A Math Equation Fer Ya:

What do you get when you take an oatmeal cookie:

With pair it with a luscious, creamy filling?

Answer: You get what Little Debbie only WISHES she could be!

I made these Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies to take to a friend's house for dinner.

This is a Taste of Home recipe, and the website says that they would be great for bake sales - I agree! When I was putting them out at my friend's house, her husband, Bob, stopped mid-sentence and said "Are those.....homemade Little Debbies?" Needless to say, he was intrigued! And they were very tasty. The filling is light and not overpowering, complimenting nicely with the cookies. Bob (and Jennifer, too, I'm sure!) was happy to keep the leftovers I brought!

Oh and by the way, when I searched for this recipe on the Taste of Home website, I also came across a recipe for Chocolate Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies........hmmmmm......

Fish and (kind of) Chips

I was able to get my hands on some Icelandic cod, so we decided to try Alton Brown's Fish and Chips recipe for dinner. Mike handled the frying, as usual. He's the fryer in the family!!


We didn't notice that we were out of potatoes until we had already decided to make the recipe, so we made some tater tots instead. Everything was so good, we kept sneaking bites before we sat down!


Wow what a great meal! Better than anything I've had in any restaurant! The tater tots were good, but next time we'll definitely be trying the chips! Plus the salad balanced out all the fried foods, right........right!?!

Things I Love....

Mike had a great idea the other night: Coke slushies!!

All we did was pour some Coke into our ice cream maker and let it churn for about 10 minutes. Genius!!

Mmmmmmm......the perfect treat for our rapidly-getting-hot-as-blazes Florida weather!!

Bad Dog!!!

Mollie is such a michevious little dog! I am not used to having to put food out of reach of the animals, because Sophie would have never dreamed of snatching even the most tempting foods off the table or counter. Not so with Miss Mollie! I turned my back for two seconds and she managed to wolf down two of my homemade chocolate chip cookies.

"It was totally worth it!!"

I can't believe I've never posted about these cookies! They are an all-time family favorite and my go-to cookie recipe. They have instant pudding mix added to the batter, which makes them the ultimate soft cookie. It's also not a very fussy recipe - none of this mixing the dry and wet ingredients seperately! I should have known to double this recipe in order to feed both boys!

Grilled Shrimp Kebobs

Nils made these grilled shrimp kebobs for Sunday dinner - he did a great job! He used wooden skewers and paired the shrimp with zucchini. He also threw on some red potatoes. Everything was delicious!!

Have you ever had grilled pineapple? It is one of the best desserts out there! We just brushed on a sauce of bourbon and brown sugar and let them cook while we ate dinner.
We enjoyed them plain this time, but it's also delicious with vanilla ice cream!

This Website is Hilarious.

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Funny thing is, I actually ate something very similar to "The Meatlog" this weekend at the Florida Eggfest. And it was....interesting.

I Still Love My Food Processor...

Nothing beats fresh salsa....except maybe fresh salsa with homemade tortilla chips!

Valentine's Day Dinner

We kicked Nils out of the house for the night and took a special trip to the Fresh Market for some free-range beef, salad greens, and herbed yeast rolls. We've been so busy lately that it was nice just to go shopping and make dinner together.

The final product: steaks cooked on the Big Green Egg, mashed potatoes, salad, and those yummy yeast rolls!


For dessert I made Homemade Chocolate Pudding, a Taste of Home recipe that I've been meaning to try for a loooong time. It was good with the strawberries and whipped cream on top, but since it was a lower-fat recipe it wasn't very good the next day.

It made for a pretty picture, though! And we enjoyed the time spent together. Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day!

New Year's Eve Sushi

I have tried and tried to post these pictures, and for some reason Blogger has NOT been cooperating with these particular pics. But, 24 days later, it looks like it has decided to not make them all wonky, so now I can finally share my beautiful pictures with you! I had so much fun playing with my new camera, and Nils was a good sport about me sticking my camera in his personal space while he was making the sushi.



We got our hands on some sashimi-grade sushi, thanks to our new Fresh Market!!

Sophie became very interested in what Nils was doing once she caught a whiff of the fish...

One thing I never realized about sushi is what beautiful pictures it makes! It was almost like art, what with the vibrant colors and contrasts!

Nils vs. Wasabi

A little red-faced, but otherwise no worse for the wear!

Christmas Food

Christmas is always a big time for food, no matter where you are! This year featured a few old favorites, as well as a few new recipes.

First up, Christmas morning breakfast. We had Sausage Balls, Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls, and fruit. The Sausage Balls are a Cook family traditional Christmas recipe, but Mike loves them so much he would revolt if I didn't make them!

Next up was a new recipe that I've been wanting to make forever: Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls. Alton Brown always has such excellent recipes, but this one is so involved that it's definitely a special-occasion type of recipe!

These were unbelievable! Definitely worth the calories and time, especially since it's shaping up to be a Christmas recipe (hence once a year!)

The only other thing I actually remembered to take a picture of was the poached garlic I made for the relish tray my mom asked me to bring to Christmas dinner. This was the first time I've ever had to make a relish tray, and to be honest I didn't exactly know what it was at first. Apparently it's made up of pickles and pickled peppers and other gross stuff. I decided to try poached garlic because it sounded like an addition that I'd actually like, and it was delicious! The smell as it was cooking was fantastic!

It's cooked in white wine, olive oil, and a little fresh thyme. The smells melding together were enough to tempt me to dunk my hand in the hot oil and try one!

Gingerbread

When I think gingerbread, I think store-bought, hard cookies in the shape of little men, not soft, moist,wonderfully spicy cake, but that's exactly what this is! And lemme tell ya, I've discovered that there is nothing better than the smell of gingerbread in the oven to get you in a holiday mood! The great thing about this recipe is that it can be made with white-whole wheat flour and it still tastes delicious. I decided to add about half a teaspoon of the optional fresh-ground black pepper to this recipe, and I think it complimented the ginger-y flavor perfectly.

It came together easily, although I did take the extra time to grate the fresh ginger and crush the black pepper in my mortar and pestle - totally worth it!

Fresh out of the oven!

I highly recommend you serve it with some real whipped cream on top. The simple-ness of this dessert is refreshingly comforting. I definitely plan on making this recipe again!

Cinnamon-Streusel Coffee Cake

Coffee cake is one of those things that I really enjoy, but rarely make. For starters, I don't drink coffee, and secondly, it doesn't have the allure of a real cake or a rich brownie. However, I have yet to find a King Arthur recipe that didn't come out delicious, so I gave this coffee cake a try.

Even though coffee cake isn't the most flashy of treats, it is incredibly easy and satisfying to make. It pulls together quickly and comes out beautifully - especially with the glossy glaze that this recipe calls for.
I didn't use quite enough of the streusel for the middle, so I had a LOT for the top. But the cake was very tender, cinnamon-y, and yummy. I definitely plan on making this coffee cake again!