Nutella cookies

Tonight is the annual cookie party! This is my first year participating. I'm super excited! I'm making a cookie I've never attempted before. There was a toss up between my classic chocolate chip cookies, white chocolate red velvet cookies, or Nutella cookies. Nutella cookies won the popular vote. So Nutella cookies it is! I fricken LOVE Nutella. I could eat Nutella on everything.

Here's the (incredibly easy!) Nutella cookie recipe:

1 cup Nutella
½ cup Sugar
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 Egg

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Blend all ingedients together.
Form into 1 inch balls.
Place on a cookie sheet.
Press down firmly with the bottom of a glass.
Bake 7-8 minutes or until set.
Cool.

The dough is very dry so I put on gloves and mixed it by hand. The heat from my hands melted the Nutella and helped it come together. The cookies came out a bit thinner than I wanted them to, so next time I'll flatten them less.

I doubled the recipe for the party. I'm also not posting this until 7 pm because the party is at 7:30 so no one can steal my recipe :)

UPDATE!!!

I totally won!!! My cookies took home the "Most Creative Cookie" prize!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Mini calzones

I've been making an effort to cook more lately. Last night, I came home late, having done battle with tech service at Verizon, and was in no mood to cook, but I knew I had no food in the house. I had seen a recipe on Pinterest for simple calzones that I had to try.

Ingredients:
1 package crescent rolls
1 package mozzarella (or pack of string cheese)
1 package pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni)

Roll out the crescent rolls onto a foil lined baking sheet, sprayed with cooking spray. On each roll, at the big end, place 3-4 pieces of pepperoni and one string cheese or string cheese sized chunk of mozzarella. Roll up the crescent roll. Repeat for all the rolls. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. Serve with pasta sauce for dipping. Dinner in less than 15 minutes!

Next time, I want to make dessert crescent rolls. I have Nutella. I'm going to spread it in the rolls and bake as usual. It should be amazing! Like breakfast chocolate croissants!

I also bought my first pumpkin pie of the season. I'm so glad it's fall!

Lemon Cilantro Chicken Soup

I decided to cook today. The recipe is one of my own: lemon cilantro chicken soup. I've made it before and each time it's a little bit different. I used the bare minimum of dishes (I hate doing dishes). It's SO easy. It's also celery-free, since celery is of the devil.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole rotisserie chicken (usually sold hot at most supermarkets. I got mine at A&P for $6)
• 1 small turnip
• 1 carrot
• 5 red potatoes
• 1 package button mushrooms
• 3 32 ounce boxes of low sodium chicken broth
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro
• 1 whole lemon
• 1/2 cup dry barley
• 2 cups uncooked pasta (I used egg noodles, but any pasta works)

Pour 2 boxes of the chicken broth and the barley into a large pot and set it on the stove on medium heat. While the broth is heating up, cut up the turnip, carrot, potatoes, and mushrooms, adding each to the broth as you cut them up. Cut the carrot and turnip small, and cut the potatoes into quarters. Slice the mushrooms  thick.

At this point, the broth should be boiling.

I purchased the chicken the night before so it would be cold when I needed it, otherwise it would be too hot to rip apart. Tear it into small pieces with your hands (the most fun part) and toss it in the pot. (Maya sat patiently at my feet, hoping something would fall.) Take about half of the bunch of cilantro, chop fine, and toss in. Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the pot, making sure not to include the seeds.

If you notice that the soup is getting a bit thick, you can add more broth or water.

Add the 2 cups of pasta, cover the pot, and leave it to simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked.

And that's it! Cleanup is super easy; I only had the knife and cutting board to wash.

It's so fresh and summery with the lemon and cilantro. After refrigeration, the broth will get absorbed by the pasta, so I keep a box of chicken broth to add before reheating.

Adventures in the kitchen

I have decided to cook. I am in need of comfort food. This is different from most days in that I tend to eat out, or have something prepared. I am making an effort to cook more.

Today's recipe: Hamburger helper from scratch. It will be good, believe me.

The recipe:

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 lb ground beef (or turkey) 

1 (26 ounce) can stewed or diced tomatoes (I used the one with basil added)

2 cups water

8 ounces pasta, uncooked (I used elbow today. I prefer rotini)

Adobo (or your choice of season salt) to taste

1 cup mozzarella cheese

I sauteed the onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent, then added the ground beef, cooking until browned. After draining the beef, I added the tomatoes, water, and pasta and cooked it on medium heat until the pasta was tender (about 20 mins). I added the mozzarella cheese to my portion before eating.
I got the original recipe off of food.com, and modified it to be yummier. I think I'll add mushrooms next time. Or zucchini. Or both.