Fruit Crostatas and Back to School

     Ok, so this title is slightly misleading. These pint-sized fruit crostatas actually happened several weeks ago, I just never got around to uploading them. Shocking, right? Me, being lazy?
     Never!  Oh, alright, maybe.  In any case, this recipe and (the next few to come) were made about 2-3 weeks ago in my final efforts to crank out new tasty treats before I became bogged down with homework, dancing (ps, I do ballroom dance. Whoo!) and, if time allows, a bit of a social life!

A honey vinaigrette for a Fancy.Dinner.Party.

     Oh gosh, I'm getting behind again.
It's not that I haven't been in the kitchen lately, as in other weeks...it's that, frankly, I've been a bit lazy about posting.  But I've got about 4 recipes I need to get up & posted, so I'm going to try & crack down a bit tonight, especially because I'm planning to try out at LEAST 3-5 more this week. School starts the Monday after this for me, and I won't have as much time to fool around then--there will be a lot of casseroles & quiches starting soon I'm guessing; the sort of thing you can make in large quantities and then eat for the rest of the week when you're too on-the-go to make anything else.

     So, here's to one last week of making anything I want, eh?  Let's start off with a little thing I made a couple of weeks ago for a friend's birthday party--she decided to have a very fancy dinner at her house rather than a large gathering with pizza, etc...she covered appetizers, the main course, side dish, & dessert, but asked if I'd lend her a hand with the salad course.  Not having anything in my "salad" recipe index as of yet, I was more than happy to oblige!

Quinoa Cakes/Patties--A new addiction!

   

     Recently, in my frequent/habitual/stalkerish browsing of the baking/cooking blogosphere, I've been able to pick out several trends that just about everyone tries.  One of them is the New York Times' proclaimed "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever" (which I will be trying later this week.)  Another is varying curry recipes from India...it would seem many people are addicted to Indian food these days?  Health trends are flying everywhere too--from gluten free to vegan diets, the internet community is ALL about sharing these recipes--which leads me to my new found love, quinoa.

God bless farmer's markets: A "gourmet" Grilled Cheese!

     I have recently taken to spending my Saturday mornings haunting the local farmer's market.  This has proved, in my opinion, to be a very wise decision for health and flavor reasons, although it is slightly detrimental to my wallet, as things tend to be a bit more expensive there.  (But hey, farmers have got to make a living, right?)
     The farmer's market in my college town is, honestly, quite large--it can take up to 30 minutes just to walk around and try to LOOK at everything, much less do close inspections & purchase!  Not to mention the sideshows of booths set up, live music, and of course, the pre-made food section for those wanting a delicious breakfast sandwich or cinnamon bun to start the morning off right. Mmm.
     Anyway, after my first venture there a couple of weeks ago, I used some of my delicious, fresh purchases to create myself a tasty little afternoon delight--this grilled cheese made with Swiss Honey Bread, Wabash Cannonball Cheese (a specialized goat cheese), and thin Fuji apple slices! Delicious.

7 Layer Bars...deluxe style!

     So, once again I haven't posted that much this week.  However, unlike the last time this happened, this is NOT because I haven't been busy in the kitchen. Polar opposite, actually--I've been baking so much I'm about tired of it! (No, this could never really happen.)
     I've been going a little bit dessert crazy, you see.  On a whim last week I decided to make 7 layer bars for my boyfriend, who loves them dearly.  I made them, but was unsatisfied with the results--they were quite tasty, you see, but a little too sweet, a little too rich.  I chucked up the problem as being that I used a little too much sweetened condensed milk for the size of my batch, & didn't bake it long enough, so aforementioned milk didn't really dry up--it was still by and large present in a syrupy, sugary form.  So I decided to make a round two, with the correct recipe presented in the following post!

Finite Incan-childhood:A Harry Potter week (and some Almond-or peanut- Butter cookies!)

     Contrary to popular belief (and, perhaps, hope) I have not, in fact, fallen off of the face of the planet. Hooraaaaaay!  Last week I was unable to get creative in the kitchen for a small myriad of reasons.

1. I had a take home exam for my summer class that was due by Wednesday.  Yes, it was take home, but for that reason it was extra-long and had nitty-gritty specific questions that required a lot of fact-checking and time consumption.
2. As last week saw the release of the final installment to the Harry Potter film series, I spent any free time I had re-reading the books. \
3. This also meant that I was going to go home on Thursday for the midnight premiere/following weekend, and as such, I opted to NOT go grocery shopping for the last week and a half and simply use up all the food I had.  This resulted in a lack of things with which to cook.

     But, now all that's over, and since I DID actually manage to bake a *little* something while I was at home, here's a reward recipe for the long wait-Almond Butter Cookies!

Spaghetti with Lemon & Olive Oil

     It's been a few days since my last post on here (which, sadly, was not even a recipe), and that would be because I have been slowing down on the cooking this week.  You see, my pantry seems to be overflowing with cereal, and my refrigerator is still full of some leftover lasagna noodle trimmings (which taste perfectly delightful re-warmed with some parmesan and olive oil, might I add) so I've decided to hold off on the makings of new things until the older ones have been depleted somewhat.
     However, I still have quite a few pre-blogging-days recipes stored up, and since I mentioned in an earlier post that I would put this one up...here it is!  A simple pasta dish for those nights when you want something filling (without being a total heavyweight) that won't take you 9 years to make.  It was served by me to two good friends for dinner, and I'm glad I halved the recipe-it serves about 4 this way, so I didn't have tons of leftovers to haunt my then-overcrowded refrigerator.

     I'm sure I'll give this one another go sometime, so photos will be posted at a later date as I did not take pictures of my meals before I began this blog. ;)

Dinner is served at last-the promised Mushroom Lasagna!

     For those of you who do not know, I am a huge, HUGE fan of pasta. And cheese.  And creamy sauces-or tomato sauces.  So, obviously, it seems like a given to say that I like a lasagna. Fits right in with the character profile, no?   But let me just try for a moment to emphasize the deliciousness of the following recipe.  It is creamy-so, so creamy-with just the right pinch of flavor from nutmeg and black pepper.  And the mushrooms, of course, which I adore, carry the main weight of the dish.  They are not overwhelming, but I have to say, the aroma that filled my kitchen before I took this thing out sufficiently made my mouth water.  This lasagna is simple, lacking in heavy meats and dozens of cheeses, and is therefore a bit lighter than your average Italian heavyweight.  Follow the jump to learn why this is one of my favorite lasagna recipes ever, and why YOU should dig up some excuse to make it!

Keeping it simple: No-bake Peanut butter, chocolate, and oatmeal cookies

     Well, after the misadventures in my previous post, I admit I was a little bit hesitant to continue my cooking for the day.  However, I had a plan, and I wanted to stick to it.  Luckily this next recipe I tried proved simple, produced no errors, and tasted so amazing I had one, went for a walk, came back, had another, and snuck back down to the fridge five minutes ago to break off a chunk of yet a third.  I've noticed I tend to write novels with every post, which isn't necessarily what you all come for, so in keeping with a simple recipe, I'm going to keep the verbosity in the rest of this post to a minimum, pretty much, and just make everyone's mouths water with a series of photos of some delicious no-bake cookies.