Garlic Lemon Chicken Kabobs

I've been wanting to write a post with this recipe for awhile now.  This recipe is for our most loved chicken kabob recipe.  We make others when we want a break from this one, but this one just wins big every time.  This recipe for Garlic Lemon Chicken Kabobs comes from Annie's Eats blog.  This is a quick and flavorful meal.  We usually just eat the kabobs with peppers and onions and a side of some sort of fruit.

Ingredients:
-3 Tbsp. EVOO
-Zest of 1 lemon
-juice of half a lemon*
-3 cloves of garlic
-1 Tbsp. parsley (fresh or dried*)
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
-1/2 tsp. pepper

-1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-1/2 red bell pepper*
-1/2 green bell pepper*
-1 white onion*

Combine the first seven ingredients into a medium bowl.  Cube the chicken and add to the marinade.  Annie's Eats says to marinade for at least two hours.  I can tell you many times where we completely forgot and let it marinate for about 15 minutes and it still as flavorful.  Then, cut the onions and peppers into large chunks.  Skewer the marinated chicken, along with the onions and peppers.  Grill until done (about 10 minutes).

We do add some freshly squeeze lemon juice to the marinade because you are already zesting a lemon, so why not squeeze in some juice?  We don't always have fresh parsley and have had to substitute dried parsley which also works fine.

This is a recipe you want to be sure to try soon- it'll become a summer regular.  Enjoy!

Another Favorite: General Tso's Chicken

As I've mentioned before, we love Chinese food!  We make Asian style food weekly in our house.  This recipe for Skinny General Tso's Chicken comes from Carlsbad Cravings. Of course I found this recipe on Pinterest awhile make.  It is on our dinner menu regularly- well about as frequently as we would eat any of our favorites (no more than once a month).  Looking at the ingredients, yes the chicken is baked, but I do wonder is this really a "skinny" recipe?

This recipe is so full of flavor you'll be thrilled you tried it.  What you won't be so thrilled about is how many ingredients and dishes get used to make this.  Our kitchen always looks like a bomb exploded when we have finished making this.

Time after time, we forget that the original recipe has you marinade the chicken. So we usually don't do that step.  We make 1/2 of the marinade/ sauce recipe and use what we've made for the sauce.

For the Sauce:
1/4 C. soy sauce
1/4 C. rice wine vinegar
1/4 C. water
1. Tbl. sesame oil
1 tsp. Sriracha
1/4 tsp. salt
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 Tbl. freshly grated ginger (We keep ours in the freezer and use it whenever it's needed)
Sprinkle of pepper
1 Tbl. cornstarch

Whisk together all of these ingredients and wait.



For the Breading:
1 C. flour
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 Tbl. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder





Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 Tbl. water

Mix the flour breading ingredients together.  Whisk together the egg and water in a separate bowl.





Then dip the chicken (we use about a pound of chicken, diced) in the egg wash.  Next coat it in the flour breading mixture.  Place the breaded chicken on a foil-lined cookie sheet and spray with EVOO.  Bake at 375 for about ten minutes.  Then flip the chicken, spray the tops with EVOO and broil for about 3 minutes on each side to make the chicken crisp.

Caramel Sauce:
1 C. sugar
1/4 C. water

In a medium sized sauce pan, bring the sugar and water to a boil for one minute.  Stir in the sauce.  At this point we usually toss in diced peppers and onions.  Once the chicken is cooked, mix the chicken into the sauce. Enjoy!


We usually have edamame and rice with this, but during the pregnancy we've been substituting the rice for couscous.

This recipe really is worth emptying out your fridge and spice cabinet.  I'll even go as far as saying it is worth all of the dishes!

Steak and Onion Sandwiches

Our final recipe from the week was Steak and Onion Sandwiches and it was by far our favorite!  This recipe can be found on Martha Stewart's website or in her book Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast.

This was once again, a quick and flavorful weeknight meal. We loved it so much we made it again for lunch over the weekend.

The recipe calls for onions, EVOO, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, Steak-umms, and country bread.

We decided we would use flank steak, slice thinned instead. We also bought a baguette for the bread.
Basically, you brown the onions in EVOO, until softened.  Then you remove the onions and cook the steak.  Season the steak with salt and pepper. Next, pour in the Worcestershire sauce and a bit of water.  Dump the onions back in to combine.  Then top on the bread.  The end!

