Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients:
4 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla with whisk until thick.
2. Melt chocolate and butter, and stir into the egg/sugar/vanilla mixture.
3. Stir together all dry ingredients except powdered sugar. Add to other mixture.
4. Cover dough and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
5. Put powdered sugar in a bowl. Form balls of dough and roll dough balls in powdered sugar.

Bake 13-17 minutes at 325 degrees.

Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic Herb Butter

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter, softened
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound green beans , stem ends snapped off, beans cut into 2-inch pieces
Salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine butter, garlic, and thyme; set aside.
In a 12 inch skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat until it’s just smoking.  Add beans plus  1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper; cook and stir for 4-8 minutes, or until beans are spotty brown.
Add 1/4 cup water; cover and cook for 2 minutes.  Remove lid and cook until all the water has evaporated.
Stir in herb butter and cook beans for 1-3 minutes longer, or until beans are crisp-tender.  Toss with lemon juice and parsley if desired; serve immediately.

Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

Steve and I had this for dinner last night, and it was really quick and tasted amazing!! Recipe from Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients

• 4 whole Grilled Chicken Breasts, Sliced
• 1 pound Penne Pasta, Cooked Until Al Dente
• 1/2 stick Butter/Margarine
• 3 whole Lemons, Juiced
• 3/4 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/4 cup Half-and-half (note: I just used 1 cup fat free half-and-half instead of the cream/half-and-half mix. It was a little thinner than it would have been otherwise, but tasted fine.)
• 1-1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (or Romano)
• Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• 20 whole Basil Leaves, Chopped (I used dried basil)

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta, reserving 1 cup of hot pasta water when you drain. Set pasta aside in a colander.
In the same pot, melt butter over medium heat. Squeeze in the juice of 3 to 4 lemons. Whisk together. Pour in cream and half-and-heat. Whisk until hot. (Note: You really have to whisk the cream and half-and-half in or else the texture will be off.) Dump in cheese and whisk until melted. Add salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Check consistency, adding some of the hot pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed.
Pour pasta and sauce into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle remaining basil all over the top, then add sliced chicken breasts. Serve immediately!

Cookies n' Creme Cookies

(I got this recipe from cjaneinthekitchen.blogspot.com.)

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 (4.2 ounce) package Cookies n' Creme pudding mix (Jello pudding)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups white chocolate chips
15 Oreo cookies, very coarsely chopped

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars, add pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda with a whisk then add it to the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and Oreo cookies. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven until cookies tops barely have a touch of brown. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Pumpkin Sage Pasta

Recipe courtesy of Nat the Fat Rat (I can't take any credit here, people. But it's so good~ probably my new favorite fall recipe.)

3 Tbs Olive Oil

3 Tbs Butter

2 Cloves Garlic, Diced

8 Leaves Fresh Sage, Chopped (I have never tried this with fresh sage, but it tastes great with dried...)

1 Cup Canned Pumpkin

1 Cup Reserved Pasta Water

Salt and Pepper To Taste

Red Pepper Flakes To Taste

Four Handfuls Whole Wheat Pasta

Parmesan To Taste

1. Sautee garlic and sage in olive oil and butter in a pan over medium-high heat.

2. Add pumpkin and pasta water.

3. Whisk together until combined. Add more pasta water if sauce is too thick, more pumpkin if too thin.

4. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.

5. Pour sauce over drained pasta and stir to combine.

6. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

(Makes for really good left overs and tastes really good cold.)

Garbanzo Salad

MIX TOGETHER: 2 cans garbanzo beans, drained

1 red pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

4-5 green salad onions, sliced thinly

1 small can sliced black olives, drained

1 (4 oz.) can diced green peppers

DRESSING (mix together and then mix well with garbanzo mixture and chill before serving):

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. oregano

3 TBS. olive oil

4 TBS. vinegar

Fudge Pecan Pie

1 unbaked 9" pie shell

1 Baker's "Sweet Chocolate" bar

3 Tbs. margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 and 1/4 cups light corn syrup

2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs, beaten

2/3 cups chopped pecans

1/2 cups pecan halves

Melt chocolate bar and margarine in a double boiler, stirring frequently.

Add sugar, flour, salt, corn syrup, and vanilla. While stirring this mixture, add the eggs one at a time. Fold in chopped pecans and place all of this in the unbaked pie shell. Garnish with pecan halves.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. cool.