Lemon Vanilla Drop Cookies

Exciting things are happening...

Did you look up?  Up there.  In the big bar that tells you where you are.  Yes!  There!  I'm a .com!  I don't know what I'm more excited about, that I've got some website legitimacy or that I managed to make the transition without yelling at my computer, walking away and asking Paul for help.  Not that I ever do that...

Thank you for your seriously awesome response to the Black Bean Brownie post earlier this week.  I'm excited that you're excited!  The only sad thing about now being a .com is that I lost all of the comments I once had from people who read and left their thoughts.

With all the changes plus the actual job I have plus the start of a new semester plus the leftovers from the January term, it's been a crazy week.  I came home the other night and I just wanted a cookie.  Specifically a lemon cookie.  I don't think I've ever made a lemon cookie before and the internet is full of "use boxed cake mix"recipes for lemon cookies.  No thank you, not today.

I want real lemon flavor from actual lemons!  What's a girl to do?

Do it herself, that's what.

Enter Lemon Vanilla Drop Cookies:

Black Bean Brownies

One-Pan Pasta

Every once in a while I get the privilege of staying with a youth from my church when their parents need to be out of town.  (We also house-sit like it's our job, but that's another story...)

Last night I was with a young woman named Lily.  She plays basketball and volleyball, and we learned that we like a lot of the same TV shows and both dream of going to Paris.  Lily feels like a rare kid in the world of Middle School.  I never had to ask her to do anything.  She cleaned up after herself, did her homework, and even got herself to bed on time.  

I knew it would be a little bit weird for her to have me there but I wanted to at least start off our time together with a good meal.  I also wanted that meal to be simple because the point was not to impress her with fancy food but to have some quality time at the table.

Enter one-pan pasta.

My First Macaron

Lemony-Oat Breakfast Cookies

Paul loves to run.  He loves running gadgets, phone apps, articles, etc.  Naturally, he has a subscription to Runner's World Magazine.  Not particularly fond of running myself (though I'm sure it would do me some good) I was surprised to find how much I enjoy the magazine.  I like the uplifting stories and fitness tips.  The recipes have also been surprisingly wonderful.

Eggless "Egg Salad"

Back when I worked in retail everyone was reading the book "Skinny Bitch" and afraid of eating anything, myself included and maybe especially.  It was the most miserable 5 pounds I ever lost.

Many good things came from that era, friends topping the list, and I still eat a lot of the foods I learned to prepare while living in fear of death by ingesting what I previously thought of as "nutrients."

One food I really wanted while doing the "Skinny Bitch" thing was a sandwich (sounds like a joke but it's true), but I was still too scared to eat one.  Out of my desperation came this recipe.

You can put this sandwich salad in a wrap, on freshly baked bread, eat it with a fork, scoop it with chips, the world is your oyster!  It takes less than 10 minutes to make and will yield enough to give you two large sandwiches.

It's been a while since I've read "Skinny Bitch" so I can't tell you if this dish is something the authors would approve of, but I can tell you that it's delicious and husband-approved.

Soy Nut Bark

When I was in college I loved going to Wegmans.  If you don't know about Wegmans... well, it's basically the Disneyland of grocery stores.  And it's affordable.

I used to go to the natural foods bulk section and buy soy nut bark.  It was heavenly.  I went back to visit friends not long after graduation and popped by Wegmans to get some bark.  It was gone.  I asked about it but they didn't know what I was talking about.

Years later a Wegmans in the Philadelphia area.  (It's totally awesome, by the way.)  No soy nut bark there either.

After eight years of wondering whether or not soy nut bark is a figment of my imagination I have finally come to the realization that I can make it myself.