Please Sir, can I have S'mores

Today I tried a new recipe for S'mores Bars. They look delicious although I haven't tasted them yet.
My parents just got home from a month long trip through Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. My mom brought these micro mini marshmallows home so I thought this recipe would be a perfect showcase for them.

Recipe:

1 pkg Sugar Cookie Mix
1 C graham cracker crumbs
1 C butter, melted
18 oz milk chocolate chips
4 C mini marshmallows

Stir sugar cookie mix and graham cracker crumbs together in large bowl. Stir in melted butter until soft dough forms. Spread on bottom of ungreased 13x9 baking dish. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until set. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and allow to melt for a few minutes. Spread chips across crust when melted. Top with marshmallows and broil until golden brown. This will only take a few minutes. Serve warm.

Happy Cooking!

Soup Kitchen

Tonight - putting aside the fact that it was approaching 100 degrees outside, I was going to serve soup and sandwiches.

Soup on the menu was Kerry's Famous Roasted Tomato Soup (thats the name my friends gave it). This soup is so good and the recipe is much to long to post but it is VERY worth making. If you want the recipe, add a comment and I will send it to you.

With the soup I served Italian Cheese Sandwiches. Basically sandwich rolls or sourdough bread with basil pesto, fresh sliced mozarella and sliced tomatoes. They can either be grilled or pressed or wrapped in foil and baked in the oven. These sandwiches are so good, you will never want regular grilled cheese again.

I didn't want to make a full dessert so I made Pie Fries - found recipe in latest Food Network Magazine. Pie crust brushed with butter, cinnamon and sugar, cut in sticks and baked. Good served with warm jam or pudding cup for dipping.

Trying to find my inspiration again,
Happy Cooking!

Opa!

You would thing that since I am officially unemployed I would be cooking up a storm but not so. I think I may be too caught up in my new craft endeavors of needle felting and needle punch. Also,trying to finish crochet projects for show in July.

Getting to the Greek. I made a Couscous salad last week for dinner and it turned out really good. Here is how I made it:

2 C small couscous
2 1/2 C water
1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 sm tomatoes, diced
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
Feta cheese - as much as you like
Kraft Greek salad dressing
Salt and pepper

Place couscous in large mixing bowl. Bring water to boil, pour over couscous and cover with plastic wrap for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork and let cool slightly. Meanwhile, prepare salad items except dressing. Stir all ingredients together and add dressing, salt and pepper to taste. Make a little ahead of time as the couscous will absorb the dressing and you will probably need to add more.

Happy Cooking!

Oreo Truffles

I recently made some Oreo Truffles for my friends birthday but like a dork, I forgot to photograph the evidence. Trust me, they are delicious. Here is the recipe

1 pkd Oreo cookies, crushed fine
1 8 oz pkg of cream cheese, softened
1 pkg Candy Quick Vanilla or white chocolate chips melted

In bowl, mix crushed Oreos and cream cheese. I used my hands like mixing a meatloaf. Scoop onto waxed paper lined cookie sheet with small scoop or roll into golf ball size balls and refrigerate for a few hours until firm.

Dip in melted white candy coating and place back on waxed paper lined cookie sheet and refrigerate until set.

Keep refrigerated.

These are addictive so beware!

Happy Cooking

Valentine's Day

Obviously I am very late in posting this. My poor blog has taken a back seat to personal matters.

Anyway, for Valentine's Day this year, Evelyn Penrose (my sous chef) wanted to make a special dinner for her parents.

We decided on an Antipasti platter, Salad with Giardinera, Lasagna, Roasted Broccoli, Garlic Chibatta and Carmel cake for dessert.

Our lasagna wasn't just going to be any lasagna - I made homemade Ricotta (delicious and easy to make) and meatballs to use in the meat layer. It came out fantastic!

Evie decorated the cake, helped assemble the lasagna and set the table.

Wylie Library Cookbooks and Recipe Notebook

Our local library is closed until sometime in March. They are moving to a new much larger facility which will be fantastic for us.

As a result of the closure, any books checked out prior to December 28 are not due back until April! I went and checked out as many cookbooks as I could find. I am slowly going through them and marking recipies that I want to try.

The recipes will go into my Recipe Notebook which has been a 'pending project' of mine for many years. Who knew one could collect so many recipes on single sheets of paper. My goal is to have them all entered into my computer also for future updates and publication. Since I alter so many of the recipes I use, I would like to get those notes updated as well.

Wish me luck and Happy Cooking!

Happy New Year

Well, here it is the 13th of January and I have yet to fulfill the promise I made to myself to post to my food blog regularly in 2011. Shame on me! So I am making up for a few posts here.

I was responsible for dessert on Christmas Day at the Penroses (the Meandering Ones). I made my favorite Lemon Cheesecake and a Chocolate Cream Pie.

The Chocolate Cream Pie scared me a bit since I had never made one and I don't like it so had know way of knowing if it was going to be good. Yikes! This was mostly for my dad and made with a gluten free pie crust. Turns out it is not hard to make, yeah for me. I even made fresh whipped cream to put on top. At least this time it did not turn to butter :-)

I also made several kinds of cookies but for some reason did not photograph any of the evidence. What was I thinking. Cookie choices were: Gingerbread with lemon icing, GF Sugar, Peanut Butter, Pistachio Cranberry, Shortbread with Rasberry filling and Jewel Bark.

New Year's Day - Football and Food at my house. I made Roasted Tomato Soup with homeade croutons,Italian Cheese and Ham and Cheese Sandwiches. Yummmm!
Picture is of the Italian Cheese - French bread spread with Pesto sauce, provolone, fresh mozzarella and tomato slices. So delicious. It was inspired by a grilled version that we get from The Pantry in McKinney, TX.

Somehow getting back into the groove after the holidays has been difficult to say the least but I feel I am on my way. My mind is constantly thinking of new things to cook and I got several new cookbooks for Christmas that I have to go through.

Happy Cooking!