Basic Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are generally associated with the cooler holidays. I've probably decorated hundreds and hundreds of holiday cookies over the years.

I baked cookie bars last week for James to bring into work and his co-workers really enjoyed it and yesterday while we were grocery shopping I came across pumpkin cookie cutters in the seasonal isle. So I grabbed James' phone and looked up a recipe for sugar cookies, we had everything already at home, so we got the cookie cutter and now have 5 dozen sugar cookies!!!

Now I can not stress this enough PREP PREP PREP

if you don't you will regret it! 

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract *
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

*I use almond, you can use any flavor you'd like

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

For James to bring to work, i just put slices of parchment paper in between the layers of cookies.

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring
• 
  

In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

National Coffee Day

Happy National Coffee Day!!!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Funghi Ripieni

Stuffed Mushrooms

For 3 people 

Mushrooms are often stuffed with sausage, prosciutto, or ground meat in the Italian kitchen, but this classic vegetarian stuffing is very flavorful. In Italy porcini are used but this dish can be made with cultivated mushrooms, including cremini or protobellos.

12 fresh cultivated mushrooms at least 2 inches in diameter (about 3/4 pound total weight)

2 T extra virgin olive oil, plus addition for drizzling

2 green onions, including 1 inch of green tops, chopped

2 Large cloves garlic, finely chopped or passed through a garlic press

2 1/2 T chopped fresh Italian parsley 

1/4 cup fine dried bread crumbs

3 T freshly grated parmigiano 

1/2 t minced fresh oregano, or 1/4 t dried oregano

1/4 t salt

freshly milled black pepper

1 T dry white wine

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F. Using a soft brush or clean kitchen towel, remove any dirt from the mushrooms. Do not wash them because water alters their texture. Trim off the tough bottom from each stem and discard; only the rest of the stem will be used. Separate the stems at the base of the caps of the 9 of the mushrooms. Chop all of the stems along with the 3 remaining whole mushrooms.

In a skillet over medium heat, warm the 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, and parsley and saute gently until wilted, about 4 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms and saute gently until softened, about 5 more minutes. Remove the mixture to a small bowl. Add the bread crumbs, parmigiano, oregano, salt, and pepper to taste to the mushroom mixture and mix well.

Fill each mushroom cap with an equal amount of the stuffing, using your hands to form the stuffing into a nice even mound and push it down to fill the underside of the caps. Place the filled mushrooms on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the wine evenly over the mushrooms, and then drizzle each mushroom very lightly with olive oil.

Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the mushrooms are bubbling and golden, an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

AHEAD-OF-TIME-NOTE: The mushrooms can be stuffed up to a day in advance of serving, covered, and refrigerated until ready to bake. Sprinkle with wine and olive oil just before baking.

College food

I am such a bad blogger lately I know I know and i'm so sorry!

I hate to admit but I momentarily fell off the cooking wagon, I was under the weather for about a week and we just got into a slump and were living off hot pockets and pasta .. horrible I know.

BUT i'm back! Hopefully longer this time haha

I've rediscovered some great cook books!

PLUS we got a new dining room table! So no more eating off the kitchen counter! 

We still need to get 2 more chairs and theres a cute bench that goes with it.

And we'll be able to fit everywhere for Thanksgiving =)

Last night James made steak, and we made mashed potatoes and some mixed greens.

and of course you can't have steak and potatoes without and ice cold beer! 

Then for a treat I made Strawberries wrapped in melted chocolate, they were amazing.

On the menu tonight is :

Stuffed Mushrooms

Fish

Rizzotto

Mixed Greens Salad 

Spice up boring pancakes!

So who here isn't a morning person?

...

exactly ... and unless it's the weekend who wants to be up at 6am cooking a 3 course breakfast meal for your kids or husband or even yourself? With that said however we all know breakfast is in fact the most important meal of the day, so how can we make breakfast easy, but still good and not boring. 

one word PANCAKES

it's so simple! 

now you can be like me and just get a box and add water =) 

bad culinary kid I know but I cut corners in the morning what can I say

A great way to add a little something extra (plus extra nutrients) to pancakes is fruit.

The other morning I made blueberry pancakes for James and I, they were amazing!

other variations that would be great are strawberries, raspberries ... really any berry or fruit. you could also add cinnamon or a little nutmeg, which would be great for fall, for a different flavor. 

Now in addition to all of this pancakes are great to freeze, so you could even make them from scratch on Sunday cook 2 batches and freeze a batch and re-heat them for your kids or whomever throughout the week!

On a side note, the garden is doing AMAZING! the morning glories are everywhere! Which is to be expected and I've been picking 2 or 3 tomatoes a day! Yesterday we picked our first cucumber and there's a few more that are getting pretty big and now out of no where the strawberries are producing fruit.

Here's a shot I took of the kitchen window above the sink.

The coffee cup planter in the middle has a cactus or two that you can't really see. They are growing very very slowly and i'm not really sure what's going to come of them since I've never grown them before and can't seem to keep the cat out of them =) one of these days she'll learn! 

Perfect after a long day

Okay i'm sorry for the lack posts in the past two weeks, I got a sinus infection and haven't been making anything other than frozen pizza and chicken salad. But night before last I started craving real food. 

I love eating fruit, cheese and bread. It's a great snack.

So James and I went to Kroger and picked up some things to snack on.

I also picked up a bottle of Pino Grigio and added some sliced strawberries

I love Brie but don't like the rind and apparently you can get a container of Brie (no rind) for the same price as a small thing of Brie! We also had some Munster and Cheddar in the fridge. 

Then for the sliced baguette, strawberries and blueberries! 

Also! Minus the wine this makes a great breakfast for those of us who aren't morning people! 

Vegetable Omelet

For some unknown reason I was dying for breakfast yesterday ... usually breakfast for me consists of coffee .. then another cup of coffee.

So since I was actually hungry I figured id make it special

Vegetarian Omelet!

You can always substitute the eggs for an egg substitute. My beau's parents have a farm and we're lucky enough to get eggs and some veggies from them from time to time.

I used some broccoli, mushrooms, and tomatoes 

then added the eggs, i used 3 and had left overs for later

make sure you grease your pan well!! Using oil and butter will raise your smoking temperature so your omelet will be less likely to burn.

as an afterthought I added some Munster cheese

Use a spatula and pull at the sides of the omelet, this helps the egg cook thoroughly 

Flip to the side and enjoy!!