We didn't follow the measurements that Martha gave, but we used it as a guideline.  We will try this recipe with Steak-umms at some point.  I think it would also be tasty topped with cheese.

As a side with this dish we made "Shredded Beet and Carrot Salad."  I couldn't find the recipe online, but it is in the book. I have no pictures of this because I finely shredded the beats using my food processor attachment to my Kitchenaid. This was way too fine and resulted in a juicy, but tasty, mess.

Garlic Marinated Chicken and "Grilled" Potatoes

Here's another quick and flavorful recipe from Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast.  We made Garlic Marinated Chicken with Grilled Potatoes.  I put "grilled" in quotes because we are not the type of people who grill year round so we broiled our potatoes.

Since it's just the two of us, we cut the recipe in about 1/3.  We washed and chopped the potatoes in half and created a foil pocket.  We stuck them in the oven to broil and began to marinate the chicken.

We allowed our chicken to marinade for about 15 minutes- the original recipe says 10-30 minutes.  We also roasted asparagus, like Martha calls for, but we simply roasted the asparagus with EVOO, salt and pepper.

The chicken and asparagus game together quickly.  We ended up microwaving our potatoes because after over 30 minutes of broiling, the potatoes were crispy looking but still very, very raw.  It is interesting to think the potatoes would have been done in less time and at a slower temperature...

Aside from the potatoes, this meal was a huge success!  Again, the chicken was moist and full of flavor. We ate the chicken and asparagus before the potatoes were done.

Check out some other quick weeknight meal ideas I've tried from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast:
-Lemon Parsley Pork Chops
-Beef and Orange Stir Fry
-Orecchiette with Sausage and Roasted Peppers

Lemon Parsley Pork Chops

Clearly I was unable to write posts each day last week to coincide with the new recipes we were trying from Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast.  I'll try to wrap it up this weekend!

The third recipe we made from Everyday food was for Lemon Parsley Pork Chops.  Yet again, this recipe provided a simple, fast, and delicious weeknight meal!  I actually followed the recipe completely, so be sure to check it out in the book or on Martha's website.

All that you need to make this tasty meal is lemon zest, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, EVOO, and pork chops. I love it when a recipe is so simple and it doesn't require 10 million ingredients being pulled from your fridge and pantry.  We served this green beans and baked potatoes.  The result was two very happy campers!

First you mix the first 4 ingredients.  

Cook the pork chops on the stove.

Once cooked, top the pork chops with the lemon and parsley combo.  

That's it! The pork chops were full of flavor.  There's no reason to not give this recipe a try!

Other Feedback from  the recipes we've Tried from Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast

Beef and Orange Stir Fry

Orecchiette with Sausage and Roasted Peppers

Stay tuned for 3 more reviews to come.

Beef and Orange Stir Fry

Up next in our recipes from Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast, we made Beef and Orange Stir Fry. The recipe is in the book and available online. You've read my rants for my love of Chinese food and Orange Beef is one of my favorites- especially from Fuji.  So of course this dish sounded quite appealing to the two of us.

Martha Stewart's turned out much prettier than mine did...

This recipe was very simple to make and required a minimal amount of ingredients.  The original recipe does call for boneless sirloin or rib eye and we used flank steak. We decided to use flank steak because when making Mongolian beef the recipe calls for sirloin or flank steak and it is much, much better with flank steak.  Aside from switching the cut of beef, we followed the recipe exactly.

Ingredients:
-3 oranges
-2 cloves of garlic
-2 Tbl. soy sauce
-1 to 1.5 lbs of flank steak
-1 Tbl. cornstarch
-2 Tbl. canola oil
-a few scallions

For the sauce:  Juice one orange and add the garlic and soy sauce.  We were both surprised this recipe didn't call for any ginger, which is probably something we'll add next time.

For the meat:  Slice the meat thin.  Then, heat the oil.  Coat the flank steak in corn starch and cook a few minutes on each side until browned.  Then pour the sauce in.

