Week 4: Awards Week

Recipes to Go: 507 472

Weeks to Go: 52 48

Recipes Made This Week:

Minestrone with Turkey

Olive-Onion Cheese Bread

Veggie Mac 'n' Cheese

Sweet 'n' Tender Cabbage Rolls

Banana Crumb Snack Cake

Onion Sausage Quesadillas

Sweet Sandwich Cookies

Southwestern Spinach Salad

Holstein Crinkles

I wasn't planing on making anything on Sunday, but it was so cold (barely 70 degrees, which after months of 92 feels quite frigid) that I needed some soup. Plus I had all the ingredients on hand for Minestrone, except the turkey. So we made the Minestrone with Turkey without turkey. That didn't stop it from being delicious.It hit the spot for a colder day.

On Tuesday I made Olive-Onion Cheese Bread and Veggie Mac 'n' Cheese. I probably should have sliced my veggies smaller for the mac 'n' cheese, but it was still delicious. And I found out that The Captain really likes Cauliflower. Which worked out really well since it was my least favorite thing in there. So I gave him all of those bites and everyone was happy.

The Olive-Onion Cheese Bread was delicious. I'm glad I didn't use all the butter it called for. I only used half and it was still plenty greasy. And of course I used fresh mushrooms instead of canned mushrooms. I think I might be morally opposed to canned mushrooms.

The winner of this weeks yummiest recipe award goes to the Sweet 'n' Tender Cabbage Rolls. Blew all the other contestants out of the water. This one took some effort to make, but it cooked in the slow cooker. And everything from the slow cooker is even more yummy than regularly cooked things.

This picture doesn't make them look very appealing, I know, but trust me, they melt in your mouth. If only I had the patience to make this everyday. Maybe in a year we'd all be sick of it . . . maybe.

The Banana Snack Cake on the other hand has been the first recipe I don't think I'll make again. But that's only because I don't really like banana bread and that's basically what this recipe is, except in much larger proportions.

Why is the batter so good but the cake not as much? Oh and maybe by the end of this year I'll figure out how to take good food pictures. Sorry.

The Quesadillas were easy to put together and very delicious. Unfortunately, I didn't think about it in time, but I only made 3/4 of the original filling proportions and used all the recommended tortillas, so they were a little thin and sad.

Luckily the filling is still delicious and easy enough to try again. Quesadillas are a good go-to meal when you're short on time.

I cheated and made the dough for the Sandwich Cookies last Friday, intending to take them to a church activity, but I talked to my neighbors for too long before hand. It was worth it, though because I got cupcakes for the Great Exchange. So that meant that putting these together was really easy. Which was helpful on a Game Night where putting The Captain down on time is a little more important.

I've made cookies like this before, fairly recently actually, from my Pillsbury dessert cookbook that has not steered me wrong yet. However, I creamed the butter and sugar too long so the cookies had an off-putting lack of texture. Also, I used too much milk in the frosting so it was thin. This time around, I'm happy to say I learned my lesson and the result was wonderful. 2,000 times better than the first attempt. They got rave reviews by the game crowd as well.

I was planning on making the Southwestern Spinach Salad with the Quesadillas earlier in the week, but things got away from me, as they do with a one-year-old. But it was a salad, and a filling one at that, and we had plenty of leftovers to eat through, so it all worked out. I really liked this salad.

I would have liked it more if I had used red peppers, but at $2+ for one, I was willing to settle for green. And the green peppers are still plenty expensive. It's times like this that I miss Reams and it's produce section. It's nice to get inspiration to put together interesting salads and creative homemade dressings. This one got a great response so I'll probably put together something like it in the future.

The last recipe of the week was what could be the Best Cookies Ever. Of course it doesn't hurt that I accidentally put in more chocolate than the recipe called for. I swear I read 6 oz. unsweetened, but it was actually 4. By the time I realized they were almost all melted, so I thought, less oil should even it out. I'm not sure if that's true, but it certainly didn't hurt the end product.

These were a bit of work as well, but The Husband said I couldn't give any away because they were too good, so I guess in this case the hard work paid off.