Smart Cookie

OK, I know. I'm bad. I only have myself to blame. But I couldn't help making cookies for dinner with the "parents" the other night. They are easy to make, undeniably delicious and a easy way to impress. I mean,  unless you've got someone around that dislikes sweets. Well then. Bring a bag of chips?

I really love cookies. Maybe just as much as I love ice cream. Maybe. But they are easy to make, there are SO many different variations, you can make them fun and festive or plain and simple. They are great on their own, or dipped in milk. With ice cream. With pudding. With cool whip. I would eat them in a box. I would eat them with a fox. I will eat them here and there. I will eat them ANYWHERE.

Sorry, got a little carried away.

Anyway, there is something special about these cookies. And I think the secret is in the cinnamon.

I found an oatmeal-raisin cookie recipe in my Looneyspoons cookbook and replaced the raisins with Smarties and Mini-Eggs. I was looking for spring coloured M&M's but they were not available at the No Frills I went to. The Smarties worked just as good, I just removed all the brown ones. And ate them.

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup + 2T whole wheat flour
1t ground cinnamon
1/2t baking powder
1/2t salt
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, soft
1/2 banana (the recipe calls for 1/3 cup applesauce but I didn't have any)
1 egg
1t vanilla
Lots of Smarties!

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking sheet or two.
Combine the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
In a large bowl beat the brown sugar and butter. Mix well then add the remaining wet ingredients and beat or mix until well blended.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until moistened. Then add the chocolate!
Drop spoonfuls of dough on the cookie and flatten with your hand or a fork. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes (it's ok if they look a little undercooked!). Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

These smell soooooo good. And taste soooo good when just out of the oven. Enjoy!

Improv Dinner

I don't know about you guys but I had a lovely long weekend! It was just long enough to be relaxing and productive. Not only did I catch up on my TV (Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica done - mind blown!) and almost finished The Help (also amazing) but I cleaned my apt top to bottom, put up some new pictures, did some cooking, did a lot of eating, got in some exercise, laundry, family time and boyfriend time! The weather was decent and waking up to no alarms was beautiful!

We did a Passover Seder for the first time with my family this weekend. While we've always been proud of our Jewish routes we never celebrated all of the religious holidays. In fact, we really only celebrated Hanukkah until I was about thirteen. So, this year was special! Sure, we all get together with family for dinners and enjoy the family time, but by including the seder it seemed that much more special. We've rekindled our relationship with Judaism and I think we all felt like Saturday was special. I'm really looking forward to many more years of continuing the tradition.

Sunday night dinners are often comprised of the weeks leftovers, especially if it's been a busy weekend where I haven't had the opportunity to grocery shop. Last night was no different.  I looked in the fridge and saw I had some left over quinoa, spinach, carrots, onion, mushroom and some frozen corn. I didn't really know what I was doing but I started chopping and stirring and came up with a sort of stir-fry/mash.

It turned out really great! Quick, easy, filling, lots of great textures and I even had left overs for lunch today. If you're looking for a balanced, quick dinner on a weeknight this is it!

Ingredients:
1T coconut oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup corn
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
2 mushrooms, chopped (that's all I had or I would have added more)
2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
1/4 cup BBQ sauce (I think you can get creative here, I'd like to try a peanut sauce next time)
S&P to taste

Directions:
In a small pot boil the carrots and corn for 5 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain.
In a medium pot heat the onion and garlic in the oil until tender, abut 5 - 7 minutes. Add the corn, carrots and mushrooms and heat for 2 minutes. Add the spinach and stir until the leaves are wilted. Stir in the BBQ sauce and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with quinoa.

I also added a bit of daiya cheese I had in the freezer. I really love quinoa and cheese!

I did something similar last week with quinoa. I steamed some broccoli and served on quinoa with tomato sauce and cheese. I love that quinoa isn't as heavy feeling as pasta, yet its totally filling and satisfies that carbo craving. I also love the texture :)

**Just a thought. Some marinated tofu or chickpeas would be a good protein addition to this meal!

I've got a full week of bootcamp ahead of me as I have a class to make up. I'm feeling OK now (besides a little bit of a food baby) but ask me again on Thursday when I've done class three days in a row! Looking forward to the pain!

Easter Deviled Eggs

The long weekend has arrived!

To celebrate spring, the long weekend and Easter we are having a potluck lunch at work today.

I wanted to bring something fun, festive and deeeelicious. My competitive side comes out for these potlucks. I love making new and interesting things that wow my coworkers and I had just the thing for this year!

Last year I found a recipe for dyed deviled eggs and made them for a family dinner. How perfect are these pastel coloured eggs! I'm sure some of you have seen this floating around the internet as this egg-tastic holiday approached.

These are super easy and super fun to make. I'm always left wanting to dye anything and everything in my sight once I see how beautiful the colours come out on the eggs.

Go ahead and get prepared to make deviled eggs as you normally would. I find the best way to hard boil eggs is to throw them in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil then cover and remove from heat. Let stand for about 10 minutes and you've got yourself perfect hard boiled eggs!

For these, put the eggs in ice water for at least another 5 minutes to cool down and be ready for handling.

While your eggs are boiling get your colouring ready. I used plastic cups because I'm lazy and didn't want to wash extra dishes. I filled half the cup with cool water then added 1 tsp of white vinegar. The vinegar will help the colour stay on the egg whites. Then I added my food colouring as desired. I followed the package instructions for the purple and orange colours.

Once my eggs were boiled and cooled I peeled them, cut them in half scooping the yolk into a bowl and dropping the egg whites into the various colours. Depending on how dark you want your colour leave the whites in the colouring for 5 - 10 minutes. They didn't need to stay in the red dye for long, that colour seemed to pick up the best. But I left the whites in the yellow and green for at least 10 minutes to get the colour I wanted. Just check on the whites once in a while by lifting out gently with a spoon until you get your desired colour.

While your eggs whites are dying mix your yolks with mayo, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. I was making 15 eggs (!) so used 6 tbsp of mayo and 2 tbsp of mustard. But again, this is something that is really subjective so don't be afraid to taste your yolk as you mix and add as much "taste" as you'd like!

Finally, fill those eggs whites up with a spoonful of eggs yolk and sprinkle with paprika. Voila! you've got delightful, delicious, deviled eggs! Believe me, you will be the talk of the town after making and sharing these.

The best part about it is you can use any deviled egg recipe you like and colour them for any occasion, birthdays, showers, themed parties, St. Partick's day, etcetera!

Try it out and enjoy.