WINNER!

Thank you to those of you who entered the cookbook giveaway, and my apologies for not posting this last night!

The winner is #4... Momma B!  Momma B, I will contact you to get your address.  Congratulations, and enjoy the cookbook!

Valentine's Day Giveaway!

Because today is a day of love, and I love to cook recipes from this book, I SO excited to be giving this away...

Have you heard of Pam Anderson?  No... not that Pam Anderson, but the one who has some serious skills in the kitchen and an amazing blog that she shares with her daughters!  She doesn't know me from Adam, but I am trying to covet all of her cookbooks.  I have three so far, including this one, which is her newest.

Oh, and don't worry... the book I am giving away is not my used, kitchen gunk stained one, but a brand-spanking-new one!

Winner will be chosen at random (by one of my children picking a number... very scientific) on Wednesday evening.  All you have to do to enter is sign up to follow this blog (if you haven't already), and share the name of your favorite cookbook in the comments section.  Good luck!

Meatless Monday #1

In an attempt to sway my family's carnivorous ways, I am implementing Meatless Mondays at our house.  This has already been met with some moaning and groaning, but their tummies and hearts will eventually thank me... right?  This recipe comes directly from my kitchen.  I used to make it a lot, and the recipe has improved through the years with tweaks here and there.

Help me readers... what changes have you made to make your family healthier?

Tex-Mex Lasagna

Ingredients
1c. bottled salsa
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 can vegetarian refried beans
6 no-boil lasagna noodles
1c. frozen corn (or 1 can of canned corn, drained)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 c. shredded Mexican blend cheese or cheddar cheese
1/4 c. chopped green onions
1/4 c. chopped cilantro

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine first four ingredients.  Spread 2/3 c. sauce in the bottom of an 8" square baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Arrange two noodles over sauce; top with 1/2 c. corn and half of beans.  Sprinkle with 1/2 c. cheese; top with 2/3 c. sauce.
Repeat layers once; top with remaining two noodles.  Spread remaining sauce over noodles and sprinkle with remaining 1 c. cheese.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes or until noodles are tender and sauce is bubbly.
Let stand for 15 minutes, and sprinkle with onions and cilantro.

Brownie Cookies

Recipe: Brownie Drop Cookies
Source: The Dinner Doctor
Ingredients: Easy
Party in the Tummy Scale: 8

A Brownie in a cookie?  How much better does it get than that?  DB and I whipped these up yesterday afternoon to take with us to our picnic in the park.  The picnic was just as good as the cookies!

These are so easy to whip up, and great to make with young children. These were a BIG hit with DB, not so much with Coop (he doesn't do chocolate.. I think something is wrong with him), and a HUGE hit with R.  R's words after eating a cookie: "These are good.  These are really good!  I want you to make these a lot... like every week".

I am not a huge brownie fan, but I did enjoy these.  If you love brownies, you will adore these cookies... crispy on the outside like the edge of a brownie, and chewy in the middle, and delicious right out of the oven!

Brownie Cookies

Ingredients:
1 box brownie mix, with fudge included
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients except for chocolate chips in  large bowl.  Mix for about two minutes, until well combined.  Then pour chocolate chips into batter and stir.
Drop batter by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Cookies should rise, but should still be soft in the middle.  Remove from baking pans immediately and cool for 5 minutes.
Makes 50 cookies.

Note:  
I made larger cookies... mine batter was tablespoon full size.  This made about 24 cookies instead of the 50, and they also cooked longer... about 16 minutes.  You can also add nuts, and play around withe the flavor by adding cinnamon, or even a little cayenne pepper for a kick!

Somebody Call 911...

Cookbook: The Dinner Doctor
Availability: amazon.com, or your local bookstore
Shelf Factor: A keeper for me, for at least as long as I have two children under my roof!

I have had this book for quite a while.  I bought it shortly after R and I got married, in fact!  I didn't use it very often then, except for a recipe for Saturday Night Pasta that was so easy so perfect for the two of us.

Then, the heathens children came.  I no longer had the luxury of cooking complicated meals every night.  I had to get dinner on the table, and get it there fast.  And oh yeah... make sure it was deemed edible in the eyes of two picky heathens angels.

For example... see that little while speck of lint, or whatever it may be in the above photo, at the bottom left below the cookbook?  I no longer even have the luxury to make sure my house is clean all most of the time.  I thought about sweeping it aside, but that's not who I am, people!  Some nights my kids are lucky to get dinner at all and not have to eat that lint off of the table instead!

This book was made for me... and for anyone else who has young children, a hungry husband, and a busy schedule.  What I love about this book, is not that the recipes are easy (because they are... way easy), but that it is a perfect mix of little people and big people food.  It is picky palate friendly, but each recipe has just enough uniqueness and flair to it that it isn't plain or boring.  We have now enjoyed countless meals out of this book, and I have been asked for many of the recipes.

For some reason, I have never made anything from the small dessert section of this book.  So, on the plate for this weekend are brownie cookies and blackberry wine cake.  Yes, my friends... wine cake!