For the remaining oranges:  You don't want to peel the other oranges.  You are going to cut them in sections and remove the pith.  Once the steak is cooked and the sauce is added toss in the scallions and the oranges.

I am sure this would be great over rice, but I haven't wanted anything to do with rice since I've been pregnant.  We ate this with couscous.

As I mentioned, next time I think we'd add ginger to the sauce.  This was a quick and flavorful meal to make during the week.

On another note, I bought these today...

My first thought when I heard about them was Red Velvet Oreo Truffles! Mmm! I cannot wait to give those a try!

Orecchiette with Sausage and Roasted Peppers

I always plan out the meals for the week.  In part, so I don't have to run to the grocery store many times a week, but MOSTLY because when Pat and I started living together, I was annoyed by the frequency in which he asked what was for dinner.  I started making a menu board that way he doesn't have to harass me about meals.

Unsure about dinner ideas for this week, Pat pulled a cookbook off of the shelf and we decided to choose several new recipes from there.  This week we are making 6 new recipes that all come from Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast from the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living.  The recipe can be found online here.  I do recommend getting this cookbook because we haven't been disappointed in any of the recipes we've tried.  Here's a link to the book, on Amazon of course!

(Let's be honest, you get frequent packages from Amazon too! I know I am not alone with the addiction of Amazon Prime.)

The cookbook states it takes 40 minutes total to make this meal.  Usually, I found that in reality, it takes longer than the recipe states, especially if it's a new recipe.   To my surprise, this recipe took less than 40 minutes to make!

We began by boiling the water because pasta is always the slowest part.  Meanwhile, slice peppers into four parts and broil.  This is where we saved some time, the peppers were pretty charred after about 10 minutes, when the recipe says 18-20 minutes.    Once they're out of the oven, steam them for about 4 minutes in a plastic wrap, covered bowl.  Then remove the peels.  I had such an easy time getting the peels off of the red peppers- the yellow peppers were a different story...Finally, slice the  peppers in skinny strips.

While the peppers are charring, we began to brown the sausage.  We halved the recipe since two people shouldn't eat a pound of pasta.  Please note;  I said shouldn't, it was not a matter of whether or not we could eat a pound of pasta.  Since being pregnant, I am following Brewer's diet.  Part of this is that I am to get 80-100 grams of protein a day!  That being said, we stuck with the pound of sausage that the recipe calls for (essentially doubling the sausage).

You do not drain the fat because it becomes part of the sauce.  Once the sausage is browned, you add in the pasta, 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water, butter, peppers, Parmesan, and a dash of salt and pepper.

My thoughts?  This recipe was simple, quick, and full of flavor!  I thought that there was a good amount of sausage.  The only change I would  make would be to dice the peppers.  With the orecchiette and the sausage being small, having long strips of pepper was a little weird.  Even halving the recipe, we each ate a bowl for dinner, my mom got a small bowl to try, and we had two more servings for lunch.  A win in my book!

Other meals we are trying from Everyday Food:  Great Food Fast from the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living this week are:

-Beef and Orange Stir Fry
-Shredded Beet and Carrot Salad
-Lemon-Parsley Pork Chops
-Garlic-Marinated Chicken Cutlets with Grilled Potatoes
-Steak and Onion Sandwiches

Top 10 Post #10! Lettuce Wraps

Before we ring in the New Year, I need to finally write my post for my top 10 recipe from my first 300 pins.

When I was debating over what I would rank in the final top 10 spot, I was thinking about the Pinterest recipes we make again and again. There truly are very few recipes I wouldn't make again, as there are also very few recipes that are on our "regular" list.

That being said, the finally spot in the top 10 posts go to Lettuce Wraps.  The original recipes for "P.F. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps" comes from food.com.

Ingredients:

Stir Fry
-3 Tbl. oil (we usually use canola)
-2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced*
-1 can of water chestnuts, diced
-4 oz. of mushrooms, diced
-half of an onion, diced*
-1 Tbl. of minced garlic*
-head of Boston Leaf Lettuce*
-crushed peanuts to top*


Stir Fry Sauce
-2 Tbl. soy sauce
-2 Tbl. brown sugar
-1/2 tsp. rice wine vinegar

Special Dipping Sauce (These ingredients are halved from the original recipe and still leave with plenty to use the next time you make lettuce wraps.)
-1/8 C. sugar
-1/4 C. water
-2 Tbl. soy sauce
-2 Tbl. rice wine vinegar
-2 Tbl. ketchup
-juice of half of a lemon*
-1/8 tsp. sesame oil
-1 tsp. of garlic and red chili paste

-The original recipe calls for 1 Tbl. of hot mustard diluted in 2 tsp. of hot water.  We omit this.  There is great flavor without it.

