Fantastic Food

We went to my in-law's home a year ago or so (no I don't hate them, they just live a 10 hour drive from me!) and my MIL made sausage pot pie.  I'd only ever had chicken pot pie, which, most of the time, I thought was just "okay".  The sausage pot pie was yummy.  My kids thought it was a gift sent from God from His own table.  My son loved it so much he requested it for his birthday dinner (a good 10 months from then).  And then every month he would bring it up again that he still wanted that for his birthday.  Well the pie was  really good, so I asked my MIL for the recipe.  I'll give you the bad news first:  It had canned EVERYTHING, the worst being a can of mushroom soup.  And store-bought pie crusts. First of all, store-bought crust tastes like cardboard.  It just does, so no thank you.  Also, I sorta have a thing against cooking with canned soups.  I'm not 100% sure why, but I think it is a "must cook from scratch" ...

I really like muffins, but I rarely feel like making them when I get up in the morning.  Every time I do end up making them, though, I always decide I am going to make them every week because they're so good!  Obviously I am a lazy person (isn't it obvious?!), so that inevitably falls through by the time "next week" comes around...  But I'm here today because I, of course, again loved the muffins I got up and made after not making muffins for several months.  Truth:  I only made them this time because of the riiiipe bananas rotting on my counter and no other ideas on what to make that day.  You should make them though--every week :). I'm going to.  Maybe... Craisin Pecan Banana Muffins with Whole Wheat Ingredients: 1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour 2/3 cup white flour 1/2 cup rolled oats 2 tsp. cinnamon  1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. coarse salt (or a little less than 1/2 tsp of table salt) 3 mashed bananas (ab...

"Hmmm, two pasta recipes in a row?" you say.  You must say that because you haven't been following every post and don't already know from the previous post that I accidentally-on-purpose bought too much tortellini at the store.  While Carbonara is most often made with long, slender pasta like spaghetti, linguine, fettucine, etc.....well, I had to do something  with that tortellini!  I therefore give you use #2 for cheese tortellini you need to use up--Carbonara. Now don't get too wigged out by the fact that the sauce in this recipe is made from eggs that will  appear to not be cooked.  We don't judge based on looks around here, so I'll thank you to conform to that while using this recipe.  The eggs are tempered , which essentially means that they are not raw, but sorta look that way still.  I promise it is delicious.  But if you need the reassurance, mentally, that you aren't eating raw eggs, I give you my solemn assurance.  Now you ma...

You know that time when you went to Costco and....  Need I say more?  Don't you always buy something you didn't intend to buy when you go there?  Those darn samples, they get me every time!  So there was this time I went to that accursed place that I both love and hate, and I ended up buying a huge package of fresh cheese tortellini.  The package was so big they had to split it into two packages.  Oh America...  Anyway, I had to come up with a great idea for this pasta, because of course I bought it impulsively with no plan whatsoever besides, "this is good.  must eat again."  (Sometimes when I eat delicious food, it takes over brain function and I sound a little bit like a caveman...)  Everyone knows that when you need a good idea, you go to the World of Good Ideas Only (aka Pinterest), where anything you try will always turn out (I realize it's hard to sense sarcasm through text, but I'm counting on your common sense to know when I'm ...

You know that elusive, best-ever, chocolate chip cookie recipe?  Yeah I don't know where that is because everyone has a different idea of what the best cookie is.  And that's okay!  Variety is the spice of life.  If you don't love what I love, that's fine! I'll judge and think you're crazy, but we will both survive.  You'll go on loving gross cookies, and I'll go on loving the good stuff.  And we will both, somehow, be happy with that.  If you ever want to try the good stuff, it'll be right here for you.  And so will I.  Maybe.  I'm not as forgiving as these best-ever chocolate chip cookies.... INGREDIENTS: 4 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. kosher salt 3 sticks (or 1 1/2 cups) butter, softened 1 cup granulated suger 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed 2 eggs 1 Tbs vanilla extract 1 cup dark chocolate chips 1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips DIRECTIONS: 1) Preheat oven to 350/375 F....

Spinach in waffles?  Gross, right? Only for people trying to lose weight, right?  WRONG.  Right? Okay, I see how thoroughly confused you are now.  And I know what you're thinking: "wait, she can see me?? Creep!"  Oh, you weren't thinking that? Weird, you should be--that IS creepy.  But I digress...we were speaking of spinach in a standard, non-spinachy food.  The thing is, it's SOOOO good you guys!  I even made regular waffles side by side to compare, and my kids (my KIDS!) said the spinach ones were better (cue jaw drop, gasp, and fake fainting spell).  Full disclosure, one (out of 6) of the kids said they were gross, but she refused to actually taste any, so we just won't pay any attention to her.  She's kind of in the middle anyway, so she's used to it.... (cue awkward, judging silence from the reader).  Even if you're kids refuse to taste them, though, you have to be a grown-up and at least try them.  Try them, you will se...

Just a warning: you might go into a sugar coma if you make these, because they are VERY hard to stop eating, even though they are really rich! Ingredients BROWNIES: 1 cup plus 3 tbs. butter 3/4 cup cocoa powder 4 large eggs 2 cups sugar 1 & 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla extract 2/3 cup chocolate chips   FROSTING: 8 tbs butter, softened 2 & 2/3 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup cocoa powder 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbs to 1/4 cup milk 1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted Directions 1. Heat oven to 350 F.  In a saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in sugar and cocoa, then remove from heat and allow to cool.  In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Once chocolate mixture has cooled a bit, crack eggs into chocolate mixture and quickly mix in with fork or whisk (don't let the eggs cook on the warm mixture!) 2. Add vanilla to chocolate mixture, then combine flour mixture with chocolate mixture.  Fold in ...