Special Christmas Cookie Edition 2012

'Tis the season for Christmas/Holiday cookies. Honestly, I am just glad to have an excuse to bake. Now I can bake as much as I want and just give the extras (if there are any) to my co-workers and friends to eat. I'm thinking of doing a Christmas cookie edition every year. Let the sugar and butter fest begin.

Cranberry Orange Cookies (adapted from Allrecipes)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries
• 1/4 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 tbsp and 1-1/2 tsp orange juice
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

Ingredients: craisins, orange zest, and orange juice

Orange glaze

Cookies with the glaze

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream sugar, apple sauce and butter until smooth. Beat in egg until well blended. Mix in 1/2 tsp zest and 1 tbsp orange juice. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the cranberries.
3. Spoon teaspoons of dough on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart between each dough ball.
4. Bake for 12-14 minutes then cool cookies on wire racks.
5. In a small bowl, make the icing by mixing together 1/4 tsp of orange zest, 1 tbsp and 1-1/2 tsp of orange juice and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies and let it set.

Apple Spice Oatmeal Cookies (adapted from Betty Crocker)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup flour
• 2 apples peeled, chopped (about 1.5 cups)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, apple sauce, and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla then mix in oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and flour until will blended. Fold in apples.
3. Make dough balls and place them about 2 inches apart from each other.
4. Bake 13-17 minutes. Then cool cookies on wire racks.

Ginger cookies (from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 cup and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 teaspoons water
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon white sugar (for rolling)

The batter. It was very difficult to hold together let only try and make gingerbread men.

I gave up on the gingerbread men.

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream the sugar and butter in a large bowl. Beat in egg, water, and molasses.
3. In a separate bowl mix the baking soda, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger, salt, and flour.
4. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Mix until well combined.
5. Put dough in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Roll dough into balls and coat with sugar. Place dough balls at least 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. You can also roll the dough flat with a rolling pin and cut shapes out of the dough.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Shrimp Pasta with Avocado and Ricotta cheese

The best inspirations come from staring at the contents of your fridge and thinking "This is about to expire; I should make something with it. What goes well with this?" That's how I came up with this recipe--ricotta cheese and ripe avocado needed to be eaten. Originally I was going to cook a hot pasta with spinach, onion, and peppers until I started chopping up vegetables and preparing the avocado. I realized that all the ingredients I was using were in guacamole except for the spinach. I should rename this post "Shrimp Guacamole Pasta Salad." There's a couple of things I would do differently next time: more avocado, less ricotta. The dish came out pretty good but I couldn't really taste the avocado underneath all that ricotta.

Ingredients

• 16 med shrimp
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• x servings of pasta of your choice
• 1 med tomato, diced
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
• 8 oz part skim ricotta cheese
• 1/8 med onion finely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• dash of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Procedure

1. Cook the shrimp in a frying pan with the olive oil, garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Set aside in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator.
2. Boil a pot of water and cook pasta according to the directions on the box.
3. In a large bowl, smash the avocado with a fork and mix in the lime juice. Add the ricotta cheese and then mix in the vegetables until well mixed. 
4. Take the shrimp out of the refrigerator and mix it in with the avocado and ricotta mixture.
5. If your large bowl with the avocado-shrimp-ricotta mixture is big enough to toss in the cooked pasta, do so. Otherwise, find a larger bowl and toss everything in it. Mix well.

Eggplant Lasagna

Lately I've been eating a lot like a vegetarian. This vegetarian eggplant lasagna turned out pretty good, but I've decided that I like normal lasagna better. I can't really compare this to real lasagna. Noodles are just too delicious to replace. I'd rather call it an eggplant casserole. Next time, if I ever decide to make lasagna without noodles, I'd use a can of crushed tomatoes rather than crushing canned whole tomatoes. It's just too much work and not saucy enough. The lasagna turned out too watery in the end. That's what I get for wanting to add mushrooms. Also, although Rachel Ray became famous from her show 30 Minute Meals. I can tell you that meals take 30 minutes to cook only if you already have all the ingredients prepared (i.e. chopped, sliced, minced, measured, etc.) and ready to be cooked.

Cooking/preparing the filling

Thin slices of eggplant

Side view

Too watery :(

Yummy melty cheese.

Eggplant Lasagna ( adapted from Rachel Ray)


Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4 large onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped or grated
• 1 28-ounce cans whole plum tomatoes
• 4 to 5 leaves basil, torn
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 cups ricotta cheese, part skim
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 large Chinese eggplants peeled and cut into lengthwise slices
• 1 cup shredded Italian blend cheese
• 1/3 cup grated parmesean and romano cheese
• 1/4 red bell pepper, diced into small pieces
• 1/4 green bell pepper, diced into small pieces
• 5 cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, diced into small pieces

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic to the pan, and cook until tender. Add in the tomatoes, basil, bell peppers, mushrooms and some salt and pepper. Crush the tomatoes up to make a chunky sauce. Bring up to a simmer and reserve the sauce warm.
3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the ricotta, parsley, egg yolk, parmesean and romano, some salt and pepper.
4. Ladle about 1/4 of the sauce into the bottom of a 9x9 in baking pan. Lay down enough eggplant slices to cover the bottom in a single layer. Top with about 1/4 of the ricotta mixture and repeat another layer of eggplant. Continue assembling the lasagna in that order until you’ve used up all the fillings, ending with red sauce. Sprinkle the shredded Italian blend cheese over the top of the dish and cover with foil.
5. Bake the lasagna for 30 minutes with the foil on, then remove it and continue baking for another 15 minutes until the eggplant is tender and the cheese is browned.