12 Different Christmas Cookies!?!!!

Tis' the season to buy gifts for loved ones…
Tis' the season to be merry and sing Christmas Carols…
Tis' the season to eat a lot of things we don't normally consume throughout the year...
Why not bake some cookies right?

Well if you know me, you know I love to bake. I'm a fan of sweets and I like to try baking. I've come to realize that once I start I can't stop!
I was in a very merry mood and began to bake, like I do every year for friends and family. I give out cookie platters as my Christmas gift to my friends and neighbors, coworkers and the like. This year I began with a few cookie tins and a list of 12 different cookies that I planned to make. Well my list began to expand and instead of 3 consecutive days of baking, it turned into a week. And instead of baking to fill 4 cookie tins, I filled 5 large cookie tins and 10 platters.
Here is what I have been baking in the past week:

Rainbow cookies

Chocolate Biscotti cookies

Chocolate Chip 

White chip macadamia nut

Snickerdoodles

Peanut Butter cookies

Sugar cookies

Spice Cupcakes

Brownies with Chocolate chip cookie dough

Pecan tartlets

Chocolate cookies with white chips

Lemon cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

red velvet cake balls

Chocolate Snowballs

Here is what one of the platters looked like:



Let's Try Fish Again...

Foil-baked Fish with Black Beans and Corn

I saw this recipe and thought this would be a good meal to prepare and leave in the fridge. Basically you prepare the beans and corn to lay it on the foil. Prepare the fish with a butter mixture over top of it and place it on top of the bean and corn mixture. The meal can then be sealed in the foil and either put in the oven to bake or in the fridge to eat at a later time.
This was a good overall meal. It was a colorful, tasty dish; sweet and at the same time I felt it wasn't fatty at all. They a good portions too.

Keeps You Wanting More

Super- Spicy Chili Mac 

This chili was amazing. Each spoonful brought a different flavor in my mouth. I love making dishes like this because it's one pot of a bunch of flavors and its easy to make.
My friend and I couldn't stop eating this and the kids enjoyed it too. For those out there who aren't aware: It's difficult to make a dish that kids will enjoy just as much as you will.
The chili has a little spice to it but just enough to please the people who like spicy food and enough for people who don't like spicy food to eat this dish as well. I've been using jalepenos to liven up the dishes a bit. I understand it's difficult to control the spice that goes into a meal and to please everyone. It's been a good experience.
Sam Adams and Chili Mac was a good combo!

Delicious!!!

We are Coming over Tonight, What's for Dinner?

      My brother and sister in law had plans to come over for dinner. This would have been no problem at all if it was any other time of the year. But it was Monday of finals week and I had an electronic portfolio to complete by wednesday of that week. Boy was I all over the place getting this dinner together. I looked for something that didn't require too much work and time. Then I realized my entire cook book consists of just that "The Best Simple Recipes!"
I put together a chicken and pasta dish. It was pretty good. In it were pine nuts that I've never really eaten before. Very good. We accompanied the meal with a salad.
Chicken and Spinach Farfalle



Soup Time

I thought it was a good time for soup again. A lot of the soup in this book consists of the same thing. I think that the rotisserie chicken is good to buy ahead of time and just piece apart. It saves time and it's really good.
This time I made Moroccan Chicken Soup. Since I had the kitchen to myself, I thought this would be good to freeze and save for a later date. Definitly leave the pasta out of it until it's time for you to eat the soup. I think I wrote this before but the pasta just absorbes all of the soup, leaving you all the pasta, vegetables and chicken extra cooked and soggy. The spice Garam Masala was added to give it that Indian food taste.
All in all, the soup was good for one bowl but not good enough to keep eating. I think it was the spices that got to me.

Am I Cooking Tonight?

Beef and Vegetable Fajitas

This was pretty good. I don't know how to buy skirt steak. I've never bought it and i thought the meat would be labeled. but it wasn't. Come to find out it's like a london broil. Anyways I didn't use it. I used 2 different type of meat. angus beef and strips of stew steak.
Guacamole is a good side for the fajitas. It was my first time making it. i really need to practice because it wasn't tasty. I'm not a fan of avacado and that's all it tasted like. I wasn't a fan of it but i guess thats just something I should practice.
I ate this meal with salad and fried platanoes on the side. I think rice would be a good side too.

Spring Rolls

Ginger-Pork Spring Rolls
I didn't have anyone to cook for me so0o0o0... I opened up the book to this page. I've never eaten Asian foods as much as I do when I cook them. This was such a great time. I've never worked with rice paper before. Let me tell you, it was tough at first but you need to know that it dries quick so you must work quickly. Its like working with a circular thin noodle. You can't wrap it too tight or else it rips like some of mine did!



The recipe called for Asian-chili garlic sauce that I don't have randomly at my house so I improvised (like always). I used 1/4 of a red hot chili and 1 garlic clove. adding this to the housin sauce and soy sauce made it taste just fine. I ate this for lunch 2 days ago, then dinner that same night and then lunch the next day. It was really good. I used a broccoli based coleslaw instead of the normal cabbage based one. Yea I just had to be different. It has a harder texture to it like shredded carrots basically but it was still good. I just don't know how to warm these up without a microwave!