EXPRESSO BROWNIES

Heavenly. Thats all I can say about these. This recipe was sent in by Aubrey- one of our cousins and a wonderful contributor to our site. Aubrey is fantastic.. she happens to be one of my favorite people.. she made these brownies "for the blog", yeah.. ok.. anyway- look at this picture? She just finished her degree.. she is a stay at home mom to a toddler named Jackson, works part-time, paints BEAUTIFUL artwork (check out her newest in the background) and bakes brownies. Super mom.. super chick! Thanks Aubrey!! (These brownies are sooooo, SO delicious she made them for me 2 times now. The first time I was pregnant and I think I ate most the entire batch. Ugh. The second time I brought them home from San Diego they are so yummy)

Nonstick vegetable oil cooking spray
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons espresso powder
1 (19.8-ounce) box brownie mix (recommended: Duncan Hines)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray. Whisk 1/3 cup of water, oil, eggs, and 2 tablespoons espresso powder in a large bowl to blend. Add the brownie mix. Stir until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Cool completely.
Meanwhile, dissolve the remaining 2 teaspoons of espresso powder in the remaining 2 tablespoons of water in a medium bowl. Whisk in the vanilla. Add the powdered sugar and butter and whisk until smooth. Pour the glaze over the brownies. Refrigerate until the glaze is set. Cut into bite-size pieces. Arrange the brownies on a platter and serve.

Giada De Laurientis- the food network

ITALIAN MEATBALL SOUP

Its getting cold outside, I love the fall. Here is my favorite Italian soup recipe. I serve this with fresh, warm crusty bread. Don't skimp on the cheese in this recipe. If you can find it, a good quality parmigiano-reggiano cheese is key. I usually make my own meatballs for this. Small meatballs are better. You can use beef, turkey, chicken.. whatever you like. Or you can use frozen meatballs too!

1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
5 1/2 cups- (42 oz) good quality chicken stock
2 1/2 cups water
20 meatballs- cooked
2 cans (14 oz) small white beans. I use cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
1 (5-6 oz) bag fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup (or more!) finely grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a 5-6 qt pot over med high heat. Add onions, garlic, celery and carrots. Cook about 4 minutes until veggies are soft and onions are pale golden. Stir in broth and water. Bring to a boil, covered. Add meatballs to soup along with beans. Bring to a brisk simmer, covered.
Stir occasionally and simmer until veggies are tender and meatballs are heated through, about 15 minutes.
Stir in spinach, cheese, salt and pepper -(add cheese first because the cheese is salty).
Simmer, uncovered until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.
I add more cheese to each bowl and serve.
Makes 4 servings

Meatballs:
This is how I make my meatballs. Warning- I leaned how to cook using a handfull and a pinch. I also learned there is no such thing as too much cheese! So tweak as you see fit.
1 pound each of ground beef and ground pork (or turkey and chicken.. any combo you want)
Add 2 medium or 1 extra large egg. Add 2 small chopped or grated garlic cloves. Add 2 generous handfulls of seasoned, Italian bread crumbs. Add 1-2 generous handfulls of grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Add salt and pepper usually about 1 ts salt and 1/2 ts pepper. Combine all ingredients with your hands, just until mixed and absorbed. Dont over mix. Form into balls. I spray my broiler pan with nonstick spray and line the pan with the meatballs. That way, the grease drops down.
Cook 375-400 for about 30 minutes. They will finish cooking in the soup, if they arent completely cooked already.

MARION'S OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 cups flour
2-1/2 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together sugars, shortening, eggs and vanilla in a mixer.
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl.
Add slowly to sugar mixture.
Add oats.
Add chocolate chips.

Bake 9-11 minutes.

This recipe was given to me by my step-grandmother-in-law (we're an american family...stealing a line from You've Got Mail) Marion French.

adaptations: I usually only put in 2 cups of oats per batch, they come out a little less dense (no jokes, please!) and i always double it, sometimes triple it. The dough freezes lovely!

HAM & CHEESE TURNOVERS

1 pkg refrigerated pizza dough
8 ounces deli ham, thinly sliced - or your favorite deli meat
4 ounces swiss cheese, or your favorite cheese
1/2 red onion, cut into rings
your favorite mustard, dijon, regular, whole-grain
2 tsps whole-grain mustard
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 small head romaine, rut into bite-size pieces

heat oven 400 degrees.
roll the pizza dough out and cut into 8 triangles.
stack a piece of hame, cheese, and onion on the bottom of each triangle. spread your favorite mustard on top. roll the dough up around the filling. (some of the filling will stick out the ends.)
bake until golden and crisp, about 20 minutes.
combine the whole-grain mustard and oil in a medium bowl and toss with romaine. serve with the turnovers.

Aubrey (a blog-follower & contributor) wrote:
Turnovers were GREAT! Jeff thought that ham and cheese sounded too boring so I added marinated artichoke hearts and roasted red bell peppers. YUMMY!!! We also happened to have a really good Sierra Nevada Stone-Ground Stout Mustard and it was super good in the salad. What a simple and yummy dressing. I added pepper and parmesan cheese to the salad too. Seriously a wonderful and fast dinner. The best part is that we were all in the kitchen making it together. Thank you again for the wonderful recipe blog. We'll use it often.

adapted from a recipe found in real simple april 2008
kid friendly: omit onion and your favorite mustard in the turnover.

ROSEMARY CHICKEN WITH ZUCCHINI

1 lb new potatoes, quartered
2 carrots, peeled and cut into match stick-size pieces
2 small zucchini, cut into match stick-size pieces
3 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T whole-grain mustard
2 T fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
salt & pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Heat oven 400 degrees.
Mix potatoes, carrots and zucchini in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together extra virgin olive oil, mustard, rosemary, salt and pepper. Reserve 1/3 of the mixture, and mix remaining 2/3 mixture with the vegetables. Place chicken into a pan sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray. Pour remaining 1/3 mustard mixture on top of the chicken. Pour vegetable mixture on top.
Roast for 15 minutes. Toss the vegetables and turn the chicken. Continue roasting until the chicken is cooked through, 10-15 minutes more.

CHICKEN, POTATO, GREENS, AND GOAT CHEESE QUESADILLA

1 cup sliced, COOKED, and seasoned chicken
1 1/3 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled Yukon Gold potatoes (about 2 medium)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/3 cups (packed) coarsely grated hot pepper Monterey Jack cheese (5 to 6 ounces)
1 1/3 cups jarred salsa verde (tomatillo salsa)
4 2/3 cups coarsely chopped stemmed spinach/arugula (from 1 bunch), divided
4 8-inch-diameter flour tortillas
3 ounces chilled fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled
Olive oil

Steam/boil potatoes until tender, about 8 minutes. Place in large bowl; sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chili powder. Toss to coat. Cool potatoes 15 minutes. Mix in Jack cheese. Meanwhile, blend salsa and 2/3 cup (packed) greens in mini processor until greens are finely chopped.

Arrange tortillas on work surface. Divide remaining greens between bottom half of each. Top greens with sliced, chicken, potato mixture, then goat cheese and 2 tablespoons salsa mixture for each. Fold plain tortilla halves over filling, pressing to compact. Brush with oil.

Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place 2 quesadillas, oiled side down, in skillet. Brush tops with oil. Cook until quesadillas are brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to sheet in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining 2 quesadillas.

Cut each quesadilla into 3 or 4 wedges. Serve with remaining salsa.

the idea came from a bon appetit march 2007 issue - i've revised it, added chicken and instead of mustard greens, i chose spinach or arugula.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

This may be the simplest cookie recipe ever!

These were so easy and yummy- I cooked mine for about 7-8 minutes and they are soft.

What You'll need:

1 c. peanut butter

1 c. sugar, plus more for rolling

1 egg

Heat oven to 375. Stir together all ingredients. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Put some sugar on a plate and roll balls of dough into sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press each ball with a fork to make crisscross design. Bake 10 minutes or until cookies just start to brown on the edges. Remove and let cool on wire racks. Made about 2 dozen.

Parents magazine, October 2008