinkle some more garlic, if you like you can even put grated cheese on this side (don't do it to the first side or it will stick to your pan when you flip them over)
• Put it back in the oven for a few min (watch out this side will brown up quicker!)

That my friends is a very easy, quick delicious meal that tastes like you put a lot of work into it and that's what I'm all about! 

Just What The Dr. Ordered

My best friend came over Saturday and it was just what the Dr ordered after such a crazy week. We decided to make cookies and after 10 mins we were back to being the same old crazy girls we were in elementary school!

To give you an idea here is a favorite picture of us from the night of my wedding rehearsal.

I have the perfect book for making cookies

It's a behemoth to say the least; 320 pages, 150 recipes and I think it weights more than Amber!

After a lot of giggling we decided on making Finnish Spice Cookies.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 to 5 tablespoons how water

Royal Icing (recipe follow)

1) Place flour, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves in medium bowl; stir to combine.

2) Beat butter then brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Dissolve baking soda in 3 tablespoons water. Beat into butter mixture. Gradually add flour mixture. Beat until dough firms. (If dough is too crumbly, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough holds together.) Form dough into 2 discs; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes or overnight. (we did a little over 30 min for one and it was perfect left the other in longer it was really hard and I didn't like working with it as much as the first.)

3) Preheat oven to 375 F Grease cookie sheets; set aside

4) Working with one disc at a time, roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut dough with floured 3-inch pig shaped cookie cutter or desired cookie cutter. Place cutout 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets. Gently press dough trimmings back together; reroll and cut out more cookies.

5) Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until firm and lightly browned. Remove cookies to wire racks; cool completely

6) Prepare Royal Icing. Spoon into pastry bag fitted with writing tip. (or any plastic ziplock/sandwich bag and cut a tiny bit of the tip off the bigger the hole the more comes out) Decorate cooled cookies with icing. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour or until set. Store tightly covered at room temperature or freeze up to 3 months. Makes about 5 dozen cookies

Royal Icing: Beat 1 room-temperature egg white with electric mixer at high speed until foamy. Gradually add 2 cups sifted powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract; beat at low speed until moistened. Increase mixer to high and beat until icing is stiff. (Beat in up to 1/2 cup additional powdered sugar if necessary to reach proper consistency)

My Notes: Its a very easy recipe but like the name says they are very spicy the frosting is a a good contrasting flavor. I like them; they are like a ginger snap's exotic cousin. Royal Icing can be a pain, really beat your egg! The trick is to make the icing when you're ready to use it. If it gets to stiff or its not sticking to the cookie you can microwave it for 20 sec that seems to fix it for me (it also helps if you have warm hands). I baked mine for 9 min on baking stones.

Here are the ones that haven't been eaten :)

They actually came out pretty well for all of our goofing around and it was so much fun!

I think I might be making these next!!!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Amber is doing well she's been non stop talking except when we try to video her! We have some more calls to make on Monday about her Friday appointment. Hopefully we'll have a quiet week till then!

It Wouldn't be Christmas Without..

Snowman Mints
They will put a smile on any Grinch or scrooges face! And they are so easy to make!

I found this recipe in the November/December 2000 issue of American Girl Magazine. I used to make them all the time but its been a few years so I'm a little rusty on all the tricks. Here's the recipe (the comments in italics are my add ons):

1. 
   
   Wash hands. In a bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon softened butter (do not use margarine, it's too greasy and they won't stay together), 1 tablespoon light corn syrup, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon mint extract with a fork or spoon. Gradually add 1 cup powdered sugar (really really do it gradually if you add it all at once it won't mix together, also if you have to little the dough will be too soft and "melty") When dough becomes too stiff to stir, knead with hands. (it should be the consistency of play dough or a little stiffer)
2. 
   
   Make 12 snowmen with 3/4 of dough by forming 2 or 3 marble-size balls for each one. Stick balls on wax paper to make bodies. Really just have fun with the size of them and I use all of the dough to make the bodies and whatever is left over I use for step 3. The heat of your hands will make the dough softer so just keep adding a little powdered sugar to keep it stiff, or put it in the fridge for a little bit to keep it stiffer.
3. 
   
   Divide rest of dough in half. Knead 1 drop blue food coloring into one half. Wash hands. Knead 1 drop red and 2 drops yellow food coloring into other half. Wash hands. You really only need a little bit of orange dough (for noses) so I do less than half. Also I put the food color on an end of the spoon to control how much color goes into the dough.
4. 
   
   For each snowman, press on candy sprinkles for mouth, eyes, and buttons. (do this first its easiest when the body is soft also, putting the face on and then sticking it to the body works well and using tweezers (clean ones!) to put the face on works well too) With the blue dough form a scarf, hat or earmuffs. With the orange dough form a nose. (like with the bodies the dough will get softer so just add more sugar or put in the fridge for a little bit) Store in fridge. ( they will harden in the fridge but I know afterwards I used to leave them out on the counter or table covered in plastic)

They are really fun and easy to make! You can change up the colors, sprinkles or features to fit your fancy. You can even just roll out the dough and cut it with small cookie cutters or make plane balls to use it for another season.
Here are some that I made yesterday :)

I messed up a lot and they still came out cute, they just look like they're melting!

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope your celebrations are wonderful!

Update!

I tried rolling the mints out and they get really sticky so just sprinkle powdered sugar on top as you roll. Its also easier to move the mint cut outs if they are thick-ish. I think you can see my thicker mints verses the thinner ones in this picture. (these rolled mints are going in a jar as part of my grandma's present)

snowy days and minty cookies

Well it finally looks like winter in New England thanks to a snow storm on Wednesday! The hubby brought me home some Holiday Minty M&M's, they're great by themselves but are heavenly in these cookies and perfect on a cold winter day with some cocoa! I found this great cookie recipe in my moms cook book. Its from cooksillustrated.com you have to be a member to get they're recipes online. I think that's kind of lame, since its such a good one I'm going to try to copy and past it here :)

Makes 1 1/2 dozen 3-inch cookies. Published January 1, 1996.

These truly chewy chocolate chip cookies are delicious served warm from the oven or cooled. To ensure a chewy texture, leave the cookies on the cookie sheet to cool. You can substitute white, milk chocolate, or peanut butter chips for the semi- or bittersweet chips called for in the recipe. In addition to chips, you can flavor the dough with one cup of nuts, raisins, or shredded coconut.




Ingredients
2 1/8 cups bleached all-purpose flour (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark), 7 ounces
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 - 2 cups chocolate chips or chunks (semi or bittersweet)

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.

3. Following illustrations below, form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined 20-by-14-inch lipless cookie sheets, about nine dough balls per sheet. Smaller cookie sheets can be used, but fewer cookies can be baked at one time and baking time may need to be adjusted. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)

4. Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.) Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.



This is my new favorite cookie dough recipe! Just to let you know it still comes out really good if you make a few mistakes. Amber was having one of her days were she must be held at all time or she cries constantly...so I was a bit frazzled when I made them. I ended up not melting the butter first, I didn't bother with the fancy shapping, I cooked them on a stone and I put 1 egg and 1 egg white in instead of 1 egg and 1 yolk. They still came out amazing and to prove it I have no pictures of the cookies to show you! I'm going to try the recipe again and follow the directions a little better to see if they come out any different and I'll let you all know!!

Happy Holidays and Happy Baking to you all!!