Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Cookies

My Andrew really loves these! You've heard of "after school snacks", right? Well, these are "during school snacks"!

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 pkg chocolate instant pudding
1 Tbs milk
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips

Mix sugars, butter, vanilla, eggs, pudding and milk until creamy. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt. Dough will be pretty stiff. Add in your chocolate chips (or peanut butter chips!).
Bake about 10 min at 375.

Cheesy Italian Bread

• 1 package (1/4 ounces) active dry yeast
• 1-1/4 cups warm water (110° to 115°)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese (or a mixture of other cheeses!)
  
• 3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Cornmeal

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the sugar, salt, garlic salt, cheese and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape each half into a 14-in. loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
• Bake in oven preheated at 400 degrees for 20-25 min.
  

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup crisco
  
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1+ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 
  FILLING:
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 to 6 tablespoons milk

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition after each addition. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.
• Shape into 1-in. balls and place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten to 3/8-in. thickness with fork. Bake at 375° for 7-8 minutes or until golden. Remove to wire racks to cool.
• For filling, in a large bowl, beat the peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Spread on half of the cookies and top each with another cookie. Makes about 44 sandwich cookies!

I'm Back!

Hi there! It's been forever since I posted a new recipe! I'm ashamed! Here are my excuses:

Keeping up with two blogs is hard!
This homeschooling thing has me so busy.
Holidays. Need I say more?
My oven was out for 2 months.

So...I'm back in business. I have a new oven that I love. And I have a new cookbook! I hope to post lots of new things, soon!

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Chicken

A friend of mine introduced me to this dressing. She put it on this salad that I am providing the ingredients to. We had it by the pool. Maybe that's why it tastes so good. Memories!

Baby Spinach
Slice Strawberries
Feta Cheese
Almonds
Grilled Chicken - I just grilled mine with salt and pepper because I didn't want any other flavor to the salad.
Spinach Dressing

Put those together and enjoy yourself a delicious salad!

Zucchini Brownies

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
  
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting

• 6 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup butter softened
  
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix oil, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Spread in a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 min.
For frosting, blend ingredients until smooth.
Frost cooled brownies and enjoy!

Hoagie Buns

This is a great recipe! I served these with PW's Marlboro Man's Sandwich! Yum!

1 cup water
2 tsp sugar
4 tsp oil
1 tsp salt
2 3/4 bread flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast

Place all ingredients in the bread machine. Run dough cycle. Remove and shape into 6 ovals. Let rise for about 20 min. Bake at 400 for about 20 min, or until golden brown.