First, dice all ingredients approximately the same size (chicken, chestnuts, mushrooms, onion).  Heat the oil over a large pan.  Cook the diced chicken until cooked through. *Please note the original recipe calls for the chicken to be cooked as a whole breast than diced, we've found this to be quicker and easier.*

Add in the remaining stir fry ingredients.  Meanwhile mix the stir fry sauce.  After allowing the stir fry to cook for 2-3 minutes, pour in the sauce and allow it to simmer for a couple of minutes.

While the stir fry simmers, mix the special dipping sauce, crush peanuts and rinse off the lettuce. We like the addition of the peanuts to top the wraps.  The original recipe calls for iceberg lettuce which doesn't allow you to really wrap your lettuce wraps.  We've started using Boston Leaf lettuce which works very well!

This is a light dish that is filled with protein- it would be a great way to start of the New Year!  Enjoy!

Top Ten Post #5: Orange Peel Shrimp

So you have heard before that Wednesday night is shrimp night.  I've been feeling in a rut lately and not knowing what to make.  Thankfully Pat suggested this, which has been one of our favorites since we first made it!  Whenever we go to P.F. Chang's I have to have the Orange Peel Shrimp.  Everything that I have ever eaten there has been great, but nothing will beat the Orange Peel Shrimp. So you can image my delight (about 2 years ago) when I came across a Pin for Orange Peel Shrimp.  The pin I found came from EatLiveRun blog.  However, the recipe comes from PBS.

This recipe results in crispy, flavorful shrimp.  We do always serve the Orange Peel Shrimp with brown rice and another favorite green, edamame (Yes, Pat eats a few green things now!).

I know I say you have to make each recipe I blog about, but really...I wouldn't waste your time reading the post if the results weren't well worth it.  When your closest P.F. Chang's is an hour away, you'll be really glad you have this recipe in your inventory!

We just cut the sauce recipe in half from the original since it's just for two and use half a pound of shrimp.

Here's our ratio for the recipe, but the recipe comes from PBS.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. of shrimp, peeled and deveined
-2 cloves of garlic
-4 scallions (I cut the white parts to use too)
-1 orange (zest and juice)
-3 Tbsp. orange marmalade (I do use the reduced sugar)
-1/4 C. of soy sauce
-1/4 tsp. of crushed red peppers
-1/8 C. of cornstarch
-2 Tbsp. of canola oil, divided


Brown rice and Edamame for sides

Start by adding 1 Tbsp. of oil over medium high heat.  Once heated, add the garlic, scallions, and orange zest.  Then add the juice from the orange, orange marmalade, soy sauce, and crushed red peppers.  Bring it to a boil and maintain the boil for about 5 minutes so the sauce thickens.

Meanwhile, get the salted water boiling for rice and stick your edamame in the microwave per bag instructions.





Peel your shrimp and pat it dry.  Then lightly coat the shrimp in the cornstarch.  Add the remaining oil to another pan (only bummer about this recipe is the amount of pans it requires).   Once heated, add your shrimp.  After about 2 minutes, it's ready to flip.  When it is cooked through, remove the shrimp from the pan and mix it into the sauce.

Serve and enjoy!

My chef notes:
1.  I probably do a tablespoon and a half of minced garlic.
2.  I also cut the white parts of the scallions to use, too.
3.  For the marmalade, I used the kind with reduced sugar.
4.  The original recipe calls for optional Thai chili peppers, we do not add those, so we keep with the original 1/4 tsp. of crused red peppers.

I definitely use more soy sauce than the average person....this is not the only jug we've been through this year!

Top Ten Post #3: Oven-Baked Chicken Fajitas

Where did September go?!  I had been posting regularly and then school started...

