Sunday, April 17, 2011

Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macroons!

So I am not a huge fan coconut, but I had a bag of coconut flakes and this was the first idea to come to mind of what to make. I got this recipe from one of my cookbooks.


Ingredients:
  • 1 package (14 ounces) coconut flakes
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 6 tbsp. flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 egg whites
  • 1 trsp. almond extract
  • Chocolate Chips
Directions:
  1. Pre-heat oven to 325F. 
  2. Mix coconut flakes, sugar, flour, and salt in bowl.
  3. Stir in egg whites and almond extract.
  4. Drop by the teaspoonfuls onto greased pan.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes or until edges of cookies are golden brown.
  6. Place on wire racks.
  7. Once completely cooled dip halfway into melted chocolate.
  8. Let stand until chocolate is firm.

Enjoyyy!



Thursday, April 14, 2011

Pasta and Herbs




Ingredients
  • 3 tbsp. butter
  • 1 tbsp. garlic powder
  • salt
  • 1/4 tsp. rosemary
  • 1 tsp. basil
  • 1 tsp. parsley flakes
  • 1 tsp. marjoram
  • 1/8 cup Parmesan cheese
  • Lemon juice

Directions
  1. Cook pasta as directed on the box. Add some salt and garlic powder in the water before you add the pasta.
  2. Once cooked, strain the pasta. Return to pot.
  3. Add pasta all of herbs and cheese. Mix well.
  4. Add a  little bit of lemon juice. I always find that lemon brings out the flavor.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Oreo Cheescake


Ingredients:
  • Package of Oreo cookies or the same type of cookies
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 3-8oz packages of cream cheese
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Finely crush 30 cookies. 
  3. Mix crushed cookies with butter. And press on bottom of pan you are going to use. Set aside.
  4. Finely chop ~15 cookies or as how man you want.
  5. Beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy.
  6. Blend in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.
  7. Fold in cookies into mixture.
  8. Spread mixture into prepared crusts.
  9. OK so I didn't do this, but if you put your pan in a water bath it helps to stop any cracks in the cheesecake.
  10. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until set. 
  11. Again, I didn't do this, but in the cookbook I used it says to place foil for final 15-20 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning. 
  12. Allow to cool, then refrigerate.
  13. Garnish with cookies. 

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Shepherd's Pie

My mom is out of town so I am left fending for myself. Which means I will be cooking a lot more, but it also means I might not be able to update as often as I would like.


I kind of just threw a bunch of things together.

Ingredients
  • Vegetable oil
  • 1.5 lb ground beef
  • 1 onion
  • 1 tbsp. garlic powder
  • 1.5 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 2 tbsp. tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp. rosemary leaves
  • 1 tbsp. parsley flakes
  • Mashed Potatoes prepared from a box! (After a long day of work I do not feel dealing with potatoes) 2-3 servings should be enough.
  • Optional
    • Extra paprika
    • Butter
    • Mozzarella Cheese

Directions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
  2. Pour some vegetable oil in a pot.
  3. Add onions.
  4. Once the onions have a slight color to them, add the ground beef and all the spices and tomato past.
  5. Keep stirring and mixing up the ground beef until it turns brown.
  6. I also added a little bit of grated mozzarella cheese.
  7. Continue to cook for 15-20 minutes.
  8. Once thoroughly cooked, place in a 9X11 pan. Smoothen it out.
  9. Prepare mashed potatoes according to box.
  10. Add mashed potatoes on top of meat. Smoothen out. Make sure the mashed potatoes are up against the sides.
  11. Sprinkle some paprika on top.
  12. Use fork to create lines across dish.
  13.  Cut up slice of butter and place on top too. or until potatoes start to brown.
  14. Bake for 20 minutes