I think this one might be close

So, I know I didn't previously use this recipe from Smitten Kitchen because she just put it on her website. However, I am going to try it soon and cross my fingers and hope two things. 1. That they are better than the ones from the first recipe/post that I tried 2. That I can try it before I lose this new recipe too! (as back up I am going to put it onto a Word Doc. on my computer... just for safe keeping, you know!)

Cross your fingers for me too PLEASE!

Peanut Butter Cookies Like My Grandma Used to Make

My grandma Betty used to make some of the worlds BEST peanut butter cookies, and I have never been able to find a recipe I liked as well as I did hers. It was a cookie taste that we spin me back to when I was a wee little girl, sitting in the kitchen with my grandma (although she never sat down)!

Well these cookies aren't hers, but they are now sitting right up there on the top of my list! These are fantastic little guys to snack on (or devour as a meal...). They have a crunchy, sugar crystallized exterior with a inside that is as soft and fluffy as a cake.

Once again, I adopted this recipe from one of my favorite blogs Smitten Kitchen. She has a fantastic cookie line-up. Check it out in her recipe archives!!


Peanut Butter Cookies
adopted by Smitten Kitchen
Makes about 2 dozen
Ingredients
1 1/4c flour
3/4tsp baking soda
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
1c peanut butter (I always prefer crunchy)
1/2c unsalted butter, softened
3/4c sugar (I used pure cane sugar)
1/2c packed brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temp.
1tbsp milk
1tsp vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 1. Mix flour, soda, powder and salt. 2. Blend butter and peanut butter until fluffy. 3. Add sugars and mix. 4. Mix in egg, milk, and vanilla. 5. Finally mix the flour mixture in with the peanut butter mixture. 6. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar on a small plate and roll the cookies in the sugar to coat before placing onto an non-greased baking sheet. Use a fork to make criss crosses on the top of the cookies (being careful not to press too hard). Pop these bad boys in the oven and wait for 10 mins. to take them out!

My two favorite cheeses at the moment.

One of my life goals (this may sound really cheesy and childish) has been to be able to state a favorite beer, wine, and cheese. Well, I am happy to state that I have found all that I feel proud to state publicly in front of mature beings.

(Mature Being: "What is your favorite wine?" Me: "Um... red...")

So.... Here are my top two favorite cheeses:

(Source)

Gruyere

Found in Switzerland, this cheese is made from cows milk and fully matures in 5 months to a year. When young, it is said to have a creamy, nutty taste, and with age it develops more into a more complex and earthy cheese. Wikipedia (yes I believe it is credible to source) says that this cheese is one of the finest cheeses to bake with because it complements food verses overpowering them. It is best paired with Riesling and other white wines. And beers such as Bock and also sparkling apple cider.

(Source)

Havarti

Havarti was named after a farm in Denmark. It is made from cows milk and is aged for at least three months. It has a buttery tangy taste, and as it ages the taste gets more complex; it becomes more salty and tastes like hazelnut. This cheese is very popular on sandwiches because it slices well. Wikipedia says it "Havarti is popularly matched with lesser-oaked Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, or light-bodied Pinot Noir wine and occasionally accompanied with figs; smoked turkey; raisins; walnuts; hearty bread; pears; apples. The cheese also is an excellent snack on (sometimes salted) thin wheat crackers."

Christmas day at our house...

Christmas day is here and our family always likes to take the day slow. We usually sleep in, check to see what kind of surprises Santa left with a big cup of coffee to drag us out of bed. And then we sit around the kitchen and visit, listen to music (currently Tom Petty), and cook, prepare, bake, etc... depending on what we have going on and what we are craving. My dad usually gets that look in his eyes and you know that you are in for a kitchen treat.


This morn we decided to counteract all of that sweet that we had yesterday by chopping up some veggies and made Pico De Gallo! One of my mom and my favorites.

These spicy pickled garlic cloves my dad got for Christmas yesterday, and we thought it would be the perfect new ingredient to include in his Pico De Gallo. OH, and it was.

Avocados. Not necessarily in season, but still great to add to this concoction. Only put avocados in what you are consuming or it will all be brown in a couple of days.

Our final result. Delicious, snack to counteract all of the sweet toothing we did and will be continuing today! YUM!

Back to more eating! I hope everyone is enjoying their Holidays!
Merry Christmas!

Pico De Gallo

equal parts:

Green, Yellow, and Red Peppers

Onion

Jalapeno (quantity depending on how spicy you want it)

Tomatoes

Garlic (we did 8 cloves [our bowl was about 2 gallons])

Top'o the Mornin'

I love breakfast. So, my crazy recipe searching typically is densely geared towards breakfast/brunch. Here is a breakfast that is one of my new favorites! I didn't have flax seed, but it still tasted great. It has such a rich but smooth flavor. The combination of the banana and the vanilla soy milk really bring the whole drink together into a sweet (but not-to-sweet) breakfast drink! If you want it to be more bitter add more cherries! This recipe would work with any fruit! Try it out for yourself.






Cherry Vanilla Flax Smoothie

From Kashi

Makes 2 servings.
Cooking time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons organic flax seeds
1 cup organic low-fat vanilla soymilk
¼ cup frozen organic dark tart cherries, defrosted (use fresh when available)
½ medium organic banana
3 ice cubes

Directions

Using a coffee grinder, grind flax seeds to a fine powder. Pour the flax powder into a blender and add the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Nutrition Facts

Number of servings: 2 servings. Serving size: 1 cup, Calories 139, Calories from Fat 47, Total Fat 5.2g, Saturated Fat 0.5g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 65mg, Total Carbohydrate 18.8g, Dietary Fiber 3.7g, Sugars 10.5g, Protein 5.8g, Vitamin A 1%, Vitamin C 6%, Calcium 5%, Iron 7%

Cinnamon&Sugar Biscotti

For my first upload into my "journalBlog" I am starting with a Biscotti. I have always wanted to learn how to make a biscotti and I have heard that they are very easy to make and I feel that they would be easy to modify!

Diving on to Epicurious I found this recipe for Cinnamon & Sugar Biscotti's. They were delightful. I made these tasties last night and I was too busy figuring out how to blog.. (I know I'm in my early twenties and still don't really know how to blog. Sad.)

(Reminder: I am still an amateur food photographer!)

The original Epicurious recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I changed this recipe a bit due to the repeating comments on Epicurious. I cut the sugar to about 3/4ths cups because I thought 1 full cup would be a bit much. Many of the reviews also said to add another egg. So I did!

Over all the recipe was easy to make and worked really well. The texture of the biscotti was a little more moist than biscotti's should be so next time instead of adding an additional whole egg. I might try just adding another egg yolk to see if that helps. This recipe would be an easy one to make sweet or savory! For savory I will try to toss some fresh rosemary and some olive oil (perhaps as the egg substitute!) in the next batch!