Award Winning Dip

I made this tip for a super bowl party in the Fall and went home with 1st prize - I beat out buffalo chicken dip! It's a refreshing dip and will over well at summer parties.

Tips: I used an extra avocado and a little more spicy pepper when making this dip on my own. Additional salt may be added to taste.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001141983

Easy App! Asparagus & Gruyere Tart

Jim has made this twice, the second time better than the first. It's a simple recipe from Martha Stewart that makes a great lunch side or an appetizer for guests.

Tips:

• You can definitely use a little bit less cheese than indicated in the recipe.
• We bought the Pillsbury pizza dough in the tube and it has worked fabulously.
• Lastly, we added turkey bacon crumbles to our latest tart and well…bacon makes everything better!

http://www.marthastewart.com/318340/asparagus-gruyere-tart

Scones - First Attempt

My first attempt at scones turned out well! I took Alton Brown's recipe and added semi-sweet chocolate chips to the recipe. I love a chocolate chip scone with some dark coffee in the morning! I was informed that buttermilk helps the scones get puffy and this recipe uses cream. I plan to try another scone recipe with buttermilk next time.

Tips:

- I used 1/2 and 1/2 instead of cream and it worked just as well.

- Cut the butter into cubes (make sure it's cold, but soft).

- Mix the butter and shortening in with your fingers unless you have a dough setting on a food processor.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/scones-recipe/reviews/index.html

Kale & Bacon!

Everything is better with bacon!

This recipe is delish. If you don't like red pepper flakes then I'd cut the measurement to 1/2 of what this recipe requests. If you aren't trying to count your calories, then I'd also add another strip of bacon! We topped with a spoon of sour cream because that is what we had in our fridge.

Check it out, it's easy to make:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000109639

Banana Nut Muffins

I altered a recipe from Joy of Cooking for the reduced fat Banana muffins. So these probably fall between reduced fat and full fat :). If you want the truly reduced fat, check out the Joy of Cooking cookbook, Banana Muffins II.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (i used whole wheat because it adds more flavor)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 pinch nutmeg

1/8 tsp cinnamon - few pinches

1/4 tsp vanilla

3 ripe bananas - mashed

2 tablespns vegetable oil

1 large egg

1/3 cup applesauce (all natural/no added sugar)

1/3 cup crushed walnuts - optional

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together wet ingredients into large bowl:

Egg, banana, oil, vanilla, applesauce

Whisk together all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add 1/2 the dry ingredients at a time and mix together. Batter will be lumpy and sticky. Add walnuts and mix in. Don't try to make the batter smooth - it's expected to be lumpy. Just work all the dry ingredients through.

Spray your muffin pan with non-stick spray, or grease with vegetable oil/butter to keep your muffin from sticking to the pan. I prefer to use the muffin pan that makes extra large muffins, so it makes 6 instead of 12 muffins. Either is fine. Bake the muffins for approximately 30 minutes - your toothpick will come out clean if you stick it through the muffin. I found the large muffin sizes took exactly 30 minutes to bake and they came out great.

Enjoy!

Instructions:

Ginger Spice Cookies - Delish

I decided to finally try something other than chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin this year for my holiday cookie exchange - ginger spice cookies! These were delicious. I found the recipe in epicurious.com, but I altered it as mentioned below: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ginger-Spice-Cookies-103156. The alterations were by default of what I had in my cabinet, but it worked out!

Changes:

- I tripled the recipe and only used 2.5 tablespoons of ginger. I recommend trying 1 tablespoon per batch.

- I had regular organic molasses and used it - it turned out just fine and delicious.

- I ran my candied ginger through the food processor for an easy chop. It totaled 1 cup for 3 batches. I recommend 1/2 cup per batch.

I think pairing down the strong ginger flavors actually worked out well for a more universal cookie that still definitely qualifies as a ginger chew cookie.

Tips:

* If you prefer "snaps" over chews, just make the cookies a little smaller and they will make the perfect bite size snap!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

What are the best chocolate chip cookies? For me, the dependable recipe is the Toll House bag chocolate chip recipe! It's been reliable and delicious, making delicious and soft chocolate chip cookies. Buy the Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips and cut the recipe out of the back of the bag. If you take them out right when they are golden on the edges and let the cookies sit on the sheet for another minute, then they come out soft and chewy in the center.

Recipe: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18476/Original-NESTL%C3%89-TOLL-HOUSE-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/detail.aspx

Tips:

*Use the light colored cookie sheets. The dark ones tend to over-brown the edges. (http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=16794139&RN=870&)

*Use unsalted butter. The recipe doesn't mention this, but you are adding salt per the recipe so you should bake with unsalted butter.

Has anyone made the Nordstrom chocolate chip cookie recipe?! I might check it out next year!