As I have been looking back over my "Recipes I've Tried" board, I really am struggling to pick my top ten!  I easily could do a top ten desserts post...maybe I'll do that once I work my way through my top 10 overall.  So basically I've been deciding my top ten recipes by thinking which recipes are regulars.  I always feel like we eat the same things, which we don't- at all.  If we eat the same thing twice in a month, that's super rare.  I get bored eating the same thing again and again.  Another big hit in our house is Oven Baked Fajitas from Real Mom Kitchen.

I first made this recipe a few years ago and we still love it as much to this day!

We follow the recipe from Real Mom Kitchen precisely, but we put in less chicken and add more veggies.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbl. vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. of each chili powder and cumin
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced*
• 1/2 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion*

We combine the first 6 ingredients in a small bowl.  Next, spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and toss in the peppers, onions, and chicken (all thinly sliced).  Then we pour the sauce into the pan and stir to combine.  Bake the fajitas at 350 for 25 minutes.  Right before the fajitas get pulled out, heat up some tortillas in the microwave.  We always have plenty for lunch the next day.

We love this recipe because it is so quick, easy, and full of flavor.  Sometimes we make the fajitas without the tomatoes  and there is still nice flavor.  I love the flavor the tomatoes add, but it does make the fajitas a bit more runny.

I do add a whole red bell pepper because I love them.  Real Mom Kitchen uses the tomatoes with chillies, but I prefer the green pepper and onion.  I've tried other baked fajitas and I've tried Crock-Pot fajitas, but this recipe is by far the best!  Try it tonight- I promise you add it to your dinner cycle.

Top Ten Post #2: Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas

This weekend I made my 312 Pinterest recipe!  As I am working my way to Pin 400, I am going to first finish writing about my top ten from the first 300.

The first top ten recipe I wrote about can be found here for baked crab rangoon.

A second favorite of ours is a Black Bean and Spinach Enchilada.  The recipe comes from The Garden Grazer.  This is a great vegetarian dish and it has made it routinely into our Meatless Mondays.  The only thing we do differently is omit the cilantro.  I simply do not care for it. Aside from the cilantro, we keep it exactly the same; we absolutely love it the way it is!  The recipe even goes well using wheat tortillas if you prefer.


This dinner comes together quite quickly.  First prepare the filling while the oven is preheating.

After the filling is made, I start to make the enchilada sauce. The sauce is quick and easy to make, but if you want to save a few more moments, you could use store bought sauce. 

*Do be careful that the pan isn't too hot when you begin to make the sauce.  I heat the olive oil over a medium low heat.  Otherwise the tomato paste will splatter.*

 Next, put about 1/3 a cup of filling into each enchilada and roll each tortilla as nicely as you can (hopefully better than I do).

Pour some sauce onto the enchiladas.  Then be sure to sprinkle generously with cheese!

After baking for 20 minutes, it is time to dig in!  One of the best things about this recipe is that there is plenty to pack for lunch the next day.

Mongolian Beef: A Regular at Our House

We love Chinese food!  In college we ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant, Seven Seas probably twice a week...We have since moved out of College Park and Seven Seas closed quickly (I'd rather not think of why...)

I took this picture from the Street view of Google Maps.

Anyway we've found that most Chinese food is relatively easy to make and try various recipes.  This recipe for Mongolian Beef found at Pink Bites blog.

Looking at my Recipes I've Tried board, it looks like this is the second recipe I ever made from Pinterest.  I am not at recipe 266, but this Mongolian beef is one we make again and again...

I always get the rice going and make the sauce, while Pat slices the flank steak.  

The sauce is quite simple.  A little canola oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, water, and crushed red peppers.  It takes less than 5 minutes to make.  Then you pour the sauce into a bowl.  You use the same pan and add some more oil.  Once the beef is tossed with cornstarch it's ready to be cooked!

I always add a large dab of oil into the pan and we cook it around a medium temperature, otherwise the beef sticks to the pan.

I always add a large dab of oil into the pan and we cook it around a medium temperature, otherwise the beef sticks to the pan. After the sauce is thickened and the rice is ready you are set to eat!  We usually eat edamame with this for a quick and tasty meal!

