Savory Bean & Spinach Soup

You made it! It's FRIDAY again! :)

Today, I've got a Savory Bean & Spinach Soup to share with you, from Fitness.com.

Now, then. I am not a huge soup fan. There's just something about it that will never make soup my favorite thing - and part of that, I'm sure, is how messy and noisy it can be to eat. :D

But I took a week, when my dad was traveling, to cook some soups for Kenn for meals. Dad came home early - it was the week the first big blizzard hit Kansas City, but I went ahead and did that cooking. And this was one of the two soup recipes.

This one got a definite YES, PLEASE! from Kenn. It was OK - and it was vegetarian, easily made vegan if you don't add the cheese. :)

I was a bit disappointed that mine looked so much more tomato-based than the picture on the website. But I loved the fact it had such healthy ingredients! Of course, I used organic vegetable broth. :)

And yes, that's a piece of the Amish bread behind the bowl. Oh, gosh, that bread made the meal. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful weekend!! :)

PB&J Blondie Bars

It's Wednesday again. :) I hope you're having a great week! If not, go home and make these. :D

I guess you can guess these get a YES, PLEASE! from me. And I bet you'd like to know about them. :D They're PB&J Blondies from the Food Network.

I was a little dubious at first; there is NO peanut butter in them. But they taste like there is! And I used homemade strawberry jam, so  I would give them the best possible ingredients. But if I were to make them for just us, I'd use grape - it's my favorite PB&J. :D Trust me, though, there was NOTHING wrong with the strawberry!!!

These were a big hit with Kenn, too! I put what was left into the freezer, because between the two of us, we could have polished them off in less than 24 hours - and that's BAD. :D

Seriously. Make these. You'll love them. :)

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day - and LMK if you try these!

Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies

Welcome to yet another Monday! Did you have a good weekend? Did you get a chance to try making something new? What about comfort foods? Link me to something you love!

OK. Here's the THIRD recipe from my jewelry party. They are Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies from Divine Baking.

I have to admit to you: I accidentally used semisweet chocolate chips instead of bittersweet. I mean, I BOUGHT good-quality bittersweet chocolate chips for this recipe. But I forgot to use them, and used my Toll House semisweets instead. ::hanging head::

The GOOD news? I don't think I would have liked them that dark-tasting! These are CHOCOLATE. And from what I can tell, there's pretty much no gluten in them. And the only fat I can find in them is from the chocolate chips. Pretty incredible!

These got a YES, PLEASE! - and they freeze well, too. I thought they'd be pretty fragile, but nope. I froze the rest, and ate the last one about two weeks later. Just as good and just as cookie-shaped as before I froze them. :D

OK, I'm outta here again. :) Have a wonderful, blessed day!!!!

Crab Rangoon Cups

It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!! You made it through another week! :D And I'm going to assume I did, too.... :D It's almost time to leave for the family reunion, and then Westward! Ho!

These are another one of the new recipes I tried for my jewelry party; they're Crab Rangoon Cups from Big Red Kitchen.

(I wish you could see the whole platter; Kenn bought it for us about six years ago, and it's the first time I've gotten to show it off! It's got CRABS on it! :D)

I did this one EXACTLY as it said. I ever treated my women to REAL crab meat - and that was expensive!! But I would have liked it better with the fake stuff, I think. :D That's probably the only thing I'd change - except I'd get real sweet & sour instead of duck sauce for dipping. :) So I guess that's a YES, PLEASE, right? :D

OK, I'm off!! Have a WONDERFUL weekend - spend some time with people you love!

Asian Meatballs

Welcome to Wednesday! Are you having a good week?

I had a Premiere Jewelry party on President's Day, and I made four new recipes. This is one of the four! This is Asian Meatballs from Gimme Some Oven. :D

One of the good things about these meatballs is that I could make the meatballs up to the baking point, and the sauce, ahead of time. Then I baked off the meatballs and heated the sauce so we were ready to eat when everyone got here.

The meatballs were really tender! The sauce, I would probably back off the hoisin a little bit - it was pretty strong. Maybe up the sesame oil JUST a touch. But overall, these get a YES, PLEASE! from us.

I will say I did NOT like them so much reheated. The meatball toughened up, and it was just not nearly as good. But you could use the meatball part of this recipe for an Asian noodle bowl, and they would be wonderful!

OK, I'm outta here. :D Be BLESSED - and try something new! :)

Tamale Pie

Happy Monday Morning! Did you enjoy your weekend? Did you spend time with people you love - or did you get to rest and relax in the quiet? :D We were at our last church service at Springhouse Worship & Arts Center until we come back in the fall. Happy and sad - they are REAL family.

Anyway. :)

Today's recipe under review is for Tamale Pie from Brown Eyed Baker.

I didn't change a thing on this recipe. :) Oh, wait. Yes I did, by accident. :D But I also cut it in half. I accidentally used organic fire-roasted crushed tomatoes versus diced tomatoes. And when you dice the jalapeno, be sure to get all the ribs and seeds out - I use a knife to make sure!

The heat on this, for me, was perfect. It wasn't too spicy at all, but flavorful. I'm thinking about changing it up next time - what a shock, right? :D - by either doubling the filling and keeping the amount of cornbread topping the same, or adding a can of black beans. Kenn's only criticism was that the bread was too thick on the bite he had - and it did get thicker in one corner. I put out guacamole and sour cream to top with.

I'm definitely giving this a YES, PLEASE - even my dad said, "That'll eat!" and he doesn't like spicy. :D The leftovers warm up beautifully. DO let it sit for the 15 minutes it calls for, and it will slice up beautifully.

OK, I'm outta here! :) Have a wonderful, BLESSED day!

Pineapple Coconut Bites

It's FRIDAY! :) How was your week? And welcome to MARCH!!! It's so difficult to believe this month is already here - and how much I have to get done before next weekend! AUGH! :D Seriously. SO much to do.

ANYWAY. :D This is a recipe for Pineapple Coconut Bites from Cooking.com.

It's an interesting recipe! The only refined sugar in the whole thing is a few tablespoons of confectioner's sugar in the crust. The rest is honey. I used regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour - it's what I had on hand. :D I also halved the recipe, and had enough of everything to make a dozen of these little cookies.

I'm not quite sure what I think of them. I like the IDEA of them, but none of the flavors was strong enough. I think I'd like to find some pineapple extract to put in the center of these. And maybe, instead of saving the crumbs for topping, toast some coconut to use. I did like the METHOD for these - and as you can see, I didn't use mini muffin liners. I sprayed the tin with Baker's Secret - my favorite for baked items!! I think it works better - and used my Pampered Chef tamper to easily form the crumb bottom.

I think I'll put this into "Good Recipes to Have", and maybe play with it sometime when I have time. All the ingredients are things I usually have on-hand, except for the pastry flour.

Does that help you at all? LOL!

OK, I'm outta here - I am now pre-posting for this blog. I'm going to try to get you all the way through the first of April before I leave, so you'll have something all month and won't forget me. :D Keep leaving comments! I'll be on my computer, but not having time to post. :)

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Try something new! :) BE BLESSED!