Recipes, recipes...

Well, there seem to be two major themes in my blog postings. James and food. Well, mostly James, but I really love reading food blogs and think it would be fun to have a weekly recipe post, but I have to be realistic. It's just not going to happen. After my last food post a few months ago, a few people actually mentioned to me in person that they had tried the recipes! I was so surprised that somebody was actually paying attention! So the pattern seems to be that over the course of a few months I take photos of food that turns out great and then compile them all after I have a handful. So that's that. Here's my fourth or fifth 'food post'.

Bagels. I had seen a few recipes recently for homemade bagels and decided to give them a shot. The next day I told my friend Andrea I'd done so, and she responded with a skeptical facial expression, "Oh? How did that go for you?" Honestly, it had quite a few steps, including boiling the pre-baked dough, and they were delicious fresh out of the oven but were pretty chewy the days following. (But not bad toasted). I did try to make mine with whatever whole wheat I had on hand, instead of the fancy stuff it called for. I'll try them again. It was fun to put different toppings on them; cinnamon sugar, minced dried onion, poppyseeds, and kosher salt.

Granola Bars! I have been wanting to make granola bars for months now and finally got around to it. My goal was to find a recipe that was brimming with corn syrup. These are so good that I actually made them three times in two weeks. One of those times I postponed eating breakfast 'til I could whip up a batch. I cut them into huge squares and eat them warm with a glass of milk. There's something really wholesome-ish about them. Oatmeal, whole wheat flour....I add the 1/2 cup applesauce someone recommended to make them softer (it works) and omit any mix-ins, although I tried chocolate chips and craisins another time. I actually prefer them plain!

This is a stuffed pepper, sliced in half, to show the really yummy filling!! I got this recipe for Orzo Stuffed Peppers while working out at the Y. Yes, I watch the Food Net.work channel while working out. Seems counter-productive, right? It's usually torture. Well, Giada was making this and Andrea (who happened to be visiting our Y that day with us) and I looked at each other when we saw these and practically drooled on the eliptical machines. Bell peppers are expensive, but happened to be on sale, so I stuffed a few peppers and baked the rest of the pasta filling (peppers are usually stuffed with a rice mixture) in a baking dish and ate it for days to come. I will probably continue to make the filling because it's just that good! It has shredded zucchini, diced tomatoes, garlic, parmesean cheese, italian seasonings, and mint, of all things! Yum, yum, yum....

There just has to be Mexican food. I love Mexican food. For example, today for lunch Mark and I ate mostly fresh salsa and guacamole, in addition to a small salad. These are Creamy Baked Taquitos and they were awesome! The recipe comes from my new favorite food blog. I bookmark nearly every recipe these ladies post. I'm not kidding. The only complaint about these was that we gobbled almost all of them for dinner in one sitting! But they'd make great appetizers, too. And it's another great recipe to make with shredded chicken from one of those really cheap whole chickens that are always on sale! Oh, and when you roll these, definitely microwave each corn tortilla 20-30 seconds. They'll be piping hot, but if you don't, they'll crack before you get them into the oven! Can't wait to make 'em again!

Finally, this was dinner tonight. Jambalaya. You may notice, if you've actually read this far, that it's from the same site as the taquitos. This tastes like Cajun Fried Rice. Well, that's what it is, really. Green peppers, onions, garlic, minced smoked sausage and ham (really breakin' out of the chicken/ground beef routine for us) and tomato sauce, fried with some cooked rice and seasoned with Creole Seasoning. It was really good. Mark totally approved, too. If you live close and want to try some, let me know, because we'll be eating off of it for days!

And finally, a couple of bonus recipes I don't have photos for: Pizzookies. These are dangerously delicious. I mean dangerous. And too easy, especially if you buy the refrigerated cookie dough, which I recommend. Here's the recipe.

This is a Beef Enchilada Casserole-type-meal. It's called Beef Taco Bake. I made it for Andrea and Brian when they moved a few weeks back and she asked for the recipe. So there it is!