I cannot stress how tasty and simple this is.  It makes for a great weeknight meal!  I get tired of repeating meals, but this one is as regular as any meal is in our house!

The full recipe can be found at Pink Bite's blog.

Wednesday Night- Shrimp Night

Such is life, and I haven't posted in over a month! I need to make this a routine in order for this to work.

My next Pinterest recipe was Spicy Parmesan Shrimp Skillet.  Each Wednesday, we eat shrimp.  Wednesday is also trash night.  This has worked out as a great way to enjoy shrimp and then not having to deal with stinky trash.

 The recipe for this can be found here:  http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/02/spicy-parmesan-shrimp-skillet/

This was a fabulous and easy meal.  My week nights are very hectic so anything going on in the kitchen needs to be easy.  I always buy frozen, peeled shrimp.  It saves me a lot of time and I can just keep it stocked in the freezer so I don't have to run to the store during the week.

I did use regular pasta penne for this (not whole wheat).  Whenever I try to sneak whole wheat pasta in Pat reacts as if I was trying to poison him!

Anyway, this was a great recipe.  It is definitely on my list of repeaters!

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

I saw this on Pinterest of course.  When I went to retrieve the recipe, my original pin didn't link to a recipe. After some searching, I found the recipe to make this Hawaiian Grilled Chicken.  Here's the recipe:
http://www.carddit.com/view/tLPxS2lPS

In order to begin to understand this post, you first need to know that I really, REALLY wanted to be a vegetarian when I was little.  I wanted to be a veg simply because I couldn't/can't stand the thought of knowing where meat came from.  My mom wouldn't allow me to be a vegetarian because I "needed my protein."  So, I would eat filet and chicken.  I never could stand the sight of raw meat.  From the age of ten, I was responsible for cooking dinner one night a week.  Gradually, I had to cook raw meat! I acted as if it should be a crime.  One thing that never changed from my childhood state of mind- I don't eat the edges of my meat because when I was little I thought it was the skin of the animal.  Now I know it is not true, but it is a habit.  Good thing my husband is a carnivore!  By the time I was in college, I obviously needed to even prep raw meat.  Now I can even trim fat off of meat without gagging.

When grocery shopping, I made a HUGE mistake.  I didn't buy boneless and skinless chicken.  I had to buy chicken thighs for this recipe which  I rarely cook with.  And this time, I bought it with skin on and the bone in.  As soon as I realized what I had done, I called on my husband Pat.  I felt nauseous and wanted to toss the 5 pounds of meat.  Pat told me I would be fine and it seemed silly to toss the meat (**Note:  He didn't offer to take the skin off for me.)  Bravely, I peeled of the skin, but firmly believe I have never done anything so disgusting.  I did all of this without touching the meat.  I let the chicken marinade overnight.

This chicken had nice flavor.  I think I would like it even more if I diced up chicken breast instead of using chicken thighs.  This is a recipe I would make again.

Lemon Cookies and Gnocchi

....no! Not together.

After recovering from my sister's housewarming.  I woke quickly to start baking. I made a family recipe for Pignoles which is an Italian cookie with pine nuts.  These were for my father-in-law's birthday.  First time making them and I think quite successful :)


Then I had to rush around making High Tea Lemon Cookies for tea at a friend's.  This recipe was originally posted here:  http://whatscookingamerica.net/Cookie/HighTeaCookies.htm

There is a special note added in the recipe that discusses properly melting the butter.  It says that if you don't melt it correclty, they will be crumbly.  Well, mine was melted correctly; mine were crumbly.  I think the recipe calls for too much cornstarch.  The cookies have a nice flavor, but several fell apart.  When eating them, I also felt the consistency was weird. If I try these again, I will use less cornstarch.


Coming home from the tea, I quickly made recipe 103- Gnocchi with Sausage, Fennel, and Tomatoes.

The recipe is here:  http://www.divaeatsitalia.com/?page_id=84

I liked the recipe.  It was good-but nothing great.  I used store bought gnocchi for this recipe (although I have made my own gnocchi several times).  I really like the tip on this blog for the gnocchi.  It suggests pan searing the gnocchi.  My husband and I thought that it really stepped up the store bought gnocchi.  The recipe itself was easy to follow.