Cheese Scones and Large, Soft Ginger Cookies

Last night, I decided to make potato soup for dinner. The soup recipe is not from the cookbook, but I chose two recipes from the cookbook to accompany the soup. The first was cheese scones, and large, soft ginger cookies for dessert.

The CHEESE SCONES are an easy quick bread to make. Butter is mixed with flour and baking powder, and eggs, milk, and cheese are added to the dry mixture. The wet dough is placed on a baking sheet, cut into six sections, topped with more cheese and baked until golden.

The LARGE, SOFT GINGER COOKIES were also easy to make. Flour, baking powder, salt and spices are mixed with molasses and eggs to make a dark and tasty dough. After chilling for an hour, the dough is rolled into balls, rolled in granulated sugar, and baked for 15 minutes.

Both of these recipes turned out well. The scones took longer to bake than I expected, but I think I did not pat them out thin enough. They were very good though, moist and flavorful, a perfect side to the potato soup! The cookies were very good, gingery and soft.

Beer Pizza Dough

For my pizza night this week, I decided to try a BEER PIZZA DOUGH for the crust. This very simple recipe combines flour, baking powder, salt and beer. When mixed together, this sticky dough is ready to be rolled out on a baking sheet and baked until crispy!

This pizza crust was very dense and heavy. It was good, but not the best choice for a light cheese pizza. The cookbook recommends using this crust for a caramelized onion pizza, and I think the heaviness of the dough will go well with the intense flavor of the caramelized onions. I look forward to trying that, but I will probably not use this recipe for my usually weekly cheese pizza again.

Classic Hummus, Garlic Pita Chips, and Greens, Potato, and Feta Cheese Pie

Tonight, I got a bit brave and decided to make 3 new recipes. Not only that.....2 of the recipes were things that I was very unsure about. I have had bad luck with making homemade hummus before, and most vegetable and cheese pie type dishes are usually not my thing at all.

Luckily, I my preconceptions of this evening's meal were wrong! The CLASSIC HUMMUS,a simple mixture of chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, salt and water, was excellent. The GARLIC PITA CHIPS, simply pita bread cut into triangles and coated with garlic oil before baking, were a great tool to carry the hummus to my mouth!

The main dish, the GREENS, POTATO, AND FETA CHEESE PIE, was a warm pie with a bread crumb crust, and potato, spinach, and feta cheese filling. This was very good. Like I mentioned above, this type of dish I usually do not like. However, this was very good! It was tasty and light, and I enjoyed it very much!

Grilled Jalapeno Cheese, Tomato, and Roasted Pepper Sandwiches

This is the recipe in the book that made me decide I had to have this cookbook! Not that I couldn't figure out how to make a spruced-up grilled cheese on my own, but I loved the idea of this sandwich (and most sandwiches in general-I love bready, cheesy food!).

To assemble these, you take a piece of sourdough bread, top it with 2 slices of Pepper Jack cheese, then top the cheese with slices of roasted red pepper and ripe tomato. 2 more slices of Pepper Jack are placed on top of that, and then another piece of sourdough tops it all.

After buttering the top slice of bread, you cook the sandwich in a medium-low heated pan until browned, and then flipping it over to cook the other side (which you butter while the other side is cooking). After 10 minutes, you have a warm, gooey, cheesy sandwich ready to eat!

This was delicious! Very easy to prepare, and tasty and satisfying to eat. I enjoyed it with chips, and it would also be great alongside a bowl of tomato rice soup. YUM!

Marinara Sauce

Monday night I made tofu nut balls, one of my favorite pasta accompaniments. I decided to make the MARINARA SAUCE recipe from the cookbook to serve with the pasta and tofu nut balls.

The recipe was really simple. Saute garlic in oil, add tomato puree, red wine, and spices, and simmer for 20 minutes. Top your pasta with the sauce, and enjoy!



Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this sauce very much at all! It was boring, and slightly bitter. I could be the brand of tomato puree I purchased for the recipe, but I do not really think that was the problem. I appreciated the ease of this recipe, but will not be making it again!

Vegetable Lo-Mien, Iced Ginger Tea and Chocolate Earthquakes

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I like when the time falls back. Especially the first few days after the change, you feel like you have an extra hour in the morning! On the day of the time change this year, I took advantage of the extra hour and made 3 great recipes!

The first was ICED GINGER TEA. This drink is made by simmering chopped ginger in water, then stirring in sugar and chilling until cold. Serve over ice, and then you have a simple tea drink that is a surprisingly refreshing treat!

The main course was VEGETABLE LO-MIEN. I have made a few different versions of this recipe, but this one blew all the others away! Garlic and ginger are sauteed in oil until fragrant, and tofu is added and cooked until golden brown. Carrots and scallions are added to the mixture, along with a sauce of sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch and water. Cooked noodles are stirred into the mixture, and the result is a flavorful, fresh Asian style dish!

For dessert, CHOCOLATE EARTHQUAKES were on the menu. These simple, fudgy cookies are formed into balls before cooking, then rolled in powdered sugar. As they bake, the powdered sugar "cracks", creating fault lines from the earthquakes!



This dinner was amazing! The ginger tea was outstanding. I was very unsure about it when I made it, afraid that it would be overly gingery. Luckily I was wrong. It was light and flavorful. The lo-mien is the best I have ever had, and was easy to make. The cookies were great, very chocolaty. The cookies even got a "WOW" out of Mr. Sexy Veggie! These are my favorite recipes from the cookbook so far!

Southwestern Black Bean Soup with Homemade Vegetable Stock

Halloween night dinner deserves a dark and spicy dish, and that is exactly what this meal turned out to be! Mr. Sexy Veggie and I traveled to Sister Veggie and Veggie 2.0's house for a fun Halloween evening, and I took a soup from the cookbook to share!

The base of the soup is VEGETABLE STOCK, another recipe from the cookbook. This was an easy and beautiful base to make, and it smelled wonderful while it was cooking. Onions, scallions, garlic, carrots, parsley, and mushrooms are boiled in water, along with some soy sauce and nutmeg. It boils for an hour, and then the vegetables are poured into a strainer set over a large bowl, and the excess water is pressed out by pushing a wooden spoon on the cooked veggies.

The main course of the evening was SOUTHWESTERN BLACK BEAN SOUP. This soup is thick and spicy. Black beans are cooked with onions, garlic, and green pepper in the homemade vegetable stock for 1.5 hours. Half of the soup is pureed in a food processor and returned to the soup, to add some thicker consistency. Lime juice and salt are stirred in right before serving to add a burst of flavor!

The soup was great! All four of us enjoyed it. We ate it with quesadillas and blue corn chips, and sprinkled cheese on top of the soup. This is a great cold weather meal, and I will